Emden () is an independent town and

seaport A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as Hamburg, Manc ...

Lower Saxony Lower Saxony is a States of Germany, German state (') in Northern Germany, northwestern Germany. It is the second-largest state by land area, with , and fourth-largest in population (8 million in 2021) among the 16 ' of the Germany, Federal Re ...

in the north-west of Germany and lies on the River Ems, close to the Netherlands border. It is the main town in the region of

East Frisia East Frisia () or East Friesland (; ; ; ) is a historic region in the northwest of Lower Saxony, Germany. It is primarily located on the western half of the East Frisia (peninsula), East Frisian peninsula, to the east of West Frisia and to the ...

and had a total population of 50,535 in 2022.

History

The exact date when Emden was founded is unknown, but it has existed since at least the 8th century. Older names for Emden were Setutanda, Amuthon, Embda, Emda, Embden and Embderland. Its town privilege and coat of arms, the ''Engelke up de Muer'' (The Little Angel on the Wall), were granted by Emperor Maximilian I in 1495. In the 16th century, Emden briefly became an important centre for the

Protestant Reformation The Reformation, also known as the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation, was a time of major theological movement in Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the papacy and ...

under the rule of Countess Anna von Oldenburg, who was determined to find a religious "third way" between

Lutheranism Lutheranism is a major branch of Protestantism that emerged under the work of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German friar and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practices of the Catholic Church launched ...

and

Catholicism The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

. In 1542 she invited the Polish noble John Laski (or ''Johannes a Lasco'') to become pastor of a Protestant church at Emden, and for seven years he continued to spread the new religion around the area of

. However, in 1549, following pressure from Emperor Charles V, the Countess was forced to ask Laski to leave for England and the experiment came to an end. Nevertheless, the legacy was important for the reformation in the Netherlands. At the end of the 16th century, Emden experienced a period of great prosperity. Due to the Spanish blockade of Flemish and Brabant ports at the start of the

Dutch Revolt The Eighty Years' War or Dutch Revolt (; 1566/1568–1648) was an armed conflict in the Habsburg Netherlands between disparate groups of rebels and the Spanish government. The causes of the war included the Reformation, centralisation, exc ...

, Emden became the most important transshipment port on the North Sea. Thousands of Protestant refugees came from Flanders and the Duchy of Brabant to the Protestant town of Emden to escape persecution by the Spanish rulers of the Low Countries. During this period, Emden was predominantly Calvinist and came into conflict with the Lutheran counts of East Friesland. The Emden Revolution in 1595 resulted in Emden becoming a distinct city-state. With the support of the Dutch Republic, Emden became a free government city under the protection of the Dutch Republic. The

Brabantian dialect Brabantian or Brabantish, also Brabantic or Brabantine (, , ), is a dialect group of the Dutch language. It is named after the historical Duchy of Brabant, which corresponded mainly to the Netherlands, Dutch province of North Brabant, the Belgi ...

became the official language of trade and civil administration. Emden was a very rich city during the 17th century, due to large numbers of Dutch and Flemish immigrants such as Diederik Jansz. Graeff. It was a centre of reformed Protestantism at that time. The political theorist Johannes Althusius served as

Syndic ''Syndic'' (; Greek: ) is a term applied in certain countries to an officer of government with varying powers, and secondly to a representative or delegate of a university, institution or other corporation, entrusted with special functions or p ...

from 1604 to 1638. In 1744, Emden was annexed by

Prussia Prussia (; ; Old Prussian: ''Prūsija'') was a Germans, German state centred on the North European Plain that originated from the 1525 secularization of the Prussia (region), Prussian part of the State of the Teutonic Order. For centuries, ...

. The Emden Convention, signed on 14 March 1744, was a treaty that formalised Prussia's annexation of East Frisia after the local Cirksena dynasty died out. It recognised the rights and privileges of the city of Emden and the regional estates. Carl Edzard, the last Count of East Frisia, assumed power in 1734, but faced opposition from Emden and other estates, leading to political and economic isolation. Emden sought to regain its status as a trading hub and looked to Prussia for help. In exchange for recognising Prussia’s claim to East Frisia, Emden demanded the withdrawal of foreign troops, the return of sequestered assets and the relocation of the estate treasury to Emden. Prussia, under Frederick II, aimed to secure its claim to East Frisia, relying on a 1694 decree from Emperor Leopold I. Negotiations led by Sebastian Anton Homfeld resulted in two treaties being signed on 14 March 1744. These agreements upheld Emden’s status and granted the city special economic and administrative privileges. After Carl Edzard’s death on 25 May 1744, Prussia quickly occupied East Frisia without resistance and the region soon swore allegiance to the Prussian crown. Foreign troops withdrew from the area. In 1752

Frederick the Great Frederick II (; 24 January 171217 August 1786) was the monarch of Prussia from 1740 until his death in 1786. He was the last Hohenzollern monarch titled ''King in Prussia'', declaring himself ''King of Prussia'' after annexing Royal Prussia ...

chartered the Emden Company to trade with Canton, but the company was ruined when Emden was captured by French forces in 1757 during the

Seven Years' War The Seven Years' War, 1756 to 1763, was a Great Power conflict fought primarily in Europe, with significant subsidiary campaigns in North America and South Asia. The protagonists were Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain and Kingdom of Prus ...

