Duderstadt () is a city in southern

Lower Saxony Lower Saxony is a States of Germany, German state (') in Northern Germany, northwestern Germany. It is the second-largest state by land area, with , and fourth-largest in population (8 million in 2021) among the 16 ' of the Germany, Federal Re ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

, located in the district of

Göttingen Göttingen (, ; ; ) is a college town, university city in Lower Saxony, central Germany, the Capital (political), capital of Göttingen (district), the eponymous district. The River Leine runs through it. According to the 2022 German census, t ...

. It is the centre and the capital of the northern part of the

Eichsfeld The Eichsfeld ( or ; 'Oak-field') is a historical region in the southeast of the state of Lower Saxony (which is called , 'lower Eichsfeld') and northwest of the state of Thuringia (, 'upper Eichsfeld') in the south of the Harz mountains in Germany ...

("Untereichsfeld"). It was once the private wealth of the

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

archbishop In Christian denominations, an archbishop is a bishop of higher rank or office. In most cases, such as the Catholic Church, there are many archbishops who either have jurisdiction over an ecclesiastical province in addition to their own archdi ...

Mainz Mainz (; #Names and etymology, see below) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate, and with around 223,000 inhabitants, it is List of cities in Germany by population, Germany's 35th-largest city. It lies in ...

. The earliest documentary mention of Duderstadt was in 929 AD, and the city celebrates its anniversaries counting from that year. It is located on the

German Timber-Frame Road The German Timber-Frame Road () is a German tourist route leading from the river Elbe in the north to the Black Forest and Lake Constance in the south. Numerous cities and towns each with examples of the vernacular Timber framing, timber-framed ho ...

Architecture

The city contains many historical buildings in the

half-timber Timber framing () and "post-and-beam" construction are traditional methods of building with heavy Beam (structure), timbers, creating structures using squared-off and carefully fitted and Woodworking joints, joined timbers with joints secure ...

style, most notably along the Market Street, which stretches from the St. Cyriakuskirche (Catholic, built 1250–1490), also called "Oberkirche" (upper church), down to the St. Servatiuskirche (Protestant, built 1370–1520), also called "Unterkirche" (nether church). Turmduderstadt

Built in 1343, the Westerturm is one of at least eight gate towers and peels of the city's fortress wall, it burned down in 1424 and was rebuilt over the course of 12 years. The Westerturm has a very distinctive twisted roof. Though not the only tower in Germany with a twisted roof, its execution was particularly successful. There are a number of folk tales to explain the twist: one tale claims that an unoiled weather vane caused the wind to twist the roof. Another claims that when the devil was driving the men of Duderstadt to drink, the women drove him away, but not before he grabbed the tower and twisted it while passing over the wall, making his escape. Construction of the

Rathaus In local government, a city hall, town hall, civic centre (in the UK or Australia), guildhall, or municipal hall (in the Philippines) is the chief administrative building of a city, town, or other municipality. It usually houses the city o ...

(city council building) began in 1302, with additional wings and components added until 1674. It was completely restored in the 1980s and most recently in 2002. At particular hours, a carillon plays from one of the towers as a bust of the "Anreis" (also: "Anreischke") comes out and nods.

The "Anreischke"

The city ''Innenstadt'' is surrounded by a long earthen wall which was constructed by a traveling master fortress builder named Andreas. The city council (''Rat'') of Duderstadt contracted with Andreas in 1506 to build the wall. Since the surrounding farmers were also to be protected by the wall, the ''Rat'' conscripted them to work on the construction of the wall. Andreas was reportedly a cruel taskmaster, and the farmers detested him. They soon also blamed the citizens of Duderstadt for their woes, and took to calling all of them "Anreischke", after Andreas, which was pronounced "Anreis" in the "platt" (low) German spoken by the farmers. The citizens of Duderstadt, in turn, had a wooden bust of Andreas constructed and attached to a clockwork. Every two hours since then, the wooden "Anreischke" would come out and nod to the farmers coming to market, to remind them of the detested Andreas, and of their dependency on the city. That wooden Anreischke nods until this day from the Rathaus tower at 9 am, 11, 1 pm, 3, 5 and 7.

