Osterheide is an unincorporated area in the district of Heidekreis , in Lower Saxony , Germany .
7-684: The 177.99 square kilometres (68.72 sq mi) area has 2,463 inhabitants (as at 31 December 2020). Its administrative seat is the village of Oerbke ; other villages are Ostenholz and Wense. The districts of Osterheide and Lohheide cover the Bergen-Hohne Military Training Area . In 1935 the German armed forces, the Wehrmacht , established the military training area of Bergen between Bergen and Fallingbostel . A total of 24 villages were evacuated and their inhabitants relocated. In 1938
14-415: Is different from that of a municipality. Its instruments are the district principal ( Bezirksvorsteher ) and a council of elected representatives of the inhabitants. The mayor is proposed by the land owners and then elected by the council. The participation rights of the inhabitants are limited to the election of representatives as well as the opportunity to ask questions and listen to the public proceedings of
21-786: The Bergen Area Estate ( Gutsbezirk Platz Bergen ) was created to administer the training area and it was subordinated to Fallingbostel district. In 1945 the Gutsbezirk was split into two independent areas, known as the Osterheide and Lohheide Estates. Osterheide remained part of Fallingbostel district, whilst Lohheide was re-subordinated again to Celle district . Today Osterheide covers the NATO Bergen-Hohne firing ranges in Heidekreis district which were established in 1958. According to § 16 of
28-685: The German armed forces, the Wehrmacht established a prisoner-of-war camp in Oerbke in which up to 30,000 soldiers from the Red Army were housed. After 1945 Oerbke Camp was initially used by the British Forces as a detention centre and displaced persons camp. Later the Oerbke East settlement ( Ostsiedlung Oerbke ) was used for troops exercising on the Bergen-Hohne Training Area . Closely linked to
35-588: The Lower Saxony Municipality Regulations (NGO) the management of unincorporated or unparished areas is to be governed by a regulation. The extant version of this regulation was issued on 4 December 1996. This states that "the delivery of public services for the area's sphere of activity is the responsibility of the land owner" which in the case of Lohheide and Osterheide, is the Federal Government . The constitution of an unincorporated area
42-686: The council. Amongst the cultural monuments and places of interest in and around Osterheide are: Oerbke Oerbke is an unincorporated German village in Soltau-Fallingbostel district in the southern part of the Lüneburg Heath in Lower Saxony . Oerbke lies on the A7 autobahn east of Bad Fallingbostel and is the seat of administration for the Osterheide area. The farming village of Oerbke
49-466: Was first mentioned in the surviving records in 1256 and, by 1438, there were 8 farmsteads reported in the area as well as 4 individual houses ( Kotstellen ). The farms and houses were also evident in the registers in 1563, 1589 and 1628, so they were very long-lived here, probably due to the fertile soil. Until 1935 the village had been a purely agricultural settlement for centuries. During the Third Reich
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