Bad Nenndorf

Infobox German Location
Art = Stadt
Wappen = Wappen Bad Nenndorf.pnglat_deg = 52 |lat_min = 20 |lat_sec = 13
lon_deg = 09 |lon_min = 22 |lon_sec = 43
Lageplan =
Bundesland = Niedersachsen
Landkreis = Schaumburg
Samtgemeinde = Nenndorf
Höhe = 88
Fläche = 23
Einwohner = 10401
Stand = 2006-12-31
PLZ = 31542
Vorwahl = 05723
Kfz = SHG
Gemeindeschlüssel = 03 2 57 006
Gliederung = 4
Straße = Rodenberger Allee 13
Website = [http://www.badnenndorf.de/ www.badnenndorf.de]
Bürgermeister = Gudrun Olk
Partei = SPD

Bad Nenndorf is a small town in the district of Schaumburg, Lower Saxony, Germany. Its population is 10,210 (2005). It is situated approx. 12 km east of Stadthagen, and 25 km west of Hanover, at the southern edge of the North German Plain and the northern edge of the Deister ridge. The area of the town includes the outlying villages of Riepen, Horsten and Waltringhausen.

History

The village, probably dating from the beginning of the 9th century, is first recorded as Nyanthorpe in the records of Corvey_Abbey in 936.

The first church was erected in 1136. The village was the property of the Counts of Schaumburg from 1311. Following the establishment of another small settlement to the SW of the village, the distinction was drawn between Gross Nenndorf and Klein Nenndorf. A further settlement by the name of Densinghausen, in the area of the modern town, was destroyed in the Thirty Years War. After the division of the county of Schaumburg in 1647, Nenndorf belonged to Hesse-Kassel (or Hesse-Cassel).

The healing power of the sulphur springs, situated between Gross Nenndorf and Klein Nenndorf, and first recorded in 1546, was first generally recognised in the mid 18th century. On the initiative of Landgrave Wilhelm IX of Hesse-Kassel, the 'estate district' of Nenndorf, with bathing installations and spa park, was initiated in 1787. The sulphur springs, which until then had been despised as devil's excrement on account of their pungent odour, were reckoned among the most powerful in Europe, and could now finally be applied with great success for rheumatism, arthritis and skin complaints. Soon Nendorf was one of the leading German spas. In 1866 Bad Nenndorf became the Royal Prussian state spa, and financial support from Berlin enabled it to expand further.

The geographical position of Bad Nenndorf was a major factor in its development. It lies on the northern edge of the Mittelgebirge (central uplands), on the Hellweg, a route between Rhine and Elbe which had been used for centuries. Thus the town obtained connections to the railway network (1847 in Haste and 1872 in Nenndorf), to the Mittellandkanal (1916 in Haste), and to the motorway in 1939.

The community (parish) of Bad Nenndorf was formed in 1929 by the amalgamation of Gross Nenndorf, Klein Nenndorf and the Estate District.

Towards the end of the Second World War, the town served as the headquarters of the U.S. 84th Infantry Division under Major-General Alexander R. Bolling. It subsequently became part of the British Occupation Zone and was the site of a British interrogation camp (1945 to 1947).

Bad Nenndorf is also the seat of the "Samtgemeinde" ("collective municipality") Nenndorf and is twinned with Doudeville, in Normandy.

Interrogation centre

Between June 1945 and July 1947, Bad Nenndorf was the site of a British Combined Services Detailed Interrogation Centre (CSDIC) through which several hundred Nazi and suspected Communist prisoners passed. The camp became the focus of controversy after allegations of mistreatment of prisoners emerged. One British Army officer was convicted by a court-martial in 1948 for his part in the affair. The controversy surfaced again in December 2005 with the publication of an article in British newspaper "The Guardian" [http://www.guardian.co.uk/frontpage/story/0,,1669544,00.html] In 2006 [http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2006/apr/03/uk.freedomofinformation] under Freedom of Information the UK newspaper reported on starvation of prisoners. Photos were destroyed, but a few remained hidden.

External links