Elbtalaue, Germany

 

Elbtalaue is a picturesque area around Elbe River. Gentle rolling hills and beautiful forests define the Elbe Valley in this part of Germany. The joint municipality Elbtalaue is a joint municipality in the Lüchow-Dannenberg district. It was formed on November 1, 2006 from the joint municipalities of Dannenberg (Elbe) and Hitzacker (Elbe). The basis for this is the Lower Saxony law to strengthen local self-government in the Lüchow-Dannenberg district. The seat of the joint municipality is the city of Dannenberg (Elbe). There is a branch office of the administration in the city of Hitzacker (Elbe).

 

Damnatz

Damnatz (emphasized on the second syllable with a long a) is a municipality in the Lüchow-Dannenberg district in Lower Saxony. Old names of Damnatz are 1330/50 enen hof in der lantwere Domnitze, 1348 vor teyn rode landes to domnatze, 1450/51 Dampnatze, Damnatze, circa 1710 Damatz, 1858 Damnaze, the church village on the Elbe and 1939 Damnatz. The place name is of Slavic origin. Two different basic forms are possible for the name interpretation. One possibility is "Domanici" for people, descendants, subjects. The second interpretation is "Dab`nica" for place on oak trees, oak groves.

Dannenberg (Elbe)
Dannenberg (Elbe) is a town in the Lüchow-Dannenberg district in the far east of Lower Saxony. The city of Dannenberg is part and seat of the Elbtalaue municipality.

Excavations at the market and the castle moat have shown that Alt-Dannenberg has been continuously settled by Slavic (Wendish) residents since the 9th century AD.

The Polish names for Dannenberg are Weidars and Woikam.

The actual history of the city begins with the construction of Dannenberg Castle (first mentioned in 1153) as a forerunner to Dannenberg Castle under the government of Volrad I von Dannenberg (1153–1169). He had received the order for the settlement through Duke Heinrich the Lion. The castle was built on a sand island on the Jeetzel, which was artificially raised by adding earth. On October 18, 1157, Dannenberg was first mentioned by name in a Magdeburg document.

Dannenberg came into the focus of international politics through the imprisonment of the Danish King Waldemar II in Dannenberg Castle from 1223 to 1224. The place of detention was chosen because it is on the left bank of the Elbe, thus making a possible Danish access difficult. The keep of the castle as the place of his imprisonment bears the name Waldemarturm today. In the middle of the 13th century, construction work began on the Church of St. Johannis. Dannenberg (as well as the neighboring town of Lüchow) was first mentioned as a town in 1293, although town charter was probably granted earlier. In 1303 the line of the Dannenberg Counts ended and Dannenberg was drawn into the War of the Lüneburg Succession.

In front of the Marschtor there is evidence of a medieval leprosy, which was called the “St. Jürgen Hospital”. When the hospital was founded is unclear. After the leprosy subsided, the leprosy was turned into a poor house and the building was demolished in 1885.

In 1528 the Reformation found its way into Dannenberg. The preacher Matthias Milow held the first Protestant service. The last Catholic provost in Dannenberg was Johann Paytner. Vice-provost Matthäus Dorheide, who converted to the Lutheran creed, married in 1530 and became mayor in 1544.

In 1569 the Dannenberg dominion was established as an independent principality in Dannenberg, the Dannenberg Castle was built as a residence on the site of an earlier castle and the city was ruled by a Guelph branch line. The territory roughly comprised today's district of Lüchow-Dannenberg (excluding the Gartow area) and additional areas of today's districts of Lüneburg (Scharnebeck Abbey) and Uelzen. In 1671 the principality fell back to the main line between Braunschweig and Lüneburg.

In 1608, as in 1483, Dannenberg fell victim to a major fire. This destroyed almost all of the buildings at that time with 130 residential houses. Therefore, apart from the Waldemarturm and the church, there are no buildings from the previous period in the city.

Eleonore Prochaska died on October 5, 1813 after the Göhrde battle (September 15, 1813) in Dannenberg. A memorial plaque on the house where she died in Langen Strasse commemorates her. She was buried in the St. Anne's cemetery.

In the middle of the 19th century, various institutions were founded in Dannenberg or relocated there. These were initially the Local-Gewerbe-Verein Dannenberg, then in 1851 a higher court (which had six local courts and was closed again in 1859), in 1852 the Jeetzel-Zeitung (a forerunner of today's Elbe-Jeetzel-Zeitung) and in 1867 the district Dannenberg. It comprised the former offices of Dannenberg, Gartow, Lüchow and Neuhaus and thus a similar territory to the principality 200 years earlier. The great district was divided into the districts of Dannenberg and Lüchow in 1885.

