Ostenholzer Moor
Ostenholzer Moor is a residential area in the Hartem district of the municipality-free area Osterheide in the Heidekreis district , in the Lüneburg Heath ( Lower Saxony ). The Ostenholz Moor, named after the village of Ostenholz near Meißendorf , is an upland moor. The area is used almost exclusively as a training area for the Bundeswehr . It is closed to the public and has therefore largely developed naturally. The Bergen military training area borders directly to the north. The river Meiße separates the Ostenholzer Moor from the nature and bird sanctuary Meißendorfer Teiche / Bannetzer Moor .
History
At the beginning of the 19th century, the Principality of Lüneburg set up a state economics college in Celle for the purpose of using the hitherto untouched moor. However, no visible result was achieved. In 1912 the province of Hanover dealt with the subject of "Cultivation of wasteland". A wasteland culture site was created. This submitted an expert opinion in 1913. In the spring of 1914, work began on draining and cultivating the Ostenholz Moor. During the summer of 1914, 9 residential houses were built. On July 1, 1914, an own moor guard was hired. For the transport of the material, a 13 km long field railway was built by the moor administration, in the far east of the moor area, to Hademstorf , east of the Aller . After the outbreak of the First World War , wooden barracks for a prisoner of war camp, a sub-camp of the Soltau camp , were built in the "Ostsiedlung" of the municipality of Oberhode . 1500 Belgian prisoners of war were now used in the moor. Local history researcher Hans Stuhlmacher writes in his book "Die Heidmark" that many people came to see the long rows of men in war clothing. They had to pay an "entrance fee" of 25 pfennigs, which was transferred to the Red Cross. After the end of the war, prisoners were also used for the work at short notice. Later professional soldiers who served in the war and now had no existence were resettled here in order to reintegrate them into civil life. Until they built their own houses, they initially lived in the abandoned prisoner-of-war barracks. The settlers broke up the wasteland, planted meadows and pastures, kept cattle and cows and planted potatoes. In 1931, as a result of the global economic crisis, the cultivation and drainage work had to be stopped for lack of money. In 1938 the population was resettled and the part of the area that was needed for the military training area was cleared.
geography
The landscape of the moor forms a near-natural edge zone for the actual nature reserve, which was acquired by the district of Celle . The Meißendorfer ponds, originally created for fish farming, are now the most important resting places and breeding areas for numerous marsh and water birds in Lower Saxony. Around 250 species of birds, some of them rare and protected, can be found here. Among them are the black stork and the osprey . The rewetted part of the moor has become a great resting and sleeping place for the cranes . In 2008 around 600 resting cranes were counted here.
literature
- Hinrich Baumann: The Heidmark - Change of a Landscape . (2006)
- Hans Stuhlmacher : Die Heidmark , Verlag CM Engelhardt, Hanover. (1939)
Web links
- ↑ Ostenholzer Moor, description at BfN ( Memento of the original from April 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
Coordinates: 52 ° 44 ′ 19 ″ N , 9 ° 45 ′ 7 ″ E