Editing Lower Saxony (section)

==History==

=== Regional history prior to foundation of Lower Saxony ===
The name of [[Old Saxony|Saxony]] derives from that of the [[Germanic peoples|Germanic]] confederation of tribes called the [[Saxons]]. Before the late medieval period, there was a single [[Duchy of Saxony]]. The term "Lower Saxony" was used after the dissolution of the stem duchy in the late 13th century to distinguish the parts of the former duchy ruled by the [[House of Welf]] from the [[Electorate of Saxony]] on one hand, and from the [[Duchy of Westphalia]] on the other.

==== Medieval and early modern period ====
[[File:Herzogtum Sachsen 1000.PNG|thumb|The [[Duchy of Saxony]] around 1000]]

The name and coat of arms of the present state go back to the [[Saxons|Germanic tribe of Saxons]]. During the [[Migration Period]] some of the Saxon peoples left their homeland in [[Holstein]] about the 3rd century and pushed southwards over the [[Elbe]], where they expanded into the sparsely populated regions in the rest of the lowlands, in present-day Northwest Germany and the northeastern part of what is now the [[Netherlands]]. From about the 7th century the Saxons had occupied a settlement area that roughly corresponds to the present state of Lower Saxony, of [[Westphalia]] and a number of areas to the east, for example, in what is now west and north Saxony-Anhalt. The land of the Saxons was divided into about 60&nbsp;''[[Gau (country subdivision)|Gaue]]''. The [[Frisians]] had not moved into this region; for centuries they preserved their independence in the most northwesterly region of the present-day Lower Saxon territory. The original language of the folk in the area of Old Saxony was [[West Low German]], one of the varieties of language in the Low German dialect group.

[[File:Map of the Imperial Circles (1512)-en.png|thumb|[[Imperial circle]]s at the start of the 16th century. Red: the Lower Saxon Circle, light brown: the Lower Rhenish-Westphalian Circle]]

The establishment of permanent boundaries between what later became Lower Saxony and Westphalia began in the 12th century. In 1260, in a treaty between the [[Electorate of Cologne|Archbishopric of Cologne]] and the [[Duchy of Brunswick-Lüneburg]] the lands claimed by the two territories were separated from each other.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.lwl.org/westfaelische-geschichte/portal/Internet/input_felder/anzeigen.php?verzeichnis=kar&dateiname=kar38.jpg&bild_id=38 |title=Landschaftsverband Westfalen-Lippe |department=Die Interessengebiete Kölns und Braunschweigs nach dem Vertrag von 1260 (map) |language=de |website=Lwl.org |access-date=29 October 2012 |archive-date=28 October 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201028052329/https://www.lwl.org/westfaelische-geschichte/portal/Internet/input_felder/anzeigen.php?verzeichnis=kar&dateiname=kar38.jpg&bild_id=38 |url-status=dead }}</ref> The border ran along the Weser to a point north of Nienburg. The northern part of the Weser-Ems region was placed under the rule of Brunswick-Lüneburg.

The word ''Niedersachsen'' was first used before 1300 in a Dutch rhyming chronicle (''Reimchronik''). From the 14th century it referred to the [[Duchy of Saxe-Lauenburg]] (as opposed to [[Saxe-Wittenberg]]).<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.niedersachsen.de/live/live.php?navigation_id=6870&article_id=19881&_psmand=1000 |title=Land Niedersachsen: ''Der Weg zum Land Niedersachsen'' |publisher=Niedersachsen.de |access-date=29 October 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110807114315/http://www.niedersachsen.de/live/live.php?navigation_id=6870&article_id=19881&_psmand=1000 |archive-date=7 August 2011 |url-status=dead }}</ref> On the creation of the [[imperial circle]]s in 1500, a [[Lower Saxon Circle]] was distinguished from a [[Lower Rhenish–Westphalian Circle]]. The latter included the following territories that, in whole or in part, belong today to the state of Lower Saxony: the [[Bishopric of Osnabrück]], the [[Bishopric of Münster]], the [[County of Bentheim]], the [[County of Hoya]], the Principality of [[East Frisia]], the [[Prince-Bishopric of Verden|Principality of Verden]], the [[County of Diepholz]], the [[Duchy of Oldenburg|County of Oldenburg]], the [[County of Schaumburg]] and the [[Counts of Spiegelberg|County of Spiegelberg]]. At the same time a distinction was made with the eastern part of the old Saxon lands from the [[central German]] principalities later called [[Upper Saxony]] for dynastic reasons.<ref>See also: [[Electorate of Saxony]] and [[History of Saxony]]</ref>

