The Schleswig-Holstein

The the Schleswig-Holstein is one of the German Länder composing the Germany.

Presentation

The Schleswig-Holstein is the crossroads of the Germany towards the Scandinavia and in particular towards the Denmark, a surface of 15.770 km, and takes into account 2,8 million inhabitants. Located between the the North Sea and the the Baltic, it is delimited in north by Denmark and the south by the Elba, and is next to also Länder of the Mecklembourg-Poméranie Western, Lower Saxony and Hamburg. The Land is composed of two historical entities, the old duchies of Schleswig and Holstein, separated at the level of the channel from Kiel, which connects the two seas.

If the inhabitants of the Schleswig-Holstein speak in general little marked German, the use of the Low-German (" Plattdeutsch") is however still extremely widespread in the campaigns. One still counts some 10.000 speakers of the Friesian language in the Nordfriesland area on the west coast, as well as the use of Danish in the Danish minority.

Below the central administration of Kiel, the Land of the Schleswig-Holstein east made up of four cities equipped with autonomy (Kiel, Lübeck, Flensburg, Neumünster) and of 11 Kreise (districts).

Moreover, there are four independent cities which do not belong to any district:

Big cities and communes

History

The history of the Schleswig-Holstein is marked by its geographical location between the two seas and especially by the fight of influence between Danish and German S. the river Eider, in the North of the channel of Kiel, becomes as from the 9th century the border of natural influence between Dane and Germans. The privilege granted by the emperor Barberousse to the town of Lübeck in 1188 is used as a basis for its rise like capital of the Hanse for the Moyen-âge. In 1356 and 1634 two spring tides (“Mandränke”) avalent nearly a quarter of the Land and give birth to the island S from the west coast.

The Schleswig is a stronghold Danish whereas the Holstein is a stronghold of empire. It is only with the treaty of Ripen in 1460 that the Schleswig-Holstein, composed of the duchies of Schleswig in North and that of Holstein in the South, is definitively made up like entity under the reign of Christian Ier de Holstein, king of Denmark and Norway. It is of this time that date the currency of the Land “COp evig ungedeelt” (indivisible for eternity). If the Danes affirm to them Suzeraineté on the country until its final fastening in 1806 with the Danish crown, their policy of forced annexation causes a certain number of disorders. In 1864, Bismarck obtains the collaboration of the Austria to intervene and push back the Danes on the peninsula of the Jutland: it is the “Guerre of the Duchies”. Following the Convention of Gastein, the Denmark is constrained to yield these territories. The Schleswig is then managed by the Prussia and the Holstein by the Austria. In 1866, after the ousting of the Austrian S of the Germanic Confederation, the two territories becomes province with whole share of the Prussia. In 1920, at the conclusion of the first world war, the German-Danish border is definitively fixed by the organization of a Plébiscite at the profit of the Denmark. Only the town of Flensbourg (Flensborg, in Danish) remains German. In 1945, the Schleswig-Holstein finds its autonomy after the dissolution of the German State by the British authorities of occupation.

The Second world war did not cause only the destruction of an important part of the inheritance of Kiel and Lübeck, seaboard towns and harbor important, but especially modified the structure of the population of the Land. Indeed, almost a million refugees coming from the provinces of the East of the Third Reich - more than one third of the population - settled in the Land after 1945.

Recent political life

The last elections in Landtag, the regional Parliament, took place on February 20th, 2005 and gave the following results:

Economy

The Schleswig-Holstein is currently one of the first German tourist areas. So beside tourism, agriculture (breeding of bovines and porcine, corn) and the maritime activities (shipyards, maritime transport) always play a big role, the establishment of advanced technology industries (for example of medical techniques or automobile subcontracting) and the creation of research units modernized the economy of the Land. However the richness of the Land is badly distributed: the zone of attraction of Hamburg, where a third of the population of the Schleswig-Holstein resides is a zone of growth of first order, while the west coast and the area bordering on the Denmark (Flensbourg) know a declining activity.

The unemployment rate of the Land (9,7% in 2003) is in the national average but remains slightly higher than that of old Länder. If the Schleswig-Holstein caught up with in the last decade part of its economic delay compared to the national average, it since 2003 is touched more by the economic conjuncture.

Culture

To better do itself to know abroad, the Schleswig-Holstein has organized for fifteen years in summer it The Schleswig-Holstein Festival , the most important international festival of classical music in Germany.

Many personalities which marked the cultural heritage and policy of Germany are originating in the Schleswig-Holstein like the type-setter Carl Maria von Weber, the painter Emil Nolde, the writers Friedrich Hebbel and Theodor Storm and especially the large German novelists of the 20th century, the brothers Thomas Mann and Heinrich Mann, born in Lübeck. In the same way, of important politicians roots have there: Willy Brandt, former federal chancellor, in Lübeck, its successor Helmut Schmidt and finally Otto von Bismarck, first chancellor of the Second Reich.

It is as in this Land as is held each year the Wacken Open Air, largest festival of metal in the world.

See too

List of the dukes of Schleswig
Ferdinand Tönnies
VfB Lübeck, football club

External bonds

Official site of the Land of the Schleswig-Holstein
VfB Lübeck (football club, www.vfb-luebeck.de)

Nds-nl: Sleeswiek-Holstain Simple: The Schleswig-Holstein

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