Wilhelmshaven is an independent city in north-west Germany. It is
located on the northwest coast of the Jade Bay, an approximately 190 km²
bay on the North Sea. The middle town has 75,027 inhabitants and is a
regional center. Since 2006, Wilhelmshaven has been part of the
Northwest Metropolitan Region, one of a total of eleven European
metropolitan regions in Germany.
Since its inauguration as the
"first German naval port on the Jade" on June 17, 1869, the city's
history has been closely linked to the history of the German Navy. The
city is now the largest location for the German Navy, and since the
implementation of the Bundeswehr stationing concept in 2011 it has also
been the largest location for the Bundeswehr and one of the largest
naval bases in Western Europe.
Wilhelmshaven has the deep-water
port with the deepest water in Germany and is the largest oil
transshipment port in the country. 72 percent of the crude oil handling
of all German seaports and almost 27 percent of German crude oil imports
are handled via Wilhelmshaven. From here, pipelines lead to oil
refineries in the Rhine-Ruhr area and to Hamburg. The deep fairway of
the Jade shapes the economy and is the basis for settlements of large
petrochemical companies, the chemical industry, the power-generating
industry, the logistics industry and other maritime economic sectors
(repair yards, ship equipment, etc.). With the JadeWeserPort, which
opened in September 2012, Wilhelmshaven received a container terminal
that is independent of the tide and can handle even the largest
container ships fully loaded.
The North Sea city is the location
of the Jade University and scientific research institutions such as the
Senckenberg Society for Nature Research, the Lower Saxony Institute for
Historical Coastal Research, the Institute for Bird Research, the German
Wind Energy Institute and the Institute for Chemistry and Biology of the
Sea.
Wilhelmshaven benefits from tourism on the North Sea coast
(see: The North Sea). The city attracts holidaymakers from the
surrounding seaside resorts with its shops and tourist facilities.
By plane
Bremen Airport (IATA: BRE), Flughafenallee 20, 28199
Bremen. Tel.: +49 (0)421 559 50, fax: +49 (0)421 559 54 74, e-mail:
contact@airport-bremen.de. The airport in Bremen is the nearest
commercial airport with international connections. It is about 120km
away, the transfer to Wilhelmshaven takes a little over an hour.
JadeWeser Airport (IATA: WVN), Flugplatz 1, 26452 Sande. Tel.: +49
(0)4421 20 10 85, fax: +49 (0)4421 20 35 14, e-mail: info@edwi.info. The
airport, located about 10km south of Wilhelmshaven in the municipality
of Sande, is available for smaller aircraft. The airfield is approved
for fixed-wing aircraft up to 14,000 kg and for helicopters up to 20,000
kg and can also be used outside of the general opening hours 7 days a
week.
By train
Wilhelmshaven main station, Ebertstrasse 107,
26382 Wilhelmshaven. There are hourly direct connections to the main
train station with the NordWestBahn from Osnabrück RE 18 and from
Oldenburg RE 18 RS 3 (here you can change trains to Bremen).
Long-distance travelers have to change trains in Oldenburg or Bremen.
The station facility is designed as a terminus, with the flanking
buildings being part of the North Sea Passage, a shopping mall. Train
passengers can get from the two platforms directly under the protective
roof of the North Sea Passage and can reach the central bus station
(ZOB), which is also adjacent to the North Sea Passage, without getting
their feet wet.
Wilhelmshaven is also the starting station of the
East Frisian Coastal Railway RB 59, here the trains of the NordWestBahn
run from Wilhelmshaven via Sande, Jever and Wittmund to Esens.
By
bus
Several companies offer bus connections to Wilhelmshaven from the
ZOB, located directly in front of the main train station. There are also
many bus travel providers who offer day trips to Wilhelmshaven.
In the street
The A29 connects the A1 via Oldenburg with
Wilhelmshaven. From the symbol: KN 5, Wilhelmshavener Kreuz, the B210
leads directly to the city centre.
You can get to the JadeWeserPort
wikipediacommons on the A29 if you follow it to the end.
By boat
From Eckwarderhörne on the Butjadingen peninsula, a passenger and
bicycle ferry takes you to the Helgolandkai in Wilhelmshaven twice a
day.
It is also possible to arrive with your own ship. Berths are
available in the yacht clubs in the Ems-Jade Canal and in Nassauhafen.
Wilhelmshaven is also a port of departure or port of transit for
passengers on freighter voyages. From the JadeWeserPort, passengers can
take bus stop 6, which runs hourly, to the city center in around 35
minutes.
By bicycle
Wilhelmshaven is very easy to reach by
bike, many long-distance cycle paths lead to and through Wilhelmshaven.
The North Sea Coast Cycle Route (Lower Saxony) is part of the
European North Sea Cycle route.
The Meerweg is a 288 km long cycle
path from the Steinhuder Meer to Wilhelmshaven. It thus connects the
three Lower Saxon "seas" Steinhuder Meer, Dümmer and Zwischenahner Meer
with the North Sea.
the Ems-Jade-Weg leads from the Ems to the Jade
and connects the cities of Emden, Aurich and Wilhelmshaven, largely
along the Ems-Jade Canal.
