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90-636: The Lower Saxon Open-Air Museum is a non-profit organisation. Although the museum does not set out to compete for visitors, in 2009 the Cloppenburg Museum Village had more visitors than any other museum in Lower Saxony (250,000). In 2004, the museum was visited by more than 60,000 students as a part of their school curriculum. The Museum Village was laid out in 1934 by the Cloppenburg senior schoolmaster, Heinrich Ottenjann, and

180-603: A Prussian province ; after 1919 Brunswick became a free state). Historically a close tie existed between the royal house of Hanover ( Electorate of Hanover ) and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland as a result of their personal union in the 18th century (the personal union was dissolved when Victoria became the Queen of the United Kingdom in 1837 because Hanover did not allow female rulers). West of

270-565: A blue printing works , a saddlery , a pottery , a goldsmith 's and a silversmith 's as well as technical cultural artefacts like grinding mills and engines. The Cloppenburg Museum Village aims to display as complete a range as possible of the different types of old country crafts and their associated tools and equipment. Since 2008 the Museum Village has been a stop on the Lower Saxon Mill Road . Tourists can see

360-522: A Lower Saxon Constituency Association ( Wahlkreisverband IX (Niedersachsen) ). This indicates that at that time the western administrations of the Prussian Province of Hanover and the state of Oldenburg were perceived as being "Lower Saxon". The forerunners of today's state of Lower Saxony were lands that were geographically and, to some extent, institutionally interrelated from very early on. The County of Schaumburg (not to be confused with

450-568: A building in the village of Einen near Goldenstedt houses a former korn distillery with a steam mill. Hydropower stations like the Oldau power station on the river Aller also count as 'mills' for the purposes of the Lower Saxon Mill Road. The Lower Saxon Mill Road also has windmills without sails and watermills without water wheels . Their inclusion should act as an incentive to owners to complete their mills. The idea for

540-468: A form of reconstruction was chosen that showed the houses in their original state. Important design variants of the Low German house and East Frisian Gulfhaus are presented in this way. Since the 1970s, houses have been re-assembled, conserving the traces of their history and illustrating aspects of the life of their former occupants. In addition to buildings that underpinned farming and crafts and

630-408: A motor mill and in 1934 made the millhouse bigger. In 1964 the mill was operated with three rollers and a meal conveyor ( Schrotgang ). Thereafter it changed hands several times and was gradually closed down and converted into a residence. The internal mill machinery was removed. The present owner has carried out extensive restoration and equipped the mill with sails and a fantail again. Current state of

720-465: A number of areas to the east, for example, in what is now west and north Saxony-Anhalt. The land of the Saxons was divided into about 60  Gaue . The Frisians had not moved into this region; for centuries they preserved their independence in the most northwesterly region of the present-day Lower Saxon territory. The original language of the folk in the area of Old Saxony was West Low German , one of

810-507: Is constantly supported by volunteers and project partners. This work is documented not just in scientific journals and volumes; the museum village also publishes its own books and papers. The scientific staff are supported by craftsmen, who maintain the museum village and demonstrate traditional crafts to its visitors. Since 2009, the Carola Wüstefeld Foundation has supported the village by donating €50,000 annually for

900-561: Is the only Bundesland that encompasses both maritime and mountainous areas. The northwestern area of the state, on the coast of the North Sea, is called East Frisia and the seven East Frisian Islands offshore are popular with tourists. In the extreme west of Lower Saxony is the Emsland , an economically emerging but rather sparsely populated area, once dominated by inaccessible swamps. The northern half of Lower Saxony, also known as

990-679: Is the second-largest state by land area, with 47,614 km (18,384 sq mi), and fourth-largest in population (8 million in 2021) among the 16 Länder of the Federal Republic of Germany . In rural areas, Northern Low Saxon and Saterland Frisian are still spoken, though by declining numbers of people. Lower Saxony borders on (from north and clockwise) the North Sea , the states of Schleswig-Holstein , Hamburg , Mecklenburg-Vorpommern , Brandenburg , Saxony-Anhalt , Thuringia , Hesse and North Rhine-Westphalia , and

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1080-667: Is well-developed agriculturally . In the west lie the County of Bentheim , Osnabrück Land , Emsland , Oldenburg Land , Ammerland , Oldenburg Münsterland , and on the coast East Frisia . The state is dominated by several large northwards-flowing rivers, including the Ems , Weser , Aller , and the Elbe. The highest point in Lower Saxony is the Wurmberg (971 metres or 3,186 feet) in

