Geesthacht
Encyclopedia
Geesthacht is the largest city in the District of the Duchy of Lauenburg
(Herzogtum Lauenburg) in Schleswig-Holstein
in Northern Germany, 34 km southeast of Hamburg
on the right bank of the river Elbe
.
The interim mayor of Geesthacht is Dr. Volker Manow, who replaced the elected mayor Ingo Fokken, after his unexpected death at 29 June 2009.
, a boiling water nuclear reactor on the River Elbe, and a pumped storage hydroelectrical plant situated within a few hundreds metres of the nuclear power plant. It consists of an artificial lake 80m above the river, where the water is pumped up from, and storage for later use in generating electricity when demand is high.
, who was later involved in the "Waterkantgate" scandal, took his Abitur
at the Otto-Hahn-Gymnasium in Geesthacht and as a student representative invited former Nazi admiral Dönitz
to give a presentation on the topic of 'The Modernisation of History Classes' ("Aktualisierung des Geschichtsunterrichts"). Following the scandal, his principal committed suicide under the ensuing pressure http://www.aliaflanko.de/bogi/venske/venske15.htm.
Lauenburg (district)
Herzogtum Lauenburg is the southernmost Kreis, or district, of Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It is bordered by the district of Stormarn, the city of Lübeck, the state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern , the state of Lower Saxony , and the city state of Hamburg...
(Herzogtum Lauenburg) in 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...
in Northern Germany, 34 km southeast of 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...
on the right bank of the river Elbe
Elbe
The Elbe is one of the major rivers of Central Europe. It rises in the Krkonoše Mountains of the northwestern Czech Republic before traversing much of Bohemia , then Germany and flowing into the North Sea at Cuxhaven, 110 km northwest of Hamburg...
.
History
- Around 800: A church is documented.
- 1216: First documentary mention of the settlement as Hachede, then a part of SaxonyDuchy of SaxonyThe medieval Duchy of Saxony was a late Early Middle Ages "Carolingian stem duchy" covering the greater part of Northern Germany. It covered the area of the modern German states of Bremen, Hamburg, Lower Saxony, North Rhine-Westphalia, and Saxony-Anhalt and most of Schleswig-Holstein...
. - A change in the course of the Elbe cuts the settlement into two: Geesthacht and MarschachtMarschachtMarschacht is a municipality in the district of Harburg, in Lower Saxony, Germany. It completes the Samtgemeinde Elbmarsch with Tespe and Drage. Marschacht is only a few kilometres far away from Geesthacht....
(in today's Lower SaxonyLower SaxonyLower Saxony is a German state situated in north-western Germany and is second in area and fourth in population among the sixteen states of Germany...
). - 1296: Geesthacht becomes part of the Durchy of Saxe-Lauenburg, partitioned from Saxony
- 1370: Duke Eric III pawns Geesthacht - as part of the HerrschaftHerrschaft (territory)In the German feudal system, a Herrschaft or Herrlichkeit was the fiefdom of a lord, who in this area exercised his full feudal rights...
of BergedorfBergedorfBergedorf is the largest of the seven boroughs of Hamburg, Germany and a quarter within this borough. In 2006 the population of the borough was 118,942.-History:...
- to Lübeck - 1401: Duke Eric IV retakes the pawned area with force
- 1420: Geesthacht is ceded as part of a condominium to the Hanseatic cities HamburgHamburg-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 Lübeck by the Peace of Perleberg. - 1811: Geesthacht is annexed to FranceFirst French EmpireThe First French Empire , also known as the Greater French Empire or Napoleonic Empire, was the empire of Napoleon I of France...
as part of the Bouches de l'Elbe département - 1813: The condominium is restored
- 1865/66: The Swedish chemist Alfred NobelAlfred NobelAlfred Bernhard Nobel was a Swedish chemist, engineer, innovator, and armaments manufacturer. He is the inventor of dynamite. Nobel also owned Bofors, which he had redirected from its previous role as primarily an iron and steel producer to a major manufacturer of cannon and other armaments...
establishes a glycerin factory in Geesthacht (on Krümmel hill) and invents dynamiteDynamiteDynamite is an explosive material based on nitroglycerin, initially using diatomaceous earth , or another absorbent substance such as powdered shells, clay, sawdust, or wood pulp. Dynamites using organic materials such as sawdust are less stable and such use has been generally discontinued...