The Tour de Fries is a 280km long circular
tourist cycle route through the Friesland district, the Wittmund
district, the Ammerland district and the city of Wilhelmshaven.
On foot
The Störtebekerweg is 185 km long and leads from Leer an der
Ems to Wilhelmshaven.
… on foot
The city center is manageable and easy to explore on
foot.
... by bus
There are six bus routes from Stadtwerke
Wilhelmshaven in the city, which run about every 20 minutes. The 7th
line (it is appropriately called "Line 8") connects the main station
with the south beach. It runs every hour from May to October, in the
winter months only every 2 hours.
Line network map Lines 1-6
Line
network map Line 8
Call-collecting taxis – like regular buses –
depart from bus stops according to the timetable (lines 2 and 4). The
AST serves as a replacement for the regular bus in times of low traffic
demand.
The Lower Saxony ticket automatically includes the connecting
bus in the fare zone around the train station for passengers with a
single or return ticket, provided this was booked when purchasing the
ticket.
For overland transport, there are several bus routes operated
by the Ems-Jade transport association to various destinations in the
region, as well as bus stop 111 operated by the Fass-Reisen company to
Wiesmoor.
In summer, there is the “holiday bus” campaign for
overnight guests, where holidaymakers can explore the entire bus network
of the Ems-Jade transport association and the neighboring district of
Ammerland for €1/route. The offer is valid all day from 9:00 a.m. for
holders of the North Sea Service Card as well as spa or guest cards from
the municipalities.
… with the wheel
Not only within the city
but also the wide open country with a well-developed network of cycle
paths are ideal for tours by bike. There are no inclines here, only the
wind blows from the wrong direction every now and then. If you don't
have your own bike with you, you can rent one from:
1 Bike &
Sport (bicycle shop), Kopperhörner Straße 5, 26384 Wilhelmshaven. Tel.:
+49 (0)4421 34069, e-mail: bikesport-wilhelmshaven@t-online.de facebook.
2 Bike shop Gerhard Blohm, Bismarckstraße 103, 26382 Wilhelmshaven.
Phone: +49 (0)4421 32712, fax: +49 (0)4421 36418, e-mail:
info@zweirad-blohm.de.
3 FriesenRadCenter Nord, Posener Strasse 63,
26388 Wilhelmshaven. Phone: +49 (0)4421 7591210, fax: +49 (0)4421
7591216, email: kontakt@friesenradcenter.de.
4 Zweirad Jähde,
Marktstrasse 182-184, 26382 Wilhelmshaven. Phone: +49 (0)4421 202745,
email: jaehde@web.de.
5 Bicycle Jungmann, Mühlenweg 93, 26384
Wilhelmshaven. Tel.: +49 (0)4421 31539, fax: +49 (0)4421 31515, e-mail:
info@ Fahrrad-jungmann.de.
6 Zweirad Oeltermann, Holtermannstrasse 2,
26384 Wilhelmshaven. Tel.: +49 (0)4421 32154, fax: +49 (0)4421 34040,
e-mail: info@ Fahrrad-oeltermann.de.
7 tail wind turbines, Tidestraße
1, 26388 Wilhelmshaven. Tel.: +49 (0)4421 9831430, fax: +49 (0)4421
9831431, e-mail: info@rueckenwindraeder.de.
The area of today's Wilhelmshaven was originally settled by the Frisians. Until the Kingdom of Prussia bought the land, Heppens and Neuende, two agricultural parishes that belonged to the Grand Duchy of Oldenburg, were located in today's core city area.
With the "Jade Treaty" of July 20, 1853, Prussia, which had not owned
a North Sea port since the loss of East Friesland at the Congress of
Vienna, bought a 313-hectare area on the Jade Bay from the Grand Duchy
of Oldenburg to set up a base for the Prussian Navy. On November 23,
1854, the area was handed over to Prince Adalbert of Prussia, Admiral of
the Prussian Navy, under the name Royal Prussian Jade Region.[20] Since
then, the history of Wilhelmshaven has been closely linked to German
naval history.
The Prussian Admiralty assigned Privy Councilor
Gotthilf Hagen the management of the planning for the first German naval
port on the Jade. Hagen, an engineer and specialist in the field of
hydraulic engineering, was suspended from his position in the Prussian
Ministry of Commerce and took over the chairmanship of the port
construction commission founded on July 8, 1855 in the new Prussian Jade
region. After he was unsatisfied with the designs of two internationally
renowned experts, he presented his own port design to the Prussian
Admiralty on May 29, 1856. This design was characterized by great
foresight and expertise, because it initially met the low requirements
of the Prussian Admiralty, but also provided enough space for later
necessary extensions and additions. Hagen's port plan with
fortifications and town settlement for the naval establishment received
the approval and approval of the cabinet order of King Friedrich Wilhelm
IV of Prussia on June 25, 1856. After completing the planning, he
returned to the Prussian Ministry of Commerce on August 12, 1856. The
implementation of the plan took place in the following decade with
various changes, most of which resulted from the never-ending
development of port and shipbuilding. The plan still determines the
layout of the city center today.
