Wiesmoor
Encyclopedia
Wiesmoor is a city in the district of Aurich
in the northwest of Lower Saxony
. It lies on the Nordgeorgsfehnkanal
and is the youngest city in the East Frisia
area having been bestowed city rights on the 16th of March 2006, two days later on the 18th of March 2006, Wiesmoor celebrated the Centenary of the settlements founding. The city owes its growth to the industrialisation of the harvesting of peat
from the surrounding moors
. Wiesmoor holds an annual flower festival and the city is also known as the ‘Flower City’, the name originates from the large numbers of flowers which are grown in the city’s industrial greenhouse
. Formerly the greenhouses were heated by waste heat
from the now defunct peat burning power station
which was located in the city. Wiesmoor also has the official title of a Luftkurort
; tourism now plays an important role in the local economy.
in the North West of Germany in the centre of the historic district East Frisia. The city of Wiesmoor and its surroundings have a population of between 35,000 and 40,000 people.
The most South-Easterly community in the Landkreis of Aurich Wiesmoor lies centrally within the East Frisian peninsula. The city is in the district Aurich. In the East, the city borders with the Friedeburg
in the district of Wittmund
, in the south with Uplengen
in the district of Leer
. West of Wiesmoor is the village of Großefehn
lies and to the North of that the city of Aurich
, both in the district of Aurich.
The closest large cities to Wiesmoor are Wilhelmshaven
(30km to the North East), Oldenburg
(45km to the South East), Bremen
(80km to the South East) as well as the Dutch city of Groningen (80km to the South West).
The entire metropolitan area of Wiesmoor extends to an area of 82.99 km². The city has dimensions of approximately 11km in the North-South direction and about 7km in the East-West Direction.
The city of Wiesmoor lies in the middle part of the East Frisian raised bog, which was formed by glaciation, and contained up to 1900 layers of peat up to 8m deep. Originally the bog had an area of around 100km2 although the majority of that is now covered by the city.
The city ranges over heights of 10.6 to 14m above sea level, with the average being 11m.
Wiesmoor was laid out in 1906, the city today consists of the original 20th century planned city and an additional 9 quarters. A peculiarity of Wiesmoor lies therein that almost all current quarters of the city are older than the City Centre itself.
axe
and an earthen vessel from the pre-Roman iron age
that were discovered in Marcardsmoor. It is likely that these items belonged to someone who drowned in the bog rather than an indication of a durable settlement. In the bog in Wilhelmsfehn a neck ring from around 700BCE has also been found. In 1999 a bronze hatchet
which has dated to the middle of the bronze age
was discovered amongst rubbish in Ostgroßefehn. The hatchet is unique to East Frisia and it is likely that it was disposed of in the bog rather than originating in the area.
In 1633 colonisation of the bog area surrounding Wiesmoor began, however by 1880 there was still only around 100 inhabitants living within the current city area. In the beginning of the 20th century plans were drawn up by Dr. Eberhard Ramm from the Prussian Ministry of Agriculture to begin industrial harvesting of peat from the bogs, this would be done use large machinery rather than the traditional methods of spades and hoes. Further to this Dr. Ramm, in co-operation with Carl Friedrich von Siemens
, also planned to construct a new peat burning power plant in the area.
In 1906, the Nordgeorgsfehnkanal
was constructed through the bog in order to be able to drain the area. While in the beginning only specialists and prison labourers came to work by 1907 the first residents to Wiesmoor began to arrive and by 1909 the peat power plant was in operation. The plant was originally owned by Siemens
until 1921 when it was taken over by the North West German Power Plants Company (Nordwestdeutschen Kraftwerke AG). The plant provided power all the way from Ems down to the lower Elbe
. The waste heat
from the power plant was used from 1925 onwards to warm greenhouses to allow the year-round growing of flowers and vegetables, with an area of about 75,000 square meters the greenhouse at Wiesmoor was the largest in Europe at the time.
After the second world war, the Ernst Benary flower company erected a further twenty greenhouses and sowed forty hectares of outdoors area. This can be regarded as the start of Wiesmoor as the ‘Flower City’. Around 40,000 people were visiting the town annually by this time and plans were put down to for the building of a baths
, an open-air stage and for the extension of the park into a health establishment. In 1951 the boundaries of Wiesmoor were redrawn, several local villages became part of the towns and the area was incorporated into the district of Aurich. With 51.64 square kilometers, Wiesmoor was now the largest town by area in East Frisia, at this time the town had a total of 5,166 inhabitants.
