Bergen is a town located between Soltau and Celle on the Lüneburg Heath in Lower Saxony. Administratively it acts as a municipal borough divided into 12 subordinate parishes based on the town and its surrounding villages. The town has 13,100 inhabitants. Members of the British military and their families, who were not included in the census, bring the actual population to about 17,000. These soldiers occupy a NATO base and exercise on the Bergen-Hohne Training Area just outside the town. The Sieben Steinhäuser, a cluster of dolmens dating from the Stone Age, are located within the training area.
Today the town of Bergen acts as a local borough in the northern part of Celle district and is, after Celle, the only political entity in the district, having been granted the status of a town since 1957. In the community reorganisation of 1971, Bergen was given responsibility for the parishes of Becklingen, Belsen, Bleckmar, Diesten, Dohnsen, Eversen, Hagen, Hassel, Nindorf, Offen, Sülze and Wardböhmen. That significantly increased the size of its population and its area. The area of the original town of Bergen was 11 square kilometres (4.2 sq mi); after the district reform it grew to 163 km².
Bergen-Belsen concentration camp was located in the area of Belsen. Anne Frank, who became world famous for her diary, died here in early March 1945. On the initiative of the Anne Frank Fonds in Basel the Anne Frank Peace Days were initiated in 1999, taking place since 2000. Young people from all over Europe meet each June in Bergen at the birthday of Anne Frank to discuss peaceful coexistence of nations and religions, with the aim of better understanding between peoples. The city of Bergen, the Konrad Adenauer Foundation and the Anne Frank Fonds organize and fund the event. The cities of Śrem, Hendrik-Ido-Ambacht, Szubin and Rožnov also participate in the Anne Frank Peace Days.
