Celle

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Coordinates: 52°37′N 10°05′E

Celle
Country	Germany
State	Lower Saxony
District	Celle
Population	71.471 (28 February 2005)
Area	175 km²
Population density	408 /km²
Elevation	39–73 m
Coordinates	52°37′ N 10°05′ E
Postal code	29221–29229
Area code	05141 and others
Licence plate code	CE
Mayor	Martin Biermann (CDU)
Website	celle.de

Celle is a town in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is the capital of the district (Landkreis) of Celle. The town is located in the southernmost part of the Lüneburg Heath on the banks of the river Aller, a tributary of the Weser.

Celle includes 17 sections, some of which were previously independent villages: Altencelle, Altenhagen, Blumlage/Altstadt, Bostel, Boye, Garssen, Gross Hehlen, Hehlentor, Hustedt, Klein Hehlen, Lachtehausen, Neuenhaeusen, Neustadt/Heese, Scheuen, Vorwerk, Westercelle, and Wietzenbruch.

Celle was first mentioned in a document of A.D. 986 as Kellu, (settlement on the river) and had the right to mint and circulate its own coins (Münzrecht [minting privileges]) during the 11th century. In 1292 Duke Otto II the Strict (1266–1330), a Welf who ruled the Principality of Lüneburg from 1277 to 1330, granted Celle its town privileges. In 1378 Celle became the residence of dukes of Saxony-Wittenberg and in 1433, the dukes of Brunswick-Lüneburg. The ducal palace was situated on a triangle between the river Aller and its tributary, the Fuhse. A moat connecting the rivers was built in 1433, turning the town center into an island. In 1705 the last duke of the Brunswick–Lüneburg line died, and Celle, along with the Principality of Lüneburg, passed back to the Hanover line of the Welfs.

The buildings in Celle’s old town center date back to the 16th century, among them numerous (and some 480 restored) half-timber houses, making Celle an important city for tourism in the southern Lüneburg Heath region. The most impressive building is the ducal palace, Schloss Celle, which was built in 1530 at the site of the former castle. Another major attraction is the Stadtkirche (town church, 1308) with its white tower, from where the town trumpeter blows a fanfare twice a day (an old tradition that was revived as a tourist attraction). Celle has a synagogue built in 1740, one of the few synagogues that survived the Nazi pogrom night of 1938, thanks to its location next to an important leather factory that would have been collaterally damaged.

Celle is also known for the Bomann Museum, a museum of regional history and modern art; and for being an entry point for tourists to the Lüneburg Heath.

The Albrecht-Thaer-Schule, a school in Celle, was founded by Albrecht Daniel Thaer in 1796.

Celle also hosts a Weihnachtsmarkt (Christmas market) every year in the old town center.

Since January 17, 1990, Celle has been a twin town of Sumy, Ukraine. Celle also has city partnerships with:

• Celle-Ligure, Italy
• Hämeenlinna, Finland
• Holbæk, Denmark
• Kwidzyn, Pomeranian Voivodship, Poland
• Meudon, France
• Tavistock, England
• Tyumen, West Siberia, Russia
• Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA

[edit] Celler Hasenjagd incident (World War II)

On April 8, 1945—just three and a half days before Allied troops marched into Celle—three squadrons of Ninth US Army Air Force B-26 Marauders attacked the rail infrastructure near the town’s train station^[1]. At the time of the raid, three trains were parked on the tracks of the freight yard. One was loaded with munitions and one, with fuel; but the third was a concentration camp-prisoner transport en route to the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. Part of the transport, consisting of about 60 open cattle cars, had departed the Neuengamme subcamp Drütte on April 7 with 2,862 mostly Ukrainian, Russian, Polish, Dutch, and French prisoners on board, though how many were alive when the train reached Celle is unknown since many died or were murdered—and even buried—along the way^[2]. Another part of the transport carried some 1,200 women and girls, bringing to nearly 4,000 the number waiting as locomotives were being switched when the raid started at around 17:45.^[3][4]

