East Frisian landscape

The landscape house - seat of the East Frisian landscape in Aurich

Location in the midst of the modern landscapes and regional associations of Lower Saxony

The East Frisian Landscape is a higher municipal association in Lower Saxony with its seat in Aurich . It includes the three East Frisian districts of Aurich , Leer and Wittmund and the East Frisian city of Emden . It is a corporation under public law and has its seat in the landscape house in Aurich.

It is one of the seven historical landscapes that still exist in Lower Saxony . However, it is the only higher municipal association in Lower Saxony, the other parts of the country do not belong to any higher municipal association. It is also only partially comparable with the landscape associations and modern landscapes of the country. The traditional coat of arms and the flag of East Frisia , striped in black, red and blue, are also used today (it was not established until 1989).

The landscape library it maintains is the largest scientific library in East Frisia.

tasks and goals

According to its constitution, the East Frisian landscape is the successor to the East Frisian estates. In this tradition, it represents the people living in East Frisia and their concerns as part of its goals and tasks as a democratically constituted body.

According to the definition of the landscape, East Friesland comprises the independent city of Emden and the districts of Aurich , Leer and Wittmund . These form - apart from minor border corrections - the area of the former Principality of East Friesland (1464–1744), which continued to exist as the administrative district Aurich within Prussia , then Hanover , again Prussia and later Lower Saxony until 1978.

On behalf of its local authorities and the State of Lower Saxony, the landscape performs central municipal and decentralized governmental tasks in the fields of culture , science and education and operates appropriate facilities for this purpose. She advocates the use of the regional language in East Frisia. In addition, the landscape sees itself as the guardian of the Frisian tradition and, in this context, advocates the preservation of the historical and cultural connections of the Frisian coastal area and the cultivation of the bond with all Frisians inside and outside Europe.

Every year around May 10, the East Frisian Landscape organizes a symposium on one of its areas of responsibility, with which it commemorates Oll 'Mai , the former land billing day.

As a corporation under public law, the East Frisian landscape is now an independent self-governing body. It is protected by Article 72 of the Lower Saxony Constitution in its existence as well as in its organization and its tasks. The constitution also requires the state and local authorities to refrain from anything that could impair the autonomous and self-responsible work of the countryside; rather, they have to support and encourage them.

The East Frisian landscape fulfills regional tasks in particular in the fields of culture, science and education in and for East Frisia, supports relevant concerns with advice and action and works together with the organizations active in the above-mentioned areas. She advocates the use of the regional language in East Frisia.

Coat of arms, flag and official seal

Blazon : “In a red shield, a green oak tree on a green hill. A man is standing next to him, armed with a harness , a lance in his right hand, a sword in his left hand and an open helmet on his head, decoratedwith two white and two blue ostrich feathers . Above the shield an open tournament helmet , on the right with a red and white, on the left with a blue and red helmet cover , and above it a royal crown , from which an armored arm with a flying blue standard protrudes, which carries a drawn sword in its fist. "

Founding of the coat of arms: From the liberal tradition of the Frisians, a strong position of the professional assembly developed in the county of East Friesland. In addition to the counts and princes, the estates had extensive sovereign rights. Emperor Leopold I took this into account with a process unique in the Holy Roman Empire , when he left the East Frisian landscape on January 14 ( Julian calendar ) and January 24, 1678 ( Gregorian calendar , which was only introduced in the Protestant parts of the country in 1700). awarded its own coat of arms. This Upstalsboom coat of arms is still used by the landscape today.

The colors of the flag of the East Frisian landscape are black-red-blue in three horizontal stripes of equal width. These colors are the crest of the count's coat of arms removed: Black is the color of the Cirksenas-arms, the red comes from the coat of arms of the Counts of Rietberg and blue represents the Harlingerland.

The official seal contains the coat of arms and the inscription "Ostfriesische Landschaft Aurich".

organization

The organs of the East Frisian landscape are the landscape assembly, the landscape college and the landscape director.

Landscape assembly

The landscape assembly consists of 49 ordinary members, who are determined by the district councils of the districts of Aurich, Leer and Wittmund as well as the council of the city of Emden according to the ratio of their inhabitants to the total population. The term of office of the members corresponds to the electoral period of the district assemblies in Lower Saxony. A maximum of two thirds of the volunteer members of the landscape assembly may also belong to one of the district councils or the city council. In addition, there is the six-member landscape council and the landscape president as the management committee. The landscape assembly can change the constitution and is also responsible for finances. It is also the body in which fundamental decisions affecting East Frisia are made.

