Calbe (official name: ''Calbe (Saale)'') is a town in the district of
Salzlandkreis
Salzland is a district in the middle of Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Its area is . It is bounded by (from the west and clockwise) the districts Harz, Börde, Magdeburg, Jerichower Land, Anhalt-Bitterfeld, Mansfeld-Südharz and Saalekreis.
History
T ...
, in
Saxony-Anhalt
Saxony-Anhalt (german: Sachsen-Anhalt ; nds, Sassen-Anholt) is a state of Germany, bordering the states of Brandenburg, Saxony, Thuringia and Lower Saxony. It covers an area of
and has a population of 2.18 million inhabitants, making it the ...
,
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 ...
.
Geography
It is situated on the river
Saale
The Saale (), also known as the Saxon Saale (german: Sächsische Saale) and Thuringian Saale (german: Thüringische Saale), is a river in Germany and a left-bank tributary of the Elbe. It is not to be confused with the smaller Fränkische Saale, ...
, approx. north of
Bernburg
Bernburg (Saale) is a town in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany, capital of the Salzlandkreis district. The former residence of the Anhalt-Bernburg princes is known for its Renaissance architecture, Renaissance castle.
Geography
The town centre is situated ...
, and southeast of
Magdeburg
Magdeburg (; nds, label=Low Saxon, Meideborg ) is the capital and second-largest city of the German state Saxony-Anhalt. The city is situated at the Elbe river.
Otto I, the first Holy Roman Emperor and founder of the Archdiocese of Magdebur ...
. It is known as Calbe an der Saale, to distinguish it from the smaller town of
Kalbe on the Milde in the same state.
Historically it was a railway junction, and among its industries were wool-weaving and the manufacture of cloth, paper, stoves, sugar and bricks. Cucumbers and onions were cultivated, and soft coal was mined in the neighborhood.
The town has a
statue of Roland outside its city hall. Roland is a symbol who represents many small and medium-sized towns in Saxony-Anhalt, symbolising free trade and prosperity. The town also has a very old church , and a tower known as the "Hexenturm" ("Witchtower"), in which the townspeople imprisoned accused witches and tortured them in the Middle Ages.
The river Saale runs on the east side of the town, and over a
weir
A weir or low head dam is a barrier across the width of a river that alters the flow characteristics of water and usually results in a change in the height of the river level. Weirs are also used to control the flow of water for outlets of l ...
. This is a small kind of dam where the water flows over the structure allowing passage of shallow draft barges up or down — moreover rather than being channeled through it the water is used off this flow to generate
energy
In physics, energy (from Ancient Greek: ἐνέργεια, ''enérgeia'', “activity”) is the quantitative property that is transferred to a body or to a physical system, recognizable in the performance of work and in the form of heat a ...
and it raises the water level only a relatively small amount.
At the weir, the Saale is partly diverted, while some of the river flows over the weir and continues on its natural path, the rest is channeled through an artificial path, known as "Mühlgraben". This takes the water between two (now abandoned) buildings which used to harness the power of the water to mill grain into flour, and the other to make paper. After flowing between the mills, the water continues on an artificial path for a couple of miles before returning to the Saale proper.
The small island of land between the Saale and the artificial "Mühlgraben" is called "Heger" in German. The local sports area and the swimming bath are located at the island. The island is connected to the city of Calbe by a bridge on the far side and also by a small ferry on the opposite side, which swings back and forth between the urban district "Gottesgnaden" (engl.: God's Grace) and island using an anchor and cable system. The name of the town comes from the verb "kalben", which means to calf (for a cow to give birth) in German, but it could also come from the Latin adjective "calvus", which describes a bleak landscape. Calbe is famous for Bismarck's tower, which is located at the Wartenberg, and the long tradition for growing onions, which are regionally called "Bollen".
Personality
Sons and daughters of the town
*
Anna Margareta von Haugwitz
Anna Margareta von Haugwitz (16 January 1622 in Calbe (Saale) – 20 March 1673 in Stockholm), was a German noble, married to the Swedish count, statesman and military commander Carl Gustaf Wrangel.
Life
Anna Margareta von Haugwitz was a da ...
(1622–1673)
*Carl Miller (1860–1930), local politician in Magdeburg
*
Constantin von Dietze
Friedrich Carl Nicolaus Constantin von Dietze (9 August 1891 – 18 March 1973) was an agronomist, lawyer, economist, and theologian. He was a member of both the Confessing Church and the " Freiburg Circle" during the Nazi era.
Early life and W ...
(1891–1973), agricultural scientist and theologian
*
Hermann Bley
Hermann Bley (6 May 1936 – 28 May 2011) was a German footballer
A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, ...
(1936–2011), football player
*Christina Berger (born 1946), professor of materials science at the
Darmstadt University of Technology
Darmstadt () is a city in the state of Hesse in Germany, located in the southern part of the Rhine-Main-Area (Frankfurt Metropolitan Region). Darmstadt has around 160,000 inhabitants, making it the fourth largest city in the state of Hesse a ...
*
Steffen Kammler (born 1965), Norwegian conductor
Personalities associated with Calbe
![Wilhelm Loewe-Kalbe](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/32/Wilhelm_Loewe-Kalbe.jpg)
*
Till Eulenspiegel
Till Eulenspiegel (; nds, Dyl Ulenspegel ) is the protagonist of a German chapbook published in 1515 (a first edition of ca. 1510/12 is preserved fragmentarily) with a possible background in earlier Middle Low German folklore.
Eulenspiegel is a ...
, trickster figure
*
Wilhelm Loewe
Wilhelm Loewe (14 November 1814 in Olvenstedt – 2 November 1886 in Meran, County of Tyrol) was a German physician and Liberal politician, also called Wilhelm Loewe-Kalbe or Wilhelm Loewe von Kalbe.
He was president of the "rump parliament" remna ...
(1814–1886), politician, President of the Rump Parliament
*
Marie Nathusius
Marie Nathusius, née Scheele (March 10, 1817 in Magdeburg – December 22, 1857 in Neinstedt) was a German novelist and composer.
Life
Her father was the Calvinist parson Friedrich August Scheele. Marie Nathusius grew up in Calbe (Saale). ...
, (1817–1857), narrator
*
Christian Scriver
Christian Scriver (2 January 1629 – 5 April 1693) was a German Lutheran minister and devotional writer.
Biography
Christian Scriver was born at Rendsburg in the Duchy of Schleswig, Germany. He entered the University of Rostock in 1647 ...
, (1629–1693), theologian
References
{{Authority control
Salzlandkreis