Geesthacht is the largest city in the District of the Duchy of Lauenburg (Herzogtum Lauenburg) in Schleswig-Holstein in Northern Germany, 10 km southeast of Hamburg on the banks of the River Elbe. History Around 800: A church is documented. 1216: First documentary mention of the settlement as Hachede. A change in the course of the Elbe cuts the settlement into two: Geesthacht and Marschacht (in Lower Saxony). 1420: Geesthacht is ceded to the Hanseatic cities Hamburg and Lübeck in th… (More on Geesthacht)