1170-759: The British Zone of Occupation . On 23 August 1946, the British Military Government issued Ordinance No. 46 "Concerning the dissolution of the provinces of the former state of Prussia in the British Zone and their reconstitution as independent states" , which initially established the State of Hanover on the territory of the former Prussian Province of Hanover. Its minister president, Hinrich Wilhelm Kopf , had already suggested in June 1945

1260-817: The Hanover Region ). → See also: List of windmills in Lower Saxony Outside Lower Saxony, the following mills also belong to the Lower Saxon Mill Road: Lower Saxon Mill Road No. 65 On 15 hectares of land at the International Wind- and Watermill Museum in Gifhorn there are 14 rebuilt, original and replica mills from across Europe and, in one case, from Korea, set in landscapes typical of their place of origin. In

1350-461: The Nazi Party seized power in 1933, they quickly transformed Germany into a highly centralized state and divided the entire Third Reich into Gaue which largely superseded (but did not outright replace) Germany's traditional federal system. Nevertheless, some changes to the old state and provincial borders were made in 1937, notably including the city of Cuxhaven being fully integrated into

1440-625: The Netherlands . Furthermore, the state of Bremen forms two enclaves within Lower Saxony, one being the city of Bremen , the other its seaport , Bremerhaven (which is a semi-exclave , as it has a coastline). Lower Saxony thus borders more neighbours than any other single Bundesland . The state's largest cities are the state capital Hanover , Braunschweig (Brunswick), Oldenburg , Osnabrück , Wolfsburg , Göttingen , Salzgitter , Hildesheim , mainly situated in its central and southern parts, except Oldenburg and Lüneburg. Lower Saxony

1530-871: The North German Plain , is almost invariably flat except for the gentle hills around the Bremen geestland . Towards the south and southwest lie the northern parts of the Central Uplands : the Weser Uplands and the Harz Mountains. Between these two lie the Lower Saxon Hills , a range of low ridges. The region in the northeast, the Lüneburg Heath ( Lüneburger Heide ), is the largest heathland area of Germany. In

1620-789: The North Sea and the rivers Elbe and Weser were added to the road in 2005. On 8 July 2006 the Mill Road was expanded into the area between the Weser and the Hunte (the districts of Nienburg/Weser and Diepholz ). In 2006 the route was 2,130 kilometres (1,320 mi) long and incorporated 256 mills. With the conclusion of the EU Sponsor Programme for the Development of Typical Rural Areas in August 2006 further expansion into

1710-463: The Wehlburg (from Wehdel, built in 1750) are especially worth mentioning. As well as farmhouses, servants' houses ( Heuerhäuser ) and farm workers' houses there are numerous examples of rural tradesmen's houses: a turner's , a whitesmith 's, a farrier 's, a blacksmith 's, a coppersmith 's, a leather shoemaker's , a clog maker's , a joiner 's, a carpenter 's workshop, a brewery , a cooper 's,

1800-545: The district of Tecklenburg and the state of Lippe . Kopf's plan was ultimately based on a draft for the reform of the German Empire from the late 1920s by Georg Schnath and Kurt Brüning. The strong Welf connotations of this draft, according to Thomas Vogtherr, did not simplify the development of a Lower Saxon identity after 1946. An alternative model, proposed by politicians in Oldenburg and Brunswick, envisaged

1890-428: The north temperate zone of central Europe that is affected by prevailing Westerlies and is located in a transition zone between the maritime climate of Western Europe and the continental climate of Eastern Europe . This transition is clearly noticeable within the state: whilst the northwest experiences an Atlantic (North Sea coastal) to Sub-Atlantic climate, with comparatively low variations in temperature during

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1980-432: The "Constituency Association of Lower Saxony" in 1920. In a lecture on 14 September 2007, Dietmar von Reeken described the emergence of a "Lower Saxony consciousness" in the 19th century, the geographical basis of which was used to invent a territorial construct: the resulting local heritage societies ( Heimatvereine ) and their associated magazines routinely used the terms "Lower Saxony" or "Lower Saxon" in their names. At

2070-404: The "Mill Road Working Group" of the "Lower Saxony and Bremen Mill Association" ( Arbeitsgruppe Mühlenstraße in der Mühlenvereinigung Niedersachsen-Bremen ) is responsible for handling all issues to do with the Lower Saxon Mill Road. The Lower Saxon Minister of Agriculture, currently Hans-Heinrich Ehlen , acts as its patron. The Mill Road is supported by 120 sponsor organisations and societies across

