Flensburg
Encyclopedia
Flensburg is an independent town
in the north of the German state of Schleswig-Holstein
. Flensburg is the centre of the region of Southern Schleswig
. After Kiel
and Lübeck
it is the third largest town in Schleswig-Holstein.
In May 1945 Flensburg was the seat of the last government of Nazi Germany, the so-called Flensburg government
led by Grand Admiral
Karl Dönitz
, which was in power from 1 May (Hitler's death) until its dissolution on 23 May.
The nearest larger towns are Kiel
(86 km south) and Odense
in Denmark (92 km northeast).
Flensburg's city centre lies about 7 km from the Danish border.
In Germany, Flensburg is known for
Flensburg is situated in the north of the German state
Schleswig-Holstein
, on the German-Danish border. After Westerland on the island of Sylt
it is Germany's northernmost town. Flensburg lies at the innermost tip of the Flensburg Fjord
, an inlet of the Baltic Sea
. Flensburg's eastern shore is part of the Angeln
peninsula.
district and Denmark
's Region Syddanmark
all border on Flensburg:
Glücksburg
(Amt
-free town), Wees
(Amt Langballig), Maasbüll
, Hürup
, Tastrup
and Freienwill
(all in Amt Hürup), Jarplund-Weding
, Handewitt
(Amt Handewitt), Harrislee
(Amt-free community) and Aabenraa Municipality
on the Danish side of the Flensburg Fjord.
The communities with their statistical areas:
by Danish
settlers. In 1284, its town rights were confirmed and the town quickly rose to become one of the most important in the Duchy of Schleswig. Unlike Holstein
, however, Schleswig did not belong to the German Empire. Flensburg was not a member of the Hanseatic League
, but it did maintain contacts with this important trading network.
Historians presume that there were several reasons for choosing this spot for settlement:
Herrings, especially kipper
ed, were what brought about the blossoming of the town's trade in the Middle Ages
. They were sent inland and to almost every Europe
an country.
On 28 October 1412, Queen Margaret I of Denmark
died on board a ship in Flensburg Harbour of the Plague
.
From time to time plagues such as bubonic plague, caused mainly by rat fleas (Xenopsylla cheopis, a parasite found on brown rat
s), "red" dysentery
and other scourges killed a great deal of Flensburg's population. Lepers
were strictly isolated, namely at the St.-Jürgen-Hospital (Helligåndshspital, built before 1290), which lay far outside the town's gates, where the St. Jürgen Church is nowadays. About 1500, syphilis
also appeared. The church hospital "Zum Heiligen Geist" ("To the Holy Ghost") stood in Große Straße, now Flensburg's pedestrian precinct.
A Flensburger's everyday life was very hard, and the old roads and paths were bad. The main streets were neither paved nor lit at night. When they got really bad, the citizens had to make the dung-filled streets passable with wooden pathways. Only the few upper-class houses had windows. In 1485, a great fire struck Flensburg. Even storm tide
s beset the town at times. Every household in the town kept livestock
in the house and the yard. Townsfolk furthermore had their own cowherds and a swineherd.
n area. Even as far away as the Mediterranean
, Greenland
and the Caribbean
, Flensburg merchants were active. The most important commodities, after herring, were sugar
and whale oil
, the latter from whaling
off Greenland. Only the Thirty Years' War
put an end to this boom time as the town was becoming Protestant
and thereby ever more German culturally and linguistically, while the neighbouring countryside remained decidedly Danish.
In the 18th century, thanks to the rum
trade, Flensburg had yet another boom. Cane sugar was imported from the Danish West Indies
(now the US Virgin Islands
) and refined in Flensburg. Only in the 19th century, as a result of industrialization, was the town at last outdone by competition from nearby cities such as Copenhagen
and Hamburg
.
The rum blended in Flensburg then became a secondary industry in West Indian trade, and as of 1864 no longer with the Danish West Indies, but rather with Jamaica
, then ruled by the British
. It was imported from there, blended, and sold all over Europe. There is nowadays only one active rum distillery in Flensburg, "A. H. Johannsen".
after the Second Schleswig War in 1864. There is still, however, a considerable Danish community in the town today. Some estimates put the percentage of Flensburgers who belong to it as high as 25%; other estimates put that percentage much lower. The SSW
political party representing the minority usually gains 20-25% of the votes in local elections. Before 1864, more than 70% belonged to what is now the minority, witnessed even today by the great number of Danish surnames in the Flensburg telephone directory
(Asmussen, Claussen, Jacobsen, Jensen, Petersen, etc.). The upper classes and the learned at that time, however, were German, and since 1864, the German language
has prevailed in the town.
On 1 April 1889, Flensburg became an independent city
(kreisfreie Stadt) within the Province of Schleswig-Holstein
, and at the same time still kept its status as seat of the Flensburg district. In 1920, the League of Nations
decided that the matter of the German-Danish border
would be settled by a vote. As a result of the plebiscite, and the way the voting zones were laid out, some of Flensburg's northern neighbourhoods were ceded to Denmark, whereas Flensburg as a whole voted with a great majority to stay in Germany.
In return for this great pro-German majority, the town of Flensburg was given a large hall, the "Deutsches Haus", which was endowed by the government as "thanks for German loyalty".
During the Second World War, the town was left almost unscathed by the air raids that devastated other German cities. However, in 1943, 20 children died when their nursery school was bombed, and shortly after the war ended, an explosion at a local munitions storage site claimed many victims.
In 1945, Admiral Karl Dönitz
, who was briefly President
(Reichspräsident
) of Nazi Germany
once Adolf Hitler
had appointed him his successor and then killed himself, fled to Flensburg with what was left of his government
where they were arrested and deposed at the Navy School in Mürwik by British troops. Flensburg was thereby, for a few weeks, the seat of the last Third Reich government, and also Germany's capital.
In the years after the Second World War, there was in South Schleswig, and particularly in Flensburg a strong pro-Danish movement connected with the idea of the "Eider Politics". Their goal was for the town, and indeed all or most of Schleswig – the whole area north of the river Eider
–-to be united with Denmark. In the years following 1945, Flensburg's town council was dominated by Danish parties, and the town had a Danish mayor.
The town of Flensburg profited from the planned location of military installations. Since German Reunification
, the number of soldiers has dropped to about 8,000. Since Denmark's entry into the European Economic Community (now the European Union
), border trade has played an important role in Flensburg's economic life. Some Danish businesses, such as Danfoss
, have set up shop just south of the border for tax reasons.
In 1970, the Flensburg district was expanded to include the municipalities in the Amt of Medelby, formerly in the Südtondern district, and in 1974 it was united with the Schleswig district to form the district of Schleswig-Flensburg, whose district seat was the town of Schleswig
. Flensburg thereby lost its function as a district seat, but it remained an independent (district-free) town.
¹ Census results
The Danish minority
in Flensburg and the surrounding towns run their own schools, libraries and Lutheran churches from which the German
majority is not excluded. The co-existence of these two groups is considered a sound and healthy symbiosis
.
In Denmark, Flensburg seems to be mainly associated with its duty-free shops where, amongst other things, spirits
, beer
and candy
can be purchased at cheaper prices than in Denmark
. Currently the duty free shops are able to sell canned beer to Scandinavians without paying deposits as long as the beverage is not consumed in Germany
. However, owing to the vagaries of the money markets, the bargains are not as great as they once were.
This "town government" lasted until 1742 when the "northern mayor" was made the "directing mayor" by the Danish King. From this position came what was later known as the First Mayor. The second mayor simply bore the title "mayor" ("Bürgermeister"). After the town had been ceded to Prussia, the mayors were elected by the townsfolk as of 1870, and the First Mayor was given the title Oberbürgermeister, still the usual title in German towns and cities. During the Third Reich, the town head was appointed by those who held power locally at the time.
In 1945, after the Second World War, a twofold leadership based on a British model was introduced. Heading the town stood foremost the Oberbürgermeister, who was chosen by the town council and whose job was as chairman of council and the municipality. Next to him was an Oberstadtdirektor ("Higher Town Director") who was leader of administration. In 1950, when Schleswig-Holstein brought its new laws for municipalities into force, the title Oberbürgermeister was transferred (once again) to this latter official. At first, and for a while, he was chosen by the council. Since that time, the former official has been called the Stadtpräsident ("Town President"), and is likewise chosen by the council after each municipal election. However, since 1999, the Oberbürgermeister has been chosen directly by the voters as once before.
The first directly elected Oberbürgermeister Hermann Stell died on 4 May 2004 of a stroke
. On 14 November of the same year, the independent candidate suggested by the CDU
Klaus Tscheuschner was elected to replace Stell with 59% of the vote. In the municipal election in 2003, Hans Hermann Laturnus was elected Stadtpräsident.
In the municipal election of 2008, the local list WiF (Wir in Flensburg) was elected largest group in the Council Assembly of Flensburg, with its 10 city councillors
out of 43, closely followed by the South Schleswig Voter Federation
(Südschleswigscher Wählerverband) (9 councillors) and the CDU
(9 councillors). Also elected was the SPD
(seven councillors), the Greens
(3 councillors), the Left
(3 councillors) and the FDP
(2 councillors). Nevertheless, since the WiF-group was divided into two different caucuses, the SSW-group has been the largest group in the Council Assembly. The current City President is Dr. Christian Dewanger (WiF).
In the mayoral election of 2010, Simon Faber (SSW) was elected Lord Mayor of the town in a run-off election with 54,8 % of the vote. He is the first person from the Danish Minority to occupy this office since the end of World War II
.
; above is a red shield with the silver Holsatian nettle leaf on it. The town's flag is blue, overlaid with the coat of arms in colour.
