Bad Harzburg (; Eastphalian: ''Bad Harzborch'') is a

spa town A spa town is a resort town based on a mineral spa (a developed mineral spring). Patrons visit spas to "take the waters" for their purported health benefits. Thomas Guidott set up a medical practice in the English town of Bath, Somerset, B ...

in central

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwee ...

, in the Goslar district of

Lower Saxony Lower Saxony (german: Niedersachsen ; nds, Neddersassen; stq, Läichsaksen) is a German state (') in northwestern Germany. It is the second-largest state by land area, with , and fourth-largest in population (8 million in 2021) among the 16 ...

. It lies on the northern edge of the

Harz mountains The Harz () is a highland area in northern Germany. It has the highest elevations for that region, and its rugged terrain extends across parts of Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Thuringia. The name ''Harz'' derives from the Middle High Germ ...

and is a recognised saltwater spa and climatic health resort.

Geography

Bad Harzburg is situated at the northern foot of the

Harz The Harz () is a highland area in northern Germany. It has the highest elevations for that region, and its rugged terrain extends across parts of Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Thuringia. The name ''Harz'' derives from the Middle High German ...

mountain range on the edge of the

Harz National Park Harz National Park is a nature reserve in the German federal states of Lower Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt. It comprises portions of the western Harz mountain range, extending from Herzberg and Bad Lauterberg at the southern edge to Bad Harzburg and ...

. To the east of the

borough A borough is an administrative division in various English-speaking countries. In principle, the term ''borough'' designates a self-governing walled town, although in practice, official use of the term varies widely. History In the Middle Ag ...

is the boundary between the states of

and

Saxony-Anhalt Saxony-Anhalt (german: Sachsen-Anhalt ; nds, Sassen-Anholt) is a state of Germany, bordering the states of Brandenburg, Saxony, Thuringia and Lower Saxony. It covers an area of and has a population of 2.18 million inhabitants, making i ...

, the former

Inner German Border The inner German border (german: Innerdeutsche Grenze or ; initially also ) was the border between the German Democratic Republic (GDR, East Germany) and the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG, West Germany) from 1949 to 1990. Not including the ...

. The small '' Radau'' river, a tributary to the

Oker The Oker is a river in Lower Saxony, Germany, that has historically formed an important political boundary. It is a left tributary of the River Aller, in length and runs in a generally northerly direction. Origin and meaning of the name The ...

, has its source in the Harz mountains and flows through the town. Nearby are the towns of

Goslar Goslar (; Eastphalian: ''Goslär'') is a historic town in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is the administrative centre of the district of Goslar and located on the northwestern slopes of the Harz mountain range. The Old Town of Goslar and the Mi ...

to the west, Vienenburg to the north,

Braunlage Braunlage () is a town and health resort in the Goslar district of Lower Saxony in Germany. Situated within the Harz mountain range, south of the Brocken massif, Braunlage's main business is tourism, particularly skiing. Nearby ski resorts inclu ...

to the south and

Ilsenburg Ilsenburg () is a town in the district of Harz, in Saxony-Anhalt in Germany. It is situated under the north foot of the Harz Mountains, at the entrance to the Ilse valley with its little river, the Ilse, a tributary of the Oker, about six north ...

and Osterwieck in the east. Bad Harzburg is rich in natural resources such as

gabbro Gabbro () is a phaneritic (coarse-grained), mafic intrusive igneous rock formed from the slow cooling of magnesium-rich and iron-rich magma into a holocrystalline mass deep beneath the Earth's surface. Slow-cooling, coarse-grained gabbro is ...

chalk Chalk is a soft, white, porous, sedimentary carbonate rock. It is a form of limestone composed of the mineral calcite and originally formed deep under the sea by the compression of microscopic plankton that had settled to the sea floor. C ...

gravel Gravel is a loose aggregation of rock fragments. Gravel occurs naturally throughout the world as a result of sedimentary and erosive geologic processes; it is also produced in large quantities commercially as crushed stone. Gravel is classifi ...

, and oolithic

iron ore Iron ores are rocks and minerals from which metallic iron can be economically extracted. The ores are usually rich in iron oxides and vary in color from dark grey, bright yellow, or deep purple to rusty red. The iron is usually found in the ...

