Barmen is a former industrial metropolis of the region of
Bergisches Land,
Germany, which merged with four other towns in 1929 to form the city of
Wuppertal. Barmen was the birthplace of
Friedrich Engels and together with the neighbouring town of
Elberfeld founded the first electric suspended
monorail tramway system, the
Schwebebahn floating tram. Barmen was a pioneering centre for both the early
industrial revolution on the European mainland, and for the socialist movement and its theory. It was the location of one of the first concentration camps in
Nazi Germany,
KZ Wuppertal-Barmen, later better known as Kemna concentration camp.