Salzgitter is a city in the northern Harz foothills, in the
south-east of Lower Saxony. The independent city is the headquarters of
Salzgitter AG and, together with the cities of Braunschweig and
Wolfsburg, forms a regiopolitical region and one of the nine major
centers in the state. It is part of the
Hanover-Brunswick-Göttingen-Wolfsburg metropolitan region. Salzgitter
has existed in its current form since 1942 and was one of the few new
towns founded in Germany in the first half of the 20th century.
The city is connected to the Mittelland Canal by a branch canal. The
nearest major cities are Braunschweig, which borders the city to the
north-east, Hildesheim, 30 km to the west, and Hanover, 50 km to the
north-west.
Salzgitter became a major city for the first time in
1942, but according to the 2011 European census had only 98,095
inhabitants on December 31, 2012, making it a medium-sized city. On
September 30, 2015, the city with an official population of 100,365 once
again crossed the threshold to become a big city.
By plane
The nearest airport with regular scheduled flights is
Hannover-Langenhagen Airport (IATA: HAJ), approx. 50 km north-west).
Thanks to good rail connections from Braunschweig, the airports in
Frankfurt am Main (IATA: FRA), Berlin Brandenburg (IATA: BER) and
Leipzig/Halle (IATA: LEJ) are acceptable alternatives.
Braunschweig-Wolfsburg Airport (IATA: BWE) in the northern part of the
city of Braunschweig mainly serves the German Aerospace Center (DLR) and
the works traffic of Volkswagen AG.
By train
Due to its
composition of several places, Salzgitter does not have a central main
station, but several stations, some of which are on different lines:
Salzgitter-Ringelheim is integrated into the regional connections on
the Hanover - Goslar route
Salzgitter-Bad as well as Ringelheim in
the regional train between Herzberg am Harz and Braunschweig
Salzgitter-Lebenstedt is the end point of the branch line from
Braunschweig
There are also stops on the route from Lebenstedt to
Braunschweig in Salzgitter-Watenstedt, Salzgitter-Immendorf and
Salzgitter-Thiede
Finally, there is the Lengede-Broistedt train
station, which used to be called Salzgitter-Nord and is connected to
SZ-Lebenstedt by bus
In the street
Salzgitter is integrated
into the motorway network thanks to the A 39, which runs right past it
and connects the A 7 at the Salzgitter triangle near Derneburg and the A
2 near Braunschweig. Furthermore, Salzgitter is connected to the trunk
road network via the federal roads B 6 and B 248.
By boat
The
Salzgitter branch canal, which was opened in 1940 to connect today's
Salzgitter AG to the waterway network, leads from the Mittelland Canal
near Wendeburg to Salzgitter about 18 km away.
By bicycle
The
cycle path Berlin - Hameln leads through Salzgitter and directly along
the Salzgittersee.
The regional Fuhse cycle path also runs through
the city.
The city and surrounding area is served by numerous bus lines. Information on regional transport can be found on the Verbundtarif Region Braunschweig.
Prehistory up to 1829
The first evidence of the presence of humans
in the Salzgitter area comes from the Salzgitter-Lebenstedt
archaeological site, where pieces of bone from mammoths, reindeer and
Neanderthals were excavated in 1952. The huge iron ore deposits in the
region were already known around the birth of Christ. The ore was
smelted by Germans in kilns.
During Charlemagne's Saxon Wars
(from 772 to 804), the Saxon people were forcibly subdued, Christianized
and incorporated into the Frankish Empire. Around 1150, Henry the Lion,
Duke of Saxony and Bavaria, built a castle on the Lichtenberg to protect
the trade route to Brunswick. Gebhardshagen Castle was first mentioned
in a document in 1154 as "hus to dem Haghen". Emperor Friedrich
Barbarossa conquered Lichtenberg Castle in 1180 after Henry the Lion was
outlawed. At the turn of the 12th to the 13th century, Gerhard von
Steterburg, provost of the Steterburg canon monastery, wrote the
Steterburger Annalen (Annales Stederburgenses), a chronicle of the
monastery from its founding in 1000 to the death of Henry the Lion in
1195. In the From 1235, the Bishopric of Hildesheim and the Duchy of
Brunswick-Lüneburg were formed in the northern Harz foothills.
At
the beginning of the 14th century, today's district of Salzgitter-Bad
developed around brine springs on the border of the districts of the
villages of Vepstedt (later merged), Gitter and Kniestedt. The
settlement received the name Salzgitter from the neighboring village and
today's district of Gitter (first mentioned in 1347 as "up dem solte to
Gytere"). After 200 years of salt production in the Salzliebenhalle
saltworks, the farmers in the area of today's Salzgitter-Bad received
city rights around 1350, but the city lost these rights when it was
transferred from the Hildesheim Bishopric to the Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel
Principality at the beginning of the 16th century. After 1643, what was
then Salzgitter(-Bad) once again belonged to the Hildesheim Bishopric.
