Ahrensburg () is a

town A town is a type of a human settlement, generally larger than a village but smaller than a city. The criteria for distinguishing a town vary globally, often depending on factors such as population size, economic character, administrative stat ...

in the district of Stormarn,

Schleswig-Holstein Schleswig-Holstein (; ; ; ; ; occasionally in English ''Sleswick-Holsatia'') is the Northern Germany, northernmost of the 16 states of Germany, comprising most of the historical Duchy of Holstein and the southern part of the former Duchy of S ...

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 ...

. It is located northeast of

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...

and is part of the

Hamburg Metropolitan Region The Hamburg Metropolitan Region () is a metropolitan region centred around the city of Hamburg in northern Germany, consisting of eight districts () in the federal state of Lower Saxony, six districts () in the state of Schleswig-Holstein and two ...

. Its population is around 31,000. ''Schloss Ahrensburg'', the town's symbol, is a

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) is a Periodization, period of history and a European cultural movement covering the 15th and 16th centuries. It marked the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and was characterized by an effort to revive and sur ...

castle dating from 1595.

Geography

Ahrensburg is situated in the ''Tunneltal'', in which Alfred Rust excavated many items dating back to the

ice age An ice age is a long period of reduction in the temperature of Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental and polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers. Earth's climate alternates between ice ages, and g ...

. Ahrensburg is situated next to the

Autobahn The (; German , ) is the federal controlled-access highway system in Germany. The official term is (abbreviated ''BAB''), which translates as 'federal motorway'. The literal meaning of the word is 'Federal Auto(mobile) Track'. Much of t ...

''A1'' and on the railway route between the Hanseatic cities of

and

Lübeck Lübeck (; or ; Latin: ), officially the Hanseatic League, Hanseatic City of Lübeck (), is a city in Northern Germany. With around 220,000 inhabitants, it is the second-largest city on the German Baltic Sea, Baltic coast and the second-larg ...

History

Early history

The Ahrensburger ''Tunneltal'' is a place of numerous excavations from the

Upper Paleolithic The Upper Paleolithic (or Upper Palaeolithic) is the third and last subdivision of the Paleolithic or Old Stone Age. Very broadly, it dates to between 50,000 and 12,000 years ago (the beginning of the Holocene), according to some theories ...

culture. The culture is called

Ahrensburg culture The Ahrensburg culture or Ahrensburgian (c. 12,900 to 11,700 BP) was a late Upper Paleolithic nomadic hunter culture (or technocomplex) in north-central Europe during the Younger Dryas, the last spell of cold at the end of the Weichsel glaci ...

by archaeologists.

Middle Ages

The town dates back to the 13th Century, when the Counts of Schauenburg founded the village of Woldenhorn (which later became the town of Ahrensburg) and the neighbouring villages Ahrensfelde, Meilsdorf and Beimoor. Woldenhorn is first mentioned in the year 1314. The village came into the possession of the

Cistercian The Cistercians (), officially the Order of Cistercians (, abbreviated as OCist or SOCist), are a Catholic religious order of monks and nuns that branched off from the Benedictines and follow the Rule of Saint Benedict, as well as the contri ...

Reinfeld Abbey in 1327, and Woldenhorn became the seat of the monastery reeve until the middle of the 16th century. The "Arx Arnsburga", also called Arnesvelde castle, was built around the year 1200. Ruins of the castle are still visible in the Hagen forest to the south of the town. The town coat of arms shows the castle in the upper field. There are records of reeves based in the castle in 1295 and 1304. In 1326, Count John III of Schauenburg had his reeve relocated to Trittau and abandoned the castle.

Modern period

After the dissolution of the monasteries due to the

Reformation The Reformation, also known as the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation, was a time of major Theology, theological movement in Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the p ...

, the whole area came into the possession of the king of

Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...

. He rewarded his general Daniel Rantzau 1567 with lordship over these villages. His brother and heir Peter Rantzau built the

Ahrensburg Palace in the form of a water castle, now the symbol of the town, and the castle church around 1595. The construction of almshouses directly by the church was exemplary. The "Ahrensburg Estate" belonged to the so-called Noble Estates, which possessed a large amount of freedom and self-administration. The Rantzaus' estate was heavily indebted by the middle of the 18th century and, in 1759, was acquired by the businessman Heinrich Carl von Schimmelmann. Schimmelmann remodelled the castle and village in the

baroque The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western Style (visual arts), style of Baroque architecture, architecture, Baroque music, music, Baroque dance, dance, Baroque painting, painting, Baroque sculpture, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from ...

