The state of Schleswig-Holstein is located in northern Germany. It
borders on Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania in the south-east, on Lower
Saxony and the Hanseatic city of Hamburg in the south and on the Kingdom
of Denmark in the north. In the west of the country lies the North Sea
coast with many islands and Halligen and in the east the Baltic Sea
coast. Geographically, the country is divided into the flat marshes in
the west, the sandy Geest inland and the hill country in the east. The
North Sea coast is characterized by a very flat landscape.
Schleswig-Holstein is made up of the historical territories of southern
Schleswig, Holstein, the Duchy of Lauenburg (which once belonged to
Oldenburg) and the Free and Hanseatic City of Lübeck.
The Eider
as a border between Schleswig (as a Danish fief) and Holstein (as a
Roman-German fief) was also the northern border of the Frankish Empire
(since 811) and the Holy Roman Empire (German nation) until its fall in
1806, and the southern border of the Danish sovereign territory. The
border was also confirmed at the Congress of Vienna in 1815.
Nevertheless, both areas were dynastic and culturally connected for many
centuries, this connection is documented from 1386 at the latest. In the
Treaty of Ripen in 1460 it was stipulated that Holstein and Schleswig
should be eternally ungedeelt ("eternally undivided"). In the
German-Danish War in 1864, Prussia conquered Schleswig, but the Jutian
Law (Jyske Lov) was still valid in Schleswig until 1900. After the First
World War there was a referendum in Schleswig, after which the northern
part was ceded to Denmark, while southern Schleswig remained with
Germany.
Danish cultural influence decreases southwards, which is
partly reflected to this day in the different versions of the Low German
language and in the proportion of the population belonging to the Danish
minority.
Historically, the Duchy of Lauenburg and the city of
Lübeck neither belong to Schleswig nor to Holstein. The latter was
incorporated into what was then the province of Schleswig-Holstein in
1937.
North sea coast
North Friesland, the
Schleswig part of the North Sea coast, with the Eiderstedt peninsula and
the North Frisian Islands
Dithmarschen, the Holstein part of the
North Sea coast
Central Schleswig-Holstein
Baltic Sea coast: The
coastal landscape of the Baltic Sea, partly characterized by deep bays.
Baltic Sea coast (Southern Schleswig) between Flensburg and Kieler
Förde, with the peninsulas ofANGLANG, Schwansen and Dänischer Wohld
Holstein Baltic Sea coast with the Bay of Lübeck, the island of Fehmarn,
the Probstei and the state capital Kiel
Holstein Switzerland - hilly
landscape full of lakes in the inland with the Bungsberg, the highest
elevation in the federal state.
Stormarn and Lower Elbe - The south
of the Holstein inland with the northern outskirts of Hamburg and the
Elbe Marshes
Duchy of Lauenburg in the southeast of the state
Further sub-travel regions can be found in the articles on the regions.
Lübeck
Neumünster
Ratzeburg
Sankt Peter-Ording
Schleswig
Eutin Castle
Glücksburg Castle
Plön Castle
Schleswig-Holstein Wadden
By plane
Hamburg Airport (IATA: HAM) is the most important for air
travelers to and from Schleswig-Holstein. It has an S-Bahn station with
a connection to the main train station and to Altona. For travelers to
Kiel or Neumünster, the hourly Kilius buses are the more comfortable
connection. It takes 1½ hours from Kiel and 1 hour from Neumünster to
the airport.
Sylt Airport (IATA: GWT) offers some intra-European
connections seasonally and is also available for self-flyers.
Heide-Büsum Airport (IATA: HEI) has a lighted runway for aircraft with a
gross vehicle weight of up to 5.7 t. There is a flight connection from
Helgoland with the OFD.
From August 2020, Lübeck Airport (IATA:
LBC) will again be served by scheduled flights from Munich and
Stuttgart. It remains open to business and sport flyers.
Billund
Airport (IATA: BLL) in the Danish town of Billund is also ideal for
northern Schleswig-Holstein, with connections to the German-speaking
area as well.
Although Kiel has an airport, there are currently
no regular flights there. It is available for self-flyers.
By
train
Most long-distance connections run via Hamburg; individual
connections to Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania are also routed via Lübeck.
Individual ICE or IC trains stop in Flensburg, Schleswig, Neumünster,
Kiel, Lübeck, Westerland (Sylt), Husum, and ICE connections to Denmark
are also offered. Otherwise there are connections in regional traffic,
they reach all the larger cities in the country.
The
Schleswig-Holstein Ticket from €29 (plus €4/person) is valid on weekdays
from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 a.m. and all day at weekends for 1 − 5 people. It
is valid on all local trains in 2nd class in SH, Mecklenburg-West
Pomerania, Hamburg (here even including the network) and for the
Bäderbahn to Szczecin and Swinemünde.
By bus
The development
of the long-distance bus market is currently subject to rapid change,
both in terms of providers and routes.
In the street
The A1
motorway connects Schleswig-Holstein, starting from Lübeck, with Bremen
and the Ruhr area, the A7, starting from Flensburg, with Hanover and
southern Germany. The A20 leads from Lübeck to Mecklenburg-Western
Pomerania, and Berlin can be reached via the A24.
By boat
There is no regular ferry service to Schleswig-Holstein on the North Sea
coast. The port of Hamburg also does not play a major role for passenger
shipping, apart from cruise ships. Ferry connections from Great Britain
exist to Esbjerg on the west coast of Jutland, and from there to nearby
Schleswig-Holstein (130 km to Flensburg).
It is possible to
travel to Kiel from Gothenburg and Oslo via the Baltic Sea. The
Skandinavienkai in Travemünde is approached from Malmö, Trelleborg,
Helsinki and Liepāja. There is also the Vogelfluglinie from Rødby to
Puttgarden on Fehmarn.
Vehicle transport is also possible to
other seaports.
The Baltic Sea and the Lower Elbe, among others,
are suitable for recreational shipping. Marinas on the North Sea depend
on the tide and are therefore often not accessible all the time. The
Middle Elbe is navigable for pleasure craft for domestic traffic.
If you want to get to know green Schleswig-Holstein, the best way to
travel is by bike. There are signposted cycle paths in almost all parts
of the country. The most popular routes can be found on the North and
Baltic Seas and on the Elbe.
Between the coastal regions one is
partly dependent on regional bus connections.
NAH.SH local transport
association Schleswig-Holstein GmbH
26,000 kilometers of bus lines
with 7,500 stops are served by almost 50 bus companies. Six railway
companies operate on 1,179 kilometers of rail network with 172 railway
stations. The Schleswig-Holstein tariff (SH tariff) applies to journeys
on local transport in Schleswig-Holstein and to Hamburg.
High German is spoken in Schleswig-Holstein and Low German is still spoken, especially in rural areas. North Frisian (in several dialects) and Danish (in the variants High Danish/Rigsdansk, South Schleswig Danish/Sydslesvigdansk and Low Danish/Sønderjysk) are also spoken in the northern part. Mixed languages such as the High German-Low German Missingsch and the German-Danish Petuh can sometimes be found or have been found.
More information is available at Eating and drinking in
Schleswig-Holstein
The country's typical North German cuisine is
down-to-earth and hearty. It reflects the proximity to the North and
Baltic Seas and the Scandinavian countries. Potatoes play a major role
in a wide variety of preparation methods. There is a special taste that
the North German calls Broken Sweetness, Brooken Sööt. This is reflected
in the popular taste combination of sweet and sour, söötsuur, in the
combination of spicy meat or fish dishes with sweet side dishes. Typical
dishes are pears, beans and bacon, or Holsteiner sour meat.
Itineraries
long-distance cycle routes
Baltic Coast Cycle Route (Schleswig-Holstein)
North Sea Cycle Route
(Schleswig-Holstein)
Elbe Cycle Path (Magdeburg - Cuxhaven)
Old
Salt Road (bike route)
Hamburg–Rügen long-distance cycle route
monks way
Iron Curtain European Cycle Route
ox path
border
route
Eider-Treene-Sorge bike path
Holstein Switzerland bike tour
Viking Friesian Trail
Kiel Canal Route Long-distance cycle route from
Brunsbüttel to Kiel along the canal.
To water
Kiel Canal,
waterway (only for motorized ships/boats) with accompanying cycle paths
By car
German ferry route
Regular events
Anyone who stays in
Schleswig-Holstein during the Kiel Week in the last full week of June
and does not visit it relieves the stressed residents of Kiel, but
misses something very special: the sailing event in the world. The
streets and marinas are correspondingly international. Landlubbers from
all over the world also visit Schleswig-Holstein for this maritime
spectacle. After the Oktoberfest, the Kiel Week is the largest folk
festival in Germany.
If you don't make it to the Kiel Week, you can
travel to the Bay of Lübeck a few weeks later to visit the Travemünde
Week in Lübeck-Travemünde - the second largest sailing event in the
world.
The Schleswig-Holstein Gourmet Festival is held across the
state from September to March. Germany's best chefs show off their
skills in around 20 different restaurants. There are specialties from
the sea, game, dike lamb and more.
The Schleswig-Holstein Music
Festival (SHMF) is one of the largest festivals in the world. The focus
is on classical music. The concerts take place in castles and mansions,
barns and stables as well as in the most beautiful churches in
Schleswig-Holstein. The music festivals in the countryside are at the
heart of the SHMF and offer a very special and family-friendly concert
atmosphere. Since 2002, the international jazz festival JazzBaltica has
also been part of the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival.
Accommodation
Wild camping is allowed for 1 night away from campsites
for non-motorized travelers.
public holidays
Mon, Jan 1, 2024
New Year New Year's Day
Fri, Apr. 7, 2023 Good Friday, the highest
Christian holiday, commemorating the crucifixion of Christ
Sun Apr 9,
2023 Easter Sunday Easter, commemoration of Christ's resurrection
Mon
Apr 10, 2023 Easter Monday Easter, Commemoration of Christ's
Resurrection
Mon May 1, 2023 May Day International Labor Day
Thu,
May 18, 2023 Ascension Day 40 days after Easter, commemoration of the
Ascension of Christ
Sun, May 28, 2023 Pentecost Sunday 7 weeks after
Easter, commemorating the outpouring of the Holy Spirit
Mon, May 29,
2023 Whit Monday 1 day after Whit Sunday, commemoration of the
outpouring of the Holy Spirit
Tue, Oct. 3, 2023 Day of German Unity
National holiday
Tue, Oct. 31, 2023 Reformation Day Protestant
holiday commemorating the Reformation of the Church by Martin Luther
Mon, Dec 25, 2023 Boxing Day Christmas, commemoration of the birth of
Christ
Tue, Dec 26, 2023 Boxing Day Christmas, commemoration of the
birth of Christ
Christmas Eve (December 24) and New Year's Eve
(December 31) are not public holidays. Nevertheless, on these days many
businesses are closed all day and many shops and leisure facilities are
closed from midday. Depending on the city, local public transport can be
severely restricted or even stopped from the afternoon. Most of the
restaurants are also closed on Christmas Eve.
Settlement and emergence of Schleswig and
Holstein
Schleswig-Holstein was settled by hunters and gatherers
after the last Ice Age. From about 4000 BC Farmers came to the country
and built between 3500 and 2800 megalithic complexes, of which only over
100 have survived. The ox trail has probably been leading through the
country since the Bronze Age, which in historical times served the trade
of North Jutland livestock.
During the period of migration, many
of the Germanic ethnic groups left the country. Between the 3rd and 5th
centuries, the Angles from the area of the same name north of the Schlei
emigrated to Britain, where they united with other peoples to form the
Anglo-Saxons and became eponymous for the later England.
Schleswig-Holstein was very sparsely populated at the time.
