Geesthacht () is the largest city in the District of the Duchy of Lauenburg (Herzogtum Lauenburg) in

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 ...

in Northern Germany, south-east 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 ...

on the right bank of the

River Elbe The Elbe ( ; ; or ''Elv''; Upper Sorbian, Upper and , ) is one of the major rivers of Central Europe. It rises in the Giant Mountains of the northern Czech Republic before traversing much of Bohemia (western half of the Czech Republic), then Ge ...

History

A church was built in what is today Geesthacht around the year 800. The town was first mentioned in 1216 as ''Hachede'', then a part of the

Duchy of Saxony The Duchy of Saxony () 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 CE and incorporated into the Carolingian Empire (Francia) by 804. Upon the 84 ...

. A change in the course of the Elbe cut the settlement into two:

Geest Geest (, , ) is a type of landform, slightly raised above the surrounding countryside, that occurs on the plains of Northern Germany, the Northern Netherlands and Denmark. It is a landscape of sandy and gravelly soils formed as a glacial outw ...

''hacht'' and Marschacht (in today's

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 ...

). In 1296, Geesthacht became part of the Duchy of

Saxe-Lauenburg The Duchy of Saxe-Lauenburg (, ), was a ''reichsfrei'' duchy that existed from 1296 to 1803 and again from 1814 to 1876 in the extreme southeast region of what is now Schleswig-Holstein. Its territorial centre was in the modern district of Herz ...

, partitioned from Saxony. Duke Eric III pawned Geesthacht - as part of the

Herrschaft The German term ''Herrschaft'' (plural: ''Herrschaften'') covers a broad semantic field and only the context will tell whether it means, "rule", "power", "dominion", "authority", "territory" or "lordship". In its most abstract sense, it refers ...

of Bergedorf - to the

Free City of Lübeck Free may refer to: Concept * Freedom, the ability to act or change without constraint or restriction * Emancipate, attaining civil and political rights or equality * Free (gratis), Free (''gratis''), free of charge * Gratis versus libre, the di ...

in 1370. In 1401, Duke Eric IV retook the pawned area by force. Geesthacht was ceded as part of a condominium to the Hanseatic cities

and Lübeck by the Peace of Perleberg in 1420. In 1811, Geesthacht was annexed to the

First French Empire The First French Empire or French Empire (; ), also known as Napoleonic France, was the empire ruled by Napoleon Bonaparte, who established French hegemony over much of continental Europe at the beginning of the 19th century. It lasted from ...

as part of the Bouches de l'Elbe département, but the condominium was restored two years later. In the 1860s, Swedish chemist

Alfred Nobel Alfred Bernhard Nobel ( ; ; 21 October 1833 – 10 December 1896) was a Swedish chemist, inventor, engineer, and businessman. He is known for inventing dynamite, as well as having bequeathed his fortune to establish the Nobel Prizes. He also m ...

established a

glycerin Glycerol () is a simple triol compound. It is a colorless, odorless, sweet-tasting, viscous liquid. The glycerol backbone is found in lipids known as glycerides. It is also widely used as a sweetener in the food industry and as a humectant in pha ...

factory in Geesthacht (on Krümmel hill) and invented

dynamite Dynamite is an explosive made of nitroglycerin, sorbents (such as powdered shells or clay), and Stabilizer (chemistry), stabilizers. It was invented by the Swedish people, Swedish chemist and engineer Alfred Nobel in Geesthacht, Northern German ...

, with Krümmel becoming the first dynamite factory in the world. Lübeck sold its share in the condominium to Hamburg in 1868, and Geesthacht became a part Hamburg's state territory. The Bergedorf-Geesthachter Railway (BGE) opened in 1906. During the

Weimar Republic The Weimar Republic, officially known as the German Reich, was the German Reich, German state from 1918 to 1933, during which it was a constitutional republic for the first time in history; hence it is also referred to, and unofficially proclai ...

