Stadt Flensburg, Deutschland
The search for a twin town began in 1959 with schools in Carlisle looking for a specific link with a foreign city. The British Council was approached and a German town similar in size and type was sought. Flensburg in Schleswig-Holstein, North Germany was suggested.
Discussions to establish a twinning arrangement ensued through 1960. Of particular importance was the impetus to arrange an exchange of youth groups.
During the visit of a Civic Delegation to Flensburg in June 1961 the official partnership between Carlisle and Flensburg began. This event was commemorated by the presentation of this beautiful wooden plaque to the Mayor of Carlisle during a celebratory siting of Flensburg's City Council on 29 June 1961.
The first Carlisle/Flensburg Youth Exchange took place in July 1961 and exchanges of young people continue to form a strong thread of the partnership through over forty years of friendship.
Flensburg
Like Carlisle Flensburg is a northern border town, which through history has changed national allegiance with the consequence that two distinct communities, German and Danish, are evident today.
Flensburg has a geographical location similar to Carlisle in that the city is situated near the sea, on a 20 mile long Fjord that flows into the Baltic. It has an agricultural hinterland and is the centre of a thriving tourist industry. Even the Civic Centres are similar as this photo of Flenburg's Rathaus (Council House) demonstrates!
Flensburg was granted a city charter in 1284 by Duke Waldemar IV. Flensburg is an old port and trading city with shipbuilding and shipping dating back to the Middle Ages.
In the16th. Century Flensburg was a rich and important sea trading city whose later economic development to the 19th Century was strongly influenced by Denmark. Rum importation from the West Indies began in the middle 18th Century and is today celebrated in the city's "Rum Museum" opened in 1993.
The 19th Century saw heated disputes including a German-Danish War in 1864 as to whether Flensburg should be in Schleswig-Holstein or remain in the Danish Commonwealth. After a referendum in 1920 Flensburg became a German border town and at the end of WWII became the provisional capital of the Third Reich. Admiral Dönitz, speaking from Flensburg's Naval Academy at Mürwik, capitulated on 7th May 1945 ending the war in Europe.
Today, Flensburg, Germany's gateway to the north is a vibrant city with a distinct scandinavian air. Große Straße, Flenburg's mainly pedestrianised shopping mile, runs south through the centre of the old city from the Nordertor (Northern Gate) shown here on the right. 17th and 18th Century alleyways and merchant courtyards, off this main shopping street, have been restored providing delightful settings for restaurants, arts and crafts, cafés and galleries. Everywhere Flenburg's close relationship with the sea and the meeting of two cultures is very apparent.
