Lüchow-Dannenberg
Encyclopedia
Lüchow-Dannenberg is a district in Lower Saxony
, Germany
which is usually referred to as Hannoversches Wendland or Wendland. It is bounded by (from the west and clockwise) the districts of Uelzen
and Lüneburg
and the states of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania
(district of Ludwigslust-Parchim
), Brandenburg
(district of Prignitz
) and Saxony-Anhalt
(districts of Stendal
and Altmarkkreis Salzwedel
).
the counties of Lüchow and Dannenberg occupied the area (from the early 12th century on). These counties were originally Slavic
states that lost their independence to the Duchy of Brunswick-Lüneburg
in the beginning of the 14th century.
The area was ruled by Lüneburg
until 1705 and became then a part of the Electorate of Hanover
. When the Kingdom of Hanover
was annexed by Prussia
(1866), the districts of Lüchow and Dannenberg were established within the new Province of Hanover
.
In 1932 the two districts of Lüchow and Dannenberg were merged into the current district with Dannenberg as capital. In 1951 the seat of the administration was moved to Lüchow.
, in which the 27 municipalities will then become boroughs of one town. The other discussed solution is the merger into two Samtgemeinden. The dissolution of the district and inclusion of the two remaining Samtgemeinden into the districts of Lüneburg and Uelzen are also discussed.
, a designation referring to the Slavic people of the Wends
from Obotrite
tribe Drevani
, who lived there till the 18th century — the last known user of the local dialect of Polabian language
died in 1752. The landscape is characterised by riverside woodlands along the Elbe
river and a hilly countryside.
In addition, the Wendland is known for the small village of Gorleben
(part of the Samtgemeinde Gartow
), where the establishment of a final disposal place for radioactive waste
is planned. The salt dome Gorleben
, a deep geological repository is proposed. Moreover, an interim storage for spent nuclear fuel is located in Gorleben. The area has been a site of clashes between the police and anti-nuclear protesters
since the 1980s.
Samtgemeinden (collective municipalities) with member municipalities
>
Bergen an der Dumme
Clenze
Küsten
Lemgow
Luckau (Wendland)
Lübbow
Lüchow
1, 2
Schnega
Trebel
Waddeweitz
Woltersdorf
Wustrow2
1seat of the Samtgemeinde; 2town
Lower Saxony
Lower Saxony is a German state situated in north-western Germany and is second in area and fourth in population among the sixteen states of Germany...
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
which is usually referred to as Hannoversches Wendland or Wendland. It is bounded by (from the west and clockwise) the districts of Uelzen
Uelzen (district)
Uelzen is a district in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is bounded by the districts of Gifhorn, Celle, Heidekreis, Lüneburg and Lüchow-Dannenberg, and by the state of Saxony-Anhalt...
and Lüneburg
Lüneburg (district)
Lüneburg is a district in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is bounded by the districts of Lüchow-Dannenberg, Uelzen, Heidekreis and Harburg, and the states of Schleswig-Holstein and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania .-History:The Amt of Lüneburg appeared in 1862...
and the states of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania
Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania
Mecklenburg-Vorpommern is a federal state in northern Germany. The capital city is Schwerin...
(district of Ludwigslust-Parchim
Ludwigslust-Parchim
Ludwigslust-Parchim is a district in the west of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany. It is bounded by the state Schleswig-Holstein, the district Nordwestmecklenburg, the district-free city Schwerin, the districts Rostock and Mecklenburgische Seenplatte and the states Brandenburg and Lower Saxony...
), Brandenburg
Brandenburg
Brandenburg is one of the sixteen federal-states of Germany. It lies in the east of the country and is one of the new federal states that were re-created in 1990 upon the reunification of the former West Germany and East Germany. The capital is Potsdam...
(district of Prignitz
Prignitz
Prignitz is a Kreis in the northwestern part of Brandenburg, Germany. Neighboring are the district Ludwigslust-Parchim in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, the district Ostprignitz-Ruppin in Brandenburg, the district Stendal in Saxony-Anhalt and the district Lüchow-Dannenberg in Lower...
) and Saxony-Anhalt
Saxony-Anhalt
Saxony-Anhalt is a landlocked state of Germany. Its capital is Magdeburg and it is surrounded by the German states of Lower Saxony, Brandenburg, Saxony, and Thuringia.Saxony-Anhalt covers an area of...