2160-469: The 1930s, a real Lower Saxony did not yet exist, but there were a plethora of institutions that would have called themselves "Lower Saxon". The motives and arguments in the disputes between "Lower Saxony" and "Westphalia" were very similar on both sides: economic interests, political aims, cultural interests and historical aspects. After the Second World War most of Northwest Germany lay within

2250-567: The Centre for Educational Media on the Internet ( Zentrale für Unterrichtsmedien in the Internet (zum) ), because they listed the history teachers of the Museum Village under "Cloppenburg Museum Village (NS)", the NS standing for Niedersachsen (Lower Saxony), not Nationalsozialismus (Nazism). In fact the foundation of the Cloppenburg Museum Village should be seen more in the context of the growth of

2340-597: The Harz. Most of the significant hills and mountains are found in the southeastern part of the state. The lowest point in the state, at about 2.5 metres or 8 feet 2 inches below sea level, is a depression near Freepsum in East Frisia. The state's economy, population, and infrastructure are centred on the cities and towns of Hanover, Stadthagen, Celle, Braunschweig, Wolfsburg , Hildesheim, and Salzgitter. Together with Göttingen in southern Lower Saxony, they form

2430-570: The Lower Saxon Mill Road are of various types: Most of them are watermills and windmills . Some have been converted into homes, others are used as museums or are still in service. Several of the mills can only be viewed externally. In the International Wind- and Watermill Museum at Gifhorn a ship mill may also be visited. There are horse mills in the Cloppenburg and Hösseringen Museum Villages . In several buildings, not otherwise identifiable as mills, there are motor mills ( Motormühlen );

2520-537: The Lower Saxon Mill Road is 2,800 kilometres (1,700 mi) long and links 301 historic mills across North Germany. The next regions to be incorporated into the Lower Saxon Mill Road will be the East Frisian districts of Aurich , Leer , Wittmund as well as the Oldenburg districts of Ammerland , Friesland and Wesermarsch . By 2011 all the regions and districts of Lower Saxony should be covered. Today

2610-695: The Lower Saxon Mill Road project emerged in 1996. At that time the Lüneburg Regional Council was looking for ways to improve tourism in a lasting way in northern Lower Saxony. As early as 1995 it had founded a society under the name "Society for the Promotion of Historic Mills in the Region of the Lüneburg Milling Industry" ( Verein zur Förderung historischer Mühlen im Gebiet der Müllerinnung Lüneburg ). This society had

2700-625: The Middle Ages, the town of Lüneburg was wealthy due to salt-mining and the salt trade. To the north the Elbe valley separates Lower Saxony from Hamburg, Schleswig-Holstein, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern , and Brandenburg. The left banks of the Elbe downstream Hamburg are known as the Altes Land (Old Country). Due to its gentle local climate and fertile soil, it is the state's largest area of fruit farming, its chief produce being apples . Most of

2790-533: The Münchhausen Barn ( Münchhausenscheune ). Since 2002, an annual garden festival has been organised at the Cloppenburg Museum Village between Ascension and the Sunday before Pentecost . The museum's founding year of 1934 has given rise to the question of whether the Cloppenburg Museum Village was an expression of Nazi " blood and soil " mythology. This assumption has been inadvertently fostered by

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2880-643: The North German Plain, while the south is in the Lower Saxon Hills , including the Weser Uplands , Leine Uplands , Schaumburg Land , Brunswick Land , Untereichsfeld , Elm , and Lappwald . In the northeast of Lower Saxony is the Lüneburg Heath. The heath is dominated by the poor, sandy soils of the geest , whilst in the central-east and southeast in the loess börde zone , productive soils with high natural fertility occur. Under these conditions—with loam and sand -containing soils—the land

2970-640: The Principality of Schaumburg-Lippe) around the towns of Rinteln and Hessisch Oldendorf did indeed belong to the Prussian province of Hesse-Nassau until 1932, a province that also included large parts of the present state of Hesse, including the cities of Kassel , Wiesbaden and Frankfurt am Main ; but in 1932 the County of Schaumburg became part of the Prussian Province of Hanover. When

