Heidmark
Two historical landscapes in the western part and on the eastern edge of the southern Lüneburg Heath are called the Heidmark .
One area that Fallingbosteler Heidmark in the Western Südheide approximately covers the catchment area of central Böhme and is often associated with the area of the former Amtsvogtei Fallingbostel equated. The Böhme divides the area into the Westheidmark, also yet to Visselhövede and Neuenkirchen sense of belonging, and the Ostheidmark or High Heidmark that the area between the Böhmetal and Falkenberg - moraine (west of Bergen comprises).
The other area is in the eastern Südheide and corresponds roughly to the northern district of Gifhorn (former Isenhagen office ) on both sides of the river Ise . It borders Saxony-Anhalt in the east .
In the linguistic usage of the last decades, the term Heidmark is often restricted to the Ostheidmark between Bad Fallingbostel, Soltau and Bergen, in close association with the particular problems there. For the establishment of a large military training area by the armed forces of the High Heidmark has been almost entirely entsiedelt since 1935/1936 and has since closed military zone. Today's Bergen military training area is considered the largest military training area in Europe.
The Fallingbosteler Heidmark
The area name Heytmarke first appears in the treasury register of the Großvogtei Celle from 1438. It consisted of the parishes Fallingbostel, Dorfmark, Meinerdingen and Düshorn including Ostenholz and belonged to the district bailiwick Fallingbostel. For the parish of Soltau, the name Heidmark appears first for 1520 in the money register of the Walsrode monastery. In 1667 the residents of the Fallingbostel District Bailiwick are also referred to as "Heidmärker" in the Ahlden Hereditary Register. Today, the language in its broader sense refers to the former Fallingbostel district north of the Aller.
History of the Ostheidmark
- Rural time until forced resettlement
The people of the area around the Sieben Steinhäuser and the Falkenberg suffered a lot in the Thirty Years' War , especially in the villages on the military roads . For a long time the life of the peasants was determined by the keeping of the snout , as well as additional earnings as migrant workers ( Holland-goers ). Sheep and heather sheep farming only moved into the background in the course of the 19th century, when the invention of artificial fertilizer from heather land made it possible to cultivate fields with loamy sandy soils, and the poorer soils were reforested with conifers and the entire landscape changed. The afforestation is gradually being restructured into mixed forests. Many mills ensured an economic upswing in the Ostheidmark. In place of the self-sufficiency economy came the market supply of grain and fruit. The developed crafts had a focus in Oerbke with numerous professions. In the Heidmark, in addition to the farming and estate families, merchants also settled down and built manor houses. Many of these stately buildings were still preserved in 2007. There were several parishes, small village schools and many associations.
The history of this cultural landscape ends with the forced resettlement from 1935 to 1938 in the course of the establishment of the military training area for the Wehrmacht .
Destruction of the Ostheidmark during the National Socialism
During the time of National Socialism , on September 15, 1934, the news of the establishment of a military training area reached the farmers of Ostheidmark. A "resettlement" of the local population was due. On October 1, 1934, the farmers affected by the resettlement gathered at Platz Sieben Steinhäuser for deliberations. A delegation elected there drove to Goslar on the same day to present the concerns to the Reichsbauernführer the following day. It happened, but to no avail. On March 18, 1935, more than eighty farmers from Ostheidmark traveled to Berlin to find out more about their and their farms' future. Even this trip did not lead the farmers to the success they wanted. They had to come to terms with leaving their centuries-old homeland.
Negotiations for the sale of the property were forced to take place and new farms were sought. Among other places disappeared Deil , Hörsten, Hoppenstedt, Hohne, Hohnerode, Manhorn, Lohe, Gudehausen, Ettenbostel, Oberndorf Mark , Oberhode, Benhorn , Harlem , driving wood , Böstlingen , Pröbsten , Kolk , Südbostel, Nordbostel, Obereinzingen , Untereinzingen , Achterberg , Wense (Osterheide) and parts of Oerbke , Ostenholz and Hasselhorst from the map. The traditional land of the heather farmers became military grounds.
The Ostheidmark today
Most of the Heidmark is closed because it is the largest military training area in Europe. Although the unspoilt heathland has been preserved, heavy metals such as cadmium and mercury, as well as leaking oil, are a heavy burden on the environment and endanger flora and fauna. Guided tours of the military training area are occasionally organized. A lively tourism has developed in the remaining villages and towns, ranging from “holidays on the farm” to a cure in Bad Fallingbostel .
In 2013, the Hohe Heidmark Biosphere Area Initiative was founded in Bad Fallingbostel with the aim of converting the area of the former British military training area into a biosphere area and thus opening it up to the population and more comprehensive nature conservation.