When it passed to Prussia in 1803 (Reichsdeputationshauptschluss), the
city rights were reconfirmed, but were revoked again in 1815, when the
city was incorporated into the Kingdom of Hanover.
The Salzgitter
Musicians (the Klesmer) came into the world from 1815 to 1906. Due to
the cessation of spinning and weaving throughout southern Hanover, the
cottagers and craftsmen of this area were in dire straits. They turned
to music and conquered the European states, North and South America and
Australia with it. With the "Salzgitter" musicians, residents from 86
towns and villages in southern Hanover and Brunswick went out into the
world.
1830 to 1932
In 1830 a brine bath was set up in
Salzgitter-Bad. After the annexation of the Kingdom of Hanover by
Prussia (Province of Hanover) in 1866, the place became a Prussian
municipality, which received city rights again in 1929. Previously,
Vorsalz (1926, called Petershagen until 1739) and Liebenhalle (1928) had
been incorporated. The town belonged to the district of Goslar and, in
addition to the core town of Salzgitter(-Bad), also included a number of
small settlements that can no longer be defined today, such as Gittertor
(taken over by Gitter in 1936). In 1938 Kniestedt was incorporated.
Starting in 1868, the first signs of Salzgitter as an industrial
location can be registered, when Emil Langen from Solingen (1824–1870)
built the Salzgitter iron works with four blast furnaces, coking plants
and casting halls at the Gittertor gate in Salzgitter-Bad. In 1870 he
died in a blast furnace explosion and in 1874 the company fell victim to
the Vienna stock exchange and bank crash.
The castle ruins of
Lichtenberg were restored between 1892 and 1893 and the keep of the
castle was rebuilt. In 1911 a new bathhouse was built in Salzgitter-Bad.
In 1920, Duke Ernst August von Braunschweig sold the salt works to the
Saline Liebenhalle GmbH in Hanover. The salt works deteriorated and
individual structures were foreclosed on in 1934. The drilling
contractor and pioneer of deep drilling technology, Anton Raky, who is
well-known far beyond Germany, became interested in the location in 1922
and settled in Salzgitter-Bad.
On July 15, 1937, the National Socialists founded the Reichswerke
Hermann Göring (Hermann-Göring-Werke) to exploit the large iron ore
deposits in the Salzgitter area, which were first mentioned in 1310. The
area between Goslar, Wolfenbüttel and Braunschweig became one of the
largest construction sites in Europe at this time. Many farms were
relocated to the Hanover area. The general construction management was
subject to Herbert Rimpl. Collaborating architects were Walter Tralau
and Werner Hebebrand as well as the garden and landscape planner Wilhelm
Heintz.
The construction of the plant required a uniform
administrative structure throughout the area, and so, in accordance with
the Salzgitter Law of June 25, 1941, a uniform city district
(district-free city) was established with effect from April 1, 1942. For
this purpose, the former town of Salzgitter (today's Salzgitter-Bad) and
the communities of Beinum, Flachstöckheim, Groß-Mahner, Hohenrode,
Ohlendorf and Ringelheim (a total of 7 communities), which also belonged
to the Goslar district, as well as the communities of Barum, which
belonged to the Braunschweig district of Wolfenbüttel, were merged ,
Beddingen, Bleckenstedt, Bruchmachtersen, Calbecht, Drütte, Engelnstedt,
Engerode, Gebhardshagen, Hallendorf, Heerte, Immendorf, Lebenstedt,
Lesse, Lichtenberg, Lobmachtersen, Osterlinde, Reppner, Salder,
Thiede-Steterburg (now only Thiede) and Watenstedt (altogether 21
communities) combined to form the urban district of
Watenstedt-Salzgitter. The new independent city was incorporated into
the state of Braunschweig along with the rest of the district of Goslar.
In return, the state of Brunswick, which was formed as part of the
system of conformity, gave up the district of Holzminden to the Prussian
province of Hanover. Starting in 1942, the young city initially had 28
districts, including the village of Gitter, which had already been
incorporated into Salzgitter-Bad in 1940. It was not until 1949 that it
was given the status of an independent district, making it the 29th
district of Salzgitter.
During the Second World War, Salzgitter
was badly damaged by numerous US and British bombing raids. On April 10,
1945, American troops took over the city.
After the Second World War, the state of Braunschweig became part of
the state of Lower Saxony and Watenstedt-Salzgitter thus became an urban
district within what was now the administrative district of Braunschweig
(later the administrative district of Braunschweig). In 1951, the city
was renamed Salzgitter, and all parts of the city were given the prefix
Salzgitter for their place names, e.g. B. Salzgitter-Salder. Since the
district of Salzgitter would then have been called
Salzgitter-Salzgitter, it was given the addition Bad because of the
brine bath there, but as part of Salzgitter it came after the place name
(Salzgitter-Bad).