3060-637: The Prussian Province of Hanover under the Greater Hamburg Act . The effect of this Nazi-era change was that in 1946, after the Third Reich had collapsed and when state of Lower Saxony was founded, only four states needed to be merged. With the exception of Bremen and the areas that were ceded to the Soviet Occupation Zone in 1945, all those areas allocated to the new state of Lower Saxony in 1946, had already been merged into

3150-669: The River Hunte a "de-Westphalianising process" began in 1815. After the Congress of Vienna the territories of the later administrative regions ( Regierungsbezirke ) of Osnabrück and Aurich transferred to the Kingdom of Hanover. The Grand Duchy of Oldenburg and the Principality of Schaumburg-Lippe retained state autonomy. Nevertheless, the entire Weser-Ems region (including the city of Bremen ) were grouped in 1920 into

3240-549: The Saxon peoples left their homeland in Holstein about the 3rd century and pushed southwards over the Elbe , where they expanded into the sparsely populated regions in the rest of the lowlands, in present-day Northwest Germany and the northeastern part of what is now the Netherlands . From about the 7th century the Saxons had occupied a settlement area that roughly corresponds to the present state of Lower Saxony, of Westphalia and

3330-535: The Weser-Ems region was placed under the rule of Brunswick-Lüneburg. The word Niedersachsen was first used before 1300 in a Dutch rhyming chronicle ( Reimchronik ). From the 14th century it referred to the Duchy of Saxe-Lauenburg (as opposed to Saxe-Wittenberg ). On the creation of the imperial circles in 1500, a Lower Saxon Circle was distinguished from a Lower Rhenish–Westphalian Circle . The latter included

3420-482: The aim of restoring windmills and watermills in its area, which initially covered the districts of Lüneburg, Harburg and Lüchow-Dannenberg , and supporting their preservation. The society also declared that it wanted to foster and preserve the traditions and culture associated with the milling trade. Under the sponsorship of the Lüneburg Society, a working group was founded in 1996 from representatives of

3510-680: The area of Helmstedt. The highest levels of precipitation are experienced in the Harz because the Lower Saxon part forms the windward side of this mountain range against which orographic rain falls. The average annual temperature is 8 °C (46 °F); 7.5 °C (45.5 °F) in the Altes Land and 8.5 °C (47.3 °F) in the district of Cloppenburg . Lower Saxony is divided into 37 districts ( Landkreise or simply Kreise ): Furthermore, there are eight urban districts and two cities with special status: Between 1946 and 2004,

3600-711: The areas surrounding the Hanseatic cities of Bremen and Hamburg are much more oriented towards those centres. Sometimes, overlaps and transition areas happen between the various regions of Lower Saxony. Several of the regions listed here are part of other, larger regions, that are also included in the list. Just under 20% of the land area of Lower Saxony is designated as nature parks, i.e.: Dümmer , Elbhöhen-Wendland , Elm-Lappwald , Harz , Lüneburger Heide , Münden , Terra.vita , Solling-Vogler , Lake Steinhude , Südheide , Weser Uplands , Wildeshausen Geest , Bourtanger Moor-Bargerveen . Lower Saxony falls climatically into

3690-504: The city of Hamburg lie south of the Elbe. The state and city of Bremen is an enclave entirely surrounded by Lower Saxony. The Bremen/Oldenburg Metropolitan Region is a cooperative body for the enclave area. To the southeast, the state border runs through the Harz, low mountains that are part of the German Central Uplands . The northeast and west of the state, which form roughly three-quarters of its land area, belong to

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3780-496: The construction of a new entrance hall and integrated cultural-historical centre. Funding will be provided by the state of Lower Saxony, and the district and town of Cloppenburg. In the same year, construction started on a wheelwrights home dating to 1564. On completion, it will be oldest building on the museum village site. Of the many buildings that were used for farming, the Quatmannshof (from Elsten , built in 1805) and

3870-517: The core of the Hannover–Braunschweig–Göttingen–Wolfsburg Metropolitan Region . Lower Saxony has clear regional divisions that manifest themselves geographically, as well as historically and culturally. In the regions that used to be independent, especially the heartlands of the former states of Brunswick , Hanover , Oldenburg and Schaumburg-Lippe , a marked local regional awareness exists. By contrast,

3960-598: The course of the year and a surplus water budget, the climate towards the southeast is increasingly affected by the Continent. This is clearly shown by greater temperature variations between the summer and winter halves of the year and in lower and more variable amounts of precipitation across the year. This sub-continental effect is most sharply seen in the Wendland, in the Weser Uplands (Hamelin to Göttingen) and in