. Krümmel becomes the first dynamite factory in the world. - 1868: Lübeck sells its share in the condominium to Hamburg, Geesthacht becomes a part Hamburg's state territory
- 1906: Opening of the Bergedorf-Geesthachter Railway(BGE).
- 1918–1933: Geesthacht is a hotbed of radical leftist parties (USPDIndependent Social Democratic Party of GermanyThe Independent Social Democratic Party of Germany was a short-lived political party in Germany during the Second Reich and the Weimar Republic. The organization was established in 1917 as the result of a split of left wing members of the Social Democratic Party of Germany...
, KPDCommunist Party of GermanyThe Communist Party of Germany was a major political party in Germany between 1918 and 1933, and a minor party in West Germany in the postwar period until it was banned in 1956...
and SAPDSocialist Workers' Party of GermanyThe Socialist Workers' Party of Germany was a political party in Germany. It was formed by a left-wing party with around 20,000 members which split off from the SPD in the autumn of 1931. In 1931 the remnants of USPD merged into the party, and in 1932 some Communist Party dissenters joined the...
) and acquires the nickname Little Moscow. - 1924: Granted town privilegesTown privilegesTown privileges or city rights were important features of European towns during most of the second millennium.Judicially, a town was distinguished from the surrounding land by means of a charter from the ruling monarch that defined its privileges and laws. Common privileges were related to trading...
by the Hamburg state order of 2 January. - 1928: Destruction of the historical town centre by a fire.
- 1937: In the context of the territorial reorganization of the State of Hamburg (Greater Hamburg Act), Geesthacht is transferred to the PrussiaPrussiaPrussia was a German kingdom and historic state originating out of the Duchy of Prussia and the Margraviate of Brandenburg. For centuries, the House of Hohenzollern ruled Prussia, successfully expanding its size by way of an unusually well-organized and effective army. Prussia shaped the history...
n province of Schleswig-HolsteinProvince of Schleswig-HolsteinThe 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...
, there becoming part of the districtKreis in PrussiaPrussian districts were administrative units in the former German state of Prussia. The districts , also known as counties, usually took the name of the district's capital . A typical district had a rough diameter of 20 to 40 miles, though few were circular in shape...
(Kreis) of Duchy of Lauenburg. - 1953: Suspension of passenger service on the Bergedorf-Geesthachter Eisenbahn (a railway line).
Politics
At present, the city council is composed as follows:| 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... |
SPD Social Democratic Party of Germany The Social Democratic Party of Germany is a social-democratic political party in Germany... |
GRÜNE | 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... |
Offensive D | Total | |
| 2003 | 17 | 12 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 36 |
The interim mayor of Geesthacht is Dr. Volker Manow, who replaced the elected mayor Ingo Fokken, after his unexpected death at 29 June 2009.
Twin towns
- Hoogezand-SappemeerHoogezand-SappemeerHoogezand-Sappemeer is a municipality in the northeastern Netherlands. It is the second largest municipality in the province of Groningen, after the city of Groningen. It is well known for its ship building industry....
(Netherlands), since 1966 - ChaddertonChaddertonChadderton is a town within the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham, in Greater Manchester, England, historically a part of Lancashire...
(England), since 1966 - Plaisir (France), since 1975
- KuldīgaKuldigaKuldīga is a town in western Latvia. It is the center of Kuldīga municipality with a population of approximately 13,500.Kuldīga was first mentioned in 1242. It joined the Hanseatic League in 1368...