Hundreds in the transport—by some estimates, more than half those on the train—were killed during the raid when several transport carriages and the munitions train on a neighboring track took direct hits, setting off the latter’s cargo. Some 1,500–2,000 are estimated to have survived the 70-minute air raid’s direct devastation, many running into the town or westward towards the Neustädter Woods a few kilometers away. SS guards opened fire almost immediately on the fleeing prisoners, and once the chaos of the raid had died down, SS and SA people launched what became known as the Celler Hasenjagd—the “bunny chase of Celle,” a fox chase-like battue in pursuit of the transport’s emaciated escapees: numerous were shot down in the streets and fields; houses, barns, hedges—any potential hiding place—were thoroughly searched; and those of the recaptured who were too weak to go on were given a Gnadenshuß—a shot to the back of the neck to “put them out of their misery”.^[5][6][7]

Though some townspeople gave escapees refuge, many—such as regular police officers and members of the Hitler Youth, the Volkssturm, and even the local fire department—joined the SS and SA in tracking down and murdering or rounding up the prisoners. Local people reported hearing shots and victims' screams as late as April 11.^[8]

The relentless pursuers eventually recaptured an estimated 1,100 escapees and brought them to an exercise ground on the edge of Neustädter Woods. Of these, 30 were singled out as looters and summarily shot. About half the recaptured prisoners were then forcibly marched off to Bergen-Belsen, while the remainder were put up in the barracks of the Heidekaserne, a local military post. Only 487 survivors made it to Bergen-Belsen on the morning of April 10—five days before the camp’s liberation by British and Canadian forces; the rest died or were murdered on the way, since those unable to continue the march were shot on the spot.^[9][10][11]

The British took Celle on April 12, and their chronicler characterized the sight they found at the Heidekaserne as a “microcosm of Bergen-Belsen”. Estimates place the number of “bunny chase” victims at 200–300, though—in light of the nearly 4,000 thought to have been on the transport—many more transport prisoners fell victim on their way to or in Celle in that first week of April 1945.^[12]

Shortly after occupying Celle, the British authorities launched an investigation into the events of April 8–11. Though several people who took part in the killings managed to escape prosecution, the British eventually tried 14 military and police personnel and political leaders in the Celle Massacre Trial, which began in December 1947. Seven were acquitted of murder or accessory to murder because of insufficient evidence, whereas four were found guilty as accessories and sentenced to between four and 10 years in prison, and three were sentenced to death. One of the death sentences was overturned on appeal, and the other two were reduced to 15–20 years imprisonment as part of a clemency issued by the British military governor; all those found guilty had been released by October 1952 for good behavior.^[13][14]

1. ^ (German) Bertram, Mijndert. April 1945: Der Luftangriff auf Celle und das Schicksal der KZ-Häftlinge aus Drütte. Celle, 1989. Available online at http://www.celle-im-nationalsozialismus.de/Texte/bertram_1945_broschuere.html.
2. ^ (German) Höper, Dietrich. “8. April 1945 - Bomben auf Celle” in Celler Zündel, a monthly municipal magazine, pp. p. 15-16, issue of April 1985. Available online at http://www.celle-im-nationalsozialismus.de/Texte/Hoeper_Bomben.html.
3. ^ Bertram
4. ^ (German) Buntes Haus e.V. “Die Celler ‘Hasenjagd’ ” in Flugblatt zum 60. Jahrestag des Massakers an KZ-Häftlingen distributed in downtown Celle on April 8, 2005, the date of the 60th anniversary of the event; available online at http://www.celle-im-nationalsozialismus.de/Texte/buha_2005.html.
5. ^ Bertram
6. ^ Buntes Haus e.V.
7. ^ Höper
8. ^ Bertram
9. ^ Bertram
10. ^ Buntes Haus e.V.
11. ^ Höper
12. ^ Bertram
13. ^ Bertram
14. ^ Höper

• Other details available at (German) http://www.celle-im-nationalsozialismus.de/T_Uebersicht.html.