Ahrensbök (Holsatian: ''Ahrensböök'') is a municipality in the district of

Ostholstein Ostholstein (; da, Østholsten) is a district in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It is bounded by (from the southwest and clockwise) the districts of Stormarn, Segeberg and Plön, the Baltic Sea and the city of Lübeck. History The district was es ...

, in

Schleswig-Holstein Schleswig-Holstein (; da, Slesvig-Holsten; nds, Sleswig-Holsteen; frr, Slaswik-Holstiinj) is the northernmost of the 16 states of Germany, comprising most of the historical duchy of Holstein and the southern part of the former Duchy of Sch ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. It is situated approximately 17 km northwest of

Lübeck Lübeck (; Low German also ), officially the Hanseatic City of Lübeck (german: Hansestadt Lübeck), is a city in Northern Germany. With around 217,000 inhabitants, Lübeck is the second-largest city on the German Baltic coast and in the stat ...

, and 45 km southeast of

Kiel Kiel () is the capital and most populous city in the northern Germany, German state of Schleswig-Holstein, with a population of 246,243 (2021). Kiel lies approximately north of Hamburg. Due to its geographic location in the southeast of the J ...

History

Ahrensbök came into existence after the foundation here of a pilgrimage chapel in 1280. The first documentary reference to the settlement dates from 1328. In 1348 the place was devastated by the

Black Death The Black Death (also known as the Pestilence, the Great Mortality or the Plague) was a bubonic plague pandemic occurring in Western Eurasia and North Africa from 1346 to 1353. It is the most fatal pandemic recorded in human history, causi ...

. In 1397 the

Carthusian The Carthusians, also known as the Order of Carthusians ( la, Ordo Cartusiensis), are a Latin enclosed religious order of the Catholic Church. The order was founded by Bruno of Cologne in 1084 and includes both monks and nuns. The order has its ...

s founded a monastery here,

Ahrensbök Charterhouse Ahrensbök Charterhouse (German: ''Kartause Ahrensbök'') was a Carthusian monastery, or charterhouse, in Ahrensbök in Holstein, Germany. History Monastery The charterhouse was established in 1397. The estates with which it was endowed reached ...

, which helped the place grow in prominence. In 1564 the ''

Amt Amt is a type of administrative division governing a group of municipalities, today only in Germany, but formerly also common in other countries of Northern Europe. Its size and functions differ by country and the term is roughly equivalent to ...

'' Ahrensbök, or district of Ahrensbök, was established as a civil administration unit, and between 1593 and 1601 a castle was built, Schloss Hoppenbrook, on the site and with the materials of the charterhouse, which had been secularised in the 1580s during the

Protestant Reformation The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and in ...

and subsequently demolished. In 1623 Schloss Hoppenbrook became for a few years the residence of the newly established Duchy of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Plön, until the completion of the dukes' new castle at Plön in 1636, after which Schloss Hoppenbrook became a secondary residence. In 1746 Duke Friedrich Karl abolished

serfdom Serfdom was the status of many peasants under feudalism, specifically relating to manorialism, and similar systems. It was a condition of debt bondage and indentured servitude with similarities to and differences from slavery, which develop ...

in his duchy. In 1765, after the death of his widow, the castle was demolished. A cattle and horse market was established in the town in 1791, which was replaced in 1832 by a regular weekly market. On the site of the former castle the ''Amtshaus'', or town hall, was built in 1826. During the

Second Schleswig War The Second Schleswig War ( da, Krigen i 1864; german: Deutsch-Dänischer Krieg) also sometimes known as the Dano-Prussian War or Prusso-Danish War was the second military conflict over the Schleswig-Holstein Question of the nineteenth century. T ...

of 1864 Ahrensbök fell for a short time under the control of first the Austrians and then the Prussians. In 1867 a district court was established here. In the same year, after the

Austro-Prussian War The Austro-Prussian War, also by many variant names such as Seven Weeks' War, German Civil War, Brothers War or Fraternal War, known in Germany as ("German War"), (; "German war of brothers") and by a variety of other names, was fought in 186 ...

, the district of Ahrensbök was given to the

Grand Duchy of Oldenburg The Grand Duchy of Oldenburg (, also known as Holstein-Oldenburg) was a grand duchy within the German Confederation, North German Confederation and German Empire that consisted of three widely separated territories: Oldenburg, Eutin and Birke ...

as compensation for their hereditary claims on the newly-Prussian territory of

Holstein Holstein (; nds, label=Northern Low Saxon, Holsteen; da, Holsten; Latin and historical en, Holsatia, italic=yes) is the region between the rivers Elbe and Eider. It is the southern half of Schleswig-Holstein, the northernmost state of German ...

