Wunstorf

Town in Lower Saxony, Germany

Coat of arms

Location of Wunstorf within Hanover district

(2021–26) Carsten Piellusch^[1] (SPD)Area

• Total126.60 km² (48.88 sq mi)Elevation

43 m (141 ft)Population

(2022-12-31)^[2]

• Total41,689 • Density330/km² (850/sq mi)Time zoneUTC+01:00 (CET) • Summer (DST)UTC+02:00 (CEST)Postal codes

31515

Dialling codes05031, 05033 (Steinhude and Großenheidorn), 05723 (Idensen-Niengraben)Vehicle registrationHWebsitewww.wunstorf.de

Wunstorf (German pronunciation: [ˈvʊnsˌtɔʁf] ^ⓘ) is a town in the district of Hanover, in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated approximately 22 kilometres (14 mi) west of Hanover. The following localities belong to the town of Wunstorf: Blumenau (with Liethe), Bokeloh, Großenheidorn, Idensen (with Idensermoor and Niengraben), Klein Heidorn, Kolenfeld, Luthe, Mesmerode, Steinhude, and Wunstorf.

Nearby Wunstorf Air Base of the German Air Force, which participated in the Berlin Airlift and is home to Air Transport Wing 62 since 1978 that operates all German A400Ms, is named after Wunstorf. To the west of the city, Steinhude and Großenheidorn are located on the shores of Lake Steinhude.

Early history

The name Wunstorf derives from the early settlement of Wonherestorpe dating to around 700 CE. In 1181, Wunstorf was mentioned as a civitas, literally 'citizenry' in Latin and 'Bürgerschaft' in German.

Engraving of Wunstorf by Matthäus Merian, c. 1654^[3]

Population

1830 – c. 1,910
1840 – c. 2,300
1871 – 2,455
1885 – 2,963
1905 – 4,523
1949 – 11,610 (of this, 3,490 were refugees and displaced persons)^[4]
1998 – 40,848
2000 – 41,474
2005 – 42,215
2010 – 41,244

Local council

The local elections on 11 September 2016, had the following results:

SPD: 16 seats
CDU: 13 seats
Alliance '90/The Greens: 6 seats
FDP: 2 seats
AfD: 4 seats
Fraktionslos:(without party) 1 seat

Transport

Wunstorf has two exits on motorway A 2.

Wunstorf railway station has four trains per hour to Hanover (a mix of local and regional trains), and two trains per hour each to Minden and Nienburg. The local bus network is designed to allow connections with trains to and from Hanover.

The nearest commercial airport is the Hannover Airport about 25 kilometres (16 mi) via motorways A 2 and A 352.

Twin towns – sister cities

Wunstorf is twinned with:^[5]

Flers, France
Wolmirstedt, Germany

Notable people

Polykarp Leyser IV (1690–1728), Protestant theologian, philosopher, physician, jurist and historian
Johann Dietrich Busch (1700–1753), an organ builder.
Joost Schmidt (1893–1948), typographer, painter and teacher at the Bauhaus
Ernst Jünger (1895–1998), writer, soldier, philosopher and entomologist; went to local school
Hans Bosse (1938–2023), anthropologist, sociologist and social psychologist; alos worked in Papua New Guinea
Andreas Spengler (born 1947), psychiatrist and psychotherapist, medical director at local hospital
Heinz-Joachim Barchmann (born 1950), politician (SPD), Member of Bundestag since 2009
Nicolas-Gerrit Kühn (born 2000), footballer, played about 140 games

Gallery

Heritage-protected house at Georgstraße, Wunstorf
Half-timbered house at Stiftstraße, Wunstorf
Oak of peace (Friedenseiche) and war memorial (Kriegerdenkmal, literally 'warrior memorial')

References

^ "Direktwahlen in Niedersachsen vom 12. September 2021" (PDF). Landesamt für Statistik Niedersachsen. 13 October 2021.
^ "LSN-Online Regionaldatenbank, Tabelle A100001G: Fortschreibung des Bevölkerungsstandes, Stand 31. Dezember 2022" (in German). Landesamt für Statistik Niedersachsen.
^ Matthäus Merian; Martin Zeiler (1654). "Wunstorff". Topographia und Eigentliche Beschreibung Der Vornembsten Stäte, Schlösser auch anderer Plätze und Örter in denen Hertzogthümer Braunschweig und Lüneburg und denen dazu gehörende Grafschafften Herzschafften und Landen (in German). Frankfurt: Matthäus Merian the Elder. p. 214,485. OCLC 84587628. OL 26498788M. Wikidata Q19230666.
^ s. E. Holodynski, Armin Mandel, S.17
^ "Städtepartnerschaft". wunstorf.de (in German). Wunstorf. Retrieved 17 February 2021.