Uelzen
pedestrian area
Uelzen
Location of the town of Uelzen within Uelzen district
Coordinates	52°57′53″N 10°33′57″E / 52.96472°N 10.56583°E / 52.96472; 10.56583Coordinates: 52°57′53″N 10°33′57″E / 52.96472°N 10.56583°E / 52.96472; 10.56583
Administration
Country	Germany
State	Lower Saxony
District	Uelzen
Town subdivisions	16 districts
Mayor	Otto Lukat (SPD)
Basic statistics
Area	135.84 km2 (52.45 sq mi)
Elevation	43 m  (141 ft)
Population	34,250 (31 December 2010)[1]
- Density	252 /km2 (653 /sq mi)
Other information
Time zone	CET/CEST (UTC+1/+2)
Licence plate	UE
Postal code	29525
Area code	0581
Website	www.uelzen.de

View across the Herzogenplatz to the new Uelzen Town Hall

Uelzen (German pronunciation: [ˈʏltsən], Low German Ülz’n^[2]) is a town in northeast Lower Saxony, Germany, and capital of the county of Uelzen. It is part of the Hamburg Metropolitan Region, a Hanseatic town and an independent municipality.

Uelzen is characterised by timber-framed architecture and also has some striking examples of North German brick Gothic. But the county town earned pan-regional fame when Friedensreich Hundertwasser was selected to redesign the station. The final work of the celebrated Viennese artist and architect was ceremonially opened in 2000 as the Hundertwasser Station, Uelzen and has since been a popular tourist magnet.

The Polabian name for Uelzen is Wilcaus (spelled Wiltzaus in older German reference material), possibly derived from wilca or wilsa (< Slavic *olăša) 'alder'.

Geography [link]

Location [link]

Uelzen lies on the edge of the Lüneburg Heath. The town is a transport hub on the north-south axis from Hamburg to Hanover as well as the east-west axis from Bremen to Berlin. Also of economic importance is its location on the Elbe Lateral Canal. The town's has a charming setting, situated as it is on the heath river, the Ilmenau, with its grassy river banks, small parks and water meadows. Large areas in the vicinity of Uelzen have been set aside as nature parks with moors, woods, lakes and heathland: the Elbhöhen-Wendland Nature Park, Lüneburg Heath Nature Park and Lower Saxon Elbe Valley Water Meadows Biosphere Reserve.

Divisions [link]

The following parishes belong to the borough of Uelzen: Groß Liedern, Halligdorf, Hambrock, Hansen, Hanstedt II, Holdenstedt, Kirchweyhe, Klein Süstedt, Masendorf, Mehre, Molzen, Oldenstadt, Riestedt, Ripdorf, Tatern, Veerßen, Westerweyhe and Woltersburg.

Furthermore there are four other places that have the status of "special parishes" (Sonstige Ortsteile): Borne, Kl. Liedern, Pieperhöfen and Oldenstadt-West.

Neighbouring towns [link]

Buchholz in der Nordheide 80 km	Lüneburg, Hamburg 37 km, 92 km	Dannenberg 41 km
Munster, Soltau 37 km, 56 km		Lüchow 43 km
Celle, Hanover 54 km, 95 km	Gifhorn, Wolfsburg 58 km, 82 km	Wittingen, Salzwedel 31 km, 45 km

History [link]

The town was founded in 1277.^[3] It was the site of a Nazi concentration camp was established in Uelzen until 17 April 1945. The camp was a subcamp of the Neuengamme concentration camp.^[4]

Politics [link]

The mayor of Uelzen since 2001 has been the social democrat, Otto Lukat. In the 2006 election he was confirmed in office with 69.9 % of the vote. The deputy mayors are Jörg Firus (FDP) and Ute Chlechowitz (SPD).

Uelzen belongs to the Bundestag constituency of Celle-Uelzen. In 2009 Henning Otte (CDU) was directly elected, having been on the state list (place 19) since 2005. Kirsten Lühmann (SPD) was elected in 2009 via the state list. In the years 1998, 2002 and 2005 Peter Struck (SPD), former defence minister and chairman of the SPD party in the German Bundestag, was directly elected.

Economy [link]

The beet sugarfactory in Uelzen

The largest beet sugarfactory of the Nordzucker group is located in Uelzen. The factory processes approximately 20,000 tons of sugarbeets per day.

Railway station [link]

The Hundertwasserbahnhof is a railway station in Uelzen at the eastern edge of the Lüneburg Heath Nature Park in northeastern Lower Saxony.

The original station was renovated for Expo 2000 following plans by the Austrian artist and architect Friedensreich Hundertwasser. An "environmentally, culturally oriented" station, Uelzen station was renamed as 'Hundertwasser Station, Uelzen' (Hundertwasser-Bahnhof Uelzen). Today it is one of the town's popular tourist attractions.

See also [link]

• List of subcamps of Neuengamme

Notes [link]

References [link]

• Official German list of concentration camps Verzeichnis der Konzentrationslager und ihrer Außenkommandos (German)
• Johann Parum Schultze; Reinhold Olesch (Hrsg.): Fontes linguae Dravaenopolabicae minores et Chronica Venedica J. P. Schultzii. (= Slavistische Forschungen; Band 7). Böhlau, Köln und Graz 1967
• Christian Hennig von Jessen: Vocabularium Venedicum (oder Wendisches Wörter-Buch) (1705). Nachdruck besorgt von Reinhold Olesch. - Köln [u.a.]: Böhlau 1959 (Gewährsmann des Pastors C. Hennig von Jessen war der polabisch sprechende Bauer Johann Janieschge aus Klennow)

External links [link]

• Official site (German)
• Uelzen website translated to English with google translation

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Uelzen

v t e Towns and municipalities in Uelzen (district) Altenmedingen Bad Bevensen Bad Bodenteich Barum Bienenbüttel Ebstorf Eimke Emmendorf Gerdau Hanstedt Himbergen Jelmstorf Lüder Natendorf Oetzen Rätzlingen Römstedt Rosche Schwienau Soltendieck Stoetze Suderburg Suhlendorf Uelzen Weste Wrestedt Wriedel