Lohheide is an
unincorporated area
An unincorporated area is a region that is not governed by a local municipal corporation. Widespread unincorporated communities and areas are a distinguishing feature of the United States and Canada. Most other countries of the world either hav ...
in the
district of Celle, in
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.
It covers an area of and has 764 inhabitants (as at 31 December 2006). Together with administrative area of
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 ...
it is part of the
Bergen-Hohne Military Training Area.
History
In 1935 the German armed forces, the
Wehrmacht, established the military training area of Bergen between
Bergen
Bergen (), historically Bjørgvin, is a city and municipality in Vestland county on the west coast of Norway. , its population is roughly 285,900. Bergen is the second-largest city in Norway. The municipality covers and is on the peninsula ...
and
Fallingbostel
Bad Fallingbostel (Northern Low Saxon: ''Bad Fambossel'') is the district town (''Kreisstadt'') of the Heidekreis district in the German state of Lower Saxony. Since 1976 the town has had a state-recognised Kneipp spa and has held the title of ...
. A total of 24 villages were evacuated and their inhabitants relocated. In 1938 the Bergen Area Estate (''Gutsbezirk Platz Bergen'') was created to administer the training area and it was subordinated to Fallingbostel district. In 1945 the ''Gutsbezirk'' was split into two independent areas, known as the Osterheide and Lohheide Estates. Osterheide remained part of Fallingbostel district, whilst Lohheide was re-subordinated again to
Celle district
Celle () is a district (''Landkreis'') in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is bounded by (from the north and clockwise) the districts of Uelzen, Gifhorn, Hanover and Heidekreis.
Geography
The district is located in the southernmost parts of the ...
.
Today Lohheide lies within the NATO Bergen-Hohne firing ranges in Soltau-Fallingbostel district which were established in 1958.
Legal status
According to § 16 of the Lower Saxony Municipality Regulations (NGO) the management of unincorporated or unparished areas is to be governed by a regulation. The extant version of this regulation was issued on 4 December 1996. This states that "the delivery of public services for the area's sphere of activity is the responsibility of the land owner" which in the case of Lohheide and Osterheide, is the Federal Government.
The constitution of an unincorporated area is different from that of municipality. Its instruments are the district principal (''Bezirksvorsteher'') and a council of elected representatives of the inhabitants. The mayor is proposed by the land owners and then elected by the council. The participation rights of the inhabitants are limited to the election of representatives as well as the opportunity to ask questions and listen to the public proceedings of the council.
Cultural monuments and places of interest
The following places of interest may be found in Lohheide:
* ''
Schloss Bredebeck
Schloss Bredebeck ("Bredebeck House") was built in 1901/1902 by a farmer, Herr Hellberg. It is actually a manor house in terms of its size and function. The house is located in woodland in the German state of Lower Saxony between the former villag ...
'' on the Liethbach stream (part of Hohne camp),
* the
Bergen-Belsen concentration camp
Bergen-Belsen , or Belsen, was a Nazi concentration camp in what is today Lower Saxony in northern Germany, southwest of the town of Bergen near Celle. Originally established as a prisoner of war camp, in 1943, parts of it became a concentr ...
visitors' centre and memorial site,
* the cemetery for the victims of tyranny in Hohne camp,
* the German war cemetery
Names of the fallen buried in Lohheide war cemetery
/ref> und
* the monument to Colonel-General Werner Freiherr von Fritsch,
* near Hörsten, the Soviet war cemetery
References
External links
Infosite of Lohheide
{{authority control
Celle (district)
Unincorporated areas of Germany