In 1949, the inter-allied reparations
commission in Brussels decided to dismantle 90% of the hut. With the
rebellion of the steel workers in 1950 against this decision, the
cessation of dismantling in Germany began. The town hall in Lebenstedt
was built between 1959 and 1963. In 1960 Blaupunkt opened its factory in
Salzgitter; Volkswagen followed in 1969.
In 1961, the central
registration office of the state justice administrations in Salzgitter
began work. The registration office had the task of investigating
indications of the use of violence at the inner-German border and in the
penal system of the GDR and of collecting evidence about it.
In
1972 the thermal brine bath at the Greifpark in Salzgitter-Bad was
opened to the public. The old bathhouse, built in 1911, was demolished.
This year MAN took over the plants of the long-established company
Büssing in Watenstedt. In the course of the Lower Saxony local
government reform on March 1, 1974, the communities of Üfingen and
Sauingen (Wolfenbüttel district) were incorporated. Since then, the
urban area of Salzgitter has consisted of 31 districts.
Robert
Bosch Elektronik GmbH has been producing in Salzgitter since 1985.
Mining (iron ore) was operated in Salzgitter until 1982. A repository
for radioactive waste has been planned in the former Konrad iron ore
mine since 1975. In 1975 the Salzgittersee was completed in the planned
size of 75 ha. The dredging work began in October 1960, and considerable
remains of mammoths, bison, aurochs and rhinoceroses were found in the
gravel bed. In January 1978, the ice rink on Salzgittersee was handed
over to its intended purpose. In 1985, the so-called "traditional
island" of renovated old town buildings was completed in Salzgitter-Bad.
Two years later, Salzgitter-Bad was officially recognized as a place
with brine spa facilities.
Salzgitter became the seat of the
Federal Office for Radiation Protection in 1989.
In 1992, the
central registration office of the state justice administrations was
dissolved. In the three decades of its existence, the authority recorded
around 42,000 acts of violence in the former GDR. After completing
unity, she handed over the files to the public prosecutor's offices
responsible in the respective locations. Salzgitter celebrated its 50th
birthday in 1992. In this anniversary year, the city was the destination
of the International Lower Saxony Tour of amateur cyclists on Easter
Monday.
In 1993 and 2001, Salzgitter hosted the culture festival
Day of the Braunschweig Landscape.
In 1994, the Ostfalia
University of Applied Sciences set up a branch in Calbecht.
In
1995, Salzgitter received a landmark with the Tower of Work by Jürgen
Weber: almost 14 m high and weighing more than 36,500 kg. On its peak
rises the sampler from the smelting works, which symbolizes the people's
will to live and build up. In its uniqueness in contemporary art, the
monument keeps alive the memory of the development of the industrial
area and the city under National Socialism and of the forced labor in
the Reichswerke. It also reminds of the suffering and death of countless
people fleeing from the former German eastern territories at the end of
the Second World War, of the dismantling of industrial plants by the
Allies after 1945 and the resistance of the workers against it, but at
the same time of the development of an economic area to become the third
largest industrial location in Lower Saxony.
The new building of
the Federal Office for Radiation Protection was ready for occupancy in
1997. The Citytor, a former department store building, was opened in
1998. In addition to many shops, there is also a large cinema with seven
venues. The Citizen Center was set up in the atrium of the town hall to
improve the city administration's customer service for the citizens.
In 2001, the Lord Mayor was directly elected for the first time and also took over the duties of the previous Lord Mayor. The first mayor of the new form was Helmut Knebel. On its 60th birthday (2002), Salzgitter became the regional center in Lower Saxony. The first 5-mast water ski cable car between Harz and Heide was opened in 2004. In the same year, the new trampoline hall of the TG Jugenddorf was officially handed over to its intended purpose. On June 2, 2005, the North German Broadcasting Corporation (NDR) produced an episode of the show Aktuelle Schaubude live in front of Salder Castle. In 2006, Frank Klingebiel was the first mayor to be elected for eight years. The Children's University became an official UN World Decade project in 2007. Since January 1, 2008, Salzgitter has been the first city in Lower Saxony to have a children's officer. Since August 1st, 2008, attendance at day-care centers has been free of charge. In January 2008, the water and energy supply company Salzgitter (WEVG Salzgitter) and the energy supply company Avacon AG merged. In June 2008 the City-Carrée shopping center was opened. On November 9, 2009 (anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall), a section of the former Berlin Wall, with a bronze plate, was presented in front of the former building of the central registration office of the state justice administration. The start of the integrated comprehensive school was in August 2010. In autumn 2010 the new building of the clinic in Lebenstedt was completed, in autumn 2011 a commercial vehicle logistics center in Watenstedt and in autumn 2012 the technical center of an energy supplier in Lebenstedt. Since 2013, the inner city of Salzgitter-Lebenstedt has been continuously changed with renovations and new buildings, including a new, modern shopping center. A new bus station was added at the end of 2014. In 2015, a restaurant opened in the Reppner Bay of Lake Salzgitter. On the other side of the lake, the expansion and modernization of the indoor pool started in 2016 and was completed in 2019 with the new name "Stadtbad". The extensive renovation of Albert-Schweitzer-Strasse was completed in 2017. In 2017, Salzgitter was included in the 27th edition of the Duden. The inner ring of paths around Lake Salzgitter has been illuminated since 2019. Since 2020, free WiFi has also been available at the lake. On April 1, 2022, the city celebrated its 80th birthday.
