Geesthacht (geːstˈhaxt) is the largest city in the District of the Duchy of Lauenburg (Herzogtum Lauenburg) in Schleswig-Holstein in Northern Germany, 34 km southeast of Hamburg on the banks of the River Elbe.

History

• Around 800: A church is documented.
• 1216: First documentary mention of the settlement as Hachede.
• A change in the course of the Elbe cuts the settlement into two: Geesthacht and Marschacht (in Lower Saxony).
• 1420: Geesthacht is ceded to the Hanseatic cities Hamburg and Lübeck in the Peace of Perleberg.
• 1865/66: The Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel establishes a glycerin factory in Geesthacht (on Krümmel hill) and invents dynamite. Krümmel becomes the first dynamite factory in the world.
• 1906: Opening of the Bergedorf-Geesthachter Railway(BGE).
• 1918-1933: Geesthacht is a hotbed of radical leftist parties (USPD, KPD and SAPD) and acquires the nickname Little Moscow.
• 1924: Granted municipal rights by the Hamburg City order of 2 January.
• 1928: Destruction of the historical town centre by a fire.
• 1937: In the context of the territorial reorganization of the State of Hamburg, Geesthacht is transferred to the Prussian province of Schleswig-Holstein and the administrative district (Kreis) of Duchy of Lauenburg.
• 1953: Suspension of passenger service on the Bergedorf-Geesthachter Eisenbahn (a railway line).

Politics

At present, the city council is composed as follows:

	CDU	SPD	GRÜNE	FDP	Offensive D	Total
2003	17	12	3	2	2	36

Twin towns

• Hoogezand-Sappemeer (Netherlands), since 1966
• Chadderton (England), since 1966
• Plaisir (France), since 1975
• Kuldiga (Latvia), since 1991

Economics and transportation

Geesthacht is a major energy and scientific research center. It has the Krümmel Nuclear Power Plant, a boiling water nuclear reactor on the River Elbe, and a 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 storage for later use in generating electricity when demand is high.

• Freeway 25 from Hamburg
• Federal road B5 from Hamburg in the west to Lauenburg 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 port is in Hamburg

State institutions

• GKSS-Forschungszentrum - nuclear 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

Personalities

Honorary citizens

• Rudolf Basedau (20 November 1897 – 23 October 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 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

Literature

• Heinz Bohlmann: Fäuste, Führer, Flüchtlingstrecks. Ein Beitrag zur Geschichte der Städte Geesthacht und Lauenburg/Elbe 1930-1950. Schwarzenbeck 1990. ISBN 3-921595-15-0
• Bernhard Michael Menapace: "Klein-Moskau" wird braun: Geesthacht in der Endphase der Weimarer Republik (1928-1933). Kiel 1991. ISBN 3-89029-923-7
• August Ziehl: Geesthacht - 60 Jahre Arbeiterbewegung 1890-1950. Geesthacht 1958.

External links

• Fototour Geesthacht
• Bilder Geesthacht/Elbe
• Geesthacht Business Site