Sankt Presslau

Roadmap of St. Presslau and Hünnigerhafen

Hüennigerhafen Oldtown

**Sankt Presslau,** (Sanktish German: *Saant Presslu*; Polish: *Święty Pręsclaw*; Sanktish: **Svety Prėsclau**; Lithuanian: Švento Preclaė; English: Saint Presslow) is a town with historic roots, a municipality in Southern Sankten, and the fourth biggest city of Zijepomerania and the 11th biggest city of Sankten. It has an estimated population of 50,000 citizens. It is located on the western coast of the balitic sea and is also the starting point of the Esch River.

The old town has many fine Renaissance era buildings decorated with exterior frescos and sculpture, as well as the old regional Palace, the *Sankt Presslauer Schloss, which is the current home of Prince Nodrowis*. Sankt Presslau is also a railway junction of the Zijepomeranian S-Bahn and STD National rail networks. One of the lines connects the town with the Esch Waterfalls next to the castle, Sanktens largest waterfall, a tourist attraction.

The official language of Sankt Presslau is German, but the main spoken language is the local variant of the North German dialect. Polish is also spoken in a minority.

## Name

The town is first mentioned in 1403 as *Sankt Bresauen*. There are at least two theories on the origin of this name:

* *Sankt Bresauen* comes from *a Saint, which was called Saint Bresen, but there is no such evidence which confirms that someone with this name has existed.*

## History

Sankt Presslau was a principality and was part of the Holy Roman Empire, which makes St, Presslau the only part of Sankten which was a part of the H.R.E. Sankten then later, invaded Sankt Presslau, with canons and a troop of estimated 5000 people. The war is still visible today, since the castle stilll features a canonball which got stucked in a wall.

The Reformation was adopted, initially, in 1524 and completely in 1529. The town was heavily damaged during the Thirty Years' War by the passage of Swedish (Protestant) and Bavarian(Roman Catholic) troops and the very important bridge was burnt down. It was not until the early 19th century that the arrested industrial development of the town recommenced.

Sankt Presslau is located on a peninsula in southern Zijepomerania. While all baltic states and poland were part of the nazi regime. On 8 April 1944, Sankt Presslau suffered a bombing raid by aircraft of the United States Army Air Forces, the only sanktish city to do so. The US said, it was due an navigational error. Air raid sirens had often sounded in the past, without an actual attack, so many residents ignored the sirens that day. A total of 67 civilians were killed in the raid. President Franklin Delano Rooseveltsent a personal letter of apology to the mayor of Sankt Presslau and the United States quickly offered three million US dollars in reparations.

## Geography and climate

### Topography

The City of Sankt Presslau stands on the coast of the baltic sea. Also the river Esch runs through the city center. In 1905 it merged with the former municipality of Hünnigerhafen, making it a city district. Its area expanded again in 1964 when Eschfelden was absorbed and for a third time in 2009 when Eschnerberg joined the municipality. The city has an hill, with 43m above sealevel, on which the famous Sankt Presslauer Castle sits on. Another Mountain is the Eschnerberg with an maximum height of 167m. above sealevel. Since Sankt Preesslau is located on the baltic coast (M. Above Sealevel = 0m) and also lays on multiple hills (Eschnerberg = 167m above Sealevel) it makes the city a very unique place, since parts are very steep.

### Climate

Sankt Presslau has an average of 122.5 days of rain or snow per year and on average receives 907 mm (35.7 in) of precipitation. The wettest month is July during which time St. Presslau receives an average of 95 mm (3.7 in) of rain. During this month there is precipitation for an average of 11.3 days. The driest month of the year is February with an average of 59 mm (2.3 in) of precipitation over 8.4 days.

## Politics

### Districts

Sankt Presslau is divided into 6 districts, each has its own sous-mayor chosen by the city council:

1. Zentrum Nord
2. Zentrum Süd
3. Hüennigen
4. Presslau-Nordstadt
5. Eschfelden
6. Eschnerberg

### City Council

The City Council (de: **Stadtrat**) is composed of 8 councilors (German: *Stadtrat/Stadträtin*), each presiding over a department (*Referat*), which each consists of several administrative districts. The city is located in the Sankt Presslauer county in Zijepomerania, which current governor is Severus (PPS). The Mayor is Patrick Von Bergen (GKS/GCS)

City Council
 NDC (PMP)

## Demographics

### Population

Sankt Presslau has a population of around 50’000 People, mostly part of the german minority.