The Jade Treaty of 1853
contained the requirement for Prussia that only civilians who were
directly involved in the construction of the port or in supplying the
ships were allowed to settle in the naval establishment. Hagen's plan
from 1856 therefore only shows a small town settlement on the south side
of the port facilities. The settlement was developed via the Sander
Chaussee, which roughly followed the course of today's Bismarckstraße
from the Varel–Jever road via Sande, Mariensiel and the Ebkeriege.
Jachmannstrasse branched off from the Chaussee and led in a southerly
direction to a bridge over the port canal. From 1858, a precisely
planned settlement with streets and residential quarters laid out at
right angles was built here. The first naval buildings were the pilot
houses on Manteuffelstrasse. From here, more roads and buildings were
laid out to the west year after year, including Roonstrasse (today's
Rheinstrasse). It was intended to be the main street for larger
representative buildings and gave the new quarter its name. While the
carefully planned Roonstrasse district grew on Prussian territory, the
Oldenburg town of Neu-Heppens shot up completely wildly to the north of
the port facilities. All those who did not receive permission to do so
within the Prussian area due to the condition of the Jade Treaty settled
here on the border, including many innkeepers with their taverns, who
enjoyed lively encouragement from the dock workers.
Originally,
the port known as the port of Heppen during the construction period was
to be called Zollern am Meer. The name Wilhelmshaven is mentioned for
the first time in the document that was laid in the foundation stone on
the day of the inauguration (June 17, 1869) when the foundation stone
was laid for the Elisabeth Church (today Christ and Garrison Church).
The draft for this document comes from the port construction director
Heinrich Wilhelm Goeker. He had written the name with a "v" according to
Low German custom (like Bremerhaven and Cuxhaven). In Berlin, this
supposed spelling mistake was corrected and the "v" was replaced by an
"f". When Goeker noticed the change on the day the company was founded,
he turned to General Albrecht von Roon, who then turned to King Wilhelm
I of Prussia. The king then ordered the "v" to be reinstated.
After the founding of the German Empire in 1871, Wilhelmshaven on the
North Sea and Kiel on the Baltic Sea became Imperial War Ports in
accordance with the Imperial Constitution. In 1873 Wilhelmshaven
received city rights. Wilhelmshaven belonged as an exclave to the
district of Wittmund in the Prussian province of Hanover since 1866. Due
to the fleet founding plan of 1873, the port was greatly expanded in a
second construction phase until 1886. The canal port was widened and
received an equipment port on its north side. In addition, because the
original entrance no longer met the requirements, another entrance with
a larger lock was built. It is further south and therefore more
favorable to the current. With the commissioning of the new entrance, it
was given the name "New Entrance"; the first entrance built in 1869 was
now the "old entrance". In 1888, the completion of the Ems-Jade Canal,
which was integrated into the new port facilities, was celebrated.
The population in the Jade area increased steadily due to the
construction of the port expansion. Since the need for living space in
Prussian Wilhelmshaven could not be satisfied quickly enough, larger and
larger parts of the population settled in the surrounding communities of
Heppens and Neuende, which belonged to the Grand Duchy of Oldenburg. New
settlements emerged, which after the victorious Franco-Prussian War of
1870/1871 were given the names of towns or regions, such as Belfort,
Lorraine, Alsace, Sedan or Strasbourg. On November 1, 1879, the
independent Oldenburg municipality of Bant emerged from the ever-growing
town of Belfort.
With the reign of the naval enthusiast Kaiser
Wilhelm II from 1888 and his naval and foreign policy, the boom in
Wilhelmshaven increased significantly. The Imperial Navy was involved in
setting up German protectorates in Africa, Asia and Oceania. In
accordance with the growing importance of the Imperial Navy, the
management structure within the Navy also changed. Alfred von Tirpitz,
who was appointed head of the Imperial Navy Office in 1898, presented a
concept for building a German high seas fleet (Tirpitz plan) and had
this concept updated in the long term through the fleet laws of 1898 and
1900. The laws were intended to end the constant squabbling in the
Reichstag over the strength and funding of the fleet and allow for
long-term planning. For Wilhelmshaven, the naval laws passed by the
Reichstag meant a further expansion of the port and the shipyard as well
as a strong increase in the number of ships and personnel.
The
Second Fleet Law of 1900 provided for the permanent stationing of a
squadron of eight ships of the line in Wilhelmshaven. In addition, at
the beginning of the 20th century, the development of warship
construction progressed further. Larger and larger combat ship units
were built. With the capital ships of the dreadnought class, the Royal
Navy introduced a type of ship after 1905 that trumped previous ships of
the line in every respect. If other navies wanted to keep up, they had
to build such capital ships as well. However, the significantly larger
dimensions of the new ships also required corresponding adjustments to
the infrastructure of the naval ports, especially in the shipyards, port
facilities and locks.
