Almena (Extertal)
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Almena
Extertal municipality
Coordinates: 52 ° 6 ′ 21 ″ N , 9 ° 4 ′ 43 ″ E
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| Height : | 135 m |
| Area : | 3.93 km² |
| Residents : | 1310 (December 31, 2016) |
| Population density : | 333 inhabitants / km² |
| Incorporation : | 1st January 1969 |
| Postal code : | 32699 |
| Area code : | 05262 |
 Location of Almena in Extertal
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Almena is part of the municipality of Extertal and is located in the Lippe district .
Geographical location
Almena is located in the extreme northeast of North Rhine-Westphalia and also in the northeast of the Lippe district in the Weser Uplands . The village lies at a height of 110 m on the Exter up to 200 m above sea level. NN on the Almenaer Berg. The village is located around 10 km south of Rinteln , 14 km north of Barntrup and around 40 km northeast of Bielefeld as the closest major city.
history
First settlement
The first traces of human settlement in the Almena area date back to around 6000 BC. BC back. From the time of the Mesolithic come flint finds from the environs of Almena that have been reported 1938th In the 3rd millennium BC BC the Neolithic people came to the area of Almena, burned down the jungle and founded the clearing island Almena. A fragment of one of their tools, a shoe-bar-shaped wedge made of rock 7 cm long, was found by school children in Almena in 1938.
Sometime around 500 AD, the area of the Extertal was incorporated into the dominion of the Saxons . Charlemagne (768–814) subjugated the continental Saxons in many campaigns and incorporated them into the empire of the Franks .
Almena belonged to the Osterburg district . The seat of the Gaugrafen was probably the mighty Osterburg on the slope of the Weser Mountains above Deckbergen . Hermann Billunge († 973), one of the most important followers of Otto the Great (936–973), united rule over all districts of the wider area, which he had administered by vice counts. As in many other villages, he will have earned his tithe in Almena. This was a levy created by Charlemagne and originally due to the parish church. The noble landlords, however, knew how to alienate the tithe of the church and to enrich themselves.
At the end of the 12th century Almena was first mentioned in writing as Adelelbernecthorp .
The Sternberg rule
Almena grew into a village under the rule of the Counts of Schwalenberg . Since 1243 it belonged to the domain of Sternberg Castle . The last count was Heinrich V (1346–1385). He owes the first written mention of Almena. In 1348 he married Adelheid, the daughter of Count Adolf VII of Schaumburg . In a contract from the same year, he signed the village of Almena as a personal asset to his wife, along with other places. This proves that the Sternbergers were the landlords in Almena at that time.
Thirty Years War (1618-1648)
The Thirty Years' War was the culmination and conclusion of the Counter Reformation , the large-scale destruction of the Protestant faith by force of arms.
In February 1623, Duke Christian von Braunschweig appeared in person on the Weser and occupied Rinteln . In June he left again with 21,000 men and 1,000 riders. He withdrew through the Extertal. A dire consequence of this war was the official and wild plundering, since all armies acted according to the maxim : The war feeds the war .
In the winter of 1623/24 Johann T'Serclaes von Tilly chose the Weser Valley near Rinteln as the site of the winter quarters. He himself resided in Hameln . Although Lippe was neutral, the imperial troops under Tilly, which included many Spaniards who were characterized by particular cruelty, must have plundered in Almena, because at that time all papers and important documents were burned in the rectory by the war people. In spring 1624 Tilly withdrew from the Weser Uplands, but returned in winter and reoccupied the Weser valley. Again the Almena had to fear for their belongings. Back then it was customary to flee to the church when soldiers approached, in the hope that the mercenaries would spare the house of God.
The entire agriculture in Almena must have come to a standstill. While each of the 14 farms owned several horses and cows before the war, these farm animals had completely disappeared in the 1630s. The people of war had stolen them all and also took all the seeds with them. It was clearly a violation of the law, as Lippe was neutral. It had bought itself free from being occupied by the imperial troops through a substantial contribution . The money payment was collected from the already impoverished subjects. Many farms in Almena were burned down. It took over a century for residents to recover. The soldiers did not spare the church equipment either. Everywhere, including in Almena, they stole the sacrament goblets.
