Verden An Der Aller
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Verden an der Aller (;
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 ...
: ''Veern''), also called Verden (Aller) or simply Verden, is a town in
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 ...
, Germany, on the river Aller. It is the district town of the district of Verden in Lower Saxony and an independent municipality ( :de:Selbständige Gemeinde). The town is located in the middle
Weser The Weser () is a river of Lower Saxony in north-west Germany. It begins at Hannoversch Münden through the confluence of the Werra and Fulda. It passes through the Hanseatic city of Bremen. Its mouth is further north against the ports o ...
region on the Aller river immediately before it flows into the Weser. As a center of
horse breeding Horse breeding is reproduction in horses, and particularly the human-directed process of selective breeding of animals, particularly purebred horses of a given Horse breed, breed. Planned matings can be used to produce specifically desired chara ...
and
equestrian sports Equestrian sports are sports that use horses as a main part of the sport. This usually takes the form of the rider being on the horse's back, or the horses pulling some sort of horse-drawn vehicle. General * * * * * * * * * * * * * ...
, it bears the nickname "equestrian town". The suffix "Aller" was introduced at a time when the name "Verden" was also common for the French town of
Verdun Verdun ( , ; ; ; official name before 1970: Verdun-sur-Meuse) is a city in the Meuse (department), Meuse departments of France, department in Grand Est, northeastern France. It is an arrondissement of the department. In 843, the Treaty of V ...
in the German-speaking area. The town name comes from "ford" or "ferry". The town was conveniently located at a ford through the Aller river, near an important trade route. Verden is famous for a massacre of
Saxons The Saxons, sometimes called the Old Saxons or Continental Saxons, were a Germanic people of early medieval "Old" Saxony () which became a Carolingian " stem duchy" in 804, in what is now northern Germany. Many of their neighbours were, like th ...
in 782, committed on the orders of
Charlemagne Charlemagne ( ; 2 April 748 – 28 January 814) was List of Frankish kings, King of the Franks from 768, List of kings of the Lombards, King of the Lombards from 774, and Holy Roman Emperor, Emperor of what is now known as the Carolingian ...
(the
Massacre of Verden The Massacre of Verden was an event during the Saxon Wars where the Franks, Frankish king Charlemagne ordered the death of 4,500 Saxons in October 782. Charlemagne claimed suzerainty over Saxony and in 772 destroyed the Irminsul, an important obj ...
), for its cathedral, and for its horse-breeding.