The naval leadership therefore decided on a
radical solution for Wilhelmshaven. In the years 1900 to 1909, the
Kaiserliche Werft Wilhelmshaven was enlarged, a third entrance was built
and the port facilities were extended to the south in what was the most
extensive construction phase up to that point. Due to the relocation of
the outer dyke line between the "Neue Einfahrt" and Mariensiel, a large
part of the Wadden area south of the city was dyked. In the area gained
in this way, the new harbor basins and facilities of the large harbor,
the intermediate harbor and the western harbor were built. In the course
of this construction phase, among other things, the Kaiser Wilhelm
Bridge was built as a link between the southern part of the city and the
new outer dike line. The 3rd entrance with a 250 meter long double
chamber lock was created in the extension of the Bauhafen Canal
north-east of the oldest entrance. With the commissioning of the third
entrance, the names of the entrances were reassigned. It was decided to
number the entrances from west to east. This explains why the entrance
that was built first is now referred to as the 2nd entrance. On October
15, 1909, the new third entrance was inaugurated with the first lock of
the two new capital ships SMS Nassau and SMS Westfalen. Both were the
first capital ships built at the Kaiserliche Werft Wilhelmshaven.
The population of Wilhelmshaven and the surrounding Oldenburg
communities of Heppens, Neuende and Bant continued to increase as a
result of these construction measures. In the meantime, the living and
social conditions in the Oldenburg communities belonging to the Jever
district were completely different to those in the rest of the district
due to the progressive development of the city. Therefore, on November
1, 1902, the three communities were spun off from the Jever district
association and combined into a separate district, which was named after
the old Frisian district of Rüstringen. The demand for the founding of
an independent city was initially rejected because the government of the
Grand Duchy of Oldenburg feared losing influence on the composition of
the city administration. The aim was to prevent the possible formation
of a social-democratic city administration with its own police
administration by the predominantly social-democratic workforce in the
communities.
The status of rural communities in the Rüstringen
office did not end for the three communities of Heppens, Neuende and
Bant until May 1, 1911, when they were merged into the town of
Rüstringen. With around 48,000 inhabitants, it was the largest city in
the Grand Duchy of Oldenburg and thus larger than the residential city
of Oldenburg.
Shortly after the start of the First World War in
the summer of 1914, the twin towns of Wilhelmshaven-Rüstringen and the
entire area were declared a fortress. The status of a fortress was
associated with strong restrictions for the population, including the
introduction of a permit, the ban on entering the harbor areas and the
dykes for unauthorized persons and the ban on civil shipping including
fishing. This was intended to prevent the enemy from becoming aware of
information about the fleet's activities in the Jade area.
The
Kaiserliche Werft Wilhelmshaven reached its peak workforce during the
course of the First World War. The main task of the shipyard was to
ensure the operational readiness of the high seas fleet. She was not
only responsible for the continuation of the planned new buildings, but
primarily for the repair of the ships that were damaged in war-related
combat operations. Another task was the conversion of civilian ships to
military auxiliary cruisers. At the end of the First World War in 1918,
around 20,000 people worked at the Imperial Shipyard, including many
women who were conscripted due to the war.
Despite the preceding
arms race, the German Imperial Navy was outnumbered by the British Navy
at the start of the First World War. The German High Seas Fleet, most of
which was stationed in Wilhelmshaven or at Schillig-Reede off
Wilhelmshaven, therefore behaved rather defensively until January 1916.
From 1916, a more offensive naval warfare was attempted with a policy of
pinpricks. Through targeted provocations, individual parts of the
British fleet were to be lured out of their bases in order to then
destroy them with the numerically superior High Seas Fleet, which was
waiting in a receiving position.
The naval port of Wilhelmshaven
was often the starting point for undertakings of this kind. One of them
saw the Battle of the Skagerrak on May 31, 1916, the largest naval
battle of the First World War between the High Seas Fleet of the German
Imperial Navy and the Grand Fleet of the British Navy. Both sides
claimed victory; but although the Imperial Navy inflicted the
significantly heavier losses on the British Navy, the German High Seas
Fleet could not sustainably endanger English supremacy at sea.
Ultimately, the naval battles of the First World War (including the
naval battle near Helgoland, the Battle of the Dogger Bank and the
Battle of the Skagerrak) had no decisive importance for the overall
course of the First World War. Many of those who died in the naval
battles of World War I were buried in Wilhelmshaven in the 1914 new
cemetery at Rüstringer Stadtpark.
With the Fleet Order of October
24, 1918, the German Admiralty intended a decisive battle ("honorable
sinking") with the British Navy in the English Channel shortly before
the end of the First World War. After the order to prepare the departure
of the High Seas Fleet, broke on 29/30. October 1918, there were
initially isolated mutinies by some of the crews of the fleet lying at
Schillig-Reede off Wilhelmshaven, which led to the Kiel sailors'
uprising on November 3, 1918. The uprising was the starting point of the
November Revolution, which led to the proclamation of the Weimar
Republic.
