Good Klausheide
The Good Klausheide , originally Well Claus Heide , in the district Klausheide in Nordhorn in the county of Bentheim located was in 1914 by the German industrialist couple Bertha and Gustav Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach founded with the aim of an agricultural model farm set up. The estate was named after Claus von Bohlen and Halbach , the couple's third child, born in 1910. The buildings and the grounds of the manor are under monument protection .
The village of Klausheide was also built on the property, which originally comprised around 15,000 acres (3,750 hectares ). From 1933 onwards, the Krupp family left an approximately 2,200 hectare heathland to the German Wehrmacht for military use. There the British Royal Air Force set up its Air to Ground Weapon Range , known as the Nordhorn Range , in 1947 , which was handed over to the German Armed Forces in 2001 and is now officially called the Nordhorn air / ground firing range . Since 2014, the air / ground firing range has been the only remaining exercise area for air-to-ground combat and at the same time the largest exercise range used by the Air Force in Germany.
In 1951 Berta Krupp sold the estate including 1100 hectares to Saatzuchtgesellschaft Lochow-Petkus GmbH . In November 1978, the eight farm workers' houses on the north side of the B 213 were demolished. The houses on the south side have been preserved.
In 1990 the Arbeiterwohlfahrt (Kreisverband Grafschaft Bentheim) acquired the main building ("Herrenhaus") and the two adjoining outbuildings, where since 1996 it has maintained a dormitory for people with chronic, multiple disabilities.
Manor
founding
From the summer of 1913, the industrial family Krupp von Bohlen and Halbach acquired extensive moorland and heath areas between Nordhorn and Lingen in what was then the province of Hanover with the aim of building a model agricultural estate. The newspaper report read:
“ Agricultural. Nordhorn, 5th Aug. Large land purchases have recently taken place in the neighboring communities of Bakelde, Altendorf and Hesepe, as well as in the communities of Lohne and Elbergen in the Lingen district. It is about 12,000 acres of moorland and heather, which are now almost a cohesive whole. It is intended to cultivate these areas and to set up a large-scale agricultural operation on them. The main thing is then to cultivate vegetables. The grown vegetables are to be sent out. According to reports, Nordhorn is likely to be the place of dispatch. The entrepreneur intends to use the acquired land to create two estate districts, one in the Bentheim district and one in the Lingen district, so that no burden will arise on the communities in which the properties are currently occupied. Enclosed on three sides by these areas is the Nordhorn Moor, which is largely owned by Nordhorn citizens. Since these properties have been of almost no use to their owners for years, it would be desirable if these were also purchased for the intended purpose. As informed by the informed side, there is a tendency among the interested parties to acquire these parcels if the demands are reasonable. "
Establishment of the community of Klausheide
With effect from July 1, 1929, parts of the communities Altendorf and Bakelde were incorporated into Nordhorn. The areas of the two communities belonging to the estate as well as uninhabited parts of Bakelde were separated and merged to form the remainder of Bakelde. In December 1930 this applied for the name to be changed to Clausheide. Because of the spelling reform of 1901 to standardize the German spelling, however, the remainder of Bakelde was renamed Klausheide . The municipal council requested that the spelling “Clausheide” be retained, as the name was named after Claus von Bohlen and Halbach; the Minister of the Interior, however, refused this request on the grounds: "... Parish and place names of Slavic and German origin are to be written initially with a K." The new spelling was slow to establish itself.
location
 
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The Klausheide estate in Lower Saxony. |
The originally acquired lands extended to several districts in the counties of Grafschaft Bentheim and Lingen , namely Bakelde, Lohne, Herzford, Elbergen , Engden and Hesepe . The manor and the later housing estate were located in the area of Bakelde, from 1931 municipality Klausheide, since 1974 city Nordhorn. The estate is located around seven kilometers north-east of Nordhorn and around 13 kilometers south-west of Lingen .
