First mention in medieval times The first documented mention of Altona was in 1537 as a tavern "" for the fishermen. For the competing Hamburg innkeepers, the Lohekrug was “all to na” (all too near) to the border with Hamburg, from which the name Altona may have been derived. Altona grew up around the inn as a settlement of fishermen and craftsmen, which was promoted by the rulers of the land, the Counts of
Holstein-Pinneberg, in the spirit of
mercantilism. In 1640, Altona was part of
Holstein-Glückstadt, and in 1664 the place was granted
municipal rights by the king
Frederik III of Denmark, who then ruled in
personal union as
Duke of Holstein in the
Holy Roman Empire. Altona was one of his monarchy's most important harbor towns. The railway from Altona to
Kiel, the
Hamburg-Altona–Kiel railway (), was opened in 1844.
Imperial period The wars between
Denmark and the
German Confederation – the
First Schleswig War (1848–1851) and the
Second Schleswig War (February–October 1864) led to Denmark's cession of the
Duchies of Schleswig,
Holstein and
Lauenburg; they were initially jointly administered as a
condominium by Prussian and Austrian administration. With the
Gastein Convention of 14 August 1865, Holstein came under solely Austrian administration, while Schleswig and Lauenburg came under Prussian authority. After the
Austro-Prussian War, Schleswig-Holstein as a whole became the Prussian
province of Schleswig-Holstein in 1867 and as such Altona became part of the
German Empire in 1871. In the same year, the town was hit by
cholera, with a minimum of 16 casualties in Altona. Because of severe restrictions on the number of
Jews allowed to live in Hamburg until 1864 (with the exception of 1811–1815), a major
Jewish community developed in Altona starting in 1611, when Count
Ernest of Schaumburg and Holstein-Pinneberg granted the first permanent residence permits to
Ashkenazic Jews. Members did business both in Hamburg and in Altona itself. All that remains after the
Nazi Holocaust during
World War II are the
Jewish cemeteries, but in the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries, the community was a major center of Jewish life and
scholarship. Holstein-Pinneberg, and later Danish Holstein, imposed lower taxes and fewer civil restrictions on their Jewish communities than the
government of Hamburg.
History from 1918 to 1945 During the Weimar era following
World War I, the town of Altona experienced significant labor strikes and street unrest amid widespread economic instability. Inflation in Germany was a major issue, and in 1923, Altona's mayor,
Max Brauer, addressed the problem by partially paying town personnel with gas meter tokens, which retained their value despite the inflation. The most notable event at that time was the
Altona Bloody Sunday (German: ) on 17 July 1932, when 18 people were killed, all but two by police, during a violent clash between
Nazi marchers and members or supporters of the
Communist Party. After police raids and a special court, on 1 August 1933,
Bruno Tesch and others were found guilty and put to death by beheading with a hand-held axe. In 1938, the
Greater Hamburg Act removed Altona from the
Free State of Prussia in 1937 and merged it (and several surrounding towns) with the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg.
Modern history In the 1990s, the
Federal Republic of Germany reversed the convictions of Tesch and the other men who were put to death, clearing their names. On 1 February 2007, the
Ortsämter (district offices) in Hamburg were done away with. In Altona, the districts of Blankenese, Lurup and Osdorf had existed and had local offices. On 1 March 2008, the Schanzenviertel neighborhood, which had spanned parts of the boroughs of Altona, Eimsbüttel and Hamburg-Mitte, became the
Sternschanze quarter, the entirety of which is now in the Altona borough. Altona is noted for being the site of the popular
Altona Fischmarkt. == Borough profile ==