(former

Hansa Pit The Hansa Pit (german: Grube Hansa) was a mine on the territory of Harlingerode in the county of Wolfenbüttel in the Free State of Brunswick and later in Lower Saxony, West Germany. It was founded on the Langenberg south of Harlingerode; however ...

), all of which are or were mined in today's city's area. Climatically Bad Harzburg is a transition zone to a pure alpine region with a pronounced local climate.

Town districts

The districts within the borough of Bad Harzburg, with their population in brackets, are: * Bad Harzburg (9,205) *

Bettingerode Bettingerode () is a village that forms a municipal district of Bad Harzburg in the district of Goslar in Lower Saxony. As of 2020, Bettingerode had a population of 402. Geography Bettingerode lies between Bad Harzburg downtown and Vienenbur ...

(438) :* Altfeld :* Radau Estate (German: ''Gut Radau'') * Bündheim (5,238) * Eckertal (153) *

Göttingerode Göttingerode (), in Oker dialect: Jettchenrue () is a village in Germany and district of Bad Harzburg in the district of Goslar in Lower Saxony. As of 2020, Göttingerode had a population of 902. It gained international relevance owing to the d ...

(986) *

Harlingerode Harlingerode () is a village in Germany and district of Bad Harzburg in the district of Goslar in Lower Saxony. As of 2020, Harlingerode had a population of 2,916. Geography Harlingerode lies between 190 and , increasing in height in southern ...

(3,068) * Schlewecke (1,753) :* Radauanger * Westerode (1,074) :* Mathildenhütte :* Quellesiedlung Population: as at 30 June 2018''Einwohner und Wirtschaft'' (Population and Economy)
in 2018 GabbroSteinbruchHarzburg.jpg,

Gabbro Gabbro () is a phaneritic (coarse-grained), mafic intrusive igneous rock formed from the slow cooling of magnesium-rich and iron-rich magma into a holocrystalline mass deep beneath the Earth's surface. Slow-cooling, coarse-grained gabbro is ...

quarry south of Bad Harzburg RöseckenbachKalkabbau201707.jpg, The former Langenberg chalk quarry near

, uniquely presenting the Northern Harz Boundary Fault. Klima-D-HARZBURG BAD.png, Climatic diagram for Bad Harzburg

History

Medieval times

According to legend, about 780 AD the Emperor

Charlemagne Charlemagne ( , ) or Charles the Great ( la, Carolus Magnus; german: Karl der Große; 2 April 747 – 28 January 814), a member of the Carolingian dynasty, was King of the Franks from 768, King of the Lombards from 774, and the first E ...

, after the conquest of the area in the course of the

Saxon Wars The Saxon Wars were the campaigns and insurrections of the thirty-three years from 772, when Charlemagne first entered Saxony with the intent to conquer, to 804, when the last rebellion of tribesmen was defeated. In all, 18 campaigns were fought ...

, had a chapel built on the '' Burgberg'' a hill overlooking the town. It may have stood on the site of a

sacred grove Sacred groves or sacred woods are groves of trees and have special religious importance within a particular culture. Sacred groves feature in various cultures throughout the world. They were important features of the mythological landscape and ...

dedicated to a

Saxon The Saxons ( la, Saxones, german: Sachsen, ang, Seaxan, osx, Sahson, nds, Sassen, nl, Saksen) were a group of Germanic * * * * peoples whose name was given in the early Middle Ages to a large country (Old Saxony, la, Saxonia) near the Nor ...

god named ''

Krodo Krodo according to the 1492 ''Saxon Chronicle'' incunable, probably written by the Brunswick goldsmith Conrad Bothe (c. 1475 – c. 1501) and printed in the studio of Peter Schöffer at Mainz, was a Germanic god of the Saxons. He is suppos ...