Over the last years the population has changed at a rate of 2.82%. The birth rate in the municipality, in 2014, was 9.6, while the death rate was 10.1 per thousand residents.

As of 2014, children and teenagers (0–19 years old) make up 17.8% of the population, while adults (20–64 years old) are 61.7% and seniors (over 64 years old) make up 20.5%.

### Religion

As of 2000, 27.4% of the population belonged to the Roman Catholic Church and 43.6% belonged to the Sanktish Reformed Church,

### Education

In Sankt Presslau about 69.8% of the population (between age 25–64) have completed either non-mandatory upper secondary education or additional higher education.

### Economy

As of  2013, there were a total of around 43’000 people employed in the municipality. Of these, a A majority (61.2%) of the primary sector employees worked in very small businesses (less than ten employees).

In 2014 a total of 1.3% of the population received social assistance.

In 2015 local hotels had a total of 102,537 overnight stays, of which 52.6% were international visitors. In 2015 there were two movie theaters in the municipality, with a total of 10 screens and a total of 1,816 available seats. As of 2008, there are 102 restaurants, and 11 hotels with 445 beds. The catering industry in St. Presslau employs 924 people.

As of 2008 the mid year average unemployment rate was 2.5%. There were 1,879 non-agrarian businesses in the municipality and 29.9% of the (non-agrarian) population was involved in the secondary sector of the economy while 70.1% were involved in the third. At the same time, 67.1% of the working population was employed full-time, and 32.9% was employed part-time. There were 21,841 residents of the municipality who were employed in some capacity, of which women made up 46.6% of the workforce. As of 2000 there were 10,019 residents who worked in the municipality, while 5,724 residents worked outside Sankt Presslau and 8,026 people commuted into the municipality for work.

Sankt Presslsu has an unemployment rate, as of 2007, of 2.67%. As of 2005, there were 196 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 33 businesses involved in this sector. 6,488 people are employed in the secondary sector and there are 293 businesses in this sector. 14,019 people are employed in the tertiary sector, with 1,486 businesses in this sector.

## Transportation

St. Presslau has 2 Train stations, Sankt Presslau, Bahnhof is a jointly owned station by the S-Bahn Zijepomerania and the STD. It serves InterCitiy Services, S-Bahn services and Nighttrain services. The Second Station Hüennigen, Hafen is owned and served by the S-Bahn Zijepomerania. There are S-Bahn lines to Kristïanstadt, Połowoce and Malà/Gdÿnzyč and IC lines to Plunge, Gdÿnzyc, Połowoce, Kristïanstadt and Kulaszne. There are also bus lines to neighboring villages and bigger cities, which are owned by PostBus.skt. PostBus also operates the Städtische Verkehrsbetriebe Sankt-Presslau’s (SVS) (Municipal Transport Company of Saint Presslow), which runs 6 Trolleybuslines.

## Culture

Heritage sites of national significance
There are 35 buildings or sites in Sankt Presslau that are listed as Sanktish heritage sites of national significance. This includes the entire old town of Sankt Presslau, the city walls, the Sankt Presslauer Castle, the town and District archives, the *Trainstation* and the *Hüennigen* and *Eschbergen* Neolithic settlements. Additionally, there are four former guild houses and seven listed houses. There are only two listed religious buildings, the Deutsch-Reformierte Kirche Eschfelden and the Sankt Presslauer Church

## Beer

Sankt Presslau is the biggest producer of Beer in the whole of Sankten.

## Sport

The town has two football teams, FC Sankt-Presslau, of the fourth-tier Sanktish 1. Liga, and FC Presslau-Hüennigen, of the second-tier Sanktish Challenge League. There is a football stadium in Eschfelden which seats 4200 persons, known as the EschArena. It is also the training headquarters for local children's football teams.

There is a handball team in Sankt Presslau which plays in the first Sanktish division : HBC Presslau. They are centered at the NordArena in Presslau Nord. It seats 3600 persons, and was built in 2011.