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Twist, Germany

Twist
Coat of arms of Twist
Coat of arms
Twist  is located in Germany
Twist
Twist
Coordinates: 52°37′N 07°02′E / 52.617°N 7.033°E / 52.617; 7.033Coordinates: 52°37′N 07°02′E / 52.617°N 7.033°E / 52.617; 7.033
Country Germany
State Lower Saxony
District Emsland
Government
 • Mayor Ernst Schmitz (CDU)
Area
 • Total 105.61 km2 (40.78 sq mi)
Elevation 16 m (52 ft)
Population (2015-12-31)
 • Total 9,676
 • Density 92/km2 (240/sq mi)
Time zone CET/CEST (UTC+1/+2)
Postal codes 49767
Dialling codes 0 59 36
Vehicle registration EL
Website www.twist-emsland.de

Twist is a municipality in the Emsland district, in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated directly on the Dutch border.

Situation of the local parts in the municipality of Twist:

The settlement in the area of today's municipality Twist began quite late around the year 1784. The prince-bishop of Münster Max Franz satisfied the wishes of some "Heuerleute", a kind of farmer, from the nearby village of Hesepe to settle down in the bog "Twist". This was the starting point of the settlement in Twist; to be more precise it starts at the street of houses which is nowadays called "Alt-Hesepertwist". The ground was at that time quite infertile because of the its composition and did just allow a meager livelihood and so the people did not live in any comfort. The construction of the canal "Nord-Süd-Kanal" about 100 years later brought significant improvements in the quality of life of the people, because the canal allowed a systematic drainage and removal of the peat.

In the 1950s the economic revival finally arrived on the one hand by finding larger oil deposits and on the other hand by commissioning of the production site of the Dutch plastics company Wavin. These two factors were over some decades the driving forces for the economical rise of Twist.

In 1986 Twist celebrated its 200th anniversary. The anniversary festivities ended with a pageant which had respect to the history and current circumstances in Twist. For instance one of the numerous parade floats showed a detailed replica of the church St. Georg (biggest church in Twist).

In the 1990s the two main columns of Twist's economy, oil production and the plastic production declined more and more; and economic hard times meant many people lost their jobs. With the finishing of the autobahn 31 at the end of the 1990s this negative development was stopped by siting new companies especially in the industrial area close to the autobahn.

In August/September 2011 Twist celebrated its 225th anniversary. The 10-day-long festival started with a "Twist-Schau" (Twist Show). This show was performed like a play in Low German language and telling the history of Twist in a humorous way, with its good old times, but also the very hard living conditions of the first settlers, the loss of loved family members during WWII and the upcoming prosperity caused by the fast economic growth of the last 60 years that offers people of about 30 different nations a new home in Twist.


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Wikipedia

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