Flensburg, city, Schleswig-Holstein Land (state), Germany. A port at the head of Flensburg Fjord, it is Germany’s most northerly large city. First mentioned in 1240, it was chartered in 1284 and was frequently pillaged by the Swedes after 1643. It became the capital of Schleswig under Danish rule in 1848 and was occupied by Prussia after the German-Danish War of 1864. In the plebiscite held in 1920, Flensburg voted to remain in Germany. The site of a naval station and academy before World War II, it again became a naval base after the establishment of West Germany.
The city is the cultural and commercial centre of northern Schleswig-Holstein and has a number of administrative roles at the Land and federal levels. Its industries include shipbuilding, metalworking, paper milling, and the production of machinery and rum. Many Danish firms have offices in the city. Flensburg’s notable landmarks include the medieval churches of St. Nicholas and St. Mary (1284), the large Nordertor (gate; 1595), the municipal museum, the Nordermarkt (North Market; 1595), and the German House concert hall. The city is the seat of the University of Flensburg (founded 1946) and of a technical college. The adjacent Baltic resort of Glücksburg has a famous castle (1582–87) that was the seat of the ducal house of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg and was associated with the royal families of Denmark, Great Britain, Norway, and Greece. The German government under Admiral Karl Dönitz capitulated there to the Allies in May 1945. Pop. (2003 est.) 85,300.