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Wittingen
Wittingen
Town
	Market square
	Coat of arms
	Location of Wittingen within Gifhorn district
	Wittingen Wittingen
	Coordinates: 52°43′N 10°44′E / 52.717°N 10.733°E
Country	Germany
State	Lower Saxony
District	Gifhorn
Subdivisions	26 districts
Government
• Mayor (2019–24)	Andreas Ritter (Ind.)
Area
• Total	225.08 km2 (86.90 sq mi)
Elevation	79 m (259 ft)
Population (2022-12-31)
• Total	11,489
• Density	51/km2 (130/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+01:00 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+02:00 (CEST)
Postal codes	29378, 29379
Dialling codes	05831
Vehicle registration	GF
Website	www.wittingen.de

Wittingen (German pronunciation: [ˈvɪ.tɪŋ.ən]) is a town in the district of Gifhorn, Lower Saxony, Germany. It is about 30 kilometres (19 mi) northeast of Gifhorn, and 30 kilometres (19 mi) southeast of Uelzen.

Division of the town

Wittingen consists of 27 districts:

Boitzenhagen
Darrigsdorf
Erpensen
Eutzen
Gannerwinkel
Glüsingen
Hagen
Kakerbeck
Knesebeck

Küstorf
Lüben
Mahnburg
Ohrdorf
Plastau
Rade
Radenbeck
Schneflingen
Stöcken

Suderwittingen
Teschendorf
Vorhop
Transvaal
Wittingen
Wollerstorf
Wunderbüttel
Zasenbeck
Rumsdorf

History

The earliest identified record of Wittingen appears in a document dated 781 which defines the territorial borders of the Bishopric of Hildesheim. Another early mention dates from 803 during the reign of Charlemagne, this time identifying the borders of the newly established Bishopric of Halberstadt. Neither of these sources pins down a date for the foundation of Wittingen, however.

During the Medieval period Wittingen was not merely a frontier point, but also a focus for traffic crossing into and out of the Altmark. The town was a trading point and an overnight stop for east-west commerce. Its significance was signaled in the ninth century when The Bishopric had the Church of St Stephen built. By the beginning of the thirteenth century Wittingen had been granted Town privileges, and was a part owner of the Lüneburg Mint. The fourteenth century was a period of political instability in this part of Europe and in 1340 ownership of Wittingen was transferred to the Welfs of Celle. Later, with the outbreak of the Hildesheim Diocesan Feud, the town was almost completely destroyed in 1519. Consequently, the building of town fortifications began shortly afterwards.

Demographic data

According to the Lower Saxony State Department for Statistics 12,291 people lived in the town of Wittingen in 2005 in 3,745 buildings with a total of 5,399 homes at an average floor space of 49.9 square metres (537 sq ft) per person. Since the formation of the borough, the population grew steadily, both by natural population increase as well as immigration. 21.3% of the population in 2005 were under 18 years old, 7.1% from 18 to 25, 27.0% from 25 to 45, 24.4% from 45 to 64, and 20.3% were 65 years old or older. The unemployment rate stood at an average of 11.3% (men: 9.4%, women: 14.0%). 2,247 people commute regularly out of the town and 1745 into it daily.^[3]

Mayors

1974-1985: Robert Leipelt
1985-1989: Paul Degenhardt
1990-1991: Wilfried Wolter
1991-1996: Lothar Schoss
1996-2001: Günther Schulze
2001-2002: Hans-Jürgen Schindler
2002–2019: Karl Ridder (CDU)
since 2019: Andreas Ritter

Infrastructure

Health and medicine

Wittingen has one hospital (Städtisches Krankenhaus), four pharmacies and six dentists.

Transport

Wittingen is situated at the Brunswick-Uelzen railway and offers connections to Braunschweig.

Notable people

Philipp Spitta (1801-1859), Lutheran theologian and poet, Superintendent in Wittingen 1847-1853.^[4]
Friedrich Spitta (1852-1924), German Protestant theologian, born in Wittingen, son of Philipp.^[5]
Bernd Fix (born 1962), computer specialist, member of the Chaos Computer Club
Lars Nieberg (born 1963), equestrian; twice team gold medallist at the 1996 and 2000 Summer Olympics
Kevin Schulze (born 1992), footballer who has played over 200 games