Rethen (Vordorf)

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Rethen
Vordorf municipality
Coordinates: 52 ° 22 ′ 29 ″  N , 10 ° 28 ′ 44 ″  E
Height : 79 m above sea level NN
Area : 7.37 km²
Residents : 1125  (December 31, 2015)
Population density : 153 inhabitants / km²
Incorporation : March 1, 1974
Postal code : 38533
Area code : 05304
map
Location of Rethen in the joint municipality of Papenteich. The small section shows the location of the municipality in the Gifhorn district

Rethen is a former municipality in the district of Gifhorn , Lower Saxony . The place was probably founded during the Saxon Wars of Charlemagne . In the Middle Ages, Rethen was a border town between the dioceses of Hildesheim and Halberstadt . In 1974 Rethen and Eickhorst were incorporated into the Vordorf community , which is part of the Papenteich community . Today the place has about 1200 inhabitants.

geography

Geographical location

Rethen is only a few kilometers north of the city of Braunschweig . The place is located near the southern border of the Lüneburg Heath and belongs to the municipality of Vordorf, the main town of which is about three kilometers southeast of Rethen. Rethen is located directly on the L 321 in Lower Saxony. The next major traffic routes are the B 4 (4 km east), the B 214 (6 km west) and the A 2 (6 km south). The closest medium- sized centers are Wolfsburg , Salzgitter , Wolfenbüttel , Gifhorn , Peine and Celle .

geology

The village is centrally located on the sandy-loamy plateau of the Papenteich about 75-82 m above sea ​​level . The landscape around Rethen is predominantly characterized by arable farming and individual forest areas. The different soils in the district are of medium to good quality. Flat soils over limestone marl are better rated here, also called "our Klei" in the village. Sands and loams are glacial-post-glacial deposits. Occasional boulders near the surface, small boulders and flints are debris deposits from the Elster and Saale Ice Age.

A specialty are the limestone marl layers of the so-called Rethener-Meiner Oberkreidemulde, which are close to the surface in the Rethen area and in Meine and Vordorf , formed in a shallow sea around 80 million years ago. The limestone marl contains fossils or fossils from this Cretaceous period such as sponges , sea ​​urchins , belemnites and mussels . Until the beginning of the 20th century , a commercially used lime pit south-east of Rethen was a productive site. The pit is no longer open today, but even today isolated finds are still made in the course of excavations such as excavations.

  • Spherical lime sponge with attachment point (Porosphaera globularis) , location: near Rethen

  • Heart-shaped sea ​​urchin (Echinoida), location: near Rethen

  • Lime sponges (Calcarea), place of discovery: Dornplecke near Rethen

  • Group of Belemnites (Rostren), location: near Rethen

Waters

The Vollbütteler Riede north of Rethen

Rethen was previously known for its very abundant water sources, which were used equally by Rethen residents and the residents of the neighboring towns. A spring near the village pond has been available to the public for decades and is still used regularly by farmers today. In the Rethen district there are also two streams of historical importance:

Around the year 1000 the Mühlenriede was a border marker between the Diocese of Hildesheim and the Diocese of Halberstadt . At that time the brook was called Druchterbiki , from which the name Druffel Bach later emerged. According to old border maps, the stream rises north of Rethen and flows past the places Algesbüttel, Klein Vollbüttel, Druffelbeck and Ribbesbüttel into the Hehlenriede stream and finally into the Allerkanal .

The name of the small stream comes from the old ding banks near Rötgesbüttel , before they were moved to the Schieren beam in the 16th century. The historic ding banks are located about 3.5 kilometers northeast of Rethen in the Rötgesbüttel area.

population

Population development

A precise development of the population up to 1821 is not documented. The only available data are occasional mentions about the number of farms in Rethen. In 1489 a total of three full courtyards , four half courtyards and 13 kötter were recorded. In 1773 six farmers, 14 kötter and four Brinkitzer were given. A significant expansion of the village did not begin until the end of the 18th and beginning of the 19th century. Due to the imprecise data, it is estimated that the population varied between 200 and 250 people from the 15th to the 17th centuries.

