Genthin () is a town in

Jerichower Land Jerichower Land () is a district (''Kreis'') in the north-east of Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Its neighbouring administrative units are (clockwise from the south): the districts of Anhalt-Bitterfeld, Salzlandkreis, the city of Magdeburg, the districts ...

district, in

Saxony-Anhalt Saxony-Anhalt ( ; ) is a States of Germany, state of Germany, bordering the states of Brandenburg, Saxony, Thuringia and Lower Saxony. It covers an area of and has a population of 2.17 million inhabitants, making it the List of German states ...

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 ...

Geography

Genthin is situated east of the

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 ...

river on the Elbe-Havel Canal, approx. northeast of

Magdeburg Magdeburg (; ) is the Capital city, capital of the Germany, German States of Germany, state Saxony-Anhalt. The city is on the Elbe river. Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor, Otto I, the first Holy Roman Emperor and founder of the Archbishopric of Mag ...

and west of

Brandenburg Brandenburg, officially the State of Brandenburg, is a States of Germany, state in northeastern Germany. Brandenburg borders Poland and the states of Berlin, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Saxony. It is the List of Ger ...

. The municipal area consists of Genthin proper and the following ''Ortschaften'' or municipal divisions:Hauptsatzung der Stadt Genthin
November 2014. *Fienerode *

Gladau Gladau is a village and a former municipality in the Jerichower Land district, in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Since 1 July 2009, it is part of the town Genthin Genthin () is a town in Jerichower Land district, in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Geography ...

*Mützel * Paplitz *Parchen *

Schopsdorf Schopsdorf is a former municipality in the Jerichower Land district, in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. It is part of the ''Verwaltungsgemeinschaft'' Möckern-Loburg-Fläming. A hammed merger with the town Möckern was repealed by the administrative cour ...

* Tucheim The formerly independent municipalities Gladau, Paplitz and Tucheim were incorporated in July 2009, followed by Schopsdorf in July 2012. Genthin was the administrative seat of the ''

Verwaltungsgemeinschaft Municipal associations (, , ) are statutory corporations or public bodies created by statute in the German federal states of Bavaria, Saxony, Thuringia, and Schleswig-Holstein. In Baden-Württemberg the term ''stipulated municipal association ...

'' ("collective municipality") Elbe-Stremme-Fiener until its merger into the newly established

Jerichow Jerichow () is a town on the east side of the river Elbe, in the District of Jerichower Land, of the state of Saxony-Anhalt in Germany. With about , the municipality of Jerichow is one of the largest municipalities in area size in Germany. Geog ...

municipality in 2010.

History

Genthin Castle was first mentioned in an 1144 deed, it was the residence of the Plotho noble family who then served as ''

ministeriales The ''ministeriales'' (singular: ''ministerialis'') were a legally unfree but socially elite class of knights, administrators, and officials in the High Middle Ages in the Holy Roman Empire, drawn from a mix of servile origins, free commoners, and ...

'' of the

Archbishops of Magdeburg The Archbishopric of Magdeburg was a Latin Catholic archdiocese (969–1552) and Prince-Archbishopric (1180–1680) of the Holy Roman Empire centered on the city of Magdeburg on the Elbe River. Planned since 955 and established in 967, the arch ...

. The surrounding settlement was documented as 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 1459, its citizens were vested with

market Market is a term used to describe concepts such as: *Market (economics), system in which parties engage in transactions according to supply and demand *Market economy *Marketplace, a physical marketplace or public market *Marketing, the act of sat ...

rights in 1539. When the last administrator of the Magdeburg archbishopric, Duke

Augustus of Saxe-Weissenfels Augustus of Saxe-Weissenfels (13 August 1614 in Dresden – 4 June 1680 in Halle, Saxony-Anhalt, Halle), was a Duke of Saxe-Weissenfels-Querfurt of the House of Wettin and administrator of the Archbishopric of Magdeburg. He was the fourth (but s ...

