City portrait

• Flensburg is a small trading post (called Köbing) in Denmark whose function is mainly to transfer goods from the North to the Baltic Sea; as a small trading place alongside the merchant town, Schleswig.

• A central urban settlement is established round St Johannis’ Church. It is conceivable that one or two small settlements were built near the St Marien Church.

• The market settlement (St Marien) is built, modelled on the founding Hanseatic town. Flensburg is thus one of the many inaugurative towns at the time when Denmark was a great power under the ‘Waldemars’, who commanded the Baltic Sea and also the trading between the North Sea and the Baltic, particularly after having conquered Lübeck and Hamburg for a time.
• Written language: Latin and Low Danish (sønderjysk).
• Spoken language: Low Danish (sønderjysk).

• Prince Abel becomes Duke of Schleswig. After his father’s death, in 1241, the Duke carries out policies friendly to the Hansa. Flensburg is influenced by the Hansa, with Stralsund, Wismar and Lübeck becoming particularly important trading partners.

• First documented mention of the town.

• Establishment of St. Nikolai parish round the South Market (Südermarkt).
• Introduction of the council constitution according to lübischem principle (around 1260).

• Founding of the Franciscan cloisters (now the old peoples’ home ‘Cloister to the Holy Spirit’).

• Schleswig and Flensburg sign an agreement to end their commercial rivalry and to pursue a policy of co-operative trading.

• Confirmation of Schleswig’s town charter by Duke Waldemar IV. Flensburg receives the town charter.

• Inherited feifdom is granted to Count Gerhard VI of Holstein with the Dukedom of Schleswig by Queen Margarethe I of Denmark. The Schauenburg trading policies, which need to be seen as in close co-operation with Lübeck, has already been of significance to Flensburg since 1325.

• Flensburg loses its village character. The council passes an edict that houses must be roofed with tiles instead of straw.

• Duke Gerhard VI sells the ‘Rude’, which since then has formed the southern part of the town, to Flensburg.

• Queen Margarethe I and King Erich receive Flensburg as security.

• War between the Danish Royal House and the Schauenburg Counts, who are supported by the Hansa towns to secure the Dukedom of Schleswig. Flensburg is in the centre of this conflict and is badly damaged.

• King Erich has the Duburg built to secure the monarchy (relinquished 1719).

• Flensburg’s City Parliament swears the oath of allegiance to Queen Margarethe I. of Denmark.

• The Duburg surrenders to the Schauenburgers.

• In the treaty of Vordingborg Duke Adolf VIII of Holstein is granted the Dukedom of Schleswig as an inherited fiefdom.
• Flensburg has ca. 3,000 inhabitants.

• Construction of the old town hall in the Rathausstraße (Town Hall Street).

• King Christian I of Denmark of the House of Oldenburg is elected Duke of Schleswig and Count of Holstein by the Schleswig-Holstein nobility. For Flensburg this means independence from Lübeck’s commercial supremacy and – until 1627 – the promotion to the status of most important trading town among the countries of the Danish Union, which comprises what are now Denmark, Sweden (until 1521), Norway (till 1814) and Schleswig-Holstein (till 1864).
• Written language: Middle Low German.
• Spoken language: Low Danish (sønderjysk).

• The town is permitted to charge a harbour fee.

• The town has 422 inhabited plots of land.

• The Reformation. The town has influence over schooling.

• King Christian III establishes a mint in Flensburg. (From 1350 – 1776, the valid currency in Flensburg is that of Lübeck).

• The Franciscan monastery St. Katharinen, the leper hospital St. Jürgen and other foundations are joined together to form the ‘Cloisters to the Holy Spirit’, which receives its own jurisdiction and administrative sovereignty.

• Policing decree: an urban constitution regulating the town walls, the bridge, the tradesmen, boatsmen, brewing, baking, slaughtering etc.

• The Latin school ‘Altes Gymanasium’ is founded.

• Flensburg falls out with Husum. This means the end of long and mutually advantageous co-operation in North to Baltic Sea trading.

• ‘Neustadt’ (Newtown), the district which later became the Johannis and Jürgen Streets, beyond the Angelburg Gate.

• Construction of the Market Hall (Schrangen) at the North Market by the parish of St. Marien.
• Construction of today’s North Gate in the course of the town’s expansion.

• Town boundaries laid down. The demarcation stones used have mostly remained in situ till today.
• Number of inhabitants: ca. 6,000.

• Construction of the Company gate with the town weighbridge.

• Construction of a thoroughfare to the south, what is now the ‘Rote Strasse’ and the street towards Schleswig and the construction of the ‘Red Gate’, demolished in 1874.