. The city was recaptured by Anglo-German forces in 1758 and was used as a major supply base by the

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

for the rest of the conflict to support the ongoing war in

Westphalia Westphalia (; ; ) is a region of northwestern Germany and one of the three historic parts of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It has an area of and 7.9 million inhabitants. The territory of the region is almost identical with the h ...

. During the

Napoleonic Wars {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Napoleonic Wars , partof = the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars , image = Napoleonic Wars (revision).jpg , caption = Left to right, top to bottom:Battl ...

, Emden and the surrounding lands of

were part of the short-lived Kingdom of Holland. Industrialisation started at around 1870, with a paper mill and a somewhat bigger shipyard. At the end of the 19th century, a big canal, the Dortmund-Ems Canal was constructed, which connected Emden to the

Ruhr The Ruhr ( ; , also ''Ruhrpott'' ), also referred to as the Ruhr Area, sometimes Ruhr District, Ruhr Region, or Ruhr Valley, is a polycentric urban area in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. With a population density of 1,160/km2 and a populati ...

area. This made Emden the "seaport of the Ruhr area", which lasted until the 1970s. Coal from the south was transported to the North Sea port, and imported iron ore was shipped towards the

Rhine The Rhine ( ) is one of the List of rivers of Europe, major rivers in Europe. The river begins in the Swiss canton of Graubünden in the southeastern Swiss Alps. It forms part of the Swiss-Liechtenstein border, then part of the Austria–Swit ...

and the

via the canal. The last iron-ore freighter was moored in the port of Emden in 1986. In 1903, a large shipyard ('' Nordseewerke'', "North Sea Works") was founded, which was in operation until 2010. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, Emden was repeatedly targeted by Allied bombing raids, which destroyed most of the town centre. The

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the Air force, air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of t ...

(RAF) launched its first bombing raid over Emden on 31 March 1940, and both the RAF and the

United States Army Air Forces The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...

(USAAF) continued to launch raids on the town for the duration of the war. On 6 September 1944, the RAF and USAAF launched their largest bombing raid on Emden, which destroyed approximately 80% of all the buildings in the town centre. However, in contrast to the rest of the town, the Emden shipyards were left largely unaffected by the bombing raids. After the war, Emden came under Allied occupation and rebuilding efforts commenced. The current

town hall In local government, a city hall, town hall, civic centre (in the UK or Australia), guildhall, or municipal hall (in the Philippines) is the chief administrative building of a city, town, or other municipality. It usually houses the city o ...

was officially opened in Emden on 6 September 1962, exactly 18 years after the 1944 raid.

Climate

Economy

The main industries in Emden are automobile production and shipbuilding.

Volkswagen Volkswagen (VW; )English: , . is a German automotive industry, automobile manufacturer based in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony, Germany. Established in 1937 by German Labour Front, The German Labour Front, it was revitalized into the global brand it ...

runs a large production plant which builds the Volkswagen Arteon car and which employs around 10,000 people. Emden harbour is also one of the three main ports for car shipping in Europe (together with

Zeebrugge Zeebrugge (; from , meaning "Bruges-on-Sea"; , ) is a village on the coast of Belgium and a subdivision of Bruges, for which it is the modern port. Zeebrugge serves as both the international port of Bruges-Zeebrugge and a seafront resort with ...

in Belgium and

Bremerhaven Bremerhaven (; ) is a city on the east bank of the Weser estuary in northern Germany. It forms an exclave of the Bremen (state), city-state of Bremen. The Geeste (river), River Geeste flows through the city before emptying into the Weser. Brem ...

in Germany). Emden is the main location from which vehicles produced at all Volkswagen Group factories in Germany are marshalled for export overseas. More than 1.4 million cars were imported and exported in 2017. The ''Nordseewerke'' shipyard, a subsidiary of

ThyssenKrupp ThyssenKrupp AG (, ; stylized as thyssenkrupp) is a German industrial engineering and steel production multinational conglomerate. It resulted from the 1999 merger of Thyssen AG and Krupp and has its operational headquarters in Duisburg and E ...

