Wesendorf

The title of this article is ambiguous. A district of the city of Zehdenick in the Oberhavel district in Brandenburg also bears this name

coat of arms	Germany map
	Coordinates: 52 ° 36 '  N , 10 ° 32'  E
Basic data
State :	Lower Saxony
County :	Gifhorn
Joint municipality :	Wesendorf
Height :	59 m above sea level NHN
Area :	31.23 km 2
Residents:	5378 (Dec. 31, 2019)
Population density :	172 inhabitants per km 2
Postal code :	29392
Primaries :	05376, 05835
License plate :	GF
Community key :	03 1 51 038
Association administration address:	Alte Heerstraße 20 29392 Wesendorf
Website :	www.wesendorf.de
Mayor :	Holger Schulz ( SPD )
Location of the community of Wesendorf in the Gifhorn district

Wesendorf is a municipality in the Gifhorn district in Lower Saxony .

geography

At the western edge of the circular indentation, the large area extends from the sand-covered ground moraine plateau of the Ringelahs Heide and Brutlohs Heide in the west to the east into the lowland zone of the Great Moor and here especially the smaller Hestenmoor, which formed in the meltwater runoff of the Isetal. The larger western part of the district has a weak small relief , sloping to the east from 67 to 58 meters above sea level , the smaller eastern part in the Hestenmoor has an evenness of 56 to 57 meters above sea level. The place is located on the eastern edge of the Brutlohs Heide with its core in a very flat south-exposed slope from 63 to 65 meters above sea level. The new parts extend in a barely noticeable inclination to the east up to 62 meters, to the south up to 60 meters above sea level. The village with its municipal boundaries is located on the southeastern edge of the Südheide Nature Park and has no conspicuous topography .

Community structure

The two districts of the community are Wesendorf and Westerholz .

history

Legal and administrative affiliation

The community only came into being in the 16th century. However, the room belonged to the Guelphs in the 12th century and when it was divided among the sons of Henry the Lion in 1202 it fell to Otto IV and then to his nephew Otto the child , who once again summarized all the Guelph areas in one hand, she 1235 commissioned by the emperor and received back as an imperial fiefdom Duchy of Brunswick-Lüneburg . The Guelf division of 1267 brought this area to the Lüneburg Line, the Principality of Lüneburg (until 1885), then the administrative district of Lüneburg (Franz, 1955). Within this larger area, the later demarcation of Wesendorf (the place did not yet exist) in 1489 probably belonged to the Gogräfschaft Hankensbüttel , whose name does not appear in the treasury register of 1489, but among whose places the neighboring communities Betzhorn, Wahrenholz and Westerholz behind Emmen and in front of Langwedel and Lingwedel are listed (Grieser, 1942, pp. 69/70). Later, like the entire Gogräfschaft Hankensbüttel, it was part of the Gifhorn office or, from 1539 to 1549, of the Gifhorn secondary school (Franz, 1955). Since the 16th century at the latest, it belonged to the Vogtei Wahrenholz, which, in addition to Wesendorf - which was built around 1548 - also included the towns of Wahrenholz, Westerholz and Betzhorn. Probably the Vogtei Wahrenholz (see there) is older or goes back to older predecessors.

In 1799 the Gogräfschaft Hankensbüttel and the bailiwick of Steinhorst were separated from the great Gifhorn office and the Isenhagen office was created for administrative purposes . The Bailiwick of Wahrenholz - and thus Wesendorf too, remained with the Gifhorn until 1841. On July 1, 1841, this bailiff was added to the Knesebeck department , separated from it again on October 1, 1852 and now attached to the Isenhagen department. July 1859 also the office Knesebeck was united. These changes in affiliation also affected Wesendorf. During the time of the Kingdom of Westphalia from 1810 to 1813 it was incorporated into the Canton Gifhorn in the Aller department . From 1867 to 1885 the offices of Gifhorn, (enlarged) Isenhagen, Fallersleben and Meinersen formed the Gifhorn district headquarters, from which the Isenhagen and Gifhorn districts emerged when the Prussian district constitution was introduced on April 1, 1885. Wesendorf came to the Isenhagen district as the most south-westerly municipality.

The district reform of 1932 combined both districts to form the Gifhorn district with effect from April 1, 1933. Since that time Wesendorf has belonged to Gifhorn again. The land rulership lay uniformly with the sovereign , transferred to the Gifhorn office. In 1678 the Gifhorn office was the landlord for all eleven positions in Wesendorf (Werthmann, 1970, p. 9), and also when it was replaced in 1842 for all 16 positions: four full courtyards, four Kötner , one Brinkitzer , four cultivators , two dismantlers and the school ( Recess).

settlement

About 1,300 meters south of Wesendorf were mounds of outgoing Stone and early Bronze Age found.

