Salzgitter (German pronunciation:[zaltsˈɡɪtɐ]ⓘ;Eastphalian:Soltgitter)[3][4] is anindependent city in southeastLower Saxony,Germany, located betweenHildesheim andBraunschweig. Together withWolfsburg and Braunschweig, Salzgitter is one of the sevenOberzentren (metropolitan areas) of Lower Saxony. With 107,674 inhabitants and 223.92 square kilometres (86.46 sq mi) (as of 2015), it is the largest city by area in Lower Saxony and one of the largest inGermany. Salzgitter originated as a conglomeration of several small towns and villages, and is today made up of 31 boroughs, which are relatively compact conurbations with wide stretches of open country between them.
The city is part of twourban areas, Hildesheim and Braunschweig, because of its uneven distribution of urban quarters. Due to the uneven population distribution, the density of the areas within the Braunschweig urban area is over 1,500 people per km² with the Lebenstedt area having over 3,000 people per km². Over 70% (76,500) of the population lives within the urban area ofBraunschweig, but most of the area is within the urban area ofHildesheim. 54.1% (41,000 people) of the city's population within the Braunschweig urban agglomeration area areimmigrants or the children of immigrants.
The city's main shopping street is in the borough of Lebenstedt, and thecentral business district is in Salzgitter-Bad. The city is connected to theMittellandkanal and theElbe Lateral Canal by adistributary. The nearestmetropolises are Braunschweig, about 23 kilometres (14 miles) to the northeast, andHanover, about 51 km (32 miles) to the northwest. Thepopulation of the City of Salzgitter has exceeded 100,000 inhabitants since its foundation in 1942 (which made it a city (Großstadt) in contrast to atown (Stadt) by the German definition), when it was still calledWatenstedt-Salzgitter. Beside Wolfsburg,Leverkusen andEisenhüttenstadt, Salzgitter is one of the few cities in Germany founded during the 20th century.
Until 31 March 1942, "Salzgitter" was the name of a town where the boroughSalzgitter-Bad now is. From then until 1951, "Salzgitter" was the name of a borough of the city Watenstedt-Salzgitter that existed at the time. In 1951, the borough Salzgitter was renamed Salzgitter-Bad; the name Salzgitter, having thus been freed up, became the new and more succinct name of the city that had been called "Watenstedt-Salzgitter" until then. (Nowadays, "Salzgitter-Watenstedt" is the name of a small borough with a few hundred inhabitants.)[5]
Salzgitter is located in a wide dell coated withloess, between the Oderwald Forest and the Salzgitter-Höhenzug ("Salzgitter Hills"). The city stretches up to 24 km (15 mi) from north to south and up to 19 km (12 mi) from east to west. The highest point is the hill Hamberg (275 m or 902 ft), located northwest of Salzgitter-Bad.
The following cities, towns andmunicipalities, listed clockwise beginning in the northeast, border on the city of Salzgitter. (As Salzgitter was founded on the area of thedistrict of Wolfenbüttel, that district borders on Salzgitter in the west and in the east and is therefore listed twice.)
Salzgitter originated in the beginning of the 14th century around salt springs near the village Verpstedt (later Vöppstedt). The name was derived from the neighbouring village Gitter (nowadays a city borough) as "up dem solte to Gytere", which means "salt near Gitter"; the first mention was in 1347. After 200 years of salt production at various springs, thepeasants in the area which is nowadays Salzgitter were chartered around 1350, but lost municipal law again when being transferred to theDuchy of Brunswick-Lüneburg in the beginning of the 16th century. Later, Salzgitter belonged to thediocese of Hildesheim. When the diocese was transferred toPrussia in 1803, the municipal law was reconfirmed, but taken away once more in 1815, when Salzgitter became part of theKingdom of Hanover. In 1830, a brine bath was established in Salzgitter.