On November 6, 1918, after a mass demonstration by more
than 20,000 members of the Navy, shipyard workers and other civilians, a
workers' and soldiers' council was formed in Wilhelmshaven-Rüstringen,
the executive body of which was the Council of 21. Bernhard Kuhnt was
appointed chairman of the council. The "21er" council took power over
the fortified cities without resistance from the military station
command and on November 10, 1918, in front of around 100,000
enthusiastic demonstrators in Wilhelmshaven, declared the North Sea
station and all surrounding islands and marine parts as well as the
entire Oldenburg region to be a socialist Republic of Oldenburg/
Ostfriesland and the deposition of the Grand Duke of Oldenburg. Under
the impression of the demonstrations and the pressure of the broad
majority of the members of the state parliament in Oldenburg, Grand Duke
Friedrich August abdicated on November 11, 1918 and declared his
renunciation of the throne. The Free State of Oldenburg was then
declared in the territory of the Grand Duchy of Oldenburg. A state
directorate was formed as a provisional government, which included the
Rüstringer state parliament deputy Paul Hug and Kuhnt. Kuhnt became
President of the new Free State of Oldenburg.
The nomination of candidates for the elections to the constituent
national assembly on January 19, 1919 led to insurmountable differences
within the SPD in Wilhelmshaven-Rüstringen. When Hug, a deputy from
Rüstring, got a better place on the list than Kuhnt, the Council of 21
decided to run for the National Assembly with its own list for the USPD,
with Kuhnt at the top. Despite the many USPD supporters among the
approximately 100,000 marines who were still in Wilhelmshaven-Rüstringen
at the end of 1918, large parts of the population did not vote for the
radical USPD, but for the more moderate SPD. While Hug was elected to
the National Assembly, Kuhnt did not receive the required number of
votes.
After the USPD's electoral defeat, the communist KPD tried
to seize power with a putsch. On January 27, 1919, their supporters
occupied the train station, the post office, the telephone exchange, the
Reichsbank office and the town halls of the twin towns of
Wilhelmshaven-Rüstringen. The putschists stole more than 7 million marks
from the Reichsbank office, including the branch's entire gold holdings.
Regular troops from the naval garrison were able to restore
constitutional order that same day. The putschists then withdrew to the
thousand-man barracks in Wilhelmshaven and entrenched themselves.
Unwilling to give up, artillery fire forced them to surrender. Eight
dead and 46 wounded were reported. In the course of this action, the
Council of 21 had to relinquish military control. It later became known
that its members had been informed that the coup was being planned, but
had nevertheless not intervened. As a result, Kuhnt was put on leave by
the Ministry of Defense in Berlin and relieved of his office as
President of the Free State of Oldenburg on January 29, 1919.
Wilhelmshaven became an independent city on April 1, 1919, and two
months later Rüstringen received first-class city status.
The
requirements for disarmament and extradition of a large part of the
Provisional Imperial Navy, which became effective with the armistice
agreement of November 11, 1918, and the conditions for reducing the navy
in the Versailles Peace Treaty of June 28, 1919 hit the economy of the
Jade cities hard in the post-war years . Due to the one-sided focus on
the Imperial Shipyard and the Navy, a large part of the population lost
their livelihood. The Kaiserliche Werft, now renamed Reichsmarinewerft,
continued to operate on a significantly reduced scale, but was initially
not allowed to build any new ships due to the conditions of the
Versailles Treaty. It was not until the beginning of 1925 that the light
cruiser Emden was launched, the first new ship to be built for the new
Reichsmarine.
The efforts of the two cities to convert to a
peacetime production were diverse, but repeatedly characterized by
failure for a variety of reasons. The attempt to establish a deep-sea
fishing fleet in Wilhelmshaven started promisingly, but failed again in
1922 when the demand for fish collapsed due to the abolition of the meat
rationing that had existed up to that point. The need for scrapping
capacities only led to a short-term boom in this area. For a few years,
Wilhelmshaven-Rüstringen became the largest scrapyard in Europe with
eleven scrapyards. The introduction of the Rentenmark in late autumn
1923 put an abrupt end to this. Almost all newly settled companies had
to close. From 1925, many unemployed people were able to find short-term
employment through emergency work in the construction sector, i.e. job
creation measures. Through these measures, construction projects such as
the embankment of the Rüstersieler Außengroden, the construction of the
Rüstringer town hall, the expansion of the Rüstringer Stadtpark and
other urban planning projects could be realized by 1928.
In the
second half of the 1920s, the city tried to create another civilian
mainstay by expanding tourism. Attempts were made to develop
Wilhelmshaven-Rüstringen as a modern North Sea resort for medium-sized
businesses with a great deal of advertising (“the green city by the
sea”). A beach complex was created on the southern beach with five
clinker beach houses used as hotels and a beach hall, which still appear
as a closed ensemble today. The buildings cost around 950,000
Reichsmarks and were inaugurated on June 16, 1928. Success proved the
planners right. In 1928, 10,543 guests were counted, a number that could
be increased to around 13,000 by 1932, thus contributing to a temporary
improvement in the city's economic situation.