'', whose statue Charlemagne had overthrown. King

Conrad I of Germany Conrad I (; c. 881 – 23 December 918), called the Younger, was the king of East Francia from 911 to 918. He was the first king not of the Carolingian dynasty, the first to be elected by the nobility and the first to be anointed. He was chosen a ...

is believed to have established a college of canons here in 916, in order to strengthen his rule in the

Duchy of Saxony The Duchy of Saxony ( nds, Hartogdom Sassen, german: Herzogtum Sachsen) was originally the area settled by the Saxons in the late Early Middle Ages, when they were subdued by Charlemagne during the Saxon Wars from 772 and incorporated into the C ...

under

Henry the Fowler Henry the Fowler (german: Heinrich der Vogler or '; la, Henricus Auceps) (c. 876 – 2 July 936) was the Duke of Saxony from 912 and the King of East Francia from 919 until his death in 936. As the first non- Frankish king of East Francia, h ...

. King Henry III had it transferred to his ''

Kaiserpfalz The term ''Kaiserpfalz'' (, "imperial palace") or ''Königspfalz'' (, "royal palace", from Middle High German ''phal ne'' to Old High German ''phalanza'' from Middle Latin ''palatia'' luralto Latin ''palatium'' "palace") refers to a number of ...

'' in

in 1039. Still on bad terms with the Saxons, his son and successor Henry IV between 1065 and 1068 had a sizable castle, the ''

Harzburg The Harzburg, also called Große Harzburg ("Great Harz Castle"), is a former imperial castle, situated on the northwestern edge of the Harz mountain range overlooking the spa resort of Bad Harzburg in Goslar District in the state of Lower Sax ...

'', built on the ''Burgberg'' to control the region, where he was besieged in 1073 by the forces of Duke

Otto of Nordheim Otto of Nordheim (c. 1020 – 11 January 1083) was Duke of Bavaria from 1061 until 1070. He was one of the leaders of the Saxon Rebellion in 1073-75 and the Great Saxon Revolt of 1077-88 against King Henry IV of Germany. Life Family Otto was bor ...

during the

Great Saxon Revolt The Great Saxon Revolt was a civil war fought between 1077 and 1088, early in the history of the Holy Roman Empire. The revolt was led by a group of opportunistic German princes who elected as their figurehead the duke of Swabia, Rudolf of Rh ...

. Henry managed to escape from the castle, which after the Peace of Gerstungen was badly damaged by its attackers. Emperor

Frederick Barbarossa Frederick Barbarossa (December 1122 – 10 June 1190), also known as Frederick I (german: link=no, Friedrich I, it, Federico I), was the Holy Roman Emperor from 1155 until his death 35 years later. He was elected King of Germany in Frankfurt ...

had it rebuilt after he had defeated his rival, the Saxon duke

Henry the Lion Henry the Lion (german: Heinrich der Löwe; 1129/1131 – 6 August 1195) was a member of the Welf dynasty who ruled as the duke of Saxony and Bavaria from 1142 and 1156, respectively, until 1180. Henry was one of the most powerful German p ...

in 1180. Henry's son

Otto IV Otto IV (1175 – 19 May 1218) was the Holy Roman Emperor from 1209 until his death in 1218. Otto spent most of his early life in England and France. He was a follower of his uncle Richard the Lionheart, who made him Count of Poitou in 119 ...

, crowned

Holy Roman Emperor The Holy Roman Emperor, originally and officially the Emperor of the Romans ( la, Imperator Romanorum, german: Kaiser der Römer) during the Middle Ages, and also known as the Roman-German Emperor since the early modern period ( la, Imperat ...

in 1209, died at the castle on 19 May 1218. Bad Harzburg um 1900

Archaeological findings of a first, later abandoned, settlement beneath the castle called ''Schulenrode'' (

Old Saxon Old Saxon, also known as Old Low German, was a Germanic language and the earliest recorded form of Low German (spoken nowadays in Northern Germany, the northeastern Netherlands, southern Denmark, the Americas and parts of Eastern Europe). I ...

for "hidden (cf. skulk) clearing") date back to the 10th century. Another locality nearby named ''Hartesborch'' was first mentioned in a 1314 deed by the

Benedictine , image = Medalla San Benito.PNG , caption = Design on the obverse side of the Saint Benedict Medal , abbreviation = OSB , formation = , motto = (English: 'Pray and Work') , foun ...

abbey of

. The present-day town itself, then called ''Neustadt'' ("new town"), was first documented in 1338.