By
the early Middle Ages, four ethnic and language groups had developed in
today's Schleswig-Holstein: in the northern part up to a line Eider -
Treene - Eckernförde Germanic Jutes and North Germanic Danes, in the
northwestern part since the 7th century West Germanic Frisians, in the
Slavic Abodrites in the eastern part, West Germanic Saxons in the
southwestern part up to the Eider and the Kiel - Geesthacht line, whose
tribe of Holstein later gave the southern part of Holstein its name.
After the emigration wave of the Angles, Danish and Jutish settlers
advanced north-east into the country. Around 770 they founded Haithabu,
one of the most important trading centers of the early Middle Ages, and
built a protective wall against the Saxons with the Danewerk. In the
course of the Saxon Wars, the southern part of the country came under
the influence of the Frankish Empire. Between 768 and 811 there were
repeated confrontations between the king of the Frankish kingdom and
later Christian emperor Charlemagne and the pagan north Germans, in the
course of which the Danewerk was expanded. In 811, the Eider was laid
down in a peace treaty as the border between the Carolingian and Danish
kingdoms.
With increasing settlement in the 12th and 13th
centuries, the Eider border lost its actual importance as a dividing
line, but it remained in place as the border between Schleswig and
Holstein until the end of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806 and until 1864.
Until the introduction of the Civil Code in 1900, it was also a legal
boundary, since Denmark's Jutish law still applied in Schleswig up to
that point. From 1111, independence grew on both sides of the Eider,
from which the duchies of Schleswig and Holstein (then still counties)
emerged. At the same time, ever closer political and economic ties were
established between the two regions.
rule of the Schauenburgers
In the early 13th century, the Danish king tried to integrate Holstein
into his kingdom as well. After initial successes, however, he failed in
1227 in the Battle of Bornhöved due to the resistance of North German
princes.
From 1250 the Hanseatic League developed into an
important power and economic factor and Lübeck became one of the most
important cities in Northern Europe. From 1386 Schleswig and Holstein
were first shown together in the coat of arms, when the Schauenburg
counts received Schleswig as a Danish fief and thus bound the southern
county and the northern duchy under one sovereign. After the Holstein
counts were able to extend their influence far into Jutland in the 14th
century , Margrete I succeeded around 1400 in regaining Danish feudal
sovereignty in Schleswig. But they too had to recognize the property
claims of the Holstein nobles in Schleswig.
The territorial
history of Schleswig and Holstein is very complicated due to numerous
divisions of inheritance and escheat. However, the Schauenburg dynasty
succeeded in establishing a Schleswig-Holstein dominion, so that in the
late Middle Ages Schleswig-Holstein can be spoken of as a factually
contiguous territory. In 1474 the county of Holstein became the duchy of
the same name.
Danish rule
In 1460 the Schleswig-Holstein
knighthood elected the Danish King Christian I of the House of Oldenburg
as sovereign after the Schauenburg family had died out. He was a nephew
of Adolf VIII, the last of the Schauenburgers. "dat se bliven ewich
tosamende ungedelt" (that they remain together forever undivided), a
statute that was soon broken. The Danish king did not govern Schleswig
and Holstein in his capacity as king, but as duke of the two
territories, with the duchy of Schleswig remaining a royal Danish
fiefdom, while the duchy of Holstein belonged to the Holy Roman Empire
of the German Nation and was therefore an imperial fiefdom. Christian I
and his successors on the throne were therefore Danish kings and German
imperial princes in personal union. Danish supremacy lasted until 1864.
Christian III introduced the Reformation in 1542 with the church
order by Johannes Bugenhagen. As early as 1544, the king broke the
Treaty of Ripen and handed over parts of the Schleswig-Holstein duchies
to his younger half-brothers Johann and Adolf I., resulting in the
partial duchies of Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorf and
Schleswig-Holstein-Hadersleben. In 1564 his son, King Frederick II, also
handed over parts of his possessions in the duchies to his brother
Johann, creating another partial duchy in Schleswig-Holstein, the Duchy
of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg. This time the Estates refused to
consent to the renewed breach of the Ripen Treaty and refused to pay
homage to him, so that the Duke of Sønderborg became the first of the
Detached Lords without governmental rights. The Sønderborg portion
subsequently disintegrated into numerous separate duodecial duchies. The
Hadersleben duchy was dissolved again in 1580 due to a lack of male
heirs, but the duchy of Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorf developed into an
important political and cultural power factor. Among other things, the
castles of Husum, Reinbek and Tönning were built under the Gottorf
dukes, the castles of Kiel and Gottorf were renewed and enlarged and the
University of Kiel was also founded. The family also provided the prince
bishops of Lübeck.
The contrast between the royal share and the
ducal – i.e. Gottorfian – share shaped the politics of the duchies for
the next two centuries. The administrative areas of the individual
dominions, the so-called offices, harden and districts, were divided
among other things according to the level of taxation, so that neither
the royal nor the ducal share had completely contiguous areas and
Schleswig-Holstein was divided into a patchwork of smaller units. While
the ducal share was governed directly by the Gottorf line from the
eponymous Gottorf Castle, the Danish royal family appointed the
so-called governors to manage its share. The goods districts held an
exceptional status, largely independent areas, which were mostly owned
by the primordial families and which were alternately under royal and
ducal suzerainty. The estates flourished economically, and the landed
nobility experienced their “golden age” in Schleswig-Holstein during
this period. The Prince-Bishopric of Lübeck, the County of
Holstein-Pinneberg and the resulting County of Rantzau, Dithmarschen,
which was not conquered until 1559, and the Duchy of Saxony-Lauenburg,
which was not yet part of Holstein at the time, also played a special
role in the Schleswig-Holstein state structure.
While the Thirty
Years' War broke out in the south of the empire in 1618, Schleswig and
Holstein were initially spared from hostilities and experienced a boom
thanks to the profitable agricultural economy. In 1625 Denmark
intervened in the hostilities, causing the hostilities to shift to the
duchies from 1627 onwards. The fortresses in Holstein in particular,
such as Krempe, Glückstadt and Breitenburg, were the target of the
attacks. The Thirty Years' War in Schleswig and Holstein ended in 1629
with the Peace of Lübeck. The duchies, which had previously been less
severely devastated than other areas of the German Empire, subsequently
recovered until they were again involved in combat operations and
devastated from 1643 by the Torstensson War.
During the 17th
century, the contrast between the ducal and royal portions led to
increasing conflicts between the two parties. Demanding greater
sovereignty, the Gottorf Duchy turned away from Denmark and instead
towards the Kingdom of Sweden. This culminated at the end of the century
in multiple occupations of the ducal share by Denmark. At the beginning
of the 18th century, the Great Northern War broke out. Gottorf sided
with Sweden, which, after the kingdom's defeat in 1713, led to a
complete annexation of the ducal share in Schleswig by Denmark. The
former Duchy of Gottorf then only had possessions in Holstein, the
annexation was declared legal in 1720 in the Peace of Frederiksborg.
In the course of the 18th century Denmark tried to unite its
dominion and to complete the so-called common state. The numerous
part-duchies of Schleswig-Holstein, which had emerged from the
Sonderburg share, were no longer awarded as new fiefdoms in the event of
a missing heir, but were added to the Danish kingdom. After the Gottorf
portion in Holstein was united through inheritance in personal union
with the Russian title of Tsar, the Treaty of Tsarskoye Selo was
negotiated in 1773, which brought Schleswig and Holstein almost entirely
under the rule of the Danish king. In 1779,
Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg (older line), the last divided
duchy, was dissolved. However, a certain independence was retained when
the administration of the duchies was concentrated in a separate German
chancellery in Copenhagen and their own currency was introduced in 1789
(see Schilling Schleswig-Holsteinisch Courant, Schleswig-Holsteinische
Speciesbank).
First Schleswig War
In 1800, all of
Schleswig-Holstein - with the exception of the Principality of Lübeck
and the Duchy of Saxe-Lauenburg - was under Danish administration. The
city of Altona, today a district of Hamburg, was the second largest city
in the kingdom after Copenhagen. At the end of the Napoleonic Wars,
Denmark found itself on the losing side with its finances in tatters. In
breach of promises made, their own currency fell victim to the Danish
state bankruptcy in 1813; a new compulsory tax rigorously levied in the
duchies brought additional resentment.
The rise of nationalism in
both Denmark and Germany led to a conflict regarding the affiliation of
the so-called Elbe duchies, which led to two wars. It was not the
exclusively German-populated Holstein that was disputed, which had
belonged to the Holy Roman Empire since the early Middle Ages and also
to the German Confederation after 1815 and was ruled only by the Danish
king, but the Duchy of Schleswig, which had been a fiefdom of Denmark
but was linguistically culturally German, Danish and Frisian. In both
Germany and Denmark, despite being divided into a predominantly
Danish-speaking and Danish-loving north and a predominantly
German-speaking and German-loving south, the country was wholly claimed
by the nationally-minded Liberals.
In 1830, the German-speaking
and German-minded south of Schleswig found its first powerfully eloquent
advocate in Sylt's North Frisian Uwe Jens Lornsen; he and his
comrades-in-arms often wrote "Schleswigholstein" to express the
connection between the two areas in the spelling. From 1840, both German
and Danish national liberals tried to gain influence in Schleswig, so
that a conflict became apparent. This broke out openly in connection
with the March Revolution of 1848: A German-oriented provisional
government was proclaimed in Kiel. Shortly before that, the March
Ministry had been formed in Copenhagen in the wake of the Danish March
Revolution. Both governments were characterized by a dualism of
(national) liberal and conservative forces. While conservative forces in
Copenhagen advocated the continued existence of the German-Danish state,
the National Liberals in the program of the Eiderdanen demanded that
Holstein be given up and that Schleswig be included in the kingdom in
accordance with the constitution. This was opposed by the
German-influenced Schleswig-Holstein movement, which demanded the
inclusion of a united Schleswig-Holstein in the German Confederation.
The incompatibility of the two demands led to the Schleswig-Holstein
uprising, in which pro-Germans tried in vain to end Danish supremacy.
According to the will of the German national liberals, Schleswig should
also become a member of the German Confederation and, together with
Holstein, be a sovereign state under the government of the Augustenburg
Duke Christian August. According to the German view, Salic law also
applied in Schleswig, which would have made the Augustenburg duke the
legitimate heir in both duchies, since the Danish king and duke
Frederick VII had no descendants. According to the Danish view, the Duke
of Augustenburg could be regarded as heir to the throne in Holstein, but
not in Schleswig, where Danish law also stipulated succession through
the female line.
Initially, the Schleswig-Holstein uprising was
supported by the German Confederation and the emerging German Reich, as
well as by Prussia. The Schleswig-Holstein uprising became the only
federal war in the German Confederation. However, under pressure from
the major European powers, the Prussian army and federal troops
withdrew, leaving the Schleswig-Holstein army to fend for itself. The
Danish victory at Idstedt in 1850 ended German hopes for a German
"Schleswigholstein". Instead, the status quo ante was restored. On July
2, 1850, the Peace of Berlin was signed between the German Confederation
and Denmark. The London Protocol of 1852, which came about with the
participation of the Allies, guaranteed the continued existence of the
state as a whole and stipulated that Schleswig should not be more
closely tied to the Kingdom than Holstein. A nation-state solution to
the so-called Schleswig-Holstein question (and above all to the question
of Schleswig's national affiliation) has therefore not yet been found.
Second Schleswig War
With the London Protocol (1852) the common
state was restored. However, since the introduction of the Danish Basic
Law in 1849, the actual Kingdom of Denmark has had a constitutional
monarchy with a government elected by parliament, while the duchies
continued to be governed in an absolutist manner with advisory estate
assemblies composed according to census suffrage - a construction that
made legislation considerably more difficult.
