Aurich (;

East Frisian Low Saxon East Frisian Low German or East Frisian Low Saxon is one of the Northern Low Saxon dialects, a West Low German dialect spoken in the East Frisian peninsula of northwestern Lower Saxony. It is used quite frequently in everyday speech there. Ab ...

: ''Auerk'', West Frisian: ''Auwerk'', stq, Aurk) is a town in the East Frisian region of

Lower Saxony Lower Saxony (german: Niedersachsen ; nds, Neddersassen; stq, Läichsaksen) is a German state (') in northwestern Germany. It is the second-largest state by land area, with , and fourth-largest in population (8 million in 2021) among the 16 ...

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 the capital of the district of Aurich and is the second largest City in East Frisia, both in population, after Emden, and in area, after

Wittmund Wittmund is a town and capital of the district of Wittmund, in Lower Saxony, Germany. Geography Wittmund is a town of 21,000 inhabitants located in Germany's historic coastal district of East Frisia, between the towns of Aurich and Jever. The ...

History

The history of Aurich dates back to the 13th century, when the settlement of ''Aurechove'' was mentioned in a Frisian document called the '' Brokmerbrief'' in 1276. There are various hypotheses about the interpretation of the city name. It either refers to a person (Affo, East Frisian first name ) and his property (Reich) or it refers to waterworks on the fertile, water-rich lowland of the Aa (or Ehe) river, upon which the city was built; medieval realizations were Aurichove, Aurike, Aurikehove, Auerk, Auryke, Auwerckhove, Auwerick, Auwerck, Auwreke, Awerck, Awreke, Awrik, Auwerich and Aurickeshove . In 1517, Count Edzard from the House of

Cirksena The House of Cirksena () was the name of the ruling family of East Frisia, Ostfriesland. They descended from a line of East Frisian chieftains from Greetsiel. East Frisia In 1439, in the wake of clashes between different lines of chieftains, t ...

began rebuilding the town after an attack. In 1539, the land authorities were brought together in Aurich, making it the county capital and, later, East Frisia, remaining the seat of the land authorities when East Frisia was inherited by the

Kingdom of Prussia The Kingdom of Prussia (german: Königreich Preußen, ) was a German kingdom that constituted the state of Prussia between 1701 and 1918. Marriott, J. A. R., and Charles Grant Robertson. ''The Evolution of Prussia, the Making of an Empire''. ...

in 1744. After the Prussian Army was defeated in the Battle of Jena in 1807, Aurich became part of the

Kingdom of Holland The Kingdom of Holland ( nl, Holland (contemporary), (modern); french: Royaume de Hollande) was created by Napoleon Bonaparte, overthrowing the Batavian Republic in March 1806 in order to better control the Netherlands. Since becoming Empero ...

in 1808. In 1810, the Kingdom of Holland was annexed by France and Aurich was made the capital of the department

Ems-Oriental Ems-Oriental (, "Eastern Ems"; , ) was a department of the First French Empire in present-day Germany. It was formed in 1810, when the Kingdom of Holland was annexed by France. Its territory is part of the present-day German region of East Frisia ...

of the

First French Empire The First French Empire, officially the French Republic, then the French Empire (; Latin: ) after 1809, also known as Napoleonic France, was the empire ruled by Napoleon Bonaparte, who established French hegemony over much of continental E ...

. After Napoleon was defeated in 1814, it passed to the

Kingdom of Hanover The Kingdom of Hanover (german: Königreich Hannover) was established in October 1814 by the Congress of Vienna, with the restoration of George III to his Hanoverian territories after the Napoleonic era. It succeeded the former Electorate of Ha ...

in 1815, and then was annexed by Prussia in 1866 and made part of the

Province of Hanover The Province of Hanover (german: Provinz Hannover) was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia and the Free State of Prussia from 1868 to 1946. During the Austro-Prussian War, the Kingdom of Hanover had attempted to maintain a neutral position ...

. From 21 October 1944, until 23 December 1944, a

Nazi Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...

concentration camp Internment is the imprisonment of people, commonly in large groups, without charges or intent to file charges. The term is especially used for the confinement "of enemy citizens in wartime or of terrorism suspects". Thus, while it can simpl ...

was established in Aurich. The camp was a subcamp to the

Neuengamme concentration camp Neuengamme was a network of Nazi concentration camps in Northern Germany that consisted of the main camp, Neuengamme, and more than 85 satellite camps. Established in 1938 near the village of Neuengamme in the Bergedorf district of Hamburg, th ...

. 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 opposing ...

, Aurich became part of the new state of

Local council

The local council has 40 members The elections in September 2016 showed the following results *

SPD The Social Democratic Party of Germany (german: Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands, ; SPD, ) is a centre-left social democratic political party in Germany. It is one of the major parties of contemporary Germany. Saskia Esken has been t ...