(districts of Stendal
Stendal (district)
Stendal is a district in the north-east of Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Neighboring districts are Jerichower Land, Börde, Altmarkkreis Salzwedel, the district Lüchow-Dannenberg in Lower Saxony, and the districts Prignitz, Ostprignitz-Ruppin and Havelland in Brandenburg.- History :In the...
and Altmarkkreis Salzwedel
Altmarkkreis Salzwedel
Altmarkkreis Salzwedel is a district in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. It is bounded by the districts Gifhorn, Uelzen, Lüchow-Dannenberg in Lower Saxony, and the districts of Stendal and Ohrekreis.- History :...
).
History
In medieval timesMedieval Times
Medieval Times Dinner and Tournament is a family dinner theater featuring staged medieval-style games, sword-fighting, and jousting performed by a cast of 75 actors and 20 horses. Each location is housed in a replica 11th-century castle, with the exception of the Toronto location, which is housed...
the counties of Lüchow and Dannenberg occupied the area (from the early 12th century on). These counties were originally Slavic
Slavic peoples
The Slavic people are an Indo-European panethnicity living in Eastern Europe, Southeast Europe, North Asia and Central Asia. The term Slavic represents a broad ethno-linguistic group of people, who speak languages belonging to the Slavic language family and share, to varying degrees, certain...
states that lost their independence to the Duchy of Brunswick-Lüneburg
Brunswick-Lüneburg
The Duchy of Brunswick-Lüneburg , or more properly Duchy of Brunswick and Lüneburg, was an historical ducal state from the late Middle Ages until the late Early Modern era within the North-Western domains of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation, in what is now northern Germany...
in the beginning of the 14th century.
The area was ruled by Lüneburg
Principality of Lüneburg
The Principality of Lüneburg was a territorial division of the Duchy of Brunswick-Lüneburg within the Holy Roman Empire, immediately subordinate to the emperor. It existed from 1269 until 1705 and its territory lay within the modern-day state of Lower Saxony in Germany...
until 1705 and became then a part of the Electorate of Hanover
Electorate of Hanover
The Electorate of Brunswick-Lüneburg was the ninth Electorate of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation...
. When the Kingdom of Hanover
Kingdom of Hanover
The Kingdom of Hanover was established in October 1814 by the Congress of Vienna, with the restoration of George III to his Hanoverian territories after the Napoleonic era. It succeeded the former Electorate of Brunswick-Lüneburg , and joined with 38 other sovereign states in the German...
was annexed by Prussia
Kingdom of Prussia
The Kingdom of Prussia was a German kingdom from 1701 to 1918. Until the defeat of Germany in World War I, it comprised almost two-thirds of the area of the German Empire...
(1866), the districts of Lüchow and Dannenberg were established within the new Province of Hanover
Province of Hanover
The Province of Hanover was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia and the Free State of Prussia from 1868 to 1946.During the Austro-Prussian War, the Kingdom of Hanover had attempted to maintain a neutral position, along with some other member states of the German Confederation...
.
In 1932 the two districts of Lüchow and Dannenberg were merged into the current district with Dannenberg as capital. In 1951 the seat of the administration was moved to Lüchow.
Current issues
Since the end of the 1990s the financial problems of the municipalities in the district grew more and more severe. To save money spent for administration a major municipal reform is currently discussed. The two most likely outcomes of the reform will be either a conversion of the district to an urban districtUrban district
In the England, Wales and Ireland, an urban district was a type of local government district that covered an urbanised area. Urban districts had an elected Urban District Council , which shared local government responsibilities with a county council....
, in which the 27 municipalities will then become boroughs of one town. The other discussed solution is the merger into two Samtgemeinden. The dissolution of the district and inclusion of the two remaining Samtgemeinden into the districts of Lüneburg and Uelzen are also discussed.
Geography
The district is named for the two main towns. It is better known as the WendlandWendland
Wendland may refer to either of the following regions or people:*Wendland may refer to a region once inhabited by Wends, an old Germanic term for Slavic tribes living in close proximity to the Germanic tribes:...
, a designation referring to the Slavic people of the Wends
Wends
Wends is a historic name for West Slavs living near Germanic settlement areas. It does not refer to a homogeneous people, but to various peoples, tribes or groups depending on where and when it is used...
from Obotrite
Obotrites
The Obotrites , also commonly known as the Obodrites, Abotrites, or Abodrites, were a confederation of medieval West Slavic tribes within the territory of modern Mecklenburg and Holstein in northern Germany . For decades they were allies of Charlemagne in his wars against Germanic Saxons and Slavic...
tribe Drevani
Drevani
The Drevani were a tribe of Polabian Slavs settling on the Elbe river in the area of the present-day Lüchow-Dannenberg district of Lower Saxony, Germany....