As a common bond
between the kingdom and the duchies, the overall state constitution was
passed in 1855, which provided for a common Reichsrat, but met with
criticism on the German and Danish side and was accordingly rejected by
the Holstein Estates Assembly. In 1858 the German Confederation also
rejected the constitution for the two federal states of Holstein and
Lauenburg, which meant that the overall state constitution (contrary to
its intention and the provisions of the London Protocol) was only valid
for Denmark and Schleswig. Thus, Holstein and Lauenburg no longer
complied with the Federal Act of the German Confederation, which
established a constitution for each federal state.
In 1863, the
Danish government finally passed the so-called November Constitution,
which was intended to tie Schleswig closer to Denmark and reduce the
domestic political influence of the Holstein Estates Assembly. The
German side saw the new constitution as a breach of the London protocol.
Accordingly, the German Confederation obtained a federal execution
against the federal members of Holstein and Lauenburg in the same year,
which was implemented in December 1863 with the occupation of Holstein
by federal troops.
In February 1864, under protest from the
German Confederation, Prussian and Austrian troops finally crossed the
Eider and occupied the Duchy of Schleswig and large parts of the rest of
Jutland in the German-Danish War. The negotiations about a national
division of Schleswig, which took place during a truce mediated by the
great powers, did not lead to any results, Denmark finally had to sign
the Peace of Vienna on October 30th, as a result of which the rights to
the duchies of Austria and Prussia, known on the German side as "Elbe
duchies", were jointly in one condominium were transferred. Only small
parts of northern Schleswig remained Danish: the island of Ærø, seven
parishes south of Kolding and a strip around Ribe; in return, Denmark
gave up its claims to the royal enclaves on the west coast of Schleswig.
The duchies of Schleswig and Holstein then formed an Austro-Prussian
condominium. This was designed with the Gastein Convention of August
1865 in such a way that Schleswig came under Prussian and Holstein under
Austrian administration; dual power itself remained in place. Also
according to the convention, the Prussian king Wilhelm became the duke
of Lauenburg, for which Austria received a compensatory payment.
However, Prussia sought to annex all of Schleswig-Holstein. The
victorious powers ignored the Augustenburgian Friedrich VII's claims to
Schleswig-Holstein, although Austria allowed the Augustenburgian
movement to act.
After the German War in the summer of 1866,
Austria accepted in the Peace of Prague that the duchies went to
Prussia. In 1867 Prussia made them the province of Schleswig-Holstein.
In contrast to the original demands of most Germans from
Schleswig-Holstein – detachment from Denmark and membership as an
independent state entity within the German Confederation – the duchies
only achieved detachment from the Danish state as a whole. As a province
of Prussia, they were part of the North German Confederation in 1867 and
in the German Empire in 1871. (Lauenburg only became part of that
province in 1876.)
The German-Danish War of 1864 was the first of
the three wars of German unification. The question of the affiliation of
the duchies and Schleswig in particular was a central aspect of
Bismarck's policy, which ultimately led to the unification of the
empire. With the treaty between the German Reich and the United Kingdom
on the colonies and Heligoland, Heligoland was incorporated into the
Süderdithmarschen district of the Schleswig-Holstein province on July 1,
1890.
Final division of Schleswig
However, the international
legal dispute with Denmark was only concluded in 1920. In the Peace of
Prague in 1866, Napoleon III intervened between Prussia and Austria.
Article 5 provided for a referendum in North Schleswig, according to
which the people of North Schleswig would have been free to choose
Denmark or Prussia / Austria. This clause was annulled in 1879 by mutual
agreement between the two contracting parties. Denmark had to
reluctantly acknowledge this. Even before that, Prussia had incorporated
the duchies as provinces. Denmark had not agreed to this. The referendum
originally planned was subsequently carried out after the First World
War under pressure and under the supervision of the victorious powers of
the First World War in North Schleswig. An international commission was
formed, each with a British, French, Swedish and Norwegian
representative, which exercised administration in the voting areas.
Based in Flensburg, it had a newly formed police force and had British
and French troops to back it up. The vote resulted in a Danish majority
in the northern part of the country and a German one in the southern
part. The middle electoral district (with Flensburg) was particularly
hotly contested, but then clearly decided to belong to the German Reich.
Therefore, on July 6, 1920, a transfer treaty was concluded in Paris,
which awarded northern Schleswig to Denmark and the southern part to
Germany.
Schleswig-Holstein was an early stronghold of National
Socialism. The NSDAP already achieved high election results in
Dithmarschen in 1928. What the National Socialists called the Bloody
Night of Wöhrden in 1929 and the Altona Bloody Sunday in 1932 – at that
time Altona still belonged to Schleswig-Holstein/Prussia, not to Hamburg
– were exploited nationwide by Nazi propaganda. Well-known
Schleswig-Holstein authors were among the intellectual pioneers of
National Socialism: Julius Langbehn from North Schleswig, Adolf Bartels
from Dithmarschen and – to a limited extent – Gustav Frenssen.
There were several satellite camps of the Neuengamme concentration camp
in Schleswig-Holstein: e.g. the Kaltenkirchen concentration camp, the
Kiel subcamp, the Ladelund concentration camp and the Neustadt in
Holstein concentration camp. One of the first concentration camps was
the Wittmoor concentration camp: On March 10, 1933, the first prisoners,
mostly members of the KPD, were imprisoned there. Other early (also
known as wild) concentration camps were established in 1933 in Eutin,
Glückstadt, Rickling/Kuhlen, Ahrensbök, Altona and Wandsbek. In the
Reich pogrom night on 9./10. On November 19, 1938, synagogues and shops
of Jewish citizens in Lübeck - which had belonged to Schleswig-Holstein
since 1937 -, Elmshorn, Rendsburg, Kiel, Bad Segeberg, Friedrichstadt,
Kappeln and Satrup were attacked by the SA and SS - with the
acquiescence or the help of the police - and destroyed.
Prisoners
of war had to do forced labor in Schleswig-Holstein. The Soviet POWs
arrived in a deplorable condition, being inadequately fed. Camps were
set up in Heidkaten near Kaltenkirchen (autumn 1941 to April 1944) and
Gudendorf (April 1944 to the end of the war), which Gerhard Hoch
described as “death camps”. 3,000 Soviet prisoners of war died in
Gudendorf in 1944 and 1945. The death toll in Heidkaten is unclear, but
a four-digit number is also assumed. Atrocities also occurred in the
medical field during this period. Between 1939 and 1945, at least 216
children were murdered in the children's department in Schleswig.
The aerial warfare in World War II affected the sparsely populated
parts of the country only slightly. However, as a base for the German
Navy and the location of three large shipyards on the east bank of the
fjord, Kiel was repeatedly the target of British (RAF) and US (USAAF)
bombers (see air raids on Kiel). The air raid on Lübeck on March 29,
1942 by the RAF was the first carpet bombing of a historic German city
center. During the major raids of "Operation Gomorrah" against Hamburg
in the summer of 1943, places like Wedel and Elmshorn in
Schleswig-Holstein were hit hard. The Flensburg shipyard (see air raids
on Flensburg) and the DEA refinery in Hemmingstedt near Heide were
directly attacked several times. On May 3, 1945, RAF machines mistakenly
bombed the three ships Cap Arcona, Thielbek and Deutschland, which were
unable to maneuver in Neustadt Bay. About 7000 people died. The SS had
around 10,000 concentration camp prisoners crammed onto the ships and
most likely intended to sink the ships with the prisoners.
On May
7, 1945, at 12:45 p.m., the end of the Second World War in Europe was
announced for the first time by the German side via the Reichssender
Flensburg in a speech by Lutz von Schwerin-Krosigk. The unconditional
surrender of the Wehrmacht came into effect on May 8, 1945 at 11:01 p.m.
At this point, most of Schleswig-Holstein was still under the control of
German troops. The arrest of the last Reich government under Karl Dönitz
in the special area of Mürwik did not take place until May 23, 1945.
post war period
As early as the end of 1944, Schleswig-Holstein
was the main port of call for refugees and displaced persons in the
course of the transport of wounded and refugees across the Baltic Sea,
the evacuation of people from the Baltic States (Memelland), East/West
Prussia, Pomerania and Mecklenburg. Those who had been bombed out from
the cities of Kiel, Lübeck and Hamburg also moved to the country. The
population, which was 1.6 million in 1939, rose to 2.7 million in 1949.
Of all western German non-city states, Schleswig-Holstein had the
highest proportion of refugees compared to the resident population.
By waiving the reporting obligation on the part of the British
occupying forces and the attraction of the special area of Mürwik,
Schleswig-Holstein developed into a “safe haven” for countless Nazi war
criminals who went into hiding there via the Rattenlinie Nord and
sometimes remained unmolested for decades.
This 'brown swamp' has
continued seamlessly in the parliament and state government of
Schleswig-Holstein since 1946. At the end of the 1950s, the proportion
of former NSDAP members in the Kiel state parliament was more than twice
as high as in Bremen and around 60% higher than in Lower Saxony. In the
province of Schleswig-Holstein, where in some regions 70% or more voted
for the NSDAP in 1932/33, long after the war, membership in the Nazi
party was not considered disreputable. After the electoral success of
the bourgeois camp in 1950, at least two out of three government members
before 1945 had belonged to the NSDAP for more than two decades. In
fact, among state secretaries, former NSDAP membership was the norm.
At the turn of the year 1945/1946, the military government of the
British occupation zone appointed advisory German denazification
committees. In mass proceedings, 406,500 people were denazified: but
nobody in Schleswig-Holstein was classified in category I of the main
culprits or category II of the culprits. 2217 one classified in the
category III of the incriminated; this included the former Gauleiter
Hinrich Lohse. 66,500 came into category IV as followers and 206,000
into category V as exonerated.
After the end of the war,
Schleswig-Holstein was still formally a Prussian province. The Christian
Democrat Theodor Steltzer, who had been close to the military resistance
against the Nazi regime, was appointed senior president in November and
later appointed the first prime minister. On February 26, 1946, the
first Landtag met that had not yet been elected but had been appointed
by the military government, which, initially represented by its Regional
Commissioner for Schleswig-Holstein, retired Air Marshal Hugh Vivian
Champion de Crespigny, final decisions reserved. The state of
Schleswig-Holstein received its legal foundations with Decree No. 46 of
the British military government of August 23, 1946 “Regarding the
dissolution of the provinces of the former state of Prussia in the
British zone and their re-establishment as independent states”. As the
capital, Kiel prevailed over Schleswig; The British "Regional" and later
"Land Commissioners" were based in the so-called Somerset House in Kiel,
and their residence was in the Altenhof manor house. In the state
elections of April 20, 1947, a state parliament was elected for the
first time. Schleswig-Holstein became a federal state with the state
statute passed by the state parliament in 1949, which came into force on
January 12, 1950. It was not until the constitutional reform passed by
the Kiel state parliament on May 30, 1990 that it was also called the
state constitution.
See also: History of the German Lands
On
March 29, 1955, the Bonn-Copenhagen Declarations were signed, in which
the Federal Republic and Denmark agreed on protective rights for the
respective minority of the other nationality on their territory and at
the same time the free commitment of every citizen to an ethnic group as
not being denied ex officio and not written verifiably. To this day,
this agreement is regarded as a model for the amicable solution of
ethnic group issues.
During the Cold War, Schleswig-Holstein
became a focal point for the Bundeswehr, which was founded in 1955, due
to its strategic importance for NATO. The 6th Panzergrenadier Division,
the NATO division with the most personnel and which was deployed in the
northernmost country, was subordinated to the specially established
LANDJUT command area, as well as the Baltic Sea bases of the German
Navy.
Some of the most violent protests against nuclear power
plants in Germany took place around the construction site of the
Brokdorf nuclear power plant from 1976 to the early 1980s. The snow
catastrophe at the turn of the year 1978/1979 was probably the most
drastic natural event in the state's history. After heavy snowfalls and
large snowdrifts, many towns could not be supplied for several days.
