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Paderborn was founded as abishopric byCharlemagne in 795, although its official history began in 777 when Charlemagne built a castle near the Paderborn springs.[4] In 799Pope Leo III fled his enemies inRome and reached Paderborn, where he met Charlemagne, and stayed there for three months. It was during this time that it was decided that Charlemagne would be crowned emperor. Charlemagne reinstated Leo in Rome in 800 and was crowned asHoly Roman Emperor by Leo in return. In 836,St. Liborius became the patron saint of Paderborn after his bones were moved there fromLe Mans by BishopBadurad.[5] St. Liborius is commemorated in Paderborn every year in July with the Liborifest. Thebishop of Paderborn, Meinwerk, became aPrince of the Empire in 1100. The bishop had several large buildings built, and the area became a place for the emperors to stay.[4]
In 1914 the Paderborn military camp was turned into a prisoner of war camp namedSennelager.
In 1930, the See of Paderborn was promoted toarchdiocese.
DuringWorld War II, Paderborn was bombed by Allied aircraft in 1944 and 1945, resulting in 85% destruction, including many of the historic buildings. It was seized by the US3rd Armored Division after a pitchedbattle 31 March – 1 April 1945, in which tanks andflamethrowers were used during combined mechanized-infantry assaults against the city's southwestern, southern and southeastern approaches.[6]
After the city was reconstructed in the 1940s and 1950s, Paderborn became a major industrial seat in Westphalia.[5] The British Army retained a significant presence in the area until 2020, when British units were relocated back to the United Kingdom. Only a small training and enabling staff remain at Paderborn to facilitate temporary deployments to use theSennelager Training Area.[7]
On 20 May 2022 Paderborn was hit by atornado, leaving 38 injured and considerable damage along its path.[8][9]
Paderborn is situated at the source of the riverPader, approximately 30 kilometres (19 mi) east ofLippstadt and approximately 50 kilometres (31 mi) south ofBielefeld on the Pader. The hills of theEggegebirge are located east of the city. Paderborn is 104 kilometres (65 mi) east of Dortmund and the Ruhr region. To the north-west, Hannover is 115 kilometres (71 mi) away.
Paderborn has a population of over 144,000, of which approximately 10% are students at the localuniversity (PaderbornUniversity). Additionally, about 10,000 members or relatives of members of theBritish armed forces live withinWestfalen Garrison, but are not included in the nominal population size.
Paderborn is the headquarters of the formerNixdorf Computer AG, which was acquired bySiemens in the early 1990s and known asSiemens-Nixdorf for about ten years. The company is now known asDiebold Nixdorf, which is still located in Paderborn, but Siemens retains a considerable presence in the city.
Many otherinformation technologycompanies as well as industrial enterprises are located in Paderborn, too:
The city is currently known for its exhibitions in three museums: theKaiserpfalz, The Diocesan Museum and the Art Museum - Städtische Galerie.[12] The city also has some natural tourist attractions within and around it.[13]
The city has given its name to the Paderborn Gesangbuch of 1765, a collection of hymn tunes amongst which is one used in England as 'Paderborn' for the hymn 'Ye servants of God, your Master proclaim' (New English Hymnal 476).
With theArchdiocese of Paderborn based in the city cathedral, Paderborn has traditionally been a conservative Catholic city. In theBundestag, it is located in theeponymous electoral district, which is a safe seat for CDU. Only twice (1949 and2021) has CDU not received a majority of the district's votes, and from 1953 to 1987 always received at least 60% of the district's vote. In theLandtag of North Rhine-Westphalia, the city currently located in the district Paderborn II, which also has a strong CDU lean.
At local level, the city has always elected CDU mayors since 1946. Until 2009, the CDU held an absolute majority on the city council, and as late as 1979 received over 60% of the vote in the city.
The current mayor of Paderborn is Stefan-Oliver Strate of theChristian Democratic Union (CDU). The most recent mayoral election was held od 14 September 2025.
This section needs to beupdated. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information.(September 2025)
Previous municipal elections was held on 13 September 2020, and the results were as follows:
The Paderborn city council governs the city alongside the Mayor. The most recent city council election was held on 13 September 2020, and the results were as follows:
Paderborn is nationally known as a center for American Sports. The localbaseball team, thePaderborn Untouchables, has won many German championships. The localAmerican football team, the Paderborn Dolphins, has also enjoyed considerable success. In 2006 thePaderborn Baskets, the homebasketball team of the city was promoted to theBundesliga.
The club was formed out of the 1985 merger of FC Paderborn and TuS Schloß Neuhaus as TuS Paderborn-Neuhaus and took on its current, shorter name in 1997, the 07 remembering the link with SV 07 Neuhaus. The Neuhaus club was founded in 1907 as SV 07 Neuhaus which was joined by the local side TuS 1910 Sennelager to become TuS Schloss Neuhaus in 1970. The Neuhaus and Paderborn teams played as tier III sides for most of their histories, as has the unified club. Today Paderborn plays its home matches at the Benteler Arena. In2015, SC Paderborn were promoted to the Bundesliga for the first time. After their relegation in their first season, Paderborn returned to the Bundesliga in2019 only to be relegated again. Currently (2022) they have achieved comfortable mid-table positions in the 2. Bundesliga.
The city is served byPaderborn Lippstadt Airport which connects Paderborn to some locations in Europe. There is a bus shuttle between the airport and the Paderborn main train station. General Aviation and gliders are based at Paderborn-Haxterberg (ICAO:EDLR) (site of the world gliding championships in 1981). However, the nearest major airport isDüsseldorf Airport, which is located 192 km (119 mi) south west of Paderborn.
In Paderborn there is a bus system served by thePaderSprinter for local buses and theBahnbus Hochstift for regional buses.
Paderborn was once the oldest academic site in Westphalia. In 1614, theUniversity of Paderborn was founded by theJesuits but was closed in 1819. It was re-founded in 1972 as Universität-Gesamthochschule and transformed into a university in its own right in 2002. Today, it is attended by about 20,000 students.
There also are severaltheological and private academic institutes in Paderborn.
There are a number of grammar schools in the city, the most prominent of which are theTheodorianum andSt. Michael Gymnasium [de],[citation needed] along with others such as theGoerdeler-Gymnasium. There are also a few British primary schools such as John Buchan School, which was located inSennelager and mainly educated children of British military personnel and the garrison's employees until its closure in 2019.
Ella Bergmann-Michel (1895–1971), painter, photographer and documentary filmmaker
Gustav Simon (1900–1945), NaziGauleiter in the Moselland Gau from 1940 until 1944 and Chief of the Civil Administration in occupied Luxembourg, died here
Josef Wirmer (1901–1944), jurist and resistance fighter against National Socialism
^abEd. Heribert Zelder, Tourist Information Services,Welcome to Paderborn, Stadt Paderborn: Paderborn, Germany, 2009.
^abEd. Heribert Zelder, Tourist Information Services, Welcome to Paderborn, Stadt Paderborn: Paderborn, Germany, 2009.
^Stanton, Shelby,World War II Order of Battle: An Encyclopedic Reference to U.S. Army Ground Forces from Battalion through Division, 1939–1946 (Revised Edition, 2006), p. 52
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