The lions symbolize Schleswig, and the nettle leaf Holstein, thus expressing the town's unity with these two historic lands. The tower recalls Flensburg's old town rights and the old castle that was the town's namesake (Burg means "castle" in German). The waves refer to the town's position on the Flensburg Fjord.
The coat of arms was granted the town by King Wilhelm II of Prussia in 1901, and once again in modified, newly approved form on 19 January 1937 by Schleswig-Holstein's High President (Oberpräsident)
Carlisle
, United Kingdom Neubrandenburg
, Germany Słupsk, Poland
. Furthermore, Federal Highways (Bundesstraßen) B 200 and B 199 pass through the municipal area.
Also west of the town lies the Flensburg-Schäferhaus airport
.
Local transport is provided by several bus
lines such as "Aktiv Bus GmbH" and "Allgemeinen Flensburger Autobus Gesellschaft" (AFAG) along with others. They all operate within an integrated fare system within the Flensburg transport community (Verkehrsgemeinschaft Flensburg). They also all subscribe to the Schleswig-Holstein tariff system whereby anyone travelling from anywhere in Schleswig-Holstein or Hamburg
may use Flensburg buses free to connect with their final destinations. It works both ways, of course, and a rider boarding any bus in Flensburg need only name his destination anywhere in Schleswig-Holstein or Hamburg, pay his fare, and travel all the way to that destination on the one ticket.
The current Flensburg station
was opened in 1927 south of the Old Town. From there, trains run on the main line to Neumünster and on to Hamburg
and to Fredericia
, among them some InterCity
connections as well as trains serving the line running to Eckernförde
and Kiel
. Another stop for regional trains to Neumünster is to be found in Flensburg-Weiche. The stretch of line to Niebüll
has been out of service since 1981, efforts to open it again notwithstanding. The secondary line to Husum and the lesser lines to Kappeln
and Satrup
no longer exist. Even the tram
way, which opened in 1881 to horse-drawn trams, was electrified in 1906 and at one point ran four lines was replaced with buses in 1973.
publisher) is published daily, as is the bilingual (German and Danish) Flensborg Avis
. There are also two weekly advertising flyers, "MoinMoin" (named for a common regional greeting) and "Wochenschau" ("Newsreel") as well as an illustrated town paper ("Flensburg Journal"), the Flensburg "campus newspaper" and a town magazine ("Partout"). Norddeutscher Rundfunk
(NDR) runs one of its oldest studios right near the Deutsches Haus. Flensburg is the site of a number of radio transmission facilities: on the Fuchsberg
in the community of Engelsby, Norddeutscher Rundfunk runs a transmission facility for VHF, television
and medium wave. A cage aerial
is mounted on a 215 m-high guyed, earthed steel-lattice mast. This transmitter is successor to the Flensburg transmitter through which the announcement of Germany's surrender was broadcast on 8 May 1945.
The broadcasting tower on the Fuchsberg is used for the programmes of Norddeutscher Rundfunk
and Danmarks Radio
while the countrywide VHF radio programmes of R.SH, delta radio, Deutschlandfunk
and Deutschlandradio
are aired from the Flensburg-Freienwill tower.
Flensburg has no local transmitter of its own because Schleswig-Holstein's state broadcasting laws only allow transmitters that broadcast statewide. From 1993 to 1996, "Radio Flensburg" tried to establish a local Flensburg radio station by using a local transmitter just across the border in Denmark. It had to be shut down, however, owing to the Danish transmitter's own financial problems. From October 2006 Radio Flensburg broadcast as an internet radio
.
The "Offener Kanal" ("Open Channel") shows programmes made by local citizens seven days a week, mostly in the evenings, and can also be seen on cable television.
Also on hand in Flensburg is a complete range of training and professional schools, including a number of Danish ones. Flensburg is home to Schleswig-Holstein's Central State Library, a university library, a town bookshop and the Danish Central Library for South Schleswig. The last named offers not only intensive courses in Danish, but also, with its "Slesvigsk samling" collection, a vast repository of unique material about the border area's history and culture. Flensburg has an extensive town archive. The Danish minority's archive is housed at the Danish Central Library.
Flensburg has a well preserved Old Town with many things to see from centuries gone by. Characteristic is the row along the waterfront. Three of the four old town cores are found along this north-south axis. The building boom in Imperial times led to a partial rebuilding of the Old Town, but without destroying its structure, and rather leading to notable expansion of the town. Virtually unscathed in the Second World War, Flensburg, like other places in Germany, adopted a policy of getting rid of old buildings and building anew in the style of the times. This trend was limited in Flensburg by a lack of money, but before the policy was finally stopped in the late 1970s, countless old buildings had been demolished in the north and east Old Town to be replaced by newer structures. Despite great losses, Flensburg still comes across as having a compact, well preserved Old Town in the valley with good additions to what was built in the founders' time on the surrounding heights.
Independent city
An independent city is a city that does not form part of another general-purpose local government entity. These type of cities should not be confused with city-states , which are fully sovereign cities that are not part of any other sovereign state.-Historical precursors:In the Holy Roman Empire,...
in the north of the German state of Schleswig-Holstein
Schleswig-Holstein
Schleswig-Holstein is the northernmost of the sixteen states of Germany, comprising most of the historical duchy of Holstein and the southern part of the former Duchy of Schleswig...
. Flensburg is the centre of the region of Southern Schleswig
Southern Schleswig
Southern Schleswig denotes the southern half of the former Duchy of Schleswig on the Jutland Peninsula. The geographical area today covers the thirty or forty northernmost kilometers of Germany up to the Flensburg Fjord, where it borders on Denmark...
. After Kiel
Kiel
Kiel is the capital and most populous city in the northern German state of Schleswig-Holstein, with a population of 238,049 .Kiel is approximately north of Hamburg. Due to its geographic location in the north of Germany, the southeast of the Jutland peninsula, and the southwestern shore of the...
and Lübeck
Lübeck
The Hanseatic City of Lübeck is the second-largest city in Schleswig-Holstein, in northern Germany, and one of the major ports of Germany. It was for several centuries the "capital" of the Hanseatic League and, because of its Brick Gothic architectural heritage, is listed by UNESCO as a World...
it is the third largest town in Schleswig-Holstein.
In May 1945 Flensburg was the seat of the last government of Nazi Germany, the so-called Flensburg government
Flensburg government
The Flensburg Government , also known as the Flensburg Cabinet and the Dönitz Government , was the short-lived administration that attempted to rule the Third Reich during most of May 1945 at the end of World War II in Europe...
led by Grand Admiral
Grand Admiral
Grand admiral is a historic naval rank, generally being the highest such rank present in any particular country. Its most notable use was in Germany — the German word is Großadmiral.-France:...
Karl Dönitz
Karl Dönitz
Karl Dönitz was a German naval commander during World War II. He started his career in the German Navy during World War I. In 1918, while he was in command of , the submarine was sunk by British forces and Dönitz was taken prisoner...
, which was in power from 1 May (Hitler's death) until its dissolution on 23 May.
The nearest larger towns are Kiel
Kiel
Kiel is the capital and most populous city in the northern German state of Schleswig-Holstein, with a population of 238,049 .Kiel is approximately north of Hamburg. Due to its geographic location in the north of Germany, the southeast of the Jutland peninsula, and the southwestern shore of the...
(86 km south) and Odense
Odense
The city of Odense is the third largest city in Denmark.Odense City has a population of 167,615 and is the main city of the island of Funen...
in Denmark (92 km northeast).
Flensburg's city centre lies about 7 km from the Danish border.
In Germany, Flensburg is known for
- the nationwide database of traffic violators
- its beer Flensburger Pilsener, also called "Flens"
- the centre of the Danish national minority in GermanyDanish minority of Southern SchleswigThe Danish ethnic minority in Southern Schleswig, Germany, has existed by this name since 1920, when the Schleswig Plebiscite split German-ruled Schleswig into two parts: Northern Schleswig, with a Danish majority and a German minority was united with Denmark, while Southern Schleswig remained a...
- the greeting MoinMoinMoin is a Frisian and Low German greeting from East Frisia, Southern Schleswig , Bremen, Hamburg, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, the eastern Netherlands and Southern Jutland in Denmark, meaning "hello".-Usage:...
- the large erotic mail-order companies Beate UhseBeate Uhse AGBeate Uhse AG is a German industry group with focus on selling adult entertainment in the form of sex toys, lingerie, clothing and pornography. It is the most successful company in the German sex industry, and the country's leading pornography retailer...
and Orion - its handball team SG Flensburg-HandewittSG Flensburg-HandewittSG Flensburg-Handewitt is a team handball club from Germany. Currently, SG Flensburg-Handewitt competes in the German First League of Handball .-Accomplishments:*National Championship of Germany: 1**2004*National Cup of Germany: 3...
- the Naval Academy at Mürwik with its sail training ship Gorch FockGorch Fock (1958)The Gorch Fock is a tall ship of the German Navy . She is the second ship of that name and a sister ship of the Gorch Fock built in 1933. Both ships are named in honor of the German writer Johann Kinau who wrote under the pseudonym "Gorch Fock" and died in the battle of Jutland/Skagerrak in 1916...
Geography
States of Germany
Germany is made up of sixteen which are partly sovereign constituent states of the Federal Republic of Germany. Land literally translates as "country", and constitutionally speaking, they are constituent countries...
Schleswig-Holstein
Schleswig-Holstein
Schleswig-Holstein is the northernmost of the sixteen states of Germany, comprising most of the historical duchy of Holstein and the southern part of the former Duchy of Schleswig...