Modern period

From 1488 on, the ''Harzburg'' with its surrounding estates was part of the

Principality of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel The Principality of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel (german: Fürstentum Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel) was a subdivision of the Duchy of Brunswick-Lüneburg, whose history was characterised by numerous divisions and reunifications. It had an area of 3,828 ...

, though spatially separated from the residence of the prince at

Wolfenbüttel Wolfenbüttel (; nds, Wulfenbüddel) is a town in Lower Saxony, Germany, the administrative capital of Wolfenbüttel District. It is best known as the location of the internationally renowned Herzog August Library and for having the largest ...

by the neighbouring Prince-Bishoprics of

Hildesheim Hildesheim (; nds, Hilmessen, Hilmssen; la, Hildesia) is a city in Lower Saxony, Germany with 101,693 inhabitants. It is in the district of Hildesheim, about southeast of Hanover on the banks of the Innerste River, a small tributary of the ...

and

Halberstadt Halberstadt ( Eastphalian: ''Halverstidde'') is a town in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt, the capital of Harz district. Located north of the Harz mountain range, it is known for its old town center that was greatly destroyed by Allied bomb ...

. About 1569, Duke Julius of Brunswick promoted the development of a

saline water Saline water (more commonly known as salt water) is water that contains a high concentration of dissolved salts (mainly sodium chloride). On the United States Geological Survey (USGS) salinity scale, saline water is saltier than brackish water ...

well to extract salt. The well was called ''Juliushall'' and since 1852 the

brine Brine is a high-concentration solution of salt (NaCl) in water (H2O). In diverse contexts, ''brine'' may refer to the salt solutions ranging from about 3.5% (a typical concentration of seawater, on the lower end of that of solutions used for ...

has been used for saline baths as well as other medical purposes. In 1892 the townspeople changed the town's name from ''Neustadt'' to ''Harzburg''. It was given the title "Bad" (German for "bath", i. e. spa), received

town privileges Town privileges or borough rights were important features of European towns during most of the second millennium. The city law customary in Central Europe probably dates back to Italian models, which in turn were oriented towards the traditio ...

in 1894 and has since become an important

and tourist attraction.

20th century

The election results for the Nazi Party in the Bad Harzburg district had been below-average so far. The

Harzburg Front The Harzburg Front (german: Harzburger Front) was a short-lived radical right-wing, anti-democratic political alliance in Weimar Germany, formed in 1931 as an attempt to present a unified opposition to the government of Chancellor Heinrich Br ...

of a united " national opposition" against the

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

government of

Heinrich Brüning Heinrich Aloysius Maria Elisabeth Brüning (; 26 November 1885 – 30 March 1970) was a German Centre Party politician and academic, who served as the chancellor of Germany during the Weimar Republic from 1930 to 1932. A political scienti ...

was initiated by

Alfred Hugenberg Alfred Ernst Christian Alexander Hugenberg (19 June 1865 – 12 March 1951) was an influential German businessman and politician. An important figure in nationalist politics in Germany for the first few decades of the twentieth century, Hugenbe ...

, the national-conservative

German National People's Party The German National People's Party (german: Deutschnationale Volkspartei, DNVP) was a national-conservative party in Germany during the Weimar Republic. Before the rise of the Nazi Party, it was the major conservative and nationalist party in Wei ...

(DNVP), the leadership of the

Nazi Party The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party (german: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or NSDAP), was a far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that created and supported t ...

(NSDAP), '' Der Stahlhelm'' first World War ex-servicemens' organisation and the ''

Alldeutscher Verband The Pan-German League (german: Alldeutscher Verband) was a Pan-German nationalist organization which was officially founded in 1891, a year after the Zanzibar Treaty was signed. Primarily dedicated to the German Question of the time, it held pos ...