After the Kingdom of Hanover was transferred to Prussia in 1866, Salzgitter became a Prussian municipality, which was chartered again in 1929. Prior to that, the towns Vorsalz and Liebenhall had been incorporated (in 1926 and 1928, respectively). Salzgitter now belonged to theLandkreis (district) of Goslar and included, apart from Salzgitter itself, also some small settlements like Gittertor, which is nowadays part of Salzgitter-Bad. In 1936, Kniestedt was incorporated; it is also part of Salzgitter-Bad now.
Salzgitter-Drütte concentration camp memorial
Due to the largeiron ore body in Salzgitter, which had been mentioned first in 1310, theNational Socialists founded the "Reichswerke Hermann Göring" for ore mining andiron production in 1937. In order to facilitate an unobstructed development of the smelting works, a uniqueadministration structure in the whole area was conceived. Therefore, it was decreed in theOrder about the area settlement around the Hermann-Göring-Werke Salzgitter, effective from 1 April 1942, to form a unified city district (independent city). Towards this aim, the town of Salzgitter and the municipalities Beinum, Flachstöckheim, Groß-Mahner, Hohenrode, Ohlendorf and Ringelheim (7 in total, all belonging to theLandkreis Goslar) and Barum, Beddingen, Bleckenstedt, Bruchmachtersen, Calbecht, Drütte, Engelnstedt, Engerode, Gebhardshagen, Hallendorf, Heerte, Immendorf, Lebenstedt, Lesse, Lichtenberg, Lobmachtersen, Osterlinde, Reppner, Salder, Thiede-Steterburg (nowadays simply Thiede) and Watenstedt (21 in total, all belonging to theLandkreis Wolfenbüttel) were merged to form theStadtkreis Watenstedt-Salzgitter. As the neighbouring municipality Gitter had already been incorporated in 1938, the young city initially comprised 29 boroughs in 1942. Together with the remainder of the district of Goslar, the new independent municipality was integrated into theFree State of Brunswick. In return, Braunschweig transferred theLandkreis Holzminden to the PrussianProvince of Hanover. In October, 1942, theSS established the Drütte concentration camp, a subcamp of theNeuengamme concentration camp, to provideslave labour for the Hermann Göring Works.[6] This large subcamp held 2,800 inmates. There were three concentration camps located in Salzgitter. During the war, Salzgitter was severely damaged by severalAmerican andBritishbombings. After the war, the State of Braunschweig became part of theLandLower Saxony, and Watenstedt-Salzgitter became an Independent City in the "Administrative District of Braunschweig" (laterRegierungsbezirkBraunschweig).
Georg mine in Salzgitter in 1961
In 1951, the city was renamed to "Stadt Salzgitter" (City of Salzgitter), while the borough Salzgitter was renamed to "Salzgitter-Bad", referring to the brine bath there. In the course of the local administrative reform of Lower-Saxony effective from 1 March 1974, the municipalities Üfingen and Sauingen (formerly Landkreis Wolfenbüttel) were incorporated, increasing the number of boroughs to 31. Iron ore continued to be mined in Salzgitter until 1982; in the formermineSchacht Konrad (Konrad mine), anultimate disposal place forradioactive waste has been planned since 1975.