4050-469: The district authorities, mill societies and local history museums. It gave the go ahead for the development of a tourist route through the mills of Lower Saxony. In 1998 the Lower Saxon Mill Road was established by the society, now renamed as the "Society for the Promotion of Lüneburg Mills" ( Mühlenförderverein Lüneburg ). Under its new name, the area of responsibility of the society was extended to include

4140-459: The districts of Celle and Uelzen . The first section of the Lower Saxon Mill Road was opened by the then Lower Saxon Minister for Agriculture, Karl-Heinz Funke , on German Mill Day in 1998 at the Bardowick windmill. The Mill Road then consisted of 75 mill sites in the northeast of Lower Saxony. From 1998 the Lüneburg mill society was responsible for coordinating, monitoring and implementing

4230-597: The division of the British occupation zone into three large states proved to be capable of gaining a majority. Because this division of their occupation zone into relatively large states also met the interests of the British, on 8 November 1946 Regulation No. 55 of the British military government was issued, by which the State of Lower Saxony with its capital Hanover were founded, backdated to 1 November 1946. The state

4320-448: The end of 2023, there were almost 1,085,315 non-German citizens in Lower Saxony. The following table illustrates the largest minority groups in Lower Saxony: Religion in Lower Saxony (Census 2011): Lower Saxon Mill Road The Lower Saxon Mill Road ( German : Niedersächsische Mühlenstrasse ) is a holiday route that guides visitors to watermills and windmills in the north German state of Lower Saxony and thus links

4410-405: The end of the 1920s in the context of discussions about a reform of the Reich, and promoted by the expanding local heritage movement ( Heimatbewegung ), a 25-year conflict started between "Lower Saxony" and "Westphalia". The supporters of this dispute were administrative officials and politicians, but regionally focussed scientists of various disciplines were supposed to have fuelled the arguments. In

4500-402: The exhibition hall there are numerous mill models. Also on the site is a village square (the Dorfplatz ) with Lower Saxon houses and a Russian stave church . Lower Saxon Mill Road No. 24 The windmill was erected in 1897 by the mill builder, Bergmann, from Salzhausen . It was built as an Erdholländer with single-storey base, west of Eyendorf on the high geest . In 1911 a diesel engine

4590-475: The following mills at this waypoint on the route: The famous Oldenburg meteorite ('Bissel' fragment, 4.84 kg) is also kept in the museum's collection. The meteorite fell in 1930 onto the villages of Bissel (parish of Großenkneten ) and Beverbruch (parish of Garrel ). The results of the extensive work of the museum are presented to the public by means of selected examples in regularly changing special exhibitions in Arkenstede Castle ( Burg Arkenstede ) and

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4680-410: The following territories that, in whole or in part, belong today to the state of Lower Saxony: the Bishopric of Osnabrück , the Bishopric of Münster , the County of Bentheim , the County of Hoya , the Principality of East Frisia , the Principality of Verden , the County of Diepholz , the County of Oldenburg , the County of Schaumburg and the County of Spiegelberg . At the same time a distinction

4770-459: The formation of a state of Lower Saxony, that was to include the largest possible region in the middle of the British Zone. In addition to the regions that actually became Lower Saxony subsequently, Kopf asked, in a memorandum dated April 1946, for the inclusion of the former Prussian district of Minden-Ravensberg (i.e. the Westphalian city of Bielefeld as well as the Westphalian districts of Minden , Lübbecke , Bielefeld , Herford and Halle ),

4860-404: The former Hanoverian president ( Regierungspräsident ) as their first minister-president. Kopf led a five-party coalition, whose basic task was to rebuild a state afflicted by the war's rigours. Kopf's cabinet had to organise an improvement of food supplies and the reconstruction of the cities and towns destroyed by Allied air raids during the war years. Hinrich Wilhelm Kopf remained – interrupted by

4950-437: The foundation of the independent state of "Weser-Ems", that would be formed from the state of Oldenburg, the Hanseatic City of Bremen and the administrative regions of Aurich and Osnabrück. Several representatives of the state of Oldenburg even demanded the inclusion of the Hanoverian districts of Diepholz , Syke , Osterholz-Scharmbeck and Wesermünde in the proposed state of "Weser-Ems". Likewise an enlarged State of Brunswick

