Hohenlockstedt is a municipality in the district of

Steinburg Steinburg () is a district in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, administered from Itzehoe. It is bounded by (from the west and clockwise) the districts of Dithmarschen, Rendsburg-Eckernförde, Segeberg and Pinneberg, and by the Elbe River (and the d ...

, 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 ...

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 situated approximately 8 km northeast of

Itzehoe Itzehoe (; ) is a town in Schleswig-Holstein in northern Germany. As the capital of the district Steinburg, Itzehoe is located on the Stör, a navigable tributary of the Elbe, 51 km (31.7 mi) northwest of Hamburg and 24 km (14.9&nb ...

. Hohenlockstedt was formerly known as ''Lockstedter Lager'' and was used as a training area in Holstein until 1927. Hohenlockstedt is part of the ''

Amt Amt is a type of administrative division governing a group of municipalities, today only in Germany, but formerly also common in other countries of Northern Europe. Its size and functions differ by country and the term is roughly equivalent to ...

'' ("collective municipality")

Kellinghusen Kellinghusen () is a town in the district of Steinburg in the ''Bundesland'' of Schleswig-Holstein. Geography Kellinghusen is located northeast of Itzehoe on both sides of the Stör River. The federal highway Bundesstraße 206 passes Kellinghu ...

History

Hohenlockstedt, formerly known as ''Lockstedter Lager'' military camp, was founded in 1872 as a training ground for the IX. Army Corps of the German army. In 1900, the German troop contingent for the mission against the

Boxer Rebellion The Boxer Rebellion, also known as the Boxer Uprising, was an anti-foreign, anti-imperialist, and anti-Christian uprising in North China between 1899 and 1901, towards the end of the Qing dynasty, by the Society of Righteous and Harmonious F ...

in China was set up, under the leadership of

Alfred von Waldersee Alfred Heinrich Karl Ludwig Graf von Waldersee (8 April 18325 March 1904) was a German ''Generalfeldmarschall'' (Field Marshal) who served as Chief of the Imperial German General Staff and Commander of the International Relief Force during the ...

. A small wooded ridge nearby bears the name ''Waldersee-Höhe''. The military training area reached its greatest extent at the beginning of the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, when it covered an area of about 60 km², on which up to 18,000 soldiers were stationed. From 1915, Finnish volunteers in the

Jäger Movement The Jäger Movement () consisted of volunteers from Finland who trained in Germany as Jägers during World War I. Supported by Germany to enable the creation of a Finnish sovereign state, the movement was one of many means by which Germany int ...

were trained as soldiers at the Lockstedter Lager, and would later form the core of a new Finnish army.

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

was then part of the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

as a

Grand Duchy A grand duchy is a country or territory whose official head of state or ruler is a monarch bearing the title of grand duke or grand duchess. Prior to the early 1800s, the only Grand duchy in Europe was located in what is now Italy: Tuscany ( ...

. In 1917, Finland was able to gain independence, among other things with the help of these volunteers, who formed the elite core of the

White army The White Army, also known as the White Guard, the White Guardsmen, or simply the Whites, was a common collective name for the armed formations of the White movement and Anti-Sovietism, anti-Bolshevik governments during the Russian Civil War. T ...

in the

Finnish Civil War The Finnish Civil War was a civil war in Finland in 1918 fought for the leadership and control of the country between Whites (Finland), White Finland and the Finnish Socialist Workers' Republic (Red Finland) during the country's transition fr ...

. From 1927, it was made into a parish of the same name. During the Weimar Republic, the camp grounds were a rallying point of various far-right groups, including

Freikorps (, "Free Corps" or "Volunteer Corps") were irregular German and other European paramilitary volunteer units that existed from the 18th to the early 20th centuries. They effectively fought as mercenaries or private military companies, rega ...

groups and

Nazis Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

. The place was considered the cradle of the Schleswig-Holstein SA. Because of its bad reputation, the community changed its name to Hohenlockstedt in 1956.

Sister cities

Lapua Lapua (; ) is a List of cities and towns in Finland, town and municipalities of Finland, municipality in Finland's South Ostrobothnia regions of Finland, region. It is located next to the Lapua River. The town has a population of () and cov ...

, Finland

References

Steinburg {{Steinburg-geo-stub