The close historical links between the domains of the Lower Saxon Circle now in modern Lower Saxony survived for centuries especially from a dynastic point of view. The majority of historic territories whose land now lies within Lower Saxony were sub-principalities of the medieval, Welf estates of the [[Duchy of Brunswick-Lüneburg]]. All the Welf princes called themselves dukes "of Brunswick and Lüneburg" despite often ruling parts of a duchy that was forever being divided and reunited as various Welf lines multiplied or died out.

==== Congress of Vienna to Second World War (1815–1945)====
[[File:KrkHannover.png|thumb|The [[Kingdom of Hanover]], the [[Duchy of Brunswick]], the [[Grand Duchy of Oldenburg]] and [[Schaumburg-Lippe|the Principality of Schaumburg-Lippe]] in the 19th century]]

Two major principalities survived east of the Weser after the Napoleonic Wars: the [[Kingdom of Hanover]] and the [[Duchy of Brunswick]] (after 1866 Hanover became a [[Province of Hanover|Prussian province]]; after 1919 Brunswick became a free state). Historically a close tie existed between the royal house of Hanover ([[Electorate of Hanover]]) and the [[United Kingdom|United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland]] as a result of their [[personal union]] in the 18th century (the personal union was dissolved when [[Queen Victoria|Victoria]] became the Queen of the United Kingdom in 1837 because Hanover did not allow female rulers).

West of the River [[Hunte]] a "de-Westphalianising process" began in 1815.<ref>Zur räumlichen Zuordnung des Begriffs "Westfalen/westfälisch" vgl. [http://www.lwl.org/westfaelische-geschichte/portal/Internet/input_felder/langDatensatz_ebene4.php?urlID=168&url_tabelle=tab_websegmente Karl Ditt: ''Der Raum Westfalen in der Historiographie des 20. Jhs.''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200522084653/https://www.lwl.org/westfaelische-geschichte/portal/Internet/input_felder/langDatensatz_ebene4.php?urlID=168&url_tabelle=tab_websegmente |date=22 May 2020 }}</ref> After the [[Congress of Vienna]] the territories of the later administrative regions (''[[Regierungsbezirk]]e'') of [[Regierungsbezirk Osnabrück|Osnabrück]] and [[Regierungsbezirk Aurich|Aurich]] transferred to the Kingdom of Hanover. The [[Grand Duchy of Oldenburg]] and the [[Schaumburg-Lippe|Principality of Schaumburg-Lippe]] retained state autonomy. Nevertheless, the entire Weser-Ems region (including the city of [[Bremen]]) were grouped in 1920 into a Lower Saxon Constituency Association (''Wahlkreisverband IX (Niedersachsen)''). This indicates that at that time the western administrations of the [[Prussia]]n Province of Hanover and the state of [[Oldenburg (state)|Oldenburg]] were perceived as being "Lower Saxon".

The forerunners of today's state of Lower Saxony were lands that were geographically and, to some extent, institutionally interrelated from very early on. The [[County of Schaumburg]] (not to be confused with the Principality of Schaumburg-Lippe) around the towns of [[Rinteln]] and [[Hessisch Oldendorf]] did indeed belong to the Prussian province of [[Hesse-Nassau]] until 1932, a province that also included large parts of the present state of Hesse, including the cities of [[Kassel]], [[Wiesbaden]] and [[Frankfurt am Main]]; but in 1932 the County of Schaumburg became part of the Prussian Province of Hanover.

