Introduction
This is a pleasant walk which starts in Dorfmark's Marktplatz. It explores the Marktplatz, and then follows the Forellenbach, heading under majestic oak trees towards Weißer Sand, Hof Bömme, and Wense.
A number of memorials are encountered along the route. From Wense the walk returns to Dorfmark via the moor and Allerhop (Mengebostel).
The trek follows the falcon route marker, with slight variations. White square metal tags, with a red falcon can also be found nailed to trees along the route, to help keep you on the right path.
Markplatz Car Park
In the car park, the fountain to Dorothea Grünhagen, also known as Grefel Dorjen serves as a focal point.
Dorothea Grünhagen, 1854–1939, was a very strong willed woman, who left her mark both in and around Grefel, now in the NATO military training area. She lived her life in her own distinctive way, in the company of her goat and cat. She stayed single, though a suitor had promised her marriage once he had accumulated sufficient wealth in America. On his return to fulfil his promise, Grefel Dorjen sent him on his way with a few expletives in Plattdeutsch, the language of the people of the Heath.
When Grefel fell within the restricted military zone, Dorothea Grünhagen was relocated in 1938. She fulfilled the saying that “A bird forcefully removed from its nest does not survive long”. She died on 31 July 1939 at Klötzenhof am Ortsrand near Dorfmark, and is buried in the local cemetery.
The bronze sculpture was created by the artist Kurt Tassotti from Mühlacker, and erected on 31 August 2001. Tassotti captured the essence of Grefel Dorjen. He portrayed her in her simple clothing of a blue jacket, head scarf and sturdy boots, with her shot gun, and cigar. Grefel Dorjen was a passionate and successful hunter, much to the chagrin of the Forest Master. Her only luxuries were cigars and coffee. She lived a simple life getting most of her needs from the Heath. She wove baskets, picked mushrooms and berries, and tended her simple farmer's garden. Her love for the Heath and her simple existence embodied a way of life which has vanished forever.
Below the Marktplatz is the Bürgerpark. From here, climb a number of steps to reach Dorfmark's former cemetery and Saint Martin's Lutheran Church. This derives its name from Saint Martin of Tours, saint of the Franks. It has a detached belfry painted in mustard yellow. Near the belfry is a large oak planted in 1913 on the anniversary of the Battle of Leipzig, 16–19 October 1813.
The Battle of Leipzig, also called the Battle of the Nations, was a decisive victory of the Austrian, Russian, and Prussian forces over Napoleon, which led to the departure of the French from Germany. 120,000 men were killed or wounded in the fighting.
A commemorative stone at the base of the tree has a plaque, which was erected in June 1992 by Wilhelm Wippermann, Pastor of Dorfmark Church. It reads: “May this Oak and rock lead us towards peace”. A sentiment not fulfilled by the outbreak of the First World War in 1914.
To the right of the Leipzig memorial is Saint Martin's Lutheran Church, built in 1708 on the site of a former Gothic church. Above the door on the north side of the church is a simple clay tablet with an inscription in Latin. It states:
This Holy House from its foundations has been built under the auspices of The Most Excellent Elector George II Ludovic Duke of Brunswick and Lüneburg. Compassionate to the country of his father and attentive to the completion of this holy task. The church was built when Biemont De Malorti was Governor of Fallingbostel, Rudolph Lodemann was Superintendent of the works, John Martin Zeidler was pastor, and the jurats William Balzerro Vermund, Peter Horman, Henry Wrigge. Year 1708.
On the north side of the church is Dorfmark's World War I memorial erected on 20 August 1922. Dorfmark is unusual in that it has two war memorials. The other is in Hauptstraße. The reason for this anomaly is that the monument in Hauptstraße belonged to Obereinzingen. It was erected in 1922 by the Firm Karl Reimann, and was moved to Dorfmark when the formation of the Military Training Area forced the evacuation of Obereinzingen.
Dorfmark's War Memorial has the shape of two towers on either side of a rampart. The left pillar has the inscription: “We are heroes so felled by conflict 1914–1918”. That on the right says: “Our stronghold is our God” 1914–1918” The names of those who fell in WW I from the surrounding villages also appear in the Obereinzingen WW I memorial in Hauptstraße.