'' pressure group and constituted on 11 October 1931. Both the People's and Nazi parties participated in the government of the

Free State of Brunswick The Free State of Brunswick () was a state of the German Reich in the time of the Weimar Republic. It was formed after the abolition of the Duchy of Brunswick in the course of the German Revolution of 1918–19. Its capital was Braunschweig (Bru ...

from 1930, with the leading Nazi politician

Dietrich Klagges Dietrich Klagges () (1 February 1891 – 12 November 1971) was a Nazi Party politician and from 1933 to 1945 the appointed premier ('' Ministerpräsident'') of the now abolished Free State of Brunswick. He also went by the pseudonym Rudolf Berg. ...

as Minister of the Interior from September 1931. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, military hospitals were established in several hotels. The town surrendered without a fight to the 83rd US Infantry Division on 11 April 1945. After the war, Bad Harzburg with the lands of Brunswick belonged to the British zone of

Allied-occupied Germany Germany was already de facto occupied by the Allies from the real fall of Nazi Germany in World War II on 8 May 1945 to the establishment of the East Germany on 7 October 1949. The Allies (United States, United Kingdom, Soviet Union, and Franc ...

and from 1949 was part of

West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 ...

. Before

reunification A political union is a type of political entity which is composed of, or created from, smaller polities, or the process which achieves this. These smaller polities are usually called federated states and federal territories in a federal governmen ...

, its railway station was the eastern terminus of a major railway route just west of the

inner German border The inner German border (german: Innerdeutsche Grenze or ; initially also ) was the border between the German Democratic Republic (GDR, East Germany) and the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG, West Germany) from 1949 to 1990. Not including the ...

. The modern community of Bad Harzburg was founded on July 1, 1972, as the communities of Bad Harzburg, Bettingerode, Bündheim-Schlewecke, Harlingerode, and Westerode were merged. The city was then incorporated from the Wolfenbüttel district into the Goslar district in 1974.

Demographics

As of 30 June 2018 there were 21,917 inhabitants in Bad Harzburg. Population Statistics Bad Harzburg

Sights

*The ''

'' castle was finally slighted in 1650 by order of Duke Augustus the Younger, so that only its ruins remain today. A scenic overlook on its western perimeter offers a panoramic view of the

North German Plain The North German Plain or Northern Lowland (german: Norddeutsches Tiefland) is one of the major geographical regions of Germany. It is the German part of the North European Plain. The region is bounded by the coasts of the North Sea and the Balt ...

. This viewing point is dominated by the 19 m (62 ft) tall Canossa Column (''Canossasäule'') erected in 1877 in remembrance of both the Walk to Canossa by Emperor Henry IV in 1077 and a famous expression by Chancellor

Otto von Bismarck Otto, Prince of Bismarck, Count of Bismarck-Schönhausen, Duke of Lauenburg (, ; 1 April 1815 – 30 July 1898), born Otto Eduard Leopold von Bismarck, was a conservative German statesman and diplomat. From his origins in the upper class of ...

during his ''

Kulturkampf (, 'culture struggle') was the conflict that took place from 1872 to 1878 between the Catholic Church in Germany, Catholic Church led by Pope Pius IX and the government of Kingdom of Prussia, Prussia led by Otto von Bismarck. The main issues wer ...

'' conflict with the Roman Catholic Church "We will not go to Canossa" (''"Nach Canossa gehen wir nicht"''). The

Burgberg Cable Car The Burgberg Cable Car (german: Burgbergseilbahn) is a cable car in Bad Harzburg, Germany. It was built in 1929 by the Bleichert engineering corporation and has a length of 481 metres. Its hauling cable has a diameter of 18 mm, its carryin ...

has linked town and hilltop since 1929. *Bündheim Castle (''Bündheimer Schloss'') was the seat of the ''

Amtmann __NOTOC__ The ''Amtmann'' or ''Ammann'' (in Switzerland) was an official in German-speaking countries of Europe and in some of the Nordic countries from the time of the Middle Ages whose office was akin to that of a bailiff. He was the most seni ...

'' (

bailiff A bailiff (from Middle English baillif, Old French ''baillis'', ''bail'' "custody") is a manager, overseer or custodian – a legal officer to whom some degree of authority or jurisdiction is given. Bailiffs are of various kinds and their o ...

or ''

vogt During the Middle Ages, an (sometimes given as modern English: advocate; German: ; French: ) was an office-holder who was legally delegated to perform some of the secular responsibilities of a major feudal lord, or for an institution such as ...