, employs around 1,400 dockers and specialises in conventional submarines. It also produces different kinds of cargo ships as well as ships for special purposes, such as icebreakers, dredgers and other ships of that type. Another important economic sector is tourism, mainly as Emden is a popular a day-trip destination for tourists staying in surrounding villages on the North Sea coastline. A university of applied sciences () was opened in 1973. At present, around 4,240 students are enrolled, most of whom are studying for degrees in technical subjects like engineering. The airline Ostfriesische Lufttransport had its headquarters in Emden.

Sports

The highest playing

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

club is BSV Kickers Emden. The capacity of the stadium is 7,200, due to safety objections by the

German Football Association The German Football Association ( ; DFB ) is the governing body of Association football, football, futsal, and beach soccer in Germany. A founding member of both FIFA and UEFA, the DFB has jurisdiction for the German football league system and ...

. In 1994, some 12,000 spectators attended a match against the reserves squad of

Hamburger SV Hamburger Sport-Verein e.V. (), commonly known as Hamburger SV () or Hamburg (), or HSV (), is a German sports club based in Hamburg, with its largest branch being its Association football, football department. Though the current HSV was founde ...

, which remains the record. In that season, Kickers Emden finished top of the 3rd League, but it was not promoted to the Second League as it lost the promotion round. Since Emden is not only located close to the North Sea, but also on the River Ems and various small rivers and canals run through it as well, boat sports are very popular among the locals and tourists.

Notable people

Melusine von der Schulenburg - Kloster Barsinghausen

* Johann van Lingen, (DE Wiki) (1425–1481), Mayor of Emden, 1463–1470 *

Pieter Dirkszoon Keyser Pieter Dirkszoon Keyser (occasionally Petrus Theodorus; – 11 September 1596) was a Dutch navigator and celestial cartographer who mapped several constellations on the southern celestial hemisphere. Voyages and star observation Little is ...

(ca 1540–1596), navigator and celestial cartographer in Portuguese and Dutch service * Johannes Althusius (1563–1638),

legal scholar Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior, with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been variously described as a science and as the a ...

Calvinist Reformed Christianity, also called Calvinism, is a major branch of Protestantism that began during the 16th-century Protestant Reformation. In the modern day, it is largely represented by the Continental Reformed Protestantism, Continenta ...

political theorist, elected a local municipal trustee in 1603 * Jacob Dircksz de Graeff (1571–1638), member of the De Graeff family; Amsterdam burgomaster in the

Dutch Golden Age The Dutch Golden Age ( ) was a period in the history of the Netherlands which roughly lasted from 1588, when the Dutch Republic was established, to 1672, when the '' Rampjaar'' occurred. During this period, Dutch trade, scientific development ...

. * Johann Heinrich Alting (1583–1644), reformed theologian. * Martin Hermann Faber (1586–1648), painter, architect, and cartographer * Simon Bosboom (1614–1662), a

architect and writer. * Abraham and Bernard van Linge (fl.1625–1641) & (1598–ca1644);

stained glass Stained glass refers to coloured glass as a material or art and architectural works created from it. Although it is traditionally made in flat panels and used as windows, the creations of modern stained glass artists also include three-dimensio ...

window painters, worked in

Oxford Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town. The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...

* Ludolf Bakhuizen (1630–1708), major Dutch painter. * Melusine von der Schulenburg, Duchess of Kendal (1667–1743), mistress to King

George I of Great Britain George I (George Louis; ; 28 May 1660 – 11 June 1727) was King of Great Britain and King of Ireland, Ireland from 1 August 1714 and ruler of the Electorate of Hanover within the Holy Roman Empire from 23 January 1698 until his death in 1727. ...

. * Jacob Emden (1697–1776), also known as Ya'avetz; talmudist; and rabbi of Emden from 1728 * Eduard Norden (1868–1941), philologist and religious historian * Claude France (1893–1928), actor * Hans Boelsen (1894–1960), general lieutenant in the Second World War *

Henri Nannen Henri Nannen (25 December 1913 in Emden – 13 October 1996 in Hanover) was a German journalist and art collector. He became one of the most prominent journalists and magazine publishers in Germany. His father was a police officer in Emden who ...

(1913–1996), publisher and publicist, founder of ''

Stern The stern is the back or aft-most part of a ship or boat, technically defined as the area built up over the sternpost, extending upwards from the counter rail to the taffrail. The stern lies opposite the bow, the foremost part of a ship. O ...

'' magazine * Hans-Joachim Hespos (1938–2022), composer of

avant-garde music Avant-garde music is music that is considered to be at the forefront of innovation in its field, with the term "avant-garde" implying a critique of existing aesthetic conventions, rejection of the status quo in favor of unique or original elem ...

. *

Helma Sanders-Brahms Helma Sanders-Brahms (20 November 1940 – 27 May 2014) was a German film director, screenwriter and producer. Biography Helma Sanders was born on 20 November 1940 in Emden, Germany. She attended a school for acting in Hannover from 1960 to 1 ...

