Laar () is a community in the district of

Grafschaft Bentheim County of Bentheim (german: Grafschaft Bentheim) is a district (''Landkreis'') in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is bounded by (from the west and clockwise) the Dutch provinces of Overijssel and Drenthe, the district of Emsland, and the districts o ...

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 ...

. The community’s name comes from the

Old Dutch In linguistics, Old Dutch (Dutch: Oudnederlands) or Old Low Franconian (Dutch: Oudnederfrankisch) is the set of Franconian dialects (i.e. dialects that evolved from Frankish) spoken in the Low Countries during the Early Middle Ages, from aroun ...

for “glade in the woods”.

Geography

Location

Laar lies northwest of

Nordhorn Nordhorn ( Northern Low Saxon: ''Nothoorn'' (or ''Notthoarn'', ''Netthoarn'' and ''Noordhoorn'')) is a town in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is the district seat of Grafschaft Bentheim in Lower Saxony's southwesternmost corner near the border with the ...

on 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 ...

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

border Borders are usually defined as geographical boundaries, imposed either by features such as oceans and terrain, or by political entities such as governments, sovereign states, federated states, and other subnational entities. Political borders c ...

. It belongs to the Joint Community (''Samtgemeinde'') of

Emlichheim Emlichheim (Low German : : : : : (70,000) (30,000) (8,000) , familycolor = Indo-European , fam2 = Germanic , fam3 = West Germanic , fam4 = North Sea Germanic , ancestor = Old Saxon , ...

, whose administrative seat is in the like-named town. The

Vechte The Vechte () (in German and in Low Saxon (Dutch Low Saxon pronunciation: ̯ɛxtəThe places near the Vechte in the County of Bentheim have the same pronunciation or Vecht (in Dutch) (), often called Overijsselse Vecht () in the Netherlands t ...

runs through the community.

Neighbouring communities

The community of Laar borders in the south on the communities of

Wielen Wielen is a small village in the district of Grafschaft Bentheim in Lower Saxony, Germany, and belongs to the Joint Community (''Samtgemeinde'') of Uelsen. Wielen has 614 inhabitants. Within the village is found the Lower County’s oldest maintai ...

and

Wilsum Wilsum is a small city in the Dutch province of Overijssel. It is located in the municipality of Kampen, about 4 km southeast of that city. History The city was first mentioned in 1213 as Wilsem, and means "settlement of Willa (person)". ...

, in the east on the community of

Emlichheim Emlichheim (Low German : : : : : (70,000) (30,000) (8,000) , familycolor = Indo-European , fam2 = Germanic , fam3 = West Germanic , fam4 = North Sea Germanic , ancestor = Old Saxon , ...

, in the north on the Dutch community of

Coevorden Coevorden (; nds-nl, Koevern) is a city and municipality in the province of Drenthe, Netherlands. During the 1998 municipal reorganisation in the province, Coevorden merged with Dalen, Sleen, Oosterhesselen and Zweeloo, retaining its name. In ...

and in the west on the Dutch community of

Hardenberg Hardenberg (; nds-nl, Haddenbarreg or '' 'n Arnbarg'') is a city and municipality in the province of Overijssel, Eastern Netherlands. The municipality of Hardenberg has a population of about 60,000, with about 19,000 living in the city. It recei ...

in Overijssel.

Constituent communities

The community of Laar consists of the six constituent centres (''

Ortsteil A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town (although the word is often used to describe both hamlets and smaller towns), with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to ...

e'') of Agterhorn, Echteler, Eschebrügge, Heesterkante, Laar and Vorwald.

Religion

Although Laar is a small village, it nonetheless has three church parishes: Evangelical-Reformed, Catholic and Evangelical-Old Reformed.

Politics

Municipal council

Laar’s council is made up of 13 councillors. * CDU 10 seats *

SPD The Social Democratic Party of Germany (german: Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands, ; SPD, ) is a centre-left social democratic political party in Germany. It is one of the major parties of contemporary Germany. Saskia Esken has been t ...

1 seat *gbf 2 seats (as of municipal election on 10 September 2006)

Mayor

The honorary mayor Jan Hindrik Zwaferink was elected at the municipal council’s constitutive meeting.

References

External links

* {{Authority control County of Bentheim (district)