Vechta

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coat of arms Germany map
Coat of arms of the city of Vechta
Vechta
Map of Germany, position of the city of Vechta highlighted

Coordinates: 52 ° 44 '  N , 8 ° 17'  E

Basic data
State : Lower Saxony
County : Vechta
Height : 37 m above sea level NHN
Area : 87.78 km 2
Residents: 32,863 (Dec. 31, 2019)
Population density : 374 inhabitants per km 2
Postal code : 49377
Primaries : 04441, 04447Template: Infobox municipality in Germany / maintenance / area code contains text
License plate : VEC
Community key : 03 4 60 009
LOCODE : DE VEC
City structure: 25 districts

City administration address : 		Burgstrasse 6
49377 Vechta
Website : www.vechta.de
Mayor : Kristian Kater ( SPD )
Location of the city of Vechta in the district of Vechta
Nordrhein-Westfalen Landkreis Cloppenburg Landkreis Diepholz Landkreis Oldenburg Landkreis Osnabrück Bakum Damme (Dümmer) Dinklage Goldenstedt Holdorf (Niedersachsen) Lohne (Oldenburg) Neuenkirchen-Vörden Steinfeld (Oldenburg) Vechta Visbekmap
About this picture

Vechta [ ˈfɛçta ] ( Low German Vechte ) is the district town and at the same time the largest city (with approx. 33,000 inhabitants) of the district of the same name in western Lower Saxony and an independent municipality . The university town , known as the “equestrian town”, is one of the two district towns in the Oldenburger Münsterland along with Cloppenburg and is managed as a middle center in the regional planning of Lower Saxony . Since 1994 Vechta has formed the so-called city ​​quartet with the cities of Damme , Diepholz and Lohne . Vechta has been part of the Northwest Metropolitan Region since 2006 .

geography

location

Vechta, along with Cloppenburg, is one of the two district towns in the Oldenburger Münsterland and is located in the center of the city triangle of Bremen, Oldenburg and Osnabrück. To the east of the city lies the Great Moor , in the extreme southeast of Vechta, east of federal highway 69, one of the few remaining rain bogs . Part of this moor is drained to the west via the Vechtaer Moorbach , which flows further in the direction of Hase and Ems and separates the higher Ems-Hunte-Geest in the north from the foothills of the Dammer Mountains in the south. The city name goes back to the damp location: Old High German "Vecht" means moist land.

  • Information board at the Vechtaer Moorbach in Füchtel

  • View of Vechta from the Stoppelmarkt Ferris Wheel

City structure

This article or the following section is not adequately provided with supporting documents ( e.g. individual evidence ). Information without sufficient evidence could be removed soon. Please help Wikipedia by researching the information and including good evidence.

Vechta is divided into 25 districts:

Neighboring communities

Neighboring communities starting from the north (clockwise) are the communities Visbek , Goldenstedt , Barnstorf , the cities Diepholz and Lohne and the communities Bakum , Cappeln and Emstek .

Emstek (18 km) Visbek (13 km) Goldenstedt (13 km)
Bakum (8 km) Wind rose small.svg Barnstorf (21 km)
Dinklage (14 km) Lohne (8 km) Diepholz (16 km)

The distance information relates to the distance to the town center.

Geology and hydrogeology

The city lies in the North German Plain . The area around Vechta consists mainly of glazio-fluvial deposits, primarily loamy and sandy deposits from the Pleistocene . Boreholes showed that the uppermost sediment layers are about five to seven meters thick. Underlying this layer is a ten meter thick, loamy and muddy layer of sediment. Sandy layers at a depth of 25 to 30 meters form a productive aquifer for pumping groundwater. The top aquifer is at a depth of two to six meters. With the exception of the former municipality of Langförden, the city of Vechta is not connected to the OOWV's drinking water network, but operates its own waterworks.

climate

Vechta has a temperate maritime climate , influenced by wet north-westerly winds from the North Sea . On a long-term average, the air temperature in Vechta reaches 8.5 to 9.0 ° C and around 700 millimeters of precipitation falls. Between May and August, an average of 20 to 25 summer days (climatological term for days on which the maximum temperature exceeds 25 ° C) is expected.

history

Chronicle of Affiliation:

In the Middle Ages, the Rheinische Straße as a trade route, coming from Osnabrück, ran in a northerly direction from Lohne to the west at the foot of the Dammer Mountains and crossed the lowlands on both sides of the Vechta Moorbach between the compression moraine of the Dammer Mountains in the south and the Cloppenburger Geestplatte in the north at the narrowest and then only one passable place. This important crossing over the marshy Vechtaer Moorbach is mentioned in a document as early as 851. The trade route led via the port cities of Bremen and Hamburg to the Baltic city of Lübeck .

The bishop Benno I of Osnabrück (1052-1067) ensured that the street was expanded from 1060 onwards, so that the Rheinische Straße became more important.

