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Itzehoe
Town
Center of the town
Coat of arms
Location of Itzehoe within Steinburg district
Itzehoe Show map of GermanyItzehoe Show map of Schleswig-Holstein
Coordinates: 53°55′30″N 9°30′59″E / 53.92500°N 9.51639°E / 53.92500; 9.51639
Country	Germany
State	Schleswig-Holstein
District	Steinburg
Government
• Mayor	Ralf Hoppe (Ind.)
Area
• Total	28.03 km (10.82 sq mi)
Elevation	22 m (72 ft)
Population
• Total	32,258
• Density	1,200/km (3,000/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+01:00 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+02:00 (CEST)
Postal codes	25501−25524
Dialling codes	04821
Vehicle registration	IZ
Website	www.itzehoe.de

Itzehoe (German: [ɪtsəˈhoː] ; Low German: Itzhoe) is a town in Schleswig-Holstein in northern Germany.

As the capital of the district Steinburg, Itzehoe is located on the Stör, a navigable tributary of the Elbe, 51 km (31.7 mi) northwest of Hamburg and 24 km (14.9 mi) north of Glückstadt. The population is about 32,530.

History

Itzehoe is one of the oldest towns in Holstein. As early as 810 AD, Charlemagne built the Esesfeld castle in the Oldenburgskuhle, 2 kilometres from the later town, as protection against the Danes marauding from the north, but this has no direct connection with the development of Itzehoe. Under its protection, Archbishop Ebbo of Reims built a small monastery or prayer house, the ‘Cella Lila’, in the summer of 823 in what is now Münsterdorf as a base for the Christian mission he initiated in Denmark. The larger Echeho Castle, built around 1000 in the nearby meander of the River Stör, became the nucleus of a settlement that developed into a trading town, favoured by the granting of the Lübeck rights (1238), combined with freedom from customs duties, which at that time was only granted to Hamburg in the country, and later the right to stack goods (1260). During this time, Itzehoe was involved in the salt, cloth and grain trade and was at times an important hub in European east-west trade. Further settlements developed on the other side of the river around the monastery courtyard (around 1260) and around the Church of St. Laurentii (first mentioned in 1196).

During the Thirty Years' War Itzehoe was twice destroyed by the Swedes, in 1644 and 1657, but was rebuilt on each occasion. It was under Danish rule until the Second Schleswig War of 1864, when it was occupied by Austria. In 1867, it passed to Prussia, and in 1871 it became part of the newly established German Empire.

Itzehoe was listed as a garrison depot (Wehrkreis X (Hamburg)) of the former 225th Infantry Division, which was implicated in the 1940 Vinkt Massacre in Belgium.

Following the joint German-Soviet invasion of Poland, which started World War II in September 1939, it was the location of the Oflag X-A prisoner-of-war camp for Polish officers, which was eventually relocated to Sandbostel in 1941. During the war, Itzehoe was not initially a primary target for the Allied strategic bombing campaign, but was hit by an Allied bombing raid very late in the war, when Allied carpet bombing on 2 May 1945 (just two days before the German surrender at Lüneburg Heath) caused 22 fatalities in the city.

Until it was filled in with around 110,000 m3 of sand in 1974, a bend in the River Stör had a decisive influence on the appearance of Itzehoe town centre. The bend was the original course of the river. The Stör crossing (low german ‘Delf’, from which the names “Delftor” and “Delftorbrücke” of the town exit and the Störbrücke bridge originate) turned Itzehoe's castle complex into an island. There are said to have been sluices in the delta that closed when the water ran out, forcing the water to flow through and clean the bend. After their removal, the river increasingly silted up and developed into an almost stagnant, foul-smelling body of water. The old town centre, the ‘Neustadt’ (new town), could only be reached via bridges. In the course of the redevelopment of the ‘Neustadt’, during which almost all the houses on this former island were demolished and replaced by new buildings and new streets were laid out, this element that characterised the town became extinct. Only a few artificially created water basins between the new theatre and Salzstraße are reminders of the original course of the loop.

In order to improve the cityscape again, an initiative was launched in 2011 with the aim of promoting the reopening of the filled-in Störschleife in the centre of Itzehoe. In 2017, the entire city centre was declared a redevelopment area. The restoration of the Störschleife was explicitly named as a goal. On 26 September 2021, the residents of Itzehoe voted by 7707 votes in favour of restoring the Stör bend. Concrete plans for implementation have been underway since August 2022. In February 2023, the winning design was to be presented by one of nine planning teams.

In the 1990s, the Fraunhofer Institute for Silicon Technology ISIT was established on the northern edge of Itzehoe. Many chip research and high-tech companies have since settled around this institute on the InnoQuarter Itzehoe industrial estate. As a result, Itzehoe is increasingly developing into a centre of high technology in northern Germany.

Climate

Itzehoe has an oceanic climate (Cfb in the Köppen climate classification).

Sights

The Church of St. Laurentii and the building in which the Holstein estates formerly met are noteworthy. The town has a convent founded in 1256, many schools, a hospital and other benevolent institutions.

Itzehoe is also the location of the Wenzel Hablik Museum which is dedicated to the work of the utopian and expressionist artist architect Wenzel Hablik, who settled in Itzehoe in 1907, where he pursued architectural and interior design projects. Hablik produced designs for furniture, textiles, tapestries, jewellery, cutlery and wallpaper. In 1917, he married the German weaver and textile designer Elisabeth Lindemann (1879-1960). They shared a workshop and a studio in Itzehoe.

Transport

Itzehoe is situated at the Marsh Railway and offers connections to Hamburg and the island of Sylt.