The place only experienced a significant increase in the number of inhabitants in the aftermath of World War II due to the influx of refugees and displaced persons . Since there was not enough building land in Rethen at that time, only some of the refugees settled permanently. As the remaining refugees moved on, the population initially fell slightly again. In the decades that followed, there was a steady increase in the population, aided by the proximity to the industrial sites of Braunschweig and in particular the Volkswagen main plant in Wolfsburg.

The last strong boost came in the 1990s. The designation of new building areas and a densification of the town center led to increased suburbanization . Rethen turned into a dormitory town . This development was favored by its location a short distance from Braunschweig, Wolfsburg and the connection to Autobahn 2 . According to model calculations, the population of Rethen, like that of the entire Papenteich, will continue to grow in the coming decades due to these factors.

Rethen
population development since 1821
development year Residents year Residents year Residents
1821 328 1939 503 2000 1222
1848 365 1950 848 2005 1223
1890 386 1961 687 2006 1214
1900 420 1970 725 2013 1137
1912 514 1980 843 2015 1125
1925 499 1990 879

Swell:

language

Linguistically, Rethen belongs to the High German language area . While most speak a largely dialect-free High German , a small part of the population speaks a more or less colored High German with elements of the Brunswick and Papenteich dialect. This includes the clear A and the soft G at the end of the word. In the 20th century, Low German disappeared more and more through the use of Standard German as the school language. After the Second World War, it was almost completely displaced by Standard German.

religion

Denomination people percent
Evangelical Lutheran 740 61%
Roman Catholic 114 9%
Non-denominational and others rest 30%
The Rethener church belongs to the parish of Adenbüttel-Rethen

Church life proceeded without major changes. Since the time of the Reformation , the people in Rethen were evangelical-Lutheran and strongly influenced by church life. From a visitation report from 1854 for the parish of Adenbüttel-Rethen it says: “The parish has retained its good reputation as the first Lutheran parish in the north. There are no public annoyances, gamblers and drunkards. "

While an average of 350 people attended church services in the 19th century, this has decreased over the years (1938: 100 people) to the current level from an average of 70 people (1990s). The number of members of the Protestant parish also changed. Although the number of church members rose from 690 to 740 in the period from 1970 to 2000, the proportion of the total population fell from 91% to 61%. This can be traced back to the steadily growing proportion of the non-denominational. The proportion of members of the Roman Catholic Church also increased from 5% (1961) to over 9%. Most of them belong to the Catholic St. Andrew's community in Meine.

history

Prehistory and early history

The first signs of human settlement in the Rethen district go back over 5000 years. In 1995, the remains of the large stone grave of Rethen were found near the village . The associated Neolithic settlement is believed to be within a radius of about three kilometers. Remnants of vessels, flint cuts and an arrowhead as well as stone axes and other Stone Age objects were found before 1995 . It is believed that there were several settlements from the early Stone Age in the east of Rethen.

Deserted settlements

→ Main article: Desertification in the Papenteich

There are several deserted settlements in the vicinity , including Dudanroth (1000 AD), Bromhorst (1007 AD) or Arnsbüttel. Most of them are located outside of today's parish markings. All settlements fell desolate between the 13th and 16th centuries. The following are explicitly demonstrable:

  • Algesbüttel , first mentioned in 1022. The settlement consisted of seven courtyards and a church. The last mention is in 1480 as a Lüneburg loan .
  • Ossenrode (Asenroth), first mentioned in 1112 in border maps. The settlement consisted of four courtyards and was located northeast of today's Rethen. The first archaeological finds date from the 12th to 14th centuries.
  • Zinsrode (Sinesrode), existed between Rethen and Vordorf around 1022 and is located again today. Numerous stones still occupy the surface. In addition, pieces of metal and pottery shards with decorations were found. Towards the end of the 15th century, the settlement was no longer mentioned in a document.
  • Wendenbüttel (Wendenbutle), first mentioned in 1007. The settlement was south of today's Rethen. The first archaeological finds date from the 10th to 14th centuries.

