News
Rees officially admitted to the Rhenish Hansa
The city of Rees is now a member of the Rhenish Hansa. During a festive ceremony at the recent Wesel Hanseatic Festival, the oldest town in the Lower Rhine region was officially accepted into the regional Hansa. ‘This acceptance marks a further step in maintaining and strengthening historical and partnership ties between the Hanseatic cities,’ emphasised Rees Mayor Sebastian Hense during the ceremony.
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Youth meets business at "Walk and Talk" event in Neuss
On 29 October 2025, the Hanse-Gesellschaft Neuss e.V. (Hanseatic Society of Neuss) and the Neuss Vocational College invited 50 enthusiastic school pupils to a networking event. Under the motto ‘Walk and Talk – Youth Meets Business’, the participants met with several member companies of the Hanse-Gesellschaft Neuss e.V.
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Lübeck is Germany's Fair Trade Capital
On 29 October, local municipalities from all over Germany were honoured for their commitment to fair trade at the Old Town Hall in Munich. Leading the way was the Hanseatic City of Lübeck, which was named the ‘Capital of Fair Trade’. Inseparably linked to Lübeck's commitment is the work of the ‘Fair Hansa’, which has been working for more than ten years to make Hanseatic cities and Hanseatic days fair.
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THE HANSA at the EUSBSR Annual Forum
On invitation of the EUSBSR Policy Area Tourism and Culture Coordinators, Stefanie Bischof presented THE HANSA in the session « Routes that resonate » on 29 October at the EUSBSR Annual Forum in the Polish seaside resort Sopot. In addition to the Union of Cities THE HANSA, Liberation Route Europe, the Sauna Route, and the European Project Center at the University of Wismar were also represented.
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Autumn Commission meeting in Stargard
From 17 to 19 October, delegates from twelve countries met for the Autumn Commission in Stargard to assess the state of preparations for the 46th International Hanseatic Day, which will take place from 11 to 14 June 2026 in the Polish Hanseatic city.
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Open Monument Day 2025
On 14 September, the Open Monument Day will take place across Europe. In Germany alone, more than 5,000 historical sites open their doors for this event every year, including many attractions in Hanseatic cities.
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Kamper Kogge is back home
On 10 May, the Kamper Kogge set sail to take part in the 45th International Hanseatic Day in Visby, Sweden. Exactly two months after its departure, the Kamper Kogge is now back in Kampen. This means that the replica of a medieval Hanseatic ship from the 14th century has successfully completed its longest voyage to date, travelling more than 1000 nautical miles in its wake.
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Rees und Zutphen: shared history - shared future
Cross-border cooperation between Rees and Zutphen in the Netherlands is in full swing. As part of this cooperation, pupils from Rees and the Het Eligant Lyceum school in Zutphen have now met. In addition to getting to know each other and developing initial project ideas, the Zutphen pupils showed their guests around their town.
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Second volume of "HanseLinks" presented in Lübeck
On 30 June, pupils from Lübeck and Stade presented the second volume of HanseLinks, which was created in collaboration with young people from several European Hanseatic cities. The event took place in the Beichthaus, which is part of the European Hansemuseum and provided an atmospheric setting for the stories from the Hanseatic era.
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New HANSA Presidium and new Guild Chairs elected
As part of the 45th International Hanseatic Day in Visby on June 7, the new Presidium of the Union of Cities THE HANSA was elected. The Assembly of Delegates unanimously elected Christof Bartsch (Brilon), Inger Harlevi (Visby), Vineta Pūce (Valmiera) and Peter Snijders (Zwolle) to the Presidium. An election was also on the agenda at the meeting of the HANSA Guild.
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