Plön

Infobox German Location
Art = Stadt
image_photo = Plon.jpg
Wappen = Wappen von Ploen.pnglat_deg = 54 |lat_min = 9 |lat_sec = 44
lon_deg = 10 |lon_min = 25 |lon_sec = 17
Lageplan = Ploen in PLOE.pngBundesland = Schleswig-Holstein
Kreis = Plön
Höhe = 26
Fläche = 36.73
Einwohner = 12938
Stand = 2005-06-30
PLZ = 24301–24306
Vorwahl = 04522
Kfz = PLÖ
Gemeindeschlüssel = 01 0 57 057
Adresse = Schlossberg 3/4
24306 Plön
Website = [http://www.ploen.de/ www.ploen.de]
Bürgermeister = Jens Paustian

Plön (IPA2|ˈpløːn) is the district seat of the Plön district in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, and has about 13,000 inhabitants. It lies right on Schleswig-Holstein's biggest lake, the Großer Plöner See, as well as on several smaller lakes, touching the town on virtually all sides. The town's landmark is the Schloss Plön, a chateau built in the 17th century on a hill overlooking the town.

Plön has a "Gymnasium" with a 300-year history, and is home to a German Navy junior officer school and the Max Planck Institute of Limnology. The town, nestled as it is in the hilly wooded lake district of the "Holsteinische Schweiz" (meaning the "little Switzerland of Holstein"), also has importance in the tourism industry.

History

More than 1000 years ago, the "Plune" castle was built by a Slavic overlord. In 1075, Kruto lured Budivoj of the Nakoniden into the "castrum plunense" (according to Helmold), laid siege to him, and then once Budivoj's men had given themselves up after Kruto's promises to let them withdraw freely, Kruto had them slain. In 1236, Plön was granted town rights under Lübeck law. Between 1561 and 1729, Plön was the capital of the Duchy of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Plön. In 1633 a Renaissance castle was built on a hill above the town, being a summer residence for the rulers of Holstein and later for the German emperor Wilhelm II. The palace grounds are still a popular recreation area. They include the Prinzeninsel ("Princes' Island", the island is separated only by a very small river from the mainland, so it might also be called a peninsula), which is still owned by the House of Hohenzollern. In the mid 19th century, the Danish Crown Prince spent a few years in Plön for his health at Schloss Plön. In 1867, Plön became a district seat. The Hohenzollern Princes received part of their schooling in Plön.

From mid April 1945, Plön was home to parts of the Third Reich's last government as well as to the German Navy's chief commander Karl Dönitz, in the "Stadtheide" barracks. On 1 May 1945, Dönitz proclaimed that Hitler was dead, having appointed him as his successor. The next day, the acting government fled to Flensburg ahead of advancing British troops.

From 1868, the "Schloss" housed a Prussian cadet institution. After the First World War, it became a boarding school which served during the Third Reich as a National Political Institute of Education ("Nationalpolitische Erziehungsanstalt"). It once again became a state boarding school in 1946, but was closed by the Schleswig-Holstein government in 2001 during Heide Simonis's administration. It was then sold to the Fielmann AG optical company, whereupon it was developed into a school for opticians. The total costs of refurbishment and reconstruction were 35 million Euros. Each year the Schloß is home to six thousand Fielmann AG employees who receive training for anything up to a two week period. Other students at the Schloß take part in B.A. and Meisteroptiker courses. Parts of Günther Fielmann's own antique collection can be viewed at the Schloß and encompass pieces from the major north European and French epochs since the mid seventeenth century.

Relics of the Cold War can be found in the form of explosive vehicle traps along the Fünf-Seen-Allee ("Five Lake Lane") near the old Five Lake Barracks in Plön-Stadtheide.

Politics

Town council

Plön's town council consists of 23 councillors.(as of municipal election on 2 March 2003)

Mayor

After a runoff on 21 November 2004 Jens Paustian became Plön's mayor.

Coat of arms

The coat of arms shows on a silver background above silver and blue waves in which a red fish is swimming, a red, full-width, low crenellated wall made of bricks, on top of which is a short, red crenellated tower with two black window arches; over the tower hovers Holstein's coat of arms (in red a silver nettle leaf)

Partnerships

*Flagicon|Germany Plau am See, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, since 1990
*Flagicon|Russia A sponsorship arrangement also exists with the town of Zhilino (formerly the German town of Schillen) in the old Tilsit-Ragnit district in Russia's Kaliningrad Oblast, in what was once East Prussia.
*Flagicon|Tunisia Ksour-Essaf, Tunisia, since 1969

Transport

The railway line between Kiel and Lübeck, on which there are trains hourly in each direction, runs through Plön. The town is a highway hub, being on a junction of the Federal Highways ("Bundesstraßen") B 76 (east-west) and B 430 (southwest-northeast)

Personalities

Rochus von Liliencron (1820-1912), Germanist and music historian

External links

* [http://www.ploen.de/nc_1024/index_1024.htm Plön's official website]
* [http://www.fielmann-akademie.com/ Fielmann-Akademie Schloss Plön] with detailed history of Schloss Plön
* [http://www.gym-schloss-ploen.de/ Gymnasium Schloss Plön]
* [http://www.mpil-ploen.mpg.de/ Max Planck Institute of Limnology]
* [http://www.touristinfo-ploen.de/tiploen/de/home/de_home_main.php Tourist information]