City History
It may be that dinosaurs played here and that later Harald Bluetooth's Viking ship ploughed through the Flensburg Fjord. We don’t know for sure – ever since historical times the old Heerweg (ancient military trail), also called Ochsenweg, has connected Jutland with the European heartland from north to south, and crossed the trade route from Angeln to Friesland in front of the gates of the city of Flensburg. Where streets and sea meet is an ideal place for settlements. And so, in the innermost corner of Flensburg Fjord, a trading settlement grew up around the oldest church, St. Johannis. According to legend, in the 12th century the knight Fleno built his fortified city here and demanded money from tradespeople passing through.
If you would like to find out more about the history of Flensburg, search for traces of your ancestors in Flensburg, or if you are interested in German-Danish history, then visit the Flensburg city archive. You can look at original documents and obtain information and tips on further reading. The city archive can be found in the Flensburg city hall.
You will find a tabular display about the development of the city and its national political background in the "Chronology of the history of Flensburg" ("Zeittafel zur Flensburger Stadtgeschichte"), which appears in "Flensburg in Geschichte und Gegenwart" ("Flensburg Past and Present"), 1972, page 385 onwards. (For a short version of the background to the city‘s history see: "700 Jahre Flensburg - eine kleine Stadtgeschichte" ("700 years of Flensburg – a brief history of the city"), Flensburg Kl.R.F.St. Edition11, 1984). Recording of recent years and also constant updating are done in consultation with the city archive.
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.
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In the 16th century Flensburg grew into a rich and important trading town and, with 5,000 inhabitants and 200 ships, it was the largest trading centre of the Danish crown, larger and more important than either Hamburg or Copenhagen at the time.
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At the start of the 19th century, the question of nationality led to hefty conflicts between those loyal to Schleswig-Holstein and those who wished to remain under Denmark’s state rule.
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The outcome of World War I hit Flensburg hard. After a referendum, the present border was fixed in 1920. North Schleswig became part of Denmark and Flensburg, a border town.
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The post-war years were marked by reconstruction and good relations with Denmark and the whole of Scandinavia. The co-existence of Denmark and Germany with their minorities on each side of the border has become a model for the Europe of the future.
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