Both the Ems-Vechte Canal and the road connection between Lingen and Nordhorn cut through the manor district from south-west to north-east. This road connection was the forerunner of the B 213 , which, due to its importance, was expanded as the first land connection in the county of Bentheim to the Chaussee in 1824 . The Ems-Vechte Canal, which ran almost five kilometers to the south and almost parallel to the road, opened in 1879 as part of the Left Ems canal network and not only served to drain the area intended for cultivation, but also represented an important transport route.
Large parts of this area consisted of heather or moorland , in the middle of which was the Nordhorn Moor . As a result of the cultivation measures that began after the acquisition of the property , extensive agricultural areas were created in the northern area of the manor district, around the established property . Not far from the estate, located to the south-west, a workers' settlement was built, which originally consisted of 20 semi-detached houses on the right and left of the road and offered space for 40 families. Large amounts of young forest were planted on the extensive areas south of the settlement. The Klausheide airfield was laid out southeast of the estate .
The estate itself resembles a huge square courtyard with a closed interior. Together with the approximately 500-meter-long access area to the manor house and other lateral areas, the estate covers an area of around 13 hectares, which is also enclosed by a low brick wall.
In the southern area of the property surrounding the estate, north and south of the canal, large areas of coniferous forest were planted, many moor and heather areas, such as the Heseper Moor , however, only partially drained and largely left natural. The least cultivated area south of the Ems-Vechte Canal was used by the German Wehrmacht as a ground shooting range from 1933.
Later, the workers' houses belonging to the manor complex developed into the village of Klausheide, which over time expanded to the south and displaced parts of the forest.
Sample good
Reclamation and first cultivation
By cultivating it and making it usable for agricultural purposes, a model property was built in the approximately northern third of the property, on which primarily vegetables and grains were planned. The southern part of the site, both south and north of the Ems-Vechte Canal , was to be reforested with coniferous forest over a wide area. The owners hired an estate manager named Schiwinski from East Prussia.
On April 5, 1914, the first cultivation work began with steam plows from Ottomeyer . A farm on the nearby Kiefernweg had been bought to accommodate the first workers and the necessary work animals. Then the surfaces were machined from work horses and -rindern and green manure experiments for soil improvement. A small railway was built from the planned estate and put into operation in July 1914.
On April 27, 1914, Bertha and Gustav Krupp von Bohlen and Halbach visited the site and the progress of the work. On that day they announced that they wanted to name the area after their son Claus von Bohlen and Halbach Claus-Heide . Architect Herrmann was commissioned to plan the manor buildings.
The First World War , which broke out shortly thereafter, significantly hampered the further progress of the building projects and cultivation measures, especially since the administrator was called up for military service. Nevertheless, the groundbreaking ceremony for the manor took place on June 9, 1915. Prisoners of war were also used for the construction work . The main building was built on the north side of the Nordhorn – Lingen road, set back a few hundred meters from the road and connected to it by an avenue driveway. This was followed, to the right and left of the manor house and also to the north, by the other buildings and areas, which were given further access on the west and east sides. The complete Gutsanlage was with a different height masonry bricks edged.
From 1916 onwards, potatoes, rye and lupins were planted, and the first harvest was brought in in the same year. At the same time, the reforestation work on extensive forest areas was started, which was laid south of the property up to the Ems-Vechte Canal. For this purpose, a tree nursery was set up in the area of today's Elbergen district forester , where the plants were used for reforestation. “In the spring of 1936 alone, around 1.8 million little trees were planted on an area of 600 acres ”.
In November 1917, the main building of the estate was finished to the point that the manager could temporarily move in. However, due to the war, the complete completion of the manor took until 1919, when it was possible to start building houses for the workers. In 1919 the first estate and district forester, Hermann Meinecke, was employed. In September 1919, the construction of 18 double houses for farm workers on the right and left of the Chaussee began, which were ready for occupancy in autumn 1920.
In 1922 all farm workers' houses were occupied. The school children were driven to the school in Nordhorn in a school car. From 1927, due to the increasing number of children, the teacher Fritz Strothmann was employed, who moved into one of the farm workers' houses and gave lessons in his private room. In 1933, 50 children attended class with the following teacher, Fritz Kreft, which exceeded the capacity of the room, which had a maximum of 33 places, so that shift classes had to be given due to a lack of space. Due to the lack of space, the Krupp administration made a former locomotive shed available in 1933, which was converted into a small schoolhouse.