1952 saw the staging of the first flower festival or Blütenfest in German. In that year the peat power plant was employing around 1,200 people and roughly 120,000 tons of peat was being harvested annually. A Further 200 people worked in the greenhouses, whose products, such as tomatoes and cucumber
, were exported into neighboring European countries.
The peat power plant was dismantled 1966 to be replaced with a larger capacity gas turbine
power plant. The loss of jobs caused by the closure of the power plant was helped by the growth of local company Bohlen and Doyen who have grown to become easily the largest employer in the city. In 1972 further changes to local boundaries meant that Wiesmoor continued to grow in size and population by incorporating more local villages. In 1977 the town was designated as a Luftkurort
, literally an air spa, due to its high air quality.
On Friday 13th of January 1989, a half year after the Ramstein Airshow Disaster
, there was a collision of several military jets
at low altitude over the Hinrichsfehn area of Wiesmoor. A tornado
of the Royal Air Force collided with a squadron of German Alphas Jets
of the Jagdbombergeschwader 43 division. One of the German Alpha Jets was seriously damaged but managed to make an emergency landing, the a further Alpha Jet and the Tornado were destroyed, the pilot of the Alpha Jet managed to eject but the two pilots in the Tornado died in the accident. The wreckage from the jets landed near a primary school in South Wiesmoor.
In 1995 the gas turbine power plant was demolished.
On the 16th of March 2006, Wiesmoor was granted city status. Lower Saxony Secretary of the Interior, Uwe Schünemann, delivered the documentation personally and congratulated the city on its rapid growth over the last 100 years.
display. A new Blütenkönigin is selected on the Sunday afternoon and on Monday the festival concludes with the ‘Kanal in Flammen’ (literally canal in flames) which is a large fireworks display held on and around the Nordgeorgsfehnkanal
Aurich (district)
Aurich is a district in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is bounded by the North Sea, the districts of Wittmund and Leer, and the city of Emden.- History :...
in the northwest of 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...
. It lies on the Nordgeorgsfehnkanal
Nordgeorgsfehnkanal
The Nordgeorgsfehn Canal is a canal in East Frisia, Lower Saxony, Germany. It connects the Jümme with the Ems-Jade Canal. It is 31.8 km long and 13 m wide. The maximum permitted draught of boats on the canal is 1.4 m and the maximum permitted height is 2.2 m. The canal has eight locks and twenty...
and is the youngest city in the East Frisia
East Frisia
East Frisia or Eastern Friesland is a coastal region in the northwest of the German federal state of Lower Saxony....
area having been bestowed city rights on the 16th of March 2006, two days later on the 18th of March 2006, Wiesmoor celebrated the Centenary of the settlements founding. The city owes its growth to the industrialisation of the harvesting of peat
Peat
Peat is an accumulation of partially decayed vegetation matter or histosol. Peat forms in wetland bogs, moors, muskegs, pocosins, mires, and peat swamp forests. Peat is harvested as an important source of fuel in certain parts of the world...
from the surrounding moors
Moors
The description Moors has referred to several historic and modern populations of the Maghreb region who are predominately of Berber and Arab descent. They came to conquer and rule the Iberian Peninsula for nearly 800 years. At that time they were Muslim, although earlier the people had followed...
. Wiesmoor holds an annual flower festival and the city is also known as the ‘Flower City’, the name originates from the large numbers of flowers which are grown in the city’s industrial greenhouse
Greenhouse
A greenhouse is a building in which plants are grown. These structures range in size from small sheds to very large buildings...
. Formerly the greenhouses were heated by waste heat
Waste heat
Waste heat sometimes called Secondary heat or Low-grade heat refers to heat produced by machines, electrical equipment and industrial processes for which no useful application is found. Energy is often produced by a heat engine, running on a source of high-temperature heat...
from the now defunct peat burning power station
Power station
A power station is an industrial facility for the generation of electric energy....
which was located in the city. Wiesmoor also has the official title of a Luftkurort
Luftkurort
Luftkurort, literally meaning 'air spa', is a title given to towns or cities in Germany which are health resorts who have a climate and air quality which is considered beneficial to health and rest. Tests are repeated on a regular basis to ensure that standards of air quality are maintained...
