Schleswig-Holstein

Basic data:

Universities:

Flensburg: University of Flensburg
Kiel: Christian-Albrechts-University of Kiel
Lübeck: University of Lübeck

Geography:

The west coast of Schleswig-Holstein is characterized by the Wadden Sea, with numerous Halligen islands in the north and the North Frisian Islands and the Eiderstedt peninsula jutting into the sea. South of it is the Nordergoesharde, the Südergoesharde is a pure geest landscape. Helgoland also belongs to the landscape of the islands and Halligen.

The Dithmarschen landscape lies between the mouths of the Eider and the Elbe south of North Friesland. This consists of the areas of Norderdithmarschen and Süderdithmarschen. This is followed by the Elbmarschen with the Wilstermarsch and the Kremper Marsch.

The east coast 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, and the landscape of the Hüttener mountains lies inland on the border with the Geest. Near Neumünster is the Aukrug landscape, today a nature park, and east of Hamburg is the Stormarn landscape, the eastern part of which forms the Stormarn district today.

Climate:

Schleswig-Holstein is located in a moderately warm temperature zone between sub-tropical areas in the south and the cold areas of northern Europe. This is the so-called west wind zone, which is characterized by predominantly westerly winds and the frequent passage of low-pressure areas. At the same time, Schleswig-Holstein, as a European coastal state, lies in a border region between the European continent to the south and east and the Atlantic Ocean with the warm Gulf Stream to the west.

This geographical location gives the weather, with mostly westerly winds, the typical maritime influence with fairly mild and relatively humid weather throughout the year. Therefore, ice-cold and snowy winters and very hot summers rarely occur in Schleswig-Holstein.

The weather in Schleswig-Holstein is determined over the course of a year by the trajectory of the low-pressure areas. During the spring and summer months, the lows often sweep across central and northern Scandinavia on a northerly track. This means that their bad weather zones can only touch Schleswig-Holstein occasionally and there are more pleasant weather periods. In autumn and winter, on the other hand, the low-pressure areas move eastwards on a more southerly path from the North Sea, and the weather thus takes on an unstable and rainy character.

history:

After the last Ice Age, Schlewig-Holstein was settled by hunters and gatherers, from about 4000 BC. arable farmers came to the country. Developed by the early Middle Ages 4 ethnic and language groups settled in present-day Schleswig-Holstein. In the course of the Saxon Wars, the southern part came under the influence of the Frankish Empire. Between 768 and 811 there were frequent clashes between the king of the Frankish kingdom, Charlemagne, and the pagan North Germans. The Danewerk was also built and expanded at this time. In a peace treaty in 811, the Eider was laid down as the border between the Carolingian and Danish kingdoms.

The Eider border lost its actual importance as a dividing line as settlement progressed in the 12th century.and 13th century, but it remained until the end of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806 and until 1864 as the border between Schleswig and Holstein. Until the Civil Code was introduced in 1900, the Eider border was only a legal border. From 1111, independence grew on both sides of the Eiger. This resulted in the duchies of Schleswig and Holstein. At the same time, ever closer political and economic ties were established between the two regions.

In the early 13th century, the Danish king tried to include Holstein in his kingdom. After initial successes, however, he failed in 1227 in the Battle of Bornhöved due to the resistance of North German princes. In the 14th century, Holstein counts were able to extend their influence far into Jutland and Margarete I succeeded in regaining Danish feudal sovereignty in Schleswig, but she had to recognize the property claims of the Holstein nobles in Schleswig. In the year 1386, the two areas were united in the coat of arms for the first time. However, the Schauenburg dynasty succeeded in establishing a Schleswig-Holstein rule. Thus, in the late Middle Ages, Schleswig-Holstein could be spoken of as a factually contiguous territory.

In 1460, after the Schauenburgers had died out, the Danish King Christian I was elected sovereign, and Schleswig-Holstein remained connected to Denmark in a personal union until 1864. The Danish king thus ruled Schleswig and Holstein as duke of the two territories, with Schleswig remaining a royal Danish fiefdom, while Holstein continued to belong to the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation and was therefore an imperial fiefdom. During the early modern period, the duchies of Schleswig and Holstein repeatedly broke up into several small dominions due to the division of inheritance. It was not until 1773 that Schleswig and Holstein were again almost entirely under the rule of the Danish king.

The nationalism that started in Denmark and Germany in the 19th century led to a conflict regarding the affiliation of the so-called Elbe duchies. This contrast resulted in two wars, in which the Duchy of Schleswig was disputed. In Germany as in Denmark, the country was claimed as a whole by the nationally minded liberals. In Uwe Jens Lornsen, the German-speaking and German-minded south of Schleswig found its first powerfully eloquent advocate in 1830. From 1840 both German and Danish national liberals tried to influence Schleswig, which led to a conflict. This culminated in the March Revolution of 1848. A provisional government was proclaimed in Kiel, which demanded the inclusion of a united Schleswig-Holstein in the German Confederation. Their goal was the constitutional incorporation of Schleswig into the Danish Empire.

Since the two demands were incompatible, this led to the Schleswig-Holstein War from 1848 to 1851. In this, pro-German Schleswig-Holsteiners initially tried in vain to end Danish supremacy. The German national liberals wanted Schleswig to become a member of the German Confederation and, together with Holstein, a sovereign state (under the Duke of Augustenburg). According to German understanding and Salic law, this was the legitimate heir to the duchies, since the Danish king had no descendants. However, the Danish view was different, according to which the Duke of Augustenburg could be considered heir to the throne in Holstein but not in Schleswig. According to Danish law, there is also succession through the female line.