(LatviaLatviaLatvia , officially the Republic of Latvia , is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by Estonia , to the south by Lithuania , to the east by the Russian Federation , to the southeast by Belarus and shares maritime borders to the west with Sweden...
), since 1991
Economics and transportation
Geesthacht is a major energy and scientific research center. It has the Krümmel Nuclear Power PlantKrümmel Nuclear Power Plant
Krümmel Nuclear Power Plant is a nuclear power plant in Geesthacht near Hamburg, Germany. It was taken into operation in 1983 and is owned 50% by Vattenfall via Vattenfall Europe Nuclear Energy GmbH and 50% by E.ON, and operated by the Swedish Vattenfall...
, a boiling water nuclear reactor on the River Elbe, and a pumped storage hydroelectrical plant situated within a few hundreds metres of the nuclear power plant. It consists of an artificial lake 80m above the river, where the water is pumped up from, and storage for later use in generating electricity when demand is high.
- Freeway 25 from Hamburg
- Federal road B5Bundesstraße 5The Bundesstraße 5 or B5 is a German federal highway running in a northwesterly to southeasterly direction from the Danish border near Niebüll to Frankfurt . It provides a direct route for motorists traveling between Berlin and Hamburg. In Berlin B5 forms among others the following squares and...
from HamburgHamburg-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...
in the west to LauenburgLauenburg/ElbeLauenburg/Elbe is a town in the state of Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It is situated at the northern bank of the river Elbe, east of Hamburg. It is the southernmost town of Schleswig-Holstein. Lauenburg belongs to the Kreis of Herzogtum Lauenburg and had a population of 11,900 as of 2002...
in the east - Disused railway line to Hamburg-Bergedorf
- River port on the Elbe, Elbe locks
- The nearest airport is at Hamburg-FuhlsbüttelHamburg AirportHamburg Airport , also known as Hamburg-Fuhlsbüttel Airport , is an international airport serving Hamburg, Germany.It originally covered . Since then, the site has grown more than tenfold to . The main apron covers . The airport is north of the centre of the city of Hamburg in the Fuhlsbüttel...
- The nearest sea harbour is the Port of Hamburg
Honorary citizens
- Rudolf Basedau (20 November 1897 – 23 October 1975), politician (SPDSocial Democratic Party of GermanyThe Social Democratic Party of Germany is a social-democratic political party in Germany...
), member of the Schleswig-Holstein parliament
Trivia
The conservative politician Uwe BarschelUwe Barschel
Uwe Barschel was a West German politician and from 1982 to 1987 Minister-President in the State of Schleswig-Holstein...
, who was later involved in the "Waterkantgate" scandal, took his Abitur
Abitur
Abitur is a designation used in Germany, Finland and Estonia for final exams that pupils take at the end of their secondary education, usually after 12 or 13 years of schooling, see also for Germany Abitur after twelve years.The Zeugnis der Allgemeinen Hochschulreife, often referred to as...
at the Otto-Hahn-Gymnasium in Geesthacht and as a student representative invited former Nazi admiral 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...
to give a presentation on the topic of 'The Modernisation of History Classes' ("Aktualisierung des Geschichtsunterrichts"). Following the scandal, his principal committed suicide under the ensuing pressure http://www.aliaflanko.de/bogi/venske/venske15.htm.
Literature
- Heinz Bohlmann: Fäuste, Führer, Flüchtlingstrecks. Ein Beitrag zur Geschichte der Städte Geesthacht und Lauenburg/Elbe 1930–1950. Schwarzenbeck 1990. ISBN 3-921595-15-0
- Bernhard Michael Menapace: "Klein-Moskau" wird braun: Geesthacht in der Endphase der Weimarer Republik (1928–1933). Kiel 1991. ISBN 3-89029-923-7
- August Ziehl: Geesthacht - 60 Jahre Arbeiterbewegung 1890–1950. Geesthacht 1958.