Jümme is a collective municipality (Samtgemeinde) in the district of Leer in the German state of Lower Saxony. It is named after the River Jümme which flows through all three constituent communities. It has an area of 82.34 km² and a population of 6,421. It is situated in the region of East Frisia. Along with the Samtgemeinde of Hesel, it is one of two in the district. It was formed in the wake of local government reform in 1973. Filsum serves as the administrative centre.
The constituent municipalities are (area in km² / population): Detern, Flecken (43.30 / 2,621) Filsum (23.76 / 2,131) Nortmoor (15.28 / 1,669)
Due to its location on the rivers Jümme and Leda, Jümme is also known as Zweistromland ("Two Rivers Land"). The East Frisian geographer, Dodo Wildvang, coined the term "East Frisian Zweistromland" in the 1920s. On the rivers are the Pünte at Wiltshausen, the oldest, operational, hand-worked ferry in Central Europe, and Germany's smallest road bridge in the district of Amdorf.
The Samtgemeinde has historical significance because of the Battle of Detern where, in 1426, the East Frisian chieftain, Focko Ukena, defeated his adversary, Ocko II tom Brok and his allies. For around 3 centuries, Stickhausen Castle in the eponymous village was also an important border fortification for the County of East Frisia. The cultural heritage of the Samtgemeinde includes the remains of the castle as well as historic churches, of which Filsum's 13th century church of St. Paul's is the oldest.
Even in comparison with the rest of inner East Frisia, the Samtgemeinde is only sparsely populated. It is dominated by dairy farming, especially on the grassy plains along the rivers. Tourism is of some importance, among the municipalities of the county, Leer is in third place for the number of overnight stays, behind Borkum and the county town. Jümme has hardly any industry; rather it is a commuter residential area, especially for its neighbouring county town.
Geography
Location and extent
The Samtgemeinde of Jümme is located in the eastern part of the county of Leer in East Frisia, in the northwest of the German state of Lower Saxony. Its main settlement, Filsum, is situated about ten kilometres from the centre of the county town of Leer. The nearest city is Oldenburg, located about 42 km as the crow flies from Filsum. Further large, nearby towns are Emden (about 30 kilometres) and Aurich (nearly 27 kilometres).
With 6,453 inhabitants, spread over 82.34 square kilometres, the Samtgemeinde of Jümme is sparsely populated, its average population density being each about 78 people per square kilometre. Thus the municipality is well below the East Frisian average of 148 inhabitants per square kilometre which, in turn, is well below Lower Saxony (168) and Germany as a whole (230). At around 6,500 inhabitants, the municipality (compared to other collective and independent municipalities) is not one of the most populous municipalities in East Frisia. The regional planning programme for the county of Leer has made Filsum the lower level administrative centre for Samtgemeinde.
Detern has the greatest area of the three communities that make up the Samtgemeinde. With an area of 43.3 square kilometres, it is the second largest after of the six East Frisian Samtgemeinden after Hesel.
Geology and soils
Geologically, the surface of the Samtgemeinde of Jümme, like the whole of East Frisia, is formed from Pleistocene and Holocene beds. Pleistocene strata can be found in the geest areas, which account for the bulk of the territory of the collective municipality. In places, peat soils of the Holocene lie on top of the geest beds. The soils of the East Frisian Geest are largely made up of surface sands and boulder clay cover.