: 13 seats * CDU: 11 seats *AWG 4 seats *Gemeinsam für Aurich (GfA), 4 seats * Alliance 90/The Greens 3 seats * The Left 2 seats *Grün-Alternative Politik (GAP)(Green alternative politics) 2 seats * FDP, 1 seat

Coat of arms

Aurich's coat of arms is drawn by the

blazon In heraldry and heraldic vexillology, a blazon is a formal description of a coat of arms, flag or similar emblem, from which the reader can reconstruct the appropriate image. The verb ''to blazon'' means to create such a description. The vi ...

: "Arms: Landscape with chief two-thirds sky and base third earth, a shield Gules emblazoned with letter ' A' Or, an open-topped

crown A crown is a traditional form of head adornment, or hat, worn by monarchs as a symbol of their power and dignity. A crown is often, by extension, a symbol of the monarch's government or items endorsed by it. The word itself is used, partic ...

Or above, two growing

tree In botany, a tree is a perennial plant with an elongated stem, or trunk, usually supporting branches and leaves. In some usages, the definition of a tree may be narrower, including only woody plants with secondary growth, plants that are ...

s Vert at sides. Crown: A

battlement A battlement in defensive architecture, such as that of city walls or castles, comprises a parapet (i.e., a defensive low wall between chest-height and head-height), in which gaps or indentations, which are often rectangular, occur at interv ...

Gules with three merlons and two embrasures. Supporters: Two

branch A branch, sometimes called a ramus in botany, is a woody structural member connected to the central trunk of a tree (or sometimes a shrub). Large branches are known as boughs and small branches are known as twigs. The term ''twig'' usually ...

es of mistletoe with leaves and

berries A berry is a small, pulpy, and often edible fruit. Typically, berries are juicy, rounded, brightly colored, sweet, sour or tart, and do not have a stone or pit, although many pips or seeds may be present. Common examples are strawberries, rasp ...

Or.". Note that the coat of arms of the district with the same name is different.

Twin towns – sister cities

Aurich is twinned with: *

Appingedam Appingedam (; gos, n Daam) is a city and former municipality in the northeastern Netherlands. Although there is no certainty as to the exact age of Appingedam, historical research demonstrates that the place in which the city would eventually b ...

, Netherlands

Notable people

* Liefmann Calmer (1711–1784), important personage in French Jewry of the eighteenth century *

Friedrich August Peter von Colomb Friedrich August Peter von Colomb (19 June 1775 – 12 November 1854) was a Prussian general. Biography Colomb was born in Aurich, Eastern Frisia as a son of the highranking Prussian public official (Geheimer Ober-Finanzrat und Kammerpräsidenten ...

(1775–1854),

Prussia Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an ...

n general *

Rudolf von Jhering Caspar Rudolph Ritter von Jhering (also Ihering) (22 August 1818 – 17 September 1892) was a German jurist. He is best known for his 1872 book ''Der Kampf ums Recht'' (''The Struggle for Law''), as a legal scholar, and as the founder of a ...

(1818–1892), jurist. *

Karl Heinrich Ulrichs Karl Heinrich Ulrichs (28 August 1825 – 14 July 1895) was a German lawyer, jurist, journalist, and writer who is regarded today as a pioneer of sexology and the modern gay rights movement. Ulrichs has been described as the "first gay man in ...

(1825–1895), writer *

Laura Hillman Laura Hillman (born Hannelore Wolff; October 16, 1923 – June 4, 2020) was a German-born American survivor of Holocaust concentration camps, including Auschwitz-Birkenau. She was also a '' Schindlerjude'', who survived the Holocaust with the ...

(1923–2020), American writer and memoirist, and

Holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; ...

survivor *

Rudolf Eucken Rudolf Christoph Eucken (; 5 January 184615 September 1926) was a German philosopher. He received the 1908 Nobel Prize in Literature "in recognition of his earnest search for truth, his penetrating power of thought, his wide range of vision, and ...

(1846–1926), philosopher, winner of the 1908

Nobel Prize for Literature ) , image = Nobel Prize.png , caption = , awarded_for = Outstanding contributions in literature , presenter = Swedish Academy , holder = Annie Ernaux (2022) , location = Stockholm, Sweden , year = 1901 , ...

. * Karl Deichgräber (1903–1984), classical philologist * Yitzhak Raveh (1906–1989), Israeli judge *

Aloys Wobben Aloys Wobben (22 January 1952 – 31 July 2021) was a German billionaire businessman, engineer, and the founder and owner of the wind turbine company Enercon. He was one of the 50 richest people in Germany, with a fortune estimated at €4.78 bi ...

(1952–2021), engineer *

Uwe Rosenberg Uwe Rosenberg (born 27 March 1970) is a German game designer and the co-founder of Lookout Games. He initially became known for his card game ''Bohnanza'', which was successful both in Germany and internationally. He is known for complex economic ...

(born 1970), board game designer * Paul Ronzheimer (born 1985), journalist and war correspondent

References

External links

* *Official German list of concentration camp
Record of the concentration camp and its sub-camps
{{Authority control Neuengamme concentration camp Aurich (district) Towns and villages in East Frisia