Kupfermühle is a village located north of Flensburg

Flensburg

Flensburg is an independent town in the north of the German state of Schleswig-Holstein. Flensburg is the centre of the region of Southern Schleswig...

 in Schleswig-Holstein

Schleswig-Holstein

Schleswig-Holstein is the northernmost of the sixteen states of Germany, comprising most of the historical duchy of Holstein and the southern part of the former Duchy of Schleswig...

, 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 located near the Flensburg Fjord

Flensburg Fjord

Flensburg Fjord , occasionally known as Flensburg Firth, is a 50 km long inlet of the Baltic Sea. The fjord or firth forms part of the border between Germany to the south and Denmark to the north....

 just south of the easternmost part of the Danish

Denmark

Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...

-German

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...

 border.

Kupfermühle belonged to Bov Parish until the establishment of the present border in 1920 when the rest of the parish opted to become Danish. The village now belongs to the Gemeinde Harrislee

Harrislee

Harrislee is a municipality in the district of Schleswig-Flensburg, in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It is situated on the border with Denmark, approx. 4 km northwest of Flensburg....

.

Kupfermühle was the home of the first factory in Schleswig

Schleswig

Schleswig or South Jutland is a region covering the area about 60 km north and 70 km south of the border between Germany and Denmark; the territory has been divided between the two countries since 1920, with Northern Schleswig in Denmark and Southern Schleswig in Germany...

, which is the reason behind the settlement's name. The copper mill was founded by king Christian IV of Denmark

Christian IV of Denmark

Christian IV was the king of Denmark-Norway from 1588 until his death. With a reign of more than 59 years, he is the longest-reigning monarch of Denmark, and he is frequently remembered as one of the most popular, ambitious and proactive Danish kings, having initiated many reforms and projects...

 in 1612 and produced finished copper

Copper

Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu and atomic number 29. It is a ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. Pure copper is soft and malleable; an exposed surface has a reddish-orange tarnish...

 products and later also products in brass

Brass

Brass is an alloy of copper and zinc; the proportions of zinc and copper can be varied to create a range of brasses with varying properties.In comparison, bronze is principally an alloy of copper and tin...

. Among its products were pipes and sheet copper for copper roofs but also utensils such as buckets, pots, kettles and candlesticks. The copper production flourished in 1914 when the factory employed more than 200 workers. It went bankrupt

Bankruptcy

Bankruptcy is a legal status of an insolvent person or an organisation, that is, one that cannot repay the debts owed to creditors. In most jurisdictions bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the debtor....

 in 1962.

Both the 17th century factory buildings and the workers' residences are preserved. The latter are known in Danish as nyboder and show great similarities with Christian's contemporary buildings in the Copenhagen

Copenhagen

Copenhagen is the capital and largest city of Denmark, with an urban population of 1,199,224 and a metropolitan population of 1,930,260 . With the completion of the transnational Øresund Bridge in 2000, Copenhagen has become the centre of the increasingly integrating Øresund Region...

 district of Nyboder

Nyboder

Nyboder is a historic row house district of former Naval barracks in Copenhagen, Denmark. It was planned and first built by Christian IV to accommodate a need for housing for the personnel of the rapidly growing Royal Danish Navy and their families during that time...

. The village is now home to a museum which displays a large number of copper and brass products produced by the mill.

Many of the residents in Kupfermühle belong to the Danish minority of Southern Schleswig

Danish minority of Southern Schleswig

The Danish ethnic minority in Southern Schleswig, Germany, has existed by this name since 1920, when the Schleswig Plebiscite split German-ruled Schleswig into two parts: Northern Schleswig, with a Danish majority and a German minority was united with Denmark, while Southern Schleswig remained a...

. A Danish school, Kobbermølle Skole, is located in the neighbouring village, Wassersleben.

Literature

• Jens-Peter Hansen (1994): Kobbermøllen ved Krusaa, Foreningen til Gamle Bygningers Bevaring
• Kurt Andresen: Ortsentwicklung und Alltagsleben im Dorf Kupfermühle, Herausgeber: Gemeinde Harrislee

External links

• A tour of Kupfermühle and Flensburg
• Museen in Schleswig-Holstein - Museum Kupfermühle
• About Kobbermølle

This article is mostly based on a translation of the corresponding article on the Danish Wikipedia accessed on 18 March 2007.