Jesteburg
Encyclopedia
Jesteburg is a municipality in the district of Harburg
Harburg
Harburg is a district in Lower Saxony, Germany. It takes its name from the town of Harburg upon Elbe, which used to be the capital of the district but is now part of Hamburg...

, in Lower Saxony
Lower Saxony
Lower Saxony is a German state situated in north-western Germany and is second in area and fourth in population among the sixteen states of Germany...

, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

. It is situated approx. 25 km south of Hamburg
Hamburg
-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...

, and 6 km east of Buchholz in der Nordheide
Buchholz in der Nordheide
Buchholz in der Nordheide is the largest town in the district of Harburg, in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated approx. 25 km southwest of Hamburg.-Geography:Buchholz is home to the Brunsberg, the region's highest mountain...

.

Jesteburg is also the seat of the Samtgemeinde ("collective municipality") Jesteburg
Jesteburg (Samtgemeinde)
Jesteburg is a Samtgemeinde in the district of Harburg, in Lower Saxony, Germany. Its seat is in the village Jesteburg.The Samtgemeinde Jesteburg consists of the following municipalities:# Bendestorf# Harmstorf...

.

In Jesteburg lies the confluence of two small rivers, the Schmale Aue and the Seeve
Seeve
The River Seeve is a tributary of the Elbe in northern Germany. It is approximately long. Its source is near Wehlen in the northern part of the Lüneburg Heath. It flows into the Elbe in Over, Seevetal...

.

History

The first official mentioning of Jesteburg dates back to the year 1202, in a document signed by the Hartwig II
Hartwig of Uthlede
Hartwig of Uthlede was - as Hartwig II - Prince-Archbishop of Bremen and one of the originators of the Livonian Crusade. Coming from a family of the Bremian Ministerialis at Uthlede, he was a canon of Bremen Cathedral and a clerk of Duke Henry the Lion of Saxony, House of Guelph, before becoming...

, Archbishop of Bremen.

The castle which gave the town its name is supposed to have guarded the Seeve passage until the 13th century. Remains of this "Burg" have not yet been found.

In 1872/73 the railroad between Buchholz in der Nordheide
Buchholz in der Nordheide
Buchholz in der Nordheide is the largest town in the district of Harburg, in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated approx. 25 km southwest of Hamburg.-Geography:Buchholz is home to the Brunsberg, the region's highest mountain...

 and Lüneburg
Lüneburg
Lüneburg is a town in the German state of Lower Saxony. It is located about southeast of fellow Hanseatic city Hamburg. It is part of the Hamburg Metropolitan Region, and one of Hamburg's inner suburbs...

 which still runs through Jesteburg was built.

During an allied air raid on nearby Hamburg in January 1943 incendiary bombs where dropped on Jesteburg, several buildings where destroyed. On April 19, 1945 the railroad bridge was blown up by the Wehrmacht
Wehrmacht
The Wehrmacht – from , to defend and , the might/power) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the Heer , the Kriegsmarine and the Luftwaffe .-Origin and use of the term:...

to slow the advance of British troops.

Between 1933 and 1945 the population of Jesteburg nearly doubled, mostly due to refugees.
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