Meppen (German pronunciation: [ˈmɛpm̩] ⓘ; Northern Low Saxon: Möppen) is a town in and the seat of the Emsland district of Lower Saxony, Germany, at the confluence of the Ems, Hase, and Nordradde rivers and the Dortmund–Ems Canal (DEK).

The town is in the central part of the Emsland, at the mouth of the Hase River where it meets the Ems, between the cities of Lingen and Papenburg.

The first documented mention of Meppen dates from 834, in a deed of donation by Frankish emperor Louis the Pious, transferring a missionary establishment of that name to the abbey of Corvey.

1803—Resolutions of the Reichsdeputationshauptschluss assign Meppen to Louis Engelbert, 6th Duke of Arenberg, to compensate for the loss of his possessions on the west bank of the Rhine.

1938—Kristallnacht: the German police and SA broke down into Jewish houses and carried out mass arrests, beatings and tortures of Jews.

[3] 1939—German prisoner-of-war camp Stalag VI-B established in Meppen-Versen, in which initially around 5,000 Polish prisoners of war were held after the German invasion of Poland, which started World War II, and then from 1940 to 1942 French, Belgian, Polish, Soviet and other POWs were held there.

[6] 1945—Prisoners of the subcamp were evacuated by the Germans to Bremen, most in a death march, in which at least 50 prisoners died, sick ones by train, and then they were mostly transported to the Neuengamme concentration camp.

Productions take place in the Meppen Theatre and Concert Hall, which was designed by Eberhard Kulenkampff and completed in 1959.

More than 30,000 visitors come each year to the open air theatre in Esterfeld Forest to see large musical performances involving casts of up to 100.