Big Berßen

coat of arms	Germany map
	Coordinates: 52 ° 46 '  N , 7 ° 30'  E
Basic data
State :	Lower Saxony
County :	Emsland
Joint municipality :	Sögel
Height :	23 m above sea level NHN
Area :	20.76 km 2
Residents:	680 (Dec. 31, 2019)
Population density :	33 inhabitants per km 2
Postal code :	49777
Area code :	05965
License plate :	Tbsp
Community key :	03 4 54 016
Address of the municipal administration:	Dorfstrasse 16 49777 Groß Berßen
Mayor :	Reinhard Kurlemann ( CDU )
Location of the community of Groß Berßen in the district of Emsland

Groß Berßen is a municipality in the Sögel municipality in the Emsland district in western Lower Saxony ( Germany ).

With around 660 inhabitants, Groß Berßen is one of the smaller communities in the Emsland. It covers an area of ​​20.76 km². According to today's standards, the place name can rather indicate the area covered. The neighboring municipality of Klein Berßen has more inhabitants, but a smaller area.

geography

location

Groß Berßen is located in the Emsland region near the southern edge of the Geesthügel des Hümmling . The community is located between Meppen in the southwest and Sögel in the northeast and between Nordradde in the north and Mittelradde in the south.

Neighboring communities

Neighboring communities are in the north the community Sögel , in the east the community Hüven , in the south the community Lähden in the integrated community Herzlake and the city Haselünne and in the west the community Klein Berßen .

history

Little is known about the prehistoric development of the community of Groß Berßen. The high number of hill and barrow graves (see: Street of the Megalithic Culture ) within the municipality shows, however, that in the younger Stone Age , around 3000 BC. BC, people have lived here. The so-called royal grave of Groß Berßen and a large stone grave reconstructed nearby are particularly worth seeing . The Mansen Mountains , located on the municipal boundary between Groß and Klein Berßen, are well worth seeing again since the heather was renatured. The village was first mentioned in documents around 940. The name of the municipality, which today has 677 inhabitants, was first mentioned at the time of Bishop Dodo I of Osnabrück (term of office 919 - 952) as part of the parish of Bokeloh.

The name Berßen is also found fragmentarily in the name of Bersenbrück or in the names "Bersa" or "Besula". There are two interpretations for the interpretation of the name.

When it was first mentioned in a document, in the 10th century, the name Groß Berßen was given in Latin ( bersinium ). From this Latinized form, the name "Heim des Bern" can be derived from the Old Saxon.

Another interpretation of the name comes from the founding of the settlements around Groß Berßen (around the middle of the century BC). The then resident West Germans often named their villages after the landscape they found. Terms such as mud, dirt, puddle, springs, lake, swamp, moor, reed, puddle, mud or dirt were woven into the names. If you consider in relation to Groß Berßen that around 1900 there were still around 100 Ice Age lakes on the Hümmling, including the lake in front of the royal tomb and the so-called "Schmees Meer", one can conclude that the area is rich in water and boggy. The water-rich landscape in and around Groß Berßen can also be responsible for the current name. The first part of the word "Ber" thus refers to water and the second part of the name "sen" to a settlement. Berßen means, according to the second interpretation, "settlement on the water".

The name is first mentioned in its current form in 1382 (Bersen).

In its history, Groß Berßen has remained a village-like community in the midst of a pristine heather and lowland landscape, which offered its residents little economic development opportunities.

The community has been shaped by agriculture to this day; Around 40 full-time farmers are currently doing their work in Groß Berßen.

politics

Municipal council

• CDU - 9 seats

Mayor: Reinhard Kurlemann

economy

From 2011 to July 2014, Groß Berßen was the seat of the Hanover investment company of the State of Lower Saxony.

Oddities

Klein Berßen has more inhabitants than Groß Berßen, which in turn has a larger area. Both communities are politically independent, i. H. each parish has its own mayor and council. Except for the political activities, everything else runs together. There is a common parish, a common sports club, a common music club, etc. The citizens of both parishes also organize and celebrate the annual celebrations such as the shooting festival, the fair or the harvest festival. In spite of everything, it has so far not been possible to form a joint rift out of small and large races.

Say

The Loher Loch. In the community of Groß Berßen there is still a piece of forest called Lohe. An inn is said to have once stood in this forest. When a wedding was being celebrated in this tavern on a Good Friday, a priest is said to have come by. When he saw the wild goings-on on Good Friday, he uttered a curse and the inn and the wedding party are said to have sunk into the ground. Even today there is a small pond in the Lohe, which is supposed to mark the alleged location of the event.

literature

• Werner Kaemling: Atlas on the history of Lower Saxony , Gerd J. Holtzmeyer Verlag, Braunschweig 1987, ISBN 3-923722-44-3
• Hermann Abels: The place names of the Emsland, in their linguistic and cultural-historical significance , Ferdinand Schöningh Verlag, Paderborn 1929
• Ernst Förstemann, Hermann Jellinghaus (Ed.): Old German Name Book , Volume II, 1 and 2: Place Names , Bonn 1913/1916 (Reprint: Volume II, 2, Hildesheim 1967/1983, ISBN 3-487-01733-4 )
• Berßen, a village in the Emsland

Web links

Commons : Groß Berßen  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

1. ↑ State Office for Statistics Lower Saxony, LSN-Online regional database, Table 12411: Update of the population, as of December 31, 2019  ( help ).