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.
Learn more
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.
Learn more
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.
Learn more
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.
Learn more
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.
Learn more
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.
Learn more
This was the Hanseatic Day in Visby!
For four days, everything revolved around culture, history, music and art from the Hanseatic cities in the medieval old town of Visby. On Thursday evening, the Hanseatic Day traditionally began with a large city parade and was then officially opened by Mayor Meit Fohlin and HANSA President Jan Lindenau. The opening event was rounded off in style with an ABBA cover show.
Learn more
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.
Learn more
Guild member Wijnand Akkerman appointed a Knight
On May 28th Wijnand Akkerman from Zwolle (The Netherlands) received the royal decoration of Knight of the Order of Orange-Nassau from mayor Peter Snijders. Wijnand Akkerman has been active in the fields of cultural heritage, tourism and carnival for over forty years. As a born and bred Zwolle resident, he is dedicated to his city and the Hanseatic idea.
Learn more
Annual meeting of youthHansa in Zutphen
The annual introductory afternoon of the Dutch YouthHansa Association (De Nederlandse Jeugdhanze) took place on Wednesday 7 May 2025. Young people from eight different Hanseatic cities had the opportunity to get to know each other better in preparation for the International Hanseatic Days, which will take place in Visby this year.
Learn more