The story provides a highlight-reel account of the Thirty Years’ War, focusing primarily on the events that took place within what is now the city limits of Salzgitter. Special attention is given to the terrible consequences of the war for the people living here at the time, as well as to the battles at Lutter am Barenberge (1626) and at Thiede / Wolfenbüttel (1641). New archaeological findings from the Lutter battlefield and the “living history” hobby are also briefly introduced.

Nearly 400 years ago, on August 27, 1626, a major and extremely bloody battle took place near Lutter am Barenberge. Its outcome determined the further course of history for large parts of what is now Lower Saxony—including the present-day city limits of Salzgitter. The Battle of Lutter, however, was only one aspect of the “Thirty Years’ War” (1618–1648). This major conflict—actually a series of four major sub-wars—reached the region in 1625 and raged with varying intensity for nearly two decades. By the time it ended, the Brunswick region lay completely devastated. It took years to recover from the war’s aftermath.

The special exhibition was conceived by the Städtisches Museum Schloss Salder and the City of Salzgitter’s Department of Culture. It was realized in cooperation with the Braunschweig District Archaeology Office (Lower Saxony State Office for the Preservation of Historical Monuments) and the Interessengemeinschaft Dreißigjähriger Krieg Oderwald e.V.