Derby's Twin City

Derby is twinned with Osnabrück in Germany. The partnership treaty between the two cities was signed on 17 February 1976.

Osnabrück now has eleven twin and friendship cities: Derby (England), Anger (France), Haarlem (Netherlands), Çanakkale (Turkey), Tver (Russia), Greifswald (Germany), Vila Real (Portugal), Hefei (China), Evansville (America), Gmünd (Austria), Kwangmyong (South-Korea) and there are five envoys working at the twinning office in Osnabrück, who represent Derby, Angers, Haarlem, Tver and Çanakkale.

Every year, Derby and Osnabrück each appoint an Envoy who spends twelve months in his or her twin city. The Envoy's role is varied, but encompasses areas such as promoting the exchange of ideas between the two cities, as well as acting as an educational and general information officer to promote awareness of the twinning scheme. They can help in all sorts of ways by:

• translating;
• giving talks to local societies and schools;
• finding pen friends and short term host families during work placements;
• working in day-to-day contact to assist groups who want to get involved in twinning by identifying and approaching possible counterparts.

The exchange of Envoys between two cities is very unusual. The team of Envoys in Osnabrück changes every year and Osnabrück also sends envoys to Derby, Angers and Çanakkale. No other city in Germany participates in this exchange of Envoys, and in Britain, only one other city, Wigan, receives and sends an Envoy. For more information please visit Wigan Council website.

Why are Derby and Osnabrück twinned?

Osnabrück made contact with the British authorities as early as 1948, hoping to find an English twin town and therefore come to understand their former enemies from the Second World War. Unfortunately this attempt was unsuccessful and Osnabrück did not consider an English twin town again until 1972. The twinning agreement with Derby was signed four years later in the historical Hall of Peace in Osnabrück's town hall. Since then the two towns have exchanged envoys.

Derby and Osnabrück are also twinned because of certain common characteristics. For example:

• Both cities are surrounded by exceptionally attractive countryside: Derby by the Derbyshire Dales and Peak District National Park, and Osnabrück by the Teutoburger Wald (a forest) and the Wiehengebirge (hills).
• Both cities formed the inland crossover points of major trade routes in the Middle Ages. As a result, today they both still mark the intersecting points of several major motorways and major roads, and also crossover points for the rail networks.
• Both cities have local international airports nearby so form important travel links to the surrounding areas.
• The two cities also share a similar history, although the site of Derby was founded by the Romans on the River Derwent approximately 700 years before Charlemagne founded the site of Osnabrück on the River Hase around 780 AD.
• Throughout the Middle Ages both were successful market towns. One of Derby's particular specialities was wool, whereas Osnabrück produced very high quality linen.
• Derby and Osnabrück were granted the right to rule themselves as independent towns within 17 years of each other; Derby first, in 1154 by Henry II and Osnabrück later, in 1171 by Friedrich Barbarossa.
• In the later part of the Middle Ages, both cities grew at a similar rate to what was a considerable size for the time – with between 3,500 and 5,000 inhabitants.
• Although Derby (around 235,000 inhabitants) has nearly 1½ as many people as Osnabrück (around 165,000 inhabitants), Osnabrück (around 120 km²) is 1½ times bigger than Derby (around 80 km²).
• In the late Middle Ages both cities suffered severe outbreaks of the plague. In an outbreak in 1350, only seven marriages in Osnabrück were untouched by the disease.

But two cities are not just twinned because they have similar historical, economic or socio-economic characteristics: they are also twinned because of their differences which allow the citizens of each city to learn from one another. Derby and Osnabrück have as many differences as they do similarities. If you walk around Osnabrück's beautifully preserved old town you realise that the atmosphere is very different to Derby's modern city centre.

But if they were the same, how would either city benefit from the partnership?

How does this affect me?

Cities are twinned in order to give inhabitants of both places the opportunity to interact with their international neighbours. Town twinning intends to enhance international understanding and break down social barriers. This operates on every level and aims to benefit everyone. Twinning helps us to celebrate the differences as well as the similarities between two cities.

Anybody can get involved with twinning. Whether you are interested in visiting Derby's twin city Osnabrück for a holiday, whether you want to participate in an exchange through a school, a sports club or a musical group, or if you simply want to learn German. There are opportunities available for every kind of trip to Osnabrück imaginable!

All you have to do is contact one of the Envoys:

Laura Schulz in Derby: twinning@derby.gov.uk
Grace Panti-Amoa in Osnabrück: botschafterin-gb@osnabrueck.de

If you are interested in all things German and would like to experience German culture first-hand without necessarily travelling all the way to Germany, perhaps you are interested in hosting German visitors (mainly students) from Osnabrück. You do not even have to speak German!

Either complete the online form below or print out a Host Families Application Form -  40kb - and send it to Laura or Grace.

Derby also has friendship links with Kapurthala in Punjab, India, Haarlem in the Netherlands (also one of Osnabrück's twin cities) and Foncquevilliers in France. The city has also joined Derbyshire County Council and South Derbyshire District Council in a link with Toyota City in Japan and in 2004 Derby signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Changzhi City in China.