The farming village of Oerbke was first mentioned in the surviving records in 1256 and, by 1438, there were 8 farmsteads reported in the area as well as 4 individual houses (Kotstellen). The farms and houses were also evident in the registers in 1563, 1589 and 1628, so they were very long-lived here, probably due to the fertile soil. Until 1935 the village had been a purely agricultural settlement for centuries.
During the Third Reich the German armed forces, the Wehrmacht established a prisoner-of-war camp in Oerbke in which up to 30,000 soldiers from the Red Army were housed.[1] After 1945 Oerbke Camp was initially used by the British Forces as a detention centre and displaced persons camp. Later the Oerbke East settlement (Ostsiedlung Oerbke) was used for troops exercising on the Bergen-Hohne Training Area.
Closely linked to the history and development of the village are long-established families. The oldest family names include:
- 1379: henneke hoyers, Odde, henneke luders
- 1438: Ludeke in deme Broke, Olveke, Sandman, Hermen Lange, Ghildehus, Hermen Hoyers, Eggerd in der Koten, Henneke Odden, Tideke Ebeling, Hinrik Hoyers, Henneke Luders
- 1528: Jacob im Broke, Carsten Hoyger, Roders, Olücke, Hinrick Odden, Marthinß, Laurentius, Bartolt Lüders, Peter, Hans Wobbeken
