(; german: Sonderburg ) is a Danish town in the

Region of Southern Denmark The Region of Southern Denmark ( da, Region Syddanmark, ; german: Region Süddänemark, ; frr, Regiuun Syddanmark) is an administrative region of Denmark established on Monday 1 January 2007 as part of the 2007 Danish Municipal Reform, which ab ...

. It is the main town and the administrative seat of

Sønderborg Municipality Sønderborg Municipality (german: Sonderburg), is a municipality (Danish, '' kommune'') in Region of Southern Denmark partially on the Jutland peninsula and partially on the island of Als in south Denmark, at the border with Germany. The municipal ...

(Kommune). The town has a population of 27,766 (1 January 2022),BY3: Population 1. January by urban areas, area and population density
The Mobile Statbank from

Statistics Denmark Statistics Denmark ( da, Danmarks Statistik) is a Danish governmental organization under the Ministry of the Interior and Housing and which reports to the Minister of Economic and Internal Affairs. The organization is responsible for creating st ...

in a municipality of 73,711. In recent times, Sønderborg is a center for trade, tourism, industry, and education in the region of

Southern Denmark The Region of Southern Denmark ( da, Region Syddanmark, ; german: Region Süddänemark, ; frr, Regiuun Syddanmark) is an administrative region of Denmark established on Monday 1 January 2007 as part of the 2007 Danish Municipal Reform, which ab ...

. The town is the headquarters for several industrial companies. Sønderburg joined the UNESCO Global Network of Learning Cities in 2016.

Overview

The town of Sønderborg is home to Sønderborg Castle (''Sønderborg Slot''), the

Royal Danish Army The Royal Danish Army ( da, Hæren, fo, Herurin, kl, Sakkutuut) is the land-based branch of the Danish Defence, together with the Danish Home Guard. For the last decade, the Royal Danish Army has undergone a massive transformation of structures ...

's Sergeant School (until 2013) and Sandbjerg Estate (''Sandbjerg Gods''). Sønderborg castle is in the centre of the town, and houses a museum focusing on the history and culture of the area. The museum is open all year. Sandbjerg Estate, which had belonged for many years to the Dukes of Sønderborg, and then to the Reventlow family, was donated to

Aarhus University Aarhus University ( da, Aarhus Universitet, abbreviated AU) is a public research university with its main campus located in Aarhus, Denmark. It is the second largest and second oldest university in Denmark. The university is part of the Coimbra Gr ...

in 1954. In addition, Sønderborg has a castle-like barracks built by the German military in 1906, placed centrally by Als Fjord, opposite Alsion (see picture below). The old part of Sønderborg is on the island of

Als Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as motor neuron disease (MND) or Lou Gehrig's disease, is a neurodegenerative disease that results in the progressive loss of motor neurons that control voluntary muscles. ALS is the most comm ...

, but some of its western

suburb A suburb (more broadly suburban area) is an area within a metropolitan area, which may include commercial and mixed-use, that is primarily a residential area. A suburb can exist either as part of a larger city/urban area or as a separ ...

s have spread onto the mainland of

Jutland Jutland ( da, Jylland ; german: Jütland ; ang, Ēota land ), known anciently as the Cimbric or Cimbrian Peninsula ( la, Cimbricus Chersonesus; da, den Kimbriske Halvø, links=no or ; german: Kimbrische Halbinsel, links=no), is a peninsula of ...

into what had been the interior of the fort of Dybbøl.

History

Prior to the

Second Schleswig War The Second Schleswig War ( da, Krigen i 1864; german: Deutsch-Dänischer Krieg) also sometimes known as the Dano-Prussian War or Prusso-Danish War was the second military conflict over the Schleswig-Holstein Question of the nineteenth century. T ...

of 1864, Sønderborg was situated in the

Duchy of Schleswig The Duchy of Schleswig ( da, Hertugdømmet Slesvig; german: Herzogtum Schleswig; nds, Hartogdom Sleswig; frr, Härtochduum Slaswik) was a duchy in Southern Jutland () covering the area between about 60 km (35 miles) north and 70 km ...

, a Danish

fief A fief (; la, feudum) was a central element in medieval contracts based on feudal law. It consisted of a form of property holding or other rights granted by an overlord to a vassal, who held it in fealty or "in fee" in return for a form ...

, so its history is properly included in the contentious history of Schleswig-Holstein. In the 1920

Schleswig Plebiscite The Schleswig plebiscites were two plebiscites, organized according to section XII, articles 100 to 115 of the Treaty of Versailles of 28 June 1919, in order to determine the future border between Denmark and Germany through the former Duchy of ...

that returned Northern Schleswig to Denmark, 43.8% of the city of Sønderborg's inhabitants voted for the cession to Denmark and 56.2% voted for remaining part of Germany.