After seizing power in January 1933, the National Socialists began
systematically upgrading the Reichswehr and Reichsmarine. The
German-British Naval Agreement of 1935 allowed the branch of service,
which was renamed the Kriegsmarine, to expand its fleet significantly.
The jade cities then experienced a renewed economic upswing, because the
naval policy that had been introduced required the further expansion of
the port and shipyard facilities in Wilhelmshaven. The planning of a
northern expansion of the port with a fourth entrance, dating back to
1917, was resumed; construction of the new entrance began as early as
1936. Like the third entrance, this had two lock chambers, but they were
built at a greater distance from each other. This was intended to reduce
the risk of simultaneous decommissioning due to damage to the center
wall during air raids. The dimensions of the new lock chambers (390
meters long, 60 meters wide) far exceeded the dimensions of the
Bismarck-class capital ships. The 4th entrance was put into operation on
November 7, 1942 with the lock of the light cruiser Emden through the
Ostkammer and christened the Raeder lock. Due to the war, the entrance
was only partially finished; until the end of the war only the east
chamber could be used.
The Greater Hamburg Act of 1937 united
Wilhelmshaven, in the Prussian province of Hanover, and Oldenburg's
Rüstringen on April 1, 1937 to form the new town of Wilhelmshaven, which
was assigned to the Free State of Oldenburg. At the same time, the
neighboring village of Rüstersiel was incorporated. Another municipal
reform on June 1, 1938 expanded the urban area to include parts of the
neighboring municipality of Kniphausen, which was formed in 1933. Plans
were made on the drawing board that envisaged an expansion of the city
to up to 500,000 inhabitants. Decentralized settlements on the outskirts
of the city were built for the ever-growing population. In the course of
these construction measures, Altengroden, Neuengroden,
Fedderwardergroden and Voslapp emerged. In 1940, the population reached
its all-time high of 133,041.
During the Second World War, the
city's buildings were extensively destroyed by more than 100 air raids,
including 16 major raids.
On February 28, 1941, two trains
collided near Wilhelmshaven. 21 people died and another 28 were injured.
The first air raid on Wilhelmshaven took place on September 4, 1939,
the last on March 30, 1945. On January 27, 1943, the United States Army
Air Forces (USAAF) launched their first daylight raid on a target in the
German Reich against Wilhelmshaven. Of the 55 four-engined bombers, 8
were shot down. The probably heaviest air raid destroyed the old
Wilhelmshaven on October 15, 1944. At the end of the war, 60% of the
living space lay in ruins. The comparatively low number of air war
deaths (435) was due to the many air raid shelters that were built all
over the city, e.g. were established by the Fuhrer Instant Program. Most
of the air war dead were buried in row graves in the municipal cemetery
in Aldenburg. Since 1978, a memorial has commemorated the city's
civilian bomb victims.
Persecution, coercion and oppression also
took place in Wilhelmshaven during the National Socialist era. From
September 1944, the Neuengamme concentration camp had a satellite camp
on Alter Banter Weg. The inmates, mostly French, had to do forced labor
and were used, for example, at the Kriegsmarine shipyard and to clear
the city of bombs. 1,125 men were crammed into four barracks in adverse
conditions; at least 234 of them did not survive the inhuman
circumstances of internment. Today part of the camp site is a
concentration camp memorial. In April 1945, the SS dissolved the
Wilhelmshaven concentration camp. The prisoners were to be taken by
train to the main camp in Hamburg-Neuengamme. At an intermediate station
in Lüneburg station, 256 men died when the train was also hit by an
Allied air raid. The head of the transport, the then 36-year-old Danish
SS man Gustav Alfred Jepsen, was sentenced to death in 1947 for the
crimes he had committed in Wilhelmshaven concentration camp and executed
in Hameln prison.
Around 1000 Dutch people were interned in the
Schwarzer Weg camp in 1945.
On May 6, 1945, the city was occupied by the 1st Polish Armored
Division commanded by Stanisław Maczek, which was stationed in Scotland.
With the German capitulation on May 8, 1945, the period of occupation in
the British occupation zone began for Wilhelmshaven. The initially
announced elimination of Wilhelmshaven as a naval port was averted. The
dismantling and shipping of the entire inventory of the Kriegsmarine
shipyard and the destruction of all military facilities remained. In the
course of Operation Bailiff, all shipyards and quays, docks and locks,
including the new 4th entrance, were blown up by spring 1950. Only the
second oldest and smallest entrance, the 1st entrance, was spared from
the destruction.
In the course of Operation Oasis, around 1,550
European Jews were housed in the Sengwarden naval camp from November
1947 to August 1948 on the instructions of the British military
government. These people had attempted to enter Palestine (then British
League of Nations Mandate) illegally on the ship Exodus; the British
mandate administration brought them back to Europe.
