Eutin () is the district capital of 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. Its meaning is not quite clear; it is probably derived from the personal name "Uta". The Slavic Obotrites tribe settled eastern Holstein in the 7th/8th centuries A.D. and built a

castle A castle is a type of fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by military orders. Scholars debate the scope of the word ''castle'', but usually consider it to be the private fortified r ...

on Pheasant Island in the lake now called the

Großer Eutiner See The Großer Eutiner See is a lake in Holstein Switzerland, Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It lies northeast of the town of Eutin. It has an area of , is up to 17 metres deep and lies at a height of about . It northern side borders directly on ...

. The originally Slavonic settlement of ''Utin'' was populated in the twelfth century by Dutch settlers. In 1156 Eutin became a market town. Town rights were granted in the year 1257. It later became the seat of the Prince-Bishopric of Lübeck, as Lübeck itself was an imperial free city. When the bishopric was secularized in 1803, Eutin became part of the Duchy of Oldenburg. As a result of the Greater Hamburg Act of 1937, Eutin passed from the Free State of Oldenburg to the Prussian Province of Schleswig-Holstein. After World War II, it became part of the modern Bundesland of Schleswig-Holstein.

Culture

Eutin is birthplace of composer Carl Maria von Weber. To honor him, an open-air theater (') was built in the park of

Eutin Castle Eutin Castle (german: Eutiner Schloss) in Eutin in the north German district of Ostholstein is the cultural centre and nucleus of the town. Taken together, this castle, Gottorf Castle and Glücksburg Castle, form the most important group of cou ...

in 1951, and operas are performed there in July and August during the

Eutin Opera Summer Festival 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 ...

('). The seating capacity of this open-air venue is about 2000. The festival includes music students in Eutin as well as students from the University of Kansas in Lawrence, Kansas, US, which is the twin city of Eutin. Eutin hosts an annual Blues Festival (

Bluesfest Eutin Bluesfest may refer to: * Byron Bay Bluesfest, in Australia, also known as East Coast Blues & Roots Music Festival * Bluesfest International Windsor, in Windsor, Ontario, Canada * Ottawa Bluesfest Ottawa Bluesfest is an annual outdoor music fes ...

) at the beginning of summer. Local musicians, as well as up and coming blues artists from around the world, come to play at this three-day outdoor blues festival, which takes place in the market place in the center of town. As the costs are covered by sponsoring, public funding and volunteer helpers, admission is free. File:Eutin Marktplatz.jpg, Eutin central market place 'Marktplatz' File:Eutin All Time Stars.jpg, Eutin All Time Stars, BluesBaltica/Bluesfest 2014

Geography and economy

Eutin is surrounded by a number of lakes of the

Holsteinische Schweiz Holstein Switzerland (german: Holsteinische Schweiz) is a hilly area with a patchwork of lakes and forest in Schleswig Holstein, Germany, reminiscent of Swiss landscape. Its highest point is the Bungsberg (168 metres above sea level).Carl In ...

, including the

Kleiner Eutiner See Kleiner ( he, קליינר) is a German and Jewish surname, meaning "smaller": * Alfred Kleiner, Swiss physicist * Bruce Kleiner, American mathematician * Krista Arrieta Kleiner, Filipino-American TV actress/singer and host * Dick Kleiner, Holly ...

, Kellersee and

Ukleisee Ukleisee is a lake in Kreis Ostholstein, Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. At an elevation of 26.5 m, its surface area is 0.32 km². This lake is (as numerous other lakes in this area) a kettle hole, remaining from Weichselian glaciation The Weich ...

. Many of the lakes are surrounded by forests. Popular activities on these lakes include boating, canoeing, rowing, swimming, and fishing. Schleswig-Holstein, particularly Eutin, is known for its numerous rapeseed fields, which are used for biofuel production. Wind turbines are also a common sight in this rural region.

Historic buildings

Originally constructed as a fully functioning windmill in 1850 by Carl Friedrich Trahn, ''Die alte Mühle'' (the old mill) now serves as a bar and restaurant.