In 1076/1077 the so-called Osnabrück tithe dispute broke out between Osnabrück and the monasteries of Corvey and Herford. Bishop Benno II of Osnabrück (1068-1088) decided the dispute for himself and received the tithe from Vechta and the associated judiciary . At the ford he built the first castle of Vechta around 1080. The original settlement grew under the protection of the castle and received Osnabrück city ​​rights and the associated customs, coinage and market rights.

The customs, coinage and market rights, which were granted to the Vechta rulership as an imperial fief, passed in the 12th century from the Bishop of Osnabrück to the Counts of Calvelage , who from 1140 called themselves the Counts of Ravensberg .

In 1252, Countess Sophie and her daughter Jutta sold the imperial fiefdom to the Duchy of Münster for 40,000 marks (today's monetary value: an estimated 20 million euros). It became the seat of a Munster bailiff.

As a result of a feud between the Bishop of Münster and the Count of Oldenburg , the city and Vechta Castle were largely destroyed by fire in 1538 by Oldenburg troops.

At the time of the Reformation under Bishop Franz von Waldeck Vechta was dominated by Lutherans for around 70 years from 1543 to 1613. At that time, the Protestant reformer Hermann Bonnus worked in this region . In the course of the Counter Reformation under Bishop Ferdinand of Bavaria , the region was re-Catholicized.

In the Thirty Years' War Vechta suffered heavily. The Swedish occupation lasted until 1654, the end of which is remembered by a procession on Ascension Day in the city. Furthermore, two clearly visible cannon balls on the north side of the nave of the provost church bear witness to this. From 1640 the Franciscans built a monastery complex in Vechta and founded a Latin school. The Antonianum grammar school emerged from this in 1719 . In 1684 a major fire destroyed large parts of Vechta. The current layout of the city goes back to the subsequent reconstruction. The fire provided an occasion to finally abandon the castle; it was demolished in 1689. The citadel assumed the function of the castle as a fortification . In the course of the Seven Years' War, however, it proved useless: on April 1, 1758, it was handed over to the hostile Hanoverians without a sword blow. The citadel was also razed in 1769.

  • Vechta 1684, before the fire

  • Destroyed by fire on August 8, 1684

  • Vechta after 1705

  • Depiction of a situation in the Citadel Park that never occurred: The citadel was bombarded by Swedish troops

In 1803 the Vechta office came to the Duchy of Oldenburg . From 1811 to 1813 there was an interlude in the form of French rule over northwest Germany and thus also over Vechta, during which the Franciscan monastery was abolished; Immediately after the time, however, Oldenburg's rule over Vechta was confirmed. Until 1946 Vechta remained part of the Grand Duchy , later of the State of Oldenburg.

Graves of fallen soldiers in World War II in the Vechta Catholic Cemetery

During the November pogroms in 1938 , the synagogue in Juttastraße , which had existed since 1825, was destroyed by the National Socialists and the Jewish cemetery on Visbeker Damm was devastated. Since 1981 a memorial stone on the corner of Juttastraße / Klingenhagen / Burgstraße has been remembering and reminding of the destroyed synagogue. It was created by the Vechta artist Albert Bocklage and shows the Star of David , the Hebrew word for “peace” and the inscription “IN THIS STREET THE SYNAGOGUE THE HOUSE OF GOD OF OUR JEWISH CITIZENS FREE SHELTERED ON NOVEMBER 9, 1938 AS A REMEMBER AND A WARNING”. Between 2009 and 2011, 21 stumbling blocks were laid for the victims of National Socialism in Vechta .

The castle

During an archaeological excavation in 2005/2006, the remains of Vechta Castle were uncovered. Numerous finds from the Middle Ages and the early modern period came to light, including a. a bone flute and an arquebus . Vechta Castle was a lowland castle type. Their appearance was medieval . Possibly it was also a two-island type of courtyard, a complex of the kind that Westphalia produced in abundance - Hülshoff Castle , Darfeld , Havixbeck , Drensteinfurt and Kemnade are examples . Most of the finds can be viewed in the museum in the armory .

Castle tower of Castrum Vechtense on one of three newly created islands in the Citadel Park
Vechta office building, 1689

The Elmendorff family lived in the castle from the beginning of the 14th century and their ancestral seat became Gut Füchtel in 1421. The last of this family on Füchtel and Welpe was Cäcilie Freiin von Elmendorff, who married Heinrich von Droste zu Hülshoff , a nephew of the poet Annette von Droste-Hülshoff - the Droste zu Hülshoff family had briefly owned the neighboring Welpe estate as early as 1770. Via their daughter Maria-Anna (1866–1947), who married Count Ferdinand von Merveldt , Füchtel and the puppy came to this family, which still owns these goods today.

The Center for Experimental Middle Ages is reconstructing Vechta Castle as " Castrum Vechtense " on three islands . In autumn 2010, the administrative committee of the city of Vechta approved the budget for the first module: a wooden castle tower with palisade and the infrastructure of a three-island castle complex. Construction work began in April 2012. The castle tower was inaugurated on September 28, 2013.