The Barschel affair in the fall of 1987 represented the biggest
scandal in post-war history. This scandal was then continued in 1993
with the drawer affair, as a result of which Björn Engholm resigned as
Prime Minister and, with Heide Simonis as his successor, for the first
time a woman at the head of a state. Most recently, Schleswig-Holstein
became the focus of interest when Simonis failed spectacularly in the
2005 election of the Minister President of Schleswig-Holstein. The
subsequent grand coalition under Prime Minister Peter-Harry Carstensen
(CDU) only lasted until July 2009. The new elections in September 2009
led to the formation of a black-yellow coalition on October 27, 2009
under the old and new Prime Minister Carstensen.
With a decision
of August 29, 2010, however, the state constitutional court of
Schleswig-Holstein declared the state election law on which the state
election was based to be unconstitutional. The state parliament was
required to pass a new law by May 2011. Furthermore, new elections were
ordered by September 2012 at the latest.
In the state elections
in Schleswig-Holstein in 2012, Torsten Albig led the way for the first
time to the so-called Danish traffic lights consisting of the SPD
Schleswig-Holstein, Bündnis 90/Die Grünen Schleswig-Holstein and the
South Schleswig Voters' Association.
A Jamaica coalition led by
Daniel Günther (CDU) governs the country between June 2017 and June
2022. This was replaced in 2022 by a black-green coalition, also under
Daniel Günther.
Geographically, Schleswig-Holstein consists of the southern area of
the Kimbrian Peninsula (Jutland) and part of the North German Plain. It
is sandwiched between the North Sea to the west, the Baltic Sea and
Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania to the east, Hamburg and Lower Saxony to
the south, and Denmark to the north. The geographical center of
Schleswig-Holstein is in the small town of Nortorf.
Historically,
today's Schleswig-Holstein consists of the southern part of the Duchy of
Schleswig, the Hanseatic City of Lübeck and the two Duchies of Holstein
and Lauenburg. The rivers Eider and Levensau marked the border between
the duchies of Schleswig and Holstein and were also the northern border
of the Holy Roman Empire and the German Confederation until 1806 and
1864 (German-Danish War). In contrast to Schleswig, Holstein belonged
constitutionally to Germany, although it was ruled in personal union by
the Danish king until 1864. After the Prussian province of
Schleswig-Holstein was formed from the two duchies of Schleswig and
Holstein, the Duchy of Lauenburg was incorporated as a district in 1876.
With the "Law on Greater Hamburg and Other Territorial Cleansing"
(Greater Hamburg Law) in 1937, the Lübeck district (Eutin district) of
the Free State of Oldenburg, the Hanseatic City of Lübeck and the former
Hamburg exclaves of Geesthacht, Großhansdorf and Schmalenbeck fell to
Schleswig-Holstein. In exchange for this, the Holstein towns of Altona
(up to then the largest town in the country) and Wandsbek as well as
several rural communities, including Blankenese, went to Hamburg.
natural spaces
The landscape of Schleswig-Holstein is divided
from west to east into the marsh, the high and low geest and the
Schleswig-Holstein hill country (also called the eastern hill country).
This landscape and also the Geest were created in the last ice age as a
terminal moraine landscape. Further east is the island of Fehmarn, which
also belongs to the state and which emerged as a ground moraine from the
last ice age. The largest river in the country is the Eider, the highest
point is the Bungsberg (168 m).
The west coast is characterized
by the Wadden Sea, with numerous Halligen islands in the northern part
(North Friesland) in addition to the North Frisian Islands. The
Eiderstedt peninsula protrudes further into the sea. The landscape names
of Wiedingharde and Bökingharde were last (until 2007) only preserved as
the names of two offices. To the south of this, and already partly lying
in the area of the Geest, is the Nordergoesharde between the Soholmer Au
and Arlau rivers, and the Südergoesharde between the latter and Husumer
Mühlenau. The latter is mostly (apart from the Hattstedter Marsh) a
Geest landscape. The island of Heligoland, further west in the German
Bight as part of the North Sea, also belongs to Schleswig-Holstein.
South of North Friesland, between the mouths of the Eider and the
Elbe, lies the Dithmarschen landscape, which is made up of the areas of
Norderdithmarschen and Süderdithmarschen. This is followed by the
Elbmarschen with the Wilstermarsch and the Kremper Marsch.
The
east coast, which is also very fertile, is divided into the hilly
peninsulas ofANGLANG, Schwansen, Dänischer Wohld and Wagrien by fjords
and bays. The landscape around the large Holstein lakes is known as
Holstein Switzerland. The landscape of the Hütten Hills lies inland on
the border to the Geest.
The Geest itself could only be developed
late due to the soil not being suitable for agriculture - even the
attempts at heath and moorland colonization in the 18th century can
still be regarded as having failed. The traditional landscapes are
correspondingly few and far between here. The Schleswigsche Geest on the
isthmus between the Schlei and the Eider, which was important for
traffic from an early stage, with the already mentioned Südergoesharde
and the Stapelholm landscape should be mentioned in particular. The
Aukrug Nature Park is located near Neumünster and the Stormarn landscape
to the east of Hamburg, the eastern part of which forms the Stormarn
district today. Compared to the other federal states, Schleswig-Holstein
has few forests, since the forests here only cover around eleven percent
of the state area.
With the Schleswig-Holstein Wadden Sea National Park, the state is
home to the largest national park in Central Europe, part of which is
also designated as a biosphere reserve. In addition, with the nature
reserves “Hohes Elbufer between Tesperhude and Lauenburg” and
“Lauenburger Elbvorland” as core areas, there is a – albeit small – part
of the Elbe river landscape biosphere reserve in Schleswig-Holstein.
A total of 189 nature conservation areas and 275 landscape
conservation areas have been defined by state ordinances over the last
80 years. Without the national park, the areas cover 2000 km², of which
about 1600 km² are sea or mudflat areas. Nature conservation
organizations often look after the areas on the basis of a contract with
the state. There are also six nature parks: Schlei Nature Park, Hüttener
Berge Nature Park, Westensee Nature Park, Aukrug Nature Park, Holstein
Switzerland Nature Park and Lauenburg Lakes Nature Park. None includes
marine or coastal areas. The Schaalsee Biosphere Reserve in
Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania is directly adjacent to the Lauenburg
Lakes Nature Park.
A special feature is the Haseldorf gray heron
colony, a species protection area in Haseldorf, district of Pinneberg.
It is the largest and one of the most important breeding colonies of
gray herons in Schleswig-Holstein.
The climate in Schleswig-Holstein corresponds to the Cfb climate zone
(oceanic climate according to Köppen-Geiger), with relatively balanced
average temperatures and relatively balanced precipitation over the
course of the day and year, as well as relatively high relative
humidity. Due to the relative proximity to the coast of every point in
the federal state, the climate is strongly maritime with relatively high
wind speeds on average, a relatively high storm intensity and a
relatively large number of stormy days a year. The climate varies
greatly or slightly between different locations, depending on
parameters, but there is a gradient in continentality that runs roughly
along a northwest-southeast axis and increases toward the southeast.
While further east and especially south-east the climate tends to be
somewhat more continental and also more strongly influenced by the
Baltic Sea - and thus on average somewhat cooler and less rainy -
towards the west coast it is somewhat more maritime - and therefore
somewhat milder and sometimes significantly rainier. The climate tables
shown for Kiel and Itzehoe show the tendential differences: The average
annual temperature for Kiel (Baltic Sea) is approx. 0.3 °C below that of
Itzehoe (near the North Sea or Lower Elbe), while the accumulated annual
precipitation is 750 mm in Kiel is considerably lower than in Itzehoe
(856 mm). The average hours of sunshine in both locations are about the
same, while the hours of sunshine in Itzehoe are slightly more evenly
distributed throughout the year. The differences in precipitation can
therefore vary greatly spatially in Schleswig-Holstein and, especially
in the example of Kiel-Itzehoe, can differ greatly even on the
north-east - south-west axis, even if the gradient of continentality
runs rather roughly along the north-west-south-east axis. In addition to
precipitation, the wind climate in particular varies relatively strongly
spatially. In northern Schleswig-Holstein and on the coasts, the average
wind speed is higher than in southern Schleswig-Holstein. The inland
wind speed decrease follows in direction and intensity similar to that
of the continentality gradient.
Compared to other federal states,
the frequency of tornadoes in Schleswig-Holstein is relatively high and
is only just surpassed by Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania.
Schleswig-Holstein has 2.9 million inhabitants, the population
density of 183 inhabitants/km² is around one fifth below the national
average (as of December 2019). Age structure and gender distribution
largely correspond to the nationwide situation.
Of the women,
45.7% are married, 12.9% are widowed and 6.4% are divorced. For men it
is 47.7%, 2.6% and 5.4%. The population is geographically unevenly
distributed. In addition to the urban districts, the area around
Hamburg, especially the districts of Pinneberg and Stormarn, is densely
populated, while the state of Schleswig and the district of Dithmarschen
are comparatively sparsely populated.
In terms of area and
population, Schleswig-Holstein has some superlatives. The state is
represented nine times in the list of the smallest municipalities in
Germany, e.g. B. with the second smallest community Arnis. In the list
of the smallest communities in Germany by population 25 times, e.g. with
the smallest community Gröde and the community Wiedenborstel, which has
the lowest population density of all German communities.
Schleswig-Holstein is characterized by a large number of small
communities. The largest municipality in Schleswig-Holstein in terms of
area is the Hanseatic city of Lübeck, which was a free imperial city for
many years. On the other hand, Arnis is the smallest town in Germany,
both in terms of population and area. Schleswig-Holstein is represented
17 times in the list of the smallest cities in Germany, although
Schleswig-Holstein is home to only 63 cities. The four smallest cities
in Germany are in Schleswig-Holstein and five others are in 16th place.
The average life expectancy in the period 2015/17 was 78.1 years for
men and 82.8 years for women. This puts men in 6th place among the
German federal states, while women are in 11th place. The inhabitants of
Schleswig-Holstein took first place among the 16 federal states in the
Germany-wide happiness atlas 2022.
Originally resident population
The historically ancestral
population is of (Lower) Saxon, Anglic, Jutish, Frisian and Slavic
origin. Before the migration of peoples, northern Schleswig-Holstein was
still inhabited by the Angles. This is still evidenced today by the
landscape designation fishing. The Angles who emigrated to Great Britain
gave their name to England. During the Viking Age, Danes settled in
central and eastern Schleswig, Frisians in western Schleswig, Saxons in
central and southwestern Holstein, and the Slavic tribes of the Wagrii
and Polaben in eastern Holstein and Lauenburg.
Inherited
Minorities
In Schleswig-Holstein there is a Danish (originated in the
Schleswig region, now also in Holstein), a Frisian (on the North Frisian
coast and on the islands) and a traditional minority of Sinti and Roma
(mainly in the cities of Kiel and Lübeck and in the Hamburg area). These
minorities are under special protection of the Schleswig-Holstein state
constitution according to Art. 6; Like Low German, their minority
languages are protected under the European Charter for Regional and
Minority Languages.
German-born refugees and displaced persons
Relative to its own population, Schleswig-Holstein took in the most
refugees and expellees of all West German states during and after the
Second World War. These came mainly from Eastern Pomerania and East
Prussia. The population grew by 1.1 million between 1944 and 1949. The
integration of the refugees was marked by conflicts, especially in rural
regions.
immigration from abroad
Because of its geographically
isolated location and the rather weak economic development,
Schleswig-Holstein has the lowest proportion of foreigners among the
West German states (1999: 5.1%). A good three quarters of the 140,000
foreigners living here come from Europe, of which 22% of all foreigners
come from the old countries of the European Union. The largest group of
all foreigners came from Turkey in 2012 with 30,000 people, the second
largest with 15,400 from Poland.
According to the wording of § 82a I of the Schleswig-Holstein State
Administration Act of 1992 (LVwG SH), last amended on June 30, 2016,
"German" is the official language in the northernmost federal state,
although it is legally unclear whether this only means High German or
also Low German.