The district of Westerholz was first mentioned in a document in 1275 and incorporated as part of the regional reform on March 1, 1974. Wesendorf is one of the young "village settlements" and was only created in the 16th century. There was no documentary mention.

Wesendorf is an expansion settlement from Westerholz. According to tradition, the cowherd Gries from Westerholz is said to have settled here in the "Stuebusche" in 1548, against the will of the residents of Westerholz, but with the approval of the authorities. Soon a second settler named Meyer followed and in 1568 there were four Meyer, dar. Once father and son, and once called Gries. (Chronicle), which corresponds to the later four full courtyards. In the course of the 16th and 17th centuries, another four Kötner and one Brinkitzer were added. This coincides with the nine contributable fireplaces registered in the statistics in 1777. Werthmann (1970), however, reports eleven positions for 1678, either two additional shepherds' houses or one shepherd's house and the school (old school = house no. 11), which were contribution-free.

The map of the topographical land survey of 1779 shows a total of 13 fireplaces, classified according to the 1865 recession as four full farms, four kötner, one brinkitzer, three cultivators and the school. The first four courtyards were located on both sides of a square, the resettlers on both sides of the path that followed to Wesendorf. In the first half of the 19th century the village slowly grew to 22 residential buildings (1858). The division of the large Koppelhuden between Wesendorf, Wahrenholz and Westerholz in 1864/65 and the subsequent coupling in Wesendorf itself in 1865/70, combined with the general upswing in agriculture in the second half of the 19th century through crop rotation, artificial fertilizers, etc. brought about a rapid expansion of the village by dismantling to 40 residential buildings (1895), whereby the place had now received the shape of a cluster village.

In the first decades of the 20th century, Wesendorf barely expanded. Only the cession of moorland and wasteland on the Hestenmoor to small people for cultivation at the instigation of the Hannoversche Siedlungsgesellschaft in 1924/25 resulted in a further slight expansion of the village.

population

Wesendorf developed as a very small settlement of approx. 40–50 inhabitants in the 16th century to a normal small village of 80–100 inhabitants (according to the number of positions) in the 17th and 18th centuries. For 1804 103 inhabitants are registered (Hagemann, 1951). The first census of 1811 registered 130 citizens. Almost the same number of inhabitants (129) was still present in 1821. Then, however, the population took a general development and benefited from the general division of the Großer Leu, Achterbruchs and Depensieks (1854, whereby Wesendorf had to pay 74 thalers for the timber stock on his compensation to the tax authorities) and the division of the paddock between Wesendorf, Wahrenholz and Westerholz 1864/65 and the coupling in Wesendorf 1865/70, to 179 (1848), 195 (1871) and 242 (1885). In the first decades of our century it continued to grow, albeit more slowly. In 1905 264 were reached, in 1933 310 citizens. Due to the construction of the airfield, the population jumped to 1496 (1939) and a further increase was due to the displaced persons (1950: 48 percent) to 2039 (1950) after the war. In contrast to many other district communities, Wesendorf also had increasing numbers of inhabitants in the following years. The Wesendorf garrison site (Hammerstein barracks) plays a role here, as does the oil industry. In 1961 there were 2211 inhabitants, on June 30, 1967 a peak of 2403 and on March 31, 1971 again 2207. The permanent residents seem to be recorded at around 2200, to which, depending on the occupancy of the location, there are further temporary residents. The occupational structure is determined by the non-agricultural workforce. In 1961, 44 percent of the labor force belonged to the manufacturing industry, 12 percent to the trade and transport sectors and 27 percent - a very high proportion, due to the location, to the other sectors. Almost half (48 percent) of these 772 non-agricultural workers were out-commuters who worked primarily in Gifhorn, Wolfsburg and Westerholz. In the meantime, the number of out-commuters has increased somewhat to a total of 431 (1970). Two-fifths of them were employed in Gifhorn, 35 percent in Wolfsburg, three percent each in Hohne, Kästorf and Triangel, two percent each in Gamsen, Wahrenholz and Hanover, the remainder scattered in other surrounding communities (Westerholz, Wagenhoff, Gr. Oesingen etc. .). At the same time, Wesendorf had 170 in-commuters (mainly thanks to its location) (1970), so that the out-commuter surplus was only 261. The commuters came from all the surrounding villages and towns; most came from Wahrenholz (15 percent), Gifhorn (twelve percent) and Hankensbüttel (eleven percent). In 1961, only 17 percent of the total of 814 economically active persons belonged to agriculture and forestry. In 1939, although the population was smaller, a quarter of all economically active people still found their livelihood in it.