• The century marked by war. Flensburg loses its commercial importance to the benefit of Copenhagen and Hamburg.
• Written language: High German.
• Spoken language: Low German, Low Danish (sønderjysk).

• Establishment of the Flensburger ‘Commercium’, a fore-runner of the Chamber of Commerce.

• Foundation of a Greenlandic Company for Whaling and Sealing.

• Discontinuation of the collective agricultural community and incorporation into urban fields.
• Publication of Flensburg’s first newspaper.

• Beginning of voyages to the West Indies.

• Flensburg has ca. 11,500 inhabitants.

• Inauguration of a theatre.

• Permission to build beyond the North Gate (Nordertor), 1797 building construction started on the Neustadt (Newtown) (previously Ramsharde).

• Height of Flensburg’s commercial shipping with 271 ships and ca. 15,000 loads of freight. Severe commercial set-back due to the Napoleonic Wars and as a result of Norway’s cession to Sweden (1814).

• Establishment of a central cemetery for all the town’s churches – today’s ‘Alter Friedhof’ (the ‘Old Cemetery’), the first communal cemetery north of Göttingen.

• The first steam engine is put into operation at N.F. Friedrichsen’s oil mill at 15, Neustadt.

• The new normative is put into force, dealing with the members of the municipal authority and the councillors, and which confers more powers on the councillors.

• Schleswig-Holstein revolution (known to the Danes as the ‘Three-Year War’). Schleswig-Holstein demands independence as far as the Königsau as part of Germany while the nationalist Danes demand annexation as far as the Eider. After the Danes’ victory, Flensburg becomes capital of the Dukedom of Schleswig from 1851-1864.

• Gasworks set up.
• Inauguration of the railway Flensburg – Husum – Tönning.

• Construction of the ‘English Bridge’ for the transfer of goods brought by rail from the North Sea onto steamers on the Baltic.

• World recession. Flensburg’s traditional commercial structures are destroyed by bankruptcies.

• Contrary to the agreements signed in the ‘London Protocol’, the Dukedom of Schleswig and the Kingdom of Denmark join to become a federative state.

• The German government intervenes to restore the status quo. Prussia and Austria march into Schleswig and Jutland. After the Prussian conquest of the Düppel trenches, Denmark has to cede Schleswig and Holstein to Austria and Prussia.
• Permission granted for members of confessions other than Lutheran to settle in the town.
• The Catholic Hospital to St. Francis (Marienstraße 23/25, now Dorotheenstraße 36) is set up to continue nursing the war wounded.
• Inauguration of the railway Flensburg-Weiche – Padborg – Tnglev – Rødekro – Vojens.

• Fjord steamers are run for the first time by the Flensburg – Ekensund Steamer Company.

• Schleswig-Holstein is incorporated into Prussia. The interior customs point on the Königsau becomes the state border; the state border on the Elbe is abolished. This creates great economic problems for Flensburg, which are solved during the course of the 70’s (after the foundation of the Prussian Empire in 1871).

• Introduction of Prussian civic laws.
• Inauguration of the railway Flensburg – Jübek – Schleswig – Rendsburg.

• Setting-up of the Chamber of Commerce.

• Founding of Flensburg’s Shipbuilding Company.

• Establishment of voluntary fire-brigade.

• Opening of the Diakonieanstalt (Flensburg’s second hospital).

• Agriculture College opened.
• Flensburg has 26,474 inhabitants.

• Navigation College built at Munketoft.

• Flensburg’s Workers’ Housing Club founded as the first German Workers’ Housing Association.

• Opening of the central post office in the Rathausstraße.
• The first horse-drawn tram from Neustadt to the Angelburgerstraße is put into operation.

• The waterworks is put into operation.
• The law courts in Südergraben are built.

• The old Town Hall is demolished. The town council and administration move into the provisional Town Hall (Holm 7) until 1964.
• The Commercial College is opened.

• A city intercom system with 26 terminals is put into operation.

• The College for Nautical Engineering, later to become the University of Applied Sciences, is founded.

• The establishment of Flensburg’s export brewery.

• Flensburg becomes an administrative district in its own right.

• The first electricity plant is put into operation.
• Inauguration of the new town theatre in the Rathausstraße.

• The slaughter house is opened.

• The foundation of the Trade Corporation.
• Population at the census of 1.12: 48,922.

• Arts and crafts museum opened.

• Setting up of professional fire-brigade.

• Tram lines switched to electricity.
• The Flensburg Wharf with 42,504 BRT delivered tonnage heads the German wharf industry, directly followed by Blohm and Voss (42,110 BRT), Stettiner Vulkan (42,105 BRT).

