| Heidekreis | |
| State: | Lower Saxony |
| Area: | 1873.5 |
| Kreisschlüssel: | 03358 |
| Carsign: | HK (until 31.7.2011: SFA) |
| Landrat: | Jens Grote |
| Admin Party: | Independent |
| Image Coa: | Wappen des Heidekreises.svg |
Heidekreis ("Heath district") is a district (Landkreis) in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is bounded by (from the north and clockwise) the districts of Harburg, Lüneburg, Uelzen, Celle, Hanover, Nienburg, Verden and Rotenburg.
Historically the region belonged to the Duchy of Brunswick-Lüneburg and its successor states. The district was established in 1977 by merging the former districts of Soltau and Fallingbostel as Soltau-Fallingbostel (pronounced as /de/). On 1 August 2011 it was renamed to Heidekreis.
The district includes the western half of the Lüneburg Heath (Lüneburger Heide). Since this landscape is so characteristic for the district, it calls itself "the Heath District". The capital is Bad Fallingbostel, although it has only 11,800 inhabitants and is only the fifth-largest town in the district.
The coat of arms displays:
| align=left width=33% | Towns | Samtgemeinden |
|---|---|---|
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| 1seat of the Samtgemeinde; 2town |
Cultural matters are looked after by those charged with communal cultural support within the towns and municipalities, the parishes, the banks, the Lüneburg Regional Association and private cultural initiatives.
The district is a member of the Lüneburg Regional Association (Lüneburgischer Landschaftsverband), which looks after regional, cultural-political tasks.
There are 29 nature reserves in the Heidekreis.[1] The largest one (Lüneburg Heath Nature Reserve) has an area of 13,222 ha in the territory of the Heidekreis, the smallest (Söhlbruch) has an area of 8 ha.[2]
See also: Nature reserves in Lower Saxony.
There are four Jewish cemeteries in Soltau-Fallingbostel : in Ahlden, Rethem, Soltau und Walsrode.[3] There are protected cultural monuments – stone witnesses to former Jewish communities and a thriving Jewish parish live into the 1930s. The cemeteries are mainly on the edge of parishes.