Reitgar
| Reitgar | ||
|---|---|---|
| Geographical location | Grasdorf , municipality of Neuenhaus , county of Bentheim , Lower Saxony , Germany | |
| Drain | Strootgraben → Dinkel | |
| Data | ||
| Coordinates | 52 ° 28 ′ 33.8 " N , 6 ° 59 ′ 21" E | |
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| width | 150 m | |
The Reitgar (also known as " Tiefes Reitgar " or " Tiefes Reitgaar ") is a small, horseshoe-shaped natural lake in the municipality of Grasdorf in the Grafschaft Bentheim district , directly on the Dutch border in the west of Lower Saxony .
To the water a murky old entwines forecast that by a here to Raubritter time sunken castle is.
The lord of the castle at that time is said to have distinguished himself through very special cruelty. He robbed the merchants who passed through and the peaceful peasants who lived there, imprisoned them and then left them to perish miserably from hunger and thirst in his dark castle dungeon. His daughter suffered greatly from her father's greed and merciless violence, and she tried in vain to alleviate the suffering and pain of his poor victims by secretly giving them food and warm blankets. Again and again she pleaded with her father to stop his barbaric misdeeds. The heartless robber baron laughed at her for this and continued his brutal plundering undaunted. The desperate young woman took refuge in prayer in her need and one day pleaded with God, if there really was no other solution, he might let the whole castle disappear from the ground. This is exactly what happened, overnight an overwhelming tidal wave suddenly formed on the Reitgar and devoured the entire bulwark including the knight, his squires and other accomplices.
According to legend, early in the morning "before dew and day" on Ascension Day , the ringing of the bells of the former castle chapel can still be heard from the dark depths of the lake .
The fairy tale was recorded by the local poets Karl Sauvagerd (1906–1992), Lucie Rakers , Erika Lichte and Heinrich Specht and processed literarily in poems and stories in “ Low German ”.
According to local researcher Dr. Ludwig Edel even has a real background to the “legend of the Reitgaar”. A rent master of the Count von Bentheim had built a stone house on Reitgar around 1735, which was destroyed by his envious people in a nightly action the following year.
"Only a few boulders still remind us today of the rent master's so miserably destroyed pleasure house and still nourish the legend of the castle that stood here and mysteriously sank into the deep pond."
The traditional legend is still dealt with today in the context of local studies at the elementary school in the neighboring Neuenhaus .
Individual evidence
- ↑ estimated based on the fold-out OpenStreetMap map
- ↑ Max Hugo Weigold: The Reitgar pond. In: Lower Saxony cultural heritage / joint library network. Historical photo archive of natural history / Lower Saxony State Museum Hanover, accessed on August 11, 2019 .
- ↑ Dichterplatt. In: Heimatfreunde Neuenhaus e. V. Retrieved September 23, 2019 .
- ↑ see treatise on Neuenhauser poets and writers s. 13 ff. (PDF) Dr. Johann-Georg Raben
- ↑ More than 100 years of research. In: regional history. Heimatverein Grafschaft Bentheim, accessed on August 11, 2019 .
- ↑ Dr. Ludwig Edel, The Secret of the Reetgoors. Bentheimer Jahrbuch, 1954, p. 72 ff.
- ^ Neuenhaus (D / SU class 3). In: School's own teaching materials. Neuenhaus primary school, accessed on August 11, 2019 .