Nordenham

Nordenham
Nordenham
Location of the town of Nordenham within Wesermarsch district
Coordinates	53°30′N 8°28′E / 53.5°N 8.46667°E / 53.5; 8.46667Coordinates: 53°30′N 8°28′E / 53.5°N 8.46667°E / 53.5; 8.46667
Administration
Country	Germany
State	Lower Saxony
District	Wesermarsch
Town subdivisions	35 districts
Mayor	Hans Francksen (SPD)
Basic statistics
Area	87.2 km2 (33.7 sq mi)
Elevation	3 m  (10 ft)
Population	26,826 (31 December 2010)[1]
- Density	308 /km2 (797 /sq mi)
Other information
Time zone	CET/CEST (UTC+1/+2)
Licence plate	BRA
Postal code	26954
Area code	04731
Website	www.nordenham.de

Nordenham (German pronunciation: [nɔʁdənˈham]) is a town in the Wesermarsch district, in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is located at the mouth (on the west bank) of the Weser river on the Butjadingen peninsula on the coast of the North Sea. The seaport city of Bremerhaven is located on the other side (east bank) of the river. The Midgard-seaport in Nordenham is the largest private-owned harbor in Germany.

History

Nordenham developed after the efforts by a merchant called Wilhelm Müller who traded cattle and sheep to England in the late 19th century. Some of the oldest parts of the modern town area are the old villages or Wurtendörfer (roughly translated as 'terp villages') Blexen, Einswarden and Atens. Bishop Willehad, the Northumbrian-born missionary of the Frisians, died in Blexen in the year 789, which is also commonly accepted to be the villages year of foundation. In 1407, the Vredeborch or Friedeburg (to be translated as "peace castle") was erected by the Hanseatic city of Bremen, a castle (although it was probably more a kind of large fortified house) to protect interests against the rebellious inhabitants, the Rüstringer Frisians. The stronghold was destroyed in 1425 and it is possible that the site was later used by a monastery.

Nordenham's founder Wilhelm Müller

Nordenham's town founder Wilhelm Müller later built his farm house and a restaurant on the same site. In 1959 those were demolished and the still existing community hall was built there. The town hall was built in 1953 and moved into by the local authority in January 1954.

Between 1499-1514 the area was conquered by the Grand-Duchy of Oldenburg and in 1813 by the French emperor Napoleon, whose army shot ten local inhabitants at the church in Blexen.

On May 1, 1908 Nordenham was granted 2nd class town rights and since 1955 Nordenham is an independent town in the Wesermarsch district.

Due to government industrialisation programs in the 1960s and 1970s, various industries opened plants in Nordenham. Among others, the main industries are a nuclear power plant near Esenshamm, which politically belongs to the neighbouring borough of Stadland, airplane construction (Premium AEROTEC) and chemical industry. On the Butjadingen peninsula outside Nordenham people do dairy farming or work in the tourism industry.

Town twinning

Nordenham's twin cities include:

• Peterlee, County Durham (United Kingdom), since 1981
• Świnoujście (Poland), since 1992

and according to the following town's page,

• Saint-Étienne-du-Rouvray (France)

Transport

Due to the town's location, transport connections are below par. There is a ferry to Bremerhaven at Blexen, though it has suffered from steady declines in passenger numbers ever since the Weser tunnel some 10 km south of Nordenham opened. The town is connected to the regional road network by Bundesstraße 212 which intersects with Bundesstraße 437 near the Weser tunnel, offering connections to the A 27 and A 28 motorways.

Nordenham can be reached by RegionalExpress trains; Nordenham railway station sees hourly trains to Bremen. It is expected that Nordenham will be integrated into the Bremen S-Bahn network, which is currently believed to go operational by 2010.

Sons of the city

The city's most famous son is Roy Horn of "Siegfried & Roy", who grew up in Blexen but soon left town after school and supposedly never returned for a visit after his remarkable breakthrough as a magician. In the IMAX movie "Siegfried & Roy: The Magic Box" (1999) his youth in Blexen was shortly mentioned, but the shown landscape there does not bear any resemblance to the real landscape.

References

1. ^ "Bevölkerungsfortschreibung" (in German). Landesbetrieb für Statistik und Kommunikationstechnologie Niedersachsen. 31 December 2009. http://www1.nls.niedersachsen.de/statistik/html/parametereingabe.asp?DT=K1000014&CM=Bev%F6lkerungsfortschreibung. 

External links

• Official Website of the town (German)
• Tourist Website of the town (German) (with English translation of menus)