Lehrte is a town of Lower Saxony (Germany) of the area of Hanover, located at 15 km in the east of the town of Hanover.

History

The name of town of Lehrte appears for the first time in an official document in 1147. It was then an unimportant village of peasants. Until 1352 the inhabitants were to go to the church in the village of Steinwedel - which is now a district of Lehrte - before on this date the Nikolauskirche is built.

Only starting from 1843 Lehrte becomes more important, with the construction of the railway line Hanover-Lehrte, which will be prolonged in the following years towards That, Hildesheim and Berlin. At the beginning of the construction of the railway line the village counted 755 inhabitants, 60 years later approximately ten times more inhabitants. In 1898 Lehrte receives the right to carry the title of city (cf).

With the train, the Industrie settled in the city.

Twinnings

Famous characters

• Kurt Hirschfeld (1902-1964), Intendant with the Schauspielhaus in Zurich

• Hiltrud Hensen (1951-), ex-wife of Gerhard Schröder
• Ursula von der Leyen (1958-), German woman, CDU, since 2005 federal minister for the Family, the elderly, the women and youth