Bunde, Germany
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Bunde () is a municipal district in
East Frisia East Frisia () or East Friesland (; ; ; ) is a historic region in the northwest of Lower Saxony, Germany. It is primarily located on the western half of the East Frisia (peninsula), East Frisian peninsula, to the east of West Frisia and to the ...
, in
Lower Saxony Lower Saxony is a States of Germany, German state (') in Northern Germany, northwestern Germany. It is the second-largest state by land area, with , and fourth-largest in population (8 million in 2021) among the 16 ' of the Germany, Federal Re ...
, Germany, about south of
Emden Emden () is an Independent city (Germany), independent town and seaport in Lower Saxony in the north-west of Germany and lies on the River Ems (river), Ems, close to the Germany–Netherlands border, Netherlands border. It is the main town in t ...
, Germany, and east of
Groningen Groningen ( , ; ; or ) is the capital city and main municipality of Groningen (province), Groningen province in the Netherlands. Dubbed the "capital of the north", Groningen is the largest place as well as the economic and cultural centre of ...
, Netherlands. It lies on the southern tip of the
Dollart The Dollart (German name, ) or Dollard (Dutch name, ) is a bay in the Wadden Sea between the northern Netherlands and Germany, on the west side of the estuary of the Ems river. Most of it dries at low tide. Many water birds feed there. Gain ...
, a bay of the
North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Denmark, Norway, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, and France. A sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian Se ...
between Germany and the Netherlands, and has a land border with the Netherlands. Bunde is among the smaller districts of East Frisia, with a population of 7,607 (as of 2015). About half live in the town of Bunde itself. The district's population density is comparatively low at , compared with for Germany as a whole. In the 17th and 18th centuries, sizeable areas of the district were wrested from the sea by the creation of
polder A polder () is a low-lying tract of land that forms an artificial hydrology, hydrological entity, enclosed by embankments known as levee, dikes. The three types of polder are: # Land reclamation, Land reclaimed from a body of water, such as a ...
s. Bunde's economy centers on agriculture and tourism. The community has been officially recognized as a resort town since 1998. Many of the town's residents commute to jobs elsewhere, notably in Leer, about to the east. Residents include a number of Dutch nationals, most of whom commute to jobs in the Netherlands. The town's cultural artifacts include the Reformed Church (''Reformierte Kreuzkirche''), the nave of which dates from the 13th century, and the red brick ''Steinhaus Bunderhee'' castle, which dates from the 14th century.