During the period up to and including the Wacken Open Air festival many festival goers depart for the festival from Itzehoe using the 'Metal Shuttle Bus’, which leaves from near Itzehoe station. During this time the town can become very overcrowded and inundated with traffic.

Twin towns – sister cities

Itzehoe is twinned with:

• Cirencester, England, United Kingdom
• La Couronne, France
• Pasłęk, Poland

Notable people

• Adolf IV of Holstein (before 1205–1261), a Count of Schauenburg (1225–1238)
• Johannes Loccenius (1598–1677), a German jurist and historian
• Joachim Irgens von Westervick (1611–1675), Dano-Norwegian official and estate owner, important financial magnate and entrepreneur
• Bendix Grodtschilling (ca 1620 – 1690), a Danish painter and carpenter.
• Werner Fabricius (1633–1679), organist and composer
• Bendix Grodtschilling the Younger (1655–1707), a Danish painter.
• Ludvig Nicolaus von Scheele (1796–1874), a Danish statesman, Danish Foreign Minister, 1855 to 1857.
• Carl Julian (von) Graba (1799–1874), German lawyer and ornithologist who visited and studied the Faroe Islands
• Peter Christoph Hagemann (1810–1853), neoclassical Danish architect
• Hans Peder Pedersen-Dan (1859–1939), a Danish sculptor.
• Elisabeth Lindemann (1879–1960), weaver, textile designer and photographer; lived locally from 1917.
• Bruno Adler, (DE Wiki) (1896–1954), Bishop of the German Christians
• Erika Thimey (1910–2006), dancer and dance educator, mainly based in Washington, D.C.
• Sabine Sinjen (1942–1995), film actress
• Jerzy Janeczek (1944–2021), Polish theater and film actor.
• Antje Blumenthal (born 1947), politician
• Sylvia Convey (born 1948), Latvian-Australian artist
• Olaf Berner (born 1949), teacher and handball player
• Heiger Ostertag (born 1953), historian and novelist.
• Thomas Gerull (born 1962), fencer, team silver medalist at the 1988 Summer Olympics
• Sven Butenschön (born 1976), ice hockey player
• Lisa Tomaschewsky (born 1988), film and TV actress.

References

1. "Bevölkerung der Gemeinden in Schleswig-Holstein 4. Quartal 2022" (XLS) (in German). Statistisches Amt für Hamburg und Schleswig-Holstein.
2. ^  One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Itzehoe". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 15 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 87.
3. Megargee, Geoffrey P.; Overmans, Rüdiger; Vogt, Wolfgang (2022). The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Encyclopedia of Camps and Ghettos 1933–1945. Volume IV. Indiana University Press, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. p. 261. ISBN 978-0-253-06089-1.
4. Irmisch, Rudolf (1960). "Die Zeit des Nationalsozialismus (1933–1945)". Geschichte der Stadt Itzehoe. Itzehoe: Gruner & Sohn. pp. 424–439.
5. Vgl. Dagmar Vorbeck, in: Stadt Itzehoe (Hrsg.): Itzehoe. Geschichte einer Stadt in Schleswig-Holstein. Bd. II, S. 390.
6. Andreas Olbertz Lars Peter Ehrich (2021-09-27). "Bürgerentscheid in Itzehoe endet mit klarem Ja zur Störschleife | SHZ" (in German). Retrieved 2023-02-04.
7. "World Meteorological Organization Climate Normals for 1991–2020". World Meteorological Organization Climatological Standard Normals (1991–2020). National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Archived from the original on 12 October 2023. Retrieved 12 October 2023.
8. "Extremwertanalyse der DWD-Stationen, Tagesmaxima, Dekadenrekorde, usw" (in German). DWD. Retrieved 18 November 2023.
9. "Städtepartnerschaften". itzehoe.de (in German). Itzehoe. Retrieved 2021-02-15.

External links

• Itzehoe Notgeld (emergency banknotes) depicting the inflation of staple prices in Germany between 1913 and 1921

v t e Towns and municipalities in Steinburg
Aasbüttel Aebtissinwisch Agethorst Altenmoor Auufer Bahrenfleth Beidenfleth Bekdorf Bekmünde Besdorf Blomesche Wildnis Bokelrehm Bokhorst Borsfleth Breitenberg Breitenburg Brokdorf Brokstedt Büttel Christinenthal Dägeling Dammfleth Drage Ecklak Elskop Engelbrechtsche Wildnis Fitzbek Glückstadt Grevenkop Gribbohm Hadenfeld Heiligenstedten Heiligenstedtenerkamp Hennstedt Herzhorn Hingstheide Hodorf Hohenaspe Hohenfelde Hohenlockstedt Holstenniendorf Horst Huje Itzehoe Kaaks Kaisborstel Kellinghusen Kiebitzreihe Kleve Kollmar Kollmoor Krempdorf Krempe Kremperheide Krempermoor Kronsmoor Krummendiek Kudensee Lägerdorf Landrecht Landscheide Lockstedt Lohbarbek Looft Mehlbek Moordiek Moorhusen Mühlenbarbek Münsterdorf Neuenbrook Neuendorf bei Elmshorn Neuendorf-Sachsenbande Nienbüttel Nortorf Nutteln Oelixdorf Oeschebüttel Oldenborstel Oldendorf Ottenbüttel Peissen Pöschendorf Poyenberg Puls Quarnstedt Rade Reher Rethwisch Rosdorf Sankt Margarethen Sarlhusen Schenefeld Schlotfeld Siezbüttel Silzen Sommerland Stördorf Störkathen Süderau Vaale Vaalermoor Wacken Warringholz Westermoor Wewelsfleth Wiedenborstel Willenscharen Wilster Winseldorf Wittenbergen Wrist Wulfsmoor

• Towns in Schleswig-Holstein
• Steinburg
• Towns in Germany