garrison

A completely new development began in the 1930s. In 1935 the military aviation administration in Wietzenbruch acquired 950 acres of heather paddocks in Brutlohsheide west of the Wesendorf-Krümme road, later around 1400 acres, and used them as Wesendorf command. In 1936 the first barrack was built on the airfield. This airfield not only offered work opportunities for the military, but also for workers of all kinds. Wesendorf thus expanded significantly. On a 40-acre site on Westerholzer Strasse, 120 apartments for crews and NCOs were built in 1936 in the first construction phase (Oppermann settlement).

In 1939, in a second construction phase, around 100 more apartments were built for employees and NCOs, while officers' apartments were built two kilometers west of it in the forest near the airfield. By 1950 the number of residential buildings had increased almost fivefold to 217.

1936 started to build the airfield Wesendorf due to its strategic geographical location and the very low population density in the Südheide. During the Second World War , the rulers used the air base as a blind flight school . The air base was attacked on April 4, 1945 by Consolidated B-24 of the 446th Bomb Group and badly hit. After the unconditional surrender on May 8, 1945, Western Allied forces occupied the military facility. The Bundeswehr then used the barracks from 1956 for training purposes (including basic training ), initially for the Luftwaffe and later for the army . In 1968 the former air base was given the name Hammerstein- Kaserne . The 332 Panzer Grenadier Battalion was the last garrison stationed here. As part of the restructuring of the Bundeswehr, the Federal Ministry of Defense decided in November 2004 to close the barracks. Citizens' protests because of the threat of job losses were unsuccessful (like almost everywhere). The appeal of the 332 Panzer Grenadier Battalion to disband took place on May 4, 2006. On June 30, 2006, the responsible military and authorities solemnly raised the federal service flag : Wesendorf had served its purpose as a military base. The former barracks complex is now being marketed as the Hammerstein-Park commercial and service area and is currently only partially used.

First immigration from the east

The refugees and displaced persons of the Second World War, some of whom had been housed in the barracks of the former airfield in 1945, caused further brisk construction activity in Wesendorf, so that by 1968 the number of residential buildings had grown to 406, with the place mainly facing south expanded, growth peaks on the K7 (L 286 former) and the paths to the Hestenmoor (Katzenberg, Krötelberg and Demoorweg). The zoning plan provides for filling in the building gaps between these southern foothills of the development and the Oppermann settlement on Wittinger Strasse (then Westerholzer Strasse; Schanzenfeld) and possibly an extension to the south-west up to the planned bypass road of the L 286.

In addition, two weekend house areas have emerged in recent years away from the village, one in the Brutlohs Heide on the B4, about 40 acres with around 70 weekend houses, the other with a bathing lake between the K7 and today's demo path to the Hestenmoor “before the big fights “With a size of approx. 100 acres, partly already built on, both designated as private companies.

In line with this development, the site is quite heterogeneous. While the old village is still dominated by the red of the brick half-timbered and brick buildings, dominated by the green of tall oaks and linden trees, gray and yellow plastered buildings predominate in the Oppermann settlement, as single-storey double houses, framed by two-storey apartment buildings (four to eight) row houses. The officers' apartments in the forest have a similar appearance, only slightly larger than one-and-a-half-story plastered buildings. The farm forms in the Altdorf are quite different. There are still Lower Saxony houses with foresight, but mostly only in small courtyards; in addition, very modern one to two-story clinker brick residential buildings as well as three-sided courtyards with modern farm buildings and remains of Lower Saxony houses. The former excretions of the mining sites are usually modernized to purely residential buildings through partial interior redesign, installation of large windows and a clinker brick facade. The new development areas in the south-east mainly show the one-and-a-half-storey plastered and clinkered houses of the usual type, along with a relatively large number of bungalows and, in the south, two-storey clinker residential buildings for former federal employees in the form of terraced houses. In 1961 only 13 percent were farmhouses and part-time jobs, in 1968 nine percent were agricultural residential buildings. 99 of the total of 320 residential buildings from 1961 and 194 of the total of 406 from 1968 were built after 1948.