When the [[Nazi Party]] [[Nazi seizure of power|seized power]] in 1933, they quickly transformed Germany into a highly centralised state and divided the entire [[Third Reich]] into ''Gaue'' which largely superseded (but did not outright replace) Germany's traditional federal system. Nevertheless, some changes to the old state and provincial borders were made in 1937, notably including the city of [[Cuxhaven]] being fully integrated into the Prussian Province of Hanover under the [[Greater Hamburg Act]]. The effect of this Nazi-era change was that in 1946, after the Third Reich had collapsed and when state of Lower Saxony was founded, only four states needed to be merged. With the exception of Bremen and the areas that were ceded to the [[Soviet Occupation Zone]] in 1945, all those areas allocated to the new state of Lower Saxony in 1946, had already been merged into the "Constituency Association of Lower Saxony" in 1920.

In a lecture on 14 September 2007, Dietmar von Reeken described the emergence of a "Lower Saxony consciousness" in the 19th century, the geographical basis of which was used to invent a territorial construct: the resulting [[local heritage]] societies (''Heimatvereine'') and their associated magazines routinely used the terms "Lower Saxony" or "Lower Saxon" in their names. At the end of the 1920s in the context of discussions about a reform of the Reich, and promoted by the expanding local heritage movement (''Heimatbewegung''), a 25-year conflict started between "Lower Saxony" and "Westphalia". The supporters of this dispute were administrative officials and politicians, but regionally focussed scientists of various disciplines were supposed to have fuelled the arguments. In the 1930s, a real Lower Saxony did not yet exist, but there were a plethora of institutions that would have called themselves "Lower Saxon". The motives and arguments in the disputes between "Lower Saxony" and "Westphalia" were very similar on both sides: economic interests, political aims, cultural interests and historical aspects.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://hsozkult.geschichte.hu-berlin.de/tagungsberichte/id%3D1753%26count%3D218%26recno%3D32%26sort%3Dort%26order%3Ddown%26geschichte%3D80 |title=Martin Dröge: ''Räume, Grenzen, Identitäten – Westfalen als Gegenstand landes- und regionalgeschichtlicher Forschung'' |publisher=Hsozkult.geschichte.hu-berlin.de |access-date=29 October 2012 |archive-date=21 May 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130521093409/http://hsozkult.geschichte.hu-berlin.de/tagungsberichte/id%3D1753%26count%3D218%26recno%3D32%26sort%3Dort%26order%3Ddown%26geschichte%3D80 |url-status=live }}</ref>

