Wendisch Evern is a municipality in the
district of Lüneburg, 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
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 ...
.
Recent history (Second World War)
![The Allied Campaign in North-west Europe, 6 June 1944 - 7 May 1945 BU5207](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/41/The_Allied_Campaign_in_North-west_Europe%2C_6_June_1944_-_7_May_1945_BU5207.jpg)
On 4 May 1945 on the ''Timeloberg'' hill at the edge of Deutsch Evern a German delegation under the command of
Hans-Georg von Friedeburg
Hans-Georg von Friedeburg (15 July 1895 – 23 May 1945) was a German admiral, the deputy commander of the U-boat Forces of Nazi Germany and the second-to-last Commander-in-Chief of the Kriegsmarine. He was the only representative of the armed ...
signed a document in the presence of British Field Marshal
Bernard Montgomery
Field Marshal Bernard Law Montgomery, 1st Viscount Montgomery of Alamein, (; 17 November 1887 – 24 March 1976), nicknamed "Monty", was a senior British Army officer who served in the First World War, the Irish War of Independence and t ...
for the
unconditional surrender of the three German armies operating in Northwest Germany. This went into force on 5 May at 7 a.m. With the signing of the surrender agreement 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 opposin ...
in Northwest Germany came to an end. After the war a monument was erected by the British on what they now called ''Victory Hill''. The monument was dismantled in 1958 and rebuilt at the
Royal Military Academy Sandhurst
The Royal Military Academy Sandhurst (RMAS or RMA Sandhurst), commonly known simply as Sandhurst, is one of several military academies of the United Kingdom and is the British Army's initial officer training centre. It is located in the town of ...
. Today the spot lies in a military out-of-bounds area and is not accessible. In 1995 another monument was erected on the edge of the Timeloberg, outside the out-of-bounds area.
After
Heinrich Himmler
Heinrich Luitpold Himmler (; 7 October 1900 – 23 May 1945) was of the (Protection Squadron; SS), and a leading member of the Nazi Party of Germany. Himmler was one of the most powerful men in Nazi Germany and a main architect of th ...
committed suicide in May 1945 his body was supposed to have been interred on the Wendisch-Evern Training Area at an unknown spot.
References
Lüneburg (district)
{{Lüneburg-geo-stub