The hosts took an early lead, barely three minutes into the match, when Dortmund’s defence was cut open too easily and Selke raced through to confidently curl the ball past Mitch Langerak.
The visitors tried to mount a response but Bremen were defending solidly and looked dangerous themselves when they got forward. This was typified just before the half hour mark when Ilkay Gündogan was tackled and Lorenzen won the duel with Hummels but dragged his shot off target from a good position.
Jürgen Klopp’s side started to keep the ball better and try and stretch Bremen’s wall of green men. However they nearly conceded again just before half-time. Hummels’ poor header resulted in Lorenzen nearly going through again but Langerak was out quickly to make a last-ditch clearance.
At half-time, Klopp reshuffled the midfield bringing off Sebastian Kehl, who was having a bad day, and replacing him with Shinji Kagawa as Gündogan dropped back to partner Oli Kirch.
This improved Borussia slightly. Lukasz Piszczek had a cross deflected just wide and Kagawa had a costless header which the Japan international should have got on target.
It was the home side who scored next though as Marcel Schmelzer was found out of position, Selke surged into the open space and crossed for Bartels to tap in his side’s second.
Selke nearly got another as a shell-shocked Schwarzgelben switched off but the striker could not get his volley on target.
Dortmund were back in it in the 70th minute when Mats Hummels bravely headed in from a corner, giving his side hope.
Kagawa then blazed a great chance over before Matthias Ginter had a header saved by Raphael Wolf.
Bartels then nearly sealed it when he lofted it over Langerak only to see his effort crash off the post. Fortunately for him that miss mattered little as Bremen held on for a priceless win.