Sons and daughters of the city

Caroline Bardua - Bildnis des Komponisten Carl Maria von Weber

Tom Buk-Swienty Tom Buk-Swienty (born July 19, 1966 in Eutin) is a Danish historian, journalist and author, known for his work on the Second Schleswig War. Buk-Swienty was raised in Sønderborg, Denmark. He holds degrees in history and American Studies from th ...

(born 1966) historian, journalist and writer * Wilhelm Dittmann (1874–1954), politician (USPD / SPD) *

Peter Engel Peter Engel (born ) is an American television producer who is best known for his teen sitcoms that appeared on TNBC, a former Saturday morning block on NBC which featured all teenage-oriented programs for educational purposes. His most well kno ...

(born 1940), writer * Vadim Glowna (1941–2012), actor * Hedvig Elisabeth Charlotte of Holstein-Gottorp (1759 – 1818), Queen of Sweden and Norway *

Ulf Kämpfer Ulf Kämpfer (born 16 June 1972) is a German politician of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) who has been serving as the Lord Mayor of Kiel since March 2014. Education and early career Kämpfer was born Eutin, West Germany. After his ...

(born 1972), politician (SPD), Lord Mayor in Kiel *

Christian Klees Christian Klees (born 24 June 1968 in Eutin) is a German former sport shooter, the first shooter since the 1989 target change to have achieved the maximum score (600) in the 50 metre rifle prone event at the Olympic Games, which was later rep ...

(born 1968), Olympic winner 1996 in Atlanta *

Friedrich Kühn General Friedrich Kühn (7 August 1889 – 15 February 1944) was a General der Panzertruppe in the Wehrmacht during World War II. He was a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross of Nazi Germany. World War II At the start of World War I ...

(1889–1944), officer, most recently General of the Panzertruppe *

Heinrich Limpricht Heinrich Limpricht (21 April 1827 – 13 May 1909) was a German chemist. Limpricht was a pupil of Friedrich Wöhler; he worked on the chemistry of furans and pyrroles, discovering furan in 1870. In 1852 he became lecturer and in 1855 extraor ...

(1827–1909), chemist * Nicholas Mercator, (1620–1697), mathematician, born in Eutin or near Cismar *

Adolf Pansch Adolf Pansch (2 March 1841, in Eutin – 14 August 1887) was a German anatomist and naturalist. Since 1860 he studied medicine and natural sciences in Berlin and Heidelberg, and from 1862 to 1864 he studied medicine in Berlin and Halle. After g ...

(1841–1887), anatomist, anthropologist and polar explorer *

Axel Prahl Axel Prahl (born 26 March 1960 in Eutin) is a German actor and musician. Prahl, born in Eutin, grew up in nearby Neustadt in Holstein. After his A-levels, Prahl started studying music and mathematics, but then went on to acting school in Kiel. ...

(born 1960), film actor * Daniel Richter (born 1962), artist * Johann Friedrich Julius Schmidt (1825–1884), astronomer and geologist * Ralph Schumacher (born 1964), philosopher and behavioral scientist * Jonathan Stock (born 1983), journalist * Peter Thoms (born 1940), actor and jazz musician * Peter Friedrich Ludwig Tischbein (1813–1883), German chief forester, entomologist and paleontologist * Friedrich Adolf Trendelenburg (1802–1872), philosopher. *

Friedrich August Ukert Friedrich August Ukert (28 October 1780 – 18 May 1851) was a German history scholar, teacher and humanitarian. He was born in Eutin, Bishopric of Lübeck. From 1800 he studied philology at the University of Halle as a student of Friedrich August ...

(1780–1851), historian, geographer, librarian * Lars Unger (born 1972), former footballer *

Stefan Vogenauer Stefan Vogenauer (born 1968) is a German legal scholar who is the director of the Max Planck Institute for European Legal History. He was previously Linklaters Professor of Comparative Law at the University of Oxford , mottoeng ...

(born 1968), legal scientist * Carl Maria von Weber (1786–1826), composer. *

Dirk von Zitzewitz Dirk von Zitzewitz (born 14 October 1968, in Eutin) is a German professional racing driver and motorcyclist, most notable for being on the winning team of the 2009 Dakar Rally alongside Giniel de Villiers. Career Von Zitzewitz started his caree ...