Population figures in order to the then area, i.e. until 1942 the contemporary quarter Salzgitter-Bad and from 1942 on the Independent City Watenstedt-Salzgitter and Salzgitter respectively. 76% of the population was developing near the CityBraunschweig due to urbanization, closer proximity to a major city and other factors. Although a high concentration of the population lives near the larger CityBraunschweig, most of the area is near the Hildesheim agglomeration or in other parts
Theforeigner-born population is 37,048 (32.8% of the total population) in 2023. 57.5% of Salzgitter had amigration background and majority of the nations are Middle Eastern or Eastern Europeancountries. Salzgitter has the highest share of migrants to Germans inLower Saxony. The areas with the highest percentage of migrants in Salzgitter areSteterburg with 57.5%,Seeviertel with 55.7%,Lebenstedt with 54.1%,Lichtenberg with 52.1%,Watenstedt with 48.4% and Bad with 46.4%. Most of the migrants live within the Braunschweig urban agglomeration. About 17.5% of the total population is Muslim in 2024, having the highest percentage of Muslims in the whole state and one of the highest in Germany. The percentage of people with an immigration background in Salzgitter is projected to be 60% to 75% in the year 2030[8][9]
The three cities form aOberzentrum and a sub-metropolitan area. The area is primarily dependent on theSteel,Automotive andR&D industries. The area has population over a 1 million (1,014,477) as of 2023. The three main cities have a total number of 512,600 people, where over half the population lives. The polycentric urban area has 40.6% of the population with a migration background and is aiming to progressively increase the foreign population in the upcoming years. The area contributes highly to the economy of the country especially due to Volkswagen, Siemens, Salzgitter AG and other companies. The area has one of the highest GDP per Capita in the whole of Europe with Wolfsburg having the highest in the whole country and Braunschweig having one of the highest. Though the area faced a debt, mass amount destruction, a population decrtafterWorld War 2, the area strived back due to high demand of car manufacturing and need for research and development.[11]
When the city of Watenstedt-Salzgitter was created in 1942, the entire area was attached to the state of Brunswick both politically andecclesiastically. Thus, all parishes of Salzgitter now belong to the Church of Brunswick. The two superintendencies are calledPropstei (provostry) today, and both thePropsteien Salzgitter-Bad and Salzgitter-Lebenstedt comprise additionalparishes which are not within the city of Salzgitter.
Roman Catholics who after the Reformation moved into the city belonged, as in theMiddle Ages, to thediocese of Hildesheim, which established a separatedeanery in Salzgitter. All Roman Catholic parishes of the city now pertain to that deanery.
Due to theimmigration of foreign workers during the 1970s, there are someIslamicmosques. According to calculations based on census data, Salzgitter in 2011 had the highest proportion of Muslim migrants of all major cities in Lower Saxony.[12]
After the creation of Salzgitter a state commissar was set in place as provisional Mayer of the city of Watenstedt-Salzgitter. AfterWorld War II, the military government of theBritish zone of occupation installed the communalconstitution ofBritain. Furthermore, there is an elected Council in place. The Council elects one of its members toMayor (German:Oberbürgermeister) as leader and representative of the city. Besides, since 1946 on there was theOberstadtdirektor as the Chief Executive of the City Council. Since 2001, the office of the leader of the Council and the Chief Executive are merged into one, simply called Mayor. Being elected by the people, the Mayor represents the city and leads the Council.
Salzgitter'sCoat of Arms consists of a silverfurnace visible behind a silverpinnacle wall on which there is abuckler whose upper ground is green and adorned with two saltern instruments and whose lower ground is gold and adorned with a black sledge and black iron. On the red ground behind the furnace, there are twowheaten ears.
The Coat of Arms stands for theagriculture, which is important for many villages of Salzgitter, on the one hand, and for theindustry, which led to Salzgitter's foundation, on the other hand.
This Coat of Arms is from 1951. Before, Watenstedt-Salzgitter had got a different one. Also the former town Salzgitter had got various coats of arms from 1854 on.
Like many German cities, Salzgitter has used the city's logo for some years. It is a green field with a white snaking way that narrows towards thehorizon.
In the north of Salzgitter, there is anAutobahn (A 39) from Braunschweig to theinterchange Salzgitter (where it is possible change to Autobahn 7 Kassel-Hanover). Salzgitter has got fivegrade-separated interchanges to this Autobahn. East from Salzgitter, there is the Autobahn 395 (Braunschweig-Goslar), which can be reached from Salzgitter by four interchanges. Moreover, twohighways go through Salzgitter.
