Hamburg Trivia Quiz

Answer: True

It is one of the three German city states - the others are Berlin and Bremen. Until 1933 Lübeck was also a city state but it did not regain this status after 1945.

Answer: Elbe River

The Elbe flows into the North Sea. The major port on the Weser is Bremen.

Answer: Rotterdam

London - once the busiest port in the world - declined rapidly from about 1960 onwards and already by 1980 was well down in this particular league table.

Answer: Shipbuilding

Shipbuilding declined very sharply in 1970s and 1980s in the face of competition from the Far East. Hamburg is a major center for the German media. In addition to TV and radio, three best-selling weeklies are published there - 'Die Zeit', 'Stern' and 'Der Spiegel'.

The Springer newspapers 'Bildzeitung' and 'Die Welt' (and others) are also published there. Financial services have always been an important industry in Hamburg, but the development of the aircraft building industry dates from about 1980.

Answer: Helmut Schmidt

Helmut Schmidt was Chancellor from 1974-82. In 1962 he won widespread admiration for his handling of the flooding in Hamburg. In particular, he called on the armed forces to help with flood relief, which at that time wasn't strictly legal in Germany.

Answer: Most of the city was destroyed by fire in 1842

Hamburg was also subjected to exceptionally heavy area bombing a century later, in July-August 1943, which caused extensive damage and killed about 40,000 civilians.

Answer: Lübeck

In 1241 Hamburg was very much the junior partner in this alliance. Lübeck soon became the chief city in the emerging Hanseatic League.

Answer: Beatles

The group spent several months performing in Hamburg before they achieved fame in England.

Answer: Denmark

Hamburg bought itself complete freedom from Denmark in 1768 for one million thalers - very substantial sum at the time.

Answer: True

From about 1830 there was a sharp increase in the number of Germans migrating to America, and in 1847 the Hamburg-America Line (Hamburg-Amerikanische Packetfahrt-Actiengesellschaft - abbreviated HAPAG) was founded in Hamburg. It was one of the very first lines to provide regular, scheduled sailings across the Atlantic, instead of waiting till the ship was full enough to warrant the journey. Later, it was among the shipping lines that pioneered the separation of single men from other passengers on the transatlanic crossing, as there had been several allegations of sexual harassment and worse.