Bad Fallingbostel (

Northern Low Saxon Northern Low Saxon (in High German: ', in Standard Dutch: ') is a subgroup of Low Saxon dialects of Low German. As such, it covers a great part of the West Low German-speaking areas of northern Germany, with the exception of the border regio ...

: ''Bad Fambossel'') is the district town (''Kreisstadt'') of the Heidekreis district in the

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

state of

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 ...

. Since 1976 the town has had a state-recognised Kneipp spa and has held the title of '' Bad'' since 2002. It has close ties to

Walsrode Walsrode (; nds, Wasra) is a town in the district of Heidekreis, in Lower Saxony, Germany. The former municipality Bomlitz was merged into Walsrode in January 2020. History Middle Ages 986 Foundation of Walsrode Abbey by Count Walo. The first ...

, a few miles to the west. Until 2015, there was a British Army base in Bad Fallingbostel, It also hosted Defender 2020, the largest US Army/NATO exercise since the Cold War. The town has around 11,000 inhabitants.

Geography

Location

Bad Fallingbostel lies on the Böhme river in the southern part of the Lüneburg Heath between Soltau and

in the

Heidmark The Heidmark is an area of the Lüneburg Heath, much of which has not been accessible to the population since about 1935–1936. The establishment of a large military training area (''Truppenübungsplatzes Bergen'') by the German armed forces, the ...

Sub-divisions

The administrative borough of Bad Fallingbostel is also responsible for the villages of Dorfmark, Riepe, Vierde, Jettebruch and Mengebostel as well as the town itself. The core city is divided into the following districts: * In the west: Idingen, Am Wiethop, Am Rooksberg * In the north: Adolphsheide, Große Heide, Lehmhorst, Klint * In the east: Ober and Unter-Grünhagen * In the south: Am Weinberg, industrial areas at the highway, Pröhlsfeld, Oerbker Berg and Ost

History

Bad Fallingbostel was first mentioned as “''Vastulingeburstalle''“ in 993 and has therefore a recorded history of over 1,000 years. Originally it was a purely agricultural settlement, due to agriculture being the basis for life of the inhabitants of the old-Saxon Loingau. The name “''Vastulingeburstalle''“ means either “House of the Vastulo“ or “House of the Vastulingians“. Otto III drew the borders between the dioceses Hildesheim and Minden during that time. The ''Vogtei Fallingbostel'' (bailiwick) was established around 1300. It was later also called ''Amt Fallingbostel'' and it existed until the 19th century. In 1838 Heinrich von Quintus-Icilius, the assessor of the Vogtei, founded the “''Sparcasse für die Amtsvogtei Fallingbostel''”, one of the first rural savings banks in the

Kingdom of Hannover The Kingdom of Hanover (german: Königreich Hannover) was established in October 1814 by the Congress of Vienna, with the restoration of George III to his Hanoverian territories after the Napoleonic era. It succeeded the former Electorate of Han ...

. In 1866 the newly

Prussian Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an e ...

province of Hannover was divided into administrative districts, one of them was the district Fallingbostel. Fallingbostel was awarded its status as a town in 1949. During World War II Fallingbostel was the site of two POW (prisoner-of-war) camps, Stalag XI-B and Stalag XI-D / 357.

Demographics

Religion

The majority of the church-going Christian residents of the town belong to the

Lutheran Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Cathol ...

church. Within the borough there are two church parishes: * Fallingbostel parish: the Church of St. Dionysius with 5,598 parishioners and the Peace Church (''Friedenskirche'') in Bommelsen (municipality of Bomlitz) with 625 members * Dorfmark parish: St. Martin's Church with 2,848 members They are served by three pastors. Both parishes belong to the church district of Walsrode in the

diocese In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associa ...

Lüneburg Lüneburg (officially the ''Hanseatic City of Lüneburg'', German: ''Hansestadt Lüneburg'', , Low German ''Lümborg'', Latin ''Luneburgum'' or ''Lunaburgum'', Old High German ''Luneburc'', Old Saxon ''Hliuni'', Polabian ''Glain''), also called ...

, which is part of the

Evangelical Lutheran Church of Hanover The Evangelical-Lutheran Church of Hanover (german: Evangelisch-lutherische Landeskirche Hannovers) is a Lutheran church body ''(Landeskirche)'' in the northern German state of Lower Saxony and the city of Bremerhaven covering the territory of th ...

. The

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

Christians in Bad Fallingbostel belong to the Roman Catholic parish of St. Mary of the Holy Rosary (''Sankt Maria vom heiligen Rosenkranz''), which was founded in August 2004. This merged the hitherto independent Catholic parish of St. Mary in Bad Fallingbostel with the neighbouring parishes of St. Mary's Church in

and the Church of the Holy Spirit in

Bomlitz Bomlitz is a village and a former municipality in the Heidekreis district, in Lower Saxony, Germany. On 1 January 2020, it was merged into the town Walsrode. Geography Location Bomlitz lies on the Lüneburg Heath in a heavily wooded area. ...