; tourism now plays an important role in the local economy.
Geography
Wiesmoor liesaround 30km inland from the North SeaNorth Sea
In the southwest, beyond the Straits of Dover, the North Sea becomes the English Channel connecting to the Atlantic Ocean. In the east, it connects to the Baltic Sea via the Skagerrak and Kattegat, narrow straits that separate Denmark from Norway and Sweden respectively...
in the North West of Germany in the centre of the historic district East Frisia. The city of Wiesmoor and its surroundings have a population of between 35,000 and 40,000 people.
The most South-Easterly community in the Landkreis of Aurich Wiesmoor lies centrally within the East Frisian peninsula. The city is in the district Aurich. In the East, the city borders with the Friedeburg
Friedeburg
Friedeburg is a municipality in the district of Wittmund, in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated approx. 14 km southeast of Wittmund, and 20 km west of Wilhelmshaven....
in the district of Wittmund
Wittmund (district)
Wittmund is a Landkreis in the northwestern part of Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated in East Frisia, on the North Sea coast. Neighboring districts are Friesland, Leer and Aurich.-Geography:...
, in the south with Uplengen
Uplengen
Uplengen is a municipality in the Leer district, in Lower Saxony, Germany.-Parts of the municipality:* Bühren* Großoldendorf* Großsander* Hollen* Jübberde* Klein Remels* Kleinoldendorf* Kleinsander* Meinersfehn* Neudorf* Neufirrel* Nordgeorgsfehn...
in the district of Leer
Leer (district)
Leer is a district in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is bounded by the city of Emden, the districts of Aurich, Wittmund, Friesland, Ammerland, Cloppenburg and Emsland, and by the Netherlands ....
. West of Wiesmoor is the village of Großefehn
Großefehn
Großefehn is a municipality consisting of 14 villages in the district of Aurich, in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated approx. 10 km southeast of Aurich....
lies and to the North of that the city of Aurich
Aurich
Aurich is a town in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is the capital of the district of Aurich.-History:The history of Aurich dates back to the 13th century, when the settlement of Aurechove was mentioned in a Frisian document called the Brokmerbrief in 1276. In 1517, Count Edzard from the house of...
, both in the district of Aurich.
The closest large cities to Wiesmoor are Wilhelmshaven
Wilhelmshaven
Wilhelmshaven is a coastal town in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated on the western side of the Jade Bight, a bay of the North Sea.-History:...
(30km to the North East), Oldenburg
Oldenburg
Oldenburg is an independent city in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated in the western part of the state between the cities of Bremen and Groningen, Netherlands, at the Hunte river. It has a population of 160,279 which makes it the fourth biggest city in Lower Saxony after Hanover, Braunschweig...
(45km to the South East), Bremen
Bremen
The City Municipality of Bremen is a Hanseatic city in northwestern Germany. A commercial and industrial city with a major port on the river Weser, Bremen is part of the Bremen-Oldenburg metropolitan area . Bremen is the second most populous city in North Germany and tenth in Germany.Bremen is...
(80km to the South East) as well as the Dutch city of Groningen (80km to the South West).
The entire metropolitan area of Wiesmoor extends to an area of 82.99 km². The city has dimensions of approximately 11km in the North-South direction and about 7km in the East-West Direction.
The city of Wiesmoor lies in the middle part of the East Frisian raised bog, which was formed by glaciation, and contained up to 1900 layers of peat up to 8m deep. Originally the bog had an area of around 100km2 although the majority of that is now covered by the city.
The city ranges over heights of 10.6 to 14m above sea level, with the average being 11m.
Wiesmoor was laid out in 1906, the city today consists of the original 20th century planned city and an additional 9 quarters. A peculiarity of Wiesmoor lies therein that almost all current quarters of the city are older than the City Centre itself.