In addition to Standard German, the regional and
minority languages Low German, Danish and North Frisian are partially
(spatially and/or factually) permitted official languages in
Schleswig-Holstein: these languages are also expressly included as
official languages in the meanwhile clarifying regulation of § 82 b LVwG
SH High German, a similar regulation exists for North Frisian in Section
1 of the Frisian Act. For Low German, the scope is state-wide according
to the previous legal opinion in the state and now also according to §
82 b LVwG SH, for Danish the status according to this norm applies in
Flensburg and the districts of North Friesland, Schleswig-Flensburg and
Rendsburg-Eckernförde, for Frisian in the district of North Friesland
and on Heligoland.
The Low German language, usually referred to
as Low German, is also classified as a regional language according to
Part III of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages,
while the Danish language (usually in the form of Sydslesvigdansk) and
the North Frisian language (in their dialects) are classified as
minority languages Part III and Romani are recognized as a minority
language according to Part II of the charter in the state of
Schleswig-Holstein.
In communities near the border between
Niebüll and Flensburg, South Jutish (Low Danish) is also spoken, which
is generally regarded as a dialect of the Danish language, as well as in
the Flensburg area of Petuh and in some cases Missingsch. This makes
Schleswig-Holstein the state richest in traditionally spoken languages.
On the other hand, the Dutch language once spoken in Friedrichstadt and
Yiddish, which was spoken in some cities up to the time of National
Socialism, are considered extinct; It is not known how high the
proportion of Yiddish speakers is among the almost 2,000 residents of
the Jewish faith.
Proportion of languages: German approx. 2.7
million inhabitants, Low German approx. 1.3 million, Danish (Standard
Danish, Sydslesvigdansk and Sønderjysk) approx. 65,000, North Frisian
approx. 10,000, Romani approx. 5000.
In the district of North
Friesland there are also bilingual place-name signs in High German/North
Frisian; for example, the city is also announced to visitors to Niebüll
as Naibel. In other communities in the state there are bilingual town
entrance signs in the combination High German/Low German, for example
Eckernförde/Eckernföör.
The south-east of the country was
inhabited by Slavic peoples until the 12th century, which can still be
seen today in some place names of Slavic origin (e.g. Lübeck, Laboe,
Eutin, Preetz, Ratzeburg).
Denomination statistics
According to the
2011 census, 51.5% of the residents were Protestant, 6.0% Roman Catholic
and 42.5% were non-denominational, belonged to another religious
community or did not provide any information. At the end of 2021,
Schleswig-Holstein had 2,922,005 inhabitants, of whom 40.9% were
Protestant, 5.7% Catholic and 53.3% were non-denominational, belonged to
another religious community or made no statement. Three years earlier,
the two largest denominations still had a majority (44.6% of the
population was then a member of the Evangelical Church and 6.1% was a
member of the Catholic Church).
The North Church lost a total of
66,000 members in 2022.
Detailed figures on other religious
communities in Schleswig-Holstein (in addition to the Evangelical and
Roman Catholic Churches) were last collected in the 2011 census. At that
time, 0.9% were members of an evangelical free church, 0.7% belonged to
a Christian-Orthodox denomination, less than 0.1% were of the Jewish
faith and a further 1.8% belonged to other public religious communities
recognized in Schleswig-Holstein (this includes mostly Christian special
communities such as Jehovah's Witnesses). There are no figures from the
2011 census on the proportion of the population with a Muslim faith. A
2016 study by the BIM at the Humboldt University in Berlin estimates
that Muslims make up around 3% of the population in Schleswig-Holstein.
Christianity
Schleswig-Holstein is a Protestant country.
Evangelical Lutheran Churches
The Evangelical Lutheran Church in
Northern Germany has been the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Northern
Germany since May 27, 2012, or "Northern Church" for short. It emerged
from the North Elbian Church, the Evangelical Lutheran Church of
Mecklenburg and the Pomeranian Evangelical Church after a lengthy merger
process that resulted in a merger agreement signed on February 5, 2009.
There are two districts in Schleswig-Holstein: Schleswig and Holstein as
well as Hamburg and Lübeck, each headed by a bishop. The North Elbian
Church was also an association founded in 1977, in which the three
Evangelical-Lutheran regional churches in Schleswig-Holstein had merged.
In addition to the North German state church, there are also
congregations of the independent Evangelical Lutheran Church in the old
denomination in Schleswig-Holstein and in the north of the state of the
Danish Church in South Schleswig. The Danish Church in South Schleswig
has around 6,300 members (as of January 1, 2012).
Catholic
Churches
The congregations of the Roman Catholic Church in
Schleswig-Holstein are subordinate to the Archdiocese of Hamburg. In
addition to the Roman Catholic Church, there is also an Old Catholic
community on the North Frisian peninsula of Nordstrand. The Roman
Catholic Church is growing, 6.1% of the population is Roman Catholic in
2018, a year earlier 5.8% was Roman Catholic.
Evangelical Free
Churches
The Evangelical Free Churches represented in
Schleswig-Holstein include Evangelical Free Churches (Baptists),
Methodists, Mennonites, Free Evangelical Churches, the Salvation Army,
the Remonstrants, Seventh-day Adventists and several Pentecostal
churches. Already in the 16th century there were first Anabaptist
communities on Eiderstedt. The first Baptist congregation in
Schleswig-Holstein was founded in February 1849 in Pinneberg, Holstein.
According to the 2011 census, the evangelical free churches had
around 25,000 members at the time. The Evangelical Reformed Church has a
congregation in Lübeck, while the Hamburg congregation also has many
members in Schleswig-Holstein. The Remonstrants are represented by a
community in Friedrichstadt.
New Apostolic Church
In the New
Apostolic Church, Schleswig-Holstein is part of the Apostle area of
Hamburg and comprises five districts with around 10,000 members on
Schleswig-Holstein territory.
Judaism
About 1,900 residents of
the country are members of Jewish communities. The Jewish communities
are divided into two state associations: the more orthodox Jewish
Community of Schleswig-Holstein and the more liberal State Association
of Jewish Communities of Schleswig-Holstein. The Goethestrasse synagogue
in Kiel was destroyed in the Reichspogromnacht. Today there are four
active synagogues in Schleswig-Holstein, namely in Pinneberg, Lübeck,
Bad Segeberg and Kiel.
Islam
85,000 people in
Schleswig-Holstein are said to have professed Islam. The largest mosque
in the country is the Centrum Mosque in Rendsburg. There are over 60
mosques in Schleswig-Holstein.
Schleswig-Holstein is a rural and Protestant state. In the post-war
period, the Union of Displaced Persons and Disenfranchised Persons was
at times able to get almost 25% of the voters behind it. However, with
the slide into insignificance in federal politics due to the progressive
integration of expellees into West German society, he lost most of the
voters here as well. In the 1960s (NPD) and in the 1990s (DVU),
right-wing extremist parties were able to record electoral successes in
state elections, but did not repeat them.
In Schleswig-Holstein,
the proportion of votes held by the FDP and the Greens is usually lower
than in the other West German states. The regional distribution of votes
within the country varies greatly. The SPD's share of the vote tends to
be higher in the urban districts and in the surrounding area of Hamburg,
while the CDU's share of the vote tends to be higher in the districts of
Nordfriesland and Dithmarschen and in the rural communities of the
districts of Steinburg, Rendsburg-Eckernförde and Segeberg. In the 2019
European elections, the Greens became the country's strongest party.
A special feature of the party landscape in Schleswig-Holstein is
the South Schleswig Voters' Association. It represents the interests of
the Danish and North Frisian minorities and, thanks to its
constitutional recognition as a minority party, is exempt from the five
percent hurdle under the electoral law for the Schleswig-Holstein state
parliament.
Constitution
According to Article 1 of its
constitution of January 12, 1950, Schleswig-Holstein is a member state
of the Federal Republic of Germany. As a result of the Barschel affair
in 1987, structural changes were suggested by the committee of inquiry.
A commission of inquiry created proposals for constitutional and
parliamentary reform and presented their final report in 1989. As a
result, the constitution was changed and also renamed from state statute
to state constitution. It was passed by the state parliament on May 30,
1990. Since then, the constitution has also contained state objectives,
e.g. B. the protection of the minorities of the Frisian and Danish
ethnic groups in the country (Article 5), the promotion of equality
between men and women (Article 6), the protection of the natural basis
of life (Article 7) or the protection and promotion of culture including
the Low German language (Art. 9).
Compared to other German state
constitutions, the constitution has far-reaching elements of direct
democracy. As in all other German states, state authority emanates from
the people, which means that the people express their will in elections
and votes in the state, in the municipalities and in the municipal
associations.
Subject to other federal regulations, the
constitution loses its validity on the day on which a reorganization of
the federal territory comes into force.
Flag
The national flag consists of three horizontal stripes. The top stripe
is blue, the middle one is white, and the bottom one is red. The colors
are taken from the state coat of arms and were used for the first time
in 1840 by the German Schleswig-Holsteiners in the emerging
German-Danish conflict over Schleswig. In 1949 the flag was officially
recognized by the British. In contrast to the state flag, the service
flag contains the state coat of arms. When flags are displayed
officially, the service flag is hoisted. The service flag may only be
used by the relevant authorities, while the state flag can be used
freely by anyone, which is used generously - for example in the form of
flags in the front yard. Ships fly a identification flag in the colors
of the national flag. The state coat of arms, state colors and flag were
only laid down in 1957 by the law on the national emblems of the state
of Schleswig-Holstein of January 18, 1957.
Coat
of arms
Heraldic (i.e. seen from the coat of arms), the coat of arms
includes a silver/white shield with a red border on the left - the coat
of arms of the Schauenburg territorial lords - which has been known as
the Holstein nettle leaf since the Oldenburgers and the Schleswig lions
heraldic on the right. Since 2009 there has been a state coat of arms
rounded at the bottom as the citizens' coat of arms.
Anthem
The national anthem is officially
called Wanke not, my fatherland. The common name is Schleswig-Holstein
song. The text is by Matthäus Friedrich Chemnitz, the melody by Carl
Gottlieb Bellmann.
Parliament
The Landtag of
Schleswig-Holstein is the supreme organ of political decision-making,
elected by the people of the state, and thus exercises legislative
power. The state parliament elects the prime minister. As a rule, the
state parliament consists of 69 members (without overhang mandates) (see
table). They are elected according to a procedure that combines the
choice of personality with the principles of proportional
representation.
The state government is the supreme management, decision-making and
executive body in the area of executive power. It consists of the prime
minister and the state ministers.
The prime minister is elected
by the state parliament without debate. He appoints and dismisses the
state ministers and appoints a representative from among them. The
person who receives the votes of the majority of the members of the
Landtag (absolute majority) is elected Prime Minister. If nobody
receives this majority in the first ballot, a new ballot takes place. If
the election does not take place in the second ballot either, the
candidate who receives the most votes in a further ballot is elected.
Since the state elections in Schleswig-Holstein on May 8, 2022, the
government has been led by a coalition of the CDU and the Greens, which
holds 44 of the 69 seats.
The cabinet of Prime Minister Daniel
Günther (CDU) includes:
Monika Heinold (Greens), Minister of Finance,
Deputy Prime Minister
Kerstin von der Decken (CDU), Minister for
Justice and Health
Karin Prien (CDU), Minister for General and
Vocational Education, Science, Research and Culture
Sabine
Sütterlin-Waack (CDU), Minister of the Interior, Municipal Affairs,
Housing and Sport
Tobias Goldschmidt (Greens), Minister for Energy
Transition, Climate Protection, Environment and Nature
Claus Ruhe
Madsen (independent), Minister for Economy, Transport, Labour,
Technology and Tourism
Aminata Touré (Greens), Minister for Social
Affairs, Youth, Family, Senior Citizens, Integration and Equality
Werner Schwarz (CDU), Minister for Agriculture, Rural Areas, Europe and
Consumer Protection
Judicial power is entrusted to the judges; it is exercised in the
name of the people. The judges are independent and subject only to the
law.
