Bad Harzburg is rich in natural resources such as gabbro, chalk, gravel, and oolithic iron ore (former Hansa Pit), all of which are or were mined in today's city's area.
Climatically Bad Harzburg is a transition zone to a pure alpine region with a pronounced local climate.
Town districts
The districts within the borough of Bad Harzburg, with their population in brackets, are:[3]
According to legend, about 780 AD the Emperor Charlemagne, after the conquest of the area in the course of the Saxon Wars, had a chapel built on the Burgberg a hill overlooking the town. It may have stood on the site of a sacred grove dedicated to a Saxon god named Krodo, whose statue Charlemagne had overthrown.
Archaeological findings of a first, later abandoned, settlement beneath the castle called Schulenrode (Old Saxon for "hidden (cf. skulk) clearing") date back to the 10th century. Another locality nearby named Hartesborch was first mentioned in a 1314 deed by the Benedictine abbey of Ilsenburg. The present-day town itself, then called Neustadt ("new town"), was first documented in 1338.
Modern period
From 1488 on, the Harzburg with its surrounding estates was part of the Principality of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, though spatially separated from the residence of the prince at Wolfenbüttel by the neighbouring Prince-Bishoprics of Hildesheim and Halberstadt. About 1569, Duke Julius of Brunswick promoted the development of a saline water well to extract salt. The well was called Juliushall and since 1852 the brine has been used for saline baths as well as other medical purposes.
In 1892 the townspeople changed the town's name from Neustadt to Harzburg. It was given the title "Bad" (German for "bath", i. e. spa), received town privileges in 1894 and has since become an important spa town and tourist attraction.
20th century
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The election results for the Nazi Party in the Bad Harzburg district had been below-average so far.
The Harzburg Front of a united "national opposition" against the German government of Heinrich Brüning was initiated by Alfred Hugenberg, the national-conservative German National People's Party (DNVP), the leadership of the Nazi Party (NSDAP), Der Stahlhelm first World War ex-servicemens' organisation and the Alldeutscher Verband pressure group and constituted on 11 October 1931. Both the People's and Nazi parties participated in the government of the Free State of Brunswick from 1930, with the leading Nazi politician Dietrich Klagges as Minister of the Interior from September 1931.
During World War II, military hospitals were established in several hotels. The town surrendered without a fight to the 83rd US Infantry Division on 11 April 1945.
After the war, Bad Harzburg with the lands of Brunswick belonged to the British zone of Allied-occupied Germany and from 1949 was part of West Germany. Before reunification, its railway station was the eastern terminus of a major railway route just west of the inner German border.
The modern community of Bad Harzburg was founded on July 1, 1972, as the communities of Bad Harzburg, Bettingerode, Bündheim-Schlewecke, Harlingerode, and Westerode were merged. The city was then incorporated from the Wolfenbüttel district into the Goslar district in 1974.
Demographics
As of 30 June 2018 there were 21,917 inhabitants in Bad Harzburg.[3]
Population statistics
Year
Inhabitants
1821
4,358
1848
4,679
1871
6,132
1885
7,630
1905
11,568
1925
14,164
Year
Inhabitants
1933
14,744
1939
16,686
1946
27,417
1950
29,901
1956
26,487
Year
Inhabitants
1961
25,946
1968
26,256
1970
25,334
1975
25,780
1980
24,924
Year
Inhabitants
1985
23,662
1990
23,882
1995
23,599
2000
23,100
2005
22,734
2010
21,891
Sights
Canossasäule
The Harzburg castle was finally slighted in 1650 by order of Duke Augustus the Younger, so that only its ruins remain today. A scenic overlook on its western perimeter offers a panoramic view of the North German Plain. This viewing point is dominated by the 19 m (62 ft) tall Canossa Column (Canossasäule) erected in 1877 in remembrance of both the Walk to Canossa by Emperor Henry IV in 1077 and a famous expression by Chancellor Otto von Bismarck during his Kulturkampf conflict with the Roman Catholic Church "We will not go to Canossa" ("Nach Canossa gehen wir nicht"). The Burgberg Cable Car has linked town and hilltop since 1929.
Bündheim Castle (Bündheimer Schloss) was the seat of the Amtmann (bailiff or vogt) of the Duchy of Brunswick-Lüneburg. It was erected in 1685 under the rule of Duke Rudolph Augustus on the site of a former manor house, built in 1573, that had been destroyed during the Thirty Years' War. The castled replaced the Harzburg as the headquarters of the local government, it was constructed with stones of the slighted castle.
Near Bündheim Castle are the stables of Bad Harzburg's stud farm, one of Europe's oldest, established in 1413 by the dukes of Brunswick-Lüneburg. The adjacent racecourse is the site of the annual Harzburg Race Week (Harzburger Rennwoche).
The Pump Room (Wandelhalle) is the historic centre of the spa resort. Built in 1898 on the site of the former saline well, the hall today is used for recitals and lectures. On the other side of the Badepark stands the former bathhouse (Badehaus), which now houses a casino (Spielbank).
The Lutheran parish church (Lutherkirche) of 1903 has paintings by Brunswick court painter, Adolf Quensen, and a Sauer pipe organ.
East of Bad Harzburg stands the Cross of the German East (Kreuz des deutschen Ostens), an Ostlandkreuz, in remembrance of the expulsion of Germans from Eastern Europe after World War II. Erected in 2000 at an elevation of 555 m (1,821 ft) on the Uhlenklippen hill, the 18 m (59 ft) high cross replaces an earlier one from 1950, which was destroyed by a storm.
The Sachsenbrunnen, a medieval spring in the nearby woods and source of drinking water for the castle of Harzburg.
Mayor (Bürgermeister) Ralf Abrahms (Greens) was elected in a two-round system on 22 September 2002 with 53.8% of the votes. Abrahms is the first Green mayor in Lower Saxony.