Second immigration from the east

With the serious political changes in Eastern Europe (1989/90) and the associated opening of the borders, the number of inhabitants in Wesendorf rose rapidly. The result was the influx of ethnic repatriates and Germans from the former Soviet Union. In 2007 there are over 5000 citizens.

politics

2011 municipal election

Turnout: 49.56%

 %

60

50

40

30th

20th

10

0

53.49%

28.94%

17.57%

SPD

CDU

WGW

Municipal council

The local council of Wesendorf with 17 council members has been composed as follows since the last local election in 2017:

• SPD 8 seats (± 0)
• CDU 6 seats (+2)
• WGW 3 seats (± 0)

Mayor and head of administration

The honorary mayor Holger Schulz (SPD) and his two deputies Siegfried Weiß (SPD) and Andreas Hoffmann (SPD) were lifted into their offices at the constituent council meeting in November 2017.

The local administration directs the mayor Holger Schulz (SPD) as a community manager.

Municipal coat of arms

Black grouse and wreath of oak leaves on a blue-silver background

Description of coat of arms: “Coat of arms divided into two fields at an uneven angle. In the silver upper and larger field a black black grouse in the left profile with a red rose, in the blue lower and smaller field a silver oak leaf curved to the right and left above with a hanging acorn. "

Explanation of the coat of arms: The black cock indicates the existing heather and moor landscape, whose character bird it symbolizes. At the same time, as a fighting bird, it symbolizes the paramount importance of the former air force and army location for the development of the Wesendorf community. The two districts of Wesendorf and Westerholz and the oak trees in them are represented by the oak leaves.

Community partnerships

Páka; Hungary

Several Hungarian soldiers, workers and relatives are buried in the Wesendorf cemetery who were killed in bombing raids by the Allies on the Wesendorf airfield during the Second World War. Since the opening of the Eastern European borders in 1989/90, contacts have been made with the Danube state and a partnership has been established. Since then there have been regular visits on both sides.

In 2011, the partnership group of the Wesendorf municipality celebrated 25 years of friendship with Sannerville, Cuverville and Demouville (Normandy, France)

Attractions

• Half-timbered houses and farms
• "Old village" with the avenue of chestnuts, restored with paving stones, striking oak trees
• Wesendorfer See in the Bültenmoor district; distinctive English oaks; Alder forest; Fairytale meadow
• northern border of the Great Moor nature park and nature reserve
• Pine and Heathland on the "Fuchsberg" and "Karls Ruhe"; former peat cutting area; Gagelstrauchwiese
• Green lung & wedding lake on Parkstrasse
• Cemetery park
• "Bald Heath" and old sheep stables near Westerholz; magnificent oaks and linden trees

Regular events

• Setting up the maypole
• Bossel tournament of the volunteer fire brigade Wesendorf
• Monthly cup (contactor companies)
• Easter fire
• Schützenfest of the Schützengesellschaft von 1792 Wesendorf eV
• Sports week of the Wesendorfer SC
• Christmas market at the town hall
• Oktoberfest in the Schützenhaus and cultural center

Economy and Infrastructure

education

• Wesendorf High School . Since May 7, 2002, OBS has been allowed to call itself “ European School ” due to special criteria . School friendships u. a. in Lithuania and Normandy / France.
• Primary school on Lerchenberg
• two DRK day care centers and a day nursery

The joint municipality administration is responsible for the school.

traffic

• The B4 Lüneburg - Braunschweig is in the immediate vicinity, three kilometers west of the municipality with a connection (13 kilometers) to the B188 (Wolfsburg - Hanover)
• The County Road 7 leads from the B4 (Krümmekreuzung) according Hankensbuettel with connection to the B244 (Hankensbuettel-Helmstedt).

• The K7 crosses state roads 284 and 286 ( Celle - Wittingen ) in the center of the village

• As part of the local public transport , buses run every hour to the district town of Gifhorn with various transfer options to Wolfsburg and Braunschweig. There is a central bus stop at Lerchenberg with bus lines to Celle and Wittingen with connections for onward travel (bus or train ).

Hammerstein Park

The subsequent use of the former Hammerstein barracks with its properties and infrastructure such as u. a. Workshops, warehouses, offices, industrial kitchens and restaurants are initiated by private investors . The former military facility was renamed Hammerstein Park.

The Wesendorf municipal council has decided on grants in the course of the redesign / restructuring.

religion

Protestant church

Catholic Church

The Evangelical Lutheran Church of St. Johannis is located in the center of the village. The foundation stone was laid in September 1954 and it was inaugurated in 1956. It belongs to the Gifhorn parish in the Lüneburg district of the Evangelical Lutheran regional church of Hanover .

