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Waltrop is a town in the district of Recklinghausen, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is situated on the Datteln-Hamm Canal, approx. 15 km east of Recklinghausen and 15 km north-west of Dortmund. The town Waltrop is surrounded by the Bauerschaften Lippe , Elmenhorst,... Brockenscheidt, Leveringhausen, Oberwiese and Holthausen. People already settled in this area about 2,000 years ago. The village developed around the parish church St. Peter which was built in the 9th/ 10th century. It is known that in 1432 Waltrop was a part of the county Dortmund. After the Soester Fehde, the archbishops of cologne could intersperse themselves against the counts of Mark, so that Waltrop became a part of the Vest Recklinghausen. The production of coal in the coal mine started in 1905. As a consequence, Waltrop grew larger and became an industrial city. The coal mine was closed down in 1974. In 1939, Waltrop got its municipal rights.
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The Otto group, or Otto , is the world's largest mail order company, operating in more than 20 countries. The family of executive board chairman Michael Otto owns the majority of the company. The company is based in Hamburg, Germany. Founded by Werner Otto in 1950. The first, hand produced, catalog offered 28 styles of shoes. During the 1950's the range and the business expands rapidly. Otto introduced telephone orders in 1963 and went online... in 1995. They were the former owners of Spiegel, Inc., , which filed for bankruptcy on March 17, 2003. On May 25, 2005, Spiegel, Inc., emerged from bankruptcy renamed Eddie Bauer Holdings and was primarily owned by Commerzbank.
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