• The Mürwik Naval College is opened.
• Flensburg has by far the greatest number of shipping companies after Hamburg and Bremen.

• Inauguration of the ‘Friedenshügel’ cemetery.

• Construction of a new electricity plant.

• First World war.

• Germany becomes Republic.

• Referendum in Dukedom of Schleswig. The first zone (North Schleswig) votes in an en-bloc election for Denmark, which receives 75% of the vote. On 14th March there is an election commune by commune in the second zone and in Flensburg. Flensburg decides with 75% of the vote to remain in Germany. The new border is drawn 5 km north of Flensburg. The economic consequences are serious. Flensburg loses almost half its sales area. The loss in turnover in Flensburg is on average about 30%. The town stagnates in the following years.
• The mill-stream is covered over.
Written language: High German.
• Spoken language: High German, Low German.

• Opening of the first sewage plant on the Lautrup brook (until 1963).

• Opening of the free harbour (closed 1935).

• Opening of the Schäferhaus airport.

• Opening of the 'Seegrenzschlachthofs' (until 1973).

• The inauguration of the stadium at Kielsenger Feld.
• Opening of the modern railway station.

• Radio mast put into operation.

• Beginning of the world recession. Flensburg is badly affected due to its economic weakness. In 1930 an increasing number of ships lie at anchor in the harbour. The Flensburg Shipbuilding Company (FSG) ceases to operate (until 1934). In 1930 there are 6,000 unemployed. The town’s welfare costs increase six-fold in comparison with 1913. In the same year the number of oaths of disclosure increases three-fold in comparison with 1924. The paper –processing plant closes temporarily. The number of unemployed reaches about 9,000.

• Opening of the ‘Deutsches Haus’.

• The central bus station – the first of its kind on Germany – is put into operation.

• The Nazis seize power, beginning of the Nazi dictatorship.
• Boycott of Jewish shops, burning of books on the ‘’Exe'.
• The Horn and the Schuldt shipping companies move to Hamburg.

• Renewal of a large part of the harbour bulwark.

• Founding of a Torpedo and Communications College in Flensburg-Mürwik (today: the Naval base and Telecommunications College).

• Construction of the tank barracks (Meiereistraße)

• Building of the barracks on the Danish border.
• The crematorium is put into operation.
• The destruction of the Jägerslust estate belonging to the Wolff family in the pogrom night of 9-10.11.1938.

• Census. The population reaches 70,871.

• Second World war.

• In May Flensburg and the ‘restricted area’ Mürwik round the Naval College is the refuge for several thousand members of the party, state and army.
• Occupation by Allied troops. Severe explosion at the harbour with 60 dead in June (after the end of the war).

• The consequences of the Nazi dictatorship and the war are long evident in the spiritual and moral collapse of Germany, the start of a new democracy and the formation of a strong Danish minority, with short-term evidence noticeable in the economic collapse and the stream of refugees and exiles.
• 1948: currency reform.
• 1949: the founding of the Federal Republic of Germany. The town has greatly benefited from Germany’s entry into the Common Market (1957), Denmark’s membership of EFTA (1960), the establishment of the EC (1967), and in particular from the customs union of the EC (1968) and Denmark’s entry into the EC (full membership since 1978).
• Written language: High German.
• Spoken language: High German, Low German, High Danish.

• Inauguration of the College of Further Education.

• Inauguration of a radio station (NWDR) next to the Deutsches Haus.
• In the census of 13.9. a population of 102,832 is counted.

• The federal office for the registration of vehicles is transferred from Bielefeld to Flensburg.

• The district railway (the local line Flensburg – Kappeln is closed).

• A branch of Danfoss starts production. It is the most important of a number of Danish firms, which get established just south of the border within the sphere of the Common Market; partly in Flensburg and partly in Harrislee.

• Census. After the programme to re-allocate refugees, in the fifties, the population sinks to 98,464.

• The water tower in the Volkspark and the new sewage plant Kielseng are put into operation.

• The new Town Hall at ‘Pferdewasser’ is finished.

• The federal office for the registration of vehicles moves to a new building in Mürwik.

• Opening of the sports hall for the Danish minority: the ‘Idraetshallen’ in the Moltkestraße.

• Completion of the west by-pass (till 1987 BAB 205, now BAB 200).
• The ‘Holm’ becomes a pedestrian precinct.

• The first supplies of district heating from the Department of Works.

• Census from 27.5.: 95,476 inhabitants.

• Inauguration of the waste processing plant to turn garbage into compost.
• The tram service is shut down.
• The 'Seegrenzschlachthof' is closed down.

• The first sod for the new building of the University of Applied Sciences is turned (the new buildings in the Kanzleistraße).

