( nds, Swiersdörp) is a village in the municipality

Neu Wulmstorf ( nds, Vosshusen) is a municipality ('Einheitsgemeinde') in the district of Harburg, in Lower Saxony, Germany. It changed its name on December 11, 1964 from ″Wulmstorf″ to ″Neu Wulmstorf″. It is part of the Hamburg Metropolitan Region. ...

in the district Harburg in the north 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 ...

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 betwe ...

. It is part of the

Hamburg Metropolitan Region The Hamburg Metropolitan Region (German: Metropolregion Hamburg) is a metropolitan area centred around the city of Hamburg in northern Germany, consisting of eight districts (''Landkreise'') in the federal state of Lower Saxony, six districts ('' ...

Geography

Schwiederstorf — although a separate 'Ort' — forms almost a joint village with Elstorf to the west. Daerstorf lies in the north, the

Harburg Hills The Harburg Hills (German: Harburger Berge) are a low ridge in the northeastern part of the German state of Lower Saxony and the southern part of the city state of Hamburg. They are up to high. Geography and history The Harburg Hills lie northwe ...

in the east and

Bachheide ( nds, Vosshusen) is a municipality ('Einheitsgemeinde') in the district of Harburg, in Lower Saxony, Germany. It changed its name on December 11, 1964 from ″Wulmstorf″ to ″Neu Wulmstorf″. It is part of the Hamburg Metropolitan Region. ...

and Eversen-Heide further to the south.

History

Signs of the

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 parts ...

Funnelbeaker culture The Funnel(-neck-)beaker culture, in short TRB or TBK (german: Trichter(-rand-)becherkultur, nl, Trechterbekercultuur; da, Tragtbægerkultur; ) was an archaeological culture in north-central Europe. It developed as a technological merger of lo ...

like the nearby

tumuli A tumulus (plural tumuli) is a mound of earth and stones raised over a grave or graves. Tumuli are also known as barrows, burial mounds or ''kurgans'', and may be found throughout much of the world. A cairn, which is a mound of stones buil ...

of Elstorf and Daerstorf show early settlements from the

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 pri ...

in this area. The first official record of Schwiederstorf dates back to 1355. During the

First French Empire The First French Empire, officially the French Republic, then the French Empire (; Latin: ) after 1809, also known as Napoleonic France, was the empire ruled by Napoleon Bonaparte, who established French hegemony over much of continental Eu ...

it belonged to the département

Bouches-de-l'Elbe Bouches-de-l'Elbe (; "Mouths of the Elbe", ) was a departments of France, department of the First French Empire in present-day Germany that survived for three years. It was named after the mouth of the river Elbe. It was formed in 1811, when the r ...

. Just shortly before the end of

World War II 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 opposin ...

Elstorf and Schwiederstorf were captured on April 20, 1945 by the ''A-Companie'' of the ''1st Rifle Brigade'' and the '' 8th King’s Royal Irish Hussars'' of the English troops. Schwiederstorf was incorporated into the municipality of Neu Wulmstorf on July 1, 1972.

Culture

Schwiederstorf's coat of arms shows the

glacial erratic A glacial erratic is glacially deposited rock differing from the type of rock native to the area in which it rests. Erratics, which take their name from the Latin word ' ("to wander"), are carried by glacial ice, often over distances of hundred ...

Karlstein and the

Imperial Crown of the Holy Roman Empire The Imperial Crown of the Holy Roman Empire (german: Reichskrone), a hoop crown (german: Bügelkrone) with a characteristic octagonal shape, was the coronation crown of the Holy Roman Emperor, probably from the late 10th century until the dissolut ...

to reference a

myth Myth is a folklore genre consisting of Narrative, narratives that play a fundamental role in a society, such as foundational tales or Origin myth, origin myths. Since "myth" is widely used to imply that a story is not Objectivity (philosophy), ...

Charlemagne Charlemagne ( , ) or Charles the Great ( la, Carolus Magnus; german: Karl der Große; 2 April 747 – 28 January 814), a member of the Carolingian dynasty, was King of the Franks from 768, King of the Lombards from 774, and the first Holy ...

's interrupted nap during the

Saxon Wars The Saxon Wars were the campaigns and insurrections of the thirty-three years from 772, when Charlemagne first entered Saxony with the intent to conquer, to 804, when the last rebellion of tribesmen was defeated. In all, 18 campaigns were fought ...

. By this legend, Charlemagne took rest at the Karlstein and threatened to kill anyone who dared to wake him up. So his dog was thrown at him to wake him up as the Saxons closed in. As he noticed the danger, he yelled ″''So sure as I will split this stone with my sword, so certain we will defeat the Saxons''″ swung onto his horse, jumped over the Karlstein and cut it with his sword. His horse and dog also left their marks in the stone. The Saxons where defeated and the 'Ortstein' near Grauen is said to have its reddish color from the bloodstained soil.Johann Georg Theodor Grässe
Sagenbuch des Preußischen Staates 1–2
, Band 2, Glogau 1868/71, S. 998-999. The

E1 European long distance path The E1 European long-distance path, or just E1 path, is one of the European long-distance paths designated by the European Ramblers' Association. It has a total length of some . It begins in Norway at Nordkapp, and crosses the Kattegat between S ...

passes by the Karlstein. Each year '' Faslam'' is celebrated for three days in February since the 17th century, but it originates from the farmhand's celebrations. It ends on a Sunday with the traditional ''Eierschnorren''.

Footnotes and references

{{authority control Harburg (district) Villages in Lower Saxony