Salzgitter does not have a permanent theater or a corresponding
building. But cultural events take place at different venues. The
cultural barn is located in Salzgitter-Lebenstedt and is
multifunctionally equipped for events of all kinds. In the south of the
city in Salzgitter-Bad is the Kniestedt Church, built in the 15th
century. It has been used as an event venue since 1985. But ensembles
also perform on the stages in the auditoriums of the Fredenberg and
Salzgitter-Bad high schools. There is also a multifunctional ice rink,
the Salzgittersee and the courtyard of Salder Castle.
Theatrical
performances are offered by the cabaret, the theater group and the
theater association.
There are two cinemas in Salzgitter: A medium-sized cinema is the Kultiplex on Berliner Strasse (in Lebenstedt) with three cinema halls. It has the largest cinema hall in Salzgitter and the rare 7-channel digital audio technology. The small program cinema Cinema, in which more demanding films are regularly shown, is located in the Angerpassage in the district of Salzgitter-Bad. Another well-known cinema was the Filmpassage in the CityTor in Lebenstedt, which, however, closed in 2021.
The city history museum is divided into three departments. In the
museum, visitors can gather many impressions from the geological
beginnings, through prehistory and early history, the Middle Ages and
modern times to urban development in the 20th century. The industrial
and technological history of Salzgitter and the region between Harz and
Heide since the 19th century is presented in the "Museum for Industry,
Technology, Work and Mobility".
The star of the geology department is
a fish dinosaur, the ichthyosaur, which lived in the Lower Cretaceous
period 115 million years ago and whose skeleton was discovered
underground in 1941 in the ore mining that began in Salzgitter. In the
Museum of the History of Childhood, visitors can admire a unique
collection of toys from the 19th and 20th centuries in the region. The
aim of the exhibition is also to provide insights into the living
conditions of children in this region.
In addition to the permanent
exhibitions, a large number of temporary and special exhibitions
contribute to lively museum life. Outside the museum building, in
addition to the old bakery and the Osterlinder post mill in the mill
garden, you can see sculptures and objects by recognized sculptors. On 2
June 2006, the 2,000 m² outdoor Ice Age Garden was completed. This shows
the living conditions of the Neanderthals, who, as the finds at the
Krähenriede in Salzgitter show, went hunting in the northern foothills
of the Harz Mountains at the beginning of the last Ice Age.
The
former cowshed from the castle has been expanded into the art gallery of
the city of Salzgitter. Works from the municipal art collection on the
subject of the world of work and temporary exhibitions of modern fine
arts are regularly exhibited there. The annual highlight is the Salon
Salder with works from the studios of artists from Lower Saxony.
The
following events also take place in or in front of Salder Castle:
children's birthday parties, museum festival/mill day, international
museum day, city breakfast, cultural summer. In 2008 the 400th
anniversary of the castle was celebrated with an extensive anniversary
program.
The Salzgitter City Library has its main office in the Lebenstedt
district as well as branches on the market square in the old town of
Salzgitter-Bad and in the Fredenberg school centre. The total stock of
media is 119,000 copies (as of 2016). The city library has already been
awarded the Lower Saxony Library Prize twice (1st place and 2nd place).
Main office in Salzgitter-Lebenstedt: In the new building, which was
moved into in 1990, around 69,000 media are kept on four floors (2,350
m²).
Branch in Salzgitter-Bad: This branch, opened in 1972 and
expanded in 2013, occupies around 1000 m² on three floors with around
36,000 media.
City and school library Fredenberg: This branch,
founded in 1974 with around 14,000 media, was expanded in 2004 by 100 m²
to around 500 m².
Holy Trinity Church in Salzgitter-Bad
Kniestedt Church Former St.
Nikolai Church in Salzgitter-Bad (today event space)
St. Mariae
Jakobi Church in Salzgitter-Bad, fortified church built in 1481
Martin Luther Church in Salzgitter Bad
Vöppstedt ruins - former small
village church in Salzgitter-Bad
St. Nikolai Church in
Salzgitter-Barum
St. Petri Church in Salzgitter-Beddingen
Village
church in Salzgitter-Benum
Christ Church in Salzgitter Bleckenstedt
Village church in Salzgitter-Bruchmachtersen
St. Peter's Church in
Salzgitter-Calbecht
Michaelis Church in Salzgitter-Drütte
St.
Cosmas and Damian Church in Salzgitter-Engelnstedt
Pilgrimage church
Engerode, chapel built around 1236, one of the oldest pilgrimage
churches in Lower Saxony with exposed frescoes.