, who lived there till the 18th century — the last known user of the local dialect of Polabian language
Polabian language
The Polabian language is an extinct West Slavic language that was spoken by the Polabian Slavs in present-day North-Eastern Germany around the Elbe river, from which derives its name...
died in 1752. The landscape is characterised by riverside woodlands along the Elbe
Elbe
The Elbe is one of the major rivers of Central Europe. It rises in the Krkonoše Mountains of the northwestern Czech Republic before traversing much of Bohemia , then Germany and flowing into the North Sea at Cuxhaven, 110 km northwest of Hamburg...
river and a hilly countryside.
In addition, the Wendland is known for the small village of Gorleben
Gorleben
Gorleben is a small municipality in the Gartow region of the Lüchow-Dannenberg district in the far north-east of Lower Saxony, Germany, a region also known as the Wendland....
(part of the Samtgemeinde Gartow
Gartow
Gartow is a municipality in the district Lüchow-Dannenberg, in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated in the easternmost tip of Lower Saxony, on the river Elbe, approx. 30 km northeast of Salzwedel, and 20 km west of Wittenberge...
), where the establishment of a final disposal place for radioactive waste
Radioactive waste
Radioactive wastes are wastes that contain radioactive material. Radioactive wastes are usually by-products of nuclear power generation and other applications of nuclear fission or nuclear technology, such as research and medicine...
is planned. The salt dome Gorleben
Salt dome Gorleben
The salt dome Gorleben is a proposed deep geological repository in a salt dome in Gorleben in the Lüchow-Dannenberg district in the far north-east of Lower Saxony for low-, medium- and high-level radioactive waste.-Site selection:...
, a deep geological repository is proposed. Moreover, an interim storage for spent nuclear fuel is located in Gorleben. The area has been a site of clashes between the police and anti-nuclear protesters
Anti-nuclear movement in Germany
The anti-nuclear movement in Germany has a long history dating back to the early 1970s, when large demonstrations prevented the construction of a nuclear plant at Wyhl. The Whyl protests were an example of a local community challenging the nuclear industry through a strategy of direct action and...
since the 1980s.
Coat of arms
The coat of arms displays:- a firFirFirs are a genus of 48–55 species of evergreen conifers in the family Pinaceae. They are found through much of North and Central America, Europe, Asia, and North Africa, occurring in mountains over most of the range...
, which was the heraldic symbol of the counts of Dannenberg - three yellow rhombs from the arms of the counts of Lüchow
Towns and municipalities
Municipality
A municipality is essentially an urban administrative division having corporate status and usually powers of self-government. It can also be used to mean the governing body of a municipality. A municipality is a general-purpose administrative subdivision, as opposed to a special-purpose district...
>
- 1. ElbtalaueElbtalaueElbtalaue is a Samtgemeinde in the district of Lüchow-Dannenberg, in Lower Saxony, Germany. Its seat is in the town Dannenberg.The Samtgemeinde Elbtalaue consists of the following municipalities:#Damnatz#Dannenberg...
- DamnatzDamnatzDamnatz is a municipality in the district Lüchow-Dannenberg, in Lower Saxony, Germany....
- DannenbergDannenberg- Places :* Dannenberg , a town in Germany* County of Dannenberg, a medieval fief founded by Henry the Lion- People :* Konrad Dannenberg, German-American engineer* Peter A Dannenberg, Russian general...
1, 2 - GöhrdeGöhrdeGöhrde is a municipality in the district of Lüchow-Dannenberg, in Lower Saxony, Germany.The municipality was named after the Göhrde State Forest, which has an area of about , famous for its oaks, beeches and game preserves. The hunting lodge situated in the forest was built in 1689 and was restored...
- GusbornGusbornGusborn is a municipality in the district Lüchow-Dannenberg, in Lower Saxony, Germany....
- HitzackerHitzackerHitzacker is a town in the Lüchow-Dannenberg district of Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated on the river Elbe, approx. 8 km north of Dannenberg, and 45 km east of Lüneburg. The 2007 population of Hitzacker was 4,982, and its postal code is 29456. The mayor is Karl Guhl...