(1940–2014), film director, screenwriter and producer. * Karl Dall (1941–2020), presenter, singer and comedian *

Wolfgang Petersen Wolfgang Petersen (14 March 1941 – 12 August 2022) was a German film and television director, screenwriter, and producer. His international breakthrough was the 1981 war film (1981), which earned him Academy Award nominations for Best Directo ...

(1941–2022), film director and producer * Alwin Brinkmann, (DE Wiki) (born 1946), Mayor of Emden from 1986 to 2011 * Otto Waalkes (born 1948), comedian, comic artist, singer and actor *

Eva Herman Eva Bischoff ( Feldker; 9 November 1958), known as Eva Herman, is a German author and former television presenter. She worked as a news presenter on the nationwide ''Tagesschau (Germany), Tagesschau'' news programme from 1989 to 2006 and also p ...

(born 1958), book author and former television presenter * Jan van Koningsveld (born 1969),

mental calculator Mental calculation (also known as Mind, mental computation) consists of arithmetical calculations made by the mind, within the human brain, brain, with no help from any supplies (such as pencil and paper) or devices such as a calculator. People m ...

* Heidi Hartmann, (DE Wiki) (born 1971), boxing champion * Stefan Lampadius (born 1976), actor and filmmaker *

Ferydoon Zandi Ferydoon Zandi (born 26 April 1979) is an Iranian retired professional Association football, footballer. Early life Zandi was born in the city of Emden, in northern Germany, to an Iranian father and a German mother. He speaks German language, Ge ...

(born 1979), Iranian footballer, played 318 games and 29 for

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

Ships and places named after the city

Three German light cruisers were named after the city, two of which served in

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

and the third in

. Today, the fifth navy ship named after the town is in service. * , a light cruiser in the , took part in the battles of the

Bay of Bengal The Bay of Bengal is the northeastern part of the Indian Ocean. Geographically it is positioned between the Indian subcontinent and the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese peninsula, located below the Bengal region. Many South Asian and Southe ...

, and Battle of Cocos * ''

Emden Emden () is an Independent city (Germany), independent town and seaport in Lower Saxony in the north-west of Germany and lies on the River Ems (river), Ems, close to the Germany–Netherlands border, Netherlands border. It is the main town in t ...

'' (1911), a

schooner A schooner ( ) is a type of sailing ship, sailing vessel defined by its Rig (sailing), rig: fore-and-aft rigged on all of two or more Mast (sailing), masts and, in the case of a two-masted schooner, the foremast generally being shorter than t ...

, renamed ''Duhnen'', then ''Brigantine Yankee''; made four circumnavigations * , a light cruiser in the * (1925), a light cruiser in the , used in the invasion of Norway and Denmark * (1961), a of the

German Navy The German Navy (, ) is part of the unified (Federal Defense), the German Armed Forces. The German Navy was originally known as the ''Bundesmarine'' (Federal Navy) from 1956 to 1995, when ''Deutsche Marine'' (German Navy) became the official ...

* (1979), a of the German Navy * (F266) (2025), a of the German Navy A deep-sea spot in the Pacific Ocean close to the

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

is named after the first ship and is therefore called ''Emdentief'' in German. The spot ( deep) was sounded in the 1920s (in 1920, 1923 or 1928 — sources vary). The word "Yamandan" and "Emden" entered the lexicons of Malayalam and Tamil respectively after the bombing of Madras Harbour in 1914 by the SMS Emden. The word in the local language means a humongous or huge and sometimes "a person who dares and works with precision". In addition, the village of Emden, Illinois in the United States was named after Jacob Emden due to the large number of emigrants from Emden to the village in north-western Logan County, Illinois. Other places in the U.S. named after the town include Emden, Missouri; Embden, Maine and Embden, North Dakota.

Twin towns – sister cities

Emden is twinned with: *

Arkhangelsk Arkhangelsk (, ) is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, city and the administrative center of Arkhangelsk Oblast, Russia. It lies on both banks of the Northern Dvina near its mouth into the White Sea. The city spreads for over along the ...

, Russia *

Haugesund Haugesund () is a municipalities of Norway, municipality and List of towns and cities in Norway, town on the North Sea in Rogaland county, Norway. As of December 2023, the municipality of Haugesund has a population of 37,855. The vast majority of ...

, Norway

References

External links

*
Kunsthalle Emden

Johannes a Lasco Library

Kickers Emden

Chess

Current weather data and forecast for Emden

Cruisers EMDEN, Frigates EMDEN – 5 warships named EMDEN until today
*
Google map gives German harbour to Netherlands
.

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

. 23 February 2011.—BBC article about an error in Google maps * * {{Authority control Port cities and towns in Germany Port cities and towns of the North Sea Towns and villages in East Frisia Urban districts of Lower Saxony uz:Emden