As a small state, Schleswig-Holstein has only one higher
regional court based in Schleswig. Below the Higher Regional Court in
Schleswig-Holstein there are regional courts in Kiel, Lübeck, Flensburg
and Itzehoe and below the regional courts there are a total of 22
district courts.
A separate higher administrative court was only
established in 1991 with the Schleswig-Holstein Higher Administrative
Court in Schleswig. Until then, the Higher Administrative Court of
Lüneburg was responsible for the states of Lower Saxony and
Schleswig-Holstein as a joint higher administrative court on the basis
of a state treaty between Lower Saxony and Schleswig-Holstein in
accordance with Section 3 (2) VwGO. Below the Higher Administrative
Court, there is only one administrative court for all of
Schleswig-Holstein in Schleswig, which is the first instance in the
state's administrative jurisdiction.
In addition, there are two
other higher courts, the state labor court and the state social court,
and a finance court for all of Schleswig-Holstein. In the first
instance, labor jurisdiction is exercised by five labor courts in
Elmshorn, Flensburg, Kiel, Lübeck and Neumünster and social jurisdiction
by four social courts in Itzehoe, Kiel, Lübeck and Schleswig.
Schleswig-Holstein was the last state to have its own state
constitutional court on May 1, 2008. Previously, according to Article 44
of the state constitution and according to Article 99 of the Basic Law,
the decision on constitutional disputes within the state was transferred
to the Federal Constitutional Court.
legislation
Parliamentary
legislation
The draft laws are introduced by the state government or
by one or more members of the state parliament or by initiatives from
the people. The laws are passed by the state parliament or by
referendum. Laws that change the constitution require the approval of
two-thirds of the members of the state parliament and the consent of the
people. In addition, they must expressly change and supplement the
wording of the amending constitutional text.
Direct democracy
initiative from the people
All citizens have the right, within the
framework of its decision-making powers, to involve the state parliament
with certain subjects of political decision-making. An initiative can
also be based on a reasoned bill; it must not contradict the principles
of the democratic and social constitutional state. The initiatives must
be signed by at least 20,000 voters. Their representatives have the
right to be heard. However, initiatives relating to the state budget,
service and pension payments, and public taxes are not permitted.
referendum
If the state parliament does not agree to the bill or
the bill within a period of four months, the representatives of the
popular initiative are entitled to apply for a referendum to be carried
out. The state parliament now decides whether the petition for a
referendum is permissible. A referendum has come about when at least 5%
of those entitled to vote have approved the referendum within six
months.
referendum
If a referendum has come about, a
referendum must be brought about within nine months on the bill or other
proposal. The state parliament can submit its own bill or other bill to
be voted on at the same time. A referendum does not take place if the
state parliament has already passed the law so that a referendum has
become superfluous and if the Federal Constitutional Court, at the
request of the state parliament or the state government, has classified
the referendum as unconstitutional.
The bill or other bill is
adopted by referendum if the majority of those who cast their votes, but
at least a quarter of those entitled to vote, have approved. A
constitutional amendment by referendum requires the approval of
two-thirds of those who cast their votes, but at least half of those
entitled to vote. In the voting, only valid yes and no votes count.
Schleswig-Holstein experienced a territorial reform in 1970/74. The
number of districts was reduced from 17 (see Province of
Schleswig-Holstein) to eleven; the number of municipalities fell in the
medium term from 1371 (1959) to 1131 (1994) and the previous 199 offices
were combined into 119 offices.
Schleswig-Holstein consists today
(as of March 1, 2020) of a total of four urban districts, eleven
districts, 84 offices and 1106 municipalities. Of these communities,
about 900 have fewer than 2000 inhabitants and are administered by an
honorary mayor. 63 communities have city rights. Municipal rights can be
obtained by a municipality with at least 10,000 inhabitants; Cities that
have this from ancient times don't lose it though. 1.6 million of the
approximately 2.9 million inhabitants of the country live in the cities
(as of December 2018). With 318,326 inhabitants, the district of
Pinneberg is the most populous in the state, the district of
Rendsburg-Eckernförde with 2190 km² is the largest in terms of area and
is therefore almost as large as Saarland.
In economic terms, three major areas can be distinguished: the
prosperous metropolitan region of Hamburg, also known as the "belt belt"
(with mechanical engineering and services), the structurally weak west
coast, dominated by agriculture, tourism and wind turbines, and the port
cities on the east coast (especially Lübeck, Kiel and Flensburg) with
trade, transport, shipbuilding, tourism and wind energy.
ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems (TKMS, until the end of 2012 HDW) in Kiel is
the largest German shipyard, which is internationally known for its
class 212 A and 214 submarines with fuel cell propulsion. Flensburger
Schiffbau-Gesellschaft/FSG (Flensburg) specializes in RoRo/ConRo ships,
while Lürssen-Kröger (Schacht-Audorf) and Nobiskrug (Rendsburg) occupy a
leading position in the construction of megayachts. The Lübeck Flender
shipyard ceased operations in 2002.
In recent years, maritime
trade with other Baltic Sea countries has regained importance. The
Jutland line and the Vogelflug line play a special role, as does the
port of Lübeck as routes to Scandinavia, Finland, Russia and the Baltic
States. With 23.3 million tons of goods handled in 2014, the port of
Lübeck is the port with the highest turnover in Schleswig-Holstein,
while the ports of Rostock, which are also on the Baltic Sea, were only
slightly higher with 24.16 million tons. In 2014, 51.3 million tons of
goods were handled by sea in all Schleswig-Holstein seaports, both on
the North and Baltic Seas as well as on the Elbe and the Kiel Canal. In
the Corona year 2020 it was 50.2 million t. In Kiel, cruise calls and
passenger numbers had reached record highs in the 2010s.
A good
two-thirds of the entire German fishing fleet is stationed in
Schleswig-Holstein. Around a quarter of German shipping companies are
based in the country; around 20% of German shipbuilding sales are
generated here.
As an institution under public law, the building
management Schleswig-Holstein is responsible for the construction and
planning tasks of the state of Schleswig-Holstein and the federal
government within Schleswig-Holstein.
Tourism in
Schleswig-Holstein is far more important than in most other countries.
In 2018, around 151,000 employees generated sales of 7.9 billion euros.
The contribution of tourism to national income was thus 5.9%. Applied to
the average national income per capita and year, this results in an
equivalent of over 168,000 people who can earn their living from tourist
demand.
The North Frisian islands (especially Sylt) are very
popular with the mostly German tourists, but the Baltic Sea resorts
(e.g. Grömitz, Timmendorfer Strand, Ostseebad Laboe, Schönberg
(Holstein), Eckernförde or Glücksburg) are also important .
Border trade also plays a role in the Schleswig-Holstein economy.
According to a survey in 2011, almost 60 percent of Danish households
bought beer or lemonade in German border markets. In total, around 800
million euros are turned over annually in cross-border trade. According
to the Flensburg Chamber of Industry and Commerce, purchases from
Scandinavians account for up to 25 percent of sales in shopping parks
such as Scandinavian Park in Handewitt and Grenzmarkt Zur Krone in
Harrislee.
In 2017, Schleswig-Holstein had an export surplus for
the first time since 1989: goods worth 22.6 billion euros were exported
and 20.8 billion euros imported. The most important trading partner was
Denmark with goods worth 1.8 billion euros (7.9% export share). The
export share of the EU was 56.3%, with the EU countries Netherlands,
United Kingdom, France, Poland, Belgium and Italy being particularly
involved.
In comparison with the GDP of the EU expressed in
purchasing power standards, Schleswig-Holstein achieves an index of
104.0 (EU-28:100) (2014).
In 2010, the economic output in
Schleswig-Holstein measured in terms of GDP was around 75.6 billion
euros. The level of debt at the end of 2010 was around 26 billion euros.
In Schleswig-Holstein there are three nuclear power plants at the
Brunsbüttel, Brokdorf and Krümmel sites. Of these, only the Brokdorf
nuclear power plant was still active until December 31, 2021; the other
two were switched off after the Fukushima nuclear disaster (March 2011)
and will remain switched off for good after the Atomic Energy Act was
changed (nuclear phase-out). Nuclear power had lost significantly in the
share of electricity generation in Schleswig-Holstein in recent years,
most recently (as of 2017) 17.7%.
On the other hand, the use of
renewable energy sources, which is being promoted as part of the energy
transition, is playing an increasingly important role. In 2017, these
energy sources generated 69.3% of the electricity generated in the
country. Wind energy in particular is strong in this country – it alone
contributed 55.9% to total generation. Since the 1990s, wind energy has
experienced enormous growth in importance in Schleswig-Holstein, one of
the German pioneering countries, after the first test systems such as
the Growian were set up in the 1980s. In addition to onshore systems,
which continue to be of the greatest importance, the expansion of
offshore wind farms in the German Exclusive Economic Zone in the North
Sea has also been promoted since the 2010s. In mid-2016 there were 3,498
wind turbines with a total output of almost 6,149 MW in the country. The
wind turbines installed as of the end of 2014 were able to cover around
70% of Schleswig-Holstein's electricity requirements. In the field of
renewable energies, the generation of electricity from biogas (8.3%) and
photovoltaics (3.8%) is also noteworthy. On the other hand, renewable
energy systems that generate electricity from hydropower, biomass,
sewage gas/landfill gas and biogenic waste play a subordinate role.
In the area of fossil fuels, the share of extraction from coal is
steadily declining at 8.0%, natural gas contributed 3.4% in 2017, the
contribution of mineral oil power plants is less significant at 0.8%.
Non-biological waste (0.8%) and other energy sources (0.1%) also play a
subordinate role in electricity generation.
In 2013, the
government spoke out in favor of increasing the share of renewable
energies in gross electricity consumption to 300 to 400 percent by 2020
and thus increasingly supplying other countries as well. In 2017,
however, the share of all energies in electricity consumption was only
around 150%.
The state of Schleswig-Holstein connects Germany with Denmark and
thus with Scandinavia. The main streams of traffic run along the Jutland
line (Hamburg-Flensburg-Fredericia-Copenhagen), the Vogelflug line
(Hamburg-Lübeck-Puttgarden-Rödby-Copenhagen), over the west coast axis
(Hamburg-Itzehoe-Heide-Husum-Sylt/Esbjerg) and in the east -West
direction via the Kiel Canal (NOK), the Elbe and the Hamburg-Berlin land
routes. Important hubs are the ports of Kiel and Lübeck, as well as
Neumünster for land transport. While land-based traffic (road and rail)
is mainly concentrated in a north-south direction towards Hamburg, the
main axis for shipping traffic is the Kiel Canal, which runs east-west .
The ports with the strongest handling are in Lübeck in the direction of
the Baltic Sea and in Brunsbüttel in the direction of the North Sea.
Lübeck-Blankensee Airport has recently lost importance as a landing site
and is no longer served by scheduled flights. There have been no
scheduled flights at Kiel-Holtenau Airport since 2006, and expansion
plans were discarded. However, the result of a referendum confirmed the
continued existence of Kiel Airport. Plans to build apartments on the
airfield site in Kiel were rejected by a majority of voters. Sylt
Airport, which is frequented by holidaymakers, is currently the most
important with 125,000 passengers in 2018 and 7892 flight movements in
2016.