Entry from Meyer's Konversationslexikon from 1888:
Dannenberg (Danneberg), district town in Prussia. Lüneburg administrative district, on the navigable Jeetzel, 2 km from D. station on the Wittenberge-Buchholz railway, the Wittenberge-Buchholz branch of the Berlin-Hamburg railway, is anciently built, has a district court, a church, an old castle, and a Johanniter hospital for the province Hanover and (1880) 1960 Protestant residents who do spinning, brewing and trading in cattle, linen and hops.

 

Dannenberg was connected to the railway network from 1872. The railway connection to Wittenberge via the Dömitzer Elbbrücke and to Lüneburg was established in 1872 and 1874, to Lüchow and Salzwedel in 1911 and to Uelzen in 1924.

On May 12, 1889, there was a major fire in Tripkau, which killed nine buildings. Presumably the damaging fire was caused by children.

In 1932 the two districts of Dannenberg and Lüchow were again merged into one district with headquarters in Dannenberg. In 1936 the Elbe bridge near Dömitz, which was destroyed again only nine years later, was inaugurated.

Cruise missiles were produced in Neu Tramm during the Second World War. On February 22, 1945, Dannenberg was badly hit by an attack by American bombers at the end of the Second World War. At least 85 people were killed and 95 injured. 34 houses in three places in the urban area were destroyed. These were most of the north side of the market, Adolfplatz and the suburb of Lauben. The bombing attack probably targeted the nearby railway bridge over the Jeetzel.

In the vicinity of the villages of Groß Heide and Seybruch, which are now part of the city, there was fighting between German and American ground troops. On April 23, 1945, the city was surrendered to the American troops without a fight. From May 27th, Dannenberg belongs to the British zone of occupation. With the destruction of the Dömitz Elbe bridges in April 1945 and the subsequent closure of the border, Dannenberg lost its hinterland on the right bank of the Elbe. The city belonged to the customs border district from 1945 to 1989.

In 1951 the district seat was relocated to Lüchow, as a result of which other authorities formerly based in Dannenberg were also relocated to Lüchow. The city was badly affected by the loss of administration and the previous closure of the border. In Dannenberg itself, the district court, the district hospital built in 1961 as a new building (now privatized), the district savings bank and the district craftsmen remained with district-wide importance. The latter two were merged with the corresponding Uelzen institutions there after 2000.

In the 1950s, the Jeetzel was channeled, the flood hazard that Dannenberg had been exposed to in the past was largely averted and the city was given areas for development. Before that, the city had been flooded regularly, sometimes several times a year; There had previously been very strong floods in 1881, 1888 and 1895, for example.

On July 1, 1972, the combined community of Dannenberg was formed with six other communities, which existed in this form until the merger with the combined community of Hitzacker in 2006.

After the border was opened in 1989, the connection across the Elbe was re-established first by ferries and from 1992 by the new Dömitz road bridge.

Incorporations
On February 1, 1971, the Prisser community was incorporated. On July 1, 1972, Breese in der Marsch, Bückau, Groß Heide, Klein Heide, Liepehöfen, Lüggau, Nebenstedt, Penkefitz, Pisselberg, Prabstorf, Predöhlsau, Riskau, Schaafhausen, Soven, Splietau, Streetz and Tripkau were added.

 

Pritzwalk

Church of Saint Nicholas (Nikolaikirche)

Church of Saint Nicholas is a late- Gothic church devoted to Saint Nicholas.

 

Church of Saint Jacob (Jakobskirche)

Church of Saint Jacob is the main religious building in Pritzwalk and it dates back to the medieval period. It was originally constructed as a Roman Catholic church in the 15th century.

 

Perleberg

Perleberg is a picturesque authentic market surrounded by traditional German houses. This include and original 1515 timber- frame house on its side. Another notable structure is that of a Town Hall that was erected on this site in 1850. A sandstone statue of a French knight Roland date back to 1546.

 

Plattenburg Castle

Plattenburg Castle is a interesting citadel constructed in a late Gothic and Renaissance architectural styles. It is still used as a place for performances and concerts.

 

Bad Wilsnack

Bad Wilsnack is a small town in Elbtalaue region. Medieval citizens of the town discovered interesting features of mud in the surrounding marches. Apparently this iron oxide rich soil carried significant therapeutic properties. Since the medieval times Bad Wilsnack was an important site for pilgrims who flocked to this town in hopes to see the true blood of Jesus Christ that was said to be preserved even through the great fire of 1384. Medieval church of Saint Nicholas was constructed shortly after the fire for the new coming pilgrims.