The landscape assembly meets twice a year for regular meetings in Aurich, of which the spring assembly takes place around Oll 'May as a land accounting meeting. Extraordinary meetings can be called by the landscape president if at least one third of the members of the landscape assembly so wish.

Landscape College

The landscape college is the highest service authority and superior service superior of the employees of the East Frisian landscape as well as service superior of the landscape director. It consists of seven landscape councils and the landscape president. The landscape councils are elected by the landscape assembly for four years with a two-thirds majority of the members of the landscape assembly present. According to the constitution, three members of the landscape assembly must come from the Aurich district, two from the Leer district and one each from the Wittmund district and the city of Emden. The committee is supposed to meet at least six times a year and prepares all decisions of the landscape assembly.

Landscape President and Landscape Director

The landscape president is elected by the landscape assembly with a 2/3 majority. His term of office is six years. Rico Mecklenburg has been the sixth post-war president of the landscape since 2014 . See also: List of Presidents of the East Frisian Landscape .

The landscape director - who has to prove a scientific qualification - is elected by the landscape college. He prepares the resolutions of the landscape college and implements the resolutions of the landscape assembly and the landscape college. He is also entrusted with the management of the day-to-day administration. He also represents the East Frisian landscape in legal transactions and in court proceedings. Rolf Bärenfänger has been the landscape director since 2008 .

Employees, fields of activity and departments

Around 60 employees work for the East Frisian Landscape or its facilities, plus a large number of volunteers and volunteers. The East Frisian landscape is divided into seven departments: Archaeological Service, Landscape Library, Regional Pedagogical Center, Regional Culture Agency, Regional Language Department, Plattdüütskbüro, Landscape Forum and the Department of Museums and Folklore. They are also responsible for the costume fund, the Bunderhee stone house as a memorial and event location, as well as the Organeum (Organ Academy Ostfriesland) in Weener and the Ostfriesland wall hedge protection program.

history

middle Ages

The Upstalsboom coat of arms awarded by Emperor Leopold I in 1678

The land estates (that is, the clergy, the noble and the bourgeois class) in their entirety, which in the later Middle Ages and in the early modern period represented the population to the sovereigns, usually referred to themselves as the landscape . In East Frisia the situation was a little different.

In East Frisia, as a result of the Frisian freedom granted by Karl the Dicken in 885 as a result of the defeat of the Normans , no feudal rule, manorial rule and serfdom developed during the high Middle Ages. The Frisians were free and governed themselves until the late Middle Ages , with repeated approval from the king and empire . The entire free Friesland was made up of many individual districts along which an autonomous rural country towns like the simultaneous free civil townships were written. As the so-called Sieben Seeland, they formed a loose association, which came together as “All of Friesland” (tota Frisia) only in emergencies at the Upstalsboom .

While the Frisians were able to keep foreign rulers away from themselves, they were unable to prevent local local greats, so-called chiefs , from gaining control over their cooperatives in the 13th century. In 1464, Emperor Friedrich III. one of these families - the Cirksena - became imperial counts and their rule, which extended over several eastern Friesland, became an imperial county in East Friesland . This imperial charter assures the East Frisians that all the rights and freedoms they have had since time immemorial and from Frederick III. Predecessors have been confirmed should continue to be valid. It is therefore the origin of the East Frisian landscape.

On this basis, the East Frisian landscape developed into a representative body of three estates, but now, instead of a spiritual one, with a completely equal peasant class. During the Dutch struggle for freedom around 1600, the East Frisian landscape expanded its importance towards the count. Through the mediation of the States General (i.e. estates), it received sovereignty in legislation , tax collection and jurisdiction . East Frisia thus became a corporate state . This made the landscape more sovereign than the prince in East Friesland, which was also expressed in the right to build dikes (land reclamation).

On January 14th and 24th, 1678, Emperor Leopold I gave the landscape its own coat of arms - the Upstalsboom coat of arms - and thereby recognized the special sovereign position. Thus absolutism could never prevail in East Frisia either.

