Everything about Kiel totally explained
» For the city in the United States, see Kiel, Wisconsin. For the name see Kiel (name).
Kiel is the
capital of the northernmost
German state,
Schleswig-Holstein. It is located on the eastern side of the base of the
Jutland peninsula in the southeast corner of the
Baltic Sea. Located on the
Bay of Kiel at the head of the
Kiel Fjord, the city has been one of the country's main
naval bases since the 1860s, a centre for German shipbuilders, and the eastern terminus of the busiest artificial waterway in the world, the
Kiel Canal.
Kiel is famous for its
sailing events, including
Kiel Week, the biggest sailing event in the world. In 1936 and 1972, when the
Olympic Games were held in
Berlin and
Munich respectively, the Olympic sailing competitions were held in Kiel-
Schilksee. It had a population of 232,340 as of
31 December 2006.
A renowned university, the
Christian-Albrechts-Universität Kiel (established 1665), is located in Kiel. The city is served by
Kiel-Holtenau airport. The largest local newspaper is the
Kieler Nachrichten.
History
The Kiel Fjord was first settled by
Normans or
Vikings who would colonize the land along their raids for many years staying in German villages. This is recorded by the geography and architecture of the fjord. Kiel was first originally founded in 1233 as
Holstenstadt tom Kyle by Count
Adolf IV, and granted
Lübeck city rights in 1242 by Adolf's eldest son,
John I of Schauenburg.
Kiel, the capital of
Holstein, was a member of the
Hanseatic League from 1284 until it was expelled in 1518 for harbouring
pirates. In 1431, the
Kieler Umschlag (trade fair) was first held, which became the central market for goods and money in Schleswig-Holstein until it began to lose significance from 1850 on, being held for the last time in 1900. The
University of Kiel was founded on
29 September,
1665, by
Christian Albert, Duke of
Holstein-Gottorp. A number of important scholars, including
Theodor Mommsen and
Max Planck, studied or taught there.
From 1773 to 1864, the town belonged to the King of
Denmark. However, because the king ruled Holstein as a fief of the
Holy Roman Empire only through a
personal union, the town wasn't incorporated as part of Denmark proper. Thus Kiel belonged to Germany but was ruled by the Danish king. Even though the Empire was abolished in 1806, the Danish king continued to rule Kiel only through his position as Duke of Holstein. When
Schleswig and Holstein rebelled against Denmark in 1848 (the
First Schleswig War), Kiel became the capital of Schleswig-Holstein until the Danish victory in 1852.
During the
Second Schleswig War in 1864, Kiel and the rest of Schleswig and Holstein were conquered by a
German Confederation alliance of the
Austrian Empire and the
Kingdom of Prussia. After the war Kiel was briefly administered by both the Austrians and the Prussians, but the
Austro-Prussian War in 1866 led to the annexation of Kiel by Prussia in 1867. On
24 March,
1865, King
William I based Prussia's Baltic Sea fleet out of Kiel instead of
Danzig (Gdańsk).
When William I of Prussia became Emperor
William I of the
German Empire in 1871, he designated Kiel and
Wilhelmshaven as
Reichskrieghafen, or "Imperial War Harbour". Because of its new role as Germany's main naval base, Kiel quickly increased in size in the following years, from 18,770 in 1864 to about 200,000 in 1910. Much of the old town centre and other surroundings were leveled and redeveloped to provide for the growing city. Kiel was the site of the
sailors' mutiny which sparked the
German Revolution in late 1918.
At the end of World War I the German fleet stationed at Kiel was sent out on a last glorious mission against the British navy. This was a suicide mission that wouldn't have achieved much, so the men stationed on the ships decided they'd nothing to lose and refused to leave the relative safety of the port. The lack of response to this from the government was partly to blame for the revolution that soon followed and therefore the rise of the
Weimar Republic.
Kiel was the site of several camps, which provided
slave labour for local industry during
World War II.Because of its status as a naval port and as production site for submarines, Kiel was heavily bombed by the
Allies during the war; it's estimated that 80% of the remaining old town, 72% of the residential areas, and 83% of the industrial areas were destroyed. The city was rebuilt after the war, but city planners failed to revive the former cityscape; Kiel was less meticulously restored than other towns in Schleswig-Holstein like
Lübeck,
Flensburg, or
Schleswig.
In 1946, Kiel was named the seat of government for Schleswig-Holstein, and it officially became the state's capital in 1972. The
Kieler Umschlag has been held again yearly since 1975. It is now a festival with music and food stalls, historical costumes, special bread, and a wedding, the
Umschlagshochzeit for which every young bride and groom can apply. Above all, Kiel is most famous for its
Kiel Week sailing festival held annually in June.
Main sights
In the vicinity of Kiel are seaside resorts such as Kiel-
Strande, Kiel-Schilksee,
Möltenort and
Laboe. Laboe has an important
naval memorial, as well as the WWII-era submarine
U-995, a popular tourist site since 1972.
Sights in Kiel include:
Economy
Kiel is the home of
HDW Howaldtswerke Deutsche Werft GmbH, a
shipyard founded in 1838 famed for its construction of
submarines. HDW built the first German submarine
Brandtaucher in 1850, and is today a subsidiary of
ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems, the leading German group of shipyards.
Notable people
Notable residents
Ernst Busch, actor, writer & collector of songs
Sven Böge, composer
Kirsten Harms, opera director
Rudolf Hell, inventor
Johannes Wolfgang Willy Friedlieb Heuer
August Howaldt, founder of Howaldtswerke
Otto Kretschmer, U-boat commander
Georg Landsberg, mathematician
Carl Loewe, composer
Peter III of Russia
Max Planck, physicist
Karl Leonhard Reinhold, philosopher
Adolf Remane, zoologist
Ernst von Salomon, writer
Ernst Steinitz, mathematician
Ferdinand Tönnies, sociologist
Carl Zuckmayer, writer and playwright
Tomma Abts, painter and 2006 Turner Prize winner (born in Kiel but resident in London)
Ulrich Schnauss, electronic musician
Important historic mayors and lord mayors of Kiel
1688 - 1720: Asmus Bremer
1730 - 1732: Ernst Joachim von Westphalen
1920 - 1933: Emil Lueken (removed from office by the Nazis)
Lord mayors after World War II
1946 - 1954: Andreas Gayk (SPD)
1954 - 1965: Hans Müthling (SPD)
1965 - 1980: Günther Bantzer (SPD)
1980 - 1994: Karl-Heinz Luckhardt (SPD)
1994 - 1997: Otto Kelling (SPD)
1997 - 2003: Norbert Gansel (SPD)
2003 - today: Angelika Volquartz (CDU)
Sister towns
Kiel is twinned with:
Brest, France (1964)
Coventry, United Kingdom (1967)
Vaasa, Finland (1967)
Gdynia, Poland (1985)
Tallinn, Estonia (1986 — at that time in the )
Stralsund, Germany (1987 — at that time in )
Kaliningrad, Russia (1992)
Sovetsk, Russia (1992)Further Information
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