History
The bog area around Wiesmoor remained mostly uninhabited for a long time. The earliest records for the presence of people are a stone ageStone Age
The Stone Age is a broad prehistoric period, lasting about 2.5 million years , during which humans and their predecessor species in the genus Homo, as well as the earlier partly contemporary genera Australopithecus and Paranthropus, widely used exclusively stone as their hard material in the...
axe
Axe
The axe, or ax, is an implement that has been used for millennia to shape, split and cut wood; to harvest timber; as a weapon; and as a ceremonial or heraldic symbol...
and an earthen vessel from the pre-Roman iron age
Iron Age
The Iron Age is the archaeological period generally occurring after the Bronze Age, marked by the prevalent use of iron. The early period of the age is characterized by the widespread use of iron or steel. The adoption of such material coincided with other changes in society, including differing...
that were discovered in Marcardsmoor. It is likely that these items belonged to someone who drowned in the bog rather than an indication of a durable settlement. In the bog in Wilhelmsfehn a neck ring from around 700BCE has also been found. In 1999 a bronze hatchet
Hatchet
A hatchet is a single-handed striking tool with a sharp blade used to cut and split wood...
which has dated to the middle of the bronze age
Bronze Age
The Bronze Age is a period characterized by the use of copper and its alloy bronze as the chief hard materials in the manufacture of some implements and weapons. Chronologically, it stands between the Stone Age and Iron Age...
was discovered amongst rubbish in Ostgroßefehn. The hatchet is unique to East Frisia and it is likely that it was disposed of in the bog rather than originating in the area.
In 1633 colonisation of the bog area surrounding Wiesmoor began, however by 1880 there was still only around 100 inhabitants living within the current city area. In the beginning of the 20th century plans were drawn up by Dr. Eberhard Ramm from the Prussian Ministry of Agriculture to begin industrial harvesting of peat from the bogs, this would be done use large machinery rather than the traditional methods of spades and hoes. Further to this Dr. Ramm, in co-operation with Carl Friedrich von Siemens
Carl Friedrich von Siemens
Carl Friedrich von Siemens was a German Entrepreneur and politician...
, also planned to construct a new peat burning power plant in the area.
In 1906, the Nordgeorgsfehnkanal
Nordgeorgsfehnkanal
The Nordgeorgsfehn Canal is a canal in East Frisia, Lower Saxony, Germany. It connects the Jümme with the Ems-Jade Canal. It is 31.8 km long and 13 m wide. The maximum permitted draught of boats on the canal is 1.4 m and the maximum permitted height is 2.2 m. The canal has eight locks and twenty...
was constructed through the bog in order to be able to drain the area. While in the beginning only specialists and prison labourers came to work by 1907 the first residents to Wiesmoor began to arrive and by 1909 the peat power plant was in operation. The plant was originally owned by Siemens
Siemens
Siemens may refer toSiemens, a German family name carried by generations of telecommunications industrialists, including:* Werner von Siemens , inventor, founder of Siemens AG...
until 1921 when it was taken over by the North West German Power Plants Company (Nordwestdeutschen Kraftwerke AG). The plant provided power all the way from Ems down to the lower Elbe
Elbe
The Elbe is one of the major rivers of Central Europe. It rises in the Krkonoše Mountains of the northwestern Czech Republic before traversing much of Bohemia , then Germany and flowing into the North Sea at Cuxhaven, 110 km northwest of Hamburg...
. The waste heat
Waste heat
Waste heat sometimes called Secondary heat or Low-grade heat refers to heat produced by machines, electrical equipment and industrial processes for which no useful application is found. Energy is often produced by a heat engine, running on a source of high-temperature heat...
from the power plant was used from 1925 onwards to warm greenhouses to allow the year-round growing of flowers and vegetables, with an area of about 75,000 square meters the greenhouse at Wiesmoor was the largest in Europe at the time.
After the second world war, the Ernst Benary flower company erected a further twenty greenhouses and sowed forty hectares of outdoors area. This can be regarded as the start of Wiesmoor as the ‘Flower City’. Around 40,000 people were visiting the town annually by this time and plans were put down to for the building of a baths
Public bathing
Public baths originated from a communal need for cleanliness. The term public may confuse some people, as some types of public baths are restricted depending on membership, gender, religious affiliation, or other reasons. As societies have changed, public baths have been replaced as private bathing...
, an open-air stage and for the extension of the park into a health establishment. In 1951 the boundaries of Wiesmoor were redrawn, several local villages became part of the towns and the area was incorporated into the district of Aurich. With 51.64 square kilometers, Wiesmoor was now the largest town by area in East Frisia, at this time the town had a total of 5,166 inhabitants.