, on the German-Danish border. After Westerland on the island of Sylt
Sylt
Sylt is an island in northern Germany, part of Nordfriesland district, Schleswig-Holstein, and well known for the distinctive shape of its shoreline. It belongs to the North Frisian Islands and is the largest island in North Frisia...
it is Germany's northernmost town. Flensburg lies at the innermost tip of the Flensburg Fjord
Flensburg Fjord
Flensburg Fjord , occasionally known as Flensburg Firth, is a 50 km long inlet of the Baltic Sea. The fjord or firth forms part of the border between Germany to the south and Denmark to the north....
, an inlet of the Baltic Sea
Baltic Sea
The Baltic Sea is a brackish mediterranean sea located in Northern Europe, from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from 20°E to 26°E longitude. It is bounded by the Scandinavian Peninsula, the mainland of Europe, and the Danish islands. It drains into the Kattegat by way of the Øresund, the Great Belt and...
. Flensburg's eastern shore is part of the Angeln
Angeln
Modern Angeln, also known as Anglia , is a small peninsula in Southern Schleswig in the northern Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, protruding into the Bay of Kiel...
peninsula.
Neighbouring municipalities
Clockwise from the northeast, beginning at the German side of the Flensburg Fjord, the following communities in Schleswig-FlensburgSchleswig-Flensburg
Schleswig-Flensburg is a district in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It is bounded by the districts of Rendsburg-Eckernförde, Dithmarschen and Nordfriesland, the Region Syddanmark in Denmark, the city of Flensburg and the Baltic Sea.-History:Written history in the area began about 800 AD, when the...
district and Denmark
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
's Region Syddanmark
Region Syddanmark
Region of Southern Denmark is an administrative region of Denmark established on 1 January 2007 as part of the 2007 Danish Municipal Reform, which replaced the traditional counties with five larger regions. At the same time, smaller municipalities were merged into larger units, cutting the number...
all border on Flensburg:
Glücksburg
Glücksburg
Glücksburg is a small town in the district Schleswig-Flensburg, in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany.It is situated on the south side of the Flensburg Fjord, an inlet of the Baltic Sea, approx. 10 km northeast of Flensburg...
(Amt
Amt (subnational entity)
Amt is a type of administrative division governing a group of municipalities, today only found in Germany, but formerly also common in northern European countries. Its size and functions differ by country and the term is roughly equivalent to a U.S...
-free town), Wees
Wees
Wees is a municipality in the district of Schleswig-Flensburg, in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany....
(Amt Langballig), Maasbüll
Maasbüll
Maasbüll is a municipality in the district of Schleswig-Flensburg, in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany....
, Hürup
Hürup
Hürup is a municipality in the district of Schleswig-Flensburg, in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It is situated approx. 7 km southeast of Flensburg.Hürup is the seat of the Amt of Hürup....
, Tastrup
Tastrup
Tastrup is a municipality in the district of Schleswig-Flensburg, in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany....
and Freienwill
Freienwill
Freienwill is a municipality in the district of Schleswig-Flensburg, in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany....
(all in Amt Hürup), Jarplund-Weding
Jarplund-Weding
Jarplund-Weding is a former municipality in the district of Schleswig-Flensburg, in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. On March 1, 2008 the municipality was incorporated into the municipality Handewitt....
, Handewitt
Handewitt
Handewitt is a municipality in the district of Schleswig-Flensburg, in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It is situated near the border with Denmark, approx. 7 km west of Flensburg.- References :...
(Amt Handewitt), Harrislee
Harrislee
Harrislee is a municipality in the district of Schleswig-Flensburg, in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It is situated on the border with Denmark, approx. 4 km northwest of Flensburg....
(Amt-free community) and Aabenraa Municipality
Aabenraa Municipality
Aabenraa Municipality or Åbenrå Municipality is a municipality in Region of Southern Denmark in south-western Denmark. It has existed in its current form since 1 January 2007 following a merger of several smaller municipalities. The municipality has an area of 951 km² and a total population...
on the Danish side of the Flensburg Fjord.
Constituent communities
The town of Flensburg is divided into 13 communities, which themselves are further divided into 38 statistical areas. Constituent communities have a two-digit number and the statistical areas a three-digit number.The communities with their statistical areas:
|
|
|
Middle Ages
Flensburg had been founded at the latest by 1200 at the innermost end of the Flensburg FjordFlensburg Fjord
Flensburg Fjord , occasionally known as Flensburg Firth, is a 50 km long inlet of the Baltic Sea. The fjord or firth forms part of the border between Germany to the south and Denmark to the north....
by Danish
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
settlers. In 1284, its town rights were confirmed and the town quickly rose to become one of the most important in the Duchy of Schleswig. Unlike Holstein
Holstein
Holstein is the region between the rivers Elbe and Eider. It is part of Schleswig-Holstein, the northernmost state of Germany....
, however, Schleswig did not belong to the German Empire. Flensburg was not a member of the Hanseatic League
Hanseatic League
The Hanseatic League was an economic alliance of trading cities and their merchant guilds that dominated trade along the coast of Northern Europe...
, but it did maintain contacts with this important trading network.
Historians presume that there were several reasons for choosing this spot for settlement:
- Shelter from heavy winds
- Trade route between Holstein and North JutlandJutlandJutland , historically also called Cimbria, is the name of the peninsula that juts out in Northern Europe toward the rest of Scandinavia, forming the mainland part of Denmark. It has the North Sea to its west, Kattegat and Skagerrak to its north, the Baltic Sea to its east, and the Danish–German...
(namely the HærvejenHærvejenHærvejen is the name given to an ancient trackway in Denmark and Schleswig-Holstein. The route runs from Viborg via Flensburg to Hamburg, the territory of which it entered at Ochsenzoll and where it connected with other roads...
or Ochsenweg, a name for a series of roads between Schleswig-Holstein and Jutland, possibly dating from the Bronze AgeBronze AgeThe Bronze Age is a period characterized by the use of copper and its alloy bronze as the chief hard materials in the manufacture of some implements and weapons. Chronologically, it stands between the Stone Age and Iron Age...
) - Trade route between North FrisiaNorth FrisiaNorth Frisia or Northern Friesland is the northernmost portion of Frisia, located primarily in Germany between the rivers Eider and Wiedau/Vidå. It includes a number of islands, e.g., Sylt, Föhr, Amrum, Nordstrand, and Heligoland.-History:...
and AngelnAngelnModern Angeln, also known as Anglia , is a small peninsula in Southern Schleswig in the northern Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, protruding into the Bay of Kiel...
(Angelbovej) - A good herringHerringHerring is an oily fish of the genus Clupea, found in the shallow, temperate waters of the North Pacific and the North Atlantic oceans, including the Baltic Sea. Three species of Clupea are recognized. The main taxa, the Atlantic herring and the Pacific herring may each be divided into subspecies...
fishery
Herrings, especially kipper
Kipper
A kipper is a whole herring, a small, oily fish, that has been split from tail to head, gutted, salted or pickled, and cold smoked.In the United Kingdom, in Japan, and in some North American regions they are often eaten for breakfast...
ed, were what brought about the blossoming of the town's trade in the Middle Ages
Middle Ages
The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...
. They were sent inland and to almost every Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
an country.
On 28 October 1412, Queen Margaret I of Denmark
Margaret I of Denmark
Margaret I was Queen of Denmark, Norway and Sweden and founder of the Kalmar Union, which united the Scandinavian countries for over a century. Although she acted as queen regnant, the laws of contemporary Danish succession denied her formal queenship. Her title in Denmark was derived from her...
died on board a ship in Flensburg Harbour of the Plague
Bubonic plague
Plague is a deadly infectious disease that is caused by the enterobacteria Yersinia pestis, named after the French-Swiss bacteriologist Alexandre Yersin. Primarily carried by rodents and spread to humans via fleas, the disease is notorious throughout history, due to the unrivaled scale of death...
.
From time to time plagues such as bubonic plague, caused mainly by rat fleas (Xenopsylla cheopis, a parasite found on brown rat
Brown Rat
The brown rat, common rat, sewer rat, Hanover rat, Norway rat, Brown Norway rat, Norwegian rat, or wharf rat is one of the best known and most common rats....
s), "red" dysentery
Dysentery
Dysentery is an inflammatory disorder of the intestine, especially of the colon, that results in severe diarrhea containing mucus and/or blood in the faeces with fever and abdominal pain. If left untreated, dysentery can be fatal.There are differences between dysentery and normal bloody diarrhoea...
and other scourges killed a great deal of Flensburg's population. Lepers
Leprosy
Leprosy or Hansen's disease is a chronic disease caused by the bacteria Mycobacterium leprae and Mycobacterium lepromatosis. Named after physician Gerhard Armauer Hansen, leprosy is primarily a granulomatous disease of the peripheral nerves and mucosa of the upper respiratory tract; skin lesions...
were strictly isolated, namely at the St.-Jürgen-Hospital (Helligåndshspital, built before 1290), which lay far outside the town's gates, where the St. Jürgen Church is nowadays. About 1500, syphilis
Syphilis
Syphilis is a sexually transmitted infection caused by the spirochete bacterium Treponema pallidum subspecies pallidum. The primary route of transmission is through sexual contact; however, it may also be transmitted from mother to fetus during pregnancy or at birth, resulting in congenital syphilis...
also appeared. The church hospital "Zum Heiligen Geist" ("To the Holy Ghost") stood in Große Straße, now Flensburg's pedestrian precinct.
