Lohne, Germany

Lohne lies in the Oldenburg Münsterland between Oldenburg to the north and Osnabrück to the south. Through the city goes the Weser-Ems-watershed from north to south. In the east is the catchment area of the Hunte and in the west the catchment area of the Hase, which lies on a Geest, part of the Dammer Berge.

To the east of Lohne lies the Großes Moor, a raised bog. To the west lies the "Dinklager Becken", a great lowland. Drainage occurs by the rivulets "Hopener Mühlenbach" and "Bokerner Bach" into the Hase and "Dadau" into the Hunte.

In the east, next to the "Großes Moor" lie two more raised bogs, the "Brägeler Moor" and the "Südlohner Moor". The "Südlohner Moor" is a protected landscape.[2][3] A small part of the "Steinfelder Moor" is protected too.[4] It lies in Kroge-Ehrendorf, south of the federal road B214.

• 
  Geest in Kroge-Ehrendorf
• 
  Protected landscape "Südlohner Moor"
• 
  Protected landscape "Steinfelder Moor"
• 
  Fishing pond "Runenbrock"
• 
  Recreation area "Runenbrock"

The neighbourship of Lohne, clockwise, start in the north:

• The city Vechta (District Vechta)
• The municipality Barnstorf (District Diepholz)
• The municipality Drebber (District Diepholz)
• The city Diepholz (District Diepholz)
• The municipality Steinfeld (District Vechta)
• The municipality Holdorf (District Vechta)
• The city Dinklage (District Vechta)
• The municipality Bakum (District Vechta)

Bakum (9 km)	Vechta (8 km)	Barnstorf (18 km)
Dinklage (8 km)		Drebber (13 km)
Holdorf (11 km)	Steinfeld (9 km)	Diepholz (12 km)

The distance is town center to town center.

• Rixheim, France (since 1987)
• Międzylesie (German: Mittelwalde), Poland (since 2010)

Established plastic industries in Lohne are:

• ATKA Kunststoffverarbeitung
• delo Dettmer-Verpackungen
• Franz Henke Kunststoffwerk & Werkzeugbau
• Kronen-Hansa-Werk
• Nowack
• Polytec Rießelmann
• Pöppelmann
• RPC Bramlage

Lohne has a wide range of small, medium and large companies. These are for example:

• EnviTec Biogas AG (producer for biogas plants)
• PHW Group (biggest German poultry farmer and producer)
• Würth

• Freilichtbühne Lohne
• Musical AG of the Lohner high school
• Theatregroup of the Schützenverein Bokern-Märschendorf
• Theaterring Lohne e. V.

• Lohne Museum of Industry (opened in March 2000)
• St.-Gertrud-Church with impressive high altar
• St.-Anna-Klus (pilgrimage church) with healing spring
• "Patoratsmühle" (historical water mill at the city park)[5]
• Windmill „Elbers Mühle“[6]
• Outlook tower at the forest park[7]
• Moated castle Hopen
• Urban Villas (Villa Clodius, Villa Taphorn, Villa Trenkamp, Villa Trenkamp and Bohmann, Haus Uptmoor)

• 
  Watermill at the city park
• 
  Moated castle "Burg Hopen"
• 
  Outlook tower at the forest park
• 
  House Uptmoor
• 
  Villa Taphorn
• 
  Villa Trenkamp

• Bronze sculpture „Gänseliesel“ (Hans-Gerd Ruwe, 1978)
• Bronze sculpture „Begegnung“ (Holger Voigts, 1986)
• Fountain sculpture „EGOLOHNE 88“ (Jürgen Goertz, 1988)
• Bronze sculpture „Mantelmadonna“ (Judith von Eßen, 1991)
• Acacia wood sculpture „Gestern – Heute – Morgen“ (Jacques Muhlenbach, 1992)
• Dimension stone sculpture „Zwei Stühle-Thron“ (Rudolf Kaiser, 1992)
• Diabase sculpture „Lohner Wasserstein“ (Wolf Bröll, 1992)
• Bronze fountain sculpture „Das tapfere Schneiderlein“ (Bernhard Kleinhans, 1992)
• Clay sculpture „Befreite Formen“ and marble sculpture „Magisches Quadrat“ (Wolfgang Roßdeutscher, 1992 and 1993)
• Bronze sculpture „Disput“ (Bernd Altenstein, 2009)
• Steel sculpture „Jede Menge Leute“ (Werner Berges, 2012)
• Steel sculpture at the „Lohneum“ (Alfred Bullermann, 2018)[8]
• other sculptures throughout the city

1992 Lohne organized a Sculptor symposium. Many sculptures in Lohne are the result of it.

In the area of the town are more than 100 Wayside crosses.