Prison in Vechta

Caponier

Vechta has a prison tradition of around 900 years, which began around 1100 with the dungeon at the castle. The caponier served as a prison on the fortress. After the city was annexed to the Duchy of Oldenburg in 1813, the new sovereigns moved their penal system to Vechta.

The armory was immediately used as a forced labor house for women from 1816. Around the same time, the former Franciscan monastery, which had been vacant since 1812, was rededicated as a prison. In 1863 the “women's prison” was built (today's address: Citadel 2). In 1904 the building complex on Willohstrasse was added as the last building. Until 1933, the facilities were used as a penitentiary, workhouse and prison in the penal system for men and youth, in prison for women and in youth prison for women.

The National Socialist vice-president of the parliament of Oldenburg announced on 23 March 1933, the establishment of a concentration camp in the country Oldenburg on the model of concentration camps Dachau on. “ Protective custody prisoners ” from the state of Oldenburg were taken out of the regular penal system and taken to the then vacant building of the women's prison on Bahnhofstrasse (now Citadel 2). On July 10, 1933, the first “protective prisoners” were moved to the building. In November 1933, the occupancy peaked at 113 men. Mostly they were communists from the state of Oldenburg. The correctness of the prison director Friedrich Fischer prevented the concentration camp from developing into a "horror camp". The closure of the concentration camp was planned from the spring of 1934, as the political situation in the state of Oldenburg, which had meanwhile stabilized, no longer required a separate concentration camp there. From April 1, 1935, the building on Bahnhofstrasse was used as a regular men's prison.

Citadel 2 was used as a labor camp for French and Belgian women during the course of National Socialist rule, after the Second World War until 1956 as a women's youth prison, then as a youth prison or youth detention center and since 2009 again as a prison for women. After the Second World War, juvenile prisoners were housed in the armory. In addition to the armory, several new buildings were erected in a park-like facility in the 1950s, which were called "Falkenrott Youth Camp" until the youth prison was closed. Today the Citadel 17 location is operated as the “Falkenrott Open Department of the JVA for Women”.

Incorporations

On March 1, 1974, the neighboring municipality of Langförden was incorporated.

Population development

The population in Vechta has grown steadily since the city was founded, but since 1990 the population has grown rapidly by almost 10,000 people. This is u. a. Explained by the high birth rate and migration. Other reasons given for this are the classic distribution of roles between men and women in the conservative region and the comparatively high number of Russian-German repatriates in the region, who traditionally have a higher birth rate. The population of the city increased from 1990 (approx. 23,000 inhabitants) to 2009 by 35% to over 31,000.

Population development in numbers:

Population development in Vechta from 1890 to 2017
year Residents
1890 2,188
1905 3,895
1910 4,373
1933 7,280
1939 8,095
1950 13.097
1961 13,460
1970 15,715
1973 18,320
year Residents
1974 22,012
1977 22,133
1980 23,000
1990 23,200
1995 25,616
2000 27,832
2005 30,061
2007 31,156
2008 30,998
year Residents
2009 31,250
2010 31,516
2011 30,423
2012 30,770
2013 30,944
2014 31,352
2015 31,558
2016 32,179
2017 32,201

religion

Catholic cemetery
Church of the Resurrection on the (Protestant) forest cemetery

The population of Vechta is predominantly Catholic. Reside on the territory of the town of Vechta the provost Church of St. George , the monastery church of Saint Joseph (since 1818 as an interdenominational church as an institution Church of the correctional facility for women is used), the Church of Our Lady Peace, the Church of St. Mary in Oythe and Parish church of St. Laurentius in Langförden. Since 2014 is located near the university campus , the ecumenical church on campus for Catholic and Protestant students. The provost church of St. Georg belongs to the Catholic parish of St. Mariä Himmelfahrt and is the seat of the bishop of the Oldenburg Official District (Bischöflich Münstersches Officialat).

There are three mosques in Vechta : the Mosque (Camii) Fatih Sultan on Diepholzer Straße, the Mosque (Camii) Sultanahmet Merkez on Rombergstraße and the Bait-ul-Qaadir Mosque of the Ahmadiyya Muslim, which opened on June 9, 2015 in Gutenbergstraße Jamaat, which has two minarets and a dome.

A synagogue in Vechta was first mentioned in a document in 1784 . In 1825/26 the synagogue was built on Juttastraße, which was destroyed during the November pogroms in 1938 . The Jewish community in Vechta reached its maximum size in 1837 (58 Jewish inhabitants).

politics

City council election 2016
Turnout: 55.67% (2011: 53.13%)
 %
60
50
40
30th
20th
10
0
52.14%
27.20%
5.56%
5.52%
4.90%
3.13%
1.78%
Gains and losses
compared to 2011
 % p
   6th
   4th
   2
   0
  -2
  -4
  -6
  -8th
-10
-8.92  % p
+1.26  % p
+5.56  % p
-0.28  % p
+1.05  % p
+0.64  % p.p.
+1.36  % p
Allocation of seats in the city council after the split in the CDU parliamentary group in 2018
       
A total of 32 seats

City council

Vechta town hall
Vechta town hall (in the background)

The city ​​council of the city of Vechta consists of 32 council members. For a city with a population between 30,001 and 40,000 inhabitants, the Lower Saxony Municipal Constitutional Law (NKomVG) normally has 38 council members. The city council of Vechta has made use of the possibility of reducing the number of women and councilors to be elected and has reduced the number by a council resolution by six to 32 council members. The 32 councilors are elected by local elections for five years each. The current term of office began on November 1, 2016 and ends on October 31, 2021.