1952 saw the staging of the first flower festival or Blütenfest in German. In that year the peat power plant was employing around 1,200 people and roughly 120,000 tons of peat was being harvested annually. A Further 200 people worked in the greenhouses, whose products, such as tomatoes and cucumber
Cucumber
The cucumber is a widely cultivated plant in the gourd family Cucurbitaceae, which includes squash, and in the same genus as the muskmelon. The plant is a creeping vine which bears cylindrical edible fruit when ripe. There are three main varieties of cucumber: "slicing", "pickling", and...
, were exported into neighboring European countries.
The peat power plant was dismantled 1966 to be replaced with a larger capacity gas turbine
Gas turbine
A gas turbine, also called a combustion turbine, is a type of internal combustion engine. It has an upstream rotating compressor coupled to a downstream turbine, and a combustion chamber in-between....
power plant. The loss of jobs caused by the closure of the power plant was helped by the growth of local company Bohlen and Doyen who have grown to become easily the largest employer in the city. In 1972 further changes to local boundaries meant that Wiesmoor continued to grow in size and population by incorporating more local villages. In 1977 the town was designated as a Luftkurort
Luftkurort
Luftkurort, literally meaning 'air spa', is a title given to towns or cities in Germany which are health resorts who have a climate and air quality which is considered beneficial to health and rest. Tests are repeated on a regular basis to ensure that standards of air quality are maintained...
, literally an air spa, due to its high air quality.
On Friday 13th of January 1989, a half year after the Ramstein Airshow Disaster
Ramstein airshow disaster
The Ramstein airshow disaster is the second-deadliest airshow incident . It took place in front of about 300,000 people on August 28 1988, in Ramstein, West Germany, near the city of Kaiserslautern at the US Ramstein Air Base airshow Flugtag '88.Aircraft of the Italian Air Force display team...
, there was a collision of several military jets
Jet aircraft
A jet aircraft is an aircraft propelled by jet engines. Jet aircraft generally fly much faster than propeller-powered aircraft and at higher altitudes – as high as . At these altitudes, jet engines achieve maximum efficiency over long distances. The engines in propeller-powered aircraft...
at low altitude over the Hinrichsfehn area of Wiesmoor. A tornado
Panavia Tornado
The Panavia Tornado is a family of twin-engine, variable-sweep wing combat aircraft, which was jointly developed and manufactured by the United Kingdom, West Germany and Italy...
of the Royal Air Force collided with a squadron of German Alphas Jets
Alpha Jet
Alpha Jet has the following meanings:* Dassault/Dornier Alpha Jet, an advanced trainer aircraft* Freight trains on the Alphabet Route* αjet, Helios Airways name after rebranding...
of the Jagdbombergeschwader 43 division. One of the German Alpha Jets was seriously damaged but managed to make an emergency landing, the a further Alpha Jet and the Tornado were destroyed, the pilot of the Alpha Jet managed to eject but the two pilots in the Tornado died in the accident. The wreckage from the jets landed near a primary school in South Wiesmoor.
In 1995 the gas turbine power plant was demolished.
On the 16th of March 2006, Wiesmoor was granted city status. Lower Saxony Secretary of the Interior, Uwe Schünemann, delivered the documentation personally and congratulated the city on its rapid growth over the last 100 years.
Blütenfest
The flower festival in Wiesmoor was first took place in 1952, the festival is held annually on the first weekend in September (from Thursday to Monday). The festival consist of displays of flowers as well as a parade with floats. Each year at the time of the festival a new Blütenkönigin or Blossom Queen is selected. On the Saturday evening of the festival the old Blütenkönigin parachutes over the sports ground which is the signal to start a party which culminates in a large fireworksFireworks
Fireworks are a class of explosive pyrotechnic devices used for aesthetic and entertainment purposes. The most common use of a firework is as part of a fireworks display. A fireworks event is a display of the effects produced by firework devices...
display. A new Blütenkönigin is selected on the Sunday afternoon and on Monday the festival concludes with the ‘Kanal in Flammen’ (literally canal in flames) which is a large fireworks display held on and around the Nordgeorgsfehnkanal