Flensburg was founded around the 12th century and developed rapidly during theMiddle Ages as a major port for trade between theKingdom of Denmark and theHanseatic League. In the 16th century, it became part of theDanish Kingdom and remained under Danish rule until the early 19th century. Following theDanish-Prussian War of 1864, Flensburg became part of theKingdom of Prussia. During the 20th century, the town transformed into a centre for both commerce and industry. It served as the seat of theFlensburg Government, the final administrative form ofNazi Germany, from 2 May 1945 until its dissolution in early June 1945.
Today, Flensburg is known for its maritime heritage, its role as a border town with Denmark, and its well-preserved historic architecture. It is the cultural and organisational centre of theDanish minority of Southern Schleswig.
Clockwise from the northeast, beginning at the German shore of the Flensburg Firth, the following communities inSchleswig-Flensburg district andDenmark'sSouthern Denmark Region all border Flensburg:
The town of Flensburg is divided into 13 communities, which are further divided into 38 statistical areas. Constituent communities have a two-digit number and the statistical areas a three-digit number.
Communities and neighbouring municipalities of Flensburg
The communities with their statistical areas:
01 Altstadt (Old Town) Lies somewhat down towards the sea rather than right downtown.
The town charter of Flensburg (1284)TheNordertor, a town gate, in winter
Flensburg was founded at the latest by 1200 at the innermost end of theFlensburg Firth byDanish settlers, who were soon joined by German merchants. In 1284, its town rights were confirmed and the town quickly became one of the most important in theDuchy of Schleswig. UnlikeHolstein, Schleswig did not belong to the GermanHoly Roman Empire. Therefore, Flensburg was not a member of theHanseatic League, but did maintain contacts with it.
Historians[who?] presume that there were several reasons this spot was chosen for settlement:
Shelter from heavy winds
A trade route between Holstein and NorthJutland (namely theHærvejen orOchsenweg, a series of roads between Hamburg, Schleswig-Holstein and Jutland, possibly dating from theBronze Age)
Herrings, especiallykippered, brought about the blossoming of the town's trade in theMiddle Ages. They were sent inland and to almost everyEuropean country.
From time to time plagues such as bubonic plague, caused mainly by rat fleas (Xenopsylla cheopis, a parasite found onbrown rats), "red"dysentery and other scourges killed much of Flensburg's population.Lepers were strictly isolated at the St.-Jürgen-Hospital (Helligåndshospital, built before 1290), far outside the town's gates, where St. Jürgen Church is now. About 1500,syphilis also appeared. The church hospital "Zum Heiligen Geist" ("To the Holy Ghost") stood in Große Straße, now Flensburg'spedestrian precinct.
A Flensburger's everyday life was very hard, and the old roads and paths were bad. The main streets were neither paved nor lit at night. When the streets became really bad, citizens made the dung-filled streets passable with wooden pathways. Only the few upper-class houses had windows. In 1485, a great fire struck Flensburg.Storm tides also beset the town occasionally. Every household in the town keptlivestock in the house and the yard. Townsfolk furthermore had their own cowherds and a swineherd.
After the fall of theHanseatic League in the 16th century, Flensburg was said to be one of the most important trading towns in theScandinavian area. Flensburg merchants were active as far away as theMediterranean,Greenland, and theCaribbean. The most important commodities, after herring, weresugar andwhale oil, the latter fromwhaling off Greenland. But theThirty Years' War put an end to this boom time. The town was becomingProtestant and thereby ever more German culturally and linguistically, while the neighbouring countryside remained decidedly Danish.
In the 18th century, thanks to therum trade, Flensburg had yet another boom.Cane sugar was imported from theDanish West Indies (now theUS Virgin Islands) and refined in Flensburg. Only in the 19th century, as a result of industrialization, was the town at last outstripped by the competition from cities such asCopenhagen andHamburg.[3]
The rum produced in Flensburg was then reintegrated intoWest Indian trade routes, which as of 1864 moved away from the Danish West Indies to theBritish colony of Jamaica instead. It was imported from there, blended, and sold all over Europe. There is now only one active rum distillery in Flensburg, "A. H. Johannsen".