-Benefeld as well as the Church of the Sacred Heart in

Visselhövede Visselhövede () is a town in the district of Rotenburg in Lower Saxony, Germany. Nearby towns include the district capital Rotenburg, Walsrode and Verden. Larger cities within a 100 km radius are Bremen, Hanover and Hamburg. Visselhövede b ...

. The parish lies in the church district of Verden in the

Roman Catholic Diocese of Hildesheim The Diocese of Hildesheim (Latin: ''Dioecesis Hildesiensis'') is a diocese of the Catholic Church in Germany. Founded in 815 as a missionary diocese by King Louis the Pious, his son Louis the German appointed the famous former archbishop of Rhei ...

Government

"Adopted town"

In 1963 Bad Fallingbostel adopted the town of

Miastko Miastko ( csb, Miastkò; formerly german: Rummelsburg in Pommern), is a town in the Middle Pomerania region of northwestern Poland. Administratively it has since 1999 been part of Bytów County in the Pomeranian Voivodeship; previously (1975 ...

(german: Rummelsburg) in

Pomerania Pomerania ( pl, Pomorze; german: Pommern; Kashubian: ''Pòmòrskô''; sv, Pommern) is a historical region on the southern shore of the Baltic Sea in Central Europe, split between Poland and Germany. The western part of Pomerania belongs to ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

. Every two years they meet in Bad Fallingbostel.

Town-twinning

Bad Fallingbostel is twinned today with the Polish town of Miastko (see above) and with the French town of Périers in

Lower Normandy Lower Normandy (french: Basse-Normandie, ; nrf, Basse-Normaundie) is a former administrative region of France. On 1 January 2016, Lower and Upper Normandy merged becoming one region called Normandy. Geography The region included three departme ...

Proposed merger into the town of Böhmetal

A merger of Bad Fallingbostel with the town of Walsrode and the municipality of Bomlitz was planned for 2011 to create the town of Böhmetal. Following a referendum on 2 November 2008 this plan was rejected by the citizens in Bad Fallingbostel with a clear majority. Just under 62% of the voters turned out, of whom 80% were against the merger.Results of the referendum in Bad Fallingbostel (German)
In Walsrode and Bomlitz a small majority were in favour of a merger (56.4% in Bomlitz and 53.8% in Walsrode). On 10 November 2008 the town council of Bad Fallingbostel voted against the merger.

Arts and culture

Events

Between 1997 and 2002 demoparties for the computing world took place in Bad Fallingbostel under the name of " Mekka & Symposium".

Places of interest

* Bad Fallingbostel is host to the museum of the Archaeological Working Group (''Archäologischen Arbeitsgemeinschaft''). * in the ''Osterberg Megalith Park'' large stones are displayed, which were transported from

Scandinavia Scandinavia; Sámi languages: /. ( ) is a subregion in Northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. In English usage, ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, Norway, and Swe ...

during the

ice age An ice age is a long period of reduction in the temperature of Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental and polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers. Earth's climate alternates between ice ages and gre ...

s to the region around Bad Fallingbostel. * other archaeological sights nearby include the ''

Sieben Steinhäuser The Sieben Steinhäuser is a group of five dolmens on the Lüneburg Heath in the NATO training area of Bergen-Hohne, in the state of Lower Saxony in northern Germany. The stones are considered to be part of the funnelbeaker culture (3500 - 28 ...

'', a

Neolithic The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several p ...

burial site with five dolmens. They are located within the restricted military area of

Bergen-Hohne Training Area Bergen-Hohne Training Area (German: ''NATO-Truppenübungsplatz Bergen'' or ''Schießplatz Bergen-Hohne'') is a NATO military training area in the southern part of the Lüneburg Heath, in the state of Lower Saxony in northern Germany. It covers ...

(near Ostenholz). There is also a

Bronze Age The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second prin ...

burial site near the village of Vierde. * the spa park (''Kurpark'') * the ''Hof der Heidmark'' with its Rummelsburg homestead, a

Low German house The Low German house or ''Fachhallenhaus'' is a type of timber-framed farmhouse found in northern Germany and the easternmost Netherlands, which combines living quarters, byre and barn under one roof. It is built as a large hall with bays on the ...

in the ''Liethwald'' wood * the Protestant Church of St. Dionysius in the town centre * the Quintus Memorial at St. Dionysius' Church * the Protestant St. Martin's Church in Dorfmark * the village well in Dorfmark * the grave of

Hermann Löns Hermann Löns (29 August 1866 – 26 September 1914) was a German journalist and writer. He is most famous as "The Poet of the Heath" for his novels and poems celebrating the people and landscape of the North German moors, particularly the L ...

in the Tietling juniper grove (''Wacholderhain''), which may or may not contain the actual remains of the writer * the grave of

Erich von Manstein Fritz Erich Georg Eduard von Manstein (born Fritz Erich Georg Eduard von Lewinski; 24 November 1887 – 9 June 1973) was a German Field Marshal of the ''Wehrmacht'' during the Second World War, who was subsequently convicted of war crimes and ...

