Town in Lower Saxony, Germany
Verden an der Aller
(
German:
[?feː??dn?
?an
d?
??al?]
ⓘ
;
Northern Low Saxon
:
Veern
), also called
Verden (Aller)
or simply
Verden
, is a town in
Lower Saxony
,
Germany
, on the river
Aller
. It is the
district town
of the district of Verden in Lower Saxony and an independent municipality (
de:Selbstandige Gemeinde
). The town is located in the middle
Weser
region on the Aller river immediately before it flows into the Weser. As a center of
horse breeding
and
equestrian sports
, 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
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
in 782, committed on the orders of
Charlemagne
(the
Massacre of Verden
), for its cathedral, and for its horse-breeding.
History
[
edit
]
In the Early Middle Ages (year 782) there was a massacre of allegedly 4,500
Saxons
, by order of Charlemagne because of their involvement in a preceding uprising. Verden was then within the
Duchy of Saxony
.
After in 1180 a coalition of Emperor
Frederick I Barbarossa
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
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 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
) 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
by the Swedish Crown ? interrupted by a Danish occupation (1712?1715) ? and from 1715 on by the
Hanoverian
Crown. The
Kingdom of Hanover
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
, 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
,
Pomerania
and
Silesia
, settled in and around the town.
With the labour immigration from the East
German Democratic Republic
inhibited by the
Berlin Wall
foreign workers (
Gastarbeiter
) started to arrive from southern Europe and
Anatolia
in the 1960s. After the fall of
Communism
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
[
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]
Verden is located in the German state of
Lower Saxony
, on the river
Aller
. It is the administrative centre of the district of
Verden
. The nearest large cities are Bremen (35 km or 22 mi) and Hannover (90 km or 56 mi).
Sights
[
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]
Cathedral tower,
c.
1160, possibly the first brick construction in north-west Germany
The old town lies east of the Aller. The Lutheran cathedral (
German
:
Dom
) is known as the
Dom zu Verden
[
de
]
and towers above the pedestrianised high street, with its cafes and shops. This
proto-cathedral
, 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 (
German
:
Reiterstadt
).
Infrastructure
[
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]
East of Verden, there is the 225 metres (738 ft) tall radio transmitter,
Sender Verden
[
de
]
, used by
Deutsche Telekom
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
[
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]
Verden is
twinned
with:
[3]
Notable people
[
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]
Anita Augspurg
, 1902
- Catharine Wolpmann
(1603 ? fl. 1659), twice charged locally with
witchcraft
, 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 Koster
(1883?1930), politician (SPD),
Foreign Minister
(1920) and
Interior Minister
(1921?1922).
- Gerhard Lindemann
(1896?1994), Generalmajor
- Gottfried Graf von Bismarck-Schonhausen
(1901?1949), politician and grandson of
Otto von Bismarck
, died locally
- Hanna Grages
(1922?2010), gymnast, competed at the
1952 Summer Olympics
- Volker Munz
(born 1964), politician (AfD), member of the
Bundestag
, 2017 to 2021.
- Hille Perl
(born 1965), virtuoso player of the
viola da gamba
- Jan Hendrik Schon
(born 1970), German physicist and fraud
Gallery
[
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]
References
[
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]
External links
[
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]
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| Free Imperial Cities as of 1648
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