'') of the Duchy of Brunswick-Lüneburg. It was erected in 1685 under the rule of Duke Rudolph Augustus on the site of a former manor house, built in 1573, that had been destroyed during the

Thirty Years' War The Thirty Years' War was one of the longest and most destructive conflicts in European history, lasting from 1618 to 1648. Fought primarily in Central Europe, an estimated 4.5 to 8 million soldiers and civilians died as a result of batt ...

. The castled replaced the ''Harzburg'' as the headquarters of the local government, it was constructed with stones of the slighted castle. *Near Bündheim Castle are the

stables A stable is a building in which livestock, especially horses, are kept. It most commonly means a building that is divided into separate stalls for individual animals and livestock. There are many different types of stables in use today; the ...

of Bad Harzburg's stud farm, one of Europe's oldest, established in 1413 by the dukes of Brunswick-Lüneburg. The adjacent

racecourse A race track (racetrack, racing track or racing circuit) is a facility built for racing of vehicles, athletes, or animals (e.g. horse racing or greyhound racing). A race track also may feature grandstands or concourses. Race tracks are also use ...

is the site of the annual Harzburg Race Week (''Harzburger Rennwoche''). *The Pump Room (''Wandelhalle'') is the historic centre of the spa resort. Built in 1898 on the site of the former saline well, the hall today is used for recitals and lectures. On the other side of the ''Badepark'' stands the former bathhouse (''Badehaus''), which now houses a casino (''Spielbank''). *The

Lutheran Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Catholic Church launched ...

parish church (''Lutherkirche'') of 1903 has paintings by Brunswick court painter, Adolf Quensen, and a

Sauer The Sauer (German and Luxembourgish, , ) or Sûre (French, ) is a river in Belgium, Luxembourg and Germany. A left tributary of the Moselle, its total length is . Rising near Vaux-sur-Sûre in the Ardennes in southeastern Belgium, the Sauer ...

pipe organ. *East of Bad Harzburg stands the Cross of the German East (''Kreuz des deutschen Ostens''), an '' Ostlandkreuz'', in remembrance of the expulsion of Germans from Eastern Europe after World War II. Erected in 2000 at an elevation of 555 m (1,821 ft) on the ''Uhlenklippen'' hill, the 18 m (59 ft) high cross replaces an earlier one from 1950, which was destroyed by a storm. *The

Sachsenbrunnen The Sachsenbrunnen is an enclosed spring at the ''Säperstelle'' near Bad Harzburg in the Harz Mountains of Germany. It is located on the Emperor Way (''Kaiserweg'') south of the spa town. From here drinking water was piped to castle of Harzburg ov ...

, a medieval spring in the nearby woods and source of drinking water for the castle of

Culture

* The Harzburger Musiktage is a festival of

classical music Classical music generally refers to the art music of the Western world, considered to be distinct from Western folk music or popular music traditions. It is sometimes distinguished as Western classical music, as the term "classical music" al ...

, dating back to 1970.

Politics

Town council

2011 local elections: * SPD: 12 seats (35.98%) * CDU: 12 seats (34.4%) *

Green Green is the color between cyan and yellow on the visible spectrum. It is evoked by light which has a dominant wavelength of roughly 495570 nm. In subtractive color systems, used in painting and color printing, it is created by a combin ...

: 5 seats (14.25%) * WTD: 3 seats (9,95%) * FDP: 1 seat (2.96%) * The Left: 1 seat (2.96%)

Mayors

Mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well ...