style and the current layout of the town reflects these plans. On the 7 June 1867 the estate village Woldenhorn became an independent

Prussia Prussia (; ; Old Prussian: ''Prūsija'') was a Germans, German state centred on the North European Plain that originated from the 1525 secularization of the Prussia (region), Prussian part of the State of the Teutonic Order. For centuries, ...

n country community and renamed itself ''Ahrensburg'' after a decision by the community council. It belonged to the "Amt Ahrensburg", from which the "amtsfreie" community once more seceded in 1912. The construction of the railway between

and

in the year 1865 made Ahrensburg a popular destination for outings outside Hamburg and the number of inhabitants increased. By 1910, the population had reached 2,750. The incorporation of various surrounding communities in the year 1928 led to an increase in the town area to about 5 km². Building of the settlements "Daheim/Heimgarten" (partially on the territory of the current community of Ammersbek) and "Am Hagen" (originally called " Franz Seldte Settlement") commenced in 1933. The rush of settlers from around Hamburg lead to the creation of the current housing layout. When Ahrensburg received

city rights 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 tradition ...

in 1949, the town had some 17,775 inhabitants – around half of which were refugees from the former eastern German regions. Erica Keck, who was elected mayor in 1950, became the first female elected mayor in Germany.

Religion

Ahrensburg was the seat of the Stormarn Provost of the Lutheran church from 1823 until 1899. Ahrensburg had a small Jewish community until the beginning of the 1930s. The

Synagogue A synagogue, also called a shul or a temple, is a place of worship for Jews and Samaritans. It is a place for prayer (the main sanctuary and sometimes smaller chapels) where Jews attend religious services or special ceremonies such as wed ...

was burnt down in the

Kristallnacht ( ) or the Night of Broken Glass, also called the November pogrom(s) (, ), was a pogrom against Jews carried out by the Nazi Party's (SA) and (SS) paramilitary forces along with some participation from the Hitler Youth and German civilia ...

in 1938 during the period of

Nazism Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During Hitler's rise to power, it was fre ...

. The Jewish

cemetery A cemetery, burial ground, gravesite, graveyard, or a green space called a memorial park or memorial garden, is a place where the remains of many death, dead people are burial, buried or otherwise entombed. The word ''cemetery'' (from Greek ...

(opened in 1822) can still be seen at the edge of town (Ahrensburg-West).

Politics

Since the local election on 26 May 2013, the town council is made up as follows:

Twin towns – sister cities

Ahrensburg is twinned with: *

Esplugues de Llobregat Esplugues de Llobregat () is a municipality of the Barcelona metropolitan area. Formerly in the ''Barcelonès'', since 1990 it has been part of the Comarques of Catalonia, comarca of Baix Llobregat. During recent decades Esplugues has evolved fro ...

, Spain * Feldkirchen in Kärnten, Austria * Ludwigslust, Germany *

Viljandi Viljandi (, , , , ) is a Populated places in Estonia, town and Municipalities of Estonia, municipality in southern Estonia with a population of 17,255 in 2024. It is the capital of Viljandi County and is geographically located between two major ...

, Estonia

Honorary citizen

* 1965 – Alfred Rust (1900–1983),

archeologist Archaeology or archeology is the study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscapes. Archaeol ...

, controversial because of his membership in the NS-group Ahnenerbe.

Notable people

* Waldemar Bonsels (1880–1952), author of '' Maya the Bee and her adventures '' * Jonathan Meese (born 1970), artist. He grew up in Ahrensburg, attended the Stormarn School and lives in Ahrensburg. * Stacie Ahrens (born 1971), artist and author * Christian Bass (born 1978), writer, photographer and poet

Personalities who are associated with the city

* Dagmar Berghoff (born 1943), television presenter and actress * Wolfgang Kieling (1924–1987), actor * Hellmuth von Mücke (1881–1957), naval officer, politician and writer * Benedikt Pliquett (born 1984), goalkeeper * Christian Tümpel (1937–2009), university lecturer, theologian and art historian in

Nijmegen Nijmegen ( , ; Nijmeegs: ) is the largest city in the Dutch province of Gelderland and the ninth largest of the Netherlands as a whole. Located on the Waal River close to the German border, Nijmegen is one of the oldest cities in the ...

* Daniela Ziegler (born 1948), actress * Axel Zwingenberger (born 1955), boogie-woogie pianist

References

External links

evj-ahrensburg.de
*
Schloss Ahrensburg

ahrensburg.wiki
{{Authority control Towns in Schleswig-Holstein Stormarn (district) Holocaust locations in Germany