The Catholic Church of the Assumption is located on Wiesenstrasse, opposite the town hall. It was built in 1951 and today belongs to the parish of Maria Königin with its seat in Wittingen .

media

• local daily newspapers: Aller-Zeitung, Isenhagener Kreisblatt, Braunschweiger Zeitung m. Regional news

Personalities who have worked on site

Napoleon I is said to have stayed in or near Wesendorf during a campaign (see Alte Heerstraße)

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 ).
2. ^ Overbeck, 1952.
3. ^ Federal Statistical Office (ed.): Historical municipality directory for the Federal Republic of Germany. Name, border and key number changes in municipalities, counties and administrative districts from May 27, 1970 to December 31, 1982 . W. Kohlhammer, Stuttgart / Mainz 1983, ISBN 3-17-003263-1 , p. 226 .
4. ^ Bomb raid on Wesendorf
5. ↑ sg-wesendorf.de

literature

• F. Barenscheer: How and when our villages came into being. In: District calendar for Gifhorn-Isenhagen 1951. pp. 19–22.
• F. Barenscheer: Westphalia in the Lüneburg Heath? Dialect, costumes and names in the parish of Wahrenholz. In: District calendar for Gifhorn-Isenhagen 1952. pp. 20–23.
• F. Barenscheer: Around the Ringelah. In: District calendar for Gifhorn-Isenhagen 1953. pp. 35–38.
• F. Barenscheer: How old is our village? Real and spurious age features in the area of ​​settlement studies. In: District calendar for Gifhorn-Isenhagen 1968. pp. 35–37.
• M. Behne: The development of the riding clubs in the Isenhagen district. In: Isenhagen district calendar 1928. pp. 80–82.
• W. Blanke: Our home district in the last years of the Thirty Years War. In: Kreiskalender. for Gifhorn-Isenhagen 1971. pp. 30–34.
• H. Burghard: 900 years of Hankensbüttel-Isenhagen. A festival book for the 900th anniversary. Wittingen 1951.
• Chronicle of the community of Wesendorf (Masch.-Schr.).
• H. Diekotto: The parish of St. Bernward in Gifhorn. In: District calendar for Gifhorn-Isenhagen 1951. pp. 60–61.
• A. Hagemann: From the history and the development of the community Wesendorf. In: District calendar for Gifhorn-Isenhagen 1951. pp. 94–98.
• Edeltraud Hundertmark: Community descriptions for the Gifhorn district. Gifhorn 1975. (with statistical appendix - community overviews / cadastral and economic area, population, buildings and apartments, commercial economy, agriculture, communal finances; compiled by Dr. Otto Wilhelm based on documents from the statistics department of the Lower Saxony State Administration Office, unless otherwise stated)
• H.-J. Kaszemek: School planning and school development in the Gifhorn area. In: District calendar for Gifhorn-Isenhagen 1973. pp. 44–47.
• Th. Müller: Earth structure and mineral resources. In: District calendar for Gifhorn-Isenhagen 1950. pp. 97-101.
• L. Nessler-Assmann: We hike around Wolfsburg, Fallersleben and Gifhorn. Wolfsburg 1965.
• Neukirch: The old Braunschweig Heerstraße. In: Isenhagen district calendar 1931. pp. 53–57.
• F. Overbeck: The Great Moor near Gifhorn alternating hygroclinic and xeroclinic phases of the north-west German raised bog development. (= Publication by the Lower Saxony Office for State Planning and Statistics. Series A I. Volume 41). Bremen-Horn 1952.
• R. Pramann: The new buildings of the Evangelical Lutheran church district of Gifhorn from 1945 to 1968. In: District calendar for Gifhorn-Isenhagen 1969. P. 51–53.
• ER Scherner: Changes in the bird world of the Gifhorn district. In: Kreiskalender für Gifhorn-Isenhagen 1972. pp. 65–68 and 1973, pp. 67–72.
• K. Schmalz: Carter's life on our roads 200 years ago. In: District calendar for Gifhorn-Isenhagen 1963. pp. 49–55.
• W. Stutte: The "Great Moor" - its economic development and regional cultural development. In: District calendar for Gifhorn-Isenhagen 1953. pp. 20–24.
• H. Wagner: The old district of Isenhagen. A contribution to the 900th anniversary of the Hankensbüttel community. In: The chest. Supplement to the Isenhagener Kreisblatt for local research and local history. No. 4, 1951, p. 1.
• W. Werthmann: History of the community Wahrenholz. Hermannsburg 1970.
• B. Zeitz: Gifhorn local history museum under reconstruction. In: District calendar for Gifhorn-Isenhagen 1950. pp. 46–48.
• M. Zeuschner: Natural monuments and nature reserves in the Gifhorn district. In: Kreiskalender Gifhorn-Isenhagen 1973. pp. 56–61.

Web links

Commons : Wesendorf  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Integrated community of Wesendorf