Foundation of Rethen

The first documented mention of Rethen comes from a document dated April 2nd, 1301. At that time, the place was characterized purely agricultural, with mainly cattle breeding and only a little arable farming. The content of the certificate is the sale of five hooves and four sausages in "Rethene". Knight Balduin and his squires Ludolf and Georg von Wenden sold this property to the St. Crucis Monastery in Braunschweig .

Rethen itself is likely to be much older. Already in 1641 a higher age was pointed out. Georg von Rethen, Mayor of Braunschweig, wrote about his family history that his ancestor Heinrich Bethmann had been entrusted with an estate in Rethen as early as 1199. The place must have existed at that time.

In addition to documents, the place name gives important information about the time when a place was established. In older scripts, the name Rethen (formerly: Rethene, Rethen, Rethne, Reten, Rethenne) is derived from the word Rietheim (Riet denotes a boggy area). The so-called -heim villages are counted among the oldest settlements, some of which were founded in the Cheruscan period (500 to 800 AD). So far there has been no evidence of such settlement continuity in Rethen

The old church of Rethen before it was demolished in 1901

In the latest publications, Rethen is viewed as a Franconian foundation that is closely related to the foundation of Meine . It is assumed here that the Franks established settlements in the then unpopulated northern forest in the 8th century, in the course of the subjugation of the Sachsenland . At that time, the area was criss-crossed by several medieval highways. After that, Rethen, like Vordorf and the village of Stapel (desolate fallen), was founded as an outer village by Meine. This connection only lasted for a relatively short time, as the border between the Diocese of Halberstadt and the Diocese of Hildesheim separated Meine and Vordorf from the Rethen area as early as the 11th century . Attempts by the bishops of Halberstadt to move the border beyond Rethen to the Oker were unsuccessful. The border only fell at the beginning of the 16th century with the beginning of the Reformation .

The church can also be classified in the early days of the place. First mentions can be found in the years 1323 and 1341; they concern the parish budget and the election of church leaders. The church tower still existing today could have already existed at this time (estimates call the 13th century). The gothic embossed tympanum above the portal can be, due to similar representations in neighboring communities, rather date back to the 15th century. The extent to which the outbreak of the plague in Braunschweig and in the Papenteich in 1350 affected the population of Rethen is not documented.

The Lords of Rethen

In 1641 Georg von Rethen, Mayor of Braunschweig , wrote the family history of those von Rethen based on old entries. As a result, those from Rethen refer to a "Heinrich Bethmann von Rethien" (more precisely: from Chur "in the land of Rhetia )". Bethmann served Duke Philip of Swabia during the war for the crown of the Holy Roman Empire against Otto IV and the siege of Braunschweig. However, the duke lost this dispute and Heinrich Bethmann was briefly taken prisoner in Brunswick. After his release, he remained as a knight with the bishop Hartbertstrasse of Hildesheim , who him about 1,199 with the court and the jus patronatus on the church, hunting, and goods from Rethen belehnte . A documentary mention of these rights can only be found in the Lehnsregister 1383/85 in favor of the knight "Bethmann van Rethen".

The Rethen church tower from the 13th century

Due to his many years of experience in military service, Bethmann built his house in Rethen in the style of a moated castle on an island in what was then the village pond. In the following decades there were repeated attacks by robber barons who largely destroyed Rethen in 1308, 1380, 1381 and 1388. During one of these raids (probably on July 13th 1381) the moated castle was destroyed . As a result, the von Rethen left the village after around 150 years and settled in Braunschweig. They still retained the right of patronage and property in Rethen. In the documents of the Gifhorn office , the gentlemen of Rethem are named with nine farms in Rethen.

