Short History of Ahlem

Ahlem was first mentioned in documents of 1256. In the Middle Ages the small village consisted of only 15 farms. A tax list from 1689 shows 119 inhabitants. There was no church or school.at that time Ahlem belonged to the parish of St. Nicholas in Limmer. where the children attended the sexton school.

A former dominance of agriculture changed in the course of industrialization in the 19th century. Ahlem produced clay bricks, lime and sand for the construction of factories and settlements in the whole region, besides mining natural asphalt for road construction.

The so-called ´english company`, the United Limmer and Vorwohle Rock Asphalte Company Limited, had headquarters in London, with the German director Richard Lattorf, and it became one of the world's most important companies for the manufacturing of asphalt products. The company also owned pits in Trinidad and near Ragusa in Sicily.

At the end of the 19th century Ahlem had about 1,000 inhabitants. Many found employment in the ´Excelsior`factory, which later became the´Continental`rubber factory in nearby Limmer.

According to the laws of the old German Empire only 200 men were entitled to vote.in Ahlem, in 1907 and in elections to the ´Reichstag` there was a majority of 70% the Social Democratic Party. The former farming village had indeed become a ‘workers' village

The Israelite School of Horticulture which was founded by Alexander Simon, in 1892, continued to exist until its closure by the Nazis in 1942. Ahlem graduates often dominated the horticulture and landscape architecture in Palestine and later on in the state of Israel.

In 1944/1945 near to the former asphalt pits there was a concentration camp for about 1,200 Polish Jews, This was liberated on April 10, 1945 by American troops including Henry W. Kissinger.who later became secretary of state. Only a few of the prisoners survived, among them Jack Tramiel, father of Commodore and Atari computers. A memorial now reminds us of these events.

The Hannover War Cemetery, created by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission and on the border with the neighbouring municipality of Seelze,, is the final resting place for 2,451 soldiers from the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and some other countries

In the 50´s and 60´s of the 20th century many new housing estates were built and the population grew rapidly. Mayor Heinrich Hoff attached great importance to good neighbourly relations. and was pleased when the Town became twinned with Petit-Couronne in 1967.

In 1974 Ahlem was incorporated in Hanover.

With thanks to Siegfried Frohner from Ahlem