Wandsbek is the second-largest of seven boroughs that make up the city of Hamburg, Germany. The name of the district is derived from the river Wandse which passes here. The quarter Wandsbek, which is the former independent city, is urban and, with the quarters Eilbek and Marienthal part of the city's economic and cultural core. In 2006 the population was 409,771.
During World War II from May 2, 1944 until May 3, 1945 a subcamp to the Nazi concentration camp of Neuengamme was located in Wandsbek, listed as no. 565 Hamburg-Wandsbek in the official German list.
On January 1, 2007 the Ortsämter (Precincts) were dissolved and the organisation of all boroughs of Hamburg was restructured. In the borough Wandsbek to the former precinct Wandsbek had belonged the quarters Eilbek, Jenfeld, Marienthal, Tonndorf, Wandsbek and Rahlstedt. The quarters Hummelsbüttel, Poppenbüttel, Sasel and Wellingsbüttel belonged to the precinct Alstertal. The precinct Bramfeld consisted of Bramfeld and Steilshoop. The precinct Rahlstedt were the quarter Rahlstedt. And the precinct Walddörfer were Bergstedt, Duvenstedt, Farmsen-Berne, Lemsahl-Mellingstedt, Volksdorf and Wohldorf-Ohlstedt.
Wandsbek is an urban quarter in the Wandsbek borough of Hamburg, Germany, and the former city Wandsbek in the Duchy of Holstein. In 2006 the population was 32,350.
Wandsbek was once part of the county Stormarn. Its villages were first mentioned in the middle of the 13th century. The name Wandsbek, Wandsbeck or (older) Wantesbeke derives from old Low Saxon ("Low German") for "border river" and the river Wandse was a natural territorial border.
An old Danish phrase for stating that something is a fraud / unreliable is to claim that "det gælder ad Wandsbek[/Vandsbæk] til" (i.e. "this is valid in Wandsbeck."). Wandsbek was one of the three locations in the Danish monarchy where the first lottery drew its numbers, and this expression dates from the early years of this lottery's life where a number of people tried to claim prizes in Copenhagen with tickets from Wandsbeck. Since each of the three towns drew its own set of numbers, a ticket from one town was worthless in the two others.