Evangelical Church in
Salzgitter-Flachstöckheim
St. Nicolai Church in
Salzgitter-Gebhardshagen
Holy Cross Church in
Salzgitter-Gebhardshagen
Christ Church in Salzgitter-Gitter
Village church of Groß Mahner. The current church building was built and
consecrated in 1893.
Evangelical Church of Salzgitter-Hallendorf
St. Petri Church in Salzgitter-Heerte
St. John's Church in
Salzgitter-Immendorf
St. Andreas Church in Salzgitter-Lebenstedt: The
cornerstone of today's church was laid on May 4, 1857. The old church
was demolished in April 1857. Its age has been estimated at 500 years.
St. John's Church in Salzgitter-Lebenstedt
St. Luke's Church in
Salzgitter-Lebenstedt
St. Mark's parish in Salzgitter-Lebenstedt
Martin Luther Church in Salzgitter-Lebenstedt
St. Matthew's Church in
Salzgitter-Lebenstedt: No services have been held here since 2007.
St. Paul's Church in Salzgitter-Lebenstedt
Church of Peace in
Fredenberg (district of Salzgitter-Lebenstedt)
St. Peter and Paul in
Salzgitter-Lesse
St. Peter's Church in Salzgitter-Lichtenberg
Village church in Salzgitter-Lobmachtersen
Church in
Salzgitter-Ohlendorf
St. George's Church in Salzgitter-Osterlinde
St. Jacobi Church from Salzgitter-Reppner
St. John's Church in
Salzgitter-Ringelheim
Castle Church of St. Maria Magdalena in
Salzgitter-Salder: It was built between 1713 and 1717.
St. Paul's
Church in Salzgitter-Sauingen
St. George's Church in
Salzgitter-Thiede
Steterburg Monastery in Salzgitter-Thiede, women's
monastery founded around 1000; Preserved parts of the building from the
11th century. The abbess' house was built in 1691. The collegiate church
was built in 1752.
Village church in Salzgitter-Üfingen
Village
church in Salzgitter-Watenstedt
Christ-König-Church in Salzgitter-Bad (built 1959/60)
St. Mary's
Church in Salzgitter-Bad: (built 1888/89)
St. Gabriel Church in
Salzgitter-Gebhardshagen (built in 1953)
Heilig-Geist-Kirche in
Salzgitter-Hallendorf (built 1961/62)
St. Elisabeth Church in
Salzgitter-Lebenstedt (built 1967–1969, profaned in 2008)
St.
Joseph's Church in Salzgitter-Lebenstedt: (built 1956-1957)
St.
Maximilian Kolbe Church in Salzgitter-Lebenstedt (Fredenberg, built in
1976/77)
St. Michael's Church in Salzgitter-Lebenstedt (built in
1953)
St. Johannes Bosco Church with youth meeting center in
Salzgitter-Lichtenberg (built in 1966)
Monastery Church of St. Abdon
and Sennen in Salzgitter-Ringelheim
St. Bernhard's Church in
Salzgitter-Thiede (built in 1953), with a neighboring monastery
Church of the Redeemer of the Evangelical Free Church in
Salzgitter-Bad
New Apostolic Churches in Salzgitter-Bad/Lebenstedt
Kingdom Hall of Jehovah's Witnesses in
Salzgitter-Bruchmachtersen/Lebenstedt
Church of the Elim Christian
Community in Salzgitter-Lebenstedt
Islamic communities in
Salzgitter-Bad/Lebenstedt/Thiede/Watenstedt
Lichtenberg Castle was once built by Heinrich the Lion, it was
destroyed in 1552 and uncovered again in the 1950s. Located on a steep
hilltop of the Salzgitter ridge, it served the Brunswick Welf duke to
secure his power base against the neighbors in the bishopric Hildesheim
and the imperial Goslar. Due to its strategically important location,
trade routes could also be controlled. After the open dispute with Henry
the Lion, in 1180 it was a preferred target for attacks and conquests by
Emperor Friedrich Barbarossa and his troops. In 1995, the 800th year of
Heinrich the Lion's death, extensive renovation and restoration work
began on the castle grounds with the support of the state of Lower
Saxony, foundations, private donors and the city of Salzgitter. A
visible sign of the castle is a hexagonal tower built in 1892/1893 on
the remains of the keep with a wooden viewing platform, which offers
visitors a view of northern Salzgitter, the Harz Mountains with the
Brocken and as far as Braunschweig when the visibility is good. A
tourist restaurant is also located there.
Salder Castle, the old
landmark of the city with a municipal museum, built in 1608 for the
privy councilor David Sachse, became the seat of the noble family von
Saldern in the Duchy of Brunswick in 1620. In 1695, Hereditary Prince
August Wilhelm von Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel acquired the palace complex
and had it rebuilt by the Braunschweig court architect Hermann Korb. The
castle was later used as a widow's residence and ducal domain. The city
of Salzgitter acquired the castle in 1955 for a symbolic purchase price
of one mark. The Municipal Museum of the City of Salzgitter has been
housed here since 1962. The castle had to be closed in 1976 due to
dilapidation and was reopened in 1981 after extensive renovation work.
