Aurich

Aurich is a town in the East Frisian region of Lower Saxony, Germany, and the capital of the district of Aurich. It is the second largest town in East Frisia by population after Emden, and by area after Wittmund. The settlement of Aurechove appears in a Frisian document, the Brokmerbrief, in 1276. After an attack, Count Edzard of the House of Cirksena began rebuilding the town in 1517, and in 1539 the land authorities were gathered here, making it the county capital and later the seat of authority for East Frisia under Prussia from 1744. It became part of the Kingdom of Holland in 1808, the capital of the French department of Ems-Oriental in 1810, part of the Kingdom of Hanover in 1815, and Prussian again in 1866. A subcamp of the Neuengamme concentration camp operated in Aurich from October to December 1944. After the Second World War the town became part of the new state of Lower Saxony. Its local council has 40 members and its coat of arms shows a red shield with a golden letter A.