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Information About

Cuxhaven




Cuxhaven is a town in Lower Saxony , Germany , with about 55,000 inhabitants. It is located on the shore of the North Sea at the mouth of the Elbe River. It is located at the coordinates . Cuxhaven has a footprint of 14 km (east-west) by 7 km (north-south). It is the capital of the Cuxhaven District . It is a popular vacation spot on the North Sea .


HISTORY


Cuxhaven is relatively young; it became a town on March 15 , 1907 . For over 600 years Cuxhaven belonged to Hamburg .


CUXHAVEN'S ROLE IN GERMAN ROCKETRY


Between 1945 and 1964 various experiments in rocketry were performed near Cuxhaven. On 2 , 4 , and 14 October 1945 one rocket of the type A4 (also known as the V-2 Rocket ) was launched from a site between Arensch and Sahlenburg in order to demonstrate the V-2 rocket to the Allied military. This action was called Operation Backfire . A layout plan of the starting point of Operation Backfire can be found here .

From '' and '' Cirrus '' of the " Herrmann-Oberth-society ", and the rockets of the " Berthold Seliger Research And Development Company ";. The latter launched a three-stage rocket which attained a height of 120 kilometers for the first time on 2 May 1963 in the tideland of Cuxhaven. This was the only rocket developed in postwar Germany which reached space.

On 5 December 1963 the "Berthold Seliger research and development company mbH" gave a demonstration of their missiles to representatives from non-NATO states. Although the demonstrated rockets were not directly militarily usable, this action fuelled the distrust of the German authorities.

After a deadly accident at a rocket demonstration given by Gerhard Zucker in Braunlage on 7 May 1964 , the authorities halted the experiments with a provisional order in June 1964, although neither the "Berthold-Seliger research and development society mbH" nor the "Hermann Oberth society e.V." cooperated with Gerhard Zucker in any way.


OTHER INFORMATION


A few kilometers off the Cuxhaven coast lies the island of Neuwerk . At Low Tide the water recedes so far from the coast that the island can be reached either by foot or by Horse Carriage .

A modern landmark of Cuxhaven is the Friedrich-Clemens-Gerke Turm , a telecommunication tower built of concrete, which is not accessible to the public.


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