After the merging of the parishes of Adenbüttel and Rethen in the first half of the 16th century, the gentlemen of Rethen and the gentlemen of Marenholtz (right of patronage in Adenbüttel) shared the right of patronage in the united parish. Over time, however, the right passed more and more to the von Marenholtz family. This exercised it until the death of the last patron ( Freiherr von Marenholtz-Nolde) in 1969. The von Rethen family probably went out in the 18th century.

Early modern times to modern times

Papenteich in the Gifhorn office around 1600

The Thirty Years' War reached Rethen in 1625 , when the imperial troops set up their winter quarters in the Papenteich during the Danish-Lower Saxon War . Houses and churches were looted and the farmers were called in to carry out fortification work near Wolfenbüttel . In addition, they still had to pay taxes to the landlord . In the 1640s, too, there were repeated looting , mostly by local or Swedish soldiers.

The place was largely spared both from the Seven Years' War and during the Napoleonic Wars and was only burdened by war taxes and warfare. However, the murder of a shepherd by French dragoons in 1758 is worth mentioning. This is the only known murder in the history of Rethen. Both during the war with Prussia in 1866 and in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870/71 , Rethens were drafted.

Village life in the 19th century was mainly shaped by changes in agriculture. These concerned, on the one hand, several reorganizations of the municipal areas, and on the other hand, the intensification of arable farming and the associated heavy deforestation of the forest areas around the village. In the second half of the 19th century, an ever more intensive cultivation of sugar beet began , greatly encouraged by the construction of the sugar beet factory in nearby Meine.

First World War

As in large parts of Europe, at the beginning of the First World War there was initially great enthusiasm for the war in Rethen. A total of 78 Rethens were drafted during the war, in the course of which 14 of them fell. In the winter of 1914/15 refugees from Russian-occupied border areas were quartered in Rethen. In addition, there were French prisoners of war in the village around 1915 . Some of these prisoners had to work in agriculture, but were also used in the construction of the new Dorfstrasse in 1915. Towards the end of the First World War, especially in the turnip winter of 1916/17, the supply situation in Rethen became increasingly difficult, as in the rest of the country. Despite food rationing and the economy in shortages , the situation remained calm. Towards the end of the war, inspired by the November Revolution in Braunschweig, a workers 'and soldiers' council was formed, which was later followed by the elected community committee .

Second World War

In the Second World War , unlike in the First World War, there was no great enthusiasm for war in Rethen. Agriculture had to be mastered by the women and the elderly, who were assigned foreign workers or prisoners of war . These were mostly people of French , Polish and Russian origins. The treatment of these forced laborers varied widely. While the Russians stayed in a building converted into a prisoner of war camp , the Poles and French were housed with the villagers. This accommodation was mostly just as inadequate, since with friendly treatment denunciation and charges by residents loyal to the regime threatened.

In the final phase of the war there were also bombs dropped in and around Rethen due to increased air strikes on the nearby industrial and armaments site of Braunschweig . In addition, several aircraft of the Royal Air Force (RAF) and the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) shot down by the Braunschweig air defense crashed near Rethen, with some crew members still being able to parachute. A failed emergency landing in the schoolyard is documented.

On August 23, 1944 at 11:30 a.m., Rethen experienced its heaviest bomb attack. Four heavy explosive bombs fell in the immediate vicinity of the village. In addition, a large number of incendiary bombs were dropped directly over the village, which caused several major fires. The parish hall, two stables, four residential buildings and three wheat staircases in the immediate vicinity of the village burned out almost completely. Fires in other buildings could be extinguished by the residents themselves. Fire brigades from all over the Papenteich and Braunschweig came to fight the fire. Despite the massive attack on the village, no people were harmed.