Proportionally transported individual transport systems:
Road: 162.4 million tons (2004)
Rail: 5.7 million tons (2004)
Shipping: 13.2 million passengers (2019), 53 million tons of goods
handled in Schleswig-Holstein ports (2019; 2015 it was 39.5 million
tons)
Maritime shipping: 35 million tons with 51,224 seagoing vessels
(2015)
Inland shipping: 4.5 million tons (2015) (2004: 3.8 million
tons)
Kiel Canal: 99.1 million tons of goods transported on around
32,600 ships (2014)
road traffic
The most important motorways
in the country start from Hamburg. These are the A 1 to Lübeck, which
further connects the Öresund region Copenhagen/Malmö via the
Vogelfluglinie, the A 7 via Neumünster and Rendsburg to Flensburg with a
branch to Kiel, the A 215, and the A 23 to Heide with a connection to
Husum and the North Frisian Islands. The A 20 has so far led from Bad
Segeberg via Lübeck to the Mecklenburg-Western Pomeranian Baltic Sea
coast and is to lead in a south-westerly direction via Bad Bramstedt and
cross the Lower Elbe near Glückstadt. The A 24 connects the metropolitan
region of Hamburg with the metropolitan region of Berlin/Brandenburg.
The 18 km long A 25 connects Geesthacht with Hamburg. The Bundesautobahn
21 is intended to connect Kiel with Lüneburg in Lower Saxony. However,
the construction of the A21, which began in 1972, keeps getting stuck.
The A 21 currently runs from Löptin in the Plön district to Hammoor in
the Stormarn district. The remaining part of the route is currently
designated as federal highway 404. With the B404, there is already the
possibility of crossing the Elbe east of Hamburg and bypassing the
congested New Hamburg Elbe Tunnel. The construction of the Elbe crossing
(A 20) west of Hamburg is expected in the 2020s. Extensive construction
work is planned on the main artery A7. The Rader High Bridge must first
be pivoted and then demolished, as it can only withstand the flow of
traffic for a few more years. The new Rader High Bridge is scheduled to
be completed in 2026. Instead of the swing bridge from 1913, the
Rendsburg canal tunnel has existed under the Kiel Canal since 1961.
Schleswig-Holstein's road network includes 498 km of motorways, 1601
km of federal roads, 3669 km of state roads and 4112 km of district
roads.
bus transport
The regional bus network in
Schleswig-Holstein is mainly operated by Autokraft GmbH according to
district specifications.
rail transport
In Schleswig-Holstein,
the railway is of relatively great importance for tourism and for
commuters to the centers of Hamburg, Lübeck and Kiel.
The main
routes of the railway are aimed at Hamburg. From there they lead to
Kiel/Flensburg and to Lübeck. The Marschbahn trains also start in
Hamburg and end in Westerland on Sylt. From the 1960s, the railway ferry
from Fehmarn to Lolland was important on the Vogelfluglinie. Freight
traffic over the Vogelfluglinie has come to a standstill since the
opening of the Great Belt Bridge in Denmark. As part of the planned
fixed link across the Fehmarnbelt, a newly routed, more efficient route
is being planned between Lübeck and Fehmarn.
The largely
non-electrified main line
Hamburg-Elmshorn-Itzehoe-Heide-Husum-Sylt/-Esbjerg runs along the west
coast. Several routes branch off from it in Heide, Husum and Niebüll,
opening up tourist destinations:
Heide–Büsum railway line in
Dithmarschen
Railway line Husum–Bad St. Peter-Ording on the
Eiderstedt peninsula via Tönning
Railway line Niebüll-Dagebüll in
North Friesland
Another important main axis is the
Hamburg-Altona-Kiel railway, from which the Neumünster-Flensburg railway
branches off in Neumünster, which continues to Denmark via the
Flensburg-Fredericia railway. These three electrified and largely double
track lines can be seen as part of the Jutland Line.
The east
coast is developed by largely single-track, mostly non-electrified
routes, from north to south these are:
Railway line Kiel–Flensburg
via Eckernförde
Railway line Kiel–Lübeck via Plön and Eutin
Lübeck–Puttgarden railway line through Wagrien (Oldenburg) to the island
of Fehmarn – part of the Vogelfluglinie
Lübeck–Lübeck-Travemünde
Strand railway line – electrified since 2008
Railway line Lübeck-Bad
Kleinen to Mecklenburg
There are two connections to the south
from Lübeck:
Lübeck–Hamburg railway line through the Stormarn
district via Bad Oldesloe and Ahrensburg – this line has the largest
number of rail passengers in Schleswig-Holstein
Lübeck–Lüneburg
railway line through the Duchy of Lauenburg district via Ratzeburg,
Mölln, Büchen and Lauenburg
Since the Flensburg-Weiche-Lindholm
railway line was closed in the 1980s, there have only been three
east-west connections in the northern and central parts of
Schleswig-Holstein:
Jübek–Husum railway line
Railway line
Kiel-Hassee-Osterrönfeld
Neumünster–Heide railway line
In the
northern Hamburg area there are some connections of the AKN
A1:
Neumünster - Bad Bramstedt - Kaltenkirchen - Henstedt-Ulzburg -
Quickborn - Hamburg-Eidelstedt
A2: Henstedt-Ulzburg - Norderstedt
A3: Elmshorn - Barmstedt - Henstedt-Ulzburg
and the
Neumünster–Bad Oldesloe railway via Bad Segeberg. Norderstedt and
Ahrensburg are also connected to Hamburg by the U1 underground line.
Freight trains also run on some additional routes, for example to
Brunsbüttel. On other routes there is currently only seasonal and museum
traffic:
Railway line Süderbrarup-Kappeln
Kiel-Schönberger Railway
(KSE)
Bergedorf-Geesthacht Railway (BGE)
The most important
railway companies are DB Regio Schleswig-Holstein and AKN. There are
also other private railways in Schleswig-Holstein. The most important of
the train stations in Schleswig-Holstein is Lübeck Central Station.
The regional traffic in the country is synchronized, so that trains
run at least every two hours on each route. Most routes run hourly,
sometimes even every half hour. An exception is the Niebüll–Dagebüll
route, which is not scheduled due to the ferry timetable.
The
non-clocked long-distance traffic is densest with a few pairs of
InterCity trains on the march line. ICE trains reach Lübeck and Kiel via
Hamburg and Kiel via Neumünster. From 2007 there were also diesel ICE to
Århus via Neumünster, Rendsburg and Flensburg, until 2019 these drove to
Copenhagen via Lübeck, Oldenburg in Holstein and Puttgarden. Several
long-distance trains on the Berlin–Hamburg railway line stop in Büchen
with transfer options to and from Lübeck and Lüneburg.
29 percent
of the routes are electrified, less than in comparable federal states.
water transport
The state has a total of 46 public ports and
piers, four of which fulfill supra-regional transit functions: Kiel,
Lübeck/Travemünde and Puttgarden on the Baltic Sea, Brunsbüttel on the
North Sea. Kiel and Lübeck are also important for freight traffic to
Scandinavia and Eastern Europe. Lübeck-Travemünde and Kiel are also
important ferry and cruise ports (2013: 153 cruise ships, 397,000
passengers started or ended their cruise in a Schleswig-Holstein port).
Puttgarden is the German port of Vogelfluglinie to Denmark. Brunsbüttel
is an important bulk port and also serves as a base for the offshore
wind energy industry. In terms of cargo handling, the largest ports are:
Lübeck (including Lübeck-Travemünde): 25 million t (2017)
Brunsbüttel: 9.882 million t (2017)
Kiel: 7.407 million t (2017)
Puttgarden: 5.493 million t (2017)
With more than 41,000 ship
movements per year, the Kiel Canal is the most used artificial waterway
in the world. Shipping traffic on the canal almost tripled between 1998
and 2006.
Air traffic
The two larger
civil airports in the country are Kiel Airport and Lübeck Airport. In
the 1980s, citizens' initiatives prevented the extension of the runway
at Kiel "airport" for medium-haul aircraft. While Kiel Airport does not
currently offer any scheduled flights, Lübeck-Blankensee Airport, with
697,559 passengers in 2009, was also important for long-distance
tourism, as it was regularly served by so-called low-cost airlines - but
operations have been severely restricted since then. In June 2016, a
laboratory doctor from Lübeck bought the insolvent Lübeck Airport.
Sylt Airport gained increasing importance from the 2000s; it has
been served by scheduled airlines several times a day since 2005 and had
a passenger volume of 157,000 in 2009. There are also several commercial
airfields, including on the island of Düne near Heligoland, near
Uetersen/Heist, Flensburg-Schäferhaus and Hartenholm, as well as
numerous special airfields. The Hohn and Schleswig air bases continue to
be used by the military, while other military airfields have been closed
or, like the former Husum air base, converted to the Husum-Schwesing
airfield.
By far the most important commercial airport for the
state is Hamburg Airport, located just a few kilometers south of the
state border; In Norderstedt, runway 2 extends to Schleswig-Holstein
territory.
bicycle traffic
Schleswig-Holstein has the highest
proportion of cycle paths along roads among the German federal states.
In 2019, 56% of all roads in the country had a bike lane.
A total
of 13 long-distance cycle paths lead through the northernmost federal
state:
Hamburg-Rügen cycle path
ox path
NOK route
Baltic
Coast Cycle Route
Eider-Treene-Sorge bike path
Viking Friesian
Trail
Elbe Cycle Path
North Sea Coast Cycle Route
monks way
border route
Old Salt Road
Holstein Switzerland bike tour
Iron
Curtain Trail
There are currently 5 cycle superhighways in
planning in the Hamburg metropolitan area in Schleswig-Holstein:
Elmshorn-Hamburg
Bad Bramstedt-Hamburg
Ahrensburg-Hamburg
Geesthacht-Hamburg
Bad Schwartau – Lübeck – Groß Gronau
The
Veloroute 10 in Kiel is Schleswig-Holstein's first express cycle route.
It was built on a former freight track and connects the Hassee district
with the Holstein Stadium.
Schools
In the 2007/08 school year, 36%
of the 335,473 pupils at general schools attended a primary school, 25%
a grammar school, 18% a junior high school, 11% a lower secondary
school, 6% a comprehensive school and 3% a special school. There are
also free Waldorf schools (1% of the students) and evening grammar
schools (0.1%).
A special feature of the Schleswig-Holstein
educational landscape are the 48 Danish schools in the Schleswig region,
which are supported by the Danish School Association for South
Schleswig. The bilingual school-leaving qualifications obtained here are
readily recognized in both Germany and Denmark.
In the Education
Monitor 2017, the education systems of the federal states were compared
on the basis of twelve different indicators, e.g. educational
poverty or funding infrastructure. Schleswig-Holstein was 13th, 10th in
2018.
In a comparison of the federal states (as of 2013),
Schleswig-Holstein has the highest student-teacher ratio in Germany at
around 16.5:1 (national average: 15.2:1). In a nationwide comparison,
Schleswig-Holstein has been among the three federal states that spend
the least on education per student at general and vocational schools
every year since 2011.
Schleswig-Holstein has three universities, but only the traditional
Christian-Albrechts-University in Kiel, founded in 1665, is a full
university. In addition, the University of Lübeck has a medical and a
technical and scientific faculty. The University of Flensburg emerged
from the University of Education. The state also has the Muthesius
University of Art in Kiel, the University of Music in Lübeck, the
University of Applied Sciences in Kiel (with further locations in
Neumünster and Osterrönfeld), the University of Applied Sciences in
Lübeck, the University of Applied Sciences in Flensburg (university of
applied sciences), the University of Applied Sciences West Coast and the
University of Applied Sciences for Administration and Services. There
are also three private universities in Schleswig-Holstein (Nordakademie,
Schleswig-Holstein Cooperative State University and Wedel University of
Applied Sciences). A total of 45,542 people studied in
Schleswig-Holstein in the 2003/04 winter semester, 26,510 of them at
universities and 16,973 at technical colleges.
With the
production and transfer of knowledge, the state's universities form a
strong backbone of the research system in Schleswig-Holstein, which is
supplemented by numerous non-university research institutes. Research at
a recognized high and international level is carried out in
Schleswig-Holstein in areas such as marine research, biomedicine and
medical technology as well as in the natural and engineering sciences.
