Emden | |
---|---|
| |
Coordinates: 53°22′1″N07°12′22″E / 53.36694°N 7.20611°E Coordinates: 53°22′1″N07°12′22″E / 53.36694°N 7.20611°E | |
Country | Germany |
State | Lower Saxony |
District | Urban district |
Government | |
• Lord mayor (2019–24) | Tim Kruithoff [1] (Ind.) |
Area | |
• Total | 112.33 km2 (43.37 sq mi) |
Elevation | 1 m (3 ft) |
Population (2021-12-31) [2] | |
• Total | 49,523 |
• Density | 440/km2 (1,100/sq mi) |
Time zone | UTC+01:00 (CET) |
• Summer (DST) | UTC+02:00 (CEST) |
Postal codes | 26721, 26723, 26725 |
Dialling codes | 04921, 04927 (Knock) |
Vehicle registration | EMD |
Website | www.emden.de |
Emden (German pronunciation: [ˈɛmdn̩] ( listen )) is an independent city and seaport in Lower Saxony in the northwest of Germany, on the river Ems. It is the main city of the region of East Frisia and, in 2011, had a total population of 51,528.
County of East Frisia 1464–1744
Kingdom of Prussia 1744–1806
Kingdom of Holland 1806–1810
First French Empire 1810–1813
Kingdom of Prussia 1813–1815
Kingdom of Hanover 1815–1866
Kingdom of Prussia 1866–1871
German Empire 1871–1918
Weimar Republic 1918–1933
Nazi Germany 1933–1945
Allied-occupied Germany 1945–1949
West Germany 1949–1990
Germany 1990–present
The exact founding date of Emden is unknown, but it has existed at least since the 8th century. Older names for Emden are Setutanda, [3] Amuthon, Embda, Emda, Embden and Embderland. Town privilege and the town's coat of arms, the Engelke up de Muer (The Little Angel on the Wall) was granted by Emperor Maximilian I in 1495.
In the 16th century, Emden briefly became an important centre for the Protestant Reformation under the rule of Countess Anna von Oldenburg who was determined to find a religious "third way" between Lutheranism and Catholicism. In 1542 she invited the Polish noble John Laski (or Johannes a Lasco) to become pastor of a Protestant church at Emden; [4] : xi and for 7 years he continued to spread the new religion around the area of East Frisia. However, in 1549 following pressure from the Emperor Charles V, the Countess was forced to ask Laski to leave for England and the experiment came to an end. Nevertheless, the legacy was important for the reformation in the Netherlands.
At the end of the 16th century Emden experienced a period of great prosperity. Due to the Spanish blockade of Flemish and Brabant ports at the start of the Dutch Revolt, Emden became the most important transshipment port on the North Sea. Thousands of Protestant refugees came from Flanders and the Duchy of Brabant to the Protestant city Emden to escape persecution by the Spanish rulers of the Low Countries. During this period, the predominantly Calvinist Emden came into conflict with the Lutheran counts of East Friesland. The Emden Revolution in 1595 resulted in Emden becoming a distinct city-state. [5] With the support of the Dutch Republic, Emden became a free government city under the protection of the Dutch Republic. The Brabantian dialect became the official language of trade and civil administration.
Emden was a very rich city during the 17th century, due to large numbers of Dutch and Flemish immigrants such as Diederik Jansz. Graeff. It was a centre of reformed Protestantism at that time. The political theorist Johannes Althusius served as Syndic from 1604 to 1638. [4] : xii
In 1744 Emden was annexed by Prussia. In 1752 Frederick the Great chartered the Emden Company to trade with Canton, but the company was ruined when Emden was captured by French forces in 1757 during the Seven Years' War. The city was recaptured by Anglo-German forces in 1758 and for the rest of the conflict was used as a major supply base by the British to support the ongoing war in Westphalia.
During the Napoleonic French era, Emden and the surrounding lands of East Frisia were part of the short-lived Kingdom of Holland.