• The pedestrian precinct is extended to the ‘Große Straße’ and to the Norderstraße where a minimum of traffic is allowed.
• Agreement about the first plans to renovate the old town.
• The first renovation works started in the town centre.

• Opening of the section of the BAB 7 motorway between Jagel and Denmark including the border point ‘Ellund’.
• New central customs office moves into Waldstraße 20.
• The railway line Flensburg – Niebüll is shut down.

• The first buildings completed for the University of Applied Sciences in the Kanzleistraße are put into use.

• Building construction for a school centre at the Nikolaistrasse/Zur Exe begins (now known as the ‘Friesische Lücke’).

• The central post office in the Bahnhofstraße is completed.

• After the oil crisis 1973/1974, the increase in oil prices causes global economic weakness, which hits Flensburg particularly hard as well as long-term owing to the imbalance of its commercial structure. The number of unemployed in the town steadily increases until 1987 to over 17%, which is more than 6,000 people. Nearly 45% of the town’s budget is needed for welfare payments. The municipal authorities order restrictions in the budget on many occasions.
• The Harmstorf wharf and, so too, the FSG start insolvency proceedings, followed by bankruptcy proceedings.

• The new road lay-out for the B200 – with the south motorway junction – is opened.
• Inauguration of a Rudolf Steiner school.

• New buildings of the civic nursing home ‘Valentinerhof’ are opened.
• Flensburg celebrates its 700th anniversary with great celebrations in the town and at the harbour.
• Inauguration of the maritime museum in the old customs hall.

• The ‘Northern University’ is founded, running as a private enterprise. (1989 closed by the Schleswig-Holstein government.)
• The whole of the northern part of the old town and the districts of St. Johannis and St. Jürgen are included in the areas to be renovated (in total an area of ca. 96 ha).

• The first shopping arcade (Holm-Passage) is opened.

• Census of 25.5.: 86,554 inhabitants.

• A large extension to the University of Applied Sciences is opened.
• The new buildings for the telecommunications offices are finished.
• The first phase of construction for a ‘Centre for Trade and Technology’ in the Lise-Meitner-Straße is begun.

• The new 215-metre transmission mast on the ‘Fuchsberg’ in the district of Engelsby is put into operation. (The previous 216 metre mast in the district of Fruerlund is taken down in 1989/90.)
• The Clinic for Women and Children is opened.
• The ‘East Clinic’ is closed down.

• The ‘South Clinic’ for geriatrics is closed down.
• First citizens’ referendum is held (with the aim of preventing the proposed integrated comprehensive school).

• The integrated comprehensive school founded. The secondary modern school on the east of the town starts the gradual year by year process of closing down.
• The inauguration of the extension to the ‘Centre for Trade and Technology’.
• The first phase of construction for the eastern by-pass from the south Flensburg junction on the Eckernfördelandstraße is given the go-ahead. This by-pass is designed to remove traffic from the city centre.

• First general election for the senior citizens’ committee.
• Reduction of army units following deployment agreements with severe consequences for Flensburg.
• Inauguration of the first part of the Science centre ‘PHÄNOMENTA’.
• Expansion of the Maritime Museum to include the ‘Rum Museum’.

• The College of Further Education becomes the ‘University for Educational Sciences’.
• After several years’ conversion, the former main post office in the Rathausstrasse is opened as the ‘Old Post Office’ arcade.
• The ‘Hannah-Arendt-School’ moves to the new vocational school centre at the ‘Friesische Lücke’.
• A media centre is set up in the Jürgensby school.
• The central theme is the ‘Open Channel’ Founding of the Economic Development Company Flensburg/Handewitt (WEG).

• Opening of the North Arcade in the Norderfischerstraße.

• Establishment of the European Centre for Minority Issues in the Kompagnietor.
• Opening of the ‘Förde Park’ shopping centre with 30.000 sq.m of shops.
• Setting up of the Museum Wharf.

• The Women and Children’s Clinic is taken over by the ‘Diakonie’ Hospital.
• The Danish Church in South Schleswig is permitted to use the Church to the Holy Spirit.

• The new bus station is completed.
• The joint library of the University of Applied Sciences and the University for Educational Sciences is opened.
• The new Motorola works are opened in Flensburg-Weiche.

• First direct election for mayor; two ballots, on 13 June and run-off vote on 4 July.
• Redesign of Angelburger Straße to pedestrian area.

• Start of the second building phase of the Osttangente.
• Habour festival and large sailing event 'Sail 2000'.
• Start of construction of the Campushalle.

• The Flensburg Motorola plant remains.
• Completion of the Campushalle.
• Reopening of the Flensburg Science Museum in Museumsberg.