5040-422: The four administrative regions or governorates ( Regierungsbezirke ), into which Lower Saxony had been hitherto divided, were dissolved. These were the governorates of Braunschweig, Hanover, Lüneburg and Weser-Ems. The largest towns in Lower Saxony as of 31 December 2017: The name of Saxony derives from that of the Germanic confederation of tribes called the Saxons . Before the late medieval period, there

5130-435: The horses' heads on Lower Saxon farmhouses ( Lower Saxon houses ) are relics of the sacrifice of horses, a myth widely disseminated by the Nazis, which does not stand up to the critical investigation by historians. 52°50′56″N 8°03′04″E  /  52.84889°N 8.05111°E  / 52.84889; 8.05111 Lower Saxony Lower Saxony is a German state ( Land ) in northwestern Germany . It

5220-429: The interests of historic monument conservation with those of the tourist industry . The mills of the Lower Saxon Mill Road are marked with the emblem (a sketch of the Hüven Mill in the Emsland ) of the Lower Saxony and Bremen Mill Association ( Mühlenvereinigung Niedersachsen-Bremen ) and are furnished with an information board that describes both the history and the features of the individual mill. The mills on

5310-421: The local history movement in Germany. This had arisen as early as 1880 as a reaction to the urbanisation of Germany and from the desire of many towns to recall their agricultural roots. From this movement, in the state of Oldenburg , the Ammerland farmhouse in Bad Zwischenahn in 1910 and the Rauchkate in Neuenburg in 1912 emerged as places where memories could be brought to life. In 1922 a local history museum

5400-488: The main transport artery to West Berlin and, from 1945 to 1990 was the busiest European border crossing point. Of economic significance for the state was the Volkswagen concern, that restarted the production of civilian vehicles in 1945, initially under British management, and in 1949 transferred into the ownership of the newly founded country of West Germany and state of Lower Saxony. Overall, Lower Saxony, with its large tracts of rural countryside and few urban centres,

5490-413: The maintenance of its buildings. Covering an area of about 20 hectares (49 acres), the Lower Saxon Open-Air Museum portrays the history of rural life in the Lower Saxony region from 16th century to the present. Over 50 historic buildings, with their associated rural gardens and surrounding agricultural fields, illustrate the relationship of man to his environment over the course of time. In the early days

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5580-427: The medieval, Welf estates of the Duchy of Brunswick-Lüneburg . All the Welf princes called themselves dukes "of Brunswick and Lüneburg" despite often ruling parts of a duchy that was forever being divided and reunited as various Welf lines multiplied or died out. Two major principalities survived east of the Weser after the Napoleonic Wars: the Kingdom of Hanover and the Duchy of Brunswick (after 1866 Hanover became

5670-439: The new Lower Saxon constitution entered force, replacing the "Provisional Lower Saxon Constitution" of 1951. It enables referendums and plebiscites and establishes environmental protection as a fundamental state principle. The former Hanoverian Amt Neuhaus with its parishes of Dellien, Haar, Kaarßen, Neuhaus (Elbe), Stapel, Sückau, Sumte and Tripkau as well as the villages of Neu Bleckede, Neu Wendischthun and Stiepelse in

5760-439: The northern and eastern border of North Rhine-Westphalia has largely been identical with that of the Prussian Province of Westphalia . Only the Free State of Lippe was not incorporated into North Rhine-Westphalia until January 1947. With that the majority of the regions left of the Upper Weser became North Rhine-Westphalian. In the end, at the meeting of the Zone Advisory Board on 20 September 1946, Kopf's proposal with regard to

5850-471: The open-air museum; since 2022, Torsten W. Müller has been its director. Today, the Lower Saxon Open-Air Museum acts as a research and educational establishment for cultural and agricultural history. The museum's education facilities are always activity- and product-oriented. Research work concentrates on folklore , regional history and historic rural houses. A team of three scientists is responsible for investigation and construction of new houses, work that

5940-508: The parish of Teldau and the historic Hanoverian region in the forest district of Bohldamm in the parish of Garlitz transferred with effect from 30 June 1993 from Mecklenburg-Vorpommern to Lower Saxony ( Lüneburg district ). From these parishes the new municipality of Amt Neuhaus was created on 1 October 1993. In 1998 Gerhard Glogowski succeeded Gerhard Schröder who became Federal Chancellor. Because he had been linked with various scandals in his home city of Brunswick, he resigned in 1999 and