Industrialization started at around 1870, with a paper mill and a somewhat bigger shipyard. At the end of the 19th century, a big canal, the Dortmund-Ems Canal was constructed, which connected Emden with the Ruhr area. This made Emden the "seaport of the Ruhr area", which lasted until the 1970s. Coal from the south was transported to the North Sea port, and imported iron ore was shipped via the canal towards Rhine and the Ruhr. The last iron ore freighter was moored in the port of Emden in 1986.
In 1903, a large shipyard ( Nordseewerke , "North Sea Works") was founded and was in operation until 2010.
The city centre was almost completely wiped out as a result of Allied bombing raids during the Second World War, destroying nearly all historic buildings. The RAF first bombed Emden on 31 March 1940. The most severe bombing took place on 6 September 1944, when roughly 80 percent of all houses in the city centre were destroyed. In the collective memory of the city, this date still plays an important role. The shipyard area was largely untouched – the British targeted the civilian areas, apparently in response to the bombing of Coventry by the Luftwaffe . [6] The modern rebuilding of the city hall was opened on 6 September 1962, exactly 18 years after the bombing.
Climate data for Emden (1981–2010) | |||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
Average high °C (°F) | 4.7 (40.5) | 5.6 (42.1) | 9.0 (48.2) | 13.5 (56.3) | 17.0 (62.6) | 19.7 (67.5) | 22.2 (72.0) | 22.2 (72.0) | 18.4 (65.1) | 13.6 (56.5) | 8.5 (47.3) | 4.8 (40.6) | 13.3 (55.9) |
Average low °C (°F) | −0.1 (31.8) | -0.0 (32.0) | 1.7 (35.1) | 3.6 (38.5) | 7.2 (45.0) | 10.1 (50.2) | 12.7 (54.9) | 12.7 (54.9) | 10.0 (50.0) | 6.4 (43.5) | 3.3 (37.9) | 0.1 (32.2) | 5.6 (42.2) |
Average rainfall mm (inches) | 66.8 (2.63) | 47.6 (1.87) | 60.9 (2.40) | 39.9 (1.57) | 55.8 (2.20) | 79.1 (3.11) | 80.3 (3.16) | 71.3 (2.81) | 81.5 (3.21) | 75.6 (2.98) | 74.3 (2.93) | 67.9 (2.67) | 801 (31.54) |
Mean monthly sunshine hours | 53.0 | 70.7 | 122.7 | 179.5 | 216.6 | 204.4 | 211.3 | 186.2 | 143.3 | 112.7 | 54.3 | 51.5 | 1,606.2 |
Source: Météoclimat |
The main industries in Emden are automobile production and shipbuilding. Volkswagen runs a large production plant which builds the Volkswagen Passat car and which employs around 10,000 people. Emden harbor is also one of the three main ports for car shipping in Europe (together with Zeebrugge in Belgium and Bremerhaven in Germany). More than 1.4 million cars were imported and exported in 2017. [7] The Nordseewerke shipyard, a subsidiary of ThyssenKrupp, employs around 1,400 dockers and specializes in conventional submarines. It also produces different kinds of cargo ships as well as ships for special purposes such as icebreakers, dredgers and other ships of that type.
Another important economic sector is tourism, mainly as a day trip destination for tourists staying in the surrounding villages on the North Sea coastline.
A university of applied sciences ( Fachhochschule ) was opened in 1973. At present, around 4,240 students are enrolled, most of them studying for technical degrees.
The airline Ostfriesische Lufttransport had its headquarters in Emden. [8]
The highest playing[ clarification needed ] association football club is BSV Kickers Emden. The capacity of the stadium is 7,200, due to safety objections of the German Football Association. In 1994, some 12,000 spectators followed a match against the reserves squad of Hamburger SV, which remains the record. In that season, Kickers Emden finished top of the 3rd League, but were not promoted to the Second League as they lost the promotion round.