On April 10, 1945, American soldiers coming from Peine moved into quarters in Rethen. The order to the village's Volkssturm to defend it had been refused, the weapons were sunk in the village pond. Most American soldiers moved on within a week and only a small part of the occupation forces stayed for almost three months. 34 people from Rethen and 26 members of refugee families in Rethen died in the Second World War.

Incorporation

On March 1, 1974, Rethen was incorporated into the community of Vordorf.

Culture and sights

Association

The following associations and institutions are located in Rethen:

  • Polyhymnia Choir , founded in 1895
  • Rethen volunteer fire brigade from 1905
  • TSV Rethen e. V. from 1912
  • Kleingartenverein Heideblume e. V. , founded in 1949
  • Rethen Rifle Corps V. from 1962
  • Rethen youth club from 1973 (oldest self-administered youth club in Lower Saxony)
  • Youth fire brigade, founded in 1988
  • Living Advent wreath, since 2005
  • Association of Rethener Dorfleben e. V.
  • FSV Adenbüttel Rethen e. V. from 2006
  • Children's fire brigade, founded in 2013
  • Morgenstern bowling clubs and cosiness

Regular events

Village and local festivals are held regularly, including the Schützenfest, at which the local rifle kings are first celebrated with a pageant in the village and then crowned. The exact origin of the village festivals in Rethen is not known, but they probably go back to the 19th century. The oldest preserved rifle target dates from 1883. Furthermore, the Rethen Easter fire is traditionally burned on Easter Sunday in the pig pasture .

Attractions

Fallen memorial

The Rethener war memorial ( ⊙ ) in the form of an obelisk was erected north of the school building after the First World War and inaugurated on July 24, 1921. The memorial was intended to commemorate the 13 people from Rethen who died during the war and as a result of the war. Their names were immortalized on a plaque, which was attached to the memorial. An oak was planted around the memorial for each fallen man, so that the memorial is now surrounded by 13 fully grown oaks. After the Second World War , three more memorial plaques were placed with the names of 60 fallen and missing people from Rethen.

Dutch windmill

The windmill between Rethen and Adenbüttel ( ⊙ ) is a Dutch windmill built in 1872 . It is located roughly on the border between the districts of Rethen and Adenbüttel, only about 100 meters northwest of Rethen. Despite the short distance to Rethen and the earlier common use, the mill is now part of Adenbüttel.

Crucifixion group

Rethen crucifixion group in the Museum Schloss Gifhorn

The crucifixion group from the Sankt Nikolai Church is an important exhibit of Lower Saxony sacred art of the late Middle Ages . The group consists of the three figures Maria , Johannes and Christ . The figures of Mary and John are badly damaged, only the upper parts of the Christ figure have survived. What is striking about the group is the artistic design of the hair and the robes of the figures.

The group was carved by Levin Storch in the period from 1525 to 1528 . Due to the quality of this work, Levin Storch was known for some time under the name "Master of Rethen". There are other works by this artist in Braunschweig churches. The creation of this group is probably due to the Lords of Rethen, i.e. the patron saints. Today the crucifixion group can be viewed in the Historical Museum in Gifhorn together with a Madonna from the Rethen Church .

Great stone grave

In 1995 a large stone grave was found during field work within the Rethen district near the Maaßel forest area . Six small stones form an east-west facing system. Based on studies by the district archaeological office, the complex is estimated to be around 3000 BC. Dated. It is assumed that it is a collective grave in the form of a hut. The Neolithic settlement belonging to the grave is believed to be within a radius of about three kilometers.

Megalithic grave of Rethen

The grave is probably a disturbed complex that was previously covered with wood or stones. Some larger stones and the cover had been removed and probably used to build the house. After its rediscovery, the facility was made accessible and opened to the public in 1996. It is the first known large stone grave in the Gifhorn district. ( ⊙ )

Saint Nicolai Church

Consecration plaque - replica above the entrance portal.
(The undated original, around 1500, is in the church.)