As a result of the dismantling and destruction of almost all shipyard
facilities, unemployment initially rose dramatically. In June 1952, the
unemployment rate in the Wilhelmshaven employment office district was
24.3% (for comparison: federal government 7.6%; state of Lower Saxony
12.3%). Deprived of its port infrastructure, the city had to reorient
itself and look for other economic bases. This succeeded with the
resettlement of a few medium-sized companies, such as the crane
manufacturer Krupp-Ardelt, the worsted yarn spinning and weaving mill
KSW and the commercial vehicle manufacturer Nordwestdeutscher
Fahrzeugbau. These companies took advantage of the vacant properties of
the former Navy and the supply of qualified workers, which mainly
consisted of workers from the former Kriegsmarine shipyard. Likewise,
the Olympia works, which settled in Roffhausen, which now belongs to the
town of Schortens, in the district of Friesland, contributed to an
economic upswing through the employees there.
Efforts to set up
universities and scientific institutes such as the University of Applied
Sciences in Rüstersiel, the University of Education for trade teachers,
the University of Education for agricultural teachers, the Max Planck
Institute for Cell Biology, the Lower Saxony State Institute for Marsh
and Wurten Research, today the Lower Saxony Institute for Historical
Coastal Research and the Institute for Bird Research - Vogelwarte
Heligoland. From the early 1960s Wilhelmshaven lost most of these
facilities again. Only the two state institutes, the Institute for Bird
Research and the Institute for Historical Coastal Research, could be
kept in Wilhelmshaven. Another new school in Wilhelmshaven was the
"Prince Rupert School". The English boarding school, founded in 1947 for
the children of British crew members, was housed on the site of the
former U-boat barracks directly on Lake Banter. It existed until 1972
and at times had more than 700 students at its peak. The English
boarding school children with their typical British school uniforms
shaped the Wilhelmshaven cityscape for many years.
With the
German rearmament and the development of the Federal Navy, Wilhelmshaven
became a naval port again in 1956. On January 2, 1956, the first
volunteers of the new German Navy began their service in Wilhelmshaven,
and on June 6, 1956, the first ships, minesweeping boats from the former
German Navy returned by the USA, arrived. The new defense concept also
provided for the establishment of a naval arsenal for the maintenance
and repair of the new ship units. In 1957, planning began on the site of
the former Kriegsmarine shipyard. Within 15 years, one of the largest
employers in Wilhelmshaven was established on the rubble site. Parallel
to the construction of the naval arsenal, planning for the
reconstruction of the blasted 4th entrance was started. The new
construction of a tide-independent outer harbor with a naval base was
included in the reconstruction. The first preparatory work began in
1956. On October 4, 1964, the new 4th entrance went into operation. The
Heppenser Groden naval base built in the outer harbor was inaugurated on
August 9, 1968.
In November 1956, Nord-West-Oelleitung GmbH (NWO)
was founded in Wilhelmshaven. The aim of the company is to build and
operate the first mineral oil long-distance pipeline in Europe in order
to ensure the supply of raw materials to several mineral oil refineries
in Emsland and the Rhine-Ruhr area. The operating facilities of the NWO
were built on the Heppenser Groden, which included a tanker
extinguishing bridge on the deep Jade fairway, an intermediate tank farm
on the Heppenser Groden and a 28-inch long-distance mineral oil pipeline
with all the necessary technical equipment. The new company started
operations in November 1958. On November 29, 1958, the first crude oil
tankers called at Wilhelmshaven and unloaded their cargo. Since then,
the newly built oil port in Wilhelmshaven has developed into the largest
oil import port in the Federal Republic of Germany.
On July 1,
1972, the municipality of Sengwarden with its associated districts and
residential areas, including Fedderwarden, was incorporated into
Wilhelmshaven. The urban area of Wilhelmshaven thus reached its current
size.
In the years 1970 to 1981 other large industrial companies
were settled on the newly acquired Groden areas on the deep Jade
fairway. After Nord-West-Oelleitung GmbH in Heppenser Groden, a plant
for chloralkali electrolysis (Alusuisse Atlantik GmbH) and a power plant
(Nordwestdeutsche Kraftwerke AG) in Rüstersieler Groden as well as a
crude oil refinery of Mobil Oil AG and a chemical plant of Imperial
Chemical Industries were built for the production of VCM and PVC in the
Voslapper Groden. The economic development that had been positive for
Wilhelmshaven until then ended with the oil crisis of 1979. The economic
recession that followed the oil crisis and the associated decline in the
consumption of mineral oil products finally led to the closure of the
refinery on April 1, 1985. The refinery was only put back into operation
in 1991 after it was sold to Beta Raffinerie Wilhelmshaven GmbH.
