Wennigsen is a municipality in the district of Hanover, 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 (FRG),, is a country in Central Europe. It is the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany lies between the Baltic and North Sea to the north and the Alps to the sou ...

. It is situated near the Deister hills, approx. 15 km southwest of

Hanover Hanover (; german: Hannover ; nds, Hannober) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Lower Saxony. Its 535,932 (2021) inhabitants make it the 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-largest city in Northern Germany ...

Geography

Wennigsen borders on (from north and clockwise)

Gehrden Gehrden is a town in the district of Hanover, in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated approximately southwest of Hanover. Notable people * Werner von Siemens (1816-1892), inventor, founder of electrical engineering and industrialist * C ...

Ronnenberg Ronnenberg () is a town in the district of Hanover, in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated approximately 8 km southwest of Hanover. Subdivisions Besides Ronnenberg proper, the city consists of the boroughs of Benthe (including Sieben Tra ...

Springe Springe is a town in the district of Hanover, in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated near the Deister hills, southwest of Hanover. Town structure * Springe (core settlement, seat of the mayor), population 13,184 * Bennigsen, population ...

and

Barsinghausen Barsinghausen is a town in the district of Hanover, in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated at the Deister chain of hills approx. 20 km west of Hanover. Barsinghausen belongs to the historic landscape Calenberg Land and was first mentioned i ...

. The highest elevation is the Bröhn, the highest hill of the Deister with 405 meters.

History

The founding date of Wennigsen is unknown. It possibly dates back to 5th to 8th century. The first dated occurrence (1199 to 1206) is a copy of a certificate from bishop Hartbert of

Hildesheim Hildesheim (; nds, Hilmessen, Hilmssen; la, Hildesia) is a city in Lower Saxony, Germany with 101,693 inhabitants. It is in the district of Hildesheim, about southeast of Hanover on the banks of the Innerste River, a small tributary of the ...

. At this time there was a settlement of Bernhard, earl of Poppenburg, in Wennigsen. He had three roses each with five leaves in his coat of arms. Today Wennigsen bears one of them in its coat of arms. During the

Thirty Years' War The Thirty Years' War was one of the longest and most destructive conflicts in European history, lasting from 1618 to 1648. Fought primarily in Central Europe, an estimated 4.5 to 8 million soldiers and civilians died as a result of battl ...

Wennigsen was near to be completely destroyed. Duke George William of

(later of Brunswick-Lüneburg) split the Großvogtei

Calenberg The Calenberg is a hill in central Germany in the Leine depression near Pattensen in the municipality of Schulenburg. It lies 13 km west of the city of Hildesheim in south Lower Saxony on the edge of the Central Uplands. It is made fr ...

and founded a new Amt Calenberg in which Wennigsen became court place. The Magistrates' Court of Wennigsen still exists. Rathaus Wennigsen (Deister)

Notable people

Adolph Freiherr Knigge Freiherr Adolph Franz Friedrich Ludwig Knigge (16 October 17526 May 1796) was a German writer, Freemason, and a leading member of the Order of the Illuminati. Knigge was born in Bredenbeck (now a part of Wennigsen, Lower Saxony) in the Elect ...

(1752-1796), born in Bredenbeck, writer of the Enlightenment. *

Heinz Erhardt Heinz Erhardt (; 20 February 1909 – 5 June 1979) was a German comedian, musician, entertainer, actor, and poet. Life Heinz Erhardt was born in Riga, the son of Baltic German Kapellmeister Gustav Erhardt. He lived most of his childhood at his g ...

(1909-1979), comedian, musician and actor, lived at the Wennigser Mark * Gesine Meissner (born 1952), politician (FDP), a member of the

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it adop ...

* Hans-Georg Wenzel (1949-1999), geodesist, geophysicist and university lecturer * Christoph Meineke (born 1979), former mayor of Wennigsen (Deister)

References

Hanover Region {{Hanover-geo-stub