The former cultural area of the Ostheidmark
- Agriculture
In the Heidmark, in addition to the heather farming with the heather sheep farming , the lighter soils were also used for agriculture. Until the middle of the 19th century , sheep dung, heather plagues and heather litter were mainly used as fertilizer. The heavy soils, such as the clay soils of Untereinzingen, were so wet in spring and autumn that they could not be driven on with the teams . There were no drainage systems at the time. Only the dry, higher areas of Oerbke, Hartem and Ostenholz were used for agriculture. Most of the other heavy soils were covered with forest. Mainly rye and buckwheat were grown, often on the same field for several years in a row. Potatoes were first planted in the Heidmark around 1780 , mainly for personal use. A change occurred when the marl first appeared at the beginning of the 19th century . A marl pit was discovered in Mengebostel . Revenues increased significantly and barley , white oats , spring wheat and peas could be grown now. In the middle of the 19th century, other artificial fertilizers such as guano , bone meal , Thomas slag , kainite and Chile nitrate appeared. In addition, the green manure with Serradella and lupins was added. The first machines were used in agriculture around 1860. As a result, the harvest yields could be increased enormously, even on the barren heather soils. The large heather areas, which used to be indispensable for the herds of heather sheep, have now largely become arable land, especially the loamy sandy soils. Some boggy areas became pastures . The planned reforestation of the heather areas, primarily with pine trees , began around 1865. Buckwheat cultivation fell sharply. For this purpose, an extensive potato cultivation and from around 1880 an increased pig fattening and pig breeding began.
- Meadow mowing
The heather farmers lacked meadows and pastures. In order to ensure their economic survival, at least since it was mentioned in a hereditary register from 1667, they had acquired pastures in the Krelinger Bruch that were far from their farms . When mowing, people stayed in this grassland-rich valley until the hay was dry. This break time could take more than two weeks.
The people who went to Holland shouldered their scythes , documented since 1786, and in May they set out on foot to Holland to mow for wages. Most of these Holland-goers were house residents and were dependent on this additional income. After 1850, the "Holland going" gradually ebbed (last mention in 1865).
- hunt
In addition to the rule (duke), the nobility in the Heidmark was also authorized to hunt in ancient times. The main authorized hunters in the Heidmark were von der Wense and von Hodenberg .
In the inheritance register of 1667 it says: Otherwise the von der Wense would have to shoot and fell red and wild boar in their free fir wood, where even the most gracious rule is not excluded. So as far as their justice and custom is, they may use the knitting hunt. Those from Hodenberg zur Hudemühlen are entitled to fell red deer and wild boar in their own woods, but only with the knitting hunt in the Fallingbostel district, provided that their justice keeps up. And may stop at their Meyers' deposit and thus hunt twice a year than once at Grase (between Easter and Midsummer) and once at Straw (between Michaelmas and Christmas), which the others more of the nobility who have their Meyer here if they hunt, brought here.
Not only were the farmers not allowed to hunt, they also had to pay so-called “ hunting money ” to save them from damage caused by game . The farmers of the Heidmark, to whom the hunt “was in their blood as an old ancestral heritage”, as it is said in a tradition, had kept themselves harmless. They poached whenever they could. That was considered an unwritten right and not a sin. Nevertheless, the gendarmes had to pursue the poachers and bring them to justice.
On the eastern edge of the Ostheidmark, in the forest "Becklinger Holz" , the last wolf in Lower Saxony was shot on January 13, 1872 . The shooter was the forester H. Grünewald from Wardböhmen , formerly a body hunter of King George V of Hanover , the last king of Hanover. For this he received a bonus of ten thalers and a hunting rifle . The killed wolf was a very old male. To commemorate this event, a wolf stone was placed there in 1892 .
- Legal system
It is said that Goding ( Gogerichte ) and Holting ( wooden dishes ) were held in Dorfmark, Fallingbostel, Ostenholz and at the Heidhof. In the case of the Heidhof, judgments are also said to have been made according to the manner of the Feme courts . According to oral tradition, the last execution in the Heidmark was in 1777 (the files about it were destroyed in a fire in 1784).
For a long time, the farmers themselves exercised a kind of separate jurisdiction . She seized the cattle that caused damage to the fields in foreign jurisdiction. There was a time when those who brought criminal cases to court received up to half the fine. So there were a corresponding number of advertisements. There were many and often complaints, mostly about road, water and pasture justice. In many farmhouses this is illustrated by an old lithograph with a cow that is being grasped by the horns of one farmer and is being milked by the tail by the other, but by the lawyer sitting underneath. It contains the verses:
You folks, let it be complaints
It will never bring you anything
lost. Soon calf and cow, together with
house and farm, you too
As you can see here in the picture,
two arguing opposite,
Meanwhile, the lawyer milks the fat cow in good peace
.