In 1629 the emperor was able to begin his secret goal of re-catholizing Germany. Benedictine monks moved into the monasteries of Rinteln and Möllenbeck and aggressively took up the fight against Protestant teaching. In 1631/32 the imperial family came back to the Weser Valley and took their winter quarters here again. The particularly feared General von Pappenheim resided at Sternberg Castle .
In February 1632 the Protestant Swedes appeared under Duke Georg von Braunschweig in the Weser Valley. On March 2nd they won the Battle of Rinteln , and on June 28th in the Battle of Hameln . This ended the distress of the Protestants in the county of Schaumburg and the monks left Rinteln. Schaumburg and Lippe were among the countries that were hardest hit by the war. The population of Almena fell from 316 in 1617 to 229 in 1648.
Spinners and weavers in Almena
For more than 300 years the linen trade formed the livelihood of the village. For the majority of the residents of Almena, weaving and spinning were more important than agriculture for a living. The textile trade as the basis of life in Almena is first attested in 1641 in the court files . At that time there were spinners working on at least 23 colonies and children and old people could also take part in the family's working life. Many small colonies did not even have a garden at this time, so that the combination of spinning and weaving provided a livelihood.
The transformation of Almena from a farming village into a village of spinners and weavers was not brought about by trade with the neighboring towns. In the 16th century, Dutch merchants discovered the particularly good quality of flax in the Ravensberg county and encouraged the population to spinning and weaving for wholesaling. It was primarily the villagers who were drawn into this movement, as they had been familiar with spinning and weaving from childhood. Apparently the need for employment was so urgent for most of the inhabitants of the villages that Ravensberg became in a short time a country entirely controlled by the house industry. This movement very quickly spread to Lippe, created a coherent economic area between the Teutoburg Forest and the Weser, soon reached Almena and transformed it. Of the 38 household outlets that existed in 1614, only 14 were able to self-suffice with basic foodstuffs, but for 24 colonies the linen market was the livelihood.
The boom in the linen trade in the 19th century also led to an increase in the number of home weavers in Almena. Here, as everywhere, the modern factory first strengthened the house industry. When the first trade census in Lippe was carried out in 1861, there were 42 master weavers, i.e. independent house weavers, in Almena, which at that time had 59 houses. So there was a loom on almost every small colony . 118 weavers worked in the entire Varenholz office , 35% of which were in Almena. Almena is therefore likely to have been the center of the Office's entire textile industry. Around 1800 there were only around 28 looms in Almena, so the rapid increase must have come after that. The high point of this boom in house weaving, which stimulated all economic life in Lippe, was between 1833 and 1838. In 1840, however, the inexorable decline of house weaving began and around 1860 the house industry disintegrated completely and left the field to the mechanical loom . For the Almena weavers, the end may have begun with Bielefeld's transition to the factory system in 1851.
Jewish life in Almena
Until about 1786 the village was religiously uniform. All residents belonged to the Evangelical Reformed Church. This was the result of the sovereign church regiment, which since 1555 determined the denomination of the subjects according to the principle Cuius regio eius religio ( whose country, whose religion ). The Jews , of course, were completely outside the sovereign church regiment . The Christian Church has almost always rejected the compulsory baptism of Jews.
The first Jew to settle in Almena in 1786 was Meyer Nathan from Lüdenhausen . He lived as a resident on an Almena colony and acted as a lender several times. Like many of his fellow believers, he was a trader with used clothing, old stoves, hides and the like. Meyer Nathan was followed by his son-in-law Wolf Samuel Rosenthal in his trade in 1828 . Like his father-in-law, he traded used items, as he stated in the record in 1850. At that time, the Jews received full civil equality. His grandson Isaak Rosenthal was one of the most remarkable figures in Almena history. In 1880 the Rosenthal family was able to build their own colony (No. 80). It is today's Hanover slaughterhouse . The house was owned by the family until it was sold in 1937. Isaak Rosenthal was a horse dealer. His popularity with the Almena population was particularly evident in the fact that he was a member of the community committee until 1918. In the second half of the 19th century, all anti-Semitism apparently disappeared among the Almena . This corresponded to the general trend of the empire. The Jews were then considered to be German citizens of the Jewish faith. Isaak Rosenthal gave the impression of a liberal, emancipated Jew who tried to adapt completely to his surroundings. The Alberg-Rosenthal family had taken part in life in Almena for 150 years. With the sale of her house in 1927, she disappeared from Germany in time, moved to Argentina and thus escaped physical destruction by the National Socialists .