Geography

The town of Sønderborg lies on both sides of

Alssund The Alssund is the narrow strait between Als island and the mainland of Jutland, in Denmark. External links * See also *Geography of Denmark Denmark is a Nordic country located in Northern Europe. It consists of the Jutland Peninsula an ...

; the narrow strait between these two sides is called Als Strait (''Alssund''). Two road bridges connect the city across the strait: the Als Strait Bridge (''Alssundbro''), built in 1978–1981; and the King

Christian X Christian X ( da, Christian Carl Frederik Albert Alexander Vilhelm; 26 September 1870 – 20 April 1947) was King of Denmark from 1912 to his death in 1947, and the only King of Iceland as Kristján X, in the form of a personal union rather ...

's Bridge (''Kong Christian Xs Bro''), built in 1925–1930.

Education

Higher education

Sønderborg hosts several institutions of higher education. the

University of Southern Denmark The University of Southern Denmark ( da, Syddansk Universitet, lit=South Danish University, abbr. SDU) is a university in Denmark that has campuses located in Southern Denmark and on Zealand. The university offers a number of joint programmes in ...

, University College South ( da, University College Syd), an
Business Academy SouthWest
Due to the local economy, the University of Southern Denmark offers several types of degrees in engineering such as: mechatronics; electronics; innovation and business; as well as degrees in economics, languages and European studies.

Secondary education

The technical school EUC Syd has a campus in Sønderborg, and offers a variety of trades programs, as well as the HTX high school diploma and the

International Baccalaureate The International Baccalaureate (IB), formerly known as the International Baccalaureate Organization (IBO), is a nonprofit foundation headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, and founded in 1968. It offers four educational programmes: the IB D ...

Diploma program.

Economy

Sønderborg is an economic hub in the region of

, with industries within

electronics The field of electronics is a branch of physics and electrical engineering that deals with the emission, behaviour and effects of electrons using electronic devices. Electronics uses active devices to control electron flow by amplification ...

manufacturing Manufacturing is the creation or production of goods with the help of equipment, labor, machines, tools, and chemical or biological processing or formulation. It is the essence of secondary sector of the economy. The term may refer to ...

food processing Food processing is the transformation of agricultural products into food, or of one form of food into other forms. Food processing includes many forms of processing foods, from grinding grain to make raw flour to home cooking to complex in ...

Information Technology Information technology (IT) is the use of computers to create, process, store, retrieve, and exchange all kinds of data . and information. IT forms part of information and communications technology (ICT). An information technology syste ...

and

telecommunications Telecommunication is the transmission of information by various types of technologies over wire, radio, optical, or other electromagnetic systems. It has its origin in the desire of humans for communication over a distance greater than that ...

among others, with several companies headquartered in and around the town. The

high-tech High technology (high tech), also known as advanced technology (advanced tech) or exotechnology, is technology that is at the cutting edge: the highest form of technology available. It can be defined as either the most complex or the newest te ...

industry includes the manufacturing and development of electronics, machines, industrial equipment, and software. Companies of major importance in the

sector headquartered in the region include

Danfoss Danfoss is a Danish multinational company, based in Denmark, with more than 40,043 employees globally. Danfoss was founded in 1933 by engineer Mads Clausen. History Beginning (1933–1966) In 1933 Mads Clausen (1905–1966) founded ''Dansk ...

who employs around 1000 people in Sønderborg, and 25,000 people globally. Linak, headquartered in Nordborg 25 km from Sønderborg, produces linear

actuators An actuator is a component of a machine that is responsible for moving and controlling a mechanism or system, for example by opening a valve. In simple terms, it is a "mover". An actuator requires a control device (controlled by control signal) an ...

for a variety of different applications, from agriculture to healthcare, and employs around 1,100 people in the region. Maersk container industries(MCI), a part of the Maersk group, manufactures refrigerated and refrigeration machines shipping containers, has its headquarters in Sønderborg. Danfoss Hauptgebäude in Nordborg

The

and

meat packing The meat-packing industry (also spelled meatpacking industry or meat packing industry) handles the slaughtering, processing, packaging, and distribution of meat from animals such as cattle, pigs, sheep and other livestock. Poultry is gener ...

group, Danish Crown has a slaughterhouse located in the town of Blans, outside of Sønderborg. The slaughterhouse produces pork and meat products for consumption, and employs around 940 people. BHJ is a leading supplier of animal proteins for the international food and pet food industries, with headquarters in

Gråsten Gråsten (; german: Gravenstein) is a town with a population of 4,274 (1 January 2022)telecommunications Telecommunication is the transmission of information by various types of technologies over wire, radio, optical, or other electromagnetic systems. It has its origin in the desire of humans for communication over a distance greater than that ...