(''Bürgermeister'') Ralf Abrahms (Greens) was elected in a

two-round system The two-round system (TRS), also known as runoff voting, second ballot, or ballotage, is a voting method used to elect a single candidate, where voters cast a single vote for their preferred candidate. It generally ensures a majoritarian resu ...

on 22 September 2002 with 53.8% of the votes. Abrahms is the first

mayor in Lower Saxony. * 1947–1956: Hermann Nordmann (CDU) * 1956–1961: Joachim Hinkel (FDP) * 1961–1970: Fritz Schrader (CDU) * 1970–1972: Friedrich Ehrhardt (CDU) (temporary) * 1972–1977: Siegfried Hoffmann(SPD) * 1977–1981: Klaus „Jockel“ Homann (SPD) * 1981–1986: Jürgen Dorka (1934-2008), (CDU) * 1986–2002: Klaus „Jockel“ Homann (SPD);

Twin towns

Bad Harzburg is twinned with: *

Wilhelmshaven Wilhelmshaven (, ''Wilhelm's Harbour''; Northern Low Saxon: ''Willemshaven'') is a coastal town in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated on the western side of the Jade Bight, a bay of the North Sea, and has a population of 76,089. Wilhelmsh ...

, 1988 * Port-Louis,

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

, 1993 * Szklarska Poręba,

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

Transport

The

Bundesstraße 4 The Bundesstraße 4 (abbr. B4) is a German federal highway running in a northwesterly to southly direction from the state of Schleswig-Holstein to Bavaria. It provides a direct route for motorists traveling between Hamburg and Nuremberg. The sec ...

federal highway runs through Bad Harzburg, connecting the town with the A 369 motorway to Brunswick and

Halle Halle may refer to: Places Germany * Halle (Saale), also called Halle an der Saale, a city in Saxony-Anhalt ** Halle (region), a former administrative region in Saxony-Anhalt ** Bezirk Halle, a former administrative division of East Germany ** Hal ...

in the north and with Nordhausen and

Erfurt Erfurt () is the capital and largest city in the Central German state of Thuringia. It is located in the wide valley of the Gera river (progression: ), in the southern part of the Thuringian Basin, north of the Thuringian Forest. It sits in ...

in the south. In the east–west direction the A 36 motorway leads to the A 14 motorway at Bernburg and the 6 federal highway to

Hanover Hanover (; german: Hannover ; nds, Hannober) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Lower Saxony. Its 535,932 (2021) inhabitants make it the 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-largest city in Northern Germany ...

. Rail services are provided at Bad Harzburg station by

RegionalExpress In Germany, Luxembourg and Austria, the Regional-Express (RE, or in Austria: REX) is a type of regional train. It is similar to a semi-fast train, with average speed at about 70–90 km/h (top speed often 160 km/h) as it calls at ...

and RegionalBahn trains of the

Deutsche Bahn The (; abbreviated as DB or DB AG) is the national railway company of Germany. Headquartered in the Bahntower in Berlin, it is a joint-stock company ( AG). The Federal Republic of Germany is its single shareholder. describes itself as the ...

running to Hanover, Brunswick,

Holzminden Holzminden (; nds, Holtsminne) is a town in southern Lower Saxony, Germany. It is the capital of the district of Holzminden. It is located on the river Weser, which at this point forms the border with the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. His ...

and

Notable people

Honorary citizen

* 1895

(1815–1898), ''

Reichskanzler The chancellor of Germany, officially the federal chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany,; often shortened to ''Bundeskanzler''/''Bundeskanzlerin'', / is the head of the federal government of Germany and the commander in chief of the Ge ...

People from Bad Harzburg

* Max Frey (1874–1944), painter, lived in Bad Harzburg from 1937 until his death on March 11, 1944 * Lars Fuchs (born 1982), football player * Waldemar Koch (1880–1963), politician * Irina Kuhnt (born 1968), hockey player and Olympian * Stefan Meissner (born 1973), football player * Carl Peters (1856–1918), colonizer, lived in Bad Harzburg from 1914 until his death Bundesarchiv Bild 183-R30019, Dr

* Manfred Schmidt (1913–1999), cartoonist * Frithjof Schmidt (born 1953), politician *

Conrad Willgerodt Conrad Heinrich Christoph Willgerodt (November 2, 1841 – December 19, 1930) was a German chemist who first described the Willgerodt reaction. Alongside the Willgerodt reaction, he had also discovered Iodosobenzene and chlorobutanol Chlorobutanol ...

(1841–1930), chemist * Thomas Zacharias (born 1947), high jumper

External links

Bad Harzburg Tourism
*

References

{{Authority control Goslar (district) Duchy of Brunswick Spa towns in Germany