Geesthacht

Geesthacht
Geesthacht
Location of the town of Geesthacht within Lauenburg district
Coordinates	53°26′N 10°22′E
Administration
Country	Germany
State	Schleswig-Holstein
District	Lauenburg
Mayor	Dr. Volker Manow
Basic statistics
Area	33.18 km2 (12.81 sq mi)
Elevation	5 m  (16 ft)
Population	29,228 (31 December 2010)
- Density	881 /km2 (2,282 /sq mi)
Other information
Time zone	CET/CEST (UTC+1/+2)
Licence plate	RZ
Postal codes	21498–21502
Area code	04152
Website	www.geesthacht.de

Geesthacht (German pronunciation: [ɡeːstˈhaxt]) 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.

History

• Around 800: A church is documented.
• 1216: First documentary mention of the settlement as Hachede, then a part of Saxony.
• A change in the course of the Elbe cuts the settlement into two: Geesthacht and Marschacht (in today's Lower Saxony).
• 1296: Geesthacht becomes part of the Durchy of Saxe-Lauenburg, partitioned from Saxony
• 1370: Duke Eric III pawns Geesthacht - as part of the Herrschaft of Bergedorf - 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 Hamburg and Lübeck by the Peace of Perleberg.
• 1811: Geesthacht is annexed to France as part of the Bouches de l'Elbe département
• 1813: The condominium is restored
• 1865/66: The Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel establishes a glycerin factory in Geesthacht (on Krümmel hill) and invents dynamite. 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 (USPD, KPD and SAPD) and acquires the nickname Little Moscow.
• 1924: Granted town privileges 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 Prussian province of Schleswig-Holstein, there becoming part of the district (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	SPD	GRÜNE	FDP	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-Sappemeer (Netherlands), since 1966
• Chadderton (England), since 1966
• Plaisir (France), since 1975
• Kuldīga (Latvia), since 1991

Economics and transportation

Geesthacht is a major energy and scientific research center. It has the Krümmel Nuclear Power Plant, 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 B5 from Hamburg in the west to Lauenburg in the east
• Disused railway line to Hamburg-Bergedorf
• River port on the Elbe, Elbe locks
• The nearest airport is at Hamburg-Fuhlsbüttel
• The nearest sea harbour is the Port of Hamburg

State institutions

• Helmholtz-Zentrum Geesthacht - research institute

Leisure and sports sites

• Open-air swimming pool at the Elbe

Theatre

• Kleines Theater Schillerstrasse - small art meetings and cinema

Museums

• Krügersches Haus - a permanent exhibition relating the history of the city

Personalities

Honorary citizens

• Rudolf Basedau (20 November 1897 – 23 October 1975), politician (SPD), member of the Schleswig-Holstein parliament

Trivia

The conservative politician Uwe Barschel, 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 [1].

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.

External links

• (German) Official website
• (German) Geesthacht News
• (German) Fototour Geesthacht