Herzogtum Lauenburg

The district's territory comprises most of the former Duchy's territory north of the river Elbe, except of the Amt Neuhaus. All the former Saxe-Lauenburgian areas beyond the Elbe belong today to the Lower Saxon districts of Cuxhaven (Land of Hadeln), Harburg and Lüneburg.

The district's area contains a number of historically important towns, e.g. Lauenburg/Elbe, Mölln and Ratzeburg. This importance was due to the Old Salt Route (Alte Salzstraße), one of the major medieval trade routes. Salt from the salt-works south of the Elbe river was transported northward to Lübeck. The transport of salt was also the motive for constructing the oldest artificial waterway of Europe, the Stecknitz Canal (1398). It was replaced in 1900 by the Elbe-Lübeck Canal.

The landscape is characterised by numerous lakes, forming the Lauenburg Lakes Nature Park. The largest lake is the Ratzeburger See with an area of 16 km².

The district Herzogtum Lauenburg is named after the medieval Duchy of Saxe-Lauenburg, which was one of the remnants of the original Duchy of Saxony. The Duchy of Saxony was partitioned in a process started in 1269, nine years after in 1260 Albert II and John I had succeeded their father Albert I of Saxony.[2] In 1269, 1272 and 1282, the brothers gradually divided their governing competences within the three territorially unconnected Saxon areas along the Elbe river (one called Land of Hadeln, another around Lauenburg upon Elbe and the third around Wittenberg upon Elbe), thus preparing a partition.

After John I's resignation in 1282, Albert II ruled with his still minor nephews Albert III, Eric I and John II, who by 1296 definitely partitioned the duchy providing Saxe-Lauenburg for the brothers, and Saxe-Wittenberg for their uncle Albert II. The last document, mentioning the brothers and their uncle Albert II as Saxon fellow dukes dates back to 1295.[3] A deed of 20 September 1296, circumscribing Saxe-Lauenburg, mentions the Vierlande (now Hamburg), Sadelbande (Land of Lauenburg), the Land of Ratzeburg, the Land of Darzing (later Amt Neuhaus), and the Land of Hadeln (the latter two now Lower Saxony) as the joint territory of the brothers, separate of Saxe-Wittenberg.[3]

Saxe-Lauenburg was also known simply as Lauenburg. While the territory of Saxe-Wittenberg changed drastically over the centuries, the Duchy of Lauenburg remained almost unchanged, until it lost its independence in 1689, when it was inherited by the Principality of Lüneburg. From 1815–1864 it was ruled in personal union by the Duke of Holstein, being simultaneously King of Denmark. In 1864 it fell to Prussia after the Second Schleswig War. For a short period Lauenburg was still an autonomous entity, but in 1876 it was incorporated as a district into the Prussian province of Schleswig-Holstein.

Lauenburg upon Elbe was the first capital and name-giving to the Duchy, before it moved in 1619 to Ratzeburg, which remained the capital also when the Duchy was downgraded to a district within Prussia. In 1937—by a territorial redeployment within the scope of the Greater Hamburg Act—the city of Geesthacht (formerly a part of Hamburg), some Mecklenburgian exclaves, including Ratzeburg's Cathedral immunity district, and some Lübeckian exclaves within the district territory, were incorporated into the district.

In May 1945 British forces captured the district territory, which in September 1944 had been determined in the London Protocol to become part of the British Zone of Occupation. On 13 November 1945 the British general Colin Muir Barber and the Soviet general major Nikolay Grigoryevich Lyashchenko (Russian: Николай Григорьевич Лященко) signed the Barber Lyashchenko Agreement ((in German), also Gadebusch Agreement) in Gadebusch, redeploying some municipalities of the Duchy of Lauenburg District and neighbouring Mecklenburg, then part of the Soviet Zone of Occupation. Thus some eastern suburbs of Ratzeburg, such as Ziethen in Lauenburg, Mechow, Bäk and Römnitz became part of the district, while the Lauenburgian municipalities of Dechow, Groß and Klein Thurow (now component parts of Roggendorf) as well as Lassahn (now a component part of Zarrentin am Schaalsee) were ceded to Mecklenburg. The redeployment was accomplished on 26 November, the respective occupational forces had until 28 November to withdraw to their respective new zonal territories.

• In 2003, the public transit system in the district was integrated into the Hamburger Verkehrsverbund (HVV).
• Connections to the Autobahn network are provided by the A1 (Hamburg–Lübeck) in the west, the A 24 (Hamburg–Berlin) in the south, the A 25 (Geesthacht–Hamburg) and the A 20 (Lübeck–Rostock) in the north of the district.
• Railway connections exist from Hamburg to Büchen and on to Berlin; and from Lüneburg to Büchen and on to Lübeck, via Mölln/Ratzeburg. Both routes are operated by Deutsche Bahn AG. From Bergedorf to Geesthacht, there is still the old Bergedorf-Geesthachter Eisenbahn (BGE) freight route, which now serves as a museum railway line, belonging to the privately operated AKN Eisenbahn.
• The Elbe harbour of Lauenburg/Elbe constitutes one end of the Elbe-Lübeck Canal, established in 1900. Via the Trave river, it connects the Central European network of canals to Lübeck and the Baltic Sea. The canal served as a part of the Old Salt Route.
• Nearby airports are Lübeck Airport and Hamburg Airport.

Clickable map of towns and municipalities in the district

(Populations as of 30 June 2005 in brackets)

• List of German MPs from the Duchy of Lauenburg

Media related to Kreis Herzogtum Lauenburg at Wikimedia Commons

• Official website (in German)
• Schlüsseldienst (in German)

53°35′N 10°40′E