Emigration to America
In the United States , entrepreneurship was able to develop freely in the 19th century, regardless of government intervention. The wages that were paid by American entrepreneurs at that time were always considerably higher than those that were customary in European industrial regions. It is clear that the country, with its great need for labor, had a tremendous pull on the people of the underdeveloped regions of Europe. Between 1846 and 1854, 2.8 million inhabitants came from Europe, where, for example, the unemployed hand weavers lived in great misery.
Around 10,000 people had left the Principality of Lippe for America by 1877. Many Almena residents followed the call to the New World back then . This was a great risk because America had no social security at the time. Those who failed could not claim state aid. But hardship and misery were so great in times of crisis that many feared the risk of emigration less than the seemingly hopeless poverty in Almena. With one exception, however, nothing is known about their faring in the New World.
Almena in the age of bricklayers
In 1862 Almena was in the transition phase from a weaver village to a Ziegler village. A census from that year showed that 58 migrant bricks already lived in the village , including 3 brick masters. Most of them were resident residents, that is, the Anerbe and younger sons of the colonies. At that time they themselves were still largely active as linen weavers. The transition from a weaver's village to a Ziegler village in Almena apparently took place in the form of a generation change.
At that time there were around 8,000 migrant workers in Lippe. The bricklayer's profession was not a guild craft that required a prescribed apprenticeship. It was precisely this fact that made this work attractive to Lippers. At that time only a few had the opportunity to learn a trade. The brickworks owner usually paid a pre-agreed rate for each 1,000 bricks and sold them on his own account. The Lippers then divided the entire money after deduction of the food costs proportionally and received an average of 100 to 150 thalers at the end of the working period.
In Almena the typical bricklayer colony arose during this time, which was able to tie in with the old weaver colony. Their own garden and small farm provided the necessary food. The work of the fields and gardens lay with the brickmaker's wife. Some of the colonies were cow farms, while other farm work was done by farmers. For this the wives of the brick makers had to work on the farm during the harvest. Without these achievements by women, a Ziegler colony would not have been possible.
The livelihood of the Ziegler abroad had to be kept as low as possible, of course, in order to be able to take as much cash home as possible. This was made possible by sharing accommodation and catering, mostly with peas and bacon . A constant stream of money flowed from the industrial regions into the village. It was only through this money transfer that the settlement of the Almenaer Berg was possible in the first place since 1850. From 1880 to 1914 the number of house points rose from 74 to 114. In 1890 new colonies began to be established along Fütiger Strasse .
In 1890, the Katersche Zieglei with ring oven was founded in Almena on the site of farm no . Around 20 local bricklayers found work here and were thus freed from seasonal migration. Since that time the half-timbered construction has almost completely disappeared from Almena, because new houses were only built using solid construction. Between 1819 and 1914, an average of one new house was established in Almena each year. From 1890 onwards, due to the money flowing in the village, the craft could develop more strongly than before. Without the brick makers, these craftsmen would not have been able to survive.
Weimar Republic (1918–1933)
On November 11, 1918, Germany and France signed the Compiègne Armistice and ended the First World War . On February 2, 1919, the first real democratic local elections took place in Almena, in which, in contrast to the three-class suffrage, each vote had the same weight and women were also able to vote for the first time. Two groups took part: the social democracy , which so far could not appear in local politics because of the electoral rights staggered according to income size, and a bourgeois list in which conservative personalities from different parties had come together. Leading representatives of the SPD were Heinrich Wieneke (No. 82) and Wilhelm Bierhenke (No. 117). The civil list was kept by Heinrich Knopsmeier (No. 4) and Heinrich Siek (No. 28). Both groups formed the only parties in the Almena municipal parliament until 1932, which means that it was spared the political fragmentation that characterized the new republic. From the 1919 elections, the SPD emerged as the leading force with an absolute majority. She won 7 out of 12 committee seats and was able to maintain this position until 1932. Heinrich Wieneke was elected chairman, who administered this office until the NSDAP won the election in 1932.