A Flensburger's everyday life was very hard, and the old roads and paths were bad. The main streets were neither paved nor lit at night. When they got really bad, the citizens had to make the dung-filled streets passable with wooden pathways. Only the few upper-class houses had windows. In 1485, a great fire struck Flensburg. Even storm tide
Storm tide
A storm tide is a tide with a high flood period caused by a storm. Storm tides can be a severe danger to the coast and the people living along the coast. The water level can rise to more than 5 meters above the normal tide....
s beset the town at times. Every household in the town kept livestock
Livestock
Livestock refers to one or more domesticated animals raised in an agricultural setting to produce commodities such as food, fiber and labor. The term "livestock" as used in this article does not include poultry or farmed fish; however the inclusion of these, especially poultry, within the meaning...
in the house and the yard. Townsfolk furthermore had their own cowherds and a swineherd.
Early modern times
After the Hanse fell in the 16th century, Flensburg was said to be one of the most important trading towns in the ScandinaviaScandinavia
Scandinavia is a cultural, historical and ethno-linguistic region in northern Europe that includes the three kingdoms of Denmark, Norway and Sweden, characterized by their common ethno-cultural heritage and language. Modern Norway and Sweden proper are situated on the Scandinavian Peninsula,...
n area. Even as far away as the Mediterranean
Mediterranean Sea
The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean surrounded by the Mediterranean region and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Anatolia and Europe, on the south by North Africa, and on the east by the Levant...
, Greenland
Greenland
Greenland is an autonomous country within the Kingdom of Denmark, located between the Arctic and Atlantic Oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Though physiographically a part of the continent of North America, Greenland has been politically and culturally associated with Europe for...
and the Caribbean
Caribbean Sea
The Caribbean Sea is a sea of the Atlantic Ocean located in the tropics of the Western hemisphere. It is bounded by Mexico and Central America to the west and southwest, to the north by the Greater Antilles, and to the east by the Lesser Antilles....
, Flensburg merchants were active. The most important commodities, after herring, were sugar
Sugar
Sugar is a class of edible crystalline carbohydrates, mainly sucrose, lactose, and fructose, characterized by a sweet flavor.Sucrose in its refined form primarily comes from sugar cane and sugar beet...
and whale oil
Whale oil
Whale oil is the oil obtained from the blubber of various species of whales, particularly the three species of right whale and the bowhead whale prior to the modern era, as well as several other species of baleen whale...
, the latter from whaling
Whaling
Whaling is the hunting of whales mainly for meat and oil. Its earliest forms date to at least 3000 BC. Various coastal communities have long histories of sustenance whaling and harvesting beached whales...
off Greenland. Only the Thirty Years' War
Thirty Years' War
The Thirty Years' War was fought primarily in what is now Germany, and at various points involved most countries in Europe. It was one of the most destructive conflicts in European history....
put an end to this boom time as the town was becoming Protestant
Protestantism
Protestantism is one of the three major groupings within Christianity. It is a movement that began in Germany in the early 16th century as a reaction against medieval Roman Catholic doctrines and practices, especially in regards to salvation, justification, and ecclesiology.The doctrines of the...
and thereby ever more German culturally and linguistically, while the neighbouring countryside remained decidedly Danish.
In the 18th century, thanks to the rum
Rum
Rum is a distilled alcoholic beverage made from sugarcane by-products such as molasses, or directly from sugarcane juice, by a process of fermentation and distillation. The distillate, a clear liquid, is then usually aged in oak barrels...
trade, Flensburg had yet another boom. Cane sugar was imported from the Danish West Indies
Danish West Indies
The Danish West Indies or "Danish Antilles", were a colony of Denmark-Norway and later Denmark in the Caribbean. They were sold to the United States in 1916 in the Treaty of the Danish West Indies and became the United States Virgin Islands in 1917...
(now the US Virgin Islands
United States Virgin Islands
The Virgin Islands of the United States are a group of islands in the Caribbean that are an insular area of the United States. The islands are geographically part of the Virgin Islands archipelago and are located in the Leeward Islands of the Lesser Antilles.The U.S...
) and refined in Flensburg. Only in the 19th century, as a result of industrialization, was the town at last outdone by competition from nearby cities such as Copenhagen
Copenhagen
Copenhagen is the capital and largest city of Denmark, with an urban population of 1,199,224 and a metropolitan population of 1,930,260 . With the completion of the transnational Øresund Bridge in 2000, Copenhagen has become the centre of the increasingly integrating Øresund Region...
and Hamburg
Hamburg
-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...
.
The rum blended in Flensburg then became a secondary industry in West Indian trade, and as of 1864 no longer with the Danish West Indies, but rather with Jamaica
Jamaica
Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length, up to in width and 10,990 square kilometres in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...
, then ruled by the British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
. It was imported from there, blended, and sold all over Europe. There is nowadays only one active rum distillery in Flensburg, "A. H. Johannsen".
History as a German town
Between 1460 and 1864, Flensburg was, after Copenhagen, the second biggest port in the Kingdom of Denmark, but passed to the Kingdom of PrussiaKingdom of Prussia
The Kingdom of Prussia was a German kingdom from 1701 to 1918. Until the defeat of Germany in World War I, it comprised almost two-thirds of the area of the German Empire...
after the Second Schleswig War in 1864. There is still, however, a considerable Danish community in the town today. Some estimates put the percentage of Flensburgers who belong to it as high as 25%; other estimates put that percentage much lower. The SSW
South Schleswig Voter Federation
The South Schleswig Voter Federation is a regional political party in Schleswig-Holstein in northern Germany...
political party representing the minority usually gains 20-25% of the votes in local elections. Before 1864, more than 70% belonged to what is now the minority, witnessed even today by the great number of Danish surnames in the Flensburg telephone directory
Telephone directory
A telephone directory is a listing of telephone subscribers in a geographical area or subscribers to services provided by the organization that publishes the directory...
(Asmussen, Claussen, Jacobsen, Jensen, Petersen, etc.). The upper classes and the learned at that time, however, were German, and since 1864, the German language
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
has prevailed in the town.
On 1 April 1889, Flensburg became an independent city
Independent city
An independent city is a city that does not form part of another general-purpose local government entity. These type of cities should not be confused with city-states , which are fully sovereign cities that are not part of any other sovereign state.-Historical precursors:In the Holy Roman Empire,...
(kreisfreie Stadt) within the Province of Schleswig-Holstein
Province of Schleswig-Holstein
The Province of Schleswig-Holstein was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia and the Free State of Prussia from 1868 to 1946. It was created from the Duchies of Schleswig and Holstein, which had been conquered by Prussia and the Austrian Empire from Denmark in the Second War of Schleswig in 1864...
, and at the same time still kept its status as seat of the Flensburg district. In 1920, the League of Nations
League of Nations
The League of Nations was an intergovernmental organization founded as a result of the Paris Peace Conference that ended the First World War. It was the first permanent international organization whose principal mission was to maintain world peace...
decided that the matter of the German-Danish border
Border
Borders define geographic boundaries of political entities or legal jurisdictions, such as governments, sovereign states, federated states and other subnational entities. Some borders—such as a state's internal administrative borders, or inter-state borders within the Schengen Area—are open and...
would be settled by a vote. As a result of the plebiscite, and the way the voting zones were laid out, some of Flensburg's northern neighbourhoods were ceded to Denmark, whereas Flensburg as a whole voted with a great majority to stay in Germany.
In return for this great pro-German majority, the town of Flensburg was given a large hall, the "Deutsches Haus", which was endowed by the government as "thanks for German loyalty".
During the Second World War, the town was left almost unscathed by the air raids that devastated other German cities. However, in 1943, 20 children died when their nursery school was bombed, and shortly after the war ended, an explosion at a local munitions storage site claimed many victims.
In 1945, Admiral Karl Dönitz
Karl Dönitz
Karl Dönitz was a German naval commander during World War II. He started his career in the German Navy during World War I. In 1918, while he was in command of , the submarine was sunk by British forces and Dönitz was taken prisoner...
, who was briefly President
President of Germany
The President of the Federal Republic of Germany is the country's head of state. His official title in German is Bundespräsident . Germany has a parliamentary system of government and so the position of President is largely ceremonial...
(Reichspräsident
Reichspräsident
The Reichspräsident was the German head of state under the Weimar constitution, which was officially in force from 1919 to 1945. In English he was usually simply referred to as the President of Germany...
) of Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
once Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
had appointed him his successor and then killed himself, fled to Flensburg with what was left of his government
Flensburg government
The Flensburg Government , also known as the Flensburg Cabinet and the Dönitz Government , was the short-lived administration that attempted to rule the Third Reich during most of May 1945 at the end of World War II in Europe...
where they were arrested and deposed at the Navy School in Mürwik by British troops. Flensburg was thereby, for a few weeks, the seat of the last Third Reich government, and also Germany's capital.
Since the Second World War
After the Second World War, the town's population broke the 100,000 mark for a short time, thereby making Flensburg a city (Großstadt) under one traditional definition. The population later sank below that mark, however.In the years after the Second World War, there was in South Schleswig, and particularly in Flensburg a strong pro-Danish movement connected with the idea of the "Eider Politics". Their goal was for the town, and indeed all or most of Schleswig – the whole area north of the river Eider
Eider River
The Eider is the longest river of the German state of Schleswig-Holstein. The river starts near Bordesholm and reaches the southwestern outskirts of Kiel on the shores of the Baltic Sea, but flows to the west, ending in the North Sea...
–-to be united with Denmark. In the years following 1945, Flensburg's town council was dominated by Danish parties, and the town had a Danish mayor.
The town of Flensburg profited from the planned location of military installations. Since German Reunification
German reunification
German reunification was the process in 1990 in which the German Democratic Republic joined the Federal Republic of Germany , and when Berlin reunited into a single city, as provided by its then Grundgesetz constitution Article 23. The start of this process is commonly referred by Germans as die...