2 - JamelnJamelnJameln is a municipality in the district Lüchow-Dannenberg, in Lower Saxony, Germany. Jameln is part of the Samtgemeinde Elbtalaue.Since the municipality reform in 1972, Jameln consists of ten villages:* Breese im Bruche...
- KarwitzKarwitzKarwitz is a municipality in the district Lüchow-Dannenberg, in Lower Saxony, Germany....
- LangendorfLangendorf, Lower SaxonyLangendorf is a municipality in the district Lüchow-Dannenberg, in Lower Saxony, Germany....
- Neu DarchauNeu DarchauNeu Darchau is a municipality in the district Lüchow-Dannenberg, in Lower Saxony, Germany....
- ZernienZernienZernien is a municipality in the district Lüchow-Dannenberg, in Lower Saxony, Germany....
- 2. GartowGartow (Samtgemeinde)Gartow is a Samtgemeinde in the district of Lüchow-Dannenberg, in Lower Saxony, Germany. Its seat is in the village Gartow.The Samtgemeinde Gartow consists of the following municipalities:#Gartow#Gorleben#Höhbeck...
- 2. Gartow
- GartowGartowGartow is a municipality in the district Lüchow-Dannenberg, in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated in the easternmost tip of Lower Saxony, on the river Elbe, approx. 30 km northeast of Salzwedel, and 20 km west of Wittenberge...
1 - GorlebenGorlebenGorleben is a small municipality in the Gartow region of the Lüchow-Dannenberg district in the far north-east of Lower Saxony, Germany, a region also known as the Wendland....
- HöhbeckHöhbeckHöhbeck is a municipality in the district Lüchow-Dannenberg, in Lower Saxony, Germany....
- PrezellePrezellePrezelle is a municipality in the district Lüchow-Dannenberg, in Lower Saxony, Germany....
- SchnackenburgSchnackenburgSchnackenburg is a town in the Lüchow-Dannenberg district, in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated on the left bank of the Elbe. It is part of the Samtgemeinde Gartow.-Etymology of the toponym:...
2
- 3. LüchowLüchow (Samtgemeinde)Lüchow is a Samtgemeinde in the district of Lüchow-Dannenberg, in Lower Saxony, Germany. Its seat is in the town Lüchow.The Samtgemeinde Lüchow consists of the following municipalities:#Bergen an der Dumme#Clenze...
Bergen an der Dumme
Bergen an der Dumme is a municipality in the district Lüchow-Dannenberg, in Lower Saxony, Germany. The Polabian name of Bergen is Tjörska , probably derived from tjöra Bergen an der Dumme is a municipality in the district Lüchow-Dannenberg, in Lower Saxony, Germany. The Polabian name of Bergen is...
Clenze
Clenze is a municipality in the district Lüchow-Dannenberg, in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated approx. 20 km northwest of Salzwedel, and 25 km east of Uelzen....
Küsten
Küsten is a municipality in the district Lüchow-Dannenberg, in Lower Saxony, Germany....
Lemgow
Lemgow is a municipality in the district Lüchow-Dannenberg, in Lower Saxony, Germany....
Luckau (Wendland)
Luckau is a village or Gemeinde in the southern part of the district of Lüchow-Dannenberg, Lower Saxony, Germany. The village is located in the region known as Wendland about ten kilometers southwest of the district capital of Lüchow...
Lübbow
Lübbow is a municipality in the district Lüchow-Dannenberg, in Lower Saxony, Germany....
Lüchow
Lüchow is a city in northeastern Lower Saxony, in Germany. It is the seat of the Samtgemeinde Lüchow , and is the capital of the district Lüchow-Dannenberg. Situated approximately 13 km north of Salzwedel, Lüchow is located on the German Framework Road...
1, 2
Schnega
Schnega is a municipality in the district Lüchow-Dannenberg, in Lower Saxony, Germany....
Trebel
Trebel is a municipality in the district Lüchow-Dannenberg, in Lower Saxony, Germany....
Waddeweitz
Waddeweitz is a municipality in the district Lüchow-Dannenberg, in Lower Saxony, Germany....
Woltersdorf, Lower Saxony
Woltersdorf is a municipality in the district Lüchow-Dannenberg, in Lower Saxony, Germany.The municipality Woltersdorf includes the villages Woltersdorf, Klein Breese, Lichtenberg and Thurau....
External links
- Official website (German)