Laar () is a community in the district of

Grafschaft Bentheim County of Bentheim () is a districts of Germany, district (''Landkreis'') in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is bounded by (from the west and clockwise) the Netherlands, Dutch provinces of Overijssel and Drenthe, the district of Emsland, and the distri ...

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 ...

. The community’s name comes from the

Old Dutch In linguistics, Old Dutch ( Modern Dutch: ') or Old Low Franconian (Modern Dutch: ') is the set of dialects that evolved from Frankish spoken in the Low Countries during the Early Middle Ages, from around the 6th Page 55: "''Uit de zesde eeu ...

for “glade in the woods”.

Geography

Location

Laar lies northwest of

Nordhorn Nordhorn (; Northern Low Saxon: ''Nothoorn'', or ''Notthoarn'', ''Netthoarn,'' and Dutch: ''Noordhoorn'') is a town in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is the district seat of Grafschaft Bentheim, located in the southwest corner of the state, near th ...

on the

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

Dutch Dutch or Nederlands commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands ** Dutch people as an ethnic group () ** Dutch nationality law, history and regulations of Dutch citizenship () ** Dutch language () * In specific terms, i ...

border Borders are generally defined as geography, geographical boundaries, imposed either by features such as oceans and terrain, or by polity, political entities such as governments, sovereign states, federated states, and other administrative divisio ...

. It belongs to the Joint Community (''Samtgemeinde'') of Emlichheim, whose administrative seat is in the like-named town. The

Vechte The Vechte (, ) or Vecht (), often called Overijsselse Vecht () in the Netherlands to avoid confusion with Vecht (Utrecht), its Utrecht counterpart, is a river in Germany and the Netherlands. Its total length is , of which is in Germany. The Ve ...

runs through the community.

Neighbouring communities

The community of Laar borders in the south on the communities of Wielen and

Wilsum Wilsum is a small city in the Dutch province of Overijssel. It is located in the municipality of Kampen, about 4 km southeast of that city. History The city was first mentioned in 1213 as Wilsem, and means "settlement of Willa (person)". ...

, in the east on the community of Emlichheim, in the north on the Dutch community of

Coevorden Coevorden (; ; ) is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of Drenthe, in the east of Netherlands, the Netherlands. During the ...

and in the west on the Dutch community of

Hardenberg Hardenberg (; or '' 'n Arnbarg'') is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of Overijssel, Eastern Netherlands. The municipality of ...

Overijssel Overijssel (; ; ; ) is a Provinces of the Netherlands, province of the Netherlands located in the eastern part of the country. The province's name comes from the perspective of the Prince-Bishopric of Utrecht, Episcopal principality of Utrecht ...

Constituent communities

The community of Laar consists of the six constituent centres (''

Ortsteil A village is a human settlement or Residential community, community, larger than a hamlet (place), hamlet but smaller than a town with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand. Although villages are often located ...

e'') of Agterhorn, Echteler, Eschebrügge, Heesterkante, Laar and Vorwald.

Religion

Although Laar is a small village, it nonetheless has three church parishes: Evangelical-Reformed, Catholic and Evangelical-Old Reformed.

Politics

Municipal council

Laar’s council is made up of 13 councillors. * CDU 10 seats *

SPD The Social Democratic Party of Germany ( , SPD ) is a social democratic political party in Germany. It is one of the major parties of contemporary Germany. Saskia Esken has been the party's leader since the 2019 leadership election together wi ...

1 seat *gbf 2 seats (as of municipal election on 10 September 2006)

Mayor

The honorary mayor Jan Hindrik Zwaferink was elected at the municipal council’s constitutive meeting.

References

External links

* {{Authority control County of Bentheim (district)