Hemer, Germany

The Reformation reached Hemer in the second half of the 16th century, when the Church of St. Vitus (Hemer) (German: Vituskirche) became Protestant (it was demolished in 1818, and replaced by the new Ebbergkirche nearby, built in 1819/20). Between 1697 and 1700 Jobst Edmund of Brabeck, the bishop of Hildesheim and a relative of the new owners of Haus Hemer, built the church of Saints Peter and Paul in Baroque style as the new church for the Roman Catholics.

During the Napoleonic period Hemer was a "mairie" in the "arrondissement" of Hagen in the "département" of the Ruhr of the Napoleonic satellite Grand Duchy of Berg.

On October 31, 1841, the Amt Hemer was created by 14 municipalities previously administered by the Landbezirk Iserlohn. It originally consisted of the municipalities of de:Becke, de:Brockhausen, de:Calle, de:Deilinghofen, de:Evingsen, de:Frönsberg, de:Ihmert, de:Kesbern, de:Landhausen, de:Lössel, de:Niederhemer, de:Oberhemer, de:Sundwig and de:Westig, as well as the manors (Rittergut) of Edelburg, Haus Hemer and Klusenstein. The Amt was part of the Kreis Iserlohn. In 1910 Niederhemer and Oberhemer were merged into Hemer. In 1920 Lössel became part of the Amt Oestrich.

The three industrial municipalities of Hemer, Sundwig and Westig had already grown into a single urban area by World War I. The idea of merging the three municipalities had already been mooted before the war, but due to the war it was not until 1920 that it was formally proposed. However, neither Sundwig nor Westig was initially enthusiastic and both later opposed the merger, mostly because the industrialists in the two places were worried that the tax rates would rise to the higher rates of Hemer. At the same time the city of Iserlohn unsuccessfully tried to incorporate several municipalities: Letmathe and Oestrich to the west, and also the industrial municipalities of the Amt Hemer. Because of the opposition, the merger of the three municipalities was delayed until 1929, when it was carried out by order of the Prussian Ministry of the Interior. At the same time the municipality of Calle was split into four parts: the northern Griesenbrauck was added to Landhausen; Bilveringsen passed to Hemer; the central part around Wermingsen was incorporated into Iserlohn; and the southern parts passed to Westig. With effect from August 1, 1929, Hemer, Sundwig and Westig, as well as Landhausen and the remains of Calle were merged, covering an area of 26.82 km2 (10.36 sq mi) and having a population of 13,809.

Also with effect from August 1, 1929, the municipality of Brockhausen was incorporated into Deilinghofen. The rural Brockhausen had only 588 inhabitants, and because of its low income was not considered to be financially viable as an independent unit.

On January 30, 1936, the municipality of Hemer received the right to call itself a city (Stadt).

In 1934 Hemer became a garrison town. In January 1934 it was decided to build three barracks in neighboring Iserlohn, which however was unable also to provide enough free land for a training area. At a meeting in June, land around the village of Apricke was selected, of which 3 km2 was bought by the state in autumn of the same year. The hospital was also inspected and later acquired as a military hospital. This was very welcome to Hemer, as the hospital had turned out to be far too big and too expensive for the Amt, and in this way it was possible later to build a new smaller hospital.

In December 1934 temporary barracks for one battalion were also built in Hemer. On October 30, 1936, an official garrison contract between Hemer and the state was signed, which included the building of permanent barracks. Construction was still unfinished when World War II started in 1939, but was then rushed through and the buildings were reassigned as a prisoner of war camp, the Stalag VI-A.

The first Polish POWs arrived in October 1939, and had to sleep on the floor as the beds were still not finished. Inadequate equipment remained a problem throughout the whole of the war, both because the material was needed at the front, and also because the camp was permanently overpopulated. At first the inmates were mostly from Poland and France, but after the beginning of the war with the Soviet Union in 1941 Soviet POWs quickly became the majority.