Osterheide is an unincorporated area

Unincorporated area

In law, an unincorporated area is a region of land that is not a part of any municipality.To "incorporate" in this context means to form a municipal corporation, a city, town, or village with its own government. An unincorporated community is usually not subject to or taxed by a municipal government...

 in the district of Heidekreis, in Lower Saxony

Lower Saxony

Lower Saxony is a German state situated in north-western Germany and is second in area and fourth in population among the sixteen states of Germany...

, Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

.

The 177.99 square kilometres (68.7 sq mi) area has 815 inhabitants (as at 31 December 2007). Its administrative seat is the village of Oerbke

Oerbke

Oerbke is an unparished 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.- History :...

; other villages are Ostenholz and Wense. The districts of Osterheide and Lohheide

Lohheide

Lohheide is an unincorporated area in the district of Celle, in Lower Saxony, Germany.It covers an area of and has 764 inhabitants...

 cover the Bergen-Hohne Military Training Area

Bergen-Hohne Training Area

Bergen-Hohne Training Area is a NATO military training area in the southern part of the Lüneburg Heath, in the state of Lower Saxony in northern Germany. It covers an area of , which makes it the largest military training area in Germany.It was established by the German armed forces, the...

.

History

In 1935 the German armed forces, the Wehrmacht

Wehrmacht

The Wehrmacht – from , to defend and , the might/power) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the Heer , the Kriegsmarine and the Luftwaffe .-Origin and use of the term:...

, established the military training area of Bergen between Bergen and Fallingbostel

Bad Fallingbostel

Bad Fallingbostel is the district town of the Heidekreis district in the German state of Lower Saxony. Since 1976 the town has had a state-recognised Kneipp spa and has held the title of Bad since 5 August 2002. It has close ties to Walsrode, a few miles to the west...

. A total of 24 villages were evacuated and their inhabitants relocated. In 1938 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.

Legal status

According to § 16 of 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 is different from that of 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 the council.

Cultural monuments and places of interest

Amongst the cultural monuments and places of interest in and around Osterheide are:

• in Oerbke
  Oerbke
  Oerbke is an unparished 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.- History :...
  
   (west):
  • Cemetery of the Unknown Soldiers (Friedhof der Namenlosen), a war cemetery, in which around 30,000 Russian prisoners-of-war from the Second World War are buried in mass graves
• in and around Ostenholz (southwest):
  • Timber-framed church with wooden tower dating from 1724
  • Hoher Stein, a monument in memory of the communities evacuated in 1936 in order to establish the military training area
  • Sieben Steinhäuser
    Sieben Steinhäuser
    The Sieben Steinhäuser is a group of five dolmens on the Lüneburg Heath in the NATO training area of Bergen-Hohne, in the state of Lower Saxony in northern Germany. The stones are considered to be part of the funnelbeaker culture...
    
     (literally: "Seven Stone Houses"), dolmens from the New Stone Age in the south of the training area
• in Wense (northwest):
  • The estate chapel (Gutskapelle), a splendid church dating from 1558