In the local elections in September 2016, the CDU lost three seats in the council and the AfD immediately won two seats. The SPD was able to gain one seat.

In October 2018, after internal party differences in the CDU parliamentary group, four CDU members split off. They founded the new parliamentary group VCD ( Vechta Christian Democrats ). This resulted in the historic loss of the everlasting CDU majority in Vechta city council.

The formation of the new VCD fraction results in the following fraction strengths:

  • CDU: 13 seats
  • SPD + WfV: 10 seats
  • VCD: 4 seats
  • GREEN + FDP: 3 seats
  • AfD: 2 seats

mayor

In the mayoral election on November 3, 2019, Kristian Kater (SPD), who stood for a civic alliance made up of the SPD, FDP, the Green Youth Vechta and the voter community "Wir für Vechta", won the election with 67.5 percent in front of the non-party CDU Candidate Heribert Mählmann (32.5 percent). Kater is replacing Helmut Gels , who won the mayoral election in 2011. Kater is only the second mayor of Vechta who was not provided by the CDU.

List of former mayors of Vechta
  • 1715-1718: Judge Bulsing
  • 1718–1728: Waldeck
  • 1728-1731: Henrich Veltman
  • 1732: Michael Steinfort
  • 1733–1739: Bernd Middendorff
  • 1740: Johann Wilberding
  • 1741–1765: Johann Berend Middendorff
  • 1766–1788: Christian Waldeck
  • 1788–1790: Joseph Morkramer
  • 1791–1793: Christian Waldeck
  • 1794–1796: Anton Nienaber
  • 1797–1799: Christian Waldeck
  • 1800–1834: Johann Casper Vorwald
  • 1835–1863: Bernhard Hoyng
  • 1863–1869: Johann Anton Klövekorn
  • 1869–1882: Max von Böselager
  • 1882–1894: Anton Arck
  • 1894–1898: Eduard Fortmann
  • 1898–1906: Carl Niermann
  • 1906–1931: Carl Berding
  • 1931-1939: Robert Brandis
  • 1939–1945: Georg Quathamer
  • April 19 to November 22, 1945: Georg Gerhardi
  • November 22, 1945 to December 16, 1948: Anton Cromme
  • December 16, 1948 to December 7, 1953: Clemens Matlage
  • December 7, 1953 to October 5, 1986: Georg Möller
  • November 7, 1986 to January 31, 2005: Bernard Kühling
  • February 1, 2005 to October 31, 2011: Uwe Bartels ( SPD )
  • November 1, 2011 to November 3, 2019: Helmut Gels (CDU)

coat of arms

The coat of arms shows a white tower with two oriels with blue roofs, a golden portcullis and spiers on a red background and the head of a bearded man in natural colors.

flag

The colors of the flag are white and red.

Vineyard behind the armory with muscatel grapes donated by the twin town Jászberény

Town twinning

Vechta maintains a city partnership with the following cities:

Culture and sights

theatre

Vechta is a permanent venue for the Lower Saxony North State Theater, which was founded in 1952 and has its headquarters in Wilhelmshaven . The Metropoltheater offers 272 seats.

museum

Museum in the armory

The museum in the Vechta armory is located in a former armory on the grounds of the Vechta Citadel . It was opened as a historical museum on April 25, 1997 after four years of restoration. The permanent exhibition shows presentations on Stone Age, Medieval and Baroque history as well as on the historical penal system and the history of the city on an area of ​​over 1000 square meters.

There is also the district Oythe the Heimatstuben the home club Oythe e. V.

Buildings and sights

The provost church of St. Georg in the city center of Vechta is a late Gothic brick building of the type of a three-aisled Westphalian hall church . Because of its rich furnishings, it was initially one of the most magnificent churches in the region. In the course of history, the building of the church was repeatedly affected by destruction and looting. The current appearance of the church dates from the 18th century. From 2003 to 2007 an extensive renovation was carried out in four phases.

The monastery church of St. Joseph on Franziskanerplatz in Vechta was built by Franciscans in 1727–1731 . In 1812 the monastery was closed and set up as a penal institution. Since 1818 the monastery church has been used as a simultaneous church and as a prison church for women . Because of its excellent acoustics, the church is very popular as a performance venue for concerts. The Church of the Resurrection, a large chapel in the forest cemetery on Welper Strasse, is used exclusively by the Protestant parish (every two weeks also for parish services).

