ground. The 18th century brought the Seven Years' War between 1756 and 1763, which left a wake of death and destruction. The Franzosengrab ("Frenchmen's Grave") on Brunnenstraße recalls the many victims of the fighting and epidemics. On 9 May 1781 or 5 April 1782, the Brunswick Oberjägermeister (roughly "High Hunting Master"), Caspar Heinrich von Sierstorpff, founded the Driburg spa, which is still owned today by his descendants, the counts von Oeynhausen-Sierstorpff. In 1803, Driburg passed to Prussia, and its old connection to the Prince-Bishopric of Paderborn was dissolved. This same year, the Neuenheerse convent became an accommodation centre for needy noblewomen of all denominations. In 1809, Driburg's Jewish community had its own small synagogue, followed in 1905 by its own private school. In 1810, after almost a thousand years, the Neuenheerse convent was at last dissolved. In 1813, the doctor, poet and politician Friedrich Wilhelm Weber, who wrote the epic Dreizehnlinden was born in Alhausen (he died in Nieheim in 1894). In 1864, Driburg was connected to the railway network. In 1919, Driburg was granted the designation "Bad" in recognition of its being a spa town. In 1938, the synagogue was destroyed, and the Jewish townsfolk found themselves faced with a time of hardship and persecution under the Nazis. Towards the end of the Second World War, on 5 April 1945, the town was taken over by American troops. Bad Driburg was largely spared any great war damage. Between 1945 and 1950, the spa was commandeered by the British Occupation authorities. The first postwar spa season came only in 1951. In 1970 came amalgamation with the heretofore independent communities of Alhausen, Erpentrup, Herste, Langeland, Pömbsen and Reelsen. In 1974 came government recognition as a spa town, although the town had been calling itself Bad Driburg for many years. In 1975 came further amalgamations as the town of Dringenberg and the communities of Kühlsen and Neuenheerse were merged into Bad Driburg. On 9 May 1981, the spa celebrated its bicentenary. Six years later, on 5 May 1987, the thermal boring was successfully completed. On 1 July 1990, Bad Driburg celebrated its 700-year town jubilee. On 27 March 1994, the "Driburg Therme" thermal baths opened. Neuenheerse In 868, a convent was established on the site of today's Neuenheerse by Luithard, the third bishop of Paderborn, to foster the Christianization of the Saxons. The church was at first consecrated to Mary, mother of