The is the highest hill in the

Deister The Deister () is a chain of hills in the Germany, German state of Lower Saxony, about 15 mi (25 km) southwest of the city of Hanover. It runs in a north-westerly direction from Springe in the south to Rodenberg in the north. The next i ...

range in the German state of

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 ...

, reaching . It owes its name to the

broom A broom (also known as a broomstick) is a cleaning tool, consisting of usually stiff fibers (often made of materials such as plastic, hair, or corn husks) attached to, and roughly parallel to, a cylindrical handle, the broomstick. It is thus a ...

(, but formerly known as or ) growing here. The highest point of the hill is close to the an observation tower on the territory of the town of

Springe Springe () is a town in the Hanover (district), district of Hanover, in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated near the Deister hills, southwest of Hanover. Town structure * Springe (core settlement, seat of the mayor), population 13,184 * Ben ...

close to the boundary of the municipality of

Wennigsen Wennigsen ( or ) is a municipality in the Hanover (district), district of Hanover, in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated near the Deister hills, approx. 15 km southwest of Hanover. Geography Wennigsen borders on (from north and clockwise) ...

Height

At above sea level (NN), the is, * the highest hill in the Deister, and * the highest hill on the extreme northern rim of the German

Central Uplands The Central UplandsDickinson (1964), p.18 ff. (N.B. In German die ''Mittelgebirge'' (plural) refers to the Central Uplands; das ''Mittelgebirge'' refers to a low mountain range or upland region (''Mittel'' = "medium" and ''-gebirge'' = "range").) ...

because all hills in Germany with a higher latitude are lower than the .

Observation tower

On the

summit A summit is a point on a surface that is higher in elevation than all points immediately adjacent to it. The topographic terms acme, apex, peak (mountain peak), and zenith are synonymous. The term (mountain top) is generally used only for ...

of the stands the Anna Tower (), a microwave tower made of reinforced concrete, the fifth successor to the original survey tower that was built on this spot at the instigation of Professor

Carl Friedrich Gauss Johann Carl Friedrich Gauss (; ; ; 30 April 177723 February 1855) was a German mathematician, astronomer, geodesist, and physicist, who contributed to many fields in mathematics and science. He was director of the Göttingen Observatory and ...

in 1834. The panoramic view from this observation tower in good weather over the

Calenberg Land The Calenberg Land () is an historic landscape southwest of Hanover in Germany, roughly formed by the rural area between the Leine and the Deister hills. The name of this landscape comes from the Principality of Calenberg that ruled the area du ...

reaches as far as

Hildesheim Hildesheim (; or ; ) is a city in Lower Saxony, in north-central Germany with 101,693 inhabitants. It is in the district of Hildesheim (district), Hildesheim, about southeast of Hanover on the banks of the Innerste River, a small tributary of t ...

and

Hanover Hanover ( ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the States of Germany, German state of Lower Saxony. Its population of 535,932 (2021) makes it the List of cities in Germany by population, 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-l ...

, to

Lake Steinhude Lake Steinhude, , , is a lake in Lower Saxony, Germany located northwest of Hanover. Named after the nearby village of Steinhude, it has an area of about , making it the largest lake of northwestern Germany. At the same time, Lake Steinhude is ...

, and also over the northern

Weser Uplands The Weser Uplands (German: ''Weserbergland'', ) is a hill region in Germany, between Hannoversch Münden and Porta Westfalica, along the river Weser. The area reaches into three states, Lower Saxony, Hesse, and North Rhine-Westphalia. Important ...

. Next to the Anna Tower is a woodland inn of the same name. The Anna Tower is about from the car park on the . It is also about from Springe (via the car park towards ). The Anna Tower is open between 10am and 5pm every day except Mondays. Not far from the , on the (), is a tower belonging to German Air Traffic Control with a radar site. Each of the six SRE-M sites across the country has a capture

radius In classical geometry, a radius (: radii or radiuses) of a circle or sphere is any of the line segments from its Centre (geometry), center to its perimeter, and in more modern usage, it is also their length. The radius of a regular polygon is th ...

of about . In the vicinity on the crest of the Deister are other flight safety installations. In the 1950s there was an

air traffic control Air traffic control (ATC) is a service provided by ground-based air traffic controllers who direct aircraft on the ground and through a given section of controlled airspace, and can provide advisory services to aircraft in non-controlled air ...

centre of the Federal Agency for Air Safety. At 11am on a September day in 1958 an

F-84 Thunderjet The Republic F-84 Thunderjet is an American turbojet fighter-bomber aircraft. Originating as a 1944 United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) proposal for a "day fighter", the F-84 first flew in 1946. Although it entered service in 1947, the Thunde ...

fighter of the

Danish Air Force The Royal Danish Air Force () (RDAF) is the aerial warfare force of the Kingdom of Denmark and one of the four branches of the Danish Armed Forces. Initially being components of the Army and the Navy, it was made a separate service in 1950. I ...

crashed about east of the control centre. The aeroplane grazed several treetops over a distance of some before exploding. The 24-year-old pilot, , died in the crash. He had taken off with his squadron from

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a population of 1.4 million in the Urban area of Copenhagen, urban area. The city is situated on the islands of Zealand and Amager, separated from Malmö, Sweden, by the ...

and his destination was the air base near

Schortens Schortens () is a town in the district of Friesland in Lower Saxony, Germany. Division of the town The town currently consists of the following districts: Schortens, Heidmühle, Grafschaft, Accum, Sillenstede, Schoost, Roffhausen, Middelsfähr, A ...

. In fog, he lost his bearings and sent his last position report at a height of over

Stadthagen Stadthagen () is the capital of the district of Landkreis Schaumburg, Schaumburg, in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated approximately 20 km east of Minden and 40 km west of Hanover. The city consists of the districts Brandenburg, Enzen ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brohn Hills of Lower Saxony Deister