The history of the republic was a story of successive crises that affected Almena in many ways. The inflation that began in 1920 should be mentioned here in particular . The devaluation of money ruined the middle classes by destroying their assets, and the wage level of the workers sank considerably compared to 1914. After a brief economic recovery, the great world economic crisis set in in 1929 , which caused the number of unemployed in Germany to rise to 6 million.
National Socialism (1933–1945)
On February 15, 1932, a new council was signed, the majority of which were apparently already National Socialists. It is no longer possible to determine today whether they were regular party members, members of other Nazi groups or initially only sympathizers. After the seizure of power, they appeared in the minutes with the designation Pg. - Party member . With a majority of one vote, they elected Heinrich Siek as head of department. The two councilors were also National Socialists. One of them was the local group leader of the NSDAP, August Korf. In each of the two council elections, the local association chairman of the SPD, Bierhenke, lost 4 votes. If you will, the seizure of power in Almena took place a year earlier than anywhere else.
Election result in Almena
| Political party | Voices January 15, 1933 |
Voices January 6, 1929 |
|---|---|---|
| NSDAP | 214 | 4th |
| SPD | 205 | 177 |
| Evangelical People's Service | 26th | - |
| DNVP | 24 | 20th |
| KPD | 20th | 17th |
| German state party | 9 | 40 |
| DVP | 2 | 20th |
| Lippe country people | 1 | 40 |
The result shows that in Almena the middle class ( DVP , German and Lippisches Landvolk) lost almost all of their voters to the NSDAP. The communists were only able to make marginal gains and the SPD retained its voter potential. The National Socialists, on the other hand, had suddenly quadrupled the votes at the state level.
In Almena, there were numerous party members or supporters of the NSDAP even before the seizure of power in 1933. Little is known about their appearance and activities. Contemporary witnesses remember that party badges appeared on bike tours of the cycling club as early as 1930. There was an SA restaurant in town, the Korf inn . Initially the SA had around 4–5 members, later the number rose to around 30.
Change in everyday life
There were informers, watchdogs and informers in Almena too . There are reports of house searches of fellow citizens, who allegedly searched for weapons, but in reality hoped to find incriminating material because these fellow citizens belonged to other parties, especially the SPD, and it was suspected that this was still the case . This created a climate of mistrust in which everyone watched everyone else and was on their guard against everyone. A careless word could have had detrimental consequences. The Nazis took seriously the threat of cleaning up their opponents. The effects of the National Socialist seizure of power were no different in Almena than in the rest of the empire. The everyday life of the national comrades should also be brought into line as far as possible, the national community was the goal, a people that marched in step.
Second World War
When the war began on September 1, 1939, food rationing was introduced. The goods for daily needs could only be obtained for food stamps . A surrender obligation was introduced for all products that go beyond self-sufficiency. For most of the colonies in the village, which had only a small area under cultivation and few options for keeping livestock, this meant, above all, strict controls on pig farming, while the goats were never farmed by the state. Since the Almenaers were always used to self-sufficiency , rationing was not a particularly drastic measure for them. However, pigs with the assistance of the local multi- house butcher black slaughtered. A farmer from the immediate neighborhood was transferred to a punishment company for the black slaughter .
Another immediate measure was the obligation to darken to avoid targeting enemy aircraft. This was monitored by the local party officials. For warning of air attacks, the hand-operated stand siren of the fire service are available.
Gerhard Begemann (no. 82), whose father Heinrich Begemann, a son-in-law of the mayor Heinrich Wieneke, was also the first war dead in the First World War, fell on the first day of the war. Unlike in this war, no other man of Almena was killed during the Blitzkrieg . This changed when the German leadership attacked Russia on June 22, 1941. Assuming that all the missing are dead, then Almena has 105 dead to mourn.