, the number of soldiers has dropped to about 8,000. Since Denmark's entry into the European Economic Community (now the European Union
European Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
), border trade has played an important role in Flensburg's economic life. Some Danish businesses, such as Danfoss
Danfoss
The Danfoss Group is a global producer of components and solutions for refrigeration & air conditioning, heating & water, and motion controls. Danfoss has net sales of €2,600 million and employs approximately 22,000 people worldwide with headquarters in Nordborg, Denmark.Danfoss was founded in...
, have set up shop just south of the border for tax reasons.
In 1970, the Flensburg district was expanded to include the municipalities in the Amt of Medelby, formerly in the Südtondern district, and in 1974 it was united with the Schleswig district to form the district of Schleswig-Flensburg, whose district seat was the town of Schleswig
Schleswig (city)
Schleswig is a town in the northeastern part of Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It is the capital of the Kreis Schleswig-Flensburg. It has a population of about 27,000, the main industries being leather and food processing...
. Flensburg thereby lost its function as a district seat, but it remained an independent (district-free) town.
Amalgamations
Until the middle of the 19th century Flensburg's municipal area comprised a total area of 2 639 ha. Beginning in 1874, however, the following communities or rural areas (Gemarkungen) were annexed to the town of Flensburg:| Year | Place(s) | Area added in ha |
|---|---|---|
| 1874 | Süder- and Norder-St. Jürgen | 36 |
| 1874 | Fischerhof | 3 |
| 27 July 1875 | Duburg | 10.5 |
| 1877 | Hohlwege and Bredeberg | 5.5 |
| 1 December 1900 | Jürgensgaarde | 205 |
| 1 April 1909 | Klues | 19 |
| 1 April 1910 | Twedt, Twedterholz/Fruerlund and Engelsby | 1458 |
| 1916 | part of Klues Forest Klues Forest The Klues Forest is a forest which lies in Schleswig-Holstein/North-Germany, between Flensburg and Harrislee.Klues Forest has a size of nearly 436 morgen. Mostly you find typical trees of the area, for example beech, oak, ash, alder and spruce, which were planted.Many people of Flensburg and also... (incl. open waters) |
146.5 |
| 26 April 1970 | Adelbylund | 132 |
| 10 February 1971 | demerger of Wassersleben Beach | -147.5 |
| 22 March 1974 | Sünderup and Tarup | ? |
Population development
Population figures are for respective municipal areas through time. Until 1870, figures are mostly estimates, and thereafter census results (¹) or official projections from either statistical offices or the town administration itself.| Year | Population figure |
|---|---|
| 1436 | 3000 |
| 1600 | 6000 |
| 1760 | 6842 |
| 1835 | 12,483 |
| 1 December 1875 ¹ | 26,474 |
| 1 December 1890 ¹ | 36,894 |
| 1 December 1900 ¹ | 48,937 |
| 1 December 1910 ¹ | 60,922 |
| 16 June 1925 ¹ | 63,139 |
| 16 June 1933 ¹ | 66,580 |
| 17 May 1939 ¹ | 70,871 |
| 13 September 1950 ¹ | 102,832 |
| 6 June 1961 ¹ | 98,464 |
| 27 May 1970 ¹ | 95,400 |
| 30 June 1975 | 93,900 |
| 30 June 1980 | 88,200 |
| 30 June 1985 | 86,900 |
| 27 May 1987 ¹ | 86,554 |
| 30 June 1997 | 86,100 |
| 31 December 2003 | 85,300 |
| 31 December 2004 | 85,762 |
¹ Census results
Danish minority
Danish minority of Southern Schleswig
The Danish ethnic minority in Southern Schleswig, Germany, has existed by this name since 1920, when the Schleswig Plebiscite split German-ruled Schleswig into two parts: Northern Schleswig, with a Danish majority and a German minority was united with Denmark, while Southern Schleswig remained a...
in Flensburg and the surrounding towns run their own schools, libraries and Lutheran churches from which the German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
majority is not excluded. The co-existence of these two groups is considered a sound and healthy symbiosis
Symbiosis
Symbiosis is close and often long-term interaction between different biological species. In 1877 Bennett used the word symbiosis to describe the mutualistic relationship in lichens...
.
In Denmark, Flensburg seems to be mainly associated with its duty-free shops where, amongst other things, spirits
Distilled beverage
A distilled beverage, liquor, or spirit is an alcoholic beverage containing ethanol that is produced by distilling ethanol produced by means of fermenting grain, fruit, or vegetables...
, beer
Beer
Beer is the world's most widely consumed andprobably oldest alcoholic beverage; it is the third most popular drink overall, after water and tea. It is produced by the brewing and fermentation of sugars, mainly derived from malted cereal grains, most commonly malted barley and malted wheat...
and candy
Candy
Candy, specifically sugar candy, is a confection made from a concentrated solution of sugar in water, to which flavorings and colorants are added...
can be purchased at cheaper prices than in Denmark
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
. Currently the duty free shops are able to sell canned beer to Scandinavians without paying deposits as long as the beverage is not consumed in Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
. However, owing to the vagaries of the money markets, the bargains are not as great as they once were.
Politics
The town council was led for centuries by two mayors, one for the north town (St. Marien) and the other for the south town (St. Nikolai and St. Johannis). The council members and the mayors were chosen by the council itself, that is, retiring officials had their successors named by the remaining councillors in such a way that both halves of the town had as many members. These councillors usually bore the title "Senator".This "town government" lasted until 1742 when the "northern mayor" was made the "directing mayor" by the Danish King. From this position came what was later known as the First Mayor. The second mayor simply bore the title "mayor" ("Bürgermeister"). After the town had been ceded to Prussia, the mayors were elected by the townsfolk as of 1870, and the First Mayor was given the title Oberbürgermeister, still the usual title in German towns and cities. During the Third Reich, the town head was appointed by those who held power locally at the time.
In 1945, after the Second World War, a twofold leadership based on a British model was introduced. Heading the town stood foremost the Oberbürgermeister, who was chosen by the town council and whose job was as chairman of council and the municipality. Next to him was an Oberstadtdirektor ("Higher Town Director") who was leader of administration. In 1950, when Schleswig-Holstein brought its new laws for municipalities into force, the title Oberbürgermeister was transferred (once again) to this latter official. At first, and for a while, he was chosen by the council. Since that time, the former official has been called the Stadtpräsident ("Town President"), and is likewise chosen by the council after each municipal election. However, since 1999, the Oberbürgermeister has been chosen directly by the voters as once before.
The first directly elected Oberbürgermeister Hermann Stell died on 4 May 2004 of a stroke
Stroke
A stroke, previously known medically as a cerebrovascular accident , is the rapidly developing loss of brain function due to disturbance in the blood supply to the brain. This can be due to ischemia caused by blockage , or a hemorrhage...
. On 14 November of the same year, the independent candidate suggested by the CDU
Christian Democratic Union (Germany)
The Christian Democratic Union of Germany is a Christian democratic and conservative political party in Germany. It is regarded as on the centre-right of the German political spectrum...
Klaus Tscheuschner was elected to replace Stell with 59% of the vote. In the municipal election in 2003, Hans Hermann Laturnus was elected Stadtpräsident.
In the municipal election of 2008, the local list WiF (Wir in Flensburg) was elected largest group in the Council Assembly of Flensburg, with its 10 city councillors
Councillor
A councillor or councilor is a member of a local government council, such as a city council.Often in the United States, the title is councilman or councilwoman.-United Kingdom:...
out of 43, closely followed by the South Schleswig Voter Federation
South Schleswig Voter Federation
The South Schleswig Voter Federation is a regional political party in Schleswig-Holstein in northern Germany...
(Südschleswigscher Wählerverband) (9 councillors) and the CDU
Christian Democratic Union (Germany)
The Christian Democratic Union of Germany is a Christian democratic and conservative political party in Germany. It is regarded as on the centre-right of the German political spectrum...
(9 councillors). Also elected was the SPD
Social Democratic Party of Germany
The Social Democratic Party of Germany is a social-democratic political party in Germany...
(seven councillors), the Greens
Alliance '90/The Greens
Alliance '90/The Greens is a green political party in Germany, formed from the merger of the German Green Party and Alliance 90 in 1993. Its leaders are Claudia Roth and Cem Özdemir...
(3 councillors), the Left
The Left (Germany)
The Left , also commonly referred to as the Left Party , is a democratic socialist political party in Germany. The Left is the most left-wing party of the five represented in the Bundestag....
(3 councillors) and the FDP
Free Democratic Party (Germany)
The Free Democratic Party , abbreviated to FDP, is a centre-right classical liberal political party in Germany. It is led by Philipp Rösler and currently serves as the junior coalition partner to the Union in the German federal government...
(2 councillors). Nevertheless, since the WiF-group was divided into two different caucuses, the SSW-group has been the largest group in the Council Assembly. The current City President is Dr. Christian Dewanger (WiF).
In the mayoral election of 2010, Simon Faber (SSW) was elected Lord Mayor of the town in a run-off election with 54,8 % of the vote. He is the first person from the Danish Minority to occupy this office since the end of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
.
Coat of arms
Flensburg's coat of arms shows in gold above blue and silver waves rising to the left a six-sided red tower with a blue pointed roof breaking out of which, one above the other are the two lions of Schleswig and DenmarkCoat of arms of Schleswig
The coat of arms of Schleswig depicts two blue lions in a golden shield. It is the heraldic symbol of the former Duchy of Schleswig, originally a Danish province but later disputed between Danes and Germans. The region has been divided between Germany and Denmark since 1920 and the symbol...
; above is a red shield with the silver Holsatian nettle leaf on it. The town's flag is blue, overlaid with the coat of arms in colour.