Otto Bock

A Duderstadt-headquartered company is the

Otto Bock Ottobock SE & Co. KGaA, formerly Otto Bock, is an international company based in Duderstadt Germany, that operates in the field of orthopedic technology. It is considered the world market leader in the field of prosthetics and one of the leadi ...

corporation, named after its founder. Otto Bock produces state-of-the-art prosthetic limbs and other health products. Though now an international company, it is still headquartered in Duderstadt. Revenue in 2003 was 355.5 million euros. Otto Bock was a significant contributor to economic growth in the region in the postwar period. Borderlandmuseum_exhibition_2

Culture

The Duderstadt Heimatmuseum has a collection of locally significant artifacts. Exhibitions include temporary ones and a room with a glass floor installed in the late twentieth century so that visitors can see the original stone wall construction underneath the building. Not far from Duderstadt, the

Borderland Museum Eichsfeld The Borderland Museum Eichsfeld is a history museum located in Central Germany at the former Inner German border, inner-German border between East Germany, East and West Germany. It deals with the Cold War in general and the German division in s ...

Teistungen Teistungen is a municipality in the district of Eichsfeld in Thuringia, Germany. Teistungen was first mentioned in 1090 as the site of Teistungenburg monastery, a filiation of Beuren monastery. The old monastery buildings were demolished in 197 ...

addresses various aspects of the

inner-German border The inner German border ( or ''deutsch–deutsche Grenze''; initially also , zonal boundary) was the frontier between the German Democratic Republic (GDR, East Germany) and the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG, West Germany) from 1949 to 1990. ...

, the German division and the history of the

GDR East Germany, officially known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), was a country in Central Europe from its formation on 7 October 1949 until its reunification with West Germany (FRG) on 3 October 1990. Until 1989, it was generally vie ...

. The museum area also includes a circular hiking trail along the former

Iron Curtain The Iron Curtain was the political and physical boundary dividing Europe into two separate areas from the end of World War II in 1945 until the end of the Cold War in 1991. On the east side of the Iron Curtain were countries connected to the So ...

Notable people

Georg von Kopp Georg von Kopp (25 July 1837 – 4 March 1914) was a German Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church who served as Bishop of Fulda (1881–1887) and Prince-Bishop of Breslau (1887–1914). He was known for his anti-Polish views and pursued the German ...

(1837–1914), Cardinal of the RC Church;

Bishop of Fulda The Diocese of Fulda () is a Latin Church diocese of the Catholic Church in the north of the German state of Hessen. It is a suffragan diocese of the Archdiocese of Paderborn. The bishop's seat is in Fulda Cathedral. History The history of th ...

(1881–1887) and

Prince-Bishop of Breslau A prince-bishop is a bishop who is also the civil ruler of some secular principality and sovereignty, as opposed to ''Prince of the Church'' itself, a title associated with cardinals. Since 1951, the sole extant prince-bishop has been the Bish ...

(1887–1914). *

Theodor Barth Theodor Barth (16 July 1849 – 3 June 1909) was a German liberal politician, publicist and economist. He was a member of the Reichstag between 1881 and 1884, between 1885 and 1898, and between 1901 and 1903. Career Barth started his politic ...

(1849–1909), politician, member of the Reichstag *

Angela Zigahl Angela Zigahl (25 December 1885 – 1955) was a German teacher and politician who served in the Landtag of Prussia from 1925 until 1933. A member of the Centre Party, she represented the Oppeln constituency. Following World War II, Zigahl was a ...

(1885–1955), teacher and politician, died locally *

Tilo Medek Tilo Medek, originally Müller-Medek (22 January 1940 – 3 February 2006), was a German classical composer, musicologist and music publisher. He grew up in East Germany, but was inspired by the Darmstädter Ferienkurse. He composed radio plays and ...

(1940–2006), a German classical composer, musicologist and music publisher; died locally

References

External links

* * {{Authority control Göttingen (district) Members of the Hanseatic League