The fire of Easter 1911

In the afternoon of 15 April 1911, Easter Sunday, Lindau experienced its largest and most devastating fire. In a farmyard in the Unterflecken area of the village, two boys had made a fire. Since it was very windy, the fire spread to the farm buildings and those of a bricklayer. Primitive fire fighting equipment and the distance from the local river led to the entire Unterflecken being burnt. Sparks ignited other houses and stored chemicals exploded.

42 houses and 30 auxiliary buildings were destroyed and many were never rebuilt. In the village marketplace the Mariendenkmal monument was erected. In the same year, a local volunteer fire brigade was established.

Weimar Republic (1918–1933)

Lindau's predominantly catholic population influenced the village's voting pattern . (A census from the year 1934 indicated there were 1487 inhabitants, of whom 85.5% were Catholic, only 14.5% Lutheran while no Jewish inhabitants were recorded.)

The Zentrumspartei centrist party, abbreviated 'Zentrum', held a special supremacy in the district during the period of the Weimar Republic. In 1920 Zentrum gained 69.8% of Lindau's Reichstag votes. This high vote was maintained through all the years of the Weimar Republic until 1932, when with the last free elections this party still gained 60.8% of the vote while in many other places the Nazi Party had long been the strongest political power. The Nazis recorded just two votes (0.3%) for the first time in 1928 and were insignificant at first in subsequent years. In November 1932 the Nazis were no longer to be ignored, at 21.9% the second strongest party in Lindau after the Zentrum. A local Nazi group formed in 1930 (the district's first had been formed in 1925 in Duderstadt).

The last months of the Weimar Republic were shaped by violent political arguments in Lindau, with many party meetings and banners in the village. A news item from this time reports that a Lindau SA member was hurt “by a political opponent, with a key, on the head.”

Lindau during national socialism (1933–1945)

No documents remain from the March 1933 elections, but it is assumed that Lindau voted along customary lines. At first the Lindau population remained sceptically opposed to the new ruling powers. However, the concordat between the German Reich and the Vatican encouraged many Catholic voters. Gradually national socialism became acceptable among them.

In May 1933 the first Nazi mayor was appointed. The municipality had no more influence on policy. The new ruling powers determined everything.

In November of the same year Reichstag elections took place. However it was only possible to vote 'yes' or 'no'. With these elections 910 Lindauers voted for the Nazis: 98%. Only 19 voters (approx 2%) were either invalid or 'no' votes.

Job creation measures led to new roads and more people. Among other things in 1938 the market place was paved and was used as a stage for many political demonstrations.

The economy flourished, the Greve string factory for example got many orders from the armed forces during preparations for the Second World War.

Second World War (1939–1945)

An early influence of the outbreak of World War II was the arrival of women and children from large cities of the Saarland in December 1939.

During the war many prisoners of war came to Lindau, among others Frenchmen and Poles, who were used in agriculture.

In 1945 a group of Canadian airmen crashed.

The Second World War cost 111 Lindau soldiers' lives, nearly twice as high as the casualties in the First World War of 1914–1918.

The post-war period (1945–1949)

One of the first steps after the end of the war was the release of prisoners of war. In June 1945 approximately 200 British personnel were deployed in Lindau after the Americans had left and they remained until 1946.

Gradually life in Lindau began to normalise. On 3 June a new kindergarten was inaugurated and on 5 June the public library, after all National Socialist material had been removed, opened in the parsonage building. The school suffered from a shortage of teachers and textbooks "For learning books the school children possess nothing except for a Bible, Catechism and maybe a reader," wrote a teacher at that time.

Between the English occupiers and the Lindau population there existed a good relationship. The British held friendly matches with the FC Lindau soccer club.

After the war a research institute relocated to Lindau, where buildings of the Technical University of Hannover already existed. The convoy arrived on the 2nd and 3 March 1946. This was to become the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research.

On 16 March 1946 the village school converted back into a catholic school after 88% of parents voted for this. However the Protestant children got their own religious education.

The high number of refugees from the large cities was problematic. Food, accommodation and work were scarce. The number of refugees constantly increased, bringing the population to 2400. All houses were heavily occupied, and the relationship between Lindauers and refugees was not always good.

Between 1946 and 1948 the Fleckenstraße road was paved, and the church tower was repaired in 1948.

Development from 1949 until today

The Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research became a significant component of the village, attracting many international visitors

After the Second World War Lindau developed to the north and the entire infrastructure was improved.

In 1957 the village got a multipurpose hall, (reconditioned in 2006). A new elementary school was established in 1965 which serves today as a Hauptschule and Realschule. A new kindergarten was built in 1969. Lindau got its own sports field, and a new fire station was built in 1971 as well as asphalted roads equipped with modern lighting.

In 1969 Lindau joined the Rhumetal district drainage project, completed in 1976.

On 1 January 1973 as part of administrative reform of Lower Saxony the district of Duderstadt was dissolved, from which Lindau was placed in Landkreis Northeim (district). Lindau also lost the status of a municipality as together with six other villages the united municipality Gemeinde Katlenburg-Lindau was created. Lindau had become part of a predominantly Lutheran area and it is reported that the bell was tolled at the (catholic) village church.

In 1983 Lindau joined a natural gas network while the Peter und Paul Kirche catholic church was renovated during a seven-year closure.

The mill stream created in 1872 by the company Greve for water power at the oast house was filled in 1984.

In 1985 Lindau opened a large sportsground with a grandstand for 250 spectators.

In 1987 the district of Northeim built a "center for innovation" next to the Max Planck Institute, to offer production facilities for high tech companies.

In the years 1946, 1947, 1981 and 1994 Lindau was afflicted by heavy flooding of the Rhume, which caused severe damage. The flood dam built in 1995 has so far prevented similar events.

In 2014, the Max Planck Institute relocated to Göttingen.^[2]

The Lindau Ortsrat (village council)

CDU: 7 seats SPD: 3 seats FDP: 1 seat

• Ortsbürgermeister (village mayor): Heinrich Schmidt (CDU)
• deputy: Gudrun Franz (CDU)
• 2nd deputy: Rudolf Rümke (SPD)

Notable directors of Max Planck Institute

• 1955–1964 Julius Bartels^[3][4]
• 1951–1975 Walter Dieminger^[5][6]
• 1974–1990 Sir (William) Ian Axford^[7]
• 1992–1998 Tor Hagfors^[8]