==== Formation of the state (1945–1946)====
After the [[Second World War]] most of Northwest Germany lay within the [[British occupation zone in Germany|British Zone of Occupation]]. On 23 August 1946, the [[Control Commission for Germany - British Element|British Military Government]] issued [[Ordinance No. 46]] ''"Concerning the dissolution of the provinces of the former state of [[Prussia]] in the British Zone and their reconstitution as independent states"'', which initially established the [[State of Hanover]] on the territory of the former Prussian Province of Hanover. Its minister president, [[Hinrich Wilhelm Kopf]], had already suggested in June 1945 the formation of a state of Lower Saxony, that was to include the largest possible region in the middle of the British Zone. In addition to the regions that actually became Lower Saxony subsequently, Kopf asked, in a memorandum dated April 1946, for the inclusion of the former Prussian district of [[Minden-Ravensberg]] (i.e. the Westphalian city of [[Bielefeld]] as well as the Westphalian districts of [[Kreis Minden|Minden]], [[Kreis Lübbecke|Lübbecke]], [[Kreis Bielefeld|Bielefeld]], [[Kreis Herford|Herford]] and [[Kreis Halle|Halle]]), the [[Kreis Tecklenburg|district of Tecklenburg]] and the state of [[Lippe (state)|Lippe]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://nibis.ni.schule.de/nli1/rechtsx/nlpb/pdf/Landesgeschichte/Gr%FCndung%20des%20Landes%20Niedersachsen2.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110719082708/http://nibis.ni.schule.de/nli1/rechtsx/nlpb/pdf/Landesgeschichte/Gr%FCndung%20des%20Landes%20Niedersachsen2.pdf|url-status=dead|archive-date=19 July 2011|author=Klaus Schaap / Rudolf Willenborg|page=21|title=Gründung des Landes Niedersachsen – Darstellung und Quellen|access-date=29 October 2012}}</ref> Kopf's plan was ultimately based on a draft for the reform of the German Empire from the late 1920s by Georg Schnath and Kurt Brüning. The strong [[House of Welf|Welf]] connotations of this draft, according to Thomas Vogtherr, did not simplify the development of a Lower Saxon identity after 1946.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://hsozkult.geschichte.hu-berlin.de/tagungsberichte/id%3D3145%26count%3D220%26recno%3D10%26sort%3Ddatum%26order%3Ddown%26geschichte%3D80 |title=Thomas Vogtherr: ''100 Jahre Historische Kommission für Niedersachsen und Bremen – Personen, Geschichtsbilder, Forschungsfelder, Netzwerke 1910–2010''. 27 May 2010 |publisher=Hsozkult.geschichte.hu-berlin.de |access-date=29 October 2012 |archive-date=16 April 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140416103438/http://hsozkult.geschichte.hu-berlin.de/tagungsberichte/id%3D3145%26count%3D220%26recno%3D10%26sort%3Ddatum%26order%3Ddown%26geschichte%3D80 |url-status=live }}</ref>

An alternative model, proposed by politicians in Oldenburg and Brunswick, envisaged the foundation of the independent state of "Weser-Ems", that would be formed from the state of Oldenburg, the Hanseatic City of Bremen and the administrative regions of Aurich and Osnabrück. Several representatives of the state of Oldenburg even demanded the inclusion of the Hanoverian districts of [[Landkreis Diepholz|Diepholz]], [[Landkreis Grafschaft Hoya|Syke]], [[Landkreis Osterholz|Osterholz-Scharmbeck]] and [[Landkreis Wesermünde|Wesermünde]] in the proposed state of "Weser-Ems". Likewise an enlarged State of Brunswick was proposed in the southeast to include the ''Regierungsbezirk'' of [[Regierungsbezirk Hildesheim|Hildesheim]] and the [[Landkreis Gifhorn|district of Gifhorn]]. Had this plan come to fruition, the territory of the present Lower Saxony would have consisted of three states of roughly equal size.

The district council of [[Landkreis Vechta|Vechta]] protested on 12 June 1946 against being incorporated into the metropolitan area of Hanover (''Großraum Hannover''). If the State of Oldenburg was to be dissolved, Vechta District would much rather be included in the [[Westphalia]]n region.<ref>{{cite web |author=Landkreis Vechta |url=http://www.landkreis-vechta.de/0800/lk/323.html |title=Landkreis Vechta: ''Zeitzeichen im Landkreis'' |publisher=Landkreis-vechta.de |date=14 April 2004 |access-date=29 October 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130517031716/http://www.landkreis-vechta.de/0800/lk/323.html |archive-date=17 May 2013}}</ref> Particularly in the districts where there was a political [[Catholicism]] the notion was widespread, that [[Oldenburg Münsterland]] and the ''Regierungsbezirk'' of Osnabrück should be part of a newly formed State of Westphalia.<ref>Joachim Kuropka: ''Katholizismus, Kirche und südoldenburgische Identität''. In: Heimatbund für das Oldenburger Münsterland (Hrsg.): ''Jahrbuch für das Oldenburger Münsterland 2004''. Vechta. p. 50f.</ref>

Since the foundation of the states of [[North Rhine-Westphalia]] and [[State of Hanover|Hanover]] on 23 August 1946 the northern and eastern border of North Rhine-Westphalia has largely been identical with that of the Prussian [[Province of Westphalia]]. Only the [[Free State of Lippe]] was not incorporated into North Rhine-Westphalia until January 1947. With that the majority of the regions left of the Upper Weser became North Rhine-Westphalian.