Prussian time

After the princely family of the Cirksena died out in 1744, the Prussians under Frederick the Great took over rule in East Frisia as princes. However, the new rulers did not shake the rights and freedoms of the East Frisian landscape either, because the landscape was instrumental in ensuring that the Prussian crown would gain sovereignty over East Frisia in the event of the royal family's extinction.

Napoleonic and Hanoverian times

During the Napoleonic period, East Frisia was initially part of the Kingdom of Holland and then for a short time a French province, namely as the department of Ems-Oriental (Osterems) 1810-1813. The privileges of the landscape were suspended or abolished and only restored again with the Congress of Vienna in 1815. However, East Frisia was assigned to the Kingdom of Hanover (and Great Britain ) (see History of East Frisia ) and the new rulers ignored the special status of East Frisia and its landscape.

The landscape fought for its sovereignty for 30 years until a new constitution was agreed in 1846, which was ratified by Ernst August . The old freedoms of the East Frisian landscape were severely curtailed. This did not change anything when East Frisia (to the great joy of the population) became Prussian again. Constitutional amendments from 1867 to 1910 significantly curtailed the rights of the landscape: its participation in legislation was abolished, and tax collection was over.

The only institutions it operated from then on was and is the Ostfriesische Landschaftliche Brandkasse founded in 1754 by Frederick the Great and transferred to it . From 1871 to 1943, the region then operated the Ostfriesische Sparkasse which it founded . However, this was withdrawn from her by the National Socialists in 1943. So she was only independent in managing her own assets. The management of communal affairs was no longer part of their area of responsibility, which began a period of indolence in the landscape. During the Weimar period, the provincial landscapes threatened to come to an end, but this did not lead to a surge in landscape activities.

National Socialism

This only changed when the National Socialists came to power , who in the person of the Oberpräsident in Hanover intensified the dissolution of the landscapes. The Gauleitung in Oldenburg , on the other hand, stuck to the preservation of the East Frisian landscape, but thought of converting it into an institution for (National Socialist) cultural purposes. The East Frisian landscape did not oppose this, as it wanted to remain under all circumstances. There is no longer any trace of the right to resist and Frisian freedom as formulated and mobilized at the end of the 16th century. The Nazification of the landscape began and culminated in a completely new constitution in 1942 , which the estates themselves passed.

In this constitution, the leader principle was adapted and appointment procedures as well as honorary office constituted. Now, however, broad sections of the population also had the opportunity to work, because suggestions for the appointment of members of the landscape assembly could not only be made by the East Frisian offices of the NSDAP as well as the municipalities , towns and districts , but also by the East Frisian homeland associations and all East Frisians, with which The foundation was laid for the institutionalization and professionalization of landscape cultural work through the creation of facilities and the involvement of specialists. The integration of the East Frisian landscape into National Socialist rule was more pronounced than elsewhere.

1945 until today

Location of the East Frisian landscape in the middle of the historical landscape of Lower Saxony

After 1945 the East Frisian landscape also experienced its " zero hour ". There were essentially two proposals in the room, one of which envisaged the transformation into a (non-political) cultural homeland movement and the other saw the landscape as part of the new state in the form of a district assembly between the district assembly and the state assembly. However, the new Lower Saxony state constitution did not provide for any district days. In response to this, conservative forces in particular demanded that the landscape be transformed into a kind of "East Frisian Heimatbund", which continued the promotion of the cultural interests of East Frisia and the Frisians, formulated last in 1942.

However, there were strong reservations about this. A strong group did not want to give up the historical connection between the landscape and the state so easily and saw it as a good starting point for a new beginning. So the decision was made in favor of a compromise which, after the loss of the savings bank, left the fire bank in the care of the countryside. It was essential that the East Frisian landscape was now democratically legitimized and organized in parliament. Local authorities , namely the East Frisian district councils and the council of the city of Emden , which elect the 49 full members of the landscape assembly , have now replaced the estates .

Since then, the East Frisian landscape has been an independent self-governing body, an autonomous cultural parliament (in the form of a corporation under public law), which is protected by Article 72 of the Lower Saxony constitution in its existence as well as in its organization and its tasks. The constitution also requires the state and local authorities to refrain from doing anything that could impair the autonomous and self-responsible work of the landscape, but rather to support and promote it.