The Roman Catholic parish church of St. Laurentius is located in the Vechta district of Langförden . It is a neo-Romanesque east-facing basilica , which has a cathedral-like appearance due to its west facade with a 46 meter high pair of towers, a large rose window in the gable and three portal arches. The church was built in the years 1910–1912 according to plans by Ludwig Becker .

The Kaponier ( Capponiere ) is a pentagonal fortress building above the Moorbach, which was built in 1705 as an outer works and prison of the former Citadel Vechta . It is considered a landmark of Vechta and, besides the armory, is the only remaining fortress building of the citadel that was razed in 1769 . The brick building is located in the Vechta city center in the square Grosse Strasse, Bahnhofsstrasse, Kolpingstrasse, Neuer Markt and is currently used for regular art exhibitions.

  • Catholic Provost Church of St. Georg

  • Monastery church

  • Neo-Romanesque parish church of St. Laurentius in Langförden

  • The official seat of the Bischöflich Munster official on Bahnhofstrasse

  • City fountain (rear part)

  • City fountain (front part)

  • Great road from the south

  • Former Imperial Post Office on Grosse Strasse

Vechtaer Europaplatz is a centrally located square directly on Grosse Strasse , the main shopping street in downtown Vechta, around one kilometer long. The city fountain, the bronze statue of the jumping horse "Warwick Rex" and the sculpture of the "street sweeper Martin" are located on Europaplatz. The city fountain was built in 1974 and completely renovated in 2011. The model for the fountain system was the Moorbach , which is important for the history of the city of Vechta and runs underground from east to west in this area. The city fountain gushes out of a cobblestone, multi-tiered low cone and flows over a stylized stream to some cascades , over which the water of the fountain apparently disappears into the moor stream at Kaponier. The bronze sculpture of the jumping horse "Warwick Rex", created by the Munich artist Heinrich Faltermeier , has stood on Europaplatz since 1981 . The replica of the famous show jumping horse reminds us that the equestrian town of Vechta is a traditional center of German horse breeding and German equestrian sport . With the exceptional horse "Warwick Rex", the show jumper Alwin Schockemöhle , who lives in Vechta, won a gold medal in the individual evaluation at the 1976 Olympic Games in Montreal . Also on the square is the stone sculpture of the street sweeper Martin, created in 2000 by the artist Karl-Josef Dierkes . It represents the very popular Vechta original Martin Taubenheim, who worked as a street sweeper for the city of Vechta from 1959 until his death in 1984 and conscientiously kept the city clean with a sweeper and broom.

The tallest structure in the city of Vechta is the television tower on Ravensberger Straße with a height of 88 meters.

Moorbach floodplain at high water

Parks, forests and the moor

Immediately to the east of the city center of Vechta there is a forest belt, the Füchteler Wald and the Welper Wald. Both forests are separated by the Vechtaer Moorbach. In front of the Füchteler Forest is the "Immentun", a nature-oriented recreation park. Gut Füchtel is located in the Füchteler Forest, with the St. Thomas College on its edge. A golf course is integrated into the Welper Forest.

The forest landscape merges in an easterly direction into the Great Moor, which separates Vechta from the Diepholz district.

The Citadel Park begins immediately behind the NordWestBahn route . On footpaths and bike paths you can go from this to the wedding forest, where bridal couples, but also silver and gold couples can plant trees. You can leave Vechta westwards through park-like terrain towards Gut Daren ( Bakum municipality ) on (bike) hiking trails.

  • Good Füchtel

  • Park "Immentun"

  • Citadel Park Vechta

Tourist routes

Through the territory of Vechta running scenic routes pit stop route and Lower Saxon Mill Road . The Pickerweg , which is part of the Jakobsweg network , also runs through Vechta . This makes the Pickerweg part of the oldest European cultural route . A section of the western variant of the bridge cycle path Osnabrück – Bremen also crosses Vechta. The inclusion as a location of the Lower Saxony Mill Road could not prevent the Bunter Mühle in Langförden from being dismantled in February 2018. It is to be rebuilt in the Netherlands.

  • Spreda windmill

  • Watermill on the Vechtaer Moorbach

  • Thesings cross. Stop at Pickerweg in Holthausen

Sports

The SC RASTA Vechta is the basketball club in Vechta. It was founded in 1979 by former students of the Antonianum Vechta grammar school , who wanted to continue to actively participate in the sport even after finishing school and working in the basketball club. In April 2013, the club rose to the 1st basketball league , but immediately in the first season as bottom of the table again. In the subsequent final of the playoffs in early May 2013, they were champions of the ProA in the 2012/2013 season. On October 13, 2012, the “ Rasta Dome ”, a multi-purpose hall for 2,000 spectators, was opened in Vechta . In the 2012/2013 season, 90% of Rasta's basketball games were sold out with 2,000 spectators. After the club was promoted to the 1st basketball league, the hall was expanded to 3,200 seats, and since then the occupancy rate has been 100% for every home game. Since the renovation, the hall has also been used as a town hall for various events. The first non-sporting event took place on November 22, 2012 with the North German Business Congress.