In the end, at the meeting of the Zone Advisory Board on 20 September 1946, Kopf's proposal with regard to the division of the British occupation zone into three large states proved to be capable of gaining a majority.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://nibis.ni.schule.de/nli1/rechtsx/nlpb/pdf/Landesgeschichte/Gr%FCndung%20des%20Landes%20Niedersachsen2.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110719082708/http://nibis.ni.schule.de/nli1/rechtsx/nlpb/pdf/Landesgeschichte/Gr%FCndung%20des%20Landes%20Niedersachsen2.pdf|url-status=dead|archive-date=19 July 2011|title=Gründung des Landes Niedersachsen – Darstellung und Quellen|author=Klaus Schaap / Rudolf Willenborg|page=22f|access-date=29 October 2012}}</ref> Because this division of their occupation zone into relatively large states also met the interests of the British, on 8 November 1946 Regulation No.&nbsp;55 of the [[United Kingdom|British]] [[Military occupation|military government]] was issued, by which the State of Lower Saxony with its capital [[Hanover]] were founded, backdated to 1 November 1946. The state was formed by a merger of the [[Free State of Brunswick|Free States of Brunswick]], [[Free State of Oldenburg|of Oldenburg]] and of [[Free State of Schaumburg-Lippe|Schaumburg-Lippe]] with the previously formed State of Hanover. But there were exceptions:
* In the Free State of Brunswick, the eastern part of the [[Kreis Blankenburg|district of Blankenburg]] and the exclave of [[Calvörde]], which belonged to the [[Landkreis Helmstedt|district of Helmstedt]] fell into the [[Soviet Zone of Occupation]] and were later integrated into the state of [[Saxony-Anhalt]].
* In the [[State of Hanover]], [[Amt Neuhaus]] and the villages of Neu Bleckede and Neu Wendischthun were allotted to the Soviet Zone and thus the subsequent [[East Germany]]. They were not returned to Lower Saxony until 1993.
* The city of [[Wesermünde]] that then lay in the [[Regierungsbezirk Stade]] was renamed in 1947 to [[Bremerhaven]] and incorporated into the new city-state of Bremen, which became one of the federated German states.

The demands of Dutch politicians that the Netherlands should be given the German regions east of the Dutch-German border as [[war reparations]], were roundly rejected at the London Conference of 26 March 1949. In fact only about {{cvt|1.3|km2}} of west Lower Saxony was transferred to the Netherlands, in 1949.

''→ see main article [[Dutch annexation of German territory after World War II]]''

=== History of Lower Saxony as a state ===
[[File:Niedersachsen Verordnung 55 3339.jpg|thumb|'''Ordinance No. 55''', with which on 22 November 1946 the British military government founded the state Lower Saxony retroactively to 1 November 1946]]
The first [[Lower Saxon Landtag|Lower Saxon parliament]] or ''Landtag'' met on 9 December 1946. It was not elected; rather it was established by the British Occupation Administration (a so-called "appointed parliament"). That same day the parliament elected the [[Social Democratic Party of Germany|Social Democrat]], [[Hinrich Wilhelm Kopf]], the former Hanoverian president (''Regierungspräsident'') as their first minister-president. Kopf led a five-party coalition, whose basic task was to rebuild a state afflicted by the war's rigours. Kopf's cabinet had to organise an improvement of food supplies and the reconstruction of the cities and towns destroyed by Allied air raids during the war years. Hinrich Wilhelm Kopf remained – interrupted by the time in office of [[Heinrich Hellwege]] (1955–1959) – as the head of government in Lower Saxony until 1961.