In Rethen there is an Evangelical Lutheran church ( ⊙ ), which is dedicated to Saint Nicholas , the patron saint of traders and merchants. While the current nave was rebuilt in 1901, the church tower is much older. Architects estimate that the 25 m high church tower made of field stones could date back to the 13th century. There are three church bells in the tower , the smallest and oldest bell (striking bell) from 1424 and the free-swinging bells from 1484. The old nave was rebuilt after the destruction of the Thirty Years' War and equipped with a prieche ( gallery ) in 1654 . The last new building took place in 1901 and is largely unchanged to this day. As part of the new building, space for up to 450 people was created, the new organ installed and the first church heating system installed in the church district. Since the beginning of the 16th century Rethen forms a conjunction with Adenbüttel parish . Since the churchyard with its family graves was no longer sufficient, it was decided in 1933 to purchase a plot of land near the village as a cemetery. In 1965 this was expanded and a cemetery chapel was built.

Economy and Infrastructure

Agriculture

Since the early Middle Ages, livestock was the main source of income for the inhabitants. The arable land had little value because of the wet soil. As a result, the trend developed from the middle of the 18th century to use carts as a source of secondary income. Due to the changes in agriculture (drainage, potatoes), Rethen increasingly switched to arable farming during the 19th century. Since the 1870s, sugar beet cultivation has increased steadily. This tendency was reinforced by the construction of the sugar beet factory in nearby Meine in 1883. With the construction of the dairy in Meine, the remaining livestock was concentrated on dairy farming . There was another strong advance and intensification of agriculture after 1945 through the industrialization of agriculture. As a result of this and the emergence of new areas of work in industry and trade, many Rethen farmers ceased operations. Rethen was able to maintain its character as a farming village until around the middle of the 20th century. Even if Rethen has more farmers today than the villages in the vicinity, these only play a very minor role in relation to the total number of inhabitants. The massive influence of the agglomerations of Braunschweig and Wolfsburg is becoming stronger and stronger and a large part of the residents commute to work in these areas today. In 1994, there were only eight main and five part-time businesses in Rethen.

Industry and Commerce

Industry has never settled in Rethen itself. However, due to the relatively short distance to the economic and industrial centers of Wolfsburg and Braunschweig , industry is of great importance as an employer. This development began with the construction of the Volkswagen plant in Wolfsburg in 1939. A steadily increasing number of people was required to operate the plants, which meant that more and more people from Rethen were working as factory workers.

The biggest point of contention in recent Rethen economic history was the designation of a priority area for the construction of wind turbines. Despite the resistance of the local citizens' initiative Gegenwind , the wind farm Rethen with three wind turbines was built in 2003 about one kilometer east of Rethen . Each of the three systems has a maximum output of 1.8  MW with a total height of 100 meters (hub height: 65 meters) and a rotor diameter of 35 meters.

Infrastructure

The current road network was created in the second half of the 19th century. The street names were only introduced in 1976, before the buildings in Rethen only had numbers. The L 321 crosses the village. Rethen is four kilometers west of the B 4 at the level of Meine and about seven kilometers north of the Braunschweig Nord junction of the federal motorways 2 and 391 . The place is served by the bus routes 112, 194 and 196 of the Verkehrsgesellschaft Landkreis Gifhorn mbH.

Although Rethen always had abundant groundwater, it was connected to the central water supply in 1963 by the district's water association. After extensive renovation work on the sewer system in 1965, it was connected to the separate water sewer system of the Braunschweig wastewater association. In 1916 it was connected to the public power grid. The connection to the long-distance gas supply took place in 1996.

In 1973, the central garbage collection of the Gifhorn district was set up. Until then, a former soil extraction point, the so-called pig pasture, served as the Rethen garbage dump. This was later covered with earth and is now mainly used as an Easter fire place.

Public facilities

kindergarten

In 1992 a kindergarten was built at the sports field in Rethen after the Rethen children had attended the local kindergartens in the surrounding communities in the previous decades. The Kindergarten Vordorf e.V. is responsible for the Rethener Kindergarten . V. under the umbrella organization of the Parents' Initiatives Braunschweigs e. V. Up to 50 children are cared for in two mixed-age groups.

education

There has been evidence of school service in Rethen since 1644. Due to the increasing number of pupils to 106 in 1911, the construction of a new school building was necessary. A building with several classrooms and two teacher's apartments was built. Due to the development of the post-war years and the rapid increase to around 160 students, a further expansion was decided in 1945. Since the rapid increase in the number of students was largely due to students from refugee families who only stayed in Rethen for a short time, the number of students fell sharply shortly after the school was completed. Attempts to continue the elementary school in the school network with Vordorf and Adenbüttel were unsuccessful. The school was finally closed in 1974 and the school building is now used as a residential building. Today the local children and young people attend primary school in Vordorf and later secondary schools in Meine, Gifhorn and Braunschweig.

swimming pool

In 1932, the school management and the gymnastics club, in cooperation with the community committee, decided to build a swimming pool in the Rottekuhlen , where flax used to be cleared. The swimming pool and the associated facilities were built by the villagers themselves, under professional guidance, for financial reasons. The facility was completed within a year and commissioned in 1933. By permanently supplying the pool with fresh water from a nearby source, a permanently good water quality was achieved. In 1952, the municipality decided to renovate the swimming pool, during which the floor and walls of the pool were concreted and new buildings were erected. The bathing establishment was closed at the end of the 1960s because the maintenance became too costly for the community. The tennis courts are located on the site today.

Fire brigade and civil defense

The Rethen volunteer fire brigade was founded on October 9, 1905. In 1963 a fire protection contract was signed with Eickhorst, so that fire protection there has also been the responsibility of the Rethen fire brigade since then . Since it was founded, the fire brigade in Rethen has been involved in five major house fires (most recently in 2000), five major fires in agricultural buildings and during the major fire caused by the bombing in 1944. Today the Wehr is still organized as a volunteer fire brigade without full-time firefighters. To promote young talent, the fire brigade founded a youth fire brigade in 1988 and a children's fire brigade in 2013 .

The Rethen fire brigade is equipped with basic equipment as a local brigade. The weir has a modern fire station , which was completed in 2012 with a lot of in-house work. A self-financed team transport vehicle and, since 2015, a modern portable pump vehicle with a water tank are available as emergency vehicles . As of 2019, the fire brigade comprised around 35 active members and around 160 supporting members.

politics

Coat of arms of the new community of Vordorf since 1974
Rethen in the integrated municipality of Papenteich

In its early days, Rethen belonged to the Guelphs , but often switched between the Brunswick and Lüneburg lines. With the formation of the Office Gifhorn 1549 Rethen was the Obergogräfschaft Papenteich allocated. In the time of the Kingdom of Westphalia , Rethen belonged to the canton of Rötgesbüttel and thus to the Oker department . Gifhorn belonged to the administrative district of Lüneburg until 1972 (until 1705 Principality of Lüneburg ) before it was incorporated into the administrative district of Braunschweig .

In 1970, Rethen and 14 other municipalities formed the Papenteich joint municipality with its administrative headquarters in Meine. At that time, Rethen was still an independent municipality, but there were already considerations to merge the smaller municipalities. After a merger with Eickhorst and Adenbüttel in 1971 failed due to the naming of the new community to be created, a merger with Vordorf was considered. On February 21, 1974, the last meeting of the Rethen municipal council , which ended with the subsequent self-dissolution. On June 28, 1974, the first council of the new community Vordorf was elected.

Personalities

  • Lords of Rethen
  • Otto Hänssgen (1885–1956); Landscape painter and artist, lived in Rethen from around 1918 until his death in 1956
  • Wilhelm Heinrich Werner Blanke (1895–1991), teacher in Rethen from 1929 to 1945, local history researcher and author
  • Hans Schmidt , Protestant theologian, pastor in the parish of Adenbüttel-Rethen from 1982 to 1988

literature

  • Michael Falk: History from Rethen - names, numbers and dates, documents and photos , Adenbüttel 2001, self-published
  • Michael Falk: History from Adenbüttel and Rethen - A gender book , Adenbüttel 2001, self-published
  • Heinz Klose: History from the Papenteich , Meine 1983; ISBN 3-87040-029-3
  • Wolfgang Meibeyer: Settlement history about the Papenteich and the question of its -büttel-places , series of publications of the district archives Gifhorn; Gifhorn 2004; ISBN 3-929632-70-5
  • Herman Schulze: Geschichtliches aus dem Lüneburgischen , Gifhorn, 1854, page 133 ff.
  • Lower Saxony State Administration Office (ed.): The district of Gifhorn , Bremen 1972. (The districts in Lower Saxony, vol. 26); ISBN 3-87172-327-4

Web links

Commons : Landkreis Gifhorn, Vordorf-Rethen  - album with pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Papenteich population statistics , accessed on July 24, 2020.
  2. ^ ZGB : Regional planning for the relocation of the B4 in the area between Braunschweig and Gifhorn (PDF; 1.9 MB).
  3. ^ Papenteich - Gifhorn's window into the time of the dinosaurs
  4. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l Michael Falk: History from Rethen - names, numbers and dates, documents and photos. 2001.
  5. ↑ Contribution to the research project City 2030 (PDF; 4.9 MB)
  6. ^ A b c Brand, Renate: Papenteich in old views. Eschenbach 1995, ISBN 3-89570-057-6 .
  7. ^ Administrative history of Gifhorn up to 1939 ( Memento from February 28, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
  8. ↑ Papenteicher Nachrichten, issue 395 - May 2007, p. 5.
  9. ↑ Papenteich population statistics , accessed on October 23, 2018.
  10. ^ Willi Rinkel: Traces of Germanic tribes in the Papenteich in the district calendar for Gifhorn-Isenhagen 1940
  11. ↑ Wolfgang Meibeyer: Settlement facts about the Papenteich and the question of its -büttel-places 2004
  12. ^ Willi Rinkel: The paper pond in the 30 years war in: Geschichtliches aus dem Papenteich. 1983.
  13. ↑ Church registers of the parish of Adenbüttel-Rethen.
  14. ^ Log books of the Rethen volunteer fire brigade.
  15. ^ Federal Statistical Office (ed.): Historical municipality directory for the Federal Republic of Germany. Name, border and key number changes in municipalities, counties and administrative districts from May 27, 1970 to December 31, 1982 . W. Kohlhammer GmbH, Stuttgart and Mainz 1983, ISBN 3-17-003263-1 , p. 226 .
  16. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j Website Volunteer Fire Brigade Rethen
  17. ↑ Papenteicher Nachrichten: Lively Advent Calendar 2015
  18. ↑ The monument to the fallen in Rethen, Gifhorn district
  19. ^ Theo Bosse: 120 years of mill history, Gifhorn district, Wolfsburg, Hassenwinkel. Hanover 1991.
  20. ↑ Handbook of German Art Monuments - Bremen / Lower Saxony. Deutscher Kunstverlag, 1977, p. 935.
  21. ^ Papenteicher Nachrichten: New vehicle for Rethen
  22. ↑ The district of Gifhorn. Volume II: Community descriptions. 1975.
  23. ^ Journal of the Harz Association for History and Archeology. Volume 30, self-published, 1896, p. 89.
  24. ^ Paul Zimmermann (History Association for the Duchy of Braunschweig): Braunschweigisches Magazin. J. Zwissler, 1902, pp. 17, 32.
This article was added to the list of excellent articles on July 1, 2007 in this version .