Geesthacht

Geesthacht

Coat of arms
Geesthacht

Coordinates: 53°26′N 10°22′E / 53.433°N 10.367°E / 53.433; 10.367Coordinates: 53°26′N 10°22′E / 53.433°N 10.367°E / 53.433; 10.367
Country Germany
State Schleswig-Holstein
District Lauenburg
Government
  Mayor Dr. Volker Manow
Area
  Total 33.18 km2 (12.81 sq mi)
Population (2013-12-31)[1]
  Total 29,363
  Density 880/km2 (2,300/sq mi)
Time zone CET/CEST (UTC+1/+2)
Postal codes 21498–21502
Dialling codes 04152
Vehicle registration RZ
Website www.geesthacht.de

Geesthacht (German pronunciation: [ɡeːstˈhaxt]) is the largest city in the District of the Duchy of Lauenburg (Herzogtum Lauenburg) in Schleswig-Holstein in Northern Germany, 34 km southeast of Hamburg on the right bank of the river Elbe.

History

Politics

At present, the city council is composed as follows:

CDU SPD GRÜNE FDP Linke Offensive D Total
2009 12 10 5 4 2 0 33
2003 17 12 3 2 0 2 36

Independent Mayor Dr. Volker Manow, who replaced Ingo Fokken after his unexpected death on June 29, 2009, was elected on December 13, 2009.

Twin towns

Economics and transportation

Geesthacht is a major energy and scientific research center. It has the Krümmel Nuclear Power Plant (closed 2011 after Fukushima - "Atomausstieg"), a boiling water nuclear reactor on the River Elbe, and a pumped storage hydroelectrical plant situated within a few hundreds metres of the nuclear power plant. It consists of an artificial lake 80m above the river, where the water is pumped up from, and storage for later use in generating electricity when demand is high.

State institutions

Leisure and sports sites

Theatre

Museums

Personalities

Honorary citizens

Trivia

The conservative politician Uwe Barschel, who was later involved in the "Waterkantgate" scandal, took his Abitur at the Otto-Hahn-Gymnasium in Geesthacht and as a student representative invited former Nazi admiral Dönitz to give a presentation on the topic of 'The Modernisation of History Classes' ("Aktualisierung des Geschichtsunterrichts"). Following the scandal, his principal committed suicide under the ensuing pressure.[2]

Literature

References

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Sunday, June 21, 2015. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.