Gartow is a municipality in the district Lüchow-Dannenberg, 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 Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. It is situated in the easternmost tip of Lower Saxony, not far from the river

Elbe The Elbe ( ; ; or ''Elv''; Upper Sorbian, Upper and , ) is one of the major rivers of Central Europe. It rises in the Giant Mountains of the northern Czech Republic before traversing much of Bohemia (western half of the Czech Republic), then Ge ...

, approx. 30 km northeast of

Salzwedel Salzwedel (, officially known as Hansestadt Salzwedel; ) is a town in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. It is the capital of the district (''Kreis'') of Altmarkkreis Salzwedel, and has a population of approximately 21,500. Salzwedel is located on the Ger ...

, and 20 km west of

Wittenberge Wittenberge (; ) is a town of eighteen thousand people on the middle Elbe in the district of Prignitz, Brandenburg, Germany. Geography Wittenberge is situated at the right (north-eastern) bank of the middle Elbe at its confluence with the Step ...

. Gartow is also the seat of the ''

Samtgemeinde A (, ; plural: ''Samtgemeinden'') is a type of administrative division in Lower Saxony, Germany. ''Samtgemeinden'' are local government associations of Municipalities of Germany, municipalities, equivalent to the ''Amt (administrative division) ...

'' ("collective municipality") Gartow.

Geography

Gartow is located in the historical region Wendland, at the west shore of the river Seege, which is artificially formed to the ''Gartower See.''

Points of interest

At Gartow, there is a facility for FM- and TV-transmission, with two 300+ metre tall guyed masts, the Gartow-Höhbeck transmitter. On August 20, 2009, the smaller mast was demolished with explosives. Until the

German reunification German reunification () was the process of re-establishing Germany as a single sovereign state, which began on 9 November 1989 and culminated on 3 October 1990 with the dissolution of the East Germany, German Democratic Republic and the int ...

, this transmitter was also used as a directional radio link to West Berlin's Fernmeldeturm Berlin, while the taller tower was connected to Richtfunkstelle Berlin-Frohnau. The taller mast had a closed cabinet holding technical equipment at 325 metres, making it the EU's highest closed room on a man-made structure. Nearby Gorleben is a proposed deposit for nuclear waste. This led to much controversy and protests in the area.

References

Lüchow-Dannenberg {{LüchowDannenberg-geo-stub