The greatest problem facing the first state government in the immediate post-war years was the challenge of integrating hundreds of thousands of [[refugee]]s from Germany's former territories in the east (such as [[Silesia]] and [[East Prussia]]), which had been annexed by [[Poland]] and the [[Soviet Union]]. Lower Saxony was at the western end of the direct escape route from East Prussia and had the longest border with the Soviet Zone. On 3 October 1950 Lower Saxony took over the sponsorship of the very large number of refugees from [[Silesia]]. In 1950 there was still a shortage of 730,000 homes according to official figures.

During the period when Germany was divided, the Lower Saxon [[Helmstedt–Marienborn border crossing|border crossing at Helmstedt]] found itself on the main transport artery to [[West Berlin]] and, from 1945 to 1990 was the busiest European border crossing point.

Of economic significance for the state was the ''[[Volkswagen]]'' concern, that restarted the production of civilian vehicles in 1945, initially under British management, and in 1949 transferred into the ownership of the newly founded country of [[West Germany]] and state of Lower Saxony. Overall, Lower Saxony, with its large tracts of rural countryside and few urban centres, was one of the industrially weaker regions of the federal republic for a long time. In 1960, 20% of the working population worked on the land. In the rest of the federal territory the figure was just 14%. Even in economically prosperous times the jobless totals in Lower Saxony are constantly higher than the federal average.

In 1961 [[Georg Diederichs]] took office as the minister president of Lower Saxony as the successor to Hinrich Wilhelm Kopf. He was replaced in 1970 by [[Alfred Kubel]]. The arguments about the [[Gorleben Nuclear Waste Repository]], that began during the time in office of minister president [[Ernst Albrecht (politician, born 1930)|Ernst Albrecht]] (1976–1990), have played an important role in state and federal politics since the end of the 1970s.

In 1990 [[Gerhard Schröder]] entered the office of minister-president. On 1 June 1993, the new Lower Saxon constitution entered force, replacing the "Provisional Lower Saxon Constitution" of 1951. It enables [[referendum]]s and [[plebiscite]]s and establishes [[environmental protection]] as a fundamental state principle.

The former Hanoverian [[Amt Neuhaus]] with its parishes of Dellien, Haar, Kaarßen, Neuhaus (Elbe), Stapel, Sückau, [[Sumte]] and Tripkau as well as the villages of Neu Bleckede, Neu Wendischthun and Stiepelse in the parish of Teldau and the historic Hanoverian region in the forest district of Bohldamm in the parish of Garlitz transferred with effect from 30 June 1993 from {{Lang|de|[[Mecklenburg-Vorpommern]]|italic=no}} to Lower Saxony ([[Landkreis Lüneburg|Lüneburg district]]). From these parishes the new municipality of Amt Neuhaus was created on 1 October 1993.

In 1998 [[Gerhard Glogowski]] succeeded Gerhard Schröder who became Federal Chancellor. Because he had been linked with various scandals in his home city of Brunswick, he resigned in 1999 and was replaced by [[Sigmar Gabriel]].

From 2003 to his election as Federal President in 2010 [[Christian Wulff]] was minister president in Lower Saxony. The [[Osnabrück]]er headed a CDU-led coalition with the FDP as does his successor, [[David McAllister]]. After the elections on 20 January 2013 McAllister was [[Deselection|deselected]].<ref>[http://www.cicero.de/berliner-republik/niedersachsen-david-mcallister-cdu-politischer-herzstillstand/53205 Machtverlust: David McAllisters politischer Herzstillstand] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130123080320/http://www.cicero.de/berliner-republik/niedersachsen-david-mcallister-cdu-politischer-herzstillstand/53205 |date=23 January 2013 }}. Retrieved 21 January 2013.</ref>