Gemeinde Sylt ( da, Sild (Kommune), frr, Söl (Gimiindi)) is a municipality on the island of
Sylt
Sylt (; da, Sild; Sylt North Frisian, Söl'ring North Frisian: ) is an island in northern Germany, part of Nordfriesland district, Schleswig-Holstein, and well known for the distinctive shape of its shoreline. It belongs to the North Frisian ...
in the district of
Nordfriesland, in
Schleswig-Holstein
Schleswig-Holstein (; da, Slesvig-Holsten; nds, Sleswig-Holsteen; frr, Slaswik-Holstiinj) is the northernmost of the 16 states of Germany, comprising most of the historical duchy of Holstein and the southern part of the former Duchy of Sc ...
,
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 has around 13,000 inhabitants and covers about 60% of the area of the island.
History
The municipality was formed on 1 January 2009 by the merger of the former municipalities
Rantum and
Sylt-Ost
Sylt-Ost (translated, East Sylt) is a former municipality on the island of Sylt, in the district of Nordfriesland, in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It used to be the administrative seat of the ''Amt Landschaft Sylt'' and a municipality into which ...
with the town of
Westerland. The debate on this move had started in 2003 when a similar merger happened on
Fehmarn
Fehmarn (, da, Femern; from Old Wagrian Slavic "''Fe More''", meaning "''In the Sea''") is an island in the Baltic Sea, off the eastern coast of Germany's northernmost state of Schleswig-Holstein. It is Germany's third-largest island, after Rüg ...
. However, local rivalries and desire for independence prevented progress for a time. It took the foundation of a citizens' movement ''Bürger für Sylt als Einheit'' to advance the plan. In separate referendums in 2008, Westerland (by a large majority) and Sylt-Ost (narrowly) agreed to the merger in May 2008. Rantum followed, but List, Kampen, Wenningstedt-Braderup and Hörnum remained aloof. In September 2008 the merger contract was signed.
Although Westerland used to have the status of ''Stadt'' (town), the new municipality so far refrained from applying for this status. One reason is that the ''Ortsteile'' do not want to advertise their tourism services as simple suburbs (''Stadtteile'').
Geography
Subdivision
The municipality consists of the following ''Ortsteile'' (towns):
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Archsum*
#
Keitum
Keitum (Danish: ''Kejtum'', North Frisian: ''Kairem'') is a village on the North Sea island of Sylt in the district of Nordfriesland in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. Today, it is an ''Ortsteil'' of the '' Gemeinde Sylt''.
Etymology
It is unclea ...
*
#
Morsum
Morsum (North Frisian: ''Muasem'') is a village on the North Sea island of Sylt in the district of Nordfriesland in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. Today, it is an ''Ortsteil'' of the '' Gemeinde Sylt''. Morsum is located close to the scientifically ...
*
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Munkmarsch*
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Rantum
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Tinnum*
#
Westerland
(* Former constituent part of Sylt-Ost.)
Government
''Gemeinde Sylt'' shares its administration in a ''
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 ''stipu ...
'' with the ''Amt
Landschaft Sylt'', located in the townhall of Westerland – the former ''Kurhaus'', built in 1897.
Municipal council
The ''Gemeindevertretung Sylt'' has 36 members. Since the election of 26 May 2013 the distribution has been as follows:
*
CDU: 14 seats
* Sylter Wählergemeinschaft: 7 seats
*
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 ...
: 6 seats
*
The Greens The Greens or Greens may refer to:
Current political parties
*Australian Greens, also known as ''The Greens''
*Greens of Andorra
* Greens of Bosnia and Herzegovina
*Greens of Burkina
* Greens (Greece)
* Greens of Montenegro
*Greens of Serbia
*Gree ...
: 3 seats
*
SSW: 3 seats
* Insel-Liste zukunft.sylt: 2 seats
* Independent: 1 seat
Mayor
In January 2015, Nikolas Häckel was elected as new mayor in the second round of voting which he won with 55% of the vote (against 45% for
Gabriele Pauli
Gabriele Pauli (born 26 June 1957) is a German politician, formerly with the conservative Christian Social Union (CSU) party. She was the District Administrator for the rural district of Fürth from 1990 to 2008.
Career
In 2006 and 2007, Pa ...
). He replaced incumbent Petra Reiber (in office since 2009) on 1 May 2015.
References
External links
Sylt official website
Sylt
Nordfriesland
{{Nordfriesland-geo-stub