, died in 1680, Genthin with the

Duchy of Magdeburg The Duchy of Magdeburg () was a province of the Margraviate of Brandenburg from 1680 to 1701 and a province of the German Kingdom of Prussia from 1701 to 1807. It replaced the Archbishopric of Magdeburg after its secularization by Brandenburg, gi ...

fell to the

Electors of Brandenburg This article lists the Margraves and Electors of Brandenburg during the time when Brandenburg was a constituent state of the Holy Roman Empire. The Mark, or ''March'', of Brandenburg was one of the primary constituent states of the Holy Roman Emp ...

. 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 ...

Trinity parish church was erected from 1707 to 1722. Neuer Bahnhof Genthin

The town's economy was decisively promoted by the building of the Elbe–Havel Canal from 1743 onwards and the opening of the

Berlin–Magdeburg railway The first section of the Berlin–Magdeburg Railway was opened in 1838 as the ''Berlin-Potsdam Railway'' also known as ''trunk line'' (German: ''Stammbahn'') and was the first railway line in Prussia. In 1846 it was extended to Magdeburg. His ...

line in 1846. A

detergent A detergent is a surfactant or a mixture of surfactants with Cleanliness, cleansing properties when in Concentration, dilute Solution (chemistry), solutions. There are a large variety of detergents. A common family is the alkylbenzene sulfonate ...

factory was opened in 1921 by

Henkel Henkel AG & Co. KGaA, commonly known as Henkel, is a German multinational chemical and consumer goods company headquartered in Düsseldorf, Germany. Founded in 1876, the DAX company is organized into two globally operating business units (Cons ...

. On the night of 21–22 December 1939, at least 186 (according to other sources: 278) people were killed in a train crash at Genthin station, making it one of the deadliest railway accidents in Germany. A monument to the victims was erected in the town. In 1943 a subcamp of Ravensbrück concentration camp was built in Genthin for about 1,000 female prisoners and forced labourers. After World War II, Genthin was part of the

Soviet occupation zone The Soviet occupation zone in Germany ( or , ; ) was an area of Germany that was occupied by the Soviet Union as a communist area, established as a result of the Potsdam Agreement on 2 August 1945. On 7 October 1949 the German Democratic Republ ...

Climate

Mayor

Thomas Barz was elected mayor in 2013.

Economy

The

headquarters Headquarters (often referred to as HQ) notes the location where most or all of the important functions of an organization are coordinated. The term is used in a wide variety of situations, including private sector corporations, non-profits, mil ...

of the

LFD Holding The LFD Holding is a German piglet production concern based in Genthin in Saxony-Anhalt. It is Germany's largest piglet producer and market leader.Consolidated financial statement for the fiscal year beginning on January 1, 2020 and ending on De ...

are in Genthin.

Twin towns

Genthin is twinned with: *

Datteln Datteln is a town in the district of Recklinghausen, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is situated on the biggest canal junction in the world, where the Datteln-Hamm Canal, Wesel-Datteln Canal, Dortmund-Ems Canal, and Rhein-Herne Canal i ...

, Germany, since 1990 * Radlin, Poland, since 2008

Notable people

Herms Niel Ferdinand Friedrich Hermann Nielebock (17 April 1888 – 16 July 1954), known as Herms Niel, was a German composer of military songs and marches. Biography Upon finishing school in 1902, Niel completed his apprenticeship with the Genthin choirma ...

(Hermann Nielebock) (1888-1954), conductor and composer * Kurt von Manteuffell (1853-1922), Prussian General of the Infantry *

Walter Model Otto Moritz Walter Model (; 24 January 1891 – 21 April 1945) was a German during World War II. Although he was a hard-driving, aggressive panzer commander early in the war, Model became best known as a practitioner of defensive warfare. H ...

(1891–1945), field marshal in WW II *

Norbert Dürpisch Norbert Dürpisch (born 29 May 1952) is an East German former cyclist. He competed in the team pursuit event at the 1976 Summer Olympics The 1976 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XXI Olympiad () and officially bran ...

(born 1952), cyclist * Bernd Dittert (born 1961), racing cyclist, Olympic champion and trainer

References

{{Authority control Jerichower Land