• Flensburg becomes the domicile for the 'Schule für Strategische Aufklärung' in the former telecommunication school – Federal President Johannes Rau visits Flensburg.

• Official opening of the new centre in what was 'Hotel Europa' (now 'Europa-Haus') with tourist information, mobility office, taxi office and Stadtwerke customer service centre.
• Flensburg’s last remaining traditional rum house, Johannsen, turns 125 years old.

• SG Flensburg-Handewitt wins the handball league for the first time.
• Opening of Marina Sonwik.
• Large events 'Schleswig-Holstein Day’ and 'Flensburg-Nautics'.
• Premiere of the first Flensburg marathon ('YOU!MM').

• Inauguration of the mayor Klaus Tscheuschner.
• Start of construction of the Flensburg Galerie.
• Cruise ships 'MS BREMEN' and 'MS EUROPA' visit Flensburg for the first time.

• October: formal opening of the Osttangente.
• November: Completion of the Walzenmühle.
• 22.12.: Agreement to an administrative partnership for Flensburg - Glücksburg.

• February: Opening of the Walzenmühle.
• March: Sale of land from the town hall to Sydbank (for construction).
• 28.03.: property owners in the city centre agree to the redevelopment of the pedestrian area (PACT-Quorum).
• April: Start of construction of the houses 'Lee & Luv' in Sonwik.
• 27.04.: Motorola announces the displacement of mobile phone production to China. Flensburg therefore loses 230 jobs.
• June: Start of work in the pedestrian area.
• 22.08.: Storm over Flensburg: nearly 57 litres of rain in 90 minutes! Cellars and streets are flooded; the fire brigade records around 200 deployments in to the early hours of the morning.
• 29.08.: Motorola displaces logistics. 650 employees are affected.
• 31.08.: Flensburg has more than 87,000 inhabitants again.
• November: Opening of the Flensburg-Galerie.

• Area of city: 5,674.2 hectares; increase due to buying land from Tastrup.
• 88,000 inhabitants (increasing tendency!).
• New partnership sealed: Apenrade, Flensburg and Sonderburg work more closely = 'border triangle'.
• 01.01.: Start of the administrative partnership Flensburg - Glücksburg.
• March: Opening of the Phänomenta extension.
• April: Council decision: new swimming pool for Flensburg.
• May: Local election - strongest fraction: WiF ('Wir in Flensburg').
• June: Herbert Grönemeyer gives a concert to 23,000 fans on the Exe.
• July: Start of work to renovate the Flensburg main station.
• 01.07.: Merger of the Flensburger Sparkasse and the Nord-Ostsee-Sparkasse to Nord-Ostsee-Sparkasse.
• 01.07.: August: Demolition of the Kailager building for the new construction 'Klarschiff'.
• November: Completion of the pedestrian area.

• Flensburg celebrates its 725^th city anniversary with a historic harbour festival and many other events. The city hall welcomes all citizens for an open day on 13 September.
• 1 January: Start of the joint vehicle registration office together with the county Schleswig-Flensburg.
• 15 January: The City of Flensburg exercises its pre-emptive right for the Motorola estate at Husumer Strasse 251, a fact which represents a central point of importance for the city development.
• 6 May: Visit of the Danish Crown Prince Frederik and his wife Mary in the Flensburg City Hall.
• 27 May: Danfoss announces its intention to move its compressor production to China in spring 2010. This causes Flensburg to lose 450 jobs.
• 7 July: Topping ceremony at the Campus Bad swimming hall.
• 11 November: Consecration of the chapel Campelle in the university grounds.

• 26 March: Opening of the new Campusbad swimming hall.
• 17 June: The city is forced to support the financial institute Nord-Ostsee Sparkasse with 14 million Euros. • 26 July: The first construction phase of the extension of the County Road 8 has been completed.
• 6 September: Start of the redevelopment project Fruerlund – "Multi Generation Housing".
• 27 October: End of restructuring measures at the Flensburg train station.
• 31 October & 21 November: Election for Lord Mayor with 9 candidates – Simon Faber becomes new Lord Mayor.
• 4 November: Press release: sale of the Motorola estate.
• 2 December: Groundbreaking ceremony for the industrial park 'Peelwatt'.

• 16 January: Inauguration of Lord Mayor Simon Faber.
• 1 February: The company Versatel announces that it will cut 186 jobs in Flensburg.
• 16 May: the first official naturalization ceremony takes place.
• 20 August: The airport Schäferhaus celebrates its 100^th anniversary.
• 10 September: The Idstedt Lion, a historic monument, returns to the old cemetery.