, TDC A/S operates a callcenter employing roughly 370 employees. In August 2014, TDC planned to outsource around 700 full-time positions to American company

Sitel Sitel Group is a privately owned contact center company headquartered in Miami, Florida. It provides outsourced sales, technical support, customer service, and other business processes for large companies. The company has 160,000 employees an ...

, by 2015. Skyways technics, an aircraft service and repair company is headquartered at Sønderborg Airport and has 150 employees in Sønderborg and Billund.

Saab AB Saab AB (originally , later just SAAB and Saab Group) is a Swedish aerospace and defence company, founded in 1937. Headquartered in Stockholm, the development and the manufacturing is undertaken in Linköping. Saab produced automobiles from 19 ...

also has offices in the town, mainly focused on sales and engineering.

Transportation

Alsie Express mørke flybemaling (cropped)

The city is served by Sønderborg Airport. The airline, Alsie Express provides flights directly to

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan a ...

and seasonal flights to destinations such as

Bornholm Bornholm () is a Danish island in the Baltic Sea, to the east of the rest of Denmark, south of Sweden, northeast of Germany and north of Poland. Strategically located, Bornholm has been fought over for centuries. It has usually been ruled by ...

and

Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adm ...

. The train station in Sønderborg, located next to Alsion, provides daily services to Fredericia and

, as well as a direct service to

Copenhagen Airport Copenhagen Airport, Kastrup ( da, Københavns Lufthavn, Kastrup, ; ) is an international airport serving Copenhagen, Denmark, Zealand, the Øresund Region, and southern Sweden including Scania. It is the second largest airport in the Nordi ...

. Mols-linjen operates daily ferry services from Fynshav to Bøjden on the island of

Funen Funen ( da, Fyn, ), with an area of , is the third-largest island of Denmark, after Zealand and Vendsyssel-Thy. It is the 165th-largest island in the world. It is located in the central part of the country and has a population of 469,947 as o ...

, with roads connecting the town to

Odense Odense ( , , ) is the third largest city in Denmark (behind Copenhagen and Aarhus) and the largest city on the island of Funen. As of 1 January 2022, the city proper had a population of 180,863 while Odense Municipality had a population of 20 ...

and further to Sjælland and

Twin city

* Szigetszentmiklós,

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Cr ...

''since'' 2022

Notable natives

The Arts

Christian August Lorentzen Christian August Lorentzen (10 August 1749 – 8 May 1828) was a Danish painter. Early life and education Christian August Lorentzen was born in Sønderborg, Denmark. He was the son of Hans Peter Lorentzen and Maria Christina Hansdatter. His ...

(1749 in Sønderborg – 1828) a Danish painter and instructor of

Martinus Rørbye Martinus Christian Wesseltoft Rørbye (; 17 May 1803 – 29 August 1848) was a Danish painter, known both for genre works and landscapes. He was a central figure of the Golden Age of Danish painting during the first half of the 19th century. The ...

Herman Bang Herman Joachim Bang (20 April 1857 – 29 January 1912) was a Danish journalist and author, one of the men of the Modern Breakthrough. Biography Bang was born in Asserballe, on the small Danish island of Als, the son of a South Jutlandic vicar ...

(1857 in Asserballe – 1912) an author, of the

Modern Breakthrough The Modern Breakthrough ( no, Det moderne gjennombrudd, da, Det moderne gennembrud, sv, Det moderna genombrottet) is the common name of the strong movement of naturalism and debating literature of Scandinavia which replaced romanticism near the ...

* Kamma Svensson (1908 in Sønderborg – 1998) a Danish illustrator, contributed to ''

Politiken ''Politiken'' is a leading Danish daily broadsheet newspaper, published by JP/Politikens Hus in Copenhagen, Denmark. It was founded in 1884 and played a role in the formation of the Danish Social Liberal Party. Since 1970 it has been indepe ...

'' * K.R.H. Sonderborg (1923 in Sønderborg – 2008) a new media artist and musician. * Johannes Carstensen (1924 in Sønderborg – 2010) a neo-impressionistic Odsherred painter * Per Nielsen (born 1954 in Sønderborg) a popular Danish trumpet player * Søren Solkær (born 1969 in Sønderborg) a Danish photographer *

Sune Rose Wagner Sune Rose Wagner (born 24 July 1973, Sønderborg, Denmark) is a Danish songwriter, guitarist, and singer, best known for playing in the rock group The Raveonettes. In addition to his own bands, Wagner has produced, recorded, and mixed albu ...

