Hamburg has the largest number of German millionaires and the largest ratio of foreigners compared to other German cities. In 1910, Hamburg had one million residents, while today it has a population of 1.8 million.
| The name of the Free and Hanseatic Town of Hamburg, originally called Hammaburg, is mentioned for the first time in written documents in 830. Saint Ansgar arrived from the North bringing Christianity to an already existing settlement at the junction of the Elbe River with the rivers Bille and Alster. It is believed that the fortification on this site was built by the troops of Charlemagne. Hamburg's excellent locations enabled it to continually develop and expand, and on May 7th, 1189 - as a privilege to the Count Adolf von Schauenburg - Friedrich Barbarossa (by God's Grace the German and Roman Emperor) granted Hamburg special status in trading, tax and duty exemptions for goods transported and imported, a twomile access belt around the fortress, as well as free fishing on the Bille and Alster Rivers. |
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Among all the privileges the town would enjoy, the most important was that Hamburg's citizens were released of their military service duty, and the army was banned from passing through town. Barbarossa's charter enabled trade and handicrafts to flourish and it established medieval Hamburg as an independent city-state governed by a senate and city assembly. Anyone who could pay a certain amount to the city coffers and take a citizen's pledge could become its citizen. The amount wasn't negligible, and many poor were forced to settle outside the city walls and had to leave the city in the evening.
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In the 17th century the city already had 40,000 residents and its fortress was too solid to be conquered.
The city joined Luther's reformation movement. While other German towns were demolished and devastated during the horrors of the Thirty Year's War, Hamburg was somehow spared because of its special status. Its bank and bourse was founded on the model of Amsterdam and it accumulated its wealth primarily through trade. |
Trade and seafaring are still the city's principal commercial activities. Since the end of the 18th century, when Hamburg seafarers arrived to Argentina, overseas trade has been a constant and Hamburg founded its consulates and representative offices in all the larger ports of the world. The image of the city since the 18th century has founded on insurance companies, shipping, shipyards, beer production, tobacco and textile manufacturing plants, processing of gold and silver, the trade of coffee, tea and exotic fruit. On the Elba, special warehouses built as depots for goods, known as Speicherstadt, stand as reminders of that time. Today they have been renovated and turned into deluxe apartment buildings and residences.
| During the winter timetable, Jat Airways flies from Belgrade to Hamburg at 10.55 a.m. on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays and departs from Hamburg the same day at 2.20 p.m. and arrives to Belgrade at 4.25 p.m. |
Hamburg shipping companies have been maintaining the so-called Hamburg-America line since 1847. The line, which transports people and goods between Hamburg and New York, has also influenced Hamburg's image as it was the last destination for many European emigrants who were setting out to settle in America. In the harbour, in the Fedel district, a special area that was used for receiving and accommodating emigrants will be reconstructed and turned into a museum.
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One hill in Hamburg, the most well known part of the city, is Saint-Paul. On Millerntor, still partly preserved, there once stood the town gate that divided Altona, which belonged to Denmark, from the independent and sovereign Hamburg. Today, it is the neighbourhood of the football club stadium with the same name. In the Saint Paul district, with its network of alleys that overlooks the harbour, is Reeperbahn, the most notorious street in Hamburg. At one time, it was home to sailors, port workers and rope maker. These days it is one of those districts that offer everything to everyone, all day and all night. There are, of course, restaurants, pubs, and discos, but there are also brothels, street prostitutes and the like. |
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There are several cabarets, the St. Paul Theatre, Operetenhaus and Schmidts Tivoli musical theater and the miniature wax-figure museum "Panopticum".
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After touring pubs and generally wandering the Reeperbahn, which no visitor to Hamburg omits, life moves to the famous Fischmarkt at dawn.
On Sunday mornings everyone who has spent the night in the Reeperbahn gathers along with ordinary people who have come to buy fresh fish for Sunday dinner. One can have a fish broth or a Hamburg currywurst, buy flowers or drink a beer.
There are no sailors any more. During the time of steamships and sail boats they were the fabric of this part of town. There were many of them in Saint Paul even in the 1970s. A ship would take months to unload and they were well paid and arrived here from all sides of the world. Today, unloading and loading a ship is robotic and fast. |
"There are many port cities that envy Hamburg for having Saint Paul. They call this Saint Paul a paradise for sailors and seafarers. However, opinions about this paradise differ. Some night bars are for nudists only. The quantity of different tastes and the quantity of customers are mutually neutralised. There are men who become melancholic here. There are others for whom Saint Paul is like a power plant. It's a question of taste," concludes Bernhard Petersen, a writer who has chosen Hamburg for his new residence.
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Jat has been operating flights to Hamburg since 1972. In June of that year regular charter flights were introduced to FR Germany; the so-called workers' charters for Düsseldorf and later for Hamburg and Stuttgart. These flights, with all the characteristics of regular airline flights, operated until the end of 1991 when the government of Germany imposed an embargo on all traffic with the former Yugoslavia. During a short period in 1996, and later from 2000 to 2002, Jat resumed flights to Hamburg, but they were regular flights. However, even when flights were not operating, the Hamburg office was operational and redirecting passengers from northern Germany via Berlin and vice versa.
Since November 23rd, 2006, Jat Airways has been operating scheduled flights on the Belgrade-Hamburg line three times a week (on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays). On other days, the transport of passengers bound for Berlin is organised so that one may say Jat operates daily flights to Belgrade from this part of Germany. At the same time, in cooperation with the Emirates Company, the most convenient connection has been established for passengers from Serbia bound for New York. In Hamburg, a special bus awaits Jat Airways' passengers who arrive from or depart for New York, and directly carries them to the gate to board the Emirates plane. On the New York-Hamburg flight passengers can communicate in Serbian because the Emirates Company employs stewardesses and stewards from Serbia. |
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Some of the best German theatres are located in Hamburg: there are Thalya Theatre and Deutsches Schauspielhaus. German classic writers like Klopstock and Lessing lived and worked in Hamburg. Heine's uncle Solomon persuaded him to study at the Commercial Academy here. Fortunately for literature, he failed to finish it.
In other words, Hamburg offers to visitors both rich culture and an interesting nightlife; something for everyone. |
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