Hanover Region

Hanover Region is a district in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is bounded by the districts of Heidekreis, Celle, Gifhorn, Peine, Hildesheim, Hamelin-Pyrmont, Schaumburg and Nienburg.The District of Hanover has a unique legal status among the districts of Lower Saxony. It includes the City of Hanover, the state capital, which has the same privileges as a city that is not part of a district. As a consequence, the District is much larger in population than any other district of the state. Its administrative body is the Regionsparlament, headed by the Regionspräsident or "region president" . The members of the Regionsparlament are elected once every five years and the Regionspräsident is elected once every eight years in local elections.HistoryThe City of Hanover was not part of the district until 2001, when the old Hanover District and the city were merged in order to form the new Region Hannover district .During World War II, Hanover was the Headquarters of the Military District XI, which was responsible for Braunschweig, Anhalt, and part of Hanover. It was also the Garrison Town for the 71. Infanterie Division.