Losses from Almena
| year | Fallen | Missing |
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| 1941 (from June) | 9 | - |
| 1942 | 10 | - |
| 1943 | 9 | 10 |
| 1944 | 20th | 12 |
| 1945 (until May) | 15th | 19th |
Almena was never the target of an air raid . However, planes dropped fire platelets filled with phosphorus to set the grain on fire. They were collected from the students, as well as leaflets that were dropped , which were intended to undermine the morale of the population. The few bombs that fell in the vicinity of Almena from 1943 onwards were all emergency drops. In 1943 an aerial battle could be observed in which an enemy plane crashed into the gorge on Hamsterbach near Rohbraken. The pilot saved himself with the parachute . It landed at the Siekbach on the site of today's gym. He broke his leg and was brought into the hall of the Lindenkrug by two people from the Almena, Heinrich Humke and Heinrich Falke, until he was picked up by German soldiers. In 1944/45 there were repeated air alarms when the associations bombed the neighboring cities of Bielefeld, Paderborn, Hanover or Kassel .
Large-scale air raids on the Ruhr area began in 1943 . The aviation victims were evacuated in the countryside , including in Almena. Wherever possible, the mayor confiscated living space for the victims of the bombing war, most of whom had lost all their belongings. The transports came mainly from the Gelsenkirchen and Recklinghausen area . In total, the village had to take in over 150 evacuees, an impressive number if you consider that Almena only had 148 houses at the time.
In the autumn of 1944, the allied fighter-bomber attacks increased in the Reich. They appeared especially in clear weather to destroy the German traffic systems. In 1945 they also attacked the Camouflaged Extertal Railway near Bremke.
End of the war in Almena
On March 29, 1945, Maundy Thursday, the 2nd US Armored Division approached from the south. The armored spearheads of the Allies had reached the southern slopes of the Teutoburg Forest near Werther. In the following days they overcame the mountain range on several passes and advanced to Lippe. On April 4, the Americans had taken the city of Lemgo and advanced to Barntrup.
On that day, the Volkssturm , which consisted of veterans and Hitler Youth , built two anti-tank traps at the cemetery. At the same time bazookas were issued. However, the General Command had not planned any special defense efforts for the area of the Exter and Kalletal. The main resistance of the Germans was directed against the 5th US Armored Division, which advanced along the Weser. Here it was believed that they could stop the advance of the Allies. On Wednesday, April 4, 1945, at 4 p.m. in Rinteln, the Weser Bridge and the small bridge on the Fockenkamp were blown up while the siren wailed in order to cut off the connection between the contested area north of the Weser and the area south of the river, which had already been conquered by the Allies .
Like the other places in the Almena area, Almena was occupied without a fight on the afternoon of April 4th. Mayor Siek and the other best-known Nazis had previously fled Almena and hid in Bistrup. The head of the Volkssturm department, Simon Frevert, did not even close the anti-tank barriers so as not to endanger the village from Allied fire. The Volkssturm did not fight. On the advice of the local farmer's leader Wilhelm Sandmann, the Hitler Youth stayed at home.
In the meantime, many Almena residents had buried or otherwise hidden all potentially incriminating objects, such as uniforms, flags, weapons and even photographs and books, and had attached sheets to their houses as white flags as a sign of surrender .
post war period
After the unconditional surrender on May 8, 1945, Lippe was added to the British zone of occupation . As Commander in Chief , the Commander in Chief of the British Armed Forces in Germany also became the highest political authority in the British zone. The armed forces resided at Gut Rickbruch in the immediate vicinity of Almena.
In the municipality of Almena, responsibility for administration initially lay with the mayor appointed by the occupying power. It was initially Friedrich Grote, who was soon replaced by the brick maker Heinrich Lesemann. The mayor's deputy was the master shoemaker Heinrich Brand. There were no more state elections in Lippe because the state was dissolved by order of the military government by Ordonance No.77 on January 21, 1947 and became part of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia , which was formed the year before from the provinces of Westphalia and the northern part of the Rhine province .
From 1945 to 1948 the mayor had to accommodate numerous expellees on the Almena colonates. At that time the population of the village had increased by more than half. But there were only 148 colonies. With the prevailing strict housing management, the mayor had to confiscate apartments everywhere in order to accommodate the displaced persons. The locals were restricted to the bare minimum of living space. From this arose the urgent obligation for the community to provide new living space.
