Bielefeld (DE)
Bielefeld is a city (328,864 inhabitants end 2013) in the Ostwestfalen-Lippe Region in the north-east of North-Rhine Westphalia. It is also the most populous city in the District of Detmold.
Historically in the Kingdom of Prussia, province of Westphalia, District of Minden.
The historical centre of the city is situated north of the Teutoburg Forest line of hills, but modern Bielefeld also incorporates boroughs on the opposite side and on the hills. The city is situated on the Hermannsweg, a hiking trail which runs for 156 km along the length of the Teutoburg Forest.
Founded in 1214 by Count Hermann IV of Ravensberg to guard a pass crossing the Teutoburg Forest, Bielefeld was the "city of linen" as a minor member of the Hanseatic League, known for bleachfields into the 19th Century. Bielefeld was part of the Kingdom of Westphalia when it was created in 1807. In 1815 it was incorporated into the Kingdom of Prussia following the defeat of France and the Congress of Vienna.Between 1904 and 1930, Bielefeld grew, opening a rebuilt railway station, a municipal theatre, and finally, the Rudolf-Oetker-Halle concert hall, renowned for its excellent acoustics.
The town's synagogue was burned in 1938 during the Kristallnacht pogrom carried out against Jewish population. In 1944, Boeing B-17 Flying Fortresses of the USAAF bombed the gas works at Bielefeld on 20 September and the marshaling yard on 30 September; Bielefeld was bombed again on 7 October and the RAF bombed the town on the night of 4/5 December. On 17 January 1945, B-17s bombed the nearby Paderborn marshalling yard, and the railway viaduct in the suburb of Schildesche.
On 14 March the RAF bombed the viaduct again, wrecking it. This was the first use of the RAF's 10 tonne Grand Slam bomb. American troops entered the city in April 1945.
Due to the presence of a number of barracks built during the 1930s and its location next to the main East-West Autobahn in northern Germany, after World War II Bielefeld became a headquarters town for the fighting command of the British Army of the Rhine – BAOR (the administrative and strategic headquarters were at Rheindahlen near the Dutch border).
Until the 1980s there was a large British presence in the barracks housing the headquarters of the British First Corps and support units, as well as schools, NAAFI shops, officers' and sergeants' messes and several estates of married quarters. The British presence was heavily scaled back after the reunification of Germany and most of the infrastructure has disappeared.
Federal Republic of Germany Postmarks
Meter cancels (all periods)
Postmarks in Allied Occupied Germany
Bielefeld 2
Bielefeld 3
Postal Indicia
Postmarks in German Reich
Postmarks in North German Confederation
Postmarks in Prussia Westphalia province
BIELEFELD Kreis used a Postal code 125, District Minden.