The main task is the culture tied to the homeland , and in particular where and how it should not only promote this but also operate it itself has been specifically defined. The areas of responsibility were family research , science and literature , art and handicrafts , natural history and nature conservation , folklore and tradition , museums , libraries and archives , building maintenance and memorials . At first all of these tasks were carried out on a voluntary basis , but this soon reached its limits. Thus, in 1956, the first scientist was hired. In 1960 the landscape opened up to the non-East Frisians, who could now also be elected to the landscape assembly - provided they had lived in East Frisia for ten years.

Changed framework conditions later led to a revision of the constitution . Culture , science and education were now formulated as tasks and goals . The home associations are no longer specially highlighted as organizations entitled to propose, and anyone who can be elected to a municipal representative body can now be elected to the landscape assembly.

literature

Dietmar von Reeken : Heimat Movement, Cultural Policy and National Socialism. The history of the "East Frisian Landscape" 1918–1949 (= treatises and lectures on the history of East Frisia. Volume 75). Verlag Ostfriesische Landschaft, Aurich 1996, ISBN 3-925365-93-1 .
Harm Wiemann: Materials on the history of the East Frisian landscape (= treatises and lectures on the history of East Frisia. Volume 58). Verlag Ostfriesische Landschaft, Aurich; Schuster, Leer 1982, DNB 830292047 .
Ihno Alberts , Harm Wiemann: History of the East Frisian Landscape 1932–1980. Presentation and documentation (= sources on the history of East Frisia. Volume 14). Publishing house Ostfriesische Landschaft, Aurich 1981.

Web links

Commons : East Frisian Landscape - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Official website

Individual evidence

↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j Constitution of the East Frisian Landscape. In: ostfriesenelandschaft.de, accessed on February 14, 2012.
^ Ostfriesische Landeschaft: From the state parliament to the regional cultural parliament. In: ostfriesenelandschaft.de, accessed on November 2, 2011.
^ History of the East Frisian Landscape. From the state parliament to the regional cultural parliament. In: ostfriesenelandschaft.de, accessed on November 21, 2018.
^ ^A ^b Manfred-Franz Albrecht: Black, Red, Blue - East Friesland Colors . In: Ostfriesische Landschaftliche Verlags- und Vertriebsgesellschaft mbH Dept. Verlag (Hrsg.): The Ostfriesische Wappen The prince coat of arms and the landscape coat of arms . tape 6 . Aurich, Ostfriesland 2018, ISBN 978-3-940601-44-5 , p. 53 .
↑ The red crest in the count's coat of arms is often traced back to the tom Brok . In the opinion of Hayo van Lengen, however, this cannot be true, since they had a crowned eagle as their heraldic animal.
^ Landscape director of the East Frisian landscape. In: ostfriesenelandschaft.de, as of August 29, 2014.
^ East Frisian landscape. Retrieved August 12, 2019 .

53.46765 7.480584Coordinates: 53 ° 28 ′ 3.5 ″ N , 7 ° 28 ′ 50.1 ″ E

[Verfassung-1] ↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j Constitution of the East Frisian Landscape. In: ostfriesenelandschaft.de, accessed on February 14, 2012.

[2] Ostfriesische Landeschaft: From the state parliament to the regional cultural parliament. In: ostfriesenelandschaft.de, accessed on November 2, 2011.

[3] History of the East Frisian Landscape. From the state parliament to the regional cultural parliament. In: ostfriesenelandschaft.de, accessed on November 21, 2018.

[Farben-4] A ^b Manfred-Franz Albrecht: Black, Red, Blue - East Friesland Colors . In: Ostfriesische Landschaftliche Verlags- und Vertriebsgesellschaft mbH Dept. Verlag (Hrsg.): The Ostfriesische Wappen The prince coat of arms and the landscape coat of arms . tape 6 . Aurich, Ostfriesland 2018, ISBN 978-3-940601-44-5 , p. 53 .

[5] The red crest in the count's coat of arms is often traced back to the tom Brok . In the opinion of Hayo van Lengen, however, this cannot be true, since they had a crowned eagle as their heraldic animal.

[6] Landscape director of the East Frisian landscape. In: ostfriesenelandschaft.de, as of August 29, 2014.

[7] East Frisian landscape. Retrieved August 12, 2019 .