Mainly rye and potatoes were grown on the cultivated areas of the estate. In addition, pastures were sown for the cattle and horses as well as meadows for the hay harvest. While the hay harvests were mostly good, there were major setbacks in the yields of the potato and rye harvests in the early years.
Great Depression and World War II
Due to the poor harvests and insufficient cultivation success in the early days, the estate required enormous subsidies from the owners, which became increasingly difficult due to the global economic crisis . Initially, a sale was sought, but this turned out to be almost impossible due to the poor economic conditions in Germany. So a long-term lease was planned. Nationally, the Good Klausheide was to lease with cipher advertised Indicators:
“ Lease estate estate, Hannover province, located directly on Prov.-Chaussee, with complete excellent dead and living inventory, which can partly be taken over as iron inventory, newly built homestead with sufficient utility rooms, modern and practically furnished, beautiful large manor house, 40 new ones spacious workers' apartments, own electrical system for light and power. 1,650 acres of used land, including 404 acres of grassland and 1,178 acres of arable land, to be leased for 18 years with a good harvest coming up. Favorable lease conditions, essentially the obligation to cultivate approx. 1,000 additional acres during the 18-year lease period, which the leaseholder is also entitled to use. Pre-drainage is complete. Required working capital approx. 170,000 marks, which must be proven as own capital. Only experienced, skilled farmers with the best recommendations will be considered. "
Egbert Hayessen from Hammer near Liebenwalde on the Finow Canal visited the estate with his two brothers on July 27, 1925 and August 6. This year the grain was good and the potato fields and pastures had flourished so that they made a good impression on those interested. A lease was signed from July 1, 1925 to June 30, 1945. The tenant took over the entire living and dead inventory as iron inventory, did not need to pay rent, but had to commit himself to cultivating 900 acres of heather as pasture or arable land in the first ten years.
In 1935, 5,500 acres of the 15,000 acres of heath land belonging to the estate were cultivated. Of this, 3,000 acres were used for forestry and 2,500 acres were used for agriculture. The estate was managed by up to 40 permanent workers and their families. There were also unskilled workers and day laborers as well as harvest workers during the harvest season. 10 teams of horses were available to work on the arable land. The harvest yields have increased every year, although failures have continued to occur. In 1935 20 beef cattle migrated to the slaughterhouses, over 200,000 liters of fresh milk were produced, 16,000 quintals of potatoes and around 3,600 quintals of grain were brought to the market. In addition, there was the property's own consumption.
In 1937 the landlord Hayessen reported in an annual journal about the year 1937:
" 2,300 acres of land are used for agriculture, 3,300 for forestry ... The yield included 1,000 fattening sheep, 30 cattle with fat, 80 calves, 300,000 liters of whole milk, 70 quintals of sheep's wool ... on the new Nordhorn – Wietmarschen road best, cultivated land given for settlements. Four farming families were able to set up their own ... stove there. "
In order to use the still large heather areas economically, they were grazed by a herd of 2,500 animals. This flock of sheep was possibly the largest in Germany.
Irmgard Eilenstein , then Baroness Raitz von Frentz, née von Bohlen und Halbach, moved into the chaos of war and after her husband had fallen, moved with their three children Rudger, Siegbert and Adelheid to the forestry department belonging to the estate. In the summer of 1952 she moved to Dortmund, where she married her second husband, the farmer Robert Eilenstein, in June of the same year.
post war period
From the end of the war until 1947 a supply unit for Polish soldiers was on the estate.
In 1948 Gut Klausheide was rebuilt and used as a hospital for tuberculosis patients at the district hospital until 1951 . The lead physician was the internist Dr. in the Stroot.