. On 3 September 1872 a great fire destroyed 22 houses and 10 other structures in Ahrensbök. In 1877 the area was divided in two, an urban district and a rural district. The railway line from Ahrensbök to Pönitz was opened with much ceremony in 1886. Between 1912 and 1933 Ahrensbök held the status of "Town (2nd Class)". In 1928 a private school was built in the Lindenstrasse, which has been used since 1950 as a ''

Mittelschule ''Mittelschule'' is a German term literally translating to "Middle School" (i.e. a level "intermediate" between elementary and higher education). It is used in various senses in the education systems of the various parts of German-speaking Europe, n ...

'' and ''

Realschule ''Realschule'' () is a type of secondary school in Germany, Switzerland and Liechtenstein. It has also existed in Croatia (''realna gimnazija''), the Austrian Empire, the German Empire, Denmark and Norway (''realskole''), Sweden (''realskola''), ...

''. Also in 1928 the town celebrated its 600th anniversary. In 1933 Ahrensbök lost its municipal status and became a ''

Gemeinde Gemeinde (; plural: Gemeinden) is a German word translating to "community", "town", "parish", or "municipality". Gemeinde may refer to: * An administrative division encompassing a single village, town, or city: ** Gemeinde (Austria) ** Gemeinde (G ...

'' (community) with 19 villages within the boundaries as they now are. The district court was abolished. In April 1945 Jewish prisoners from Fürstengrube, a satellite camp of

Auschwitz Auschwitz concentration camp ( (); also or ) was a complex of over 40 concentration and extermination camps operated by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland (in a portion annexed into Germany in 1939) during World War II and the Holocaust. It con ...

, were marched through Ahrensbök on the Fürstengrube death march. There is now a memorial here to the casualties. After

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

thousands of displaced persons and refugees were resettled here: the population rose from 5,063 in 1939 to 10,169 in 1950. During the local government reform of 1970 Ahrensbök together with the former

Eutin Eutin () is the district capital of Ostholstein, Eastern Holstein county located in the northern German state of Schleswig-Holstein. As of 2020, the town had some 17,000 inhabitants. History The name Eutin (originally Utin) is of Slavic origin. I ...

district became part of the

district. In 1972 the ''

Grundschule Education in Germany is primarily the responsibility of individual German States of Germany, states (), with the federal government playing a minor role. Optional Kindergarten, Kindergarden (nursery school) education is provided for all child ...

'' and ''

Hauptschule A ''Hauptschule'' (, "general school") is a secondary school in Germany, starting after four years of elementary schooling (''Grundschule''), which offers Lower Secondary Education (Level 2) according to the International Standard Classification ...

'' was re-established as a village group school (''Dörfergemeinschaftsschule''), when the separate village schools were closed. In 1982 the ZOB plant was built in the Lindenstrasse. Since March 1985 the local government administration of the ''Gemeinde'' has been accommodated in the new town hall ('' Rathaus'') near the site of the former castle and the ''Amtshaus'' (demolished in 1983). In 1988 the railway line was closed.

People connected with Ahrensbök

Friedrich Bleek Friedrich Bleek (4 July 1793, in Ahrensbök in Holstein (a village near Lübeck)27 February 1859, in Bonn), was a German Biblical scholar. Life At 16 Bleek's father sent him to the gymnasium at Lübeck, where he became so interested in ancient lang ...

(1793 in Ahrensbök – 1859, in Bonn) was a German Biblical scholar. * Nelly Mann (1898–1944), wife of

Heinrich Mann Luiz Heinrich Mann (; 27 March 1871 – 11 March 1950), best known as simply Heinrich Mann, was a German author known for his Social criticism, socio-political novels. From 1930 until 1933, he was president of the fine poetry division of the ...

* Gerhard Steen (1923–1990), politician (SPD)

References

General and cited sources

* Brather, Jürgen, 1990: ''Ahrensbök in Großherzoglich-Oldenburgischer Zeit 1867–1919''. Ahrensbök. . * Fick, Norbert, 1978: ''Ahrensbök in alten Ansichten''. Zaltbommel: Verlag Europäische Bibliothek. .

Citations

External links