History

In the Early Middle Ages (year 782) there was a massacre of allegedly 4,500
Saxons The Saxons, sometimes called the Old Saxons or Continental Saxons, were a Germanic people of early medieval "Old" Saxony () which became a Carolingian " stem duchy" in 804, in what is now northern Germany. Many of their neighbours were, like th ...
, by order of Charlemagne because of their involvement in a preceding uprising. Verden was then within the
Duchy of Saxony The Duchy of Saxony () was originally the area settled by the Saxons in the late Early Middle Ages, when they were subdued by Charlemagne during the Saxon Wars from 772 CE and incorporated into the Carolingian Empire (Francia) by 804. Upon the 84 ...
. After in 1180 a coalition of Emperor
Frederick I Barbarossa Frederick Barbarossa (December 1122 – 10 June 1190), also known as Frederick I (; ), was the Holy Roman Emperor from 1155 until his death in 1190. He was elected King of Germany in Frankfurt am Main, Frankfurt on 4 March 1152 and crowned in Aa ...
and his allies had defeated the then Saxo-Bavarian Duke Henry the Lion. Henry was subsequently stripped of his duchies. Saxony was divided among the imperial coalitionaries and so the Catholic Bishop of Verden gained
imperial immediacy In the Holy Roman Empire, imperial immediacy ( or ) was the status of an individual or a territory which was defined as 'immediate' () to Emperor and Empire () and not to any other intermediate authorities, while one that did not possess that stat ...
for parts of his diocesan territory, thus establishing the Prince-Bishopric of Verden. On 12 March 1259 Prince-Bishop Gerhard of Verden granted the place town privileges following the Bremian version of German town law. In the 15th century Verden gained considerable independence as a Free Imperial City, immediately under the emperors (imperial immediacy), circumventing its former overlords the prince-bishops, who still held the cathedral and pertaining premises in town as a cathedral immunity district. By the
Peace of Westphalia The Peace of Westphalia (, ) is the collective name for two peace treaties signed in October 1648 in the Westphalian cities of Osnabrück and Münster. They ended the Thirty Years' War (1618–1648) and brought peace to the Holy Roman Empire ...
the city of Verden was mediatised as regular city again within the Prince-Bishopric of Verden, which was transformed by the same contract into the Principality of Verden in May 1648. The northern city (with the town hall and St. John's church) and the southern town (with the
proto-cathedral A cathedral is a church that contains the of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually specific to those Christian denominations with an epis ...
) were then united to form one city. In 1675, during the Swedish-Brandenburg War, Verden was conquered by several states of the Holy Roman Empire and Denmark following the Bremen-Verden Campaign and remained in allied hands until the end of the war in 1679. In the wake of the Treaty of Saint-Germain in 1679, Verden was returned to Sweden. The Principality of Verden was first ruled in
personal union A personal union is a combination of two or more monarchical states that have the same monarch while their boundaries, laws, and interests remain distinct. A real union, by contrast, involves the constituent states being to some extent in ...
by the Swedish Crown – interrupted by a Danish occupation (1712–1715) – and from 1715 on by the Hanoverian Crown. 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 ...
incorporated the principality in a real union and the princely territory, including Verden upon Aller, became part of the new Stade Region, established in 1823. Until 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 ...
, Verden was renowned for its trade and crafts and also its mounted division. During the Nazi regime forced-labourers were used in a furniture factory in Verden. Between 1945 and 1949 Verden was part of the British zone of occupation. Refugees from the former Prussian provinces of
East Prussia East Prussia was a Provinces of Prussia, province of the Kingdom of Prussia from 1772 to 1829 and again from 1878 (with the Kingdom itself being part of the German Empire from 1871); following World War I it formed part of the Weimar Republic's ...
,
Pomerania Pomerania ( ; ; ; ) is a historical region on the southern shore of the Baltic Sea in Central Europe, split between Poland and Germany. The central and eastern part belongs to the West Pomeranian Voivodeship, West Pomeranian, Pomeranian Voivod ...
and
Silesia Silesia (see names #Etymology, below) is a historical region of Central Europe that lies mostly within Poland, with small parts in the Czech Silesia, Czech Republic and Germany. Its area is approximately , and the population is estimated at 8, ...
, settled in and around the town. With the labour immigration from the East
German Democratic Republic East Germany, officially known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), was a country in Central Europe from Foundation of East Germany, its formation on 7 October 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with West Germany (FRG) on ...
inhibited by the
Berlin Wall The Berlin Wall (, ) was a guarded concrete Separation barrier, barrier that encircled West Berlin from 1961 to 1989, separating it from East Berlin and the East Germany, German Democratic Republic (GDR; East Germany). Construction of the B ...
foreign workers ( Gastarbeiter) started to arrive from southern Europe and
Anatolia Anatolia (), also known as Asia Minor, is a peninsula in West Asia that makes up the majority of the land area of Turkey. It is the westernmost protrusion of Asia and is geographically bounded by the Mediterranean Sea to the south, the Aegean ...
in the 1960s. After the fall of
Communism Communism () is a political sociology, sociopolitical, political philosophy, philosophical, and economic ideology, economic ideology within the history of socialism, socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a ...
more immigrants arrived from Eastern Europe. From 1945 until 1960, the 5th Division, of the British Army of the Rhine, was stationed in Verden. In 1960, the division was renamed as the 1st Division (later 1st Armoured Division). One of the former British barracks is now used to house the ''Kreisverwaltung'' (district administration) and a new sporting stadium has been erected opposite. The second barracks has been demolished to make way for a new residential estate.


Geography

Verden is located 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 ...
, on the river Aller. It is the administrative centre of the district of Verden. The nearest large cities are Bremen () and Hannover ().


Sights

The old town lies east of the Aller. The Lutheran cathedral () is known as the ' and towers above the pedestrianised high street, with its cafés and shops. This
proto-cathedral A cathedral is a church that contains the of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually specific to those Christian denominations with an epis ...
, consecrated to Ss. Mary and Cecilia, served the former Catholic Diocese of Verden as episcopal church and was built between the 12th and 15th centuries. Other noteworthy buildings include the Lutheran churches of St. John and of St. Andrew, as well as the town hall and the ''Domherrenhaus'' (House of cathedral canons). Verden is further renowned for horse racing and sport horse auctions and is thus also called the (horse) riding town ().


