Seesen is a town and municipality in the district of Goslar, in

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 ...

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 ...

. It is situated on the northwestern edge 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, approx. west 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 ...

History

The

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 ...

settlement of ''Sehusa'' was first mentioned in a 974 deed issued by Emperor

Otto II Otto II (955 – 7 December 983), called the Red (''der Rote''), was Holy Roman Emperor from 973 until his death in 983. A member of the Ottonian dynasty, Otto II was the youngest and sole surviving son of Otto the Great and Adelaide of Italy ...

and Chancellor

Willigis Willigis ( la, Willigisus; german: Willigis, Willegis; 940 – 23 February 1011 AD) was Archbishop of Mainz from 975 until his death as well as archchancellor of the Holy Roman Empire. Life Willigus was born in the Duchy of Saxony, possibly at ...

, from 1235 on it belonged to the Welf dukes of Brunswick-Lüneburg who had a castle erected. In 1428 Seesen 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 ...

by Duke Otto II the One-Eyed of Brunswick-Göttingen. On 17 July 1810,

Israel Jacobson Israel Jacobson (17 October 1768, Halberstadt – 14 September 1828, Berlin) was a German-Jewish philanthropist and communal organiser. Jacobson pioneered political, educational and religious reforms in the early days of Jewish emancipation, an ...

dedicated in Seesen the first synagogue which employed an organ and a choir during prayer and introduced some German liturgy. This day is celebrated by

Reform Judaism Reform Judaism, also known as Liberal Judaism or Progressive Judaism, is a major Jewish denomination that emphasizes the evolving nature of Judaism, the superiority of its ethical aspects to its ceremonial ones, and belief in a continuous sear ...

worldwide as its foundation date. In 1836 Heinrich Engelhard Steinweg (later named

Henry E. Steinway Heinrich Engelhard Steinweg, anglicized name Henry Engelhard Steinway, (February 22, 1797 – February 7, 1871)B ...

) built his first grand piano in his kitchen in Seesen; the instrument is today on display at New York's

Metropolitan Museum The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...

of Art.

Politics

Seats in the municipal assembly (''Stadtrat'') as of 2006 elections: * Christian Democratic Union (CDU): 17 *

Social Democratic Party of Germany The Social Democratic Party of Germany (german: Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands, ; SPD, ) is a centre-left social democratic political party in Germany. It is one of the major parties of contemporary Germany. Saskia Esken has been ...

(SPD): 15 * Free Democratic Party (FDP): 2

Twin towns – sister cities

Seesen is twinned with: * Wantage, England, United Kingdom (1978) * Thale, Germany (1990) * Carpentras, France (1993) *

Montecorvino Rovella Montecorvino Rovella (Campanian: ) is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Salerno in the Campania region of south-west Italy. History In 269 BC the Romans defeated the Picentes from the Adriatic Coast and founded a colony transplanting them ...

, Italy (2006)

Notable people

Konstantin Bernhard von Voigts-Rhetz Konstantin Bernhard von Voigts-Rhetz (16 July 1809 – 14 April 1877) was a Prussian general who served in the Austro-Prussian War and the Franco-Prussian War. Biography Voights-Rhetz was borned in Seesen in the Duchy of Brunswick, then part o ...

(1809–1877), Prussian general, born in Seesen *

Wilhelm Busch Heinrich Christian Wilhelm Busch (14 April 1832 – 9 January 1908) was a German humorist, poet, illustrator, and painter. He published wildly innovative illustrated tales that remain influential to this day. Busch drew on the tropes of f ...

(1832–1908), piano manufacturer, spent his last years at the Mechtshausen vicarage *

Wilhelm Fitzenhagen Wilhelm Karl Friedrich Fitzenhagen (15 September 1848 – 14 February 1890) was a German cellist, composer and teacher, best known today as the dedicatee of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's ''Variations on a Rococo Theme''. Life Fitzenhagen was born in ...

(1848–1890), cellist, composer and university teacher, born in Seesen *

(1768–1828), established the first ''

Haskalah The ''Haskalah'', often termed Jewish Enlightenment ( he, השכלה; literally, "wisdom", "erudition" or "education"), was an intellectual movement among the Jews of Central and Eastern Europe, with a certain influence on those in Western Euro ...

'' interdenominational school in Germany at Seesen in 1801 * Louis Spohr (1784–1859), composer that spent his childhood at Seesen * William Steinway, Piano manufacturer that was born at Seesen on 5 March 1835 as ''Wilhelm Steinweg''. His father

Henry E. Steinway Heinrich Engelhard Steinweg, anglicized name Henry Engelhard Steinway, (February 22, 1797 – February 7, 1871)B ...

(''Heinrich Engelhard Steinweg'') built his first grand piano at a Seesen washkitchen in 1836 *

Emil Wohlwill Wolf Emil Wohlwill (24 November 1835 in Seesen – 2 February 1912 in Hamburg) was a German-Jewish engineer of electrochemistry. He invented the Wohlwill process in 1874. Literary works * '' Galilei und sein Kampf für die copernikanische ...

(1835–1912), chemist, born at Seesen

References

{{Authority control Towns in the Harz Duchy of Brunswick

History

Politics

Twin towns – sister cities

Notable people

See also

References