Since Emden is not only located close to the North Sea, but also to the river Ems and various small rivers and canals, boat sports are very popular among inhabitants and tourists.
Three German light cruisers were named after the city, two of which served in World War I and the third in World War II. Today, the fifth navy ship named after the city is in service.
A deep sea spot in the Pacific Ocean close to the Philippines is named after the first Emden ship, and is therefore called Emdentief in German. The spot (10,400 m or 34,100 ft deep) was sounded in the 1920s (in 1920, 1923 or 1928—sources vary).
In addition, the village of Emden, Illinois in the United States was named after Jacob Emden [9] due to the large number of emigrants from Emden to the village in northwestern Logan County, Illinois. Other places in the U.S. named after the city include Emden, Missouri; Embden, Maine; and Embden, North Dakota. [10]
The Ems is a river in northwestern Germany. It runs through the states of North Rhine-Westphalia and Lower Saxony, and discharges into the Dollart Bay which is part of the Wadden Sea. Its total length is 362.4 kilometres (225.2 mi). The state border between the Lower Saxon area of East Friesland (Germany) and the province of Groningen (Netherlands), whose exact course was the subject of a border dispute between Germany and the Netherlands, runs through the Ems estuary.
Leer is a district (Landkreis) in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is bounded by the city of Emden, the districts of Aurich, Wittmund, Friesland, Ammerland, Cloppenburg and Emsland, and by the Netherlands.
East Frisia or East Friesland is a historic region in the northwest of Lower Saxony, Germany. It is primarily located on the western half of the East Frisian peninsula, to the east of West Frisia and to the west of Landkreis Friesland.
Wilhelmshaven is a coastal town in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated on the western side of the Jade Bight, a bay of the North Sea, and has a population of 76,089. Wilhelmshaven is the centre of the "Jade Bay" business region and is Germany's main military port.
Leer is a town in the district of Leer, in the northwestern part of Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated on the river Leda, a tributary of the river Ems, near the border with the Netherlands. With 34,958 inhabitants (2021), it is the third-largest city in East Frisia after Emden and Aurich.
Aurich is a town in the East Frisian region of Lower Saxony, Germany. It is the capital of the district of Aurich and is the second largest City in East Frisia, both in population, after Emden, and in area, after Wittmund.
OLT Express Germany was an airline based in Bremen in Germany. The company moved to Bremen from Emden in February 2012. It operated regional scheduled and charter flights linking northern Germany to other parts of the country and Bremen to other European destinations. Its main base was Bremen Airport.
Jan Łaski or Johannes à Lasco was a Polish Calvinist reformer. Owing to his influential work in England (1548–1553) during the English Reformation, he is known to the English-speaking world by the Anglicised form John à Lasco.
Lingen, officially Lingen (Ems), is a town in Lower Saxony, Germany. In 2008, its population was 52,353, and in addition there were about 5,000 people who registered the city as their secondary residence. Lingen, specifically "Lingen (Ems)" is located on the river Ems in the southern part of the Emsland District, which borders North Rhine-Westphalia in the south and the Netherlands in the west.
The Dortmund–Ems Canal is a 269-kilometre (167 mi) long canal in Germany between the inland port of the city of Dortmund and the seaport of Emden. The artificial southern part of the canal ends after 215 kilometres (134 mi) at Herbrum lock near Meppen. The route then takes the river Ems for 45 kilometres (28 mi) to Oldersum lock. From there, the canal continues along a second artificial segment of 98 kilometres (61 mi). This latter section was built because inland ships at the time of the construction of the canal were not built for the open sea, which they would have faced at the Dollart and the entry to the sea port of Emden. It is connected to the Ems-Jade Canal from Emden to Wilhelmshaven.
Emden was a light cruiser built for the German Navy (Reichsmarine) in the early 1920s. She was the only ship of her class and was the first large warship built in Germany after the end of World War I. She was built at the Reichsmarinewerft in Wilhelmshaven; her keel was laid down in December 1921 and her completed hull was launched in January 1925. Emden was commissioned into the fleet in October 1925. Her design was heavily informed by the restrictions of the Treaty of Versailles and the dictates of the Allied disarmament commission. Displacement was capped at 6,000 long tons (6,100 t), though like all German warships built in the period, Emden exceeded the size limitations. She was armed with a main battery of surplus 15 cm (5.9 in) guns left over from World War I, mounted in single gun turrets, as mandated by the Allied powers. She had a top speed of 29 knots.
Johannes Althusius was a German jurist and Calvinist political philosopher.
Nordseewerke Emden GmbH was a shipbuilding company, located in the Emden Harbor of the north German city of Emden. Founded in 1903, shipbuilding ended in 2010, and the company was taken over by the Schaaf Industrie AG, which among other products, makes components for off-shore systems.
Bunde is a municipal district in East Frisia, in Lower Saxony, Germany, about 20 km (12 mi) south of Emden, Germany, and 50 km (30 mi) east of Groningen, Netherlands. It lies on the southern tip of the Dollart, a bay of the North Sea between Germany and the Netherlands, and has a land border with the Netherlands.
The County of East-Frisia was a county in the region of East Frisia in the northwest of the present-day German state of Lower Saxony.
The Emden Company was a Prussian trading company which was established on 24 May 1751 to trade primarily with the city of Canton in China. Its full name was the Royal Prussian Asiatic Company in Emden to Canton and China, but it was generally known by the shorter name.
Quersee was a 999 GRT coaster that was built in 1926 as Amrum by Nordseewerke, Emden for German owners. She was sold in 1931, and renamed Quersee. She was seized by the Allies in May 1945 at Brunsbüttel, Germany, passed to the Ministry of War Transport (MoWT), and renamed Empire Condor. She was sold into merchant service in 1947, and renamed Mediterranean Trader. In 1949, she was sold to India and renamed Maharashmi, serving until 1951, when she ran aground and was wrecked.
The history of East Frisia developed rather independently from the rest of Germany because the region was relatively isolated for centuries by large stretches of bog to the south, while at the same time its people were oriented towards the sea. Thus in East Frisia in the Middle Ages there was little feudalism, instead a system of fellowship under the so-called Friesian Freedom emerged. It was not until 1464, that the House of Cirksena was enfeoffed with the Imperial County of East Frisia. Nevertheless absolutism had been, and continued to be, unknown in East Frisia. In the two centuries after about 1500, the influence of the Netherlands is discernable - politically, economically and culturally. In 1744, the county lost its independence within the Holy Roman Empire and became part of Prussia. Following the Vienna Congress of 1815, it was transferred to the Kingdom of Hanover, in 1866 it went back to Prussia and, from 1946, it has been part of the German state of Lower Saxony.
The Emden Revolution of 18 March 1595 marked the beginning of the status of Emden as a quasi-autonomous city-state.
Krake was a Dutch sailing ship with the identifier ZK 14. It was bought by the German progressive pedagogue, bard and writer Martin Luserke. The former fishery vessel was deployed as his floating poet's workshop. It cruised the shallow coastal regions of The Netherlands, (Germany), Denmark, Southern Norway and Southern Sweden as well as channels and rivers between North Sea and Baltic Sea. In harbours it was visited by a larger quantity of mostly younger people who attended readings and taletellings. Krake became very well-known during 1934 and 1938 and still is a topic in German literature, scientific literature, local museums, libraries, archives, encyclopaedias, and lectures. One of its later well-known visitors was German pilot Beate Uhse.
Why are we doing so? It is not revenge, though we do not forget Warsaw, Belgrade, Rotterdam, London, Plymouth and Coventry. We are bombing Germany, city by city, and ever more terribly, in order to make it impossible for you to go on with the war. That is our object. We shall pursue it remorselessly. City by city: Lübeck, Rostock, Cologne, Emden, Bremen, Wilhelmshaven, Duisburg, Hamburg -- and the list will grow longer and longer.