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Oldenburg (city)

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For other uses, see Oldenburg (city) (disambiguation).
Oldenburg
City
Coat of arms of Oldenburg
Coat of arms
Location of Oldenburg (city)
Map
CountryGermany
StateLower Saxony
DistrictUrban district
Subdivisions33 boroughs, separated into nine census tracts
Government
 • Lord mayorGerd Schwandner (since 2006) (Ind.)
Area
 • Total102.96 km2 (39.75 sq mi)
Elevation
4 m (13 ft)
Population
 (2022-12-31)[1]
 • Total172,830
 • Density1,700/km2 (4,300/sq mi)
Time zoneUTC+01:00 (CET)
 • Summer (DST)UTC+02:00 (CEST)
Postal codes
26001–26135
Dialling codes0441
Vehicle registrationOL
Websitewww.oldenburg.de

Oldenburg (German pronunciation: [ˈɔldənbʊʁk] ⓘ; Low German: Ollnborg; Saterland Frisian: Ooldenbuurich) is an independent city in the state of Lower Saxony, Germany. During the French annexation (1811–1813) in the wake of the Napoleonic war against Britain, it was also known as Le Vieux-Bourg in French. The city is situated at the Rivers Hunte and Haaren, in the northwestern region between the cities of Bremen in the east and Groningen (Netherlands) in the west. It has a population of 162,173 (as of 2010), which makes it the fourth biggest city in Lower Saxony after Hanover, Braunschweig and Osnabrück. In German, the formal name is Oldenburg (Oldenburg) or Oldenburg (Oldb) (spoken: Oldenburg in Oldenburg) to distinguish it from the city of Oldenburg in Holstein.

The city is the place of origin of the House of Oldenburg. Before the end of the German Empire (1918), it was the administrative centre and residence of the monarchs of Oldenburg.

History

Archaeological finds point to a settlement dating back to the 8th century. The place was first mentioned in 1108 as Aldenburg in connection with Elimar I (also known as Egilmar I) who is now commonly seen as the first count of Oldenburg. The town gained importance due to its location at a ford of the navigable Hunte river. Oldenburg became the capital of the County of Oldenburg (later Duchy, Grand Duchy, and Free State), a small state in the shadow of the much more powerful Hanseatic city of Bremen.[2]

In the 17th century, Oldenburg was a wealthy town in a time of war and turmoil and its population and power grew considerably. In 1667, the town was struck by a disastrous plague epidemic and, shortly after, a fire destroyed Oldenburg. The Danish kings, who were also counts of Oldenburg at the time, were not much interested in the condition of the town and it lost most of its former importance. In 1773, Danish rule ended. It was only then that the destroyed buildings in the city were rebuilt in a neoclassicist style.[2] (In German, the ‘neoclassicist style’ of that period would usually be called klassizistisch, while neoklassizistisch specifically refers to the classicist style of the early 20th century.)

After German Emperor Wilhelm II was forced to abdicate following the exhaustion and defeat of the German Empire in World War I, monarchic rule ended in Oldenburg as well with the abdication of Grand Duke Frederick Augustus II of Oldenburg (Friedrich August II von Oldenburg) on 11 November 1918. The Grand Duchy of Oldenburg now became the Free State of Oldenburg (Freistaat Oldenburg), the city remained the capital.

In 1945, after World War II, the State of Oldenburg was part of the British zone of occupation. The British military government of the Oldenburg region resided in the city. Several displaced persons camps were set up in the city that had suffered only 1.4% destruction during the bombing campaigns of World War II.[3] About 42,000 refugees migrated into Oldenburg, which raised the number of residents to over 100,000. In 1946, the Free State of Oldenburg was dissolved, and the area became the 'Administrative District' of Oldenburg (Verwaltungsbezirk Oldenburg) as part of the newly formed federal German state of Lower Saxony (Niedersachsen). The city was now capital of the district. In 1978, the district was dissolved and succeeded by the newly formed Weser-Ems administrative region (Regierungsbezirk Weser-Ems), again with the city as administrative capital. The State of Lower Saxony dissolved all regierungsbezirks by the end of 2004 in the course of administrative reforms.

Demography

Historical population of Oldenburg (city)
Year150216671702176918161828183718551871
Population~ 2,300~ 4,300~ 5,0006,9596,2786,8009,28011,37013,928

City government

Local elections take place every five years. The city council (Stadtrat) has 50 seats. The lord mayor is elected directly by the citizens.

Political parties in Oldenburg (Oldb) and their percentages of votes in past City Council elections[4]
election
year 		SPD Bündnis ’90/
Die Grünen 		CDU Die Linke Freie Wähler/
FW-BFO 		FDP Piraten
Partei 		NPD
2001 40.1% 13.6% 30.5% 3.9% 2.8% 8.2% - -
2006 32.7% 21.2% 26.0% 7.2% 5.4% 6.3% - -
2011 34.0% 27.3% 20.6% 6.1% 3.1% 3.0% 2.8% 1.1%
Resulting distribution of seats in the City Council
election
year 		total
seats 		SPD Grüne CDU Linke FW FDP Piraten WFO NPD
2001 50 21 7 15 2 1 4 - - -
2006 50 16 11 13 4 3 3 - - -
2011 50 17 14 10 3 2 1 1 1 1

Economy and infrastructure

Traffic

Oldenburg Castle
File:Schloss mit Schlossplatz.jpg
Oldenburg Castle and square (2012)
  • The city centre of Oldenburg is surrounded by a ring of freeways (autobahns) consisting of A 28, A 29 and A 293. Because of this, Oldenburg is connected to the nation-wide network of federal autobahns, as well as to the international E-road network (German: Europastraßen)
  • The small Hatten Airfield, (Flugplatz Oldenburg-Hatten ICAO airport code: EDWH), is located about 17 km south-west of Oldenburg. It serves to small aircraft (private planes, gliders, balloons, and helicopters). A flight training school is also located there, and small planes can be chartered. Scenic flights can be booked as well.
  • Oldenburg is connected to shipping through the Küstenkanal, a ship canal connecting the rivers Ems and Weser. With 1.6 million tons of goods annually, it is the most important non-coastal harbour in Lower Saxony.
  • Bicycles play a very important part in personal transport.

Agriculture

The city is surrounded by large agricultural areas, about 80% of which is grassland. There are farms near and even a few within city limits. Predominant agricultural activities of the region are the cultivation of livestock, especially dairy cows and other grazing animals, crops such as grains for food and animal feed, as well as asparagus, corn, and kale.

Cultural life

Recurring cultural events

  • Kultursommer (summer of culture), series of free musical and other cultural events in the city centre during summer holiday season in July.
  • Stadtfest, a three-day festival of the city centre in August/September, comprises gastronomical offerings and rock and pop music performances on various stages.
  • Oldenburg International Film Festival, privately organised film festival in September, focussed on independent film and film makers. The festival is funded through public subsidies and private sponsoring.
  • Kramermarkt, fun fair at the Weser-Ems Halle on ten days in September/October. The tradition of this annual volksfest dates back to the 17th century, when the Kramermarkt was a market event at the end of the harvest.
  • Oldenburger Kinder- und Jugendbuchmesse (KIBUM), an exhibition of new German language children's and youth literature, takes place over 11 days in November. A non-commercial fair organised by the city government in cooperation with the public library and the university library. In the course of the fair, a prize, the Kinder- und Jugendbuchpreis, is awarded to a debuting author or illustrator.

Points of interest

  • Core city centre, a large pedestrianised shopping destination for the region.
  • Oldenburg State Theatre, oldest theatre in Oldenburg, first opened in 1833.
  • Oldenburg Castle, city centre, until 1918 residence of the monarchic rulers of Oldenburg, today a museum. A public park, the Schlosspark, is nearby.
  • Weser-Ems Halle, exhibition and congress centre with outdoor fair area, located in Oldenburg Donnerschwee.
  • EWE Arena, a 4,000-seat sports and event hall, located near main railway station, first opened in 2005, is home arena of the EWE Baskets Oldenburg basketball club.
  • Botanischer Garten Oldenburg, a public botanical garden maintained by the university.

Print

Radio and television

  • Oldenburg Eins non-commercial public-access cable TV and radio station (live streams available online)
  • Norddeutscher Rundfunk (NDR), public TV and radio broadcaster (part of the ARD), maintains a regional studio in Oldenburg.
  • Radio Bremen, public TV and radio broadcasting organisation (part of the ARD network), covers news of the northwestern region, including Oldenburg.
  • Radio FFN, commercial radio broadcaster, maintains a regional studio located in the NWZ building.

Online

Education

Tertiary education

There are two public universities in Oldenburg:

  • The Carl von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg was founded in 1973 based on a previous college for teacher training, the Pädagogische Hochschule Oldenburg, which had a history in Oldenburg dating back to 1793. The university was officially named after Carl von Ossietzky in 1991. As of January 2012, it has almost 10,700 students, a scientific staff of 1,105, as well as 923 technical and administrative staff.[5] A new faculty of medicine and health sciences was established in 2012 as part of the newly founded European Medical School Oldenburg-Groningen, a cooperation with the University of Groningen (Netherlands) and local hospitals.[6]
  • The Jade University of Applied Sciences (Jade-Hochschule) The former Fachhochschule Oldenburg (until 1999) was founded in 1971, a merger of the previous engineering academy with the nautical college in Elsfleth. Oldenburg already had a history of construction engineering training dating back to 1882. Starting in 2000, the Fachhochschule had been part of multiple re-organisations involving several UAS (Fachhochschule) in the northwestern region. A relaunch under the name Jade-Hochschule took place in 2009 (previously: Fachhochschule Oldenburg/Ostfriesland/Wilhelmshaven). The Jade-Hochschule now comprises branches in three towns: Oldenburg, Elsfleth, and Wilhelmshaven. Based in Oldenburg are the departments of architecture, construction engineering and construction management, geodesy, as well as the institute of hearing aid technology and audiology. There are about 2,000 students in the Oldenburg branch.[7] (The Elsfleth branch offers Bachelor’s degree courses in nautical science, international logistics, and harbour management. The Wilhelmshaven branch offers courses in engineering, business management, and media management.)

Privately managed institutions of higher education:

Other:

  • The Oldenburg branch of the Lower Saxony police academy (Polizeiakademie Niedersachsen) maintains a study facility in Oldenburg preparing candidates for a career in higher-middle-level or higher-level police service.

Primary and secondary education

Events

Oldenburg hosted the 2007 Fistball World Championship.

International relations

Oldenburg is twin towns with following cities and districts: [8]

References

  1. ^ "LSN-Online Regionaldatenbank, Tabelle A100001G: Fortschreibung des Bevölkerungsstandes, Stand 31. Dezember 2022" (in German). Landesamt für Statistik Niedersachsen.
  2. ^ a b Public Domain One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Anonymous (1911). "Oldenburg". In Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 20 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 72.
  3. ^ Ulrich Schneider: Niedersachsen 1945, p. 95. Hannover 1985
  4. ^ Source: Official results of elections published on the official website of the city of Oldenburg.
  5. ^ Statistics published on the CvO University’s web site, retrieved in January 2012
  6. ^ Info published on the university's web site, retrieved in August 2012.
  7. ^ Statistics published on the Jade-Hochschule website, retrieved in January 2012
  8. ^ Description of international cooperation at the official website of the city of Oldenburg (in German)
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