Located on the ancient trade route "strata coloniensis" the Lotharingianhamlet of Medamana (engl. between the streams, which bears an etymological similarity to the origins of the name for the Northern Italian city of Milan (lat.Mediolanum)) first appeared in the charter of the last Carolingian King, Louis the Child, 904 AD, thus existing "officially" for more than 1100 years.
In 1363 Mettmann was one of eight administrative burghs in the Earldom of Berg and Jülich. Later the burgh became independent at the hand of Counsellor to the Earl of Cleves and was allowed to build a wall and choose a mayor. The ability to toll and tax allowed the burgh to develop in commerce and trade.
However, the Prussian rulers did not prove to be very popular, as during the bread-riots of 1848–49 and the ensuing political upheavals, which hit the district of Düsseldorf among the hardest, policing was done from Berlin, excluding local accountability. Thus, the Prussian government regarded the Rhinelands as more of a colony, furnishing the bureaucracy, which was based in Düsseldorf, with civil servants that were drafted in from other regions of Prussia.
In the years following Germany's loss of World War II in 1945, Mettmann saw significant population increases driven mostly by the resettlement of citizens previously living in the eastern territories that had been ceded to Poland. Having seen almost no war-time destruction and being situated in a traditionally strong economic region, the town soon prospered, in line with a general period of rapid economic growth that acquired the moniker Wirtschaftswunder (economic miracle).
A shortage of industrial workers led to several recruitment campaigns in Mediterranean countries, starting with Italy in the early 1960s, and followed by Turkey later that decade. These communities soon thrived and established cultural markers such as the Pizza and kebab restaurants that are now ubiquitous throughout western Germany. Later events such as the Lebanese Civil War and the Balkan Wars were also reflected in the town's makeup, which now comprises communities of Turks, Kurds, Kashubians, Old Prussians, Silesians, Poles, Greeks, Croatians, Serbs, Albanians, Bosnians and Lebanese heritage, each distinct but generally well-integrated into the Rhenish-Westphalian majority population and its traditions.
Due to festivals and other events that took place in Mettmann to which many Brazilians were flown in, the town also became the host of a sizeable Brazilian community, this fact was also featured in the German movie Samba in Mettmann by the German/Italian filmmaker duo Hape Kerkeling and Angelo Colagrossi.[3]
Government and politics
Mettmann gave its name to the District of Mettmann. Although the administrative centre of the District of Mettmann changed often over the years, in 1954 the parliament of the LandNorth Rhine-Westphalia eventually decided to make Mettmann the district's administrative centre. In 1974–75, with the administrative boundary reform, the district lost several councils to the neighbouring cities Düsseldorf, Duisburg, Essen, and Wuppertal. The district name also changed from Düsseldorf-Mettmann to Mettmann during this reform. However, the regional Board of Inland Revenue—the "Finanzamt Düsseldorf-Mettmann"—serves both the municipalities forming the district of Mettmann, as well as the city of Düsseldorf proper.
