Haren, Germany

Haren (Ems) (Maczków)
Town
View towards the town centre of Haren
Flag Coat of arms
Location of Haren (Ems) (Maczków) within Emsland district
Ortsteile
Government
• Mayor (2019–24)	Markus Honnigfort[1] (CDU)
Area
• Total	208.76 km2 (80.60 sq mi)
Highest elevation	15 m (49 ft)
Lowest elevation	9 m (30 ft)
Population  (2022-12-31)[2]
• Total	24,498
• Density	120/km2 (300/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+01:00 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+02:00 (CEST)
Postal codes	49733
Dialling codes	05932
Vehicle registration	EL
Website	www.haren.de

Haren (Polish 1945: Lwów, Polish 1945–1948: Maczków) is a town in Lower Saxony, Germany in the district of Emsland.

History

Haren was first mentioned in the Middle Ages (around 890) in a registry of the

. The inhabitants of Haren were in large part tradesmen and sailors, transporting grain and other commodities down the Ems River.

During the Napoleonic epoch in 1803, the town was given to the Duke of

, to which Haren belonged.

By 1935 there were 205 ships of various sizes registered in Haren. While some of them were mobilised and lost at sea during

for German ships. Altharen and Neuharen were finally united in October 1956 and in December 1965 Haren received city rights.

Polish enclave

At the end of

), it was chosen as the most appropriate centre of a Polish enclave in Germany.

On 19 May 1945, the

of 1944.

Initially, the new Polish enclave was named Lwów, after the city in South-Eastern Poland by then occupied and later annexed by the

Ujazdowskie Avenue

).

During the next months, a Polish town with a Polish mayor, a Polish school, a folk high school, a Polish fire brigade and a Polish rectory were established. The latter registered 289 weddings and 101 funerals. 479 Poles have birth certificates showing Maczków as a place of birth. As there were hundreds of thousands of Poles in the area administered by the 1st Armoured Division, "Maczków" also served as a cultural centre: newspapers were being published there on a daily basis (Dziennik and Defilada eventually reaching 90 thousand copies), a theatre was opened (led by Leon Schiller) and concert halls were active. Among the most notable events held in the Polish enclave was a 1947 concert by Benjamin Britten and Lord Yehudi Menuhin.

In the Autumn of 1946, the Polish forces stationed in North-Western Germany started to be demobilised and ferried back to the United Kingdom. Also, the civilian inhabitants started to return to Poland or move to other European states. Eventually, by the end of 1948, the town was returned to the original inhabitants (and renamed back to Haren).

Notable Businesses

• Berky

International relations

Twin towns — Sister cities

Haren is

with:

• Międzyrzecz, Poland

References

External links

• Official website (German)
• history of the Polish enclave in Emsland
• Poland in the Emsland