Salzgitter has sixrailway stations. The most important one is in the quarterSalzgitter-Ringelheim, the most central one in Salzgitter-Lebenstedt. There is noHauptbahnhof (main railway station) in Salzgitter. Salzgitter-Ringelheim's station is located on theHalle (Saale)-Goslar-Salzgitter-Hildesheim-Hanover line. Another line leads into theHarz Mountains and to Braunschweig, passingSalzgitter-Bad. Salzgitter-Lebenstedt is the end of a local line coming from Braunschweig and passing the other train stops of Salzgitter.
In Salzgitter, the dailynewspaperSalzgitter-Zeitung and the Sunday newspaperSalzgitter-Woche am Sonntag are published. There is the event calendarSalzgitter Szene and theonline magazineSalzgitter-aktuell. Furthermore, the localTV channelTV 38 is broadcast bycable television.
There are also severalprimary,secondary andvocational schools, among them theGymnasium Salzgitter-Bad, theGymnasium am Fredenberg and theKranich-Gymnasium, the latter two located in Salzgitter-Lebenstedt. TheVolkshochschule Salzgitter offersadult education, with sites in Salzgitter-Bad and in Salzgitter-Lebenstedt.
There are three public libraries in Salzgitter. The main-library is located in Salzgitter-Lebenstedt (155,000 media) with branch-libraries in Salzgitter-Bad (42,000 media) and Salzgitter-Fredenberg (25,000 media).
There is no theatre in Salzgitter nor any building used as one. Yet there are several representations at various places.For example, in Salzgitter-Bad there is a society rooting in the students' theater of the local grammar-school that supports the amateur play. They act on various stages, with an auditory between 100 and 600 people. Furthermore, there are irregular performances ofmusicals.
Städtisches Museum Schloss Salder ("Municipal Museum Salder Castle"), free entry, 3500+ sqm of permanent exhibitions about geology, prehistory, history of the city and its region (e. g. about an ichthyosaur, the neanderthals of Lebenstedt, Salzgitter iron ore mining and processing), overall featuring 3000+ exhibits, each year additional special expositions, an outdoor area with technical objects, a working windmill, theice age path with life-size animal models of mammoth and more.
Städtische Kunstsammlungen Schloss Salder ("Municipal Art Collection in Salder Castle")
Citymonument (Turm der Arbeit – "Tower of work", the city'semblem, constructed in 1995. The monument tells about the suffering of the forced workers andNazi concentration camp prisoners while building up industry during thenational socialism, about the flight from home beyond the riversOder andNeisse, about the fight against the removal of theiron works and about Salzgitter's people's will to live and to rebuild.)
Town hall (built 1959–1963)
Ice sports hall (in far-east style)
In the quarter Salzgitter-Bad:
Old Town
Thermalsolbad ("hot-springs brine bath")
Protestant church St. Mariae Jacobi; military defence church built in 1481
Franzosenbrücke ("French bridge"), stone archbridge over the river Innerste near Salzgitter-Hohenrode
Salzgitter-Lichtenberg: Castle ruins, once built byHenry the Lion, destroyed in 1552 and laid open again in the 1950s. Look-out and restaurant.
Salzgitter-Ringelheim: Ringelheim Castle, formermonastery, founded in the 10th century,secularised in 1803.Baroque church built in 1694, including a preciousorgan;crucifix from the workshop ofBishop Bernward of Hildesheim (around 1000); large castle park (Schlosspark)
Salzgitter-Salder: Salder Castle with Municipal Museum, former emblem of the city; the castle built in the style of the "Weser Renaissance" around 1600 was domicile of the noble family von Salder in theDuchy of Braunschweig, later domain of theduke; nowadays museum of local history; castle church Maria-Magdalena with a circular floor plan.
Salzgitter-Thiede:Convent Steterburg, ladies' convent founded in 1003; there are still buildings from the 11th century. The house of theabbess was built in 1691. The church is from 1752. In 1938, the area was reconstructed to tenements.
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