Albersdorf is a municipality in the district of

Dithmarschen Dithmarschen (, Northern Low Saxon, Low Saxon: ; archaic English: ''Ditmarsh''; da, Ditmarsken; la, label=Medieval Latin, Tedmarsgo) is a district in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It is bounded by (from the north and clockwise) the districts of ...

, 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 near the

Kiel Canal The Kiel Canal (german: Nord-Ostsee-Kanal, literally "North- oEast alticSea canal", formerly known as the ) is a long freshwater canal in the German state of Schleswig-Holstein. The canal was finished in 1895, but later widened, and links the N ...

, approx. 14 km southeast of

Heide Heide (; Holsatian: ''Heid'') is a town in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It is the capital of the ''Kreis'' (district) Dithmarschen. Population: 21,000. The German word ''Heide'' means "heath". In the 15th century four adjoining villages decided ...

. The place was first mentioned in 1281 under the name ''Aluerdesdorpe'', meaning "village of the old custodian." Albersdorf is part of 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 ...

Mitteldithmarschen Mitteldithmarschen is an '' Amt'' ("collective municipality") in the district of Dithmarschen, in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. Its seat is in Meldorf Meldorf (Holsatian: ''Meldörp'' or ''Möldörp'') is a town in western Schleswig-Holstein, Germ ...

Geography

There are many

tumuli A tumulus (plural tumuli) is a mound of earth and stones raised over a grave or graves. Tumuli are also known as barrows, burial mounds or ''kurgans'', and may be found throughout much of the world. A cairn, which is a mound of stones buil ...

from the

Neolithic The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several parts ...

and the

Bronze Age The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second pri ...

in this region. It is situated in the east of the Dithmarschen, close to the

. The area is called a ''geest''—a sandy heathland with numerous hills and forests. Albersdorf is a spa town visited for its pure air. It is therefore a popular touristic centre of the Dithmarschen.

Economy

The biggest employer in Albersdorf was the

Bundeswehr The ''Bundeswehr'' (, meaning literally: ''Federal Defence'') is the armed forces of the Federal Republic of Germany. The ''Bundeswehr'' is divided into a military part (armed forces or ''Streitkräfte'') and a civil part, the military part con ...

with more than 780 jobs. However, in November 2007 the army base was closed. Now it's used by many companies to store materials.

Culture

The Archeologic-Ecological Center tries to recreate the

cultural landscape Cultural landscape is a term used in the fields of geography, ecology, and heritage studies, to describe a symbiosis of human activity and environment. As defined by the World Heritage Committee, it is the "cultural properties hatrepresent the co ...

of the

5,000 years ago, on the area of 40,000 m². The aim is to create a

pasture Pasture (from the Latin ''pastus'', past participle of ''pascere'', "to feed") is land used for grazing. Pasture lands in the narrow sense are enclosed tracts of farmland, grazed by domesticated livestock, such as horses, cattle, sheep, or swine ...

, settled by the first farmers. In 1999 the center has opened a stone age village in which visitors are shown the technics of that time. In the town centre there is the spa park with an open-air stage for 2,000 people. In Albersdorf there is the oldest

folk high school Folk high schools (also ''Adult Education Center'', Danish: ''Folkehøjskole;'' Dutch: ''Volkshogeschool;'' Finnish: ''kansanopisto'' and ''työväenopisto'' or ''kansalaisopisto;'' German: ''Volkshochschule'' and (a few) ''Heimvolkshochschule;'' ...

on German soil, which is still open today. At the time it was founded,

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 ...

was under Danish administration. In the rest of Germany, folk high schools were not introduced until the formation of the

Weimar Republic The Weimar Republic (german: link=no, Weimarer Republik ), officially named the German Reich, was the government of Germany from 1918 to 1933, during which it was a constitutional federal republic for the first time in history; hence it is al ...

in 1919. On March 29, 1933,

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...

was made an honorary citizen of Albersdorf.

Notable events

For more than a century now, Albersdorf celebrates the ''Pfingstvolksfest'' (Pentecost festival), visited by several thousand people each year.

References

{{Authority control Dithmarschen

Geography

Economy

Culture

Notable events

See also

References