Editing Lower Saxony (section)

=== 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>