The district was established in 1970 by merging the former districts of Eutin and Oldenburg in Holstein. These former districts have different histories.
The District of Eutin emerged from the Principality, and later Region of Lübeck, which again emerged from the secularised prince-bishopric of Lübeck. In 1803 it became an exclave of the Duchy of Oldenburg (which confusingly has nothing to do with the Holsteinian city of Oldenburg). In 1937 it was moved to Prussia as the district of Eutin within the Prussian province of Schleswig-Holstein.
The region of Oldenburg was a part of the duchy of Holstein. In 1864 Holstein became subordinate to Prussia, which soon afterwards established the district of Oldenburg in Holstein.
Geography[]
The district consists of the Wagrien peninsula between the Bay of Lübeck and the Bay of Kiel, the island of Fehmarn, the eastern part of the region called "Holsteinische Schweiz" (Holsatian Switzerland) and the northern suburbs of Lübeck.
Holsatian Switzerland is an area full of lakes and woody hills, which is shared with the adjoining district of Plön. The Bungsberg, though only 168 m in height, is the highest elevation in Schleswig-Holstein. The island of Fehmarn is the third largest island of Germany. Since 1963 it has been connected to the mainland by a suspension bridge.
Coat of arms[]
The coat of arms displays:
a cross from the arms of the bishopric of Lübeck; this bishopric existed until 1535 and owned large possessions in the region
a tower from the city arms of Oldenburg
Towns and municipalities[]
Independent towns
Independent municipalities
Bad Schwartau
Eutin
Fehmarn
Heiligenhafen
Neustadt in Holstein
Oldenburg in Holstein
Ahrensbök
Dahme
Grömitz
Grube
Kellenhusen
Malente
Ratekau
Scharbeutz
Stockelsdorf
Süsel
Timmendorfer Strand
Ämter
1. Großer Plöner See [seat: Plön] (the other 11 municipalities of the Amt belong to the district of Plön)
This page uses content from the English language Wikipedia. The original content was at Ostholstein District. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with this Familypedia wiki, the content of Wikipedia is available under the Creative Commons License.