, Geesthacht was a hotbed of radical leftist parties ( USPD, KPD and SAPD) and acquired the nickname ''Little Moscow''. It was granted

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 the Hamburg state order of 2 January 1924. The historical town center was destroyed by a fire in 1928. As part of the Greater Hamburg Act of 1937, Geesthacht was transferred to the

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, ...

province of Schleswig-Holstein The Province of Schleswig-Holstein ( ) was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia (from 1868 to 1918) and the Free State of Prussia (from 1918 to 1946). History It was created from the Duchies of Schleswig and Holstein, which had been conquere ...

, there becoming part of the

district A district is a type of administrative division that in some countries is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or county, counties, several municipality, municip ...

(''Kreis'') of ''Lauenburg''. After the territorial reorganization in

Allied-occupied Germany The entirety of Germany was occupied and administered by the Allies of World War II, from the Berlin Declaration on 5 June 1945 to the establishment of West Germany on 23 May 1949. Unlike occupied Japan, Nazi Germany was stripped of its sov ...

in the

aftermath of World War II The aftermath of World War II saw the rise of two global superpowers, the United States (U.S.) and the Soviet Union (U.S.S.R.). The aftermath of World War II was also defined by the rising threat of nuclear warfare, the creation and implementati ...

, the province of Schleswig-Holstein was transformed into the modern state of

. In 1953, passenger service on the Bergedorf-Geesthachter Eisenbahn (a railway line) was suspended.

Politics

At present, the city council is composed as follows: The current mayor of Geesthacht is Olaf Schulze of the SPD, who was elected on the 08/08/2021.

Economics and transportation

Geesthacht is a major energy and scientific research center. It has the Krümmel Nuclear Power Plant (closed 2011 after Fukushima - " Atomausstieg"), a boiling water nuclear reactor on the River Elbe, and a 120 MW 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 600 MWh storage for later use in generating electricity when demand is high. Small wind and solar plants also produce electricity or pump water. * Freeway 25 from Hamburg * Federal road B5 from

in the west to

Lauenburg Lauenburg (), or Lauenburg an der Elbe (; ), is a town in the state of Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It is situated on the northern bank of the river Elbe, east of Hamburg. It is overall the southernmost town of Schleswig-Holstein and belongs to ...

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 The Port of Hamburg (, ) is a seaport on the river Elbe in Hamburg, Germany, from its mouth on the North Sea. Known as Germany's "Gateway to the World" (), it is the country's largest seaport by volume. In terms of TEU throughput, Hambur ...

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

Twin towns – sister cities

Geesthacht is twinned with: *

Kuldīga Kuldīga () () is a town in the Courland region of Latvia, in the western part of the country. It is the center of Kuldīga Municipality with a population of approximately 13,500. Kuldīga was first mentioned in 1242. It joined the Hanseatic L ...

, Latvia (1991) * Midden-Groningen, Netherlands (1966) * Plaisir, France (1975)

Notable people

* Joachim Ritter (1903–1974), philosopher * Frank Peterson (born 1963), music producer

Honorary citizen

* Rudolf Basedau (1897–1975), 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 ''Abitur'' (), often shortened colloquially to ''Abi'', is a qualification granted at the end of secondary education in Germany. It is conferred on students who pass their final exams at the end of ISCED 3, usually after twelve or thirteen year ...

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.http://www.aliaflanko.de/bogi/venske/venske15.htm

References

Literature

* Heinz Bohlmann: Fäuste, Führer, Flüchtlingstrecks. Ein Beitrag zur Geschichte der Städte Geesthacht und Lauenburg/Elbe 1930–1950. Schwarzenbeck 1990. * Bernhard Michael Menapace: "Klein-Moskau" wird braun: Geesthacht in der Endphase der Weimarer Republik (1928–1933). Kiel 1991. * August Ziehl: Geesthacht - 60 Jahre Arbeiterbewegung 1890–1950. Geesthacht 1958.

External links

* *
Geesthacht News
*

{{Authority control Herzogtum Lauenburg Populated places on the Elbe Populated riverside places in Germany