6030-409: The remaining Lower Saxon districts was temporarily halted. In 2009 public funding became available again. In that year the districts of Cloppenburg , Oldenburg and Vechta joined the Lower Saxon Mill Road. The section in the " Oldenburg Münsterland and Wildeshausen Geest Region" was officially opened on 28 May 2009 at the Neumühle ("New Mill") in Endel (in the municipality of Visbek ). Today

6120-411: The residential homes of country folk, the museum terrain also has a timber framed church from Klein-Escherde (built in 1698) and a village school from Renslage (built in 1751). Outside the actual museum village land, north of Höltinghauser Straße , a large moor plough displayed. More information about the individual exhibits is available in an interactive location plan. In 2011, planning began on

6210-502: The restoration and refurbishment of mills on the Lower Saxon Mill Road and for the development of touristic marketing concepts as well as funding them from German and European sponsors. Since 1996 the Lower Saxon state parliament has pursued the aim of extending the Mill Road to the whole of Lower Saxony. For that reason in 2004 leadership of the project was transferred to the statewide "Lower Saxony and Bremen Mill Association" ( Mühlenvereinigung Niedersachsen-Bremen ). Other regions between

6300-427: The state's districts and independent towns were grouped into eight regions, with a different status for two regions ( Verwaltungsbezirke ), comprising the formerly free states of Brunswick and Oldenburg. In 1978 these regions were merged into four governorates ( Regierungsbezirke ). In 2005 the Bezirksregierungen (regional governments) were again split into separate bodies. 1946–1978: 1978–2004: On 1 January 2005

6390-411: The state's territory was part of the historic Kingdom of Hanover , and the state of Lower Saxony has adopted the coat of arms and other symbols of the former kingdom. It was created by the merger of the State of Hanover with three smaller states on 1 November 1946. Lower Saxony has a natural boundary in the north in the North Sea and the lower and middle reaches of the River Elbe , although parts of

6480-646: The state. In 2009 the participating districts and towns contributed €3,000 each. A grant of €9,800 is anticipated from the Lower Saxon State Department for Geographic Information, Land Development and Property. The Lower Saxon Mill Road leads to mills in the following districts and towns: The windmill Paula in Steinhude also lies along the Lower Saxon Mill Road as does the post mill ( Bockwindmühle ) in Hänigsen (both mills are in

6570-494: The successor to Hinrich Wilhelm Kopf. He was replaced in 1970 by Alfred Kubel . The arguments about the Gorleben Nuclear Waste Repository , that began during the time in office of minister president Ernst Albrecht (1976–1990), have played an important role in state and federal politics since the end of the 1970s. In 1990 Gerhard Schröder entered the office of minister-president. On 1 June 1993,

6660-485: The time in office of Heinrich Hellwege (1955–1959) – as the head of government in Lower Saxony until 1961. The greatest problem facing the first state government in the immediate post-war years was the challenge of integrating hundreds of thousands of refugees from Germany's former territories in the east (such as Silesia and East Prussia ), which had been annexed by Poland and the Soviet Union . Lower Saxony

6750-558: The varieties of language in the Low German dialect group. The establishment of permanent boundaries between what later became Lower Saxony and Westphalia began in the 12th century. In 1260, in a treaty between the Archbishopric of Cologne and the Duchy of Brunswick-Lüneburg the lands claimed by the two territories were separated from each other. The border ran along the Weser to a point north of Nienburg. The northern part of

6840-657: Was a single Duchy of Saxony . The term "Lower Saxony" was used after the dissolution of the stem duchy in the late 13th century to distinguish the parts of the former duchy ruled by the House of Welf from the Electorate of Saxony on one hand, and from the Duchy of Westphalia on the other. The name and coat of arms of the present state go back to the Germanic tribe of Saxons . During the Migration Period some of

6930-406: Was also supported by Gauleiter Carl Röver. Today staff at the Cloppenburg Museum Village react rather irritatedly at the insinuation that there is a similarity between local history and Nazi ideology. The museum village not only holds regular events intended to throw light on Nazi 'demons', but its employees are also well enough informed. For example, when asked, they can comment on the theory that

7020-478: Was at the western end of the direct escape route from East Prussia and had the longest border with the Soviet Zone. On 3 October 1950 Lower Saxony took over the sponsorship of the very large number of refugees from Silesia . In 1950 there was still a shortage of 730,000 homes according to official figures. During the period when Germany was divided, the Lower Saxon border crossing at Helmstedt found itself on

