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20-599: Landkreis Emsland ( German: [ˈɛmsˌlant] ) is a district in Lower Saxony, Germany named after the river Ems . It is bounded by (from the north and clockwise) the districts of Leer , Cloppenburg and Osnabrück , the state of North Rhine-Westphalia (district of Steinfurt ), the district of Bentheim in Lower Saxony, and the Netherlands (provinces of Drenthe and Groningen ). For

40-508: A distinct sense of regional pride which will unlikely be found elsewhere in this state. The coat of arms displays: The wavy line symbolises the river Ems. (Population 2005) Free municipalities and towns Samtgemeinden Dörpen Freren Herzlake Lathen Lengerich Nordhümmling Sögel Spelle Werlte Districts of Germany (Land-)Kreise stand at an intermediate level of administration between each state ( Länder ) and

60-524: A district in their own right—and there are 106 of them, bringing the total number of districts to 400. As of 2016 , approximately 26 million people live in these 107 urban districts. In North Rhine-Westphalia , there are some cities with more than 100,000 inhabitants which are not urban districts, these being Recklinghausen , Gütersloh , Siegen , Paderborn , Bergisch Gladbach , Neuss and Moers . Nevertheless, these cities take over many district responsibilities themselves, although they are still part of

80-697: A fusion of a district-free town with its adjacent rural district: besides the Regionalverband Saarbrücken ( Saarbrücken regional association ), from 1974 until 2007 called "Stadtverband Saarbrücken" ( Saarbrücken town association ), there is the Hanover Region since 2001 and the Städteregion Aachen ( Aachen region of towns ) since 2009. Aachen, Hanover and Göttingen retain certain rights of an urban district ( Kreisfreie Stadt ); Saarbrücken has not explicitly determined

100-423: A larger rural district. Midsize towns can perform particular administrative functions of the district as well, especially to provide common services to the local citizens. The classification as "midsize" town is usually based on a town's registered population, but varies from state to state. A special type of rural districts includes the three Kommunalverbände besonderer Art ( Municipal unions of special kind ),

120-548: A long time the region of the Emsland was extremely sparsely populated, due to the fens on both sides of the river. Small villages were established in medieval times along the river and on the Hümmling . In the 13th century the bishops of Münster gained control over the region; the Emsland remained property of the bishop until 1803, when the clerical states were dissolved. It came under rule of Prussia and Arenberg , but after

140-604: A mayor, in most greater cities usually by the Lord Mayor . Rural districts in some German states have an additional administrative committee called Kreisausschuss . This committee is generally led by the Landrat and includes a number of additional voluntary members. It takes over certain administrative functions for the district, following decisions of the district council. However, the exact role and regulations of this panel vary greatly between different states. The city where

160-498: A similar provision in its legislation. According to common federal and state laws, the districts are responsible for the following tasks: Districts can perform additional functions, based on varying local laws in each region: All these tasks are carried out by local (municipal) authorities operating together. Urban districts have these responsibilities and also those of the municipalities. The district council (German: Kreistag , pronounced [ˈkʁaɪ̯sˌtaːk] )

180-419: Is an officer known as Landrat or Landrätin , who is responsible for the district's day-to-day administration and acts as its representative for official purposes. In parts of northern Germany, Landrat is also the name of the entire district administration, which in southern Germany is known as Kreisverwaltung or Landratsamt . In urban districts similar administrative functions are performed by

200-428: Is located at Papenburg. The well known resistance song " Peat Bog Soldiers " was composed by political prisoners at one of these camps. In 1950 a governmental plan for the development of Emsland was adopted. Its aim was to turn the region into an industrial location. This was accomplished by draining the fens and establishing projects like the test track of the maglev " Transrapid " and several large shipyards such as

220-552: Is located on the Dutch border . It is named after the Ems river , which crosses the region from south to north. It is an absolutely plain countryside, which was once full of fens. The only elevations are in the Hümmling , which is a hilly forest area east of the Ems. Although the Emsland region is nowadays primarily a county among many others in Lower Saxony, its locals have what could be called

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240-666: Is now the Landkreis Emsland. The districts were merged in 1977 to form the present district. Under Nazi rule , labour camps known as the Emslandlager ("Emsland camps") held thousands of political opponents of the Nazi Party , located outside Börgermoor , now part of the commune Surwold , not far from Papenburg . A memorial of these camps, the Dokumentations- und Informationszentrum (DIZ) Emslandlager,

260-481: Is the highest institution of a rural district and is responsible for all fundamental guidelines of regional self-administration. This council is elected directly every five years, except in Bavaria where it is elected every six years. Usually the administrative seat of a rural district is located in one of its largest towns. However, district council and administrative seat of some rural districts are not situated within

280-632: The Meyer-Werft in Papenburg . Although the Landkreis Emsland lost much of its original character, some areas retain their natural character, for example the Hümmling. The 1977 district reforms in Lower Saxony united the former districts of Lingen , Meppen and Aschendorf-Hümmling in the district of Emsland, with Meppen as administrative seat. The Emsland remains a very Roman Catholic region compared to other parts of Lower Saxony. The district

300-639: The Napoleonic Wars the Congress of Vienna decided to hand the territory over to the Kingdom of Hanover . The Duchy of Arenberg continued to exist as a fief of the Hanoverian kings. When Hanover was annexed by Prussia (1866), the dukes were deposed soon after (1875). The now Prussian Province of Hanover was subdivided into districts in 1885; four districts were established on the territory of what

320-539: The municipalities ( Gemeinden ) within it. These correspond to level-3 administrative units in the Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics (NUTS 3). Previously, the similar title Imperial Circle ( Reichskreis ) referred to groups of states in the Holy Roman Empire . The related term Landeskommissariat was used for similar administrative divisions in some German territories until

340-518: The 19th century. The majority of German districts are "rural districts" (German: Landkreise , pronounced [ˈlantˌkʁaɪ̯zə] ), of which there are 294 as of 2017 . Cities with more than 100,000 inhabitants (and smaller towns in some states) do not usually belong to a district, but take on district responsibilities themselves, similar to the concept of independent cities . These are known as "urban districts" (German: kreisfreie Städte or Stadtkreise )—cities which constitute

360-467: The district proper, but in an adjacent district-free city. Most of those rural districts are named after this central city as well (e.g. Bamberg and Karlsruhe ). Moers is the biggest city in Germany (and at present time the only one with more than 100,000 inhabitants) that is neither an urban district, nor the district seat of its rural district. The highest administrative position of a rural district

380-567: The legal term "Kreisstadt" that only denotes the location of the administrative office. In everyday language, district cities are also called Kreishauptstadt ("district capital"). Freren (Samtgemeinde) Freren is a Samtgemeinde in the district Emsland in Lower Saxony , Germany . Its seat is in the town Freren . The Samtgemeinde Freren consists of the following municipalities: 52°28′28″N 7°32′49″E  /  52.47444°N 7.54694°E  / 52.47444; 7.54694 This Emsland district location article

400-423: The office of the district's administration is located is called Kreisstadt ("district city"), or Kreishauptort ("district main community") if it is not a city. Often the district is named after its district city. Linguistically, any city within a district could be called a "Kreisstadt", especially those that aren't district-free to distinguish them from district-free cities. This term has to be distinguished from

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