Other sports clubs are:

Regular events

"StadtgARTen"
The stubble market in the evening
“Conquering a castle” during the Burgmannen days
Barbara market
  • Ascension procession
  • Schützenfest Hagen: Every Whitsun the St. Hubertus Schützenbruderschaft Hagen e. V. with their solemn festival the round of shooting festivals in the district town.
  • The “StadtgARTen” country party takes place every year at the beginning of June on the square in front of the museum in the armory in the Vechta Citadel.
  • Shooting festival of the Vechta Citizens' Rifle Club : At the annual festival in June over three days, a new shooting king is shot from among the more than 1000 shooters of the club on Saturday evening at 8 p.m. on Europaplatz.
  • Shooting Festival Stoppelmarkt: Organized by the shooting club Stoppelmarkt e. V.
  • Public opera performance in the inner courtyard of the prison for women: two days each in July
  • Stoppelmarkt : In Vechta every year around August 15, the well-known in northern Germany stubble market is held, a folk festival first mentioned in 1298 with currently over 800,000 visitors.
  • International motorcycle dirt track race on a 535 m long dirt track (every year on the first or second weekend in September in the Reiterwaldstadion Vechta) with the World Long Track World Championship Grand Prix of Germany
  • Schützenfest Oythe ("Im Kühl"), always on the first weekend in September .
  • Vechtaer Burgmannen-Tage: Every last weekend of September in the citadel.
  • Thomas market on the last weekend in October .
  • Barbaramarkt at the museum in the armory on the weekend of the 1st Advent
  • Advent concert on the 1st of Advent (since 1981). Organizer: trombone choir and church choir of the Protestant parish, instrumental groups; Vechta monastery church.

Economy and Infrastructure

The Oldenburger Münsterland region is characterized by a high density of pig and poultry farms . As a result, the feed, stable equipment and veterinary pharmaceutical industries settled in Vechta. In Vechta, peat is processed and clay is burned into bricks. Crude oil is produced at several locations in the city. The plastics-producing industry has also discovered the Vechta location for itself. Since Vechta is a district capital and university town and has three grammar schools, there is a high demand for administrative and educational activities.

Vechta is one of the most traditional prisons locations in Germany. As early as the middle of the 17th century, today's district town has developed into the largest correctional facility in the Oldenburger Münsterland. The central prison for women in Lower Saxony is located in Vechta in the former Franciscan monastery . Vechta also has a prison for men, built in 1904, in which young offenders are incarcerated who were not older than 25 when they were convicted, as well as a branch of the prison for women on the citadel grounds. The house for open execution for men in Achim and the house for open execution and for outdoor prisoners in Delmenhorst are organizationally assigned to the Vechta prison . The youth detention centers in Verden , Nienburg / Weser , Emden and Neustadt am Rübenberge are also subordinate to the Vechta JVA.

The Oldenburger Münsterland is an up-and-coming part of the country with one of the lowest unemployment rates (approx. 4%) and the highest birth rate (approx. 1.6 children per woman) with relatively evenly distributed prosperity. Between 2010 and 2012, the cinema center at the ZOB and the new underground car park at St. Marienhospital were built. The third major project, the West Relief Road, was completed in 2015.

traffic

Motor vehicle traffic

Diepholzer Straße (B 69) south of Vechta shortly before the start of the bypass road

Vechta has three junctions ( Vechta-West / Bakum, Cloppenburg , Vechta-Nord / Ahlhorn-Süd) directly on the A 1 federal motorway ( Hansalinie , European route E 37 ) between Bremen and Osnabrück and is bypassed by the B 69 federal road between Oldenburg and Diepholz , from where the B 214 leads towards Nienburg / Hannover and Minden (Westf.).

Vechta's main connecting roads are the B 69, which leads around the city as a bypass road and joins the north bypass in the north as a city bypass and then connects the Calveslage and Langförden districts with the city center and Schneiderkrug (B72), the L 843 (connection to BAB 1 ) and the L 881 towards Goldenstedt / Bremen or towards Visbek. The L 846 between Lohne and Vechta is the busiest road in Lower Saxony. The major cities of Oldenburg (Oldenburg), Bremen and Osnabrück are each about 65 kilometers away on the motorway.

Increasing inner-city traffic arose in the last decades of the 20th century two problems that had to be solved: through traffic had to be kept out of the center of Vechta, and rail traffic had to be separated from motor vehicle and bicycle traffic on the outskirts of the city.

The first goal is to relocate federal highway 69 through the construction of a bypass road, which began in 1998, and to connect the roads to Visbek and Goldenstedt to the new B 69. The bypass road consists of the first construction phase, completed in 2004, of the B 69, which runs west around the city, and the north bypass state road L 881 , which was completed in June 2010. The west bypass road leads from Diepholzer Strasse to Oldenburger Strasse south-west-northwest past the city area ( B 69). From the junction Oldenburger Straße the north bypass is connected, which bypasses the city area north-northeast and ends on the Oyther Berg in Telbrake as a connection to Goldenstedt / Twistringen / Bremen.