Standing aloof from the nave of the church is the belfry. The separation of bell tower from the church is a characteristic feature of churches in the Heath. During the First World War Dorfmark not only sacrificed its youth for the Kaiser, but also, brought down the bells from the tower on 28 June 1917, and donated their metal to the war effort.
From the belfry walk to the other WW I memorial situated in Hauptstraße.
The obelisk for the German dead of the First World War I is built from granite blocks, and ends in a round dome. The names of a hundred and sixty local conscripts from the 1914–1918 war are recorded on the four sides of the obelisk. Above their names an inscription records that they “died on the field of honour a hero's death for their native country”.
To the left of the obelisk, standing aside from the main monument, is an upright block with the inscription; “ Do you still think of us ?
Prisoners of War exhort the world.”
In the bottom right of the arc surrounding the obelisk is a granite tablet with the inscription “111 Infantry — Division Fallingbostel – Dorfmark – Crimea. November 1940—May 1944, In remembrance of our comrades.”
The 111 Infantry Division was formed in Fallingbostel on 5 November 1940. Its insignia was initially the Bavarian Diamond, but in 1943 this was replaced by that shown on the right of the memorial tablet. Their Divisional HQ was at Achterberg. Its equipment included vehicles captured from the British Army at Dunkirk. It completed its training and organisation as a mechanized infantry Division in April 1941. On 5 May 1941 it was ordered to deploy to Poland, and from June 1941 till May 1944 was on almost continuous active service in the Ukraine, Caucauses and the Crimea.
Forellenbach — Menke Trout lakes
Having had your fill of the sights around the car park, cross Hauptstraße and make your way up Leerenstaße. At the junction of Leerenstaße with Im Osterfeld, is a farm dating from 1764. Go under the railway bridge and turn immediately left into a field. Follow the falcon marker sign to the right and walk along the Forellenbach under some majestic oak trees, as well as beech, sycamore, cherry, conifers, holly, and rowan, all lining the bank.
The path heads towards the A7 / E45 and reaches the first of the two Menken Ponds, named after their former owner, the farmer and cattle dealer Fritz Menke. These are now owned by the local angling club. Heron can be spotted here doing a bit of poaching.
Do not let your enjoyment of the unique settings of these ponds be marred by the noise of the motorway. Instead take heed of the notice in front of the pond which advises:
Do you hear the singing of the motorway?
That is the sound of technology.
One also hears the noise of the guns,
Who have fought for real before and are commemorated here.
So please remain still in front of this plaque!
These words I want to tell you, take them to heart:
Do not destroy the harmony of the forest,
The plants, mushrooms, heath, and animals, protect them.
For all of these are suppressed by technology.
Do not rob yourself of your soul's joy.
Whatever it may be, do not destroy it,
And contribute towards the conservation of your homeland.
Willi Wettig≈
Down the right hand path, is the angling club with a trout on either side of a shield, showing four Linden leaves representing the once independent farming communities of Fischendorf, Dorfmark, Westendorf and Winkelhausen, which in 1927 were incorporated into the small town of Dorfmark, and the words SAV Dorfmark.
Having just meditated on nature conservation, it is rather sad to come across a commemorative plaque, just to the left of the angling club, which claims that on 13 January 1872, in the forest of Becklinger, the last wolf in Lower Saxony was hunted through the territory of Grünewald, and shot. The actual place where the wolf was killed and its wolfstein are inaccessible as they lie in the restricted military training zone.
Carry on between the two ponds, and veer to the left where a memorial to young Fritz Menke, who fell in Verdun in 1916, lies under a beech tree.. The war touched every single family in Dorfmark. Following the example of Fritz Menke senior, who erected his own memorial for his son, the rest of the village felt the need to honour all their dead. A memorial was finally erected in 1922 on the north side of the village church.
Menke's memorial is another poignant reminder of the tragedy of war and the devastation it leaves on the bereaved:
In Memory
Of Our Beloved
Son and Brother
Fritz.
Born 28 November 1896
Fell in War 22 May 1916
At Verdun.
You used to love coming to this place
But you may not come here anymore
You won't return from far away
So much does our love burn.
You rest in French soil
....also this earthly separation
We trust in God in our sorrow
Until we see each other again in eternity.
