Friedrichstadt


Friedrichstadt is a town in the district of Nordfriesland, in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It is situated on the river Eider approx. 12 km south of Husum.

History

The town was founded in 1621 by Dutch settlers. Duke Friedrich III of Holstein-Gottorp persuaded them to invest capital and knowledge in this region in turn for freedom of their Mennonite and Remonstrant religion and opportunities to reclaim fen and marsh land in the vicinity of the town. One of them was Johannes Narssius. Dutch became an official language. The town was named after Duke Frederick.
By 1630, many Arminians had already returned to the Netherlands. In 1633-1637 Frederick III sent an embassy to Tsar Michael I of Russia and to Shah Safi of Persia with a view to setting up Friedrichstadt as a European trade terminus. The delegation was led by the jurisconsult Philip Crusius, jurisconsult, and the merchant Otto Bruggemann or Brugman, of which their secretary - the scholar Adam Olearius - later wrote a book. However, the aim of creating a regular trading route that would not pass around Africa was not achieved, and the delegation proved fruitless. Altogether, the city of Friedrichstadt did not become as successful as anticipated.
Beside the Remonstrants and Mennonites there were also other faith communities as Unitarians, Quakers, Catholics and Jews.

Personalities

Sons and daughters of the city