The lions symbolize Schleswig, and the nettle leaf Holstein, thus expressing the town's unity with these two historic lands. The tower recalls Flensburg's old town rights and the old castle that was the town's namesake (Burg means "castle" in German). The waves refer to the town's position on the Flensburg Fjord.
The coat of arms was granted the town by King Wilhelm II of Prussia in 1901, and once again in modified, newly approved form on 19 January 1937 by Schleswig-Holstein's High President (Oberpräsident)
International relations
Flensburg maintains partnerships with the following towns:Carlisle
City of Carlisle
The City of Carlisle is a local government district of Cumbria, England, with the status of a city and non-metropolitan district. It is named after its largest settlement, Carlisle, but covers a far larger area which includes the towns of Brampton and Longtown, as well as outlying villages...
, United Kingdom Neubrandenburg
Neubrandenburg
Neubrandenburg is a city in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany. It is located in the southeastern part of the state, on the shore of a lake called the Tollensesee ....
, Germany Słupsk, Poland
Transport
West of Flensburg runs the A 7 Autobahn, leading north to the Danish border, whence it continues as European route E45European route E45
The European route E 45 goes between Sweden and Italy, through Denmark, Germany and Austria. With a length of about , it is the longest north-south European route...
. Furthermore, Federal Highways (Bundesstraßen) B 200 and B 199 pass through the municipal area.
Also west of the town lies the Flensburg-Schäferhaus airport
Airport
An airport is a location where aircraft such as fixed-wing aircraft, helicopters, and blimps take off and land. Aircraft may be stored or maintained at an airport...
.
Local transport is provided by several bus
Bus
A bus is a road vehicle designed to carry passengers. Buses can have a capacity as high as 300 passengers. The most common type of bus is the single-decker bus, with larger loads carried by double-decker buses and articulated buses, and smaller loads carried by midibuses and minibuses; coaches are...
lines such as "Aktiv Bus GmbH" and "Allgemeinen Flensburger Autobus Gesellschaft" (AFAG) along with others. They all operate within an integrated fare system within the Flensburg transport community (Verkehrsgemeinschaft Flensburg). They also all subscribe to the Schleswig-Holstein tariff system whereby anyone travelling from anywhere in Schleswig-Holstein or Hamburg
Hamburg
-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...
may use Flensburg buses free to connect with their final destinations. It works both ways, of course, and a rider boarding any bus in Flensburg need only name his destination anywhere in Schleswig-Holstein or Hamburg, pay his fare, and travel all the way to that destination on the one ticket.
The current Flensburg station
Flensburg station
Flensburg station is the main station of the city of Flensburg in the German state of Schleswig-Holstein. Lines run from it to Kiel, to Hamburg via Schleswig and Neumünster and to Fredericia in Denmark. Since the timetable change on 9 December 2007, Flensburg has been connected to Deutsche Bahn's...
was opened in 1927 south of the Old Town. From there, trains run on the main line to Neumünster and on to Hamburg
Hamburg
-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...
and to Fredericia
Fredericia
Fredericia is a town located in Fredericia municipality in the eastern part of the Jutland peninsula in Denmark, in a sub-region known locally as Trekanten, or The Triangle...
, among them some InterCity
InterCity
InterCity is the classification applied to certain long-distance passenger train services in Europe...
connections as well as trains serving the line running to Eckernförde
Eckernförde
Eckernförde is a German city in Schleswig-Holstein, Kreis Rendsburg-Eckernförde at the Baltic Sea near Kiel. The population is about 23,000.All German submarines are stationed in Eckernförde....
and Kiel
Kiel
Kiel is the capital and most populous city in the northern German state of Schleswig-Holstein, with a population of 238,049 .Kiel is approximately north of Hamburg. Due to its geographic location in the north of Germany, the southeast of the Jutland peninsula, and the southwestern shore of the...
. Another stop for regional trains to Neumünster is to be found in Flensburg-Weiche. The stretch of line to Niebüll
Niebüll
Niebüll is a town in the district of Nordfriesland, in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It is situated near the North Sea coast and the border with Denmark, approx. 35 km northwest of Husum.-International relations:...
has been out of service since 1981, efforts to open it again notwithstanding. The secondary line to Husum and the lesser lines to Kappeln
Kappeln
Kappeln is a town in the district of Schleswig-Flensburg, in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It is situated on the north bank of the Schlei, approx. northeast of Schleswig, and southeast of Flensburg....
and Satrup
Satrup
Satrup is a municipality in the district of Schleswig-Flensburg, in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It is situated approx. 20 km north of Schleswig, and 15 km southeast of Flensburg....
no longer exist. Even the tram
Tram
A tram is a passenger rail vehicle which runs on tracks along public urban streets and also sometimes on separate rights of way. It may also run between cities and/or towns , and/or partially grade separated even in the cities...
way, which opened in 1881 to horse-drawn trams, was electrified in 1906 and at one point ran four lines was replaced with buses in 1973.
Established businesses
- A.H. Johannsen (Flensburg's last and oldest rum house)
- Beate Uhse AGBeate Uhse AGBeate Uhse AG is a German industry group with focus on selling adult entertainment in the form of sex toys, lingerie, clothing and pornography. It is the most successful company in the German sex industry, and the country's leading pornography retailer...
(erotica trading chain) - Flensburger Brauerei Emil Petersen GmbH und Co. KGFlensburger BrauereiFlensburger Brauerei is a brewery located in Flensburg in the Bundesland of Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It is one of the last country-wide operating breweries not being part of a larger brewery group. The company was founded on September 6th, 1888 by five citizens of Flensburg...
(brews the famous Flensburger Bier) - Flensburger Schiffbau-GesellschaftFlensburger Schiffbau-GesellschaftFlensburger Schiffbau-Gesellschaft is a German shipbuilding company located in Flensburg. The company is trading as Flensburger and commonly abbrevated FSG.-History:...
(shipbuilding) - Orion (erotica wholesale)
- Queisser Pharma GmbH
- VersatelVersatelTele2 Netherlands Holding N.V. is a listed telecommunications company operating on the Dutch and Belgian market. It has more than 1,900 employees and over 1 million customers...
(telecommunications) - Lufthansa SystemsLufthansaDeutsche Lufthansa AG is the flag carrier of Germany and the largest airline in Europe in terms of overall passengers carried. The name of the company is derived from Luft , and Hansa .The airline is the world's fourth-largest airline in terms of overall passengers carried, operating...
(IT services) - Krones AG, Werk Flensburg (machine building for the drink industry)
- Flensburger Fahrzeugbau Gesellschaft mbH (vehicles)
- Robbe & Berking (silver manufacture since 1874)
- MitsubishiMitsubishiThe Mitsubishi Group , Mitsubishi Group of Companies, or Mitsubishi Companies is a Japanese multinational conglomerate company that consists of a range of autonomous businesses which share the Mitsubishi brand, trademark and legacy...
HiTec Paper Flensburg GmbH (since 1696 paper has been produced at this same place, but today particularly heat-sensitive paper) - Servage HostingServage HostingServage GmbH is a German web hosting provider headquartered in Flensburg, Germany. The company is doing business as Servage Hosting. The company is a subsidiary to the Swedish company Servage AB . The corporate name Servage resulted from the words "Serve" and "Age", that when combined spells out...
largest web hosting serviceWeb hosting serviceA web hosting service is a type of Internet hosting service that allows individuals and organizations to make their own website accessible via the World Wide Web. Web hosts are companies that provide space on a server they own or lease for use by their clients as well as providing Internet...
provider in Schleswig-Holstein - Stadtwerke Flensburg GmbH (Town Works)
Media
In Flensburg, the "Flensburger Tageblatt", from the Schleswig-Holsteinischer Zeitungsverlag (newspaperNewspaper
A newspaper is a scheduled publication containing news of current events, informative articles, diverse features and advertising. It usually is printed on relatively inexpensive, low-grade paper such as newsprint. By 2007, there were 6580 daily newspapers in the world selling 395 million copies a...
publisher) is published daily, as is the bilingual (German and Danish) Flensborg Avis
Flensborg Avis
Flensborg Avis is a Danish language daily newspaper, published in Flensburg , Germany.Flensborg Avis was founded October 1, 1869, in Flensburg by members of the Danish minority in the Province of Schleswig-Holstein. It now represents the Danish minority in Southern Schleswig...
. There are also two weekly advertising flyers, "MoinMoin" (named for a common regional greeting) and "Wochenschau" ("Newsreel") as well as an illustrated town paper ("Flensburg Journal"), the Flensburg "campus newspaper" and a town magazine ("Partout"). Norddeutscher Rundfunk
Norddeutscher Rundfunk
Norddeutscher Rundfunk is a public radio and television broadcaster, based in Hamburg. In addition to the city-state of Hamburg, NDR transmits for the German states of Lower Saxony, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and Schleswig-Holstein...
(NDR) runs one of its oldest studios right near the Deutsches Haus. Flensburg is the site of a number of radio transmission facilities: on the Fuchsberg
Flensburg-Engelsby transmitter
Flensburg-Engelsby transmitter is a facility of NDR for mediumwave, FM and TV-broadcasting at Flensburg, Germany. It uses as antenna mast a tall grounded guyed mast, built of lattice steel, on which a cage antenna is mounted for mediumwave broadcasting....
in the community of Engelsby, Norddeutscher Rundfunk runs a transmission facility for VHF, television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
and medium wave. A cage aerial
Cage aerial
A Cage aerial is a radio antenna, which consists of the top portion of a tower or mast and of several parallel wires, which are radially arranged around the lower part of the mast. one advantage of the cage aerial is that the supporting tower can be grounded, allowing it to be used for other radio...
is mounted on a 215 m-high guyed, earthed steel-lattice mast. This transmitter is successor to the Flensburg transmitter through which the announcement of Germany's surrender was broadcast on 8 May 1945.