Fritz Menke
Lina Menke nee Gelmers
Elli Menke Martin Menke
Weißer Sand
From the Menke memorial retrace your way to the main footpath. Head towards the bridge of the A7 over the Forellenbach. Here we part from the Forellenbach, which emerges from under the motorway, and follow the path to the left as it skirts a cultivated field. The path crosses a trek running from Dorfmark into the restricted military zone, and heads straight down into another oak plantation. A falcon route marker is hidden on a large conifer tree to your right, on the other side of the trek. Walk between a field to your left, and an oak plantation to your right. A short distance down the path, another falcon route marker nailed to a tree directs you right into the plantation. The path here can be rather difficult to spot as it is overgrown with grass and nettles. However, it heads north in a relatively straight line, parallel to the path you have just left behind. Deer can often be seen here.
The path opens into a small square in front of four houses. Turn left into Wietzendorfer Straße, and keep left until you hit Weißer Sand. Turn right down Weißer Sand, and walk past the road sign marking the limits of Dorfmark. A short distance further on, as the path curves to the left, you will notice three upright stones at the edge of a conifer plantation guarding a path. A rundweg marker, with a perpetual female cyclist coloured green, high up on a tree, marks this rather hidden path. Go past the three upright stones and on your right is the memorial for the fallen of the Franco–Prussian War 1870–71.
The monument to the young local conscripts of the Franco–Prussian War originally stood in Achterberg. It was transferred to the forest in Weißer Sand in the 1960's. The Franco–Prussian War was a decisive victory of Prussian organisation over the French. Prussia was supported by the North German Confederation created in 1867, and the Southern German States of Baden, Bavaria and Württenburg. The railways were used for the first time to speedily mobilize the Prussian Army. The war gave Germany the provinces of Alsace and Lorraine. More significantly it led to the unification of the German States under the leadership of Prussia, creating the German Empire under Kaiser Wilhelm I.
Bömme – Wense
Retrace your steps to the main path. Follow this for about 2.3 km, keeping the edge of the moor with its conifer plantation to your left, and the A7, screened by tall silver birches, to your right. Ignore the T junction which takes you down Freundenthalweg to Allerhop, and continue straight on to the small farming community of Bömme. Heathland sheep browse in a field on the banks of the river Böhme.
A small road off the main trek on the left, takes you down a cobbled road to the heart of a farm. As you approach the farm you first pass large stables with a hay loft, then a Treppenspeicher (Stairway Storehouse). Above the two side doors of the Treppenspeicher are the inscriptions: CHATRINA MARIYA RIPKEN and WILHELM Z BOMMEN 1707. The path takes you into the village and emerges on the Jettebruch–Wense road to the right of the river Böhme. Turn right past Hof Bömme, go over the crossroads ignoring the turning to the left towards Fuhrhop, and proceed under the A7 bridge into Wense.
Wense is confined by the Military Training area, which restricts access to its surroundings. The former manor house of the Wense family is occupied by the State Forestry Commission. The only sights accessible to the visitor are the chapel and lakes. The water from the lakes powered a saw mill which was erected on the embankment between the chapel and the millpond. The saw mill was demolished with the opening of the A7 in 1940. The Wense family resettled in Ellerbruch.
An oak lined path leads over an embankment between the two lakes to the chapel and family burial ground. On the outside walls of the chapel are two war memorials and the tombstones of Jürgen Von Der Wense who died in 1572, and his wife Magdalen. These covered the burial vault in the crypt of the former Gothic church in Dorfmark, but were brought to Wense when a chapel was built in 1648.
Wense first appeared in the archives in 1330 as a fiefdom of the aristocratic family Wense. The name is derived from Weide, meaning pasture by a stream. Jürgen Von Der Wense was a liege man of Duke Ernst the Confessor, 1497–1546, Duke of Brunswick and Lüneburg. In 1528, Jürgen Von Der Wense introduced the Reformation in Dorfmark, on the orders of Ernst the Confessor.
