Seevetal is a municipality in the district of Harburg

Harburg

Harburg is a district in Lower Saxony, Germany. It takes its name from the town of Harburg upon Elbe, which used to be the capital of the district but is now part of Hamburg...

, in Lower Saxony

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...

. It is situated approx. 20 km south of Hamburg

Hamburg

-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...

, and 15 km west of Winsen (Luhe)

Winsen (Luhe)

Winsen is the capital of the district of Harburg, in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated on the small river Luhe, near its confluence with the Elbe, approx. 25 km southeast of Hamburg, and 20 km northwest of Lüneburg....

. Its seat is in the village Hittfeld. It is named after the river Seeve

Seeve

The River Seeve is a tributary of the Elbe in northern Germany. It is approximately long. Its source is near Wehlen in the northern part of the Lüneburg Heath. It flows into the Elbe in Over, Seevetal...

.

History

On July 1, 1972, the administrations of 19 independent smaller municipalities were merged to form the Seevetal municipality.
The 19 towns and villages forming Seevetal are Beckedorf, Bullenhausen, Emmelndorf, Fleestedt, Glüsingen, Groß Moor, Helmstorf, Hittfeld, Holtorfsloh, Horst, Hörsten, Klein Moor, Lindhorst, Maschen

Maschen

Maschen is a village in the municipality of Seevetal in Harburg district in the German state of Lower Saxony. It lies south of Hamburg on the northern edge of the Lüneburg Heath and within the commuter zone of the city of Hamburg. Maschen Marshalling Yard is the largest of its kind in Europe and...

, Meckelfeld, Metzendorf, Ohlendorf, Over

Over, Seevetal

Over is a village in the municipality of Seevetal in Lower Saxony, Germany with about 1400 citizens . In 1972 Over and 18 other municipalities were assembled to form the new municipalty of Seevetal.- Geography :...

 and Ramelsloh

Ramelsloh

Ramelsloh is a village in the district of Harburg, in Lower Saxony, Germany.It is situated on a small river Seeve, 30 km south of Hamburg.There are approximately 1600 people living within the village....

.

Several of these towns have a rich history: the existence of Ramelsloh was first vouched in the year 845, Maschen was first mentioned in official documents in 1294, and Hittfeld celebrated it's 900th anniversary in June 2007. The St. Mauritius church in Hittfeld dates back to the 12th century.

Demographics

Population of Seevetal (as of December 31 of each year):

• 1998 - 39.564
• 1999 - 40.164
• 2000 - 40.536
• 2001 - 40.819
• 2002 - 41.060
• 2003 - 41.157
• 2004 - 41.287
• 2005 - 41.614

Seevetal is the most populous German municipality that has no city rights.

Politics

The council of the Seevetal municipality consists of 40 seats.
The current council was elected on September 10, 2006 and consists of:

• CDU
  Christian Democratic Union (Germany)
  The Christian Democratic Union of Germany is a Christian democratic and conservative political party in Germany. It is regarded as on the centre-right of the German political spectrum...
  
   - 17 seats
• SPD
  Social Democratic Party of Germany
  The Social Democratic Party of Germany is a social-democratic political party in Germany...
  
   - 13 seats
• BIS - 4 seats
• FDP - 3 seats
• Alliance 90 - The Greens - 3 seats

The current mayor Günter Schwarz (SPD

Social Democratic Party of Germany

The Social Democratic Party of Germany is a social-democratic political party in Germany...

) was elected on October 2, 2005.

Sports

• TuS Fleestedt
• HSG Seevetal
• TSV Eintracht Hittfeld
• SC Seevetal
• VfL Maschen
• ESV Maschen
• MTV Ramelsloh
• PBC Seevetal e.V. - Poolbillard
• SV Emmelndorf
• TV Meckelfeld
• Schützenverein Moor
• TSV Over Bullenhausen
• Windsurfer Seevetal e.V.

Sister city

• Decatur
  Decatur, Illinois
  Decatur is the largest city and the county seat of Macon County in the U.S. state of Illinois. The city, sometimes called "the Soybean Capital of the World", was founded in 1823 and is located along the Sangamon River and Lake Decatur in Central Illinois. In 2000 the city population was 81,500,...
  
  /Illinois
  Illinois
  Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
  
   USA