Salder Castle has retained its original character as a castle-like
complex with a pleasure garden and farm yard to this day.[42]
Many of
the buildings listed are also recognized cultural monuments. Others
include the double lock on the branch canal, the former guest house
(today Hotel am See), the administration building of today's Salzgitter
AG (with paternoster lift), the post mill at Salder Castle, the
buildings of the University of Applied Sciences and the Ratskeller in
Salzgitter-Bad.
The city monument (Tower of Work), another landmark
of the city, erected in 1995 by the sculptor Prof. Jürgen Weber is in
the center of Salzgitter's largest district, in Lebenstedt. This was
preceded by more than ten years of intensive planning and dealing with
this project. In the upper area, the monument tells of the suffering of
the forced laborers and concentration camp prisoners during the
development of industry under National Socialism, of fleeing from their
homeland across the Oder and Neisse, of the fight against the
dismantling of the hut and the will to live and build up of the people
in Salzgitter . The figure of a sampler rises above the picture of
today's steel production. In the lower, almost cube-shaped block with
life-size representations, the bronze monument shows the forced labor in
the Reichswerke Hermann Göring, above it rises the industrial landscape
of Salzgitter in white marble.
Ringelheim Castle was founded as a
monastery in the 10th century and secularized in 1803. This includes the
baroque church of St. Abdon and Sennen, renovated in its present style
in 1694, with its valuable organ from the 17th century. Worth seeing are
the spacious castle square and an octagonal pigeon tower in the manor,
the monastery church with its baroque organ and the manor. In 1817, the
Hanoverian General Feldzeugmeister Graf von der Decken acquired the
estate and former Ringelheim monastery and converted it into a manor
house with an English landscaped garden. The palace and park are now
privately owned.
Gebhardshagen Castle, the exact year the castle was
built is not known, it was first mentioned in a document in 1186. A
moated castle once stood on this site until the current building made of
shell limestone and red sandstone was erected around 1200. The castle is
one of the oldest in the state of Braunschweig, until 1986 it was the
seat of an agricultural domain and is used for events after extensive
renovations.
Gut Flachstöckheim with an open-air stage and an English
park. The property was built in 1722.
Open-air stage in
Salzgitter-Flachstöckheim (hardly used)
Ruins of Lichtenberg Castle
built by Heinrich the Lion
Bismarck Tower in Salzgitter Bad
French
Bridge (stone arch bridge) over the Innerste river near Hohenrode
Kniestedter manor house in Salzgitter-Bad (now Biedermeier wedding room
and music school), dates back to 1533 and is probably the oldest
half-timbered house in Salzgitter today. Together with the Tilly-Haus,
Garßenhof, Gildehaus and Rosengarten, it forms the traditional island.
Tilly House in Salzgitter-Bad
Sculpture trail
Bee and nature trail
in Salzgitter-Benum
Vöppstedt ruins in Salzgitter-Bad
Traditional
island with rose garden Salzgitter-Bad
Heerter See
Salzgitter
ridge
The Jammertal Cemetery near Lebenstedt is one of the central
memorial sites in Salzgitter. About 3000 victims from the time of
National Socialist rule are buried there.
The Gaussstein, a monument
with an information board in the Salzgitter ridge, stands above the
castle ruins of Lichtenberg. The German mathematician, astronomer,
geodesist and physicist Carl Friedrich Gauss had it built around 1820
for surveying purposes due to its location in the Lichtenberge. From
there, he could also aim at distant measuring points. Gauss surveyed the
Kingdom of Hanover on behalf of King George IV. To do this, he created a
triangular network for the entire area of the former Kingdom of Hanover
and used it to determine the coordinates of more than two thousand
trigonometric points.
There are five nature reserves in Salzgitter (“Heerter See and
Heerter Strauchholz forest area”, “Köppelmannsberg”, “Mittleres
Innerstetal with Kanstein”, “Speckenberg” and “Haverlahwiese opencast
mine”). The largest area includes the Heerter See and the Heerter
Strauchholz forest area (about 323 ha). Like two other lakes (Heron
Lake, Salzgitter Lake), the Heerter Lake was created by human
intervention. Nevertheless, today it is a nature reserve and is home to
rare plant and bird species. Its salty water provides a habitat for
special plant species and the shallow shore zones are ideal for waders.
You can see cranes, widgeons, velvet ducks, whooper swans and many
species of sandpipers. Salzgitter has around 3,700 hectares of nature
and landscape protection areas. The Innerstetal is emphasized, a natural
river area landscape with heavy metal vegetation, which has its origins
in the centuries-old Harz mining industry. Salzgitter also has a nature
and bee trail on an area of 13,500 m².
