History
Oberhausen was named for its 1847 railway station which had taken its name from the Castle Oberhausen (German: Schloss Oberhausen). The new borough was formed in 1862 following inflow of people for the local coal mines and steel mills. Awarded town rights in 1874, Oberhausen absorbed several neighbouring boroughs like Alstaden, parts of Styrum and Dümpten in 1910. After becoming a city in 1901, Oberhausen incorporated the towns of Sterkrade and Osterfeld in 1929. The Ruhrchemie AG synthetic oil plant ("Oberhausen-Holten" or "Sterkrade/Holten") was a bombing target of the Oil Campaign of World War II, and the US Forces had reached the plant by April 4, 1945.
Oberhausen was largely focused on mining and steel production until the 1960s. The last coal mine closed in 1992 and the large Thyssen iron and steel mill closed in 1997 (over 50,000 jobs). The Altenberg zinc factory (German: Zinkfabrik Altenberg) closed in 1981, was taken over by the Rheinisches Industriemuseum (English: Rhineland Industry Museum) in 1984, and opened in 1997.
In 1954 the city began hosting the International Short Film Festival Oberhausen, and the 1982 Deutscher Filmpreis was awarded to a group that wrote the Oberhausen Manifesto.
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