Around the Moor
From Wense retrace your steps and leave the boundaries of the Military Zone. Pass under the A7 bridge and at the cross roads turn left. This path passes the turning to Bömme and carries on to meet the T junction. Turn right into Freudenthalweg and walk on the outskirts of Dorfmark Moor for 1.5 km. The path goes over the Walsrode–Soltau railway line and heads into Allerhop in the limits of Mengebostel.
Allerhop (Mengebostel)
Turn left at the crossroads heading towards Dorfmark. On the right is a farm with silos with their well preserved wooden towers. Further on is Landhaus Allhop, a white brick timber framed building run by the Church of Christian Scientists as a retirement home for the elderly.
Continue down Rennbahn and look out for the sign on your right which diverts you through the woods to the Böhme. These were the former gardens of Landhaus Allhop. Down a path heading back towards the retirement home, hidden by an overgrown Rhododendron, is a memorial erected in 1927 by Carl Busch, owner of Landhaus Allhop, in memory of his beloved mother Sophie Busch. The trek in the woods carries on through the former garden by the Böhme, and re emerges on Rennbahn. On the left is a field which grows Asparagus belonging to the firm Joachim Lüters.
The soil of the Lüneburger Heide is particularly suitable for the growing of asparagus as it is light, sandy, and rich in humus. In Spring the sun warms the land setting the stage for the growth of excellent asparagus. The cultivation of asparagus requires a good deal of expertise, patience, and hard work. Although the plant is not ready to be harvested until after its third year of growth, a well maintained asparagus bed can remain productive for twenty years. The asparagus beds are covered with foil so as to provide uniform humidity and accelerate the growth of the vegetable. This makes the plant available to market from as early as the first week in May. The season runs till the end of June.
Rennbahn — Fritz–Elling–Straße — Markplatz car park
Proceed down Rennbahn past Dorfmark's cemetery. A low brick wall separates the road from the well kept family graves, where one can spot the names of the large farming families who once tilled the soil of the Heidmark. In the centre is a small chapel with an Art Nouveau motif commemorating the opening year of the cemetery.
Dorfmark cemetery and chapel were built in 1911. Originally the dome was capped with a small tower but this was removed and replaced with an iron cross forged by the blacksmith Wilhelm Stöckmann from Fischendorf. The cross was refurbished in 1983. The land between the river Böhme and the cemetery was built upon in the 1970s and now has the streets Böhmeweg and Heesterhof.
From the road one can see the final resting place of Field Marshal Eric Von Manstein, lying under a majestic silver birch tree.
Erich von Manstein, 24 November 1887–10 June 1973, came from a distinctive line of Prussian Generals. He joined the Third Foot Guards Regiment in 1906, and rose to the ranks of Field Marshall of the Wehrmacht. Von Manstein was commander of 11th Army Group in the Crimea and Leningrad. He clashed constantly with Hitler over strategy and was finally dismissed from his post in 1944. He held the view that if the Generals were given a free reign to run Operation Barbarossa, victory in the east would have been assured. After the war he advised the new government of West German, Chancellor Konrad Adenauer, on the organization and doctrine for the new German Army, the Bundeswehr, and its incorporation into NATO.
Rennbahn leads into Großer Hof. Go down this road and turn left into Fritz–Elling–Straße. Turn right into Markt Straße, pass the Rathaus and information office at Markt Straße 1, and join Hauptstraße.
In the Hauptstraße are a number of guesthouses. Across the road at Hauptstraße 26 is the former Gasthof Zum Deutschen Hause Von G Gotzsch Inh W Hartung run by W Hartung between 1910–1950. This inscription used to be above the door but is now fixed to the gable of the adjacent stable. To the side of the building is another inscription from 1736 which says:
He who only lets God's love prevail and hopes in him in all times, will obtain support in all times of adversity and grief. He who builds his fullest trust in God has not built on sand.
The guesthouse is a popular focal point of the village. At Hauptstraße 23 is the former Wettig's Gasthaus, formerly the Central Guest house, opened by Wilhelm Wettig. Further down the road at Hauptstraße 35, is the once popular Cafe Muller, which was originally a bakery. Cords August Müller acquired the property in 1883. This was rebuilt in 1913 to serve as a dwelling house and wood storage depot. An extension to the house was added in 1923 to serve as a cafe.
From here return to the car park, and the fountain of Grefel Dorjen, to complete your walk.