• 
  Bronze sculpture „Mantelmadonna“ (Judith von Eßen, 1991)
• 
  Bronze sculpture „Gänseliesel“ (Hans-Gerd Ruwe, 1978)
• 
  Bronze fountain sculpture „Das tapfere Schneiderlein“ (Bernhard Kleinhans, 1992)
• 
  Diabase sculpture „Lohner Wasserstein“ (Wolf Bröll, 1992)
• 
  Fountain sculpture „EGOLOHNE 88“ (Jürgen Goertz, 1988)
• 
  Marble sculpture „Magisches Quadrat“ (Wolfgang Roßdeutscher, 1993)
• 
  Bronze sculpture „Begegnung“ (Holger Voigts, 1986)

Honorary citizenship is the highest honour Lohne has to offer. Only three citizens have received this award:

• Helmut Göttke-Krogmann (* 31. März 1919, † 31. Juli 2008), former voluntary mayor (1972 to 1991)
• Hans Diekmann (* 1938), former voluntary mayor (1991 to 2001)
• Hans-Georg Niesel (* 1944), former city director (1979 to 2001) and full-time mayor (2001 to 2011)

• Hermann Kalvelage (* 26. Januar 1884, † 26. April 1966 in Halen), politician (CDU), member of the Lower-Saxon Parliament
• Josef Hempelmann (* 26. September 1893, † 27. April 1967 in Lohne), politician (CDU), member of the Lower-Saxon Parliament (1946) and mayor of Lohne (1946 to 1950)
• Luzie Uptmoor (* 15. November 1899, † 30. Oktober 1984 in Lohne), painter, member of the initiative "Das junge Rheinland"
• Franz Varelmann (* 3. November 1904, † 17. Oktober 1978 in Lohne), politician (CDU), member of the Lower House of German Parliament 1953 to 1972
• Gordian Landwehr OP (* 30. Dezember 1912, † 11. Juni 1998 in Leipzig), catholic priest in Leipzig
• Clemens Pölking (* 27. February 1915, † 17. Januar 1967 in Lingen), politician (CDU), member of the Lower-Saxon Parliament
• Gertrud Pöppelmann (* 4. September 1924, † 18. April 2009 in Lohne), businesswoman
• Franz-Josef Nordlohne (* 18. März 1939, † 29. Januar 1981 in Lohne), politician (CDU), member of the Lower House of German Parliament 1972 to 1979, member of the European Parliament 1979 to 1981
• Werner Schockemöhle (* 2. November 1939, † 1. Februar 2000 in Lohne), horse breeder and businessman
• Josef Schlarmann (* 30. October 1939), lawyer, politician (CDU)
• Claus Peter Poppe (* 1. March 1948), politician (SPD), member of the Lower House of German Parliament 2003 to 2014, since 2014 mayor of the Samtgemeinde Artland
• Johannes Schmoelling (* 9. November 1950), musician, Tangerine Dream
• Benno Möhlmann(* 1. August 1954), footballer (Preußen Münster, Werder Bremen, HSV) and football coach (HSV, Eintracht Braunschweig, Greuther Fuerth); current trainer at the FSV Frankfurt
• Werner Kolhoff (* 1956), journalist, speaker of the Senate of Berlin (1989)
• Michael Börgerding (* 1960), author and university lecturer
• Willi Rolfes (* 1964), social worker and photographer
• Ulrich Kirchhoff (* 9. August 1967), show jumper, olympic champion at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta
• Reinhard Thole (* 1968), chairman of the "Lesben und Schwulen in der Union (LSU)" 2007 to 2010
• Anja Middelbeck-Varwick (* 25. April 1974), catholic theologian
• Mareike Bokern (* 1979), moderator at the WDR and Phoenix
• Kristina Bröring-Sprehe (* 28. October 1986), dressage rider, member of the German olympic team 2012 and 2016
• Erik Pfeifer (* 22. Januar 1987), boxer, German champion, member of the German olympic team 2012
• Thorsten Tönnies (* 13. March 1991), kicker
• Madita Kohorst (* 14. October 1996), handball player
• Marco Angermann (* 07. August 1997), professional E-Sports player

• 
  Benno Möhlmann 2012
• 
  Josef Schlarmann 2006
• 
  Claus Peter Poppe 2013
• 
  Johannes Schmölling
• 
  Ulrich Kirchhoff with Prince de la Mare 2016
• 
  Anja Middelbeck-Varwick 2015
• 
  Mareike Bokern 2013

(as of 11 November 2016)

By German law, cities between 25,001 and 30,000 citizens must have 36 town councils (German Stadträte). Lohne has only 35. The party AFD won 2 seats for the city council, but only one candidate on their ticket. The 2nd seat was withdrawn. The legislative period will take 5 years.

Mayor Tobias Gerdesmeyer

In 2011, Tobias Gerdesmeyer was elected as mayor (CDU). He was common representative for the mayor (2008–2011) before he succeeded Hans Georg Niesel (mayor 2001–2011) as mayor.

On 3 January 1912, the Grand duke of Oldenburg granted the Coat of arms. The shield is divided into four quarters (party per quarterly). The upper left quarter shows gold and red fesses, the lower right quarter shows a golden cross on blue ground. They are the same as in the Coat of arms of the Grand duke. The upper right quarter shows a church on white ground. It displays the modest character of Lohne in union with the Catholic Church. The lower left square shows a wing on a crown. The crown is symbolic of wage and price of the bourgeois activity (Lohn und Preis der bürgerlichen Regsamkeit). The wing is symbolic of the significant feather industry in Lohne in the early 19th century.