Prehistory

The area of the current city of Einbeck is inhabited since prehistoric times. Various artifacts have been unearthed in the city of Einbeck itself and in the little villages and lost villages around it over the years. They date back to the Paleolithic Era.^[3]

Medieval period

In the Early Middle Ages a number of villages existed along the river Ilme in the middle Leine valley before Einbeck was founded. On January 1, 1158 Einbeck was first mentioned in a deed of Friedrich Barbarossa, which mentioned … in loco qui Einbike vocatur ….^[4] and related to a transfer of an estate in the 11th century. Count Udo of Katlenburg owned an estate on the bank of a brook, the Krummes Wasser (crooked water). His grandson founded the stift Sankt Alexandri, that subsequently developed into an important sanctuary. On the other side of this brook a market town developed at the end of the 12th century, mainly due to convenient access for traffic. A church was built there as well, the market church (St. Jacob). The floodplain between market and stift was filled in and covered with buildings. The market and stift were walled in and a moat was built. In 1252 Einbeck received a town charter and a town council was established. In 1279 the town received through its sovereign, Heinrich Mirabilis, an extension of its town charter. Einbeck was topographically extended and a town wall is mentioned that enclosed the market church St. Jacob and the stift St. Alexandri. St Jacob was (and is) located in the center of the city around the 'old market', St. Alexandri was built only some hundred meters away. Extensions were called the 'new market', first mentioned 1389 as was the 'new town'. The new town received its own church, St. Mary, first mentioned 1318.^[5]

Monasteries

In the 14th and 15th centuries a number of monasteries were created: Sisters of Maria and Magdalen, an Austin hermit monastery, and a monastery of the Order of the Poor Ladies. A system of sconces and towers were built outside the city walls as an early warning system against enemies.^[6] This time was a golden age for Einbeck and it was one of the largest cities in Northern Germany.

Diek Tower with replica cage

Modern period

In July 1540 the city of Einbeck was nearly completely destroyed by a fire, which was started by an arsonist. What role the religious upheaval following the very recently introduced reformation played is unknown. Convicted of the crime, the arsonist, Heinrich Diek, was tortured and died while being publicly displayed in an iron cage. This cage is still on display in the town hall. As the town had been quite wealthy before the fire, it was rebuilt very fast. Einbeck joined the Schmalkaldic League, a system of military defence of Lutheran princes and cities, which was a very costly exercise. In 1549 a fire once again swept through the city. This time the southern part of the city was mainly affected and 580 houses burned down. In 1580 the city council signed the Formula of Concord which completed reformation.^[7] In 1597 the plague took a huge death toll. During the Thirty Years' War the city was occupied by enemy troops during 1632 and 1641 and some hundred houses destroyed. During the Seven Years' War, (known as the French and Indian War in North America), the city gates were taken down and most of the city walls were destroyed.

Etching by Matthäus Merian of the City of Einbeck after Buno dated 1654

This all led to times of economic and political vulnerability. As the neighbouring village Rotenkirchen developed into the administrative seat of the area, its sovereign was able to curb the autonomy of Einbeck. Later Einbeck became a garrison for infantry units, which eased its economic difficulties. During the Napoleonic Wars it became the administrative seat of the district of Einbeck from 1807 to 1813. In 1826 the area around St. Maria burned down, replaced by a new county courthouse “Amtsgericht”. After Prussia won the war against the Kingdom of Hannover in 1866, barracks for the Prussian Army were built, now the 'New Town Hall' and administrative building of the city council. Einbeck initially resisted plans to connect itself to the railway line Hannover – Kassel, but in 1879 a line between Salzderhelden and Einbeck was built. In 1885 Einbeck was made seat of the newly formed county of Einbeck. Beginning in 1890 the bicycle manufacturing and trading company of August Stukenbrok developed into the largest mail order business in Germany, although it later went into receivership during The Great Depression in 1931. In 1896 the garrison was closed and the building used as a technical college until 1907.

Einbeck was hit hard by the economic difficulties following the end of World War I, and from 1930 on, its citizens leaned toward non-democratic parties. During the last free vote before Hitler took power, the National Socialists (NSDAP) had a share of 40.9% of the electorate in Einbeck.^[8] During the pogrom of November 1938^[9] NSDAP followers set fire to the Synagogue in the Bismarckstraße. Of the 58 Jewish citizens of Einbeck; 21 emigrated outside of Germany, 32 were killed or died of disease in concentration camps, three committed suicide, and five have not been able to be traced.^[10] A month before German surrender, the city manager of Einbeck (without permission from his superiors) gave over the city to United States troops on April 9, 1945. This helped Einbeck to survive the war physically undamaged.