The Schleswig-Holstein uprising was initially supported by the Paulskirchen Assembly, but the Prussian armies and federal troops withdrew under pressure from the major European powers, leaving the self-proclaimed government of Kiel to their fate. In 1850, the Danish victory at Idstedt ended German hopes for a German Schleswig-Holstein for the time being, and the status quo ante was restored, also due to international pressure. The Peace of Berlin was signed between the German Confederation and Denmark on July 2nd, 1850. However, no answer was found to the Schleswig-Holstein question.

Since the Basic Law of 1849, the Danish state as a whole has been governed by a constitutional monarchy in the kingdom and absolutism in Holstein. However, legislation was complicated by a common Council of State. In November 1863, Denmark passed a constitution that would also apply to the common affairs of the kingdom and duchy. Thus the peace regulations of 1851 were broken and the Prussian Chancellor Bismarck seized the opportunity to solve the Schleswig question in the German sense. After a very brief ultimatum, Prussia and Austria declared war on Denmark, which Prussia and Austria won in April 1864. Negotiations about a division of Schleswig were unsuccessful, which is why Schleswig and Holstein initially came under Prussian and Austrian administration, only small parts in northern Schleswig remained Danish. In return, Denmark gave up its claims to the royal enclaves on the west coast of Schleswig. In 1867 Schleswig-Holstein became a Prussian province in its entirety, so the duchies only achieved independence from the Danish state, but not their independence. The German Empire was founded in 1871. The question of Schleswig-Holstein was an important aspect of Bismarck\'s policy, which ultimately led to the unification of the empire.

However, the international legal dispute with Denmark did not come to an end until 1920. Now, under the pressure and supervision of the victorious powers of World War I, the referendum in the northern parts of Schleswig, which was laid down in the Treaty of Prague in 1866 between Prussia and Austria, took place. As the loser of the war, Germany had to accept unfavorable electoral districts and unfavorable voting methods. This led, among other things, to the loss of the predominantly German-friendly towns of Apenrade, Sonderburg and Tønder, as well as the German-friendly parts of the Tønder district close to the border. The middle electoral district was particularly controversial, but then clearly decided to belong to the German Reich. There was also debate about constituting Schleswig-Holstein wholly or partially as a state independent of Germany under Allied protection. Both north and south of the border there was a tendency to orientate themselves less towards the area of ​​Schleswig on the other side of the border and towards the respective central power.

Schleswig-Holstein was an early Nazi stronghold, with the highest electoral results being achieved in North Friesland and Dithmarschen. What the Nazis called the \"Blood Night of Wöhrden\" was used by the NSDAP for national propaganda purposes. During the Reich pogrom night, the synagogues in Lübeck, Elmshorn, Rendsburg, Kiel and Friedrichstadt were desecrated by the SA. There were several satellite camps of the Neuengamme concentration camp in Schleswig-Holstein. On March 10, 1933, the first prisoners were imprisoned in the Wittmor concentration camp.

After the end of World War II, Schleswig-Holstein was a main settlement area for displaced persons, the population rose from 1.6 million in 1939 to 2.7 million in 1949. Schleswig-Holstein was formally still a Prussian province after 1945, the Christian Democrat Theodor Steltzer was appointed President of the administration in November.On February 26, 1946, the first state parliament appointed by the military government met. Schleswig-Holstein received its legal basis with Decree No. 46 of the British military government of August 23, 1946, and Kiel became the capital. On April 20, 1947, a state parliament was elected for the first time, with the state statute passed by this state parliament in 1949, Schleswig-Holstein became a federal state.

The Bonn-Copenhagen Declarations were signed on March 29, 1955. This agreement is still considered a model for the mutual solution of minority issues today. Some of the most violent protests against nuclear power plants in Germany took place around the construction site of the Brokdorf nuclear power plant in the late 1970s and early 1980s. The snow catastrophe at the turn of the year 1978/79 was probably the most important natural event in the state\'s history.

The Barschel affair of 1987/88 was probably the biggest scandal in post-war history, which was then continued in 1993 with the drawer affair. As a result, Heide Simonis became the first and so far only woman to head a federal state. This formed a coalition government of the SPD and Bündnis 90/Die Grünen, which was confirmed and continued after the elections in February 2000.

The CDU emerged as the strongest party in the state elections on February 20, 2005, but the SPD and Bündnis 90/Die Grünen initially aimed for the formation of a minority cabinet under Heide Simonis, whose re-election in the state parliament failed after four ballots. On April 27, 2005, Peter Harry Carstensen (CDU) was elected Prime Minister of a grand coalition of CDU and SPD.

Economy:

Formerly characterized by agriculture, Schleswig-Holstein today has a broadly diversified economic structure. Agriculture uses about 68% of the area, grassland with animal husbandry prevails in the marshes in the west, in the southeast oil crops, grain, potato cultivation. Vegetable growing is widespread in Dithmarschen and on Fehmarn, and fruit growing is also common in the Elbmarschen. Only 9% of the area is forest, Schleswig-Holstein has large tree nursery areas.

Important industrial sectors include food and beverages, shipbuilding and mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, building materials and optics. The economically exploited mineral resources include salt deposits, petroleum and chalk deposits. Fishing and the fish-processing industry are widespread along the coasts, and Kiel is the central fishing port.

The main tourist attractions are Sylt and Helgoland, the Baltic Sea coast and the Holstein Lake District. As a coastal state, Schleswig-Holstein has a long shipping tradition. The port of Brunsbüttel on the Lower Elbe has developed into an important transhipment point for goods, with important Baltic Sea ports being Lübeck, Puttgarden and Kiel. The Kiel Canal is still one of the busiest artificial waterways in the world.