Infrastructure

East of Verden, there is the tall radio transmitter, , used by
Deutsche Telekom Deutsche Telekom AG (, ; often just Telekom, DTAG or DT; stylised as ·T·) is a partially state-owned German telecommunications company headquartered in Bonn and the largest telecommunications provider in Europe by revenue. It was formed in 199 ...
primarily for TV and mobile phone broadcasting. in 2009, the derelict fodder silo towering over the town won the prize of being "The ugliest wall in North Germany" in a Radio Bremen Vier competition. The prize was to be decorated with a large mural by Graffiti Artists Markus Genesius and Stefan of WOW123. The mural can now be seen above the town skyline. Mars Petcare has its largest pet food factory in Europe, with a large research centre similar to the Waltham Petcare Science Institute in the UK.


Twin towns – sister cities

Verden is twinned with: * Bagrationovsk, Russia * Bartoszyce County, Poland * Górowo Iławeckie, Poland * Gmina Górowo Iławeckie, Poland * Havelberg, Germany * Saumur, France * Warwick, England, United Kingdom *
Zielona Góra Zielona Góra (; ''Green Mountain''; ) is the largest city in Lubusz Voivodeship, located in western Poland, with 140,403 inhabitants (). The region is closely associated with vineyards and holds an annual Zielona Góra Wine Fest, Wine Fest. Zie ...
, Poland


Notable people

* Catharine Wolpmann (1603 – fl. 1659), twice charged locally with
witchcraft Witchcraft is the use of Magic (supernatural), magic by a person called a witch. Traditionally, "witchcraft" means the use of magic to inflict supernatural harm or misfortune on others, and this remains the most common and widespread meanin ...
, in 1647 and 1655 and twice acquitted * F. C. D. Wyneken (1810–1876), missionary pastor in the United States * Marcus Lehmann (1831–1890), Orthodox rabbi * Anita Augspurg (1857–1943), jurist, actress, writer, activist of the radical feminist movement and pacifist * Adolf Köster (1883–1930), politician (SPD),
Foreign Minister In many countries, the ministry of foreign affairs (abbreviated as MFA or MOFA) is the highest government department exclusively or primarily responsible for the state's foreign policy and relations, diplomacy, bilateral, and multilateral r ...
(1920) and
Interior Minister An interior minister (sometimes called a minister of internal affairs or minister of home affairs) is a Cabinet (government), cabinet official position that is responsible for internal affairs, such as public security, civil registration and iden ...
(1921–1922). * Gerhard Lindemann (1896–1994), Generalmajor * Gottfried Graf von Bismarck-Schönhausen (1901–1949), politician and grandson of
Otto von Bismarck Otto, Prince of Bismarck, Count of Bismarck-Schönhausen, Duke of Lauenburg (; born ''Otto Eduard Leopold von Bismarck''; 1 April 1815 – 30 July 1898) was a German statesman and diplomat who oversaw the unification of Germany and served as ...
, died locally * Hanna Grages (1922–2010), gymnast, competed at the
1952 Summer Olympics The 1952 Summer Olympics (, ), officially known as the Games of the XV Olympiad (, ) and commonly known as Helsinki 1952, were an international multi-sport event held from 19 July to 3 August 1952 in Helsinki, Finland. After Japan declared in ...
* Volker Münz (born 1964), politician (AfD), member of the
Bundestag The Bundestag (, "Federal Diet (assembly), Diet") is the lower house of the Germany, German Federalism in Germany, federal parliament. It is the only constitutional body of the federation directly elected by the German people. The Bundestag wa ...
, 2017 to 2021. * Hille Perl (born 1965), virtuoso player of the
viola da gamba The viola da gamba (), or viol, or informally gamba, is a bowed and fretted string instrument that is played (i.e. "on the leg"). It is distinct from the later violin family, violin, or ; and it is any one of the earlier viol family of bow (m ...
* Jan Hendrik Schön (born 1970), German physicist and fraud


Gallery


References


External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Verden An Der Aller 1648 disestablishments Populated places established in the 15th century Verden (district)