The broadcasting tower on the Fuchsberg is used for the programmes of Norddeutscher Rundfunk
Norddeutscher Rundfunk
Norddeutscher Rundfunk is a public radio and television broadcaster, based in Hamburg. In addition to the city-state of Hamburg, NDR transmits for the German states of Lower Saxony, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and Schleswig-Holstein...
and Danmarks Radio
Danmarks Radio
DR – officially rendered into English as the Danish Broadcasting Corporation – is Denmark's national broadcasting corporation. Founded in 1925 as a public-service organization, it is today Denmark's oldest and largest electronic media enterprise...
while the countrywide VHF radio programmes of R.SH, delta radio, Deutschlandfunk
Deutschlandfunk
Deutschlandfunk is a German public broadcasting radio station, broadcasting national news and current affairs.-History:Broadcasting in the Federal Republic of Germany is reserved under the Basic Law to the states. This means that all public broadcasting is regionalised...
and Deutschlandradio
Deutschlandradio
Deutschlandradio is a national German public broadcasting radio broadcaster. It operates four national networks, Deutschlandfunk, Deutschlandradio Kultur, Dokumente und Debatten and DRadio Wissen....
are aired from the Flensburg-Freienwill tower.
Flensburg has no local transmitter of its own because Schleswig-Holstein's state broadcasting laws only allow transmitters that broadcast statewide. From 1993 to 1996, "Radio Flensburg" tried to establish a local Flensburg radio station by using a local transmitter just across the border in Denmark. It had to be shut down, however, owing to the Danish transmitter's own financial problems. From October 2006 Radio Flensburg broadcast as an internet radio
Internet radio
Internet radio is an audio service transmitted via the Internet...
.
The "Offener Kanal" ("Open Channel") shows programmes made by local citizens seven days a week, mostly in the evenings, and can also be seen on cable television.
Public institutions
Flensburg is home to the following institutions:- Handwerkskammer Flensburg ("Handicraft Chamber")
- IHK Flensburg ("Chamber of Industry and Trade")
- Kraftfahrt-Bundesamt (government office in charge of road traffic)
Education
- University of FlensburgUniversity of FlensburgThe University of Flensburg is a university in the city of Flensburg, Germany. It was founded in 1994. The University of Flensburg is the northernmost university in Germany, but it is not a "full university"...
with about 4,000 students; founded in 1946 as a Pedagogical College, raised to universityUniversityA university is an institution of higher education and research, which grants academic degrees in a variety of subjects. A university is an organisation that provides both undergraduate education and postgraduate education...
in 1994. Unlike the University of KielKielKiel is the capital and most populous city in the northern German state of Schleswig-Holstein, with a population of 238,049 .Kiel is approximately north of Hamburg. Due to its geographic location in the north of Germany, the southeast of the Jutland peninsula, and the southwestern shore of the...
, however, it is not a full university – theologyTheologyTheology is the systematic and rational study of religion and its influences and of the nature of religious truths, or the learned profession acquired by completing specialized training in religious studies, usually at a university or school of divinity or seminary.-Definition:Augustine of Hippo...
, medicineMedicineMedicine is the science and art of healing. It encompasses a variety of health care practices evolved to maintain and restore health by the prevention and treatment of illness....
, lawLawLaw is a system of rules and guidelines which are enforced through social institutions to govern behavior, wherever possible. It shapes politics, economics and society in numerous ways and serves as a social mediator of relations between people. Contract law regulates everything from buying a bus...
and some other programs are not offered here. The college does, however, have the right to confer doctorates. - Fachhochschule Flensburg, a FachhochschuleFachhochschuleA Fachhochschule or University of Applied Sciences is a German type of tertiary education institution, sometimes specialized in certain topical areas . Fachhochschulen were founded in Germany and later adopted by Austria, Liechtenstein, Switzerland and Greece...
with more than 3,000 students; in 1886 a royal steamship machinist school was established, out of which developed a ship's engineers' school. From this grew the Fachhochschule for Technology, which was converted into the current Fachhochschule Flensburg in 1973, at which time the economicsEconomicsEconomics is the social science that analyzes the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. The term economics comes from the Ancient Greek from + , hence "rules of the house"...
programme was also introduced. - Marineschule Mürwik (Naval Academy at Mürwik), main educational establishment for all German NavyGerman NavyThe German Navy is the navy of Germany and is part of the unified Bundeswehr .The German Navy traces its roots back to the Imperial Fleet of the revolutionary era of 1848 – 52 and more directly to the Prussian Navy, which later evolved into the Northern German Federal Navy...
officers. - Flensburger Volkshochschule (German)
- Voksenundervisningen (Danish)
Also on hand in Flensburg is a complete range of training and professional schools, including a number of Danish ones. Flensburg is home to Schleswig-Holstein's Central State Library, a university library, a town bookshop and the Danish Central Library for South Schleswig. The last named offers not only intensive courses in Danish, but also, with its "Slesvigsk samling" collection, a vast repository of unique material about the border area's history and culture. Flensburg has an extensive town archive. The Danish minority's archive is housed at the Danish Central Library.
Theatre
- Schleswig-HolsteinSchleswig-HolsteinSchleswig-Holstein is the northernmost of the sixteen states of Germany, comprising most of the historical duchy of Holstein and the southern part of the former Duchy of Schleswig...
isches Landestheater (at the Stadttheater) and Symphony Orchestra - Niederdeutsche Bühne der Stadt Flensburg ("Low German Stage of the city of Flensburg")
- Det Lille Teater (Danish theatre)
- Theaterwerkstatt Pilkentafel (Theatre Workshop)
- Orpheus-Theater
Archives and libraries
- Town Archive, a very comprehensive collection, at the town hall
- Dansk Centralbibliotek for Sydslesvig, with archive of the Danish minority and Schleswig book collection
- Town Library
- State Central Library and Zentrale Hochschulbibliothek (Central College Library)
Museums
- Museumsberg – Museum for artistic and cultural history.
- Schifffahrtsmuseum – Museum for shipping and shipbuilding.
- Rummuseum – History of the "Rum Town" of Flensburg.
- Naturwissenschaftliches Museum – Animal and plant worlds of northern Schleswig-Holstein.
- Museumshafen – Private initiative for maintaining old traditional working boats mainly from the Baltics (Segelschiffe).
- Museumswerft – Shipbuilding (sail) of bygone centuries. The place also has a children's boatyard.
- Fischereimuseum – Initiative of the fishery association, lies on the old Fischery harbour.
- Phänomenta – For experiencing and understanding nature and technology.
- Salondampfer "Alexandra" – Passenger Steamer built 1908. The "Alexandra" regularly makes small trips in the Flensburg Förde (Bay)
- Klassische Yachten Flensburg – Classic Yacht Harbour. Private Initiative to present classic yachts typical for the Baltics.
- Gerichtshistorische Sammlung – a collection of legal history at the Flensburg State Court.
- Bergmühle – Association for maintaining the historic windmill from 1792.
- Johannesburger Heimatstube – Documents, pictures and writings from East Prussia.
Buildings
- Johanniskirche, town's oldest church, 12th century
- Marienkirche, High GothicGothic architectureGothic architecture is a style of architecture that flourished during the high and late medieval period. It evolved from Romanesque architecture and was succeeded by Renaissance architecture....
, BaroqueBaroqueThe Baroque is a period and the style that used exaggerated motion and clear, easily interpreted detail to produce drama, tension, exuberance, and grandeur in sculpture, painting, literature, dance, and music...
additions, tower from 1885, well decorated - Nikolaikirche, Gothic main church, famous organ design by Hinrich Ringeringk
- Heiliggeistkirche (Helligåndskirken), former chapel of the Hospital zum Heiligen Geist
- Franziskanerkloster, ruins from 1263
- Nordertor, a gate, and the town's landmark
- Kompagnietor another gate, built in 1602, shipping company and harbour gate
- Alt-Flensburger Haus, where the Eckener brothers' parents lived, Norderstraße 8
- Flensborghus, a former orphanage, today seat of the Danish minority, Norderstraße 76
- Many merchants' houses running from the main streets Holm-Große Straße-Norderstraße, the town's greatest architectural attraction
- Südermarkt 9 (market) with the town's oldest house
- Nordermarkt (market) with the Schrangen (market hall) and Neptunbrunnen (fountain)
- Rote Straße with nice craftsmen's houses
- Jürgenstraße with the Gängeviertel ("Warren Neighbourhood", i.e. with very dense building and narrow streets), former suburb.
- Oluf-Samson-Gang, picturesque lane with little half-timbered houses, Flensburg's historic red light district.
- Row of warehouses
- Pontoon bridge
- Scanty ruins of the town wall, at the Nikolaikirche and at the Franciscan monastery
- Bergmühle and Johannismühle (mills)
- Deutsches Haus, gathering and event hall in the town core
- Hauptbahnhof (Main Railway Station), completed in 1929
- Town Hall, seventeen-floor cube from 1964, in 1997 totally renovated, popularly known as the "Umzugskarton" ("Moving Carton")
- Altes Gymnasium, built in 1914, Flensburg's oldest Gymnasium (school)Gymnasium, founded in 1566 as "Gymnasium trilingue" (Latin, Greek, Hebrew)
- Duborg Skolen, Flensburg's Danish Gymnasium, as well as other school buildings
- Walzenmühle (Flensburg) Business complex with mostly IT companies including Athena IT-Group and Servage HostingServage HostingServage GmbH is a German web hosting provider headquartered in Flensburg, Germany. The company is doing business as Servage Hosting. The company is a subsidiary to the Swedish company Servage AB . The corporate name Servage resulted from the words "Serve" and "Age", that when combined spells out...