To achieve the second goal, the most important inner-city road construction project (in addition to the construction of the bridge for pedestrians and cyclists over the NordWestBahn tracks at the train station), the "Vechta-West relief road", was built from February 2012 to July 2015 in Vechta-Falkenrott . The project comprised the replacement of two traffic light crossings with roundabouts and the replacement of the intermediate level crossing with an underpass in trough construction under the Delmenhorst – Hesepe railway line . The underpass was officially opened on July 11, 2015, six months earlier than planned.

In 2011, all of the traffic signs in Vechta were replaced and the new traffic guidance system “City Ring” was introduced. All road users entering the city are guided around the city center on a (signposted) ring road. Only on the city ring does the road user receive precise information such as B. "Train station" or "Hospital". In the future, the city administration is also planning to optimize the city ring by renewing traffic lights or replacing them with roundabouts.

Bicycle traffic

Bike station at Vechta train station

One of the concerns of the town planners in Vechta is the separation of bicycle traffic from motor vehicle traffic, also in the urban core of the city, in connection with the possibility that pedestrians and cyclists are spared from locking barriers near the train station. The bridge over the railway tracks at the train station, inaugurated on May 25, 2018, serves both purposes.

In 2016, the General German Bicycle Club (ADFC) subjected many cities in Germany to a "bicycle climate test". The city of Vechta achieved a school grade of 3.4. In the class of cities with less than 50,000 inhabitants, Vechta came in 84th nationwide (out of 364 participating cities). The good accessibility of the city center, the possibility of making rapid progress, the opening of one-way streets for cyclists in the opposite direction and the winter service on cycle paths were praised. The poor supply of rental bicycles, insufficient checks of parking offenders on cycle paths and the inadequate ability to take bicycles on public transport were criticized. The strikingly high number of bicycle thefts in the national average appears to be particularly problematic.

In October 2019 the "mobility station" was opened at Vechta train station. This includes a two-storey building in which bicycles can be parked (a bicycle parking garage). The building can be reached at the same level from the Nordwestbahn, from the street and from the station bridge. It also houses a bicycle shop, a workshop and a washing facility for two-wheelers.

  • Bridge for pedestrians, cyclists and wheelchair users at the train station, taken from the Citadel Park

  • Illuminated and illuminated bridge at Vechta train station

  • NordWestBahn train stopping at Vechta station (direction Osnabrück)

  • View in north direction onto the platforms of Vechta station from the station bridge

  • Remembrance of the Ahlhorn – Vechta railway at the former Calveslage station

Rail transport

View of the newly designed Vechta train station district

The NordWestBahn carries out rail traffic . It stops at the two stations in the city, Vechta and Vechta-Stoppelmarkt (the latter only during major events) on the Delmenhorst – Hesepe railway line . The trains run from Vechta every hour as RB 58 to Osnabrück and Bremen . The tracks in the industrial area Vechta-West and in the district of Langförden were dismantled after the cessation of freight traffic in 2000. There used to be rail connections from Vechta to Ahlhorn and Cloppenburg .

Public transport

The bus in district and town of Vechta provides since 2007 : Verkehrsgemeinschaft district of Vechta (VGV short) , certainly a composite of five bus companies in the district. Since the VGV was founded, many stops have been renewed or completely rebuilt and a uniform zone tariff has been introduced. There are several small bus stops in the city center as well as the central bus station (ZOB) and the central city bus stop Burgstraße / Altes Finanzamt at Vechta train station .

  • StadtBus Vechta - The city bus was started on February 1st, 2008 as a pilot project. The system, which now consists of four bus lines (up to May 2008 three lines), is operated by the VGV bus company Wilmering GmbH & Co. KG from Vechta. In July 2012 it was decided that the city bus would continue to be maintained and further subsidized by the city. The city bus serves over 50 stops in the city.
  • Regional bus district Vechta - The VGV serves almost 200 stops in the district Vechta and the neighboring districts of Cloppenburg, Oldenburg and Osnabrück with the regional buses. The line network consists largely of previously existing school bus lines, which were converted to public transport when the VGV was founded in 2007.
  • Moobil + - Since October 31, 2013, 14 minibuses have been operating in the entire district, connecting all municipalities. The system is demand-oriented, i.e. In other words, there are fixed stops and those that can only be reached upon request by phone or via the Internet.

Air traffic

The nearest international airports are Bremen (70 kilometers) and Münster / Osnabrück (90 kilometers). There is also a commercial airfield in Damme .

Resident companies and institutions

The headquarters of several major international companies are located in Vechta. In addition to the Olfry brickworks , whose chimney is the tallest structure in Vechta, the world's largest stable supplier Big Dutchman is also based (in the Vechta district of Calveslage). The construction machinery manufacturer Atlas , the pipe manufacturer Ostendorf Kunststoffe and the computer peripheral manufacturer Intenso also operate from Vechta. In addition, the veterinary pharmaceutical drug factory bela-pharm, the biogas plant producer EnviTec Biogas , the mill builder Wolking and the peat plant Gramoflor have locations in Vechta.