, one of the most prominent military commanders of

Nazi-Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

, in Dorfmark

Infrastructure

Military installations

The town is not far from the large

military training area A military training area, training area (Australia, Ireland, UK) or training centre (Canada) is land set aside specifically to enable military forces to train and exercise for combat. Training areas are usually out of bounds to the general public, ...

of Bergen-Hohne, which is currently used by the

Bundeswehr The ''Bundeswehr'' (, meaning literally: ''Federal Defence'') is the armed forces of the Federal Republic of Germany. The ''Bundeswehr'' is divided into a military part (armed forces or ''Streitkräfte'') and a civil part, the military part con ...

and by

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...

forces. This is located in the '' gemeindefreie Gebiete'' (i.e. areas not part of any civilian administrative district) known as

Osterheide Osterheide is an unincorporated area in the district of Heidekreis, in Lower Saxony, Germany. The area has 2,463 inhabitants (as at 31 December 2020). Its administrative seat is the village of Oerbke; other villages are Ostenholz and Wense. The ...

and

Lohheide Lohheide is an unincorporated area in the district of Celle, in Lower Saxony, Germany. It covers an area of and has 764 inhabitants (as at 31 December 2006). Together with administrative area of Osterheide it is part of the Bergen-Hohne Milit ...

. In addition, there was Fallingbostel Station, a large barracks within

Bergen-Hohne Garrison Bergen-Hohne Garrison was a major British garrison in the post- Cold War period, with facilities located close to Bergen at ''Lager Hohne'', at ''Lager Oerbke'' near Fallingbostel and at Celle in Lower Saxony, Germany. It was home to 7th Armou ...

, itself part of British Forces Germany. This was used by units from the

7th Armoured Brigade 7 (seven) is the natural number following 6 and preceding 8. It is the only prime number preceding a cube. As an early prime number in the series of positive integers, the number seven has greatly symbolic associations in religion, mythology, s ...

. Fallingbostel Station was closed in 2015 as the British Army reduces its presence in Germany ahead of a complete withdrawal by 2020—a result of the 2010 Strategic Defence and Security Review.

Transport

Bad Fallingbostel has two railway stations - Bad Fallingbostel and Dorfmark - on the Heath Railway from Hanover to Soltau. Bad Fallingbostel lies on the A 7 motorway between the Walsrode three-way intersection and the ''Maschener Kreuz'' four-way intersection.

Notable people

People from the town

* (1849–1929), regional poet * (1851–1898), regional poet * (1925–1967), trade unionist and politician (SPD), MdB * (1950-2010), politician (SPD), member of the Bremen City Parliament * (born 1958), Lutheran theologian, Oberkirchenrat of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Hanover, CEO of the Social Service Agency of the Protestant Churches in Lower Saxony

People associated with the town

* (1798–1861), civil lawyer; a statue of him has been erected in Fallingbostel Bundesarchiv Bild 183-H01757, Erich von Manstein

(1887–1973), field marshal of the

Wehrmacht The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the ''Heer'' (army), the '' Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmacht''" replaced the previo ...

, laid to rest in Dorfmark near Fallingbostel * (1871-1950), German writer, an elementary school teacher and educational reformer *

Hans Stuhlmacher Hans Albert Alexander Louis Carl Stuhlmacher (1892–1962) was a German pedagogue, Wehrmacht officer and local historian. Life and works Hans Stuhlmacher was born on 16 May 1892 in Lüneburg, the son of a district court chancery clerk (''Landg ...

(1892-1962), educator, Wehrmacht officer and local historian; a street was named after him in Bad Fallingbostel * Walter Schultz (1900-1957) Bishop of the Evangelical-Lutheran Church of Mecklenburg in Schwerin during the National Socialist period and 1950-1952 Pastor in Bad Fallingbostel

References

External links

Website of the town of Bad Fallingbostel

Fallingbostel Military Museum

Information pages of the three communities about the abortive merger

Pages on the citizen's campaign "Pro-Fusion" (Pro-Merger)
{{Authority control Towns in Lower Saxony Spa towns in Germany Heidmark