The eldest son mostly inherited the farm. Being the first-born daughter only resulted in farm inheritance if there was no male heir in the family.
- Parishes
Already a certificate from Emperor Otto III. from 7 May 986 documents churches and monasteries in Walsrode and Ahlden. The church in Dorfmark was first mentioned in 1006. The other parishes are documented only later, for example Schwarmstedt 1221, Düshorn 1230, Meinerdingen 1269 and Bierde in the 15th century, but are said to have existed well before that.
The residents of the Heidmark experienced the Reformation under Duke Ernst the Confessor , who had joined Lutheran teaching at an early age.
- School system
After the Lutheran Reformation, a school system slowly developed, mainly with small village schools. In 1919, in Prussia, and thus also in the state of Hanover , to which Heidmark belonged, the local school supervision, which is mostly run by clergy on a part-time basis, was replaced by a school supervision at district level. District school council and district administrator were commissioned by the district president in Lüneburg.
Public elementary schools including “Einlehrerschulen” in sparsely populated areas, a middle school “for boys and girls” in Walsrode , the higher private school in Ahlden ( Aller ), “rural advanced training schools for male youth from 14 to 18 years”, “rural advanced training schools for girls in Ahlden, Bomlitz and Riethagen-Hudemühlen ”, a six-class“ higher education institution ”and several vocational schools existed in the 1930s. The vocational schools were subordinate to the business school directors in Lüneburg and Celle as well as the regional president.
- emigration
Many residents of the Heidmark emigrated to the United States of America, especially between 1850 and 1900, including those over 50, which shows the economic hardship.
- regional customs
The people on the farms and manors lived deeply rooted in their traditions. From November to the end of March, people not only spun together in the spinning rooms, but also cultivated the customs and old folk songs. There were harvest, winter and holiday customs. The highlights of the social life of the Heidmark were the shooting festivals. New year's singing and shooting as well as carol singing on Epiphany (January 6th) were part of the tradition of the year . On Pauli's conversion (January 25th) the bed pillow should be turned over at 12 o'clock at night and it should be said:
On the night of the St. Pauli conversion
I turn my pillow.
Who my husband will be
That occurs to me in a dream
On March 1st, "the fleas were taken away". The egg hunt on the evening before Easter was reserved for the "young guys". On Easter Sunday, the young girls fetched “Easter water” before sunrise. After Easter the change of servants took place. At Pentecost, the "young guys" put a Pentecost tree in front of the house for their girls.
Superstition was widespread. Many old sagas or legends revolve around the idea that the spirit of man finds no rest in the grave, and that his light figure appears everywhere in the village. Discussions were used to keep the "evil eye" away or to try to cure the sick and "drunkards".
Cultural aspects
- Tourist appreciation
The Heidmark began to become a tourist destination in the 19th century, especially after writers such as Hermann Löns and Friedrich Freudenthal made the quiet landscape of the heather farmers widely known . The steep slopes of the Lieth near Fallingbostel (as the "Thuringia of the Heide"), the recreation facilities of Achterberg and the steep slope of the Eckernworth in Walsrode were known early on .
- Cultural landscape development
The first beginnings of industrialization were just as early (in Bomlitz since 1815), in the wake of which the region was also connected to the railway network. Soltau was connected to the America line in 1873 , and the Hanover - Walsrode - Visselhövede line was opened in 1890, from which today's Heidebahn line emerged . The strong change in the landscape due to the large afforestation towards the end of the 19th century and the so-called interconnection of the sometimes small-scale arable land still affected the western and eastern Heidmark equally.
- Literary reception
The Lüneburger Heide and especially the Heidmark had done the journalist and later writer and poet Hermann Löns . With his stories, novels and poems, Löns is considered to be the one who “discovered” the heathland for general perception. The heath became Löns' second home.
The local writer Friedrich Freudenthal is closely associated with the Heidmark and the Lüneburg Heath . Born on May 9, 1849 in Bad Fallingbostel, he grew up in Fintel with his grandparents. Friedrich Freudenthal wrote extensive works, including many Low German stories. He died on March 9, 1929.
Even when the poet Heinrich Eggersglüß from Untereinzingen lived and worked in Braunschweig, the subject of his poems and stories was often the native Heidmark. In Dorfmark, Eggersglüß was erected and a street was named after him.
