Becklingen is a German village in the Lower Saxon borough of

Bergen Bergen (, ) is a city and municipalities of Norway, municipality in Vestland county on the Western Norway, west coast of Norway. Bergen is the list of towns and cities in Norway, second-largest city in Norway after the capital Oslo. By May 20 ...

in the northern part of

Celle district Celle () is a districts of Germany, district (''Landkreis'') in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is bounded by (from the north and clockwise) the districts of Uelzen (district), Uelzen, Gifhorn (district), Gifhorn, Hanover (district), Hanover and Heide ...

on the

Lüneburg Heath Lüneburg Heath (, ) is a large area of heath (habitat), heath, geest, and woodland in the northeastern part of the state of Lower Saxony in northern Germany. It forms part of the hinterland for the cities of Hamburg, Hanover and Bremen and is ...

. Formerly an independent municipality, it is part of the town Bergen since 1971.

Geography

Becklingen lies about north of Bergen just off the B 3 federal highway and has 382 inhabitants (as at: 31 December 2000). Its parish includes the villages of Becklingen, Oehus and Tannensieksberg. There is also a hamlet known as Becklingen (Bhf) which has grown up around the old station about a mile from the main village. ''Bhf'' is the German abbreviation for ''Bahnhof'' or 'railway station'.

Population

Growth

The following table shows the growth in population of Becklingen. There was a significant increase in numbers after the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

which was mainly due to the influx of refugees.

Language

Becklingen belongs to the

Low German Low German is a West Germanic languages, West Germanic language variety, language spoken mainly in Northern Germany and the northeastern Netherlands. The dialect of Plautdietsch is also spoken in the Russian Mennonite diaspora worldwide. "Low" ...

language area and the

Northern Low Saxon Northern Low Saxon (in Standard German, Standard High German: ', also ', lit. ''North(ern) Low Saxon/German''; in Dutch language, Standard Dutch: ') is a subgroup of Low Saxon dialects of Low German. As such, it covers a great part of the West ...

dialect group. Since the end of the

, however,

High German The High German languages (, i.e. ''High German dialects''), or simply High German ( ) – not to be confused with Standard High German which is commonly also called "High German" – comprise the varieties of German spoken south of the Ben ...

has largely superseded it. However, Low German continues to be used colloquially especially amongst the older members of the village.

History

Becklingen was first mentioned in AD 1231 under the name ''Bekelinge''. The 19th century was characterised by extensive agricultural reforms. Fundamental to subsequent reforms was the general division (''Generalteilung'') of land at the beginning of the 19th century, whereby the villages were given fixed boundaries and every piece of land was allocated to a municipality ('' Gemeinde''). The amount of land around the individual villages which was allocated to them was based on the grazing rights they had held in the past. This was followed during the period 1838 to 1858 by the division of common land (''Gemeinheitsteilungen'').

Common land Common land is collective land (sometimes only open to those whose nation governs the land) in which all persons have certain common rights, such as to allow their livestock to graze upon it, to collect wood, or to cut turf for fuel. A person ...

, i.e. those areas which had hitherto been shared by the community, was now transferred to the individual farms as freehold property based on their existing rights to the common land. On the basis of the

Kingdom of Hanover The Kingdom of Hanover () was established in October 1814 by the Congress of Vienna, with the restoration of George III to his Hanoverian territories after the Napoleonic Wars, Napoleonic era. It succeeded the former Electorate of Hanover, and j ...

's 1833 redemption law the obligations on farms under the manorial system were repealed. Farms to which the so-called

manorial rights Manorialism, also known as seigneurialism, the manor system or manorial system, was the method of land ownership (or "tenure") in parts of Europe, notably France and later England, during the Middle Ages. Its defining features included a large, ...

applied had been hitherto obliged to give numerous services and make frequent payments to the manor. That was now repealed on payment of 25 times the annual dues and the land was then granted under freehold into the farmers' ownership. On 13 January 1872, west of Becklingen in the forest known as ''Becklinger Holz'', which is nowadays within the

Bergen-Hohne Training Area The Bergen-Hohne Training Area (German: ''NATO-Truppenübungsplatz Bergen'' or ''Schießplatz Bergen-Hohne'') is a NATO military training area in the southern part of the Lüneburg Heath, in the state of Lower Saxony in northern Germany. It c ...

, the last wolf seen on the

in over a century was shot. The man who shot it was a forester, Grünewald, who was the ''Leibjäger'' to King George V of Hanover, the last king of Hanover. Since 2012, wolves have returned to the Heath having migrated from Eastern Europe. In 1951 Becklingen War Cemetery was established near the village.

Politics and administration

From the 14th century Bergen was recorded as having a

vogt An , sometimes simply advocate, (German, ), or (French, ), was a type of medieval office holder, particularly important in the Holy Roman Empire, who was delegated some of the powers and functions of a major feudal lord, or for an institutio ...

ei's office, the lowest level of administration and justice, which was presided over by a ducal

. Matters of importance that only affected Becklingen were discussed and decided by the ''Realgemeinde'', i.e. the farm owners who had

common land Common land is collective land (sometimes only open to those whose nation governs the land) in which all persons have certain common rights, such as to allow their livestock to graze upon it, to collect wood, or to cut turf for fuel. A person ...

rights. The political reforms of the 19th century brought about a fundamental change from which the political municipality of Sülze arose. Participation in the resolution of village affairs was no longer dependent on ownership of property or land; instead every male villager over 25 had the right to vote. Since the merging of local councils as part of the Lower Saxon administrative reforms of 1971, Becklingen has been part of the town of

. Becklingen is represented by a parish council (''Ortsrat'') and a chairman (''Ortsbürgermeister''). The council is empowered, ''inter alia'', to make decisions about public services in the village, is responsible for maintaining the appearance of the village and for overseeing its clubs and societies, and has to be consulted by the town of Bergen on all important matters affecting the village.Information about the Lower Saxony Community Constitution
/ref> It consists of five elected representatives who, together with the chairman, sit on the Bergen borough council. The parish council elects its own chair. The current incumbent is Wilhelm Hohls.

Footnotes and references

Literature

*Günther Ebel (Hrsg.), ''Die Geschichte der Feuerwehr in Becklingen'', Becklingen, 1984

External links

Becklingen website
{{authority control Villages in Lower Saxony Bergen, Lower Saxony Celle (district)