History

Bunde was first mentioned in a document in 1428. The name has been variously written as Buenda, de Bunda and Bonde. Due to its situation on a
geest Geest (, , ) is a type of landform, slightly raised above the surrounding countryside, that occurs on the plains of Northern Germany, the Northern Netherlands and Denmark. It is a landscape of sandy and gravelly soils formed as a glacial outw ...
, or slightly raised landform, the town was spared the great floods that inundated much of the region in the Middle Ages. Prior to the Reformation, Bunde belonged to the Roman Catholic Diocese of
Münster Münster (; ) is an independent city#Germany, independent city (''Kreisfreie Stadt'') in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is in the northern part of the state and is considered to be the cultural centre of the Westphalia region. It is also a ...
. Bunde became predominantly Protestant in the early 16th century, largely following the Reformed (Calvinist) faith as in the adjacent Netherlands. During the
Thirty Years' War The Thirty Years' War, fought primarily in Central Europe between 1618 and 1648, was one of the most destructive conflicts in History of Europe, European history. An estimated 4.5 to 8 million soldiers and civilians died from battle, famine ...
(1618–1648), Bunde, though not a battlefield, was plundered several times by Imperial (Catholic) troops. East Frisia became part of the
Kingdom of Prussia The Kingdom of Prussia (, ) was a German state that existed from 1701 to 1918.Marriott, J. A. R., and Charles Grant Robertson. ''The Evolution of Prussia, the Making of an Empire''. Rev. ed. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1946. It played a signif ...
in 1744. Thereafter, crafts and cottage industries came to the fore in the region's economy.Wiemann: ''Aus vergangenen Tagen''. 1983, pg. 140. During the
Seven Years' War The Seven Years' War, 1756 to 1763, was a Great Power conflict fought primarily in Europe, with significant subsidiary campaigns in North America and South Asia. The protagonists were Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain and Kingdom of Prus ...
(1756–1763), the town was twice occupied by French troops, and was subjected to tributes by the conquerors. After the war, Prussian King
Frederick the Great Frederick II (; 24 January 171217 August 1786) was the monarch of Prussia from 1740 until his death in 1786. He was the last Hohenzollern monarch titled ''King in Prussia'', declaring himself ''King of Prussia'' after annexing Royal Prussia ...
sponsored construction of dikes to expand the region's polders. Bunde's first rail link came after the
unification of Germany The unification of Germany (, ) was a process of building the first nation-state for Germans with federalism, federal features based on the concept of Lesser Germany (one without Habsburgs' multi-ethnic Austria or its German-speaking part). I ...
in 1871. A spur to the
Ihrhove–Nieuweschans railway The Ihrhove–Nieuweschans railway is an international railway line running from Westoverledingen, Ihrhove near Leer, Lower Saxony, Leer in Germany to Bad Nieuweschans in the Netherlands. The line was opened in 1876. Ihrhove is situated on the n ...
from Leer to Bad Nieuweschans, Netherlands, was opened in 1876. In the late 19th century the district saw a sizeable immigration of residents to the U.S., primarily for economic and religious reasons. Early in the 20th-century dairies began to proliferate, and canneries were built to can local crops of beans and peas. As elsewhere in Germany following World War I, economic dislocation and unemployment rose in the 1920s, boosting the appeal of
Nazism Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During Hitler's rise to power, it was fre ...
, especially in rural areas of the district. Nevertheless, the
Social Democrats Social democracy is a social, economic, and political philosophy within socialism that supports political and economic democracy and a gradualist, reformist, and democratic approach toward achieving social equality. In modern practice, s ...
retained a sizeable following in the town until the
Nazi seizure of power The rise to power of Adolf Hitler, dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945, began in the newly established Weimar Republic in September 1919, when Hitler joined the '' Deutsche Arbeiterpartei'' (DAP; German Workers' Party). He quickly rose t ...
in January 1933. By mid-1934, however, all non-Nazi political organizations in Germany were repressed and outlawed. Bunde's Jewish community had built a synagogue and primary school in Bunde in the mid-19th century, but with the advent of Nazism and
the Holocaust The Holocaust (), known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (), was the genocide of History of the Jews in Europe, European Jews during World War II. From 1941 to 1945, Nazi Germany and Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy ...
, the community was suppressed and many members were killed. The last Jewish resident of Bunde was deported to
Theresienstadt concentration camp Theresienstadt Ghetto was established by the SS during World War II in the fortress town of Terezín, in the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia ( German-occupied Czechoslovakia). Theresienstadt served as a waystation to the extermination c ...
in July 1942.Allemannia Judaica
''Bunde (Kreis Leer / Ostfriesland, Niedersachsen) Jüdische Geschichte / Synagoge''
accessed 17. February 2012.
In April 1945, Bunde was the first East Frisian town to be liberated, being occupied initially by Canadian and Polish forces. Although various buildings were damaged by artillery fire, casualties among the population were few. After the war, the district hosted an influx of German refugees expelled from territories east of the
Oder–Neisse line The Oder–Neisse line (, ) is an unofficial term for the Germany–Poland border, modern border between Germany and Poland. The line generally follows the Oder and Lusatian Neisse rivers, meeting the Baltic Sea in the north. A small portion ...
under border changes promulgated at the Potsdam Conference. Later, however, due in part to increasing mechanization of agriculture, the district's population declined, sinking from a peak of 8,893 in 1950 to 7,607 in 2015.


Tourism

The relatively remote district began to appeal to tourists in the 1980s. Some were attracted by its unspoiled polder landscapes and antique windmills, others by opportunities for cycling and canoeing, and for bird-watching.


References

{{Authority control Towns and villages in East Frisia Leer (district) Holocaust locations in Germany Rheiderland