Alfeld
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Alfeld is a town in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is located on the Leine river in the district of Hildesheim. Population: 23,000.
The town was founded in 1214. Sights in Alfeld include the town hall (1586) with its octagonal tower, the church Saint Nicolai and the Fillerturm, a medieval watchtower. More famous are the Seven Mountains (German: Sieben Berge) in the north and the Lippoldshöhle ("Lippold's cave"), where a legendary robber-knight is said to have lived.
The assertion, that in Alfeld the popular fairy tale of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was born, is false. Even though, the miners who mined ore In the Seven Mountains believed in the existence of dwarfs, it is more likely that the cradle of the fairy tale is to be searched in France. The version the brothers Grimm heard and wrote down, as they travelled through the Seven Mountains, on the so called "Maerchenstrasse" (Street Of Fairytales) is just one of many.
[edit] Popular culture
Alfeld is a strategically important city fought for repeatedly by both NATO and Soviet forces in Tom Clancy's novel Red Storm Rising.
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