The entire urban area of
Salzgitter is a habitat for a unique flora and fauna. In the Salzgitter
ridge there are semi-arid and dry grass areas, breeding ground for
orchid and gentian species. Salzgitter is also home to the green toad,
which is most northerly distributed in the city. Another lake in
Salzgitter is the Reihersee in the Salzgitter ridge, which was created
from a clearing pond. The Salzgitter ridge is by far the largest
landscape protection area. There are eight more in Salzgitter.
The largest single body of water is the Salzgittersee, a nationally
known local recreation center. With 75 hectares of water and a
north-south extension of 2120 m, it can also be used for some water
sports, but there is a ban on propulsion engines. With its good water
quality, it is an area for swimmers, anglers, divers, sailors, surfers,
rowers, canoeists and model boat enthusiasts. A Finn running track,
which is unique in the region, invites you to go jogging on an
ankle-friendly surface. A few years ago, a commercial water ski facility
started operations on the west side; Basketball courts, football pitches
and an ice rink are also nearby. In the middle of the Salzgittersee
there is a 25-hectare park-like island that can be reached via a bridge,
which is largely spared from the various activities and is used for rest
and relaxation while walking. Since it was approved for bathing and
water sports in May 1963, the lake has become increasingly important as
a local recreation area with the opportunity for a wide range of leisure
activities. At the end of the 1950s, planning considerations for the
construction of this artificial lake, which had taken place 20 years
earlier as part of the construction of a large housing estate, were
resumed, and construction began in 1960.
Salzgitter has a hiking trail network of 150 km in the Salzgitter
mountain range. There are also 120 km of cycle paths.
The ice
rink at Salzgittersee was built in 1978. The Salzgittersee, with its 75
hectares and a north-south extension of 2120 m (regatta route), is
considered a territory for sailors, surfers, rowers and canoeists.
A completely different kind of lake is the Heerter See, a nature
reserve and European bird sanctuary. Artificially created, it served as
a sludge settling pond for iron ore washing. Its salty water provides a
habitat for special plant species and its shallow shore zones are
suitable for wading birds. The Salzgitter District Group of the Nature
Conservation Union (NABU) identified 288 species of birds in population
surveys; 112 of them are endangered. They include cranes, ospreys,
cormorants and sandpipers, who use the lake as a stepping stone on their
way to wintering or breeding grounds.
In the thermal brine bath
in Salzgitter-Bad, a 25 percent natural thermal brine bubbles up from a
depth of 243 m, one of the strongest in Central Europe, which was
already mentioned in a document in 1125. It is conveyed from the rose
garden to the thermal brine bath. The brine is suitable for the
treatment of rheumatic diseases and respiratory organs, for follow-up
treatment after operations and accident injuries on the musculoskeletal
system, gynecological disorders and skin diseases. A small demonstration
graduation tower was built in the rose garden of Salzgitter-Bad by a
private citizens' initiative and was inaugurated on October 23, 2009. It
is intended to tie in with the tradition of the spa and salt town of
Salzgitter.
There are also two geopaths, two miniature golf
courses and an 18-hole golf course. In addition, the possibility of a
tour of the smelting works at Salzgitter AG is offered.
The city is a member of the registered association Braunschweigische Landschaft based in Braunschweig. This was founded in 1990 to maintain cultural institutions in the region. On June 15, 2002, eleven private individuals and eleven companies set up the Salzgitter community foundation to promote social and cultural activities.
Around one hundred clubs form the basis for popular and competitive
sports with national and international successes, especially in
trampoline gymnastics. Salzgitter's club athletes have won
championships, above all Henrik Stehlik (double world champion in
trampoline gymnastics and Olympic bronze in Athens 2004) and Gerhard
Weidner (multiple world and European champion in walking). In 2007 that
was 100,000. Achieved sports badge in Salzgitter.
51 sports (ball
games, martial arts, individual sports, fitness and health sports, water
sports or sports for the disabled) from almost all areas of sports are
offered in Salzgitter.
The Salzgittersee or the Salzgitter ridge
offer running routes. A Finnish track is available at Salzgittersee.
Playing fields for football, handball, basketball and roller hockey are
also accessible at Salzgittersee.
In 2004, a 5-mast water ski
cableway was opened on Lake Salzgitter. There is the possibility of
water skiing, wakeboarding, trick skiing, monoskiing and pair skiing.
There are two combined indoor and outdoor pools, a pure outdoor pool and
the thermal brine pool. Dragon boat races have been held on Lake
Salzgitter since July 2006. Volkstriathlon is offered in July at the
Salzgittersee.
There is an ice rink near Lake Salzgitter, which
offers opportunities for ice hockey, figure skating and curling.
The
Salzgitter mountain range offers 150 km of hiking trails. Cyclists can
ride on a 120 km network of paths around the district of Lebenstedt,
around the iron and steel works or through the plain in the south-east
of the city.
Golf can be played in Salzgitter-Bad in a valley between
the Vepstedter Erbschaftsforst and the wooded Speckenberg. Since the
2007 season, the course has been expanded to 18 holes.