(born 1968), racing driver * Wincent Weiss (born 1993), singer

Other people who worked in Eutin

* Matthias Claudius (1740–1815), poet * Emanuel Geibel (1815–1884), lyricist *

Lotte Herrlich Lotte Herrlich (1883–1956) was a German photographer. She is regarded as the most important female photographer of the German naturism. This mainly was during the 1920s, in which the ''Freikorperkultur'' (''Free Body Culture'') was popular withi ...

(1883–1956), (nude) photographer * Friedrich Heinrich Jacobi (1743–1819), philosopher and writer * Johann Heinrich Voss (1751–1826), classicist and poet *

Johann Wilhelm Petersen Johann Wilhelm Petersen (1 July 1649 in Osnabrück – 31 January 1727 in Zerbst) was a German theologian, mystic, and Millennialist. Johann Wilhelm Petersen grew up in Lübeck and studied theology at the Katharineum in Lübeck, as well a ...

(1649–1727), theologian *

Hans-Heinrich Sievert Hans Heinrich Sievert (1 December 1909 in Grittern near Hückelhoven – 5 April 1963 in Eutin) was a German Olympic decathlete. He competed at the 1932 Summer Olympics and the 1936 Summer Olympics. In 1934 he became the last decathlon w ...

(1909–1963), athlete and Olympic athlete *

Johann Heinrich Wilhelm Tischbein Johann Heinrich Wilhelm Tischbein, known as the ''Goethe Tischbein'' (15 February 1751 in Haina – 26 February 1829 in Eutin), was a German painter from the Tischbein family of artists. Biography Johann Heinrich Wilhelm Tischbein was born on 15 ...

(1751–1829), painter *

Ferdinand Tönnies Ferdinand Tönnies (; 26 July 1855 – 9 April 1936) was a German sociologist, economist, and philosopher. He was a significant contributor to sociological theory and field studies, best known for distinguishing between two types of social gro ...

(1855–1936), sociologist, lived from 1901 to 1921 in the Auguststraße 8 (now Albert-Mahlstedt-Straße) *

Wilhelm Wisser Wilhelm Wisser (27 August 1843 in Klenzau (Ostholstein district) – 13 October 1935 in Oldenburg (city), Oldenburg) was a German teacher and dialectologist. He is remembered as a collector of Low German dialect, Low German legends and fairy tales. ...

(1843–1935), high school professor and oral researcher

Twin towns – sister cities

Eutin is twinned with: *

Guldborgsund Guldborgsund is the strait between the Danish islands of Lolland and Falster. It connects Smålandsfarvandet in the north with the Bay of Mecklenburg in the south. The strait is about 30 kilometers long; its breadth varies from 150 meters at Gu ...

, Denmark * Lawrence, United States * Putbus, Germany Each summer, Lawrence and Eutin take part in an exchange program, where high-school students from Lawrence and college students from the University of Kansas have some weeks in Eutin, while German students from Eutin come to Lawrence to study. The University of Kansas also has established an internship exchange program with Eutin.

Language

In addition to

Standard German Standard High German (SHG), less precisely Standard German or High German (not to be confused with High German dialects, more precisely Upper German dialects) (german: Standardhochdeutsch, , or, in Switzerland, ), is the standardized variety ...

(''Hochdeutsch''),

Low German : : : : : (70,000) (30,000) (8,000) , familycolor = Indo-European , fam2 = Germanic , fam3 = West Germanic , fam4 = North Sea Germanic , ancestor = Old Saxon , ancestor2 = Middle L ...

(''Plattdeutsch'') is very commonly used in Eutin. A common greeting among the citizens is " moin", to which one replies with "moin moin".

References

External links

Official websiteWebsite of the Eutin Opera Summer Festival
from a live webcam on top of the Water Tower. {{Authority control Towns in Schleswig-Holstein Ostholstein 1250s establishments in the Holy Roman Empire 1257 establishments in Europe