(born 1973 in Sønderborg) a songwriter, guitarist and vocalist, playing in the rock group

The Raveonettes The Raveonettes are a Danish indie rock duo, consisting of Sune Rose Wagner on guitar, instruments and vocals, and Sharin Foo on bass, guitar and vocals. Their music is characterized by close two-part vocal harmonies inspired by The Everly Br ...

Public thinking & Public Service

* Baron Otto Grote zu Schauen (1636/1637 in Sønderborg – 1693) an Hanoverian statesman * Lars Frodesen (1889 in Sønderborg – 1921) a writer and philosopher, heavily inspired by

Blaise Pascal Blaise Pascal ( , , ; ; 19 June 1623 – 19 August 1662) was a French mathematician, physicist, inventor, philosopher, and Catholic writer. He was a child prodigy who was educated by his father, a tax collector in Rouen. Pascal's earliest ...

* Else Roesdahl (born 1942 in Sønderborg) an historian, educator and archaeologist *

Vibeke Vasbo Vibeke Vasbo (born 1944) is a Danish writer and women's rights and LGBT rights activist. In the early 1970s, she participated in the Redstocking movement and in the Danish Lesbian Movement. She embarked on a literary career in 1976 with ''Al den ...

(born 1944 in Tandslet) a writer and women's rights activist *

Ralf Pittelkow Ralf Pittelkow (born 9 April 1948 in Sønderborg, Denmark) is a Danish publisher of the extreme right online news site ''Den Korte Avis''. Pittelkow graduated as a student from high school in 1966 and holds a PhD in comparative literature from ...

(born 1948 in Sønderborg) a commentator on both radio and TV *

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) an historian, journalist and author, raised in Sønderborg * Lisbeth Bech Poulsen, (Danish Wiki) (born 1982 n Sønderborg) politician,Members of the Danish Parliament
retrieved 26 March 2018 member of the Danish

folketing The Folketing ( da, Folketinget, ; ), also known as the Parliament of Denmark or the Danish Parliament in English, is the unicameral national legislature ( parliament) of the Kingdom of Denmark—Denmark proper together with the Faroe Islands ...

for

Socialistisk Folkeparti The Green Left ( da, Socialistisk Folkeparti, SF) is a democratic socialist political party in Denmark. It was formerly known in English as the Socialist People's Party, the literal translation of its Danish name. History 1959–1969 The SF ...

Science & Business

* Westye Egeberg (1770 in Sønderborg – 1830) a Danish-Norwegian timber and lumber businessman *

Jakob Nielsen Jacob or Jakob Nielsen may refer to: * Jacob Nielsen, Count of Halland (died c. 1309), great grandson of Valdemar II of Denmark * , Norway (1768-1822) * Jakob Nielsen (mathematician) (1890–1959), Danish mathematician known for work on automorphis ...

(1890 in Mjels – 1959) a mathematician, worked on

automorphism In mathematics, an automorphism is an isomorphism from a mathematical object to itself. It is, in some sense, a symmetry of the object, and a way of mapping the object to itself while preserving all of its structure. The set of all automorphis ...

s of surfaces *

Johannes Iversen Johannes Iversen (, 12 December 1904 – 17 October 1971) was a Danish palaeoecologist and plant ecologist. Biography He was born in Sønderborg and began studies in botany at the University of Copenhagen in 1923 under professor C.H. Osten ...

(1904 in Sønderborg – 1972) a Danish palaeoecologist * Peder Moos (1906 in Sønderborg – 1991) a Danish furniture designer and cabinetmaker * Jørgen Mads Clausen (born 1948 in Elsmark) Chairman of the board of

* Lothar Göttsche (born 1961 in Sønderborg) a German mathematician, works on

algebraic geometry Algebraic geometry is a branch of mathematics, classically studying zeros of multivariate polynomials. Modern algebraic geometry is based on the use of abstract algebraic techniques, mainly from commutative algebra, for solving geometrical ...

* Niels Christiansen (born 1966 in Sønderborg) a Danish businessman, CEO of

Lego Lego ( , ; stylized as LEGO) is a line of plastic construction toys that are manufactured by The Lego Group, a privately held company based in Billund, Denmark. The company's flagship product, Lego, consists of variously colored interlocki ...

Jens Martin Skibsted Jens Martin Skibsted (born 28 June 1970) is a Danish designer, entrepreneur and author. He is a partner aManyone A/S He has founded or co-founded companies such as Biomega, Skibsted Ideation, Actics, KiBiSi and Ogojiii. He has won several intern ...