- Memory of the Hohe Heidmark
At Ostenholz, on the occasion of the evacuation of the communities in 1936, the Hohe Stein was reworked into a memorial stone. In the Liethwald of Bad Fallingbostel, the Heidmark farm is reminiscent of the rural world of the Hohen Heidmark. In Bad Fallingbostel there is also a Heidmarkstraße and the Heidmarkhalle . In Wunstorf streets are named after the old Heidmark villages Hasselhorst, Hohne, Einzingen, Manhorn and Achterberg.
Architectural monuments and sights
- in Bad Fallingbostel :
- Museum of the Archäologische Arbeitsgemeinschaft eV
In the megalithic park Osterberg , large stones are exhibited which pushed ice masses from Scandinavia into the Heidmark during the Ice Ages . - the Heidmark court with Rummelsburger Heimatstube as a specialist hall house in the Liethwald
- the Protestant St. Dionysius Church in the city center
- the Quintus monument at St. Dionysius Church
- Museum of the Archäologische Arbeitsgemeinschaft eV
- in Oerbke :
- Cemetery of the Nameless , a war cemetery where around 30,000 Soviet prisoners of war from World War II were buried in mass graves
- in and near Ostenholz :
- Half-timbered church with a wooden tower from 1724
- Seven stone houses , large stone graves from the Neolithic Age in the south of the military training area
- in Wense :
- Gutskapelle, magnificent church from 1558
- in Vierde :
- Bronze Age tomb
- in Dorfmark :
- the Protestant St. Martin's Church
- the grave of Erich von Manstein
- in Fahrenholz :
- Bronze Age barrows
- Neolithic large stone grave in the direction of Krelingen
literature
- Hinrich Baumann: Achterberg - Development of tourism in the Heidmark. In: Fallingbostel yearbook. Published by the district of Soltau-Fallingbostes 2004, pp. 9-17.
- Hinrich Baumann: The Heidmark - Change of Landscape: The History of the Bergen Military Training Area. Oerbke 2005, ISBN 3-00-017185-1 .
- Rolf Keller: Soviet prisoners of war in the German Reich 1941/42. Treatment and employment between the policy of extermination and the requirements of the war economy. Göttingen 2011, ISBN 978-3-8353-0989-0 .
- Hans Stuhlmacher : The Heidmark. CV Engelhard, Hanover 1939.
- Hans Stuhlmacher: The Fallingbostel district. Fritz Drescher, Möser near Magdeburg 1935.
swell
- ↑ Hinrich Baumann: The Heidmark - Change of a Landscape , ISBN 978-3-00-017185-7
- ↑ Hinrich Baumann, Achterberg - The emergence of tourism in the Heidmark, (see literature 2004), p. 9
- ↑ Holger Fiegenbaum Jürgen H. Voss "Ecological inventory of the Bergen military training area 1996"
- ↑ Hinrich Baumann: "The Heidmark - Change of a Landscape - The History of the Military Training Area"
- ↑ http://www.hohe-heidmark.de
- ↑ Hans Stuhlmacher: The Heidmark. CV Engelhard, Hanover 1939
- ↑ Inheritance register 1667
- ↑ In detail: The Becklinger Holz between Bergen and Soltau , Matthias-Blazek.eu, accessed on February 8, 2014.
- ^ Wolfsstein in Becklinger Holz
- ↑ According to tradition, the owner of the Jacobshof in Ahlften , Johann Hinrich Apenriep, who came from Castens Hof in Meimen (Meinern), had to pick up the executioner Holdorf from Lüneburg and drive him to Fallingbostel. Holdorf then beheaded a woman or a girl
- ^ Richard Linde : The Lüneburg Heath . Bielefeld 1904
- ↑ Inscription of the High Stone : “The memory of the Heidjer who were willing to make sacrifices from the former villages of Hörsten, Hoppenstedt, Hohne, Hasselhorst, Hohnerode, Manhorn, Lohe, Gudehausen, Ostenholz, Ettenbostel, Oberhode, Benhorn, Hartem, Fahrenholz, Böstlingen, Pröbsten, Kolk, Sudbostel, Nordbostel, Örbke, Obereinzingen, Untereinzingen, Achterberg, Wense "
- ↑ On the stone the place "Oerbke" is written with "Ö".
- ↑ Reviews: H-Soz-u-Kult February 9, 2012; www.kulturthemen.de February 9, 2012.
Web links
- Former farms in the Heidmark and their ancestors
- Newspaper report about Hinrich Baumann, author of the book The Heidmark - Change of a Landscape ... ( Memento from December 29, 2003 in the Internet Archive )
- Newspaper report from 2006 about the Heidmark
- Memorial sites related to the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, the activities of the Wehrmacht, the planned “exchange camp”, acts of war at the end of the war and the liberation of the concentration camp by British troops
- Documentation Center Bergen-Belsen , YouTube.com