In 1946, the population of Einbeck doubled through the influx of displaced persons from the former Eastern territories of Germany, mainly from Silesia. This led to a boom in the construction of new residential houses and later, industrial buildings as well. Residential housing expanded the city in an easterly direction, while industrial building grew to the south. Some substantial companies did set up shop in Einbeck, the largest today (2023) being KWS.

In 1971 the villages Holtensen, Hullersen, Immensen, and Odagsen were incorporated into the city of Einbeck, while the county of Einbeck was disbanded in 1974. At the same time Einbeck incorporated further 27 villages from the old counties of Einbeck, Gandersheim, and Northeim. Einbeck is as of 2013 administratively a 'Medium Centre', which means it provides services like high school, hospital‚ notary public, local court, etc. In 2005 a fire destroyed one historical building and damaged five more. Seven years later two more heritage-listed buildings were destroyed by fire.

On October 19, 2011, the city council adopted a resolution to incorporate the neighbouring community of Kreiensen beginning January 1, 2013.^[11] Einbeck therefore is the legal successor of Kreiensen and it grew substantially again in terms of territory and population.^[12]

Climate

City council

A by-election was held on 20 January 2013 for the city council and all village councils due to the incorporation of the former community of Kreiensen into the city of Einbeck. The results were as follows:

Former city managers

• 1948–1981 Heinrich Keim
• 1981–1992 Georg Lampe
• 1992–1997 Bernd Röll

Full-time mayors

• 1 January 1998 until 31 October 2006: Martin Wehner (SPD)
• 1 November 2006 until 24 January 2013: Ulrich Minkner (SPD)
• since 24 January 2013: Sabine Michalek (CDU)

Houses and halls

• Market Square, the very center of the town, with
  • Old Town Hall built in the 16th century, with its three towers, a historic hallmark of Einbeck
  • Brodhaus (breadhouse) built in 1552; the site was used since 1333 as seat of the bakers' guild.
  • The Ratsapotheke (pharmacy), dated 1590.
• Eicke's House has a rich sculptural façade ornamentation of Renaissance style, and is listed as a “Historical landmark of special national and cultural importance”.
• Tiedexer Straße, a line of houses build at approximately the same time and in the same style, middle of the 16th century.
• The New Town Hall was built in 1868 as Prussian Barracks. It is currently (2013) used as administrative building of the city council since 1996. The carillon in the clocktower plays the same chime as Big Ben.
• Concert and culture house TangoBrücke started its concert series in 2008. Every Thursday the audience is treated to a classical recital, a jazz concert, or a tango event.

• 
  Medieval Town Hall
• 
  Brodhaus
• 
  Town Pharmacy
• 
  Historic City Center
• 
  Eicke's House after restoration in 2008
• 
  Eicke's House - detail
• 
  Half timbered houses from the Rokoko and Renaissance era
• 
  New Town Hall

Churches

Sankt Alexandri

• Market church Sankt Jacobi (St James's), Lutheran, has a strong presence in the city center through its church tower, 65 meters high. It has a Romanesque baptismal font of sandstone, the oldest artifact in Einbeck
• Minster church Sankt Alexandri (St Alexander's), Lutheran, one of the largest gothic hall churches in the north of Germany
• St. Marien (St Mary's) Lutheran, consecrated 1968 (Old Building New Town Church Sankt Marien rebuild after a fire 1840 − 1846,^[17] demolished 1963)
• Jugendkirche Marie (Youth Church Marie),
• Parish Church “St. Josef” (St Joseph's), Roman Catholic
• Chapel „St. Spiritus“, a medieval chapel, is now Greek Orthodox

Horsepower Store (PS-Speicher)

Theater

• Wilhelm-Bendow-Theater (Regular annual programmes through Kulturring Einbeck)

Museums, archives and library

• Town Museum: Stadtmuseum Einbeck, Steinweg 11/13, with newly designed „RadHaus“ (bicycle museum). The historic archives of the town of Einbeck are stored in the building of the museum
• The Public Library is located adjacent to Stukenbrokpark^[18]
• The building of the old synagogue was restored by a local initiative and is a museum.^[19]
• Salzderhelden saltworks
• Kunsthaus
• PS Speicher („Horsepower Storage“). A local initiative has started in 2011 to rebuild and restore a former granary to form a museum which does exhibit the largest collection of German motorcycles. The opening ceremony was on July 23, 2014.^[20]

Green Fountain, Stiftsgarten

Media

The local daily newspaper "Einbecker Morgenpost" is published Monday through Saturday. Einbecker Morgenpost has its own staff and content for local news and takes international and national pages from "Hannoversche Allgemeine Zeitung". There is an advertising paper for the Einbeck region called "Die Eule" distributed Wednesday and Sunday.