(born 1970 in Sønderborg) a Danish designer, entrepreneur and author *

Thorsten Mauritsen Thorsten Mauritsen (born 1977) is a Danish climate scientist. He is currently a professor at the Department of Meteorology at Stockholm University. His research interests include climate dynamics and global circulation, climate sensitivity and cl ...

(born 1977 in Sønderborg) a Danish climate scientist

Sport

* Ludvig Drescher (1881 in Sønderborg – 1917) an amateur football goalkeeper, team silver medallist at the

1908 Summer Olympics The 1908 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the IV Olympiad and also known as London 1908) were an international multi-sport event held in London, England, United Kingdom, from 27 April to 31 October 1908. The 1908 Games were o ...

* Verner Blaudzun (born 1946 in Sønderborg) a former cyclist, team bronze medalist at the

1976 Summer Olympics Events January * January 3 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 11 – The 1976 ...

* Palle Jensen (born 1953 in Sønderborg) former handball player, competed in the 1976 and

1980 Summer Olympics The 1980 Summer Olympics (russian: Летние Олимпийские игры 1980, Letniye Olimpiyskiye igry 1980), officially known as the Games of the XXII Olympiad (russian: Игры XXII Олимпиады, Igry XXII Olimpiady) and commo ...

Michael Søgaard Michael Skals Søgaard (born 4 February 1969) is a badminton player from Denmark. Career Søgaard made his debut at the national team in 1992. Since then he has won many tournaments for Denmark. Played for the Kastrup-Magleby BK, he has won ten ...

(born 1969 in Sønderborg) a Danish badminton player * Anders Hansen (born 1970 in Sønderborg) a semi-retired Danish professional golfer. * Lars Christiansen (born 1972 in Sønderborg) a former team handball player, played 338 games for the Denmark men's national handball team *

Simon Poulsen Simon Busk Poulsen (born 7 October 1984) is a Danish retired professional footballer who played as a left-back. He has played 31 games for the Denmark national team. Following his retirement from professional football, Poulsen moved to coachin ...

(born 1984 in Sønderborg) a footballer, 31 caps with the

Denmark national football team The Denmark men's national football team ( da, Danmarks herre-fodboldlandshold or ''herrelandsholdet'') represents Denmark in men's international football competitions. It is controlled by the Danish Football Association (DBU), the governing ...

Nicki Thiim Nicki Thiim (born 17 April 1989 in Sønderborg, Denmark) is a Danish professional racing driver, and Aston Martin Racing works driver in the FIA World Endurance Championship. Biography After competing in karting, Thiim won the 2006 Danish Form ...

(born 1989 in Sønderborg) a professional Danish race-car driver * Sara Keçeci (born 1994 in Sønderborg) a Turkish-Danish female handball goalkeeper *

Daniel Bachmann Andersen Daniel Bachmann Andersen (born 1 June 1990) is a Danish equestrian athlete. He competed at the World Equestrian Games in Tryon 2018 and at the European Dressage Championships in 2015 and 2019. Biography Bachmann Andersen started riding at an ag ...

(born in 1990 in Sønderborg) a Danish equestrian athlete

Other

The formerly ruling family of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg married into Kings and Queens

Panoramic view

Culture

Musical institutions

Sønderborg is home to the South Jutland Symphony Orchestra Sønderjyllands Symfoniorkester.

Attractions

Sønderborg Castle is today a museum about the history of Southern Denmark. The science park Universe (earlier known as Danfoss univers) is located just north of Sønderborg.

In literature

In Chapter 4 of Erskine Childers’ 1903 novel '' The Riddle of the Sands'', the protagonists, two English yachtsmen, visit Sonderburg, then under German rule: "Fascinating Sonderburg, with its broad-eaved houses of carved woodwork, each fresh with cleansing, yet reverend with age; its fair-haired Viking-like men and rosy, plain-faced women, with their bullet foreheads and large mouths; Sonderburg still Danish to the core under its Teuton veneer. Crossing the bridge I climbed the Dybbol – dotted with memorials of that heroic defence – and thence could see the wee form and gossamer rigging of our yacht on the silver ribbon of the Sound. (...) In the old quarter I bargained over eggs and bread with a dear old lady, pink as a debutante, who made a patriotic pretence of not understanding German."

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Sonderborg Municipal seats of the Region of Southern Denmark Municipal seats of Denmark Cities and towns in the Region of Southern Denmark Port cities and towns of the Baltic Sea Sønderborg Municipality