Beginnings of tourism in Almena
The Christian Erholungsheim Wieneke was built in Almena in 1912 , the first tourism company in Extertal. At that time one was in the early days of modern mass tourism. The German low mountain range as a destination for vacation trips was only discovered when the middle classes discovered the need for summer retreat , as vacation was called at the time. Heinrich Wieneke was a pioneer in establishing tourism in Extertal. He was followed in 1925 by the businessman Schröder, and soon after by the innkeeper Rinne. At that time, guest houses were also established in the neighboring towns.
But it wasn't until the 1950s that life in the village was really shaped by tourism. During this time, holidays became a natural need for all strata of the population, because a sudden increase in prosperity in the industrialized countries had completely changed the way people spend their free time. The development of modern mass tourism should also be used for Almena. In order to create the conditions for this, the local history and tourist association was founded in 1953 .
Extertal municipality
On December 31, 1968, Almena's communal independence, which had existed since the late Middle Ages, came to an end. Almena has been part of the newly founded municipality of Extertal since January 1st, 1969 . Almena only had two and later three council members, while there were 13 during the period of independence. Almena brought a number of facilities into the larger community that had to be created in other villages. It had had its own water supply since 1952, its own sewer system since 1962 and a kindergarten since 1968.
Infrastructure
The Extertalstrasse , built in 1968/1969, runs east of Almena . The village itself lies at the intersection of several county and state roads. There are regular bus connections to the neighboring towns. There is also a direct bus connection to Lemgo and Rinteln. The electrically operated Extertalbahn, which was only completed in 1927 and has its own train station in Almena (east of the village), has since been shut down on this section of the route and is now used as a trolley line. The next train stations are in Rinteln , Lemgo, Herford , Bielefeld and Hanover . The next national airport is in the Lower Saxony state capital, Hanover, which is around 70 km away.
Culture and sights
The Almenaer Michaelismarkt
Even older citizens of the village no longer know that there used to be a fair in Almena. It took place on the last Sunday of September and, according to the information in the log book of the municipality of Almena, was at that time primarily a cattle market. He was stopped because of the foot-and-mouth disease that raged around 1911/12 . There was no resumption after the First World War.
This fair must have had a long history. In the Gogericht files it is mentioned as Michaelismarkt as early as 1660 because it was held on the Sunday after the feast of St. Michael the Archangel , September 29th. At that time it was a real junk market, there is talk of stalls in which merchants from Rinteln and Lemgo sold their goods. All kinds of everyday items were sold. The visitors to the fair came from the vicinity of the village, from Laßbruch, Meierberg, Bremke and Silixen.
Today's market
The traditional autumn market takes place every Saturday before the Sunday of the Dead in November . It has been taking place in the village since 1995 with the help of the market feeders and local clubs. First in the center of the village, but since 2005 around the village community center on Fütiger Straße. In addition to Christmas handicrafts and decorations, culinary goods in particular are on offer. In addition, some local clubs complete the supporting program. The cafeteria with homemade cakes, cakes and coffee is located in the village community center.
Buildings
- Evangelical Reformed Parish Church. The Romanesque church, which dates back to the 12th century, has become increasingly dilapidated over time. In 1865 the nave was then rebuilt and replaced by a neo-Gothic stepped hall based on plans by Ferdinand Ludwig August Merckel . Only the square west tower remained from the original building. Like all churches of the Middle Ages, it was built as a fortified church in an east-west direction. Until the Reformation, the priest was subordinate to the Bishop of Minden. 1605 was the introduction of the reformed faith by Count Simon VI. ordered. Until 1780, all of the town's dead were buried around the church.
- Almena village community center (former village school). The building, erected in 1890, accommodated the Almena village school, which had been in existence since 1580. The increasing number of pupils made it necessary to build a second schoolhouse in 1910, as there now had to be 4 classes. After the Second World War there were even 6 classes in the Almena school. Almena founded a school association for the village community school with the surrounding villages as early as 1961. In 1965 the community purchased a site for 90,000 DM and planned a new school. This did not happen, however, so that all students from the surrounding villages should now drive to Silixen, which is up to 10 km away, to the new, just completed, central school there. Against the bitter resistance of the Almena population and after a long legal battle, the school was stopped in 1975 and relocated to Silixen. Since then, the building has been used by local clubs. Today the village community center houses practice rooms for the local associations, the two former classrooms are rented out by the Almena Heimat- und Kulturverein Almena for private celebrations, and the upper floor houses rooms for the Jugend und Kultur Extertal association , which has taken on youth work in Almena.