Facilities
Local railroad
A small railway with a track width of 60 centimeters and various loading ramps led from the manor complex to the Ems-Vechte Canal in order to be able to transport the material required for cultivation and construction of the manor complex and later in the opposite direction for the goods produced. The railway was put into operation in July 1914.
In 1920 the railway was carried on to Elbergen station, where it was connected to the Münster-Emden railway line. In 1929 it was shut down and dismantled.
Airfield
After the cultivation, local glider pilots who had previously only been able to fly in the Wilsum mountains became aware of the ideal terrain east of the estate. Since the Krupp family liked to travel to the estate by plane, a small airfield was set up.
In 1927 the Klausheide airfield was included as an emergency landing site in the civil scheduled flight network that was being set up and incorporated into the night flight route Hanover-Amsterdam. In this early period of night flight , pilots used beacons for orientation . Emergency landing sites had to be set up in all directions near the rotating lights. In addition to Klausheide, these were in Plantlünne , Vörden and Metelen . During the Second World War , the air force expanded the area into what is known as the Klausheide port of operations .
Landlord Hayessen reported in 1938:
“ But anyone who visited the Klaushieder airfield during the flight to Germany at the end of June 1937 was able to convince themselves of the huge operation. Almost every aviator today knows ... Klausheide airfield. "
hunt
With cultivation and reforestation, an increasingly rich game population developed around Gut Klausheide after just a few years. At first, rabbits in particular multiplied so numerous that they became a plague and had to be hunted over a large area. Over time, all game species developed into a low hunt . Traditionally in autumn and winter, the landowners invited prominent hunting societies from politics and business to big driven hunts .
school
Initially, the children of the Klausheid workers attended various schools in Nordhorn, namely the Altendorfer School, the Burg School and the Middle School. Until 1926 the estate administration took care of the transport of the children. When this was questioned and the axle of the wagon broke and it became apparent that further transport would be difficult, the decision was made to establish a school on the estate. A teacher named Strotmann was hired, who moved into an apartment on the estate, where lessons at the Klausheide elementary school, which was built as a community school, took place and where 32 pupils were taught in 1927. In 1933 the number of students had grown to 50. Since the classroom, which was still in the teacher's apartment, only had 32 seats, shift lessons had to be given. The teacher Fritz Kreft began his service on April 1, 1933 as the successor to teacher Strotmann. In 1936, by converting a locomotive shed on the small railway line, a school building was built where lessons could take place from June 1936.
In 1945, at the end of the war, the school buildings and furnishings were largely destroyed by troops moving through. From 1948 the school resumed its work with 61 students, a year later there were already 73 students. In April 1950 a second teacher was hired. Since no second classroom was available, shift lessons had to be given again. From 1953 to 1956 the population of Klausheide increased sharply due to the influx of refugees and new settlements: In 1950 Klausheide had 250 inhabitants, in 1962 it was already 800 and in 1964 it was 1,000. From 1954 a school building was erected in the new development area (south of the B 213), which was used for teaching from May 1956.
Today's Maria Montessori School developed from this school.
fire Department
The Klausheide estate had its own fire brigade. Almost all firefighters worked on the estate or lived in Klausheide. In addition to protecting the property and its facilities, it was used to fight heather and forest fires.
Manor chapel
The estate workers also founded their own estate chapel. The band also played to dance in the nearby Harmsen restaurant, now Hotel Rammelkamp.
Later use
Nordhorn air / ground shooting range
The cultivation of the part of the Krupp property south of the Ems-Vechte Canal was comparatively slow. In 1933 the family gave the German Wehrmacht a heather area of around 2,200 hectares with an east-west extension of about ten kilometers and a north-south extension of around nine kilometers for military use. From 1935, target practice by light artillery troops took place in the area . In 1939 the artillery firing range was expanded to become a pilot training area for airborne weapons and bombing.
In 1945 British troops occupied the training area; In 1947 the Royal Air Force began operations as the "Air To Ground Weapon Range" and named the place the Nordhorn Range . In 2001 the Nordhorn Range was handed over to the Bundeswehr for use by the Air Force.
Today the former heathland is more than 65% covered with forest.