Beach
volleyball is played every summer on the Klesmerplatz in Salzgitter-Bad.
The Lower Saxony Volleyball Association is planning to include the
ranking tournament for men and women (A and B cup) in the Top 10
tournaments category.
Regular running events are the New Year's Eve
run and the charity run at Salzgittersee as well as - with interruptions
- the city run.
Motor boat races were held in the Erzhafen for
several years. The Lower Saxony Motor Boat Club organized the first
event in 1962, which was attended by 55 boats and around 15,000
spectators.
With the merger of the city of Salzgitter and 27 other communities to
form the city of Watenstedt-Salzgitter on April 1, 1942, the city's
population exceeded the 100,000 mark, making it a major city. On January
24, 1951, the company was renamed Salzgitter. In 1974 the population
reached its historic high of 121,711. In the years 2012 (98,095), 2013
(98,197) and 2014 (98,966) the number of inhabitants was less than
100,000, which meant that Salzgitter was no longer a big city for a few
years - it only became a big city in 2015 exceeded the 100,000 mark
again. Applying the results of the 2011 census, the population at the
end of 2011 was only 98,588.
The following overview shows the
population according to the respective territorial status. Up to 1833,
these are mostly estimates, after that they are census results or
official updates from the respective statistical offices or the city
administration itself. From 1843, the information relates to the "local
population" and from 1925 to the resident population. Before 1843, the
number of inhabitants was determined using inconsistent survey methods.
Salzgitter lies in a broad, loess-covered hollow between the Oderwald
in the east and the Lichtenberge (north-western part of the Salzgitter
ridge) in the western part of the city and the northern central part of
the Salzgitter ridge in the south of the city. The upper reaches of the
Fuhse flow through the city in a northwest-southeast direction. The
middle course of the Innerste flows a few kilometers through the extreme
south-west of Salzgitter.
The greatest extension of the urban
area is 24 km in north-south direction and 19 km in east-west direction.
The highest elevation in the urban area is 275 m above sea level. NHN
high Hamberg northwest of Salzgitter-Bad.
About half of the city
area is used for agriculture, about a sixth is forested. Another sixth
is divided into similar proportions in residential or
commercial/industrial areas. The traffic areas also occupy a similar
proportion as the living areas.
The urban area of Salzgitter consists of seven localities, which are made up of a total of 31 districts. Each locality has a local council with a local mayor, elected by the population entitled to vote. With an area of 223.93 km², the city is one of the largest cities in Germany. In contrast to historically grown cities, which usually developed around a center, there is no town center here. Only Salzgitter-Lebenstedt can claim a certain leadership role because of its size (by far the most populous district) and location as well as because of the seat of the administration.
The area of today's town of Salzgitter belonged to the Diocese of
Hildesheim in the Middle Ages. In 1568 Duke Julius introduced the
Reformation. Two superintendents were formed. The southern area of
today's city (Salzgitter Superintendent) belonged to the state of
Hanover and thus to the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Hanover
(consistory in Hildesheim), the northern area (Lebenstedt
Superintendent) to the state of Braunschweig and thus to the Evangelical
Lutheran Church in Braunschweig.
With the formation of the city
of Watenstedt-Salzgitter in 1942, the entire current urban area was
assigned to the state of Braunschweig, both politically and
ecclesiastically. Thus, today all parishes in the city of Salzgitter
belong to the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Braunschweig. The two
superintendents are now referred to as provosts. The two provosts
Salzgitter-Bad and Salzgitter-Lebenstedt belong to the Evangelical
Lutheran Church in Braunschweig; however, they also include parishes
that do not belong to the city of Salzgitter.
In connection with
the founding of the Reichswerke, more and more Catholics moved to the
area of today's city, who soon made up a good 30% of the population.
Initially, the northern part belonged to the parish of St. Petrus
(Wolfenbüttel), while the southern part belonged to the parishes of St.
Marien (Bad) and Abdon and Sennen (Ringelheim). Against the will of
those in power at the time, who, according to Adolf Hitler's order (July
1939), did not want to allow any further church construction, the
Diocese of Hildesheim managed to establish a total of eight
congregations during the war. The activity of the later honorary citizen
of the city of Salzgitter, honorary canon Johannes Wosnitza († 1995),
should be emphasized in this context. After the war, the diocese of
Hildesheim set up its own deanery in Salzgitter, which was merged into
the deanery of Goslar-Salzgitter, which was newly established in 2007.
In addition to the two major churches, there are also congregations
that belong to Free Churches, including an Evangelical Free Church
(Baptist) Church, the Church of God, a Brethren Church, a Free
Evangelical Church (FeG), an Elim Christian Church, and the Seventh-day
Free Church - Adventists. There are also several New Apostolic Churches
and Kingdom Halls of Jehovah's Witnesses in the city. Due to the
immigration of foreign workers in the 1970s, there are now numerous
Islamic mosques, Islamic associations and an Alevi community in the
city.