Elmshorn (German pronunciation:[ɛlmsˈhɔʁn]) is a town in the district of Pinneberg in Schleswig-Holstein in Germany. It is located 32 km north of Hamburg at the small river Krückau, close to the Elbe river, is the sixth-largest city in the state of Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. Elmshorn has a shopping center and common area in the center of town called the "Buttermarkt" by the locals although its official name is Karl-Marx-Platz. In the surrounding areas are small farms and dairy/ horse farms. It is the birthplace of writer and editor Hermann Schlüter (1851–1919), the mathematician Hermann Weyl (1885–1955), and the medievalist Heinz Woehlk (1944- ).