Sønderborg

Sønderborg (Danish pronunciation: [ˈsønɐˌpɒˀ]; German: Sonderburg [ˈzɔndɐbʊʁk] ) is a Danish town in the Region of Southern Denmark. It is the main town and the administrative seat of Sønderborg Municipality (Kommune). The town has a population of 28,277 (1 January 2024), in a municipality of 74,233. In recent times, Sønderborg is a center for trade, tourism, industry, and education in the region of Southern Denmark. The town is the headquarters for several industrial companies. Sønderborg joined the UNESCO Global Network of Learning Cities in 2016.
The town of Sønderborg is home to Sønderborg Castle (Sønderborg Slot), the Royal Danish Army's Sergeant School (until 2013) and Sandbjerg Estate (Sandbjerg Gods). Sønderborg castle is in the centre of the town, and houses a museum focusing on the history and culture of the area. The museum is open all year. Sandbjerg Estate, which had belonged for many years to the Dukes of Sønderborg, and then to the Reventlow family, was donated to Aarhus University in 1954. In addition, Sønderborg has a castle-like barracks built by the German military in 1906, placed centrally by Als Fjord, opposite Alsion (see picture below).
The old part of Sønderborg is located on the island of Als, but some of its western suburbs have spread onto the mainland of Jutland into what had been the interior of the fort of Dybbøl.
Prior to the Second Schleswig War of 1864, Sønderborg was situated in the Duchy of Schleswig, a Danish fief, so its history is properly included in the contentious history of Schleswig-Holstein. In the 1920 Schleswig Plebiscite that returned Northern Schleswig to Denmark, 43.8% of the city of Sønderborg's inhabitants voted for the cession to Denmark and 56.2% voted for remaining part of Germany.
The town of Sønderborg lies on both sides of Alssund; the narrow strait between these two sides is called Als Strait (Alssund). Two road bridges connect the city across the strait: the 682-meter-long (2,238 ft) Als Strait Bridge (Alssundbro), built in 1978–1981; and the 331-meter (1,086 ft) King Christian X's Bridge (Kong Christian Xs Bro), built in 1925–1930.
Sønderborg hosts several institutions of higher education. the University of Southern Denmark, University College South (Danish: University College Syd), and Business Academy SouthWest. Due to the local economy, the University of Southern Denmark offers several types of degrees in engineering such as: mechatronics; electronics; innovation and business; as well as degrees in economics, languages and European studies.
The technical school EUC Syd has a campus in Sønderborg, and offers a variety of trades programs, as well as the HTX high school diploma and the International Baccalaureate Diploma program.
Sønderborg is an economic hub in the region of Southern Denmark, with industries within electronics, manufacturing, food processing, Information Technology and telecommunications among others, with several companies headquartered in and around the town.
The high-tech industry includes the manufacturing and development of electronics, machines, industrial equipment, and software. Companies of major importance in the high-tech sector headquartered in the region include Danfoss who employs around 1000 people in Sønderborg, and 40,000 people globally. Linak, headquartered in Nordborg 25 km from Sønderborg, produces linear actuators for a variety of different applications, from agriculture to healthcare, and employs around 1,100 people in the region. Maersk container industries(MCI), a part of the Maersk group, manufactures refrigerated and refrigeration machines shipping containers, has its headquarters in Sønderborg.
The food processing and meat packing group, Danish Crown has a slaughterhouse located in the town of Blans, outside of Sønderborg. The slaughterhouse produces pork and meat products for consumption, and employs around 940 people. BHJ is a leading supplier of animal proteins for the international food and pet food industries, with headquarters in Gråsten, outside of Sønderborg and more than 900 employees worldwide.
In telecommunications, TDC A/S operates a callcenter employing roughly 370 employees. In August 2014, TDC planned to outsource around 700 full-time positions to American company Sitel, by 2015.
Skyways technics, an aircraft service and repair company is headquartered at Sønderborg Airport and has 150 employees in Sønderborg and Billund. Saab AB also has offices in the town, mainly focused on sales and engineering.
Sønderborg is served by Sønderborg railway station, which opened in 1901, and is located next to Alsion. It is the eastern terminus of the Sønderborg railway line which connects Sønderborg with Tinglev and the rest of the Danish rail network. Sønderborg station offers frequent direct services to Fredericia and Copenhagen, as well as a direct InterCity service to Copenhagen Airport.
The city is served by Sønderborg Airport. The airline, Alsie Express provides flights directly to Copenhagen and seasonal flights to destinations such as Bornholm and Naples.
Molslinjen operates daily ferry services from Fynshav to Bøjden on the island of Funen, with roads connecting the town to Odense and further to Zealand and Copenhagen.
The formerly ruling family of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg married into Kings and Queens
Sønderborg is home to the South Jutland Symphony Orchestra Sønderjyllands Symfoniorkester.
Sønderborg Castle is today a museum about the history of Southern Denmark. The science park Universe (earlier known as Danfoss univers) is located just north of Sønderborg.
In Chapter 4 of Erskine Childers’ 1903 novel The Riddle of the Sands, the protagonists, two English yachtsmen, visit Sonderburg, then under German rule: "Fascinating Sonderburg, with its broad-eaved houses of carved woodwork, each fresh with cleansing, yet reverend with age; its fair-haired Viking-like men and rosy, plain-faced women, with their bullet foreheads and large mouths; Sonderburg still Danish to the core under its Teuton veneer. Crossing the bridge I climbed the Dybbol – dotted with memorials of that heroic defence – and thence could see the wee form and gossamer rigging of our yacht on the silver ribbon of the Sound. (...) In the old quarter I bargained over eggs and bread with a dear old lady, pink as a debutante, who made a patriotic pretence of not understanding German."