Lochow-Petkus Seed Breeding Society
In 1951 Bertha Krupp von Bohlen and Halbach sold the Klausheide estate including 1,100 hectares of cultivated land for 900,000 DM to the Saatzuchtgesellschaft Lochow-Petkus GmbH . With the takeover of the property, the cattle keeping and breeding was abandoned and the focus was on plant breeding and seed production. Linked to this was the cultivation of further wasteland. The company also set up a research station for method development and breeding of new seed varieties .
From 1955, combine harvesters were used for harvesting. Until then, the grain was mown manually with sickle , sifting or scythe and tied into sheaves , which initially remained in the field to dry, and then later brought them to the threshing floor on the estate using horse or ox carts , where the grain was threshed with flails was eventually stored in the granaries. The two large farm buildings were used as granaries for wheat and rye.
The main building and part of the outbuildings of the estate were used as a kitchen and staff casino as well as a guest house until 1990 .
Workers welfare
In 1990 the owners started selling the property. The Workers' Welfare Association (AWO) acquired in 1990, the main building and the adjoining two outbuildings and the land from the main building to the main road. The storage buildings were sold to a real estate company in the following years.
From 1991 to 1994 the city of Nordhorn rented apartments on the estate from the Arbeiterwohlfahrt in order to temporarily accommodate up to 70 asylum seekers from various crisis areas.
Since November 1, 1996, the AWO district association Grafschaft Bentheim has been operating a social-therapeutic dormitory for integration assistance according to §§ 53 ff. SGB XII with 61 places for chronically multiple impaired people with dependency on the estate .
Large parts of the property, in particular farm buildings and the former granaries, are empty. These buildings do not belong to the workers' welfare.
literature
- Steffen Burkert (ed.): The county of Bentheim - history and present of a district. Publishing house Heimatverein Grafschaft Bentheim e. V., Bad Bentheim 2010.
- Egbert Hayessen: Klausheide. In: Das Bentheimer Land, 1938. 1937, pp. 56–57.
- Willy Friedrich: Klausheide - in the mirror of time. In: Der Grafschafter, 1970. 1970, pp. 714–716.
- Ernst Kühle: Klausheide - From the street village to the housing estate. In: Yearbook of the Heimatverein der Grafschaft Bentheim, 1964. 1963, pp. 54–60.
- Wolfgang Neuwinger: Tables for studies on settlement, economic and population development in the municipality of Klausheide. Written homework, submitted as part of the first state examination for teaching qualifications for secondary level I. Hoogstede 1979.
- Journal for Agriculture, Volumes 65–66. Paul Parey, 1917, p. 149.
- Herbert Wagner: The Gestapo was not alone: political social control and state terror in the German-Dutch border area 1929–1945. LIT Verlag Münster, 2004, ISBN 3-82587-448-6 , pp. 179 and 267.
- Thomas Bräutigam, Benedikt Wallmeyer, Frank Welling (eds.): Chronicle Klausheide. 100 years: beginnings until today. Interest group Chronik Klausheide, 2014.
Web links
- Gut Klausheide in the Lower Saxony Monument Atlas
- Gut Klausheide - individual objects in the Lower Saxony Monument Atlas
- Chronicle Klausheide (on the occasion of the 100th anniversary in 2014)
- Nordhorn.de: The Klausheide estate . Presentation of the Workers' Welfare Agency Grafschaft Bentheim from 2010 (PDF; 6.5 MB)
- Website of the AWO Gut Klausheide dormitory
- Grafschafter school history: Marie-Montessori-School Klausheide
- relict.com: Nordhorn-Klausheide deployment port
- Krupp family. Do you want a million? . In: Der Spiegel 46/1951 of November 14, 1951, pp. 10-16. Online at www.spiegel.de.
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Der Spiegel 46/1951, p. 16.