- Old dye. This small quarry stone building on the old village street is the only remaining building from the 260 year house weaving in Almena. It is a listed building and at that time there were large vats in which the color solutions were kept, essentially blue in color. In Almena at that time only linen suits were worn, which were dyed blue. The rest of the clothing mostly consisted of this self-made and dyed linen. Bedding was also made from linen, which was printed in bright colors with hand stamps.
- Old syringe house. The historic horse-drawn hand syringe of the Almena volunteer fire brigade is located in this renovated building . It was made in 1909 and served for about 40 years until World War II. Then it was replaced by a motor syringe. In the past, the hoses were kept hanging to dry in the tower. Even before 1799 there must have been a volunteer fire brigade, which was then called the Syringe Society .
- Almena kindergarten. The Almena Kindergarten is an institution for children from the age of one to the start of compulsory schooling. The building is on the edge of a residential area. The large outdoor area offers a variety of opportunities to research, move around, discover etc. In addition, the children have plenty of opportunities to retreat. The facility is generously built so that the needs of the children can be individually addressed. Total number of places: 85, number of groups: 4: 2 groups aged 1 year up to compulsory schooling and 2 groups aged 3 years up to compulsory schooling. The offer is integrative. Special features: language support courses, psychomotor skills, English courses, music school, relaxation exercises for children, opportunities to carry out the Bielefeld screening and subsequent support program, admission of handicapped children and support by an additional specialist, handicapped-accessible access, spacious outdoor areas, project work in the afternoons, intensive cooperation with early childhood support , Therapists, early detection center by arrangement with parents, continuous training of employees
Waters
- Alme. Almena , originally Almina , means flowing water . The name of the stream and the originally only place on its bank were therefore the same. The word Bache , which is still used to designate the Alme today, is of pre-Indo-European origin.
Tumulus
- Almena burial mound. This tumulus has a diameter of 6 meters and is about 40 cm high. It was built from stones in the Bronze Age around 1800 BC. At that time there was a pronounced cult of the dead. The graves of the ancestors were the sanctuaries of the clans . This grave was created in a place that offered a particularly beautiful view of the clearing island Almena. This kept the dead in touch with their village. With the immigration of the Indo-Europeans , burial was given up. The dead were now consecrated by cremation to the gods, who were imagined as heavenly beings, and buried in central urn cemeteries. With the transition to Christianity around 800 AD, burial came back into use.
economy
The village of Almena is the secondary center of the municipality of Extertal. In Almena there is an above-average supply of doctors (two general practitioners). The supply of the population with everyday goods is almost 100 percent in the village. In addition to food and beverages, there is a flower shop, gift items, TV and hi-fi items, furniture, a bank and savings bank with counter operation, driving schools, pharmacy, butcher shop, industrial company and numerous other services. In addition, the place still has some craft businesses and farmers.
literature
- Rolf Eickmeier (ed.): Almena - history of a village . Heimat- und Kulturverein Almena e. V., ISBN 3-87085-150-3 .
Web links
- almena.de Website of the Heimat- und Kulturverein Almena e. V.
- Almena (Extertal) in the Westphalia Culture Atlas
Individual evidence
- ↑ Birgit Meineke : The place names of the Lippe district. (= Westphalian Place Name Book Volume 2). Publishing house for regional history, Bielefeld 2010, ISBN 978-3-89534-842-6 , p. 26. ( PDF )
- ↑ Martin Bünermann: The communities of the first reorganization program in North Rhine-Westphalia . Deutscher Gemeindeverlag, Cologne 1970, p. 67 .
- ^ Rolf Eickmeier (Ed.): Almena - history of a village . Volume 1. Heimat- und Kulturverein Almena e. V., ISBN 3-87085-150-3
Almena | Asmiss | Bösingfeld | Bremke | Goestrup | Broken chick | Lassbruch | Meierberg | Nalhof | Rott | Schönhagen | Silixes