From the mid-1980s, the bad economic news from AEG Olympia AG, the
largest industrial employer in the Wilhelmshaven/Friesland region,
increased. After years of losses at the office machine manufacturer, the
group headquarters of the parent companies AEG and Daimler-Benz decided
in October 1991 to withdraw from office communication and to close the
location with its workforce of around 3,600 employees. Under the motto
"Olympia - the heart of the region must live on", a nationwide
industrial action by Olympia employees to keep their jobs followed in
the next few months. With campaigns in Wilhelmshaven, Frankfurt and
Stuttgart, the responsibility of the Daimler-Benz group was reminded and
public pressure was built up to create alternative jobs in the
Wilhelmshaven/Friesland region. Despite this, the closure of the
Roffhausen site at the end of 1992 could not be prevented. As a positive
result of the labor dispute, a concept for a TCN (Technology Center
Northwest) was developed, which envisaged the spin-off and continuation
of parts of Olympia as independent companies and the settlement of new
companies on the TCN premises. The concept received support from the
Lower Saxony state government, the parent company Daimler-Benz, the
district of Friesland, the city of Schortens and employee
representatives. At the beginning of 1993, the TCN had 14 companies with
around 750 employees. This positive development continued, so that by
the end of 2015, with more than 3,000 employees at a total of 60
companies, the number of employees who used to work at the Olympia-Werke
could almost be reached again.
Construction work on the North Sea
Passage began in December 1994. The largest shopping center in
Wilhelmshaven, at 34,000 m², was built on the site of the old
Wilhelmshaven train station and station forecourt. The DM 150 million
construction project, initially called “Bahnhofszentrum”, not only
provides space for retail, but also houses the new Wilhelmshaven train
station and Wilhelmshaven bus station as well as two multi-storey car
parks. After around three years of construction, the North Sea Passage
was inaugurated on September 4, 1997.
From June 1, 2000 to October 31, 2000, the Expo am Meer took
place in Wilhelmshaven as one of the official Expo 2000 projects for
the world exhibition in Hanover. The Sparkasse Wilhelmshaven brought
the highly regarded German contribution to the world exhibition Expo
98 in Lisbon to Wilhelmshaven. Its content was revised and found a
new home as the virtual underwater research station OCEANIS directly
at the Great Port. In the research station, the world of the deep
sea was shown from a depth of 100 meters. By the end of 2007, over a
million visitors had visited the research station. OCEANIS was
closed at the end of 2009 and reopened in 2010 as "Nordsee-Welten 5D
im Oceanis". In addition to parts of the old Oceanis exhibition, the
focus was now on 3D cinema films with additional effects. In July
2011, however, the company had to file for bankruptcy and close.
After 16 years of planning and four and a half years of
construction, the JadeWeserPort was officially opened on September
21, 2012. The container port that was washed up in the north of
Wilhelmshaven was one of the largest infrastructure projects in
northern Germany in recent decades. The two federal states of Lower
Saxony and Bremen and the container port operator Eurogate have
invested around one billion euros.
The Kaiser Wilhelm Bridge
was renovated from September 2010 to September 2013. It was repaired
in terms of steel construction and received i.a. a new coating and
new coverings for the roadways and sidewalks. The railing was
restored according to historical models. In addition, the bridge was
equipped with a new lighting concept that is intended to highlight
it as a landmark of the city. In the vicinity of the bridge, the
bridge houses were completely renovated and a new staircase was
built as access to the north wing.
From December 2012, at the
suggestion of the mayor of Wilhelmshaven, Andreas Wagner, and the
district administrator of the district of Friesland, Sven Ambrosy, a
controversial debate developed about more intensive cooperation
between the two municipalities. The background was e.g. the future
program of the state of Lower Saxony, which takes over 75% of the
short-term debts of the municipalities involved in the merger in the
course of regional reforms. In the case of Wilhelmshaven-Friesland,
the debt relief for Wilhelmshaven would have been EUR 35 million and
for Friesland EUR 9 million. In order to clarify the potential for
savings, the independent communal office for administrative
management (KGSt) was commissioned with an expert opinion to examine
the financial effects of a possible merger between the city of
Wilhelmshaven and the district of Friesland. The report was
published in November 2013 and recommended an encirclement of the
city of Wilhelmshaven in the district of Friesland. Wilhelmshaven
would therefore have had to give up its freedom of a district.
However, the political leaders could not decide on this solution. In
December 2013, both municipalities rejected the encirclement in the
respective committees.
In accordance with a council
resolution from October 2014, the previous, Catholic-run St.
Willehad Hospital was taken over by the city on November 7, 2014 and
affiliated to the municipal Reinhard Nieter Hospital with the new
common name Klinikum Wilhelmshaven. It is to be expanded by a new
building in the next few years.
In April 2015, Bismarckplatz
received a new Bismarck monument on a private initiative. The
donation was highly controversial in public. The city council
approved the project with a narrow majority.
From 14th to
16th June 2019 the Lower Saxony Day took place in Wilhelmshaven. The
ceremony for the 150th anniversary of the city of Wilhelmshaven was
embedded in the presentations and events of Lower Saxony Day.