Schools

Primary

• Geschwister-Scholl-School Einbeck, All-day School
• Pestalozzischule Einbeck
• Primary School Teichenweg (Teichenwegschule), Einbeck
• Primary School Salzderhelden/Vogelbeck
• Leinetalschulen Drüber; Primary and Special School
• Primary School Dassensen/Holtensen
• Primary School Wenzen
• Primary School Kreiensen
• Primary School Greene

Stiftsgarten

Parks

• Stiftsgarten north of the city center, used as garden by stift Sankt Alexandri. Located inside this park is the „Garden of many Generations“. On the eastern side of the Stiftsgarten is the Mendelssohn music school using the Stukenbrokvilla, a residential building in the art nouveau fashion.
• Stukenbrokpark is an area northeast of the city center between city library and central coach terminal.
• The historic city walls are best preserved west of the city center in the areas Bäckerwall, Krähengraben, and Mühlenwall.
• The officers garden is located south of the city center close to the Diek Tower (remains of one of the city gates).

Monuments and memorials

• The Stukenbrok Memorial was built in memory of the founder of the mail order business August Stukenbrok. It is located in the east of the Stiftsgartens, which was an area once owned by Stukenbrok, next to the little pond.
• Memorial for Till Eulenspiegel, who is said to have lived in Einbeck for a while, on Market Square. As Eulenspiegel is a fictional person that is a surprising fact.
• War Memorial for the Franco-Prussian War 1870/1871 designed by Conrad Wilhelm Hase
• In 1998 locals erected a big concrete block called Stein des Anstoßes (Stumbling Stone) close to the Market Church on Market Square to remind everybody that the number of unemployed in Einbeck (2341 people) was far too high. The stone was to remain in place until the number of unemployed would be half its 1998 number. The stone could have been removed in October 2007.

Christmas Market on Market Square

• The Gasometer is a technical memorial in the city area.

Recurring events

• May 1: Einbecker Bluesfestival & Bock-Beer-Tapping
• May: Open Cross Country Race “Einbecker Bierstadtlauf”
• June: Foodfestival
• September: Vat-Pushing-Contest “Fassrollen”
• September: Pub-Music-Night
• October: City Festival „Eulenfest”
• November/December: Christmas Market on Market Square
• December: New Year's Eve Cross Country Race „Auf der Hube”

Sons and daughters of the city

• Wilhelm Bendow (1884–1950), actor
• Walter Bock (1895–1948), chemist
• Emil Reinecke (1933–2011), cyclist
• Friedrich Uhde (1880–1966), engineer and entrepreneur
• Ilse Everlien Berardo (born 1955), emigrated to the Autonomous Region of Madeira and became the Lutheran theologian and pastor of German-speaking Protestant Church on the archipelago. Member of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany.

Workers

• Gintaras Januševičius (born 1985), pianist and music director
• Georg Knorr (1859–1911) student in Einbeck, engineer
• Georg Schambach (1811–1879), Germanist, high school director in Einbeck
• Johann Friedrich Unger (1716–1781), mayor of Einbeck and inventor

Road

There is direct access to Federal Highway “B 3” Bundesstraße 3 running in a north–south direction, connecting Hannover to Kassel, each about 70 kilometres (43 miles) away. Until the 1994 “B 3” ran through the city centre, but there is now a bypass open.

Access to National Motorway “A 7” Bundesautobahn 7 is about 10 kilometres (6.2 miles) away. “A 7” connects Flensburg, on the German/Danish border, with Reutte in Austria and roughly runs in a north–south direction as well.

Rail

The Einbeck-Salzderhelden station is located on the Hanoverian Southern Railway part of the main North–South railway between Hanover and Kassel. Services run at approximately hourly intervals.

The larger railway station in Einbeck is Kreiensen, which provides in addition to the services mentioned above, train connections to the West (Holzminden, Altenbeken) and North East (Seesen, Goslar, Brunswick).

In 2018 the railway station Einbeck Mitte in the city centre of Einbeck reopened after 34 years. Today there is an hourly train service between Einbeck Mitte and Salzderhelden and six additional through services between Einbeck Mitte and Göttingen in both directions.

The closest high speed train station is Göttingen, about 38 kilometres (24 miles) away. Göttingen can be reached from Salzderhelden in hourly intervals.

Einbeck has a small railway company, Ilmebahn, which runs rail freight services.

Bus

Einbeck is part of a transport association in the South of Lower Saxony, VSN, which connects virtually all smaller villages with the cities in South Lower Saxony. Ilmebahn, the local transport company runs local bus services, as does RBB (Regionalbus Braunschweig).

Air

The next international airport is Hannover Airport, with connections to major European cities. This airport can be reached by train. A smaller airport mainly for holiday travelers Kassel-Calden is about 90 kilometres (56 miles) away.