Lower Saxony
Lower Saxony (german: Niedersachsen ; nds, Neddersassen; stq, Läichsaksen) is a German state (') in northwestern Germany. It is the second-largest state by land area, with , and fourth-largest in population (8 million in 2021) among the 16 ...
,
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwee ...
. Situated approximately 15 km northeast of
Celle
Celle () is a town and capital of the district of Celle, in Lower Saxony, Germany. The town is situated on the banks of the river Aller, a tributary of the Weser, and has a population of about 71,000. Celle is the southern gateway to the Lü ...
, Eschede lies at the border of the Südheide Nature Park, a protected area of large forests and heaths. Today around 20 small villages are part of the "Gemeinde Eschede".
In 1975, the largest forest fire in the history of Germany destroyed vast tracts of forests in the area. The place is also known for the 1998
Eschede train disaster
On 3 June 1998, an ICE 1 train derailed and crashed into an overpass that crossed the railroad, which then collapsed onto the train. The crash occurred on the Hannover-Hamburg railway near Eschede in Lower Saxony, Germany. In total, 101 peop ...
, in which an
ICE 1
The ICE 1 is the first batch-produced German high-speed train and one of six in the Intercity Express family. Revenue service at speeds up to started in 1991. It was raised to in May 1995 and temporary reduced to again, as a result of ...
train crashed, killing 101 and making it the worst German rail accident since the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...
.
The painter Albert König (1881–1944) was born in Eschede, and the "Albert-König-Museum" can be visited in
Unterlüß
Unterlüß is a village and former municipality in the district of Celle in Lower Saxony, Germany. It became part of the municipality of Südheide on 1 January 2015. It is about 30 km north-east of Celle and 25 km south-west of Uelzen. ...
nearby.
Eschede was the seat of the former ''
Samtgemeinde
A ''Samtgemeinde'' (; plural: ''Samtgemeinden'') is a type of administrative division in Lower Saxony, Germany. ''Samtgemeinden'' are local government associations of municipalities, equivalent to the '' Ämter'' in Schleswig-Holstein, Mecklenb ...
*Wilhelm Brese (1896–1994), German politician (DNVP, CNBL, CDU), was chairman of the savings and loan association in Eschede and was leader of the church council in Eschede
*Erich Schell House (1901–1983), German civil servant and politician (NSDAP, later GB / BHE, GDP, CDU), lived after the war in the rectory in Eschede
*Goede Gendrich (1912–2000), German forester and author
*Hans-Hubertus Bühmann (1921–2014), German forestry and Lower Saxony state politician (CDU), was a board member of the forestry association and Eschede Samtgemeinde mayor of the municipality Eschede
*Ernst Bauerochse (born 1925), German missionary and church representatives, went to school in Eschede
Sister town
*
Barneville-Carteret
Barneville-Carteret () is a commune in the Manche department in the Normandy region of north-western France. For many years it has been a popular seaside resort destination.
The commune resulted from a merger of two communes in 1964: Barneville- ...
,
Manche
Manche (, ) is a coastal French département in Normandy, on the English Channel, which is known as ''La Manche'', literally "the sleeve", in French. It had a population of 495,045 in 2019.Normandy
Normandy (; french: link=no, Normandie ; nrf, Normaundie, Nouormandie ; from Old French , plural of ''Normant'', originally from the word for "northman" in several Scandinavian languages) is a geographical and cultural region in Northwestern ...