Genthin () is a town in

Jerichower Land Jerichower Land is a district (''Kreis'') in the north-east of Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Its neighbouring administrative units are (clockwise from the south): the districts of Anhalt-Bitterfeld, Salzlandkreis, the city of Magdeburg, the districts of ...

district, 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

Genthin is situated east of the

Elbe The Elbe (; cs, Labe ; nds, Ilv or ''Elv''; Upper and dsb, Łobjo) is one of the major rivers of Central Europe. It rises in the Giant Mountains of the northern Czech Republic before traversing much of Bohemia (western half of the Czech Repu ...

river on the Elbe-Havel Canal, approx. northeast 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 ...

and west of

Brandenburg Brandenburg (; nds, Brannenborg; dsb, Bramborska ) is a states of Germany, state in the northeast of Germany bordering the states of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Saxony, as well as the country of Poland. With an ar ...

. The municipal area consists of Genthin proper and the following ''Ortschaften'' or municipal divisions:Hauptsatzung der Stadt Genthin
November 2014. *Fienerode *

Gladau Gladau is a village and a former municipality in the Jerichower Land district, in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Since 1 July 2009, it is part of the town Genthin Genthin () is a town in Jerichower Land district, in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Geography ...

*Mützel * Paplitz *Parchen *

Schopsdorf Schopsdorf is a former municipality in the Jerichower Land district, in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. It is part of the ''Verwaltungsgemeinschaft'' Möckern-Loburg-Fläming. A hammed merger with the town Möckern was repealed by the administrative co ...

Tucheim Tucheim is a village and a former municipality in the Jerichower Land district, in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Since 1 July 2009, it is part of the town Genthin Genthin () is a town in Jerichower Land district, in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Geography ...

The formerly independent municipalities Gladau, Paplitz and Tucheim were incorporated in July 2009, followed by Schopsdorf in July 2012. Genthin was the administrative seat of the ''

Verwaltungsgemeinschaft Municipal associations (german: Verwaltungsgemeinschaften) are statutory corporations or public bodies created by statute in the German federal states of Bavaria, Saxony, Thuringia, and Schleswig-Holstein. In Baden-Württemberg the term ''stipul ...

'' ("collective municipality")

Elbe-Stremme-Fiener Elbe-Stremme-Fiener was a ''Verwaltungsgemeinschaft'' ("collective municipality") in the Jerichower Land district, in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. It was situated north of Genthin, which was the seat of the ''Verwaltungsgemeinschaft'', but not part of ...

until its merger into the newly established

Jerichow Jerichow () is a town on the east side of the river Elbe, in the District of Jerichower Land, of the state of Saxony-Anhalt in Germany. With about , the municipality of Jerichow is one of the largest municipalities in area size in Germany. Geog ...

municipality in 2010.

History

Genthin Castle was first mentioned in an 1144 deed, it was the residence of the Plotho noble family who then served as ''

ministeriales The ''ministeriales'' (singular: ''ministerialis'') were a class of people raised up from serfdom and placed in positions of power and responsibility in the High Middle Ages in the Holy Roman Empire. The word and its German translations, ''Minis ...

'' of the

Archbishops of Magdeburg The Archbishopric of Magdeburg was a Roman Catholic archdiocese (969–1552) and Prince-Archbishopric (1180–1680) of the Holy Roman Empire centered on the city of Magdeburg on the Elbe River. Planned since 955 and established in 968, the Roma ...

. The surrounding settlement was documented as a

town A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world. Origin and use The word "town" shares an ori ...

in 1459, its citizens were vested with

market Market is a term used to describe concepts such as: *Market (economics), system in which parties engage in transactions according to supply and demand *Market economy *Marketplace, a physical marketplace or public market Geography *Märket, an ...

rights in 1539. When the last administrator of the Magdeburg archbishopric, Duke Augustus of Saxe-Weissenfels, died in 1680, Genthin with the

Duchy of Magdeburg The Duchy of Magdeburg (german: Herzogtum Magdeburg) was a province of the Margraviate of Brandenburg from 1680 to 1701 and a province of the German Kingdom of Prussia from 1701 to 1807. It replaced the Archbishopric of Magdeburg after its secula ...

fell to the

Electors of Brandenburg This article lists the Margraves and Electors of Brandenburg during the period of time that Brandenburg was a constituent state of the Holy Roman Empire. The Mark, or ''March'', of Brandenburg was one of the primary constituent states of the Hol ...

. The

Baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...

Trinity parish church was erected from 1707 to 1722. Neuer Bahnhof Genthin

The town's economy was decisively promoted by the building of the Elbe–Havel Canal from 1743 onwards and the opening of the

Berlin–Magdeburg railway The first section of the Berlin–Magdeburg Railway was opened in 1838 as the ''Berlin-Potsdam Railway'' and was the first railway line in Prussia. In 1846 it was extended to Magdeburg. History The first railway in Prussia The Prussian Royal ...

line in 1846. A

detergent A detergent is a surfactant or a mixture of surfactants with cleansing properties when in dilute solutions. There are a large variety of detergents, a common family being the alkylbenzene sulfonates, which are soap-like compounds that are more ...

factory was opened in 1921 by

Henkel AG & Co. KGaA, commonly known as Henkel, is a German multinational chemical and consumer goods company headquartered in Düsseldorf, Germany. It is active in both the consumer and industrial sectors. Founded in 1876, the DAX company is organi ...

. On the night of 21–22 December 1939, at least 186 (according to other sources: 278) people were killed in a train crash at Genthin station, making it one of the most deadliest railway accidents in Germany. A monument to the victims was erected in the town. In 1943 a subcamp of Ravensbrück concentration camp was built in Genthin for about 1,000 female prisoners and forced labourers. After World War II, Genthin was part of the

Soviet occupation zone The Soviet Occupation Zone ( or german: Ostzone, label=none, "East Zone"; , ''Sovetskaya okkupatsionnaya zona Germanii'', "Soviet Occupation Zone of Germany") was an area of Germany in Central Europe that was occupied by the Soviet Union as a c ...

Mayor

Thomas Barz was elected mayor in 2013.

Twin towns

Genthin is twinned with: *

Datteln Datteln is a town in the Recklinghausen (district), district of Recklinghausen, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is situated on a crossroads of four canals (Datteln-Hamm Canal, Wesel-Datteln Canal, Dortmund-Ems Canal and Rhein-Herne Canal), ...

, Germany, since 1990 * Radlin, Poland, since 2008

Notable people

Herms Niel Ferdinand Friedrich Hermann Nielebock (17 April 1888 – 16 July 1954),
''Munzinger'' Internationales Biographisches Ar ...

(Hermann Nielebock) (1888-1954), conductor and composer * Kurt von Manteuffell (1853-1922), Prussian General of the Infantry *

Walter Model Otto Moritz Walter Model (; 24 January 1891 – 21 April 1945) was a German field marshal during World War II. Although he was a hard-driving, aggressive panzer commander early in the war, Model became best known as a practitioner of defen ...

(1891–1945), field marshal in WW II *

Norbert Dürpisch Norbert Dürpisch (born 29 May 1952) is an East German former cyclist. He competed in the team pursuit event at the 1976 Summer Olympics Events January * January 3 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Ri ...

(born 1952), cyclist *

Bernd Dittert Bernd Dittert (born 6 February 1961) is a retired racing cyclist from East Germany who won the bronze medal for his native country in the men's 4,000m individual pursuit at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea Seoul (; ; ), off ...

(born 1961), racing cyclist, Olympic champion and trainer

References

{{Authority control Jerichower Land