Between 1460 and 1864, Flensburg was, after Copenhagen, the Kingdom of Denmark's second-biggest port, but it passed to theKingdom of Prussia after theSecond Schleswig War in 1864. The Battle of Flensburg was fought on February 6, 1864: near the city a smallHungarian mounted regiment chased aDanish infantry and Dragoon regiment. At the election for the North German Reichstag in 1867, there had still been a Danish majority in Flensburg, and it continued until around 1880. However, thereafter, the majority shifted partly due to immigration of workers from other parts of Germany and because the bureaucracy was largely replaced with Germans from the south. Today, a sizable Danish community remains in the town. Some estimates put the percentage of Flensburgers who belong to it as high as 25%; other estimates put it much lower. TheSSW political party representing the minority usually gains 20–25% of the votes in local elections, but not all its voters are Danes. Before 1864, Danes consisted of the vast majority, which belonged to what is now the minority; even today there are many Danish surnames in the Flensburgtelephone directory (Asmussen, Claussen, Jacobsen, Jensen, Petersen, etc.). However, the upper classes at that time, comprising merchants, bureaucrats, academics, and the clergy, were predominantly German.
On 1 April 1889, Flensburg became anindependent city (kreisfreie Stadt) within theProvince of Schleswig-Holstein, and at the same time still kept its status as seat of the Flensburg district. In 1920, theLeague of Nations decided that the matter of the German–Danish border would be settled by a vote. As a result of theplebiscite, and the way the voting zones were laid out, some of Flensburg's northern neighbourhoods were ceded to Denmark, whereas Flensburg as a whole voted by a large margin to stay in Germany.
In return for this pro-German vote, Flensburg was given a large hall, the "Deutsches Haus", which the government endowed as "thanks for German loyalty".
During theSecond World War, the town was left almost unscathed by the air raids that devastated other German cities. But in 1943, 20 children died when a nursery school was bombed, and shortly after the war ended, an explosion at a local munitions storage site claimed many victims.
The Sportschool inMürwik, at theNaval Academy Mürwik, where the seat of the Flensburg Government was located in 1945 (photo 2014)
In 1945, AdmiralKarl Dönitz, who was brieflyPresident (Reichspräsident) ofNazi Germany afterAdolf Hitler appointed him his successor and then killed himself, fled to Flensburg with what was left ofhis government. The so-calledFlensburg Government, led by Dönitz, was in power from 1 May, the announcement of Hitler's death, for one week, until German troops surrendered and the town was occupied by Allied troops. The regime was effectively dissolved on 23 May, when theBritish Army arrested Dönitz and his ministers inMürwik and detained them in theNavy School in Mürwik (German:Marineschule Mürwik). The Berlin Declaration promulgated on 5 June formalized the dissolution. Flensburg was therefore, for a few weeks, the seat of the last Third Reich government.[4]
After the Second World War, the town's population broke the 100,000 mark for a short time, making Flensburg a city (Großstadt) under one traditional definition. The population later sank below that mark.
In the years after the Second World War, South Schleswig, and particularly Flensburg, had a strong pro-Danish movement connected with the idea of the "Eider Politics". Its goal was for the town and all or most of Schleswig, the whole area north of theEider River, to be united with Denmark. After 1945, Flensburg's town council was for years dominated by Danish parties, and the town had a Danish mayor.
The town profited from the planned location of military installations. SinceGerman Reunification, the number of soldiers has dropped to about 8,000. Since Denmark's entry into theEuropean Economic Community (now theEuropean Union), border trade has played an important role in Flensburg's economic life. Some Danish businesses, such asDanfoss, have set up shop just south of the border for tax reasons.
In 1970, the Flensburg district was expanded to include the municipalities in the Amt of Medelby, formerly in the Südtondern district, and in 1974 it was united with the Schleswig district to form the district of Schleswig-Flensburg, whose district seat was the town ofSchleswig. Flensburg thereby lost its function as a district seat but remained an independent (district-free) town.
Until the middle of the 19th century, Flensburg's municipal area comprised an area of 2 639 ha. Beginning in 1874, the following communities or rural areas (Gemarkungen) were annexed to the town of Flensburg:
Population figures are for respective municipal areas through time. Until 1870, figures are mostly estimates, and thereafter census results (¹) or official projections from either statistical offices or the town administration itself.
Oluf Samson Gang in the oldest part of the town with the Danish Library in the background
The Danish minority in Flensburg (Danish:Flensborg) and the surrounding towns runs its own schools, libraries, andLutheran churches, from which the German majority is not excluded. These two groups' coexistence is considered a sound and healthysymbiosis. A form of mixed Danish–German,Petuh, is used on the ferries.
In Denmark, Flensburg seems to be mainly known for its "border shops" where, among other things, spirits, beer and candy are for sale at lower prices than in Denmark. The prices are lower because thevalue-added tax is lower andexcise taxes are either lower (e.g., on alcohol) or do not exist (e.g., on sugar). The border shops may sell canned beer to Scandinavia residents without payingdeposits as long as it is not consumed in Germany.
For centuries, two mayors led the town council, one for the north town (St. Marien) and one for the south town (St. Nikolai and St. Johannis). The council members and mayors were chosen by the council itself: retiring officials' successors were named by the remaining councillors in such a way that both halves of the town had as many members. These councillors usually bore the title "Senator".