- ↑ Four acres equals one hectare
- ^ Bridegroom, Wallmeyer, Welling (ed.): Chronicle Klausheide. 100 years: beginnings until today. P. 2
- ↑ State Archives Osnabrück, Rep 450 Bentheim I, No. 110a
- ↑ State Archives Osnabrück, Rep. 451 Bentheim, No. 21
- ↑ complete, source requested from Bundesstrasse 213
- ^ Nordhorn.de: The Klausheide estate . Presentation of the Arbeiterwohlfahrt Grafschaft Bentheim from 2010. p. 5 ( Memento of the original from December 25, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF; 6.5 MB)
- ^ Nordhorn.de: The Klausheide estate . Presentation of the Arbeiterwohlfahrt Grafschaft Bentheim from 2010. p. 6 ( Memento of the original from December 25, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF; 6.5 MB)
- ^ Nordhorn.de: The Klausheide estate . Presentation of the Arbeiterwohlfahrt Grafschaft Bentheim from 2010. pp. 8–9 ( Memento of the original from December 25, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF; 6.5 MB)
- ↑ In some literature the spelling Meineke is also used.
- ^ Herbert Wagner: The Gestapo was not alone: political social control and state terror in the German-Dutch border area 1929-1945. LIT Verlag Münster, 2004, ISBN 3-82587-448-6 , pp. 179 and 267.
- ↑ Grafschafter school history: Maria-Montessori-Schule ( Memento of the original of February 13, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ^ Nordhorn.de: The Klausheide estate . Presentation of the Arbeiterwohlfahrt Grafschaft Bentheim from 2010. P. 24f. ( Memento of the original from December 25, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF; 6.5 MB)
- ^ Nordhorn.de: The Klausheide estate . Presentation of the Arbeiterwohlfahrt Grafschaft Bentheim from 2010. pp. 25–26 ( Memento of the original from December 25, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF; 6.5 MB)
- ^ Nordhorn.de: The Klausheide estate . Presentation of the Arbeiterwohlfahrt Grafschaft Bentheim from 2010. p. 29 ( Memento of the original from December 25, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF; 6.5 MB)
- ↑ FAMILY KRUPP: Do you want a million? In: Der Spiegel . No. 46 , 1951 ( online - Nov. 14, 1951 ).
- ^ Nordhorn.de: The Klausheide estate . Presentation of the Arbeiterwohlfahrt Grafschaft Bentheim from 2010. p. 29 ( Memento of the original from December 25, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF; 6.5 MB)
- ^ Nordhorn.de: The Klausheide estate . Presentation of the Arbeiterwohlfahrt Grafschaft Bentheim from 2010. p. 29 ( Memento of the original from December 25, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF; 6.5 MB)
- ^ Nordhorn.de: The Klausheide estate . Presentation of the Arbeiterwohlfahrt Grafschaft Bentheim from 2010. p. 10 ( Memento of the original dated December 25, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF; 6.5 MB)
- ^ Chronicle of the Nordhorn – Lingen airfield
- ↑ http://www.religte.com/plantluenne/index.htm
- ↑ http://www.religte.com/klausheide/index.htm
- ↑ The Klausheide estate - a journey through time. (PDF) In: Presentation of Arbeiterwohlfahrt Grafschaft Bentheim, p. 23, 2010, accessed on August 8, 2019 .
- ^ Maria Montessori School. In: Grafschafter school history
- ↑ The Klausheide estate - a journey through time. (PDF) In: Presentation of Arbeiterwohlfahrt Grafschaft Bentheim, p. 20. 2010, accessed on August 8, 2019 .
- ↑ The Klausheide estate - a journey through time. (PDF) In: Presentation of Arbeiterwohlfahrt Grafschaft Bentheim, p. 21. 2010, accessed on August 8, 2019 .
- ↑ Data sheet TrÜbPl Nordhorn, status: January 2012, http://www.streitkraeftebasis.de : Luft- / Bodenschießplatz Nordhorn
- ^ Society for Plant Breeding e. V., 2004: Documents on Plant Breeding in Germany. P. 28
- ^ The workers' welfare in the county, Gut Klausheide
Coordinates: 52 ° 28 '4.4 " N , 7 ° 9' 35.4" E