At EUR 6,100 per student, Schleswig-Holstein has the fifth lowest
current expenditure (basic resources, excluding medical facilities) for
teaching and research at public universities (national average: EUR
6,300) in a federal state comparison.
Non-university research
institutes span the spectrum from basic research to application to
knowledge and technology transfer. Most of the research institutes
belong to the large national research organizations such as the Max
Planck Society, the Leibniz Association and the Fraunhofer Society.
Three of Schleswig-Holstein's non-university research institutions are
part of the largest German scientific organization, the Helmholtz
Association of German Research Centers: the Biological Institute
Helgoland (Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research), the
Helmholtz Center Geesthacht - Center for Materials and Coastal Research
in the Duchy of Lauenburg and the Helmholtz Center for Ocean Research in
Kiel.
The culture of Schleswig-Holstein is quite diverse, not least due to
the Danish and Frisian influences. It is shaped by
historical-geographical factors such as the location between the North
Sea and the Baltic Sea and the earlier farming culture. In the north of
the country in particular, the Scandinavian influence can be seen in the
architecture and living culture. A building typology was created that is
characterized by red or yellow brick as the building material and a
compact design that is adapted to the weather.
Regular events
Event overview
Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival
Jazz Baltica
Folkbaltica
Schleswig-Holstein Day, 1978 to 2012
De danske
årsmøder i Sydslesvig
Kiel Week
Travemuender week
Holstenkoste
Neumünster
Windsurf World Cup Sylt in Westerland on Sylt
German
beach volleyball championship at Timmendorfer Strand
NORLA, an
agricultural fair in Rendsburg
NordBau, construction trade fair in
Neumünster
Wacken Open Air
Nordic Film Days Lübeck
Karl May
Games Bad Segeberg
See also: Tourism in Schleswig-Holstein#Regular
events (selection)
Nordic Film Days
The Nordic Film Days
Lübeck are one of the largest and most traditional film festivals in
northern Germany. Productions from Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Iceland and
Finland as well as Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania can be seen.
literature
Schleswig-Holstein is a state with a rich literary
tradition. Names such as Johann Heinrich Voß, Matthias Claudius,
Friedrich Hebbel, Theodor Storm, Klaus Groth as well as Heinrich Mann
and Thomas Mann stand for this. The latter helped the city of Lübeck to
literary world fame with his novel Buddenbrooks. From 1945, other
authors who were born in Schleswig-Holstein or who moved there wrote
German literary history. These include the Gdansk-born Nobel Prize
winner Günter Grass, the Schleswig-Holstein honorary citizen Siegfried
Lenz, who actually comes from East Prussia, the poet Sarah Kirsch, who
was born in the Harz Mountains, and the Berlin-born writer Günter
Kunert. A special feature is the North Frisian literature.
Music
In terms of music, the state is home to one of the largest classical
music festivals in Europe, the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival founded
in 1986 by Justus Frantz. Every year in July and August it presents
around 130 concerts to over 100,000 visitors at 30-50 venues across the
country. In addition, as part of the Orchestra Academy until 2011 in the
Landeskulturzentrum Salzau and today the master classes at the
Musikhochschule Lübeck and the Choral Academy, internationally renowned
young talents from all over the world were promoted.
The Eutin
Festival (opera in the palace gardens) was founded in 1951 on the
occasion of the 125th anniversary of the death of Eutin-born composer
Carl Maria von Weber. Based on performances of the Weber opera "Der
Freischütz", a series of events (three operas per year in 22-25
performances in the Eutin Castle Park) has developed, which attracts
almost 50,000 visitors to East Holstein every year.
The annual
Wacken Open Air, the world's largest metal festival, is internationally
renowned. The Eutin Blues Festival has been taking place around
Pentecost since 1989 with up to 15,000 visitors.
theatre
In
addition to a large number of smaller stages, Schleswig-Holstein has
three large multi-genre theatres: the Lübeck Theater, the Kiel Theater
and the Schleswig-Holstein State Theater based in Schleswig. The annual
Karl May Games in Bad Segeberg are well known.
The spectrum of the approximately 250 Schleswig-Holstein museums is
broad: It ranges from the central state museums of the Gottorf Castle
Foundation to the historic castles and large houses in the cities to a
large number of local museums worth seeing that convey the past and
uniqueness of the country and its people , such as the Carl Haeberlin
Friesenmuseum in Wyk auf Föhr. In the museum of the Nolde Foundation
Seebüll in Seebüll, works by the expressionist painter Emil Nolde can be
seen in his former home. The Schleswig-Holstein open-air museum in
Molfsee shows historical buildings from all over the country.
In
Kiel, eight collections and museums have joined together to form the
association museen am sea. These include Joachim Raeder's collection of
antiquities in the Kunsthalle zu Kiel, the GEOMAR aquarium, the medical
and pharmaceutical history collection, the Stadtgalerie Kiel, the Stadt-
und Schifffahrtsmuseum Warleberger Hof and Fischhalle as well as the
Zoological Museum Kiel. The work of the municipal museums in Lübeck
(Museum in the Holstentor, Behnhaus, Museumsquartier St. Annen, Museum
für Natur und Umwelt Lübeck, ethnological collection, Industrial Museum
History Workshop Herrenwyk, Buddenbrookhaus and Günter-Grass-Haus) is
organized by the Cultural Foundation Hanseatic City of Lübeck.
The Lübeck-Schlutup border documentation site is run by an association
and shows the history of the inner-German border in the section between
Schleswig-Holstein and the German Democratic Republic. Lübeck was the
only western German city that was directly on the inner-German border.
The history of the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Haithabu and
Danewerk is conveyed in the Haithabu and Dannewerk Museum not far from
the city of Schleswig.
See also: List of museums in
Schleswig-Holstein
libraries and archives
The most important
libraries include the Schleswig-Holstein State Library, the University
Library in Kiel, the City Library (Lübeck) and the Eutin State Library.
The archive of the Hanseatic City of Lübeck is of particular importance
for the history of the Hanseatic League. The Landesarchiv
Schleswig-Holstein is located in Schleswig.
See also: List of castles, palaces and fortresses in
Schleswig-Holstein
Historical buildings typical of the country are on
display in the open-air museum in Molfsee – State Museum of Folklore.
water sports
Thanks to the long coasts, water sports are just as
popular as fishing, but above all Kiel is one of the world metropolises
for sailing, recognized by the sailing competitions of the 1936 Summer
Olympics and 1972 Summer Olympics. With the Kiel Week and the Travemünde
Week, the state is the organizer of two of the largest and most
traditional sailing competitions in the world. On the Flensburg Fjord,
sailors traditionally hold the last sailing competitions of the year
during the autumnal Förde Week. The oldest regatta in the country is
probably the eel regatta, which was integrated into the Kiel Week as the
opening regatta for a long time. A total of around 32,000 sailors are
organized in 230 clubs in the state.
Sylt and Fehmarn are
considered Meccas by many windsurfers. Rowing has a federal performance
center and an Olympic base in Ratzeburg. Among other things, the
successful Germany Eights of 1960 and 1968 were formed in Ratzeburg.
Kitesurfing has been established on the east and west coasts since
around 2000. Numerous competitions in this sport take place in St.
Peter-Ording.
handball
Schleswig-Holstein is home to two
handball clubs that regularly play at the top of the Bundesliga,
European and world handball: THW Kiel and SG Flensburg-Handewitt. They
were able to underpin this claim in 2007 and 2014 with a purely
Schleswig-Holstein Champions League final, which the "Zebras" from Kiel
won in 2007 against their rivals from the Danish border, while SG
Flensburg-Handewitt in 2014 as Winner of the final match against THW
Kiel. Bundesliga handball clubs were also at times VfL Bad Schwartau
(since 2017 trading as VfL Lübeck-Schwartau), TSB Flensburg, SG
Weiche-Handewitt and TSV Altenholz; the Handewitter SV from the former
game community Weiche-Handewitt now forms together with the TSB
Flensburg the SG Flensburg-Handewitt.
football
The traditional
clubs VfB Lübeck (Regionalliga Nord, Stadion an der Lohmühle) and
Holstein Kiel (2nd Bundesliga, Holstein Stadium), which was German
soccer champion in 1912, are well-known throughout Germany.
Schleswig-Holstein is the only western German state that has never been
represented by a club in the Bundesliga. Before the first division was
founded in 1963, Holstein Kiel (1947-1963) and VfB Lübeck (1947-1950,
1952-1954, 1957/58, 1959-1961 and 1962/63) played in the Oberliga Nord,
the top division at the time. In addition to the two also played
Itzehoer SV (1950/51), Heider SV (1956/57 and 1960/61), VfR Neumünster
(1955-1963) and 1. FC Phönix Lübeck (1957-1960) in the Oberliga and
before that, between 1933 and 1944, a total of 14 clubs in the Gauliga
Nordmark and Gauliga Schleswig-Holstein were first-class. TSV Uetersen
became champions of the third-class Hamburg Germania squadron in 1950
and rose to the Hamburg amateur league, whose championship title was won
in 1956/57. In 1995 and 2002, VfB Lübeck was briefly promoted to the
second Bundesliga and in 2004 reached the semi-finals of the DFB Cup.
american football
With the Kiel Baltic Hurricanes of ASC Kiel,
Schleswig-Holstein has a first division team in American football. The
team plays in the GFL, the highest national league. On October 9, 2010,
the Hurricanes faced the Berlin Adler in the final (German Bowl), which
they won 17:10. A year later they lost the final against the Schwäbisch
Hall Unicorns 44:48. The following year again managed to reach the
final, which was again lost to Schwäbisch Hall. Since then, it has
mostly ended in the semifinals, but they also qualified for the playoffs
in 2013, 2014 and 2015. Since the introduction of the Big6 European
Football League to replace the old Eurobowl, Kiel has competed in and
won both editions of the EFL Bowl.
Other sports
The sports
club with the most members in the Schleswig-Holstein State Sports
Association is the Kieler MTV.
In addition to football and
handball, table tennis is also played at VfB Lübeck; both women and men
were represented in the Bundesliga for a long time, the men won the
European Cup (ETTU Cup) once. Badminton is also played successfully
under the umbrella of VfB Lübeck, where there is a federal youth base.
Lübeck, Kiel and Flensburg are places rich in tradition for boxing.
Boßeln is quite popular on the west coast in North Friesland and
Dithmarschen. Fistball strongholds are Kellinghusen, Schülp b. Nortorf
and Gnutz. Ice hockey has been played in Timmendorfer Strand since the
late 1980s. The club was particularly successful in the early 1990s and
is currently the only active ice hockey club in Schleswig-Holstein (as
of 2014).
Annual speedway races take place in Brokstedt and on
the Dithmarschen-Ring in Albersdorf (Holstein). In Jübek, several World
Cup finals and Langb
Seven people have so far become honorary citizens of
Schleswig-Holstein:
Helmut Schmidt (1918-2015), 1998, former German
Chancellor, Member of the German Bundestag
Uwe Ronneburger
(1920–2007), 2000, former deputy federal chairman and Schleswig-Holstein
state chairman of the Free Democratic Party (FDP), member of the German
Bundestag
Gerhard Stoltenberg (1928–2001), posthumously 2002, former
Prime Minister of Schleswig-Holstein and former Federal Minister of
Defense and Finance, Member of the German Bundestag
Siegfried Lenz
(1926–2014), 2004, well-known German author (many of his stories are set
in Schleswig-Holstein) who lived part of the year in Tetenhusen near
Rendsburg.
Armin Mueller-Stahl (* 1930), 2010, actor who lives in
Schleswig-Holstein and is involved with the Lübeck University of Music
and various Schleswig-Holstein museums.
Heide Simonis (* 1943), 2014,
former Prime Minister of Schleswig-Holstein (1993–2005)
Günther
Fielmann (* 1939), 2016, entrepreneur for ophthalmic optics