In addition, the headquarters of the private Alte Oldenburger Krankenversicherung AG is located in Vechta .

  • Olfry brick factory

  • Big Dutchman

  • Gramoflor

  • Old Oldenburg

  • Ostendorf plastics

  • Pro-Pac Ostendorf Plastic thermoforming films and packaging

Public facilities

Vechta has a long tradition as an administrative location and is now an administrative center. In addition to the city administration and the district administration of the Vechta district, there are a number of other authorities and other bodies under public law in the city, such as the Vechta police commissioner, the Vechta tax office, the Vechta district court , the Vechta employment agency, the Vechta land registry office and the Germans Pension insurance is located in Oldenburg-Bremen.

Vechta has a penal institution for men, a penal institution for women and a youth detention center.

media

The Oldenburgische Volkszeitung appears in Vechta . The daily newspaper is the market leader in the southern Oldenburger Münsterland. Vechta is also part of the core circulation area of ​​the daily newspaper Nordwest-Zeitung (NWZ).

In the district of Langförden there is Geest-Verlag , a small book publisher that publishes poetry , short stories , non-fiction books , anthologies , children's books and novels . Around 15 books appear every year in small editions that do not require author grants.

education

As the district town of the Vechta district , the city has an extensive range of educational opportunities, with almost all common types of schools represented. Basic care is provided by eight elementary schools , three secondary schools and two secondary schools , which are spread across the city. The city has three general education grammar schools : The grammar school Antonianum Vechta (GAV) is state sponsored, there are also two other private grammar schools with the St. Thomas the Dominican College (KST) and the Liebfrauenschule Vechta (ULF) .

The University of Vechta with a focus on education , teacher training and social services ( social work , gerontology , service management) is attended by around 5300 students (winter semester 2015/2016). Furthermore, young people can train at the private University of Economics and Technology (PHWT) .

The Vechta District Craftsmen's Association operates a vocational training center. An atelier with an integrated art and painting school enables artistic training for children, young people and adults.

health

The Catholic St. Marienhospital in Vechta was founded in 1851. It was the first hospital in the Oldenburger Münsterland.

People and personalities

Honorary citizen

Sons and daughters

Personalities who have worked in this city

literature

  • Franz Hellbernd: The reconstruction of the city of Vechta 300 years ago. In: Yearbook for the Oldenburger Münsterland 1985. Vechta 1984. pp. 39–54.

Web links

Commons : Vechta  - collection of images, videos and audio files
Wikisource: Vechta in the Topographia Westphaliae (Mathäus Merian)  - sources and full texts
Wikivoyage: Vechta  - travel guide

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ State Office for Statistics Lower Saxony, LSN-Online regional database, Table 12411: Update of the population, as of December 31, 2019  ( help ).
  2. ^ Ordinance on the regional spatial planning program , accessed on 23 September 2011.
  3. ↑ Metropolitan Region Bremen / Oldenburg in the northwest ( memento of November 2, 2011 in the Internet Archive ), accessed on September 23, 2011.
  4. ^ Vechta waterworks: Drinking water for Vechta
  5. ↑ Werner Klohn: Urban geography Vechta and agriculture in Südoldenburg (PDF; 4.29 MB).
  6. ↑ a b c City of Vechta: The Vechta Castle. From its beginnings to its demolition . 2005 ( Memento from May 25, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
  7. ^ History in words and pictures ( Memento from May 26, 2011 in the Internet Archive ), accessed on September 24, 2011.
  8. ↑ Vechta: Violent wrangling at the Moor Pass ( memento from August 3, 2012 in the web archive archive.today ), accessed on September 24, 2011.
  9. ^ Friederich Matthias Driver: Description and history of the former county, now the office of Vechte in the Niederstift Münster . Publishing house Peter Waldeck. Münster 1803, p. 68f. ( online . PDF; 61.4 MB).
  10. ↑ Karl Willoh: The rebuilding of the city after the fire Vechta 1684 . In: Yearbook for the history of the Duchy of Oldenburg . Vol. 7. 1898, pp. 93–146 ( online )
  11. ^ Friederich Matthias Driver: Description and history of the former county, now the office of Vechte in the Niederstift Münster . Publishing house Peter Waldeck. Münster 1803, p. 82 ( online . PDF; 61.4 MB)
  12. ↑ P. Willoh: The city of Vechta in the Seven Years' War . In: Yearbook for the history of the Duchy of Oldenburg . Volume 6. 1897, p. 113 ( online )
  13. ↑ Vechta - Memorial Stone Jewish Synagogue , accessed on July 30, 2018.
  14. ↑ Your name is alive. Stumbling blocks in Vechta. City of Vechta, 2011, accessed on November 11, 2019 .
  15. ↑ Franz Hellbernd: Münsterländische castles and noble houses , 1