- West Indies Warehouse
Lost buildings
- Gertrudenkirche, church in the Ramsharde (former neighbourhood where Neustadt now stands), folded after the ReformationReformation in DenmarkThe Reformation in Denmark–Norway and Holstein was the transition from Roman Catholicism to Lutheranism in the realms ruled by the Copenhagen-based House of Oldenburg in the first half of the sixteenth century...
, graveyard maintained until 1822 - Jürgen-Hospital, abandoned after the Reformation, the new St. Jürgen-Kirche stands there today
- Old Town Hall, 15th century, demolished in 1883
- Government building, appellate court and house of the estates, from 1850 to 1864 political centre of the Duchy of Schleswig, gave way to a department store in 1964
- Speicher Johannisstraße 78 (warehouse), bombed in 1945
- Town fortifications
Others
- Flensburg FjordFlensburg FjordFlensburg Fjord , occasionally known as Flensburg Firth, is a 50 km long inlet of the Baltic Sea. The fjord or firth forms part of the border between Germany to the south and Denmark to the north....
- Old Cemetery, parkland with noteworthy grave markers from the 19th century
- Christiansenspark, remnant of a very big landscape park
- Volkspark in the town's east end
- Marienhölzung (Danish Frueskov), woods in the town's west end
Regular events
- May/June: Rumregatta (yearly)
- May/June: Danske Årsmøder (yearly)
- June/December: Campusfete (twice yearly)
- June: Rote-Straße-Fest (yearly)
- July: Dampf-Rundum (every two years)
- July/August: Flensburger Hofkultur (yearly summer cultural programme)
- August: Flensburger Tummelum (Old Town Festival) (every two years)
- October: Apfelfahrt des Museumshafen (yearly)
- October: "Flensburg Shortfilmfestival" (yearly)
- December: Christmas market (yearly)
Honorary citizens
The town of Flensburg has bestowed honorary citizenship upon the following persons, named here in chronological order:- 1851: Friedrich Ferdinand Tillisch, Minister for the Duchy of Schleswig
- 1857: Christian Rönnekamp, salesman and shipowner
- 1867: Edwin Freiherr von ManteuffelEdwin Freiherr von ManteuffelEdwin Freiherr von Manteuffel was a German Generalfeldmarschall noted for his victories in the Franco-Prussian War....
, Prussian King's Governor - 1872: Karl von Wrangel, General
- 1895: Otto Fürst von BismarckOtto von BismarckOtto Eduard Leopold, Prince of Bismarck, Duke of Lauenburg , simply known as Otto von Bismarck, was a Prussian-German statesman whose actions unified Germany, made it a major player in world affairs, and created a balance of power that kept Europe at peace after 1871.As Minister President of...
, Reich Chancellor - 1911: Friedrich Wilhelm Selck, Commercial Councillor
- 1917: Heinrich Schuldt, Town Councillor
- 1924: Dr. Hugo EckenerHugo EckenerDr. Hugo Eckener was the manager of the Luftschiffbau Zeppelin during the inter-war years, and was commander of the famous Graf Zeppelin for most of its record-setting flights, including the first airship flight around the world, making him the most successful airship commander in history...
, AviationAviationAviation is the design, development, production, operation, and use of aircraft, especially heavier-than-air aircraft. Aviation is derived from avis, the Latin word for bird.-History:...
pioneer - 1930: Dr. Hermann Bendix Todsen, Oberbürgermeister
- 1999: Beate UhseBeate Uhse-RotermundBeate Uhse-Rotermund was a German pilot and entrepreneur. The only female stunt pilot in Germany in the 1930s, after World War II she started the first sex shop in the world. The company she started, Beate Uhse AG, is listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, and is the world leader in sales of...
, PilotAviatorAn aviator is a person who flies an aircraft. The first recorded use of the term was in 1887, as a variation of 'aviation', from the Latin avis , coined in 1863 by G. de la Landelle in Aviation Ou Navigation Aérienne...
and businesswoman
Sons and daughters of the town
- Lütke Namens (1497–1574), the last Franciscan monk in Flensburg and critic of the ReformationProtestant ReformationThe Protestant Reformation was a 16th-century split within Western Christianity initiated by Martin Luther, John Calvin and other early Protestants. The efforts of the self-described "reformers", who objected to the doctrines, rituals and ecclesiastical structure of the Roman Catholic Church, led...
. - Johan Lorentz (about 1610–1689), Danish composer.
- Georg WaitzGeorg WaitzGeorg Waitz was a German historian and politician.He was born at Flensburg, in the duchy of Schleswig and educated at the Flensburg gymnasium and the universities of Kiel and Berlin...
(1813–1886), Historian. - Hans Christiansen (1866–1945), artistic craftsman and Art NouveauArt NouveauArt Nouveau is an international philosophy and style of art, architecture and applied art—especially the decorative arts—that were most popular during 1890–1910. The name "Art Nouveau" is French for "new art"...
founder. - Elvira MadiganElvira MadiganElvira Madigan was a Danish tightrope walker and trick rider, whose illicit affair and dramatic death at the hands of her lover were the subject of the Swedish film of 1967.- Early life :...
(1867–1889), tragic Danish circusCircusA circus is commonly a travelling company of performers that may include clowns, acrobats, trained animals, trapeze acts, musicians, hoopers, tightrope walkers, jugglers, unicyclists and other stunt-oriented artists...
performer. - Hugo EckenerHugo EckenerDr. Hugo Eckener was the manager of the Luftschiffbau Zeppelin during the inter-war years, and was commander of the famous Graf Zeppelin for most of its record-setting flights, including the first airship flight around the world, making him the most successful airship commander in history...
(1868–1954), pioneer of German ZeppelinZeppelinA Zeppelin is a type of rigid airship pioneered by the German Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin in the early 20th century. It was based on designs he had outlined in 1874 and detailed in 1893. His plans were reviewed by committee in 1894 and patented in the United States on 14 March 1899...
aviation. - Emmy HenningsEmmy HenningsEmmy Hennings was a performer and poet. She was also the wife of celebrated Dadaist Hugo Ball. Despite her own achievements, it is difficult to come by information about Hennings that is not directly related to her relationship with Hugo Ball.-Life and work:Hennings was born in Flensburg, Germany...
(1885–1948), writer and dadaDadaDada or Dadaism is a cultural movement that began in Zurich, Switzerland, during World War I and peaked from 1916 to 1922. The movement primarily involved visual arts, literature—poetry, art manifestoes, art theory—theatre, and graphic design, and concentrated its anti-war politics through a...
ist - Hans von LuckHans von LuckHans-Ulrich von Luck und Witten , usually shortened to Hans von Luck, was a Colonel in the German Armored Forces during World War II. He served with the 7th Panzer Division and 21st Panzer Division, seeing action in Poland, France, North Africa, Italy and Russia...
(1911–1997), army colonel and author the book Panzer Commander - Rolf Boysen (born 1920), actor.
- Dieter Thomas HeckDieter Thomas HeckDieter Thomas Heck is a German television presenter, singer and actor.- Life :...
(born 1937), television moderator and singer. - Kay NehmKay NehmKay Nehm is a German lawyer. He served as Attorney General of Germany from 7 February 1994 until 31 May 2006.He studied law at LMU, the University of Freiburg and the University of Kiel. He was appointed a federal judge at the Federal Court of Justice in 1991...
(born 1941), jurist and Generalbundesanwalt (≈Federal Prosecutor General). - Jutta Lampe (born 1943), actress.
- Marion Maerz (born 1946), hit singer
- Andreas DelfsAndreas DelfsAndreas Delfs is a German conductor. He is the conductor laureate of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra and principal conductor of the Honolulu Symphony.-Biography:...
(born 1959), Conductor - Dorothea RöschmannDorothea RöschmannDorothea Röschmann is a German opera soprano from Flensburg.-Education and early life:Röschmann studied at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hamburg, under Barbara Schlick at the Akademie für Alte Musik in Bremen, and subsequently in Los Angeles, New York, Tel Aviv, and under Vera Rózsa in London...
(b. 1967), Opera soprano - Kim Frank (b. 1982), actor
- EchtEcht (band)Echt was a German pop band from Flensburg active from 1997 to 2002. In 2000 the band was awarded with the Bambi. Kim Frank played the role of Henrik Heidler in the German film NVA. In the summer of 2000 the band covered the song Junimond by Rio Reiser for the film Crazy...
(popular about 1997–2001), five-man music group. - Theodor MommsenTheodor MommsenChristian Matthias Theodor Mommsen was a German classical scholar, historian, jurist, journalist, politician, archaeologist, and writer generally regarded as the greatest classicist of the 19th century. His work regarding Roman history is still of fundamental importance for contemporary research...
, Germany's first Nobel Prize winner for literatureNobel Prize in LiteratureSince 1901, the Nobel Prize in Literature has been awarded annually to an author from any country who has, in the words from the will of Alfred Nobel, produced "in the field of literature the most outstanding work in an ideal direction"...
, lived in Flensburg for many years.
See also
- Flensburg, MinnesotaFlensburg, MinnesotaAs of the census of 2000, there were 244 people, 89 households, and 63 families residing in the city. The population density was 35.2 people per square mile . There were 92 housing units at an average density of 13.3 per square mile...
- Isted LionIsted LionThe Isted Lion , or ) is a Danish war monument originally intended as a monument of the Danish victory over Schleswig-Holstein in the Battle of Isted on July 25, 1850 — at its time the largest battle in Scandinavian history...
, in German known as the Flensburger Löwe. - Chronicle of the Expulsion of the Grayfriars#Chapter 1 Concerning the Friary in Flensborg