Duderstadt is a city in southern Lower Saxony, Germany, located in the district Göttingen. It is the center and capital of the landscape and area of Eichsfeld. In earlier times it was the private wealth of the Roman Catholic archbishop of Mainz, hence the coat of arms contain a wheel, the sign of Mainz.

The earliest documentary mention of Duderstadt was in 929 AD, and the city celebrates anniversaries counting from that year.

Architecture

The "Innenstadt" (town center) contains many beautiful historic buildings in the "Fachwerk" style, most notably along the Marktstraße (Market Street), which stretches from the St. Cyriakuskirche (Catholic, built 1250 - 1490), also called the "Oberkirche" (upper church), to the St. Servatiuskirche (Protestant, built 1370 - 1520), also called the "Unterkirche" (lower church).

The Westerturm is a particularly remarkable building. Built 1343 or earlier as one of at least eight gate towers through the city's fortress wall, it burned down in 1424 and was rebuilt over the course of 12 years. The Westerturm has a very distinctive twisted roof. Though not the only tower in Germany with a twisted roof, its execution was particularly successful. There are a number of folk tales to explain the twist: one tale claims that an unoiled weather vane caused the wind to twist the roof. Another claims that when the devil was driving the men of Duderstadt to drink, the women drove him away, but not before he grabbed the tower and twisted it while passing over the wall, making his escape.

Construction of the amazing Rathaus (city government building) began in 1302, with additional wings and components added until 1674. It was completely restored in the 1980's and most recently in 2002, and is certainly one of the most beautiful Rathaus buildings in Germany. At particular hours, a Glockenspiel plays from one of the towers as a bust of the "Anreis" (also: "Anreischke") comes out and nods.

The "Anreischke"

The Innenstadt is surrounded by 3km long earthen wall which was constructed by a traveling master fortress builder named Andreas. The city council (Rat) of Duderstadt contracted with Andreas in 1506 to build the wall. Since the surrounding farmers were also to be protected by the wall, the Rat conscripted them to work on the construction of the wall. Andreas was reportedly a cruel taskmaster, and the farmers hated him. They soon also blamed the citizens of Duderstadt for their woes, and took to calling all of them "Anreischke", after Andreas, which was pronounced "Anreis" in the "platt" (low) German spoken by the farmers.

The citizens of Duderstadt, in turn, had a wooden bust of Andreas constructed and attached to a clockwork. On the hour, the rather ugly-looking "Anreischke" would come out and nod to the farmers who were coming in to market, to remind them of the hated Andreas, and of their dependence on the city.

That same Anreischke is the one who nods from the Rathaus tower at 9am, 11, 1pm, 3, 5 and 7.

Otto Bock

The most famous Duderstadt-headquartered company must be the "Otto Bock" corporation, named after its founder. Otto Bock produces state-of-the-art prosthetic limbs and other health products. Though now an international company, it is still headquartered in Duderstadt. 2003 revenue was 355.5 million euros. Otto Bock was a significant contributor to economic growth in the region in the postwar period.

External link

• http://www.duderstadt.de/
• Pictures of Duderstadt