This "town government" lasted until 1742 when the "northern mayor" was made the "directing mayor" by the Danish King. From this position came what was later known as the First Mayor. The second mayor simply bore the title "mayor" ("Bürgermeister"). After the town was ceded to Prussia, the townsfolk elected the mayors as of 1870, and the First Mayor was given the titleOberbürgermeister, still the usual title in German towns and cities. During the Third Reich, the town head was appointed by those who held power locally.
In 1945, after the Second World War, a twofold leadership based on a British model was introduced. Heading the town stood foremost theOberbürgermeister, who was chosen by the town council and whose job was as chairman of council and the municipality. Next to him was anOberstadtdirektor ("Higher Town Director"), who was leader of administration. In 1950, when Schleswig-Holstein brought its new laws for municipalities into force, the titleOberbürgermeister was transferred (once again) to this latter official. At first, and for a while, he was chosen by the council. Since that time, the former official has been called theStadtpräsident ("Town President"), and is likewise chosen by the council after each municipal election. Since 1999, theOberbürgermeister has been chosen directly by the voters, as before.
The first directly electedOberbürgermeister, Hermann Stell, died on 4 May 2004 of astroke. On 14 November 2004, the independent candidate suggested by theCDU, Klaus Tscheuschner, was elected to replace Stell with 59% of the vote. In the 2003 municipal election, Hans Hermann Laturnus was electedStadtpräsident.
In the 2008 municipal election, the local list WiF (Wir in Flensburg) was elected the largest group in the Council Assembly of Flensburg, with 10 city councillors out of 43, closely followed by theSouth Schleswig Voter Federation (Südschleswigscher Wählerverband) (9 councillors) and theCDU (9 councillors). Also elected was theSPD (seven councillors), theGreens (3 councillors),the Left (3 councillors) and theFDP (2 councillors).[6] Nevertheless, since the WiF-group was divided into two different caucuses, the SSW-group has been the assembly's largest group.[7] The City President is Christian Dewanger (WiF).[8]
In the 2010 mayoral election,Simon Faber (SSW) was elected Lord Mayor of the town in a runoff election with 54.8% of the vote. He was the first person from the Danish Minority to occupy this office since the end ofWorld War II.[9]
Results of the 2023 city council electionResults of the 2018 city council election
The Flensburg city council governs the city alongside the mayor. The most recent city council election was held on 14 May 2023, and the results were as follows:
Flensburg's coat of arms shows in gold above blue and silver waves rising to the left a six-sided red tower with a blue pointed roof, breaking out of which, one above the other, are thetwo lions of Schleswig and Denmark; above is a red shield with the silver Holsatian nettle leaf on it. The town's flag is blue, overlaid with the coat of arms in colour.
The lions symbolize Schleswig, and the nettle leaf Holstein, thus expressing the town's unity with these two historic lands. The tower recalls Flensburg's old town rights and the old castle that was the town's namesake (Burg means "castle"). The waves refer to the town's position on the Flensburg Fjord.
The coat of arms was granted the town byKing Wilhelm II of Prussia in 1901, and once again in modified, newly approved form on 19 January 1937 by Schleswig-Holstein's High President (Oberpräsident).
West of Flensburg runs theA 7 Autobahn, leading north to the Danish border, whence it continues asEuropean route E45. Federal Highways (Bundesstraßen)B 200 andB 199 also pass through the municipal area.
Local transport is provided by severalbuslines, includingAktiv Bus GmbH andAllgemeinen Flensburger Autobus Gesellschaft (AFAG). They all operate on an integrated fare system within the Flensburg transport community (Verkehrsgemeinschaft Flensburg). They also all subscribe to the Schleswig-Holstein tariff system, whereby anyone travelling from anywhere in Schleswig-Holstein orHamburg may use Flensburg buses free to connect with their final destinations. This works both ways: a rider boarding any bus in Flensburg need only name a destination anywhere in Schleswig-Holstein or Hamburg, pay the fare, and travel to that destination on one ticket.
TheFlensburg station opened in 1927 south of the Old Town. From there, trains run on themain line to Neumünster,Hamburg, andFredericia, among them someInterCity connections as well as trains serving the line running toEckernförde andKiel. Another stop for regional trains to Neumünster is in Flensburg-Weiche. The stretch of line toNiebüll has been out of service since 1981, efforts to open it again notwithstanding. The secondary line toHusum and lesser lines toKappeln andSatrup no longer exist. Thetramway, which opened in 1881 to horse-drawn trams, was electrified in 1906, and at one point ran four lines, was replaced by buses in 1973.
In Flensburg, theFlensburger Tageblatt, from theSchleswig-Holsteinischer Zeitungsverlag (newspaper publisher) is published daily, as is the bilingual (German and Danish)Flensborg Avis. There are also two weekly advertising flyers,MoinMoin (named for a common regional greeting) andWochenschau (Newsweek) as well as an illustrated town paper (Flensburg Journal), the Flensburg "campus newspaper" and a town magazine (Partout).Norddeutscher Rundfunk (NDR) runs one of its oldest studios near the Deutsches Haus. Flensburg is the site of a number ofradio transmission facilities: on theFuchsberg in the community of Engelsby, Norddeutscher Rundfunk runs a transmission facility forVHF,television andmedium wave. Acage aerial is mounted on a 215-metre-high (705 ft) guyed, earthed steel-lattice mast. This transmitter is successor to the Flensburg transmitter through which Germany's surrender was announced on 8 May 1945.
Flensburg has no local transmitter of its own because Schleswig-Holstein's state broadcasting laws allow only transmitters that broadcast statewide. From 1993 to 1996, "Radio Flensburg" tried to establish a local Flensburg radio station by using a local transmitter just across the border in Denmark, but it had to be shut down, owing to the Danish transmitter's own financial problems. Since October 2006, Radio Flensburg has broadcast asinternet radio.
The "Offener Kanal" ("Open Channel") showsprogrammes made by local citizens seven days a week, mostly in the evenings, and can also be seen on cable television.
University of Flensburg has about 6,000 students as of 2019/20. Founded in 1946 as a pedagogical college, it became a university in 1994. Unlike the much largerUniversity of Kiel it is not a full university;theology,medicine,law and some other programs are not offered here. But it does have the right to confer doctorates.[14]
Flensburg University of Applied Sciences is aFachhochschule with more than 3,000 students.[15] Its origins lie in a royal steamship machinist school, which was established in 1886. Over time, it developed into a ship's engineers' school. From this grew the "Fachhochschule for Technology", which was converted into the Fachhochschule Flensburg in 1973. At this time the economics program was introduced. In May 2016, the university decided to change its name to Flensburg University of Applied Sciences.[16]
Also in Flensburg is a complete range of training and professional schools, including a number of Danish ones. Flensburg is home to Schleswig-Holstein's Central State Library, a university library, a town bookshop and the Danish Central Library for South Schleswig, which offers not only intensive courses in Danish, but also, with its "Slesvigsk samling" collection, a vast repository of unique material about the border area's history and culture. Flensburg has an extensive town archive. The Danish minority's archive is housed at the Danish Central Library.
The Johanniskirche (Johannischurch)Nordermarkt; also visible is Große StraßeHarbour of Flensburg at dawn
Flensburg has a well-preserved Old Town featuring numerous historical buildings and landmarks from past centuries. The construction boom during theImperial era resulted in partial reconstruction of the Old Town, which nevertheless retained its traditional structure.
Largely spared from destruction during the Second World War, Flensburg, like many other German cities, later pursued urban renewal policies that favored modern redevelopment over preservation. Financial constraints limited the extent of these measures; however, before the policy was abandoned in the late 1970s, numerous historic buildings in the northern and eastern sections of the Old Town were demolished and replaced with contemporary structures. Despite these losses, Flensburg retains a compact and well-preserved Old Town.
Johanniskirche (Flensburg) Johanniskirche (Johannischurch), town's oldest church in the innertown, 12th century
Marienkirche (Flensburg) Marienkirche, HighGothic,Baroque additions, tower from 1885, well decorated
Nikolaikirche (Flensburg) Nikolaikirche, Gothic main church, famous organ design by Hinrich Ringeringk
Heiliggeistkirche (Flensburg) Heiliggeistkirche (Danish:Helligåndskirken), former chapel of theHospital zum Heiligen Geist
Franziskanerkloster Flensburg Franziskanerkloster, ruins from 1263
Gertrudenkirche, church in the Ramsharde (former neighbourhood where Neustadt now stands), folded after theReformation, graveyard maintained until 1822
Jürgen-Hospital, abandoned after the Reformation, the new St. Jürgen-Kirche stands there today
Old Town Hall, 15th century, demolished in 1883
Government building, appellate court and house of the estates, from 1850 to 1864 political centre of the Duchy of Schleswig, gave way to a department store in 1964
Speicher Johannisstraße 78 (warehouse), bombed in 1945
Elvira Madigan (1867–1889), stage name of a Danish tightrope walker and trick rider, whose illicit affair and dramatic death were the subject of a1967 Swedish film
Ella Heide (1871–1956), Danish painter, painted inSkagen from 1908
Wilhelm von Brincken (1881–1946), American character actor and German spy during WW I
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