A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | CH | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9
 | This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. (Learn how and when to remove these template messages)
|
Oldenburg
Ollnborg (Northern Low Saxon) | |
|---|---|
 City centre of Oldenburg including St Lamberti Church, Schloss Oldenburg (Oldenburg Palace) and the Oldenburgisches Staatstheater (Oldenburg State Theatre; left image border) | |
 Flag  Coat of arms | |
Location of Oldenburg (city)  | |
  Oldenburg  Oldenburg | |
| Coordinates: 53°08′38″N 8°12′50″E / 53.14389°N 8.21389°E | |
| Country | Germany |
| State | Lower Saxony |
| District | Urban district |
| Subdivisions | 33 boroughs, separated into nine census tracts |
| Government | |
| • Lord mayor (2021–26) | Jürgen Krogmann[1] (SPD) |
| Area | |
| • Total | 102.96 km2 (39.75 sq mi) |
| Elevation | 4 m (13 ft) |
| Population (2022-12-31)[2] | |
| • Total | 172,830 |
| • Density | 1,700/km2 (4,300/sq mi) |
| Time zone | UTC+01:00 (CET) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC+02:00 (CEST) |
| Postal codes | 26001–26135 |
| Dialling codes | 0441 |
| Vehicle registration | OL |
| Website | www |
Oldenburg (German pronunciation: [ˈɔldn̩bʊʁk] ; Northern Low Saxon: Ollnborg) is an independent city in the state of Lower Saxony, Germany. The city is officially named Oldenburg (Oldb) (Oldenburg in Oldenburg) to distinguish from Oldenburg in Holstein.
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 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 170,000 (November 2019).[3] Oldenburg is part of the Northwest Metropolitan Region, with 2.37 million people.
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 first documentary evidence, in 1108, referenced 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 a Duchy (1774–1810), Grand Duchy (1815–1918), and Free State (1918–1946)), a small state in the shadow of the much more powerful Hanseatic city of Bremen.[4]
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, had little interest in the condition of the town and it lost most of its former importance. In 1773, Danish rule ended. Only then were the destroyed buildings in the city rebuilt in a neoclassicist style.[4] (German-speakers usually call the "neoclassicist style" of that period klassizistisch, while neoklassizistisch specifically refers to the classicist style of the early 20th century.)
After the German government announced the abdication of Emperor Wilhelm II (9 November 1918) 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 now became the Free State of Oldenburg (German: Freistaat Oldenburg), with the city remaining the capital.
In the 1928 city elections, the Nazi Party received 9.8% of the vote, enough for a seat on the Oldenburg city council. In the September 1930 Oldenburg state elections, the Nazi Party's share of the vote rose to 27.3%, and on May 29, 1932, the Nazi Party received 48.4% in the state election, enough to put the Nazi party in charge of forming a state government and, significantly, making Oldenburg the first state in the country to put the Nazis in power based on electoral turnout. By that autumn, a campaign of Aryanization began, forcing the sale of formerly Jewish-owned properties at steep discounts.[5]
In 1945, after World War II, the State of Oldenburg became 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.[6] 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) within 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 of the Regierungsbezirke by the end of 2004 in the course of administrative reforms.
Climate
| Climate data for Oldenburg (1991–2020 normals) | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Mean daily maximum °C (°F) | 4.7 (40.5) |
5.4 (41.7) |
9.3 (48.7) |
14.3 (57.7) |
18.1 (64.6) |
20.6 (69.1) |
23.2 (73.8) |
22.8 (73.0) |
18.9 (66.0) |
13.8 (56.8) |
8.5 (47.3) |
4.7 (40.5) |
13.7 (56.7) |
| Daily mean °C (°F) | 0.9 (33.6) |
1.7 (35.1) |
4.9 (40.8) |
9.5 (49.1) |
13.9 (57.0) |
17.2 (63.0) |
19.4 (66.9) |
19 (66) |
14.6 (58.3) |
9.8 (49.6) |
5.1 (41.2) |
2.1 (35.8) |
9.8 (49.6) |
| Mean daily minimum °C (°F) | −0.1 (31.8) |
−0.3 (31.5) |
1.6 (34.9) |
4.4 (39.9) |
7.9 (46.2) |
10.8 (51.4) |
13.4 (56.1) |
13.2 (55.8) |
10.2 (50.4) |
6.2 (43.2) |
3.2 (37.8) |
0.0 (32.0) |
5.9 (42.6) |
| Average precipitation mm (inches) | 71.1 (2.80) |
56.1 (2.21) |
54.1 (2.13) |
43.0 (1.69) |
56.4 (2.22) |
69.3 (2.73) |
88.8 (3.50) |
85.4 (3.36) |
75.7 (2.98) |
63.7 (2.51) |
65.1 (2.56) |
84.3 (3.32) |
816.9 (32.16) |
| Average precipitation days (≥ 1.0 mm) | 18.5 | 16.8 | 16.6 | 14.0 | 13.8 | 15.9 | 17.3 | 16.3 | 15.0 | 16.7 | 19.1 | 19.5 | 199.1 |
| Average snowy days (≥ 1.0 cm) | 4.5 | 3.2 | 1.5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.7 | 3.9 | 13.8 |
| Average relative humidity (%) | 86.2 | 83.5 | 78.6 | 71.0 | 70.4 | 72.0 | 73.2 | 75.1 | 79.8 | 83.5 | 87.4 | 88.5 | 79.1 |
| Mean monthly sunshine hours | 45.3 | 63.0 | 117.1 | 172.8 | 213.2 | 200.5 | 209.1 | 191.1 | 143.8 | 110.0 | 48.0 | 40.1 | 1,562.1 |
| Source: World Meteorological Organization[7] | |||||||||||||
City government
Local elections take place every five years. The city council (Stadtrat) has 50 seats. The lord mayor (Oberbürgermeister) is elected directly by the citizens.
| Election year |
SPD | Bündnis ’90/ Die Grünen |
CDU | Die Linke | Freie Wähler/ FW-BFO |
FDP | Piraten Partei |
NPD | LKR | AFD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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 | – | – |
| 2016 | 32.68 | 19.13 | 22.21 | 9.88 | 1.53 | 4.84 | 1.17 | 0.62 | 1.19 | 4.76 |