7110-414: Was ceremonially opened on Ascension Day in 1936. On 13 April 1945, six houses in the museum village were destroyed by artillery fire, including the Quatmannshof farm. By 1962, this farm had been rebuilt in a way that was faithful in detail to the original. The second museum director after Heinrich Ottenjann was his son, Helmut Ottenjann (1961–1996). From 1996 to 2018, Uwe Meiners has been the director of

7200-460: Was erected in 1865 by the Benecke brothers from Kirchgellersen . The waisted shape of the octagonal tower was meant to reduce wind eddies around the sails and so ensure better use of the wind. The mill was initially operated by Herrmann Benecke, but then underwent several changes of ownership. It was bought in 1920 by the mill owner, Heinrich Bornemann, from Luhmühlen , who converted it in 1924 into

7290-757: Was formed by a merger of the Free States of Brunswick , of Oldenburg and of Schaumburg-Lippe with the previously formed State of Hanover. But there were exceptions: The demands of Dutch politicians that the Netherlands should be given the German regions east of the Dutch-German border as war reparations , were roundly rejected at the London Conference of 26 March 1949. In fact only about 1.3 km (0.50 sq mi) of west Lower Saxony

7380-556: Was founded in Cloppenburg itself. From this movement, Heinrich Ottenjann developed the concept of the Cloppenburg Museum Village, an idea which came to fruition in 1934. The national socialists supported the idea of local history and exploited and ideologised the site which had in fact been based on folk and farming history, but never in the sense of becoming a Nazi cult site like the Stedingsehre project in Bookholzberg which

7470-607: Was installed to boost its power. The mill is fitted with spring sails ( Jalousieklappenflügeln ) and a double fantail . In 1972 the cap was blown off by a hurricane . The mill was not rebuilt until 1981 by the Society for the Preservation of the Eyendorf Windmill, founded in 1978, so that commercial milling could be continued until the end of the 1980s. In May 1998 a pine sail broke during a mill festival. The sail

7560-485: Was made with the eastern part of the old Saxon lands from the central German principalities later called Upper Saxony for dynastic reasons. The close historical links between the domains of the Lower Saxon Circle now in modern Lower Saxony survived for centuries especially from a dynastic point of view. The majority of historic territories whose land now lies within Lower Saxony were sub-principalities of

7650-411: Was one of the industrially weaker regions of the federal republic for a long time. In 1960, 20% of the working population worked on the land. In the rest of the federal territory the figure was just 14%. Even in economically prosperous times the jobless totals in Lower Saxony are constantly higher than the federal average. In 1961 Georg Diederichs took office as the minister president of Lower Saxony as

7740-485: Was proposed in the southeast to include the Regierungsbezirk of Hildesheim and the district of Gifhorn . Had this plan come to fruition, the territory of the present Lower Saxony would have consisted of three states of roughly equal size. The district council of Vechta protested on 12 June 1946 against being incorporated into the metropolitan area of Hanover ( Großraum Hannover ). If the State of Oldenburg

7830-457: Was replaced by Sigmar Gabriel . From 2003 to his election as Federal President in 2010 Christian Wulff was minister president in Lower Saxony. The Osnabrücker headed a CDU-led coalition with the FDP as does his successor, David McAllister . After the elections on 20 January 2013 McAllister was deselected . At the end of 2014, there were almost 571,000 non-German citizens in Lower Saxony. At

7920-476: Was replaced that year by a longleaf pine sail but had to be changed again in 2000 by steel rods. The mill is used as a museum and is brought into operation for specific occasions. On the last Saturday in May there is an annual mill festival. Lower Saxon Mill Road No. 37 The Garlstorf windmill is a Galerieholländer with a two-storey brick base and a four-storey, very narrow, slate-covered octagonal millhouse. It

8010-475: Was to be dissolved, Vechta District would much rather be included in the Westphalian region. Particularly in the districts where there was a political Catholicism the notion was widespread, that Oldenburg Münsterland and the Regierungsbezirk of Osnabrück should be part of a newly formed State of Westphalia. Since the foundation of the states of North Rhine-Westphalia and Hanover on 23 August 1946

8100-561: Was transferred to the Netherlands, in 1949. → see main article Dutch annexation of German territory after World War II The first Lower Saxon parliament or Landtag met on 9 December 1946. It was not elected; rather it was established by the British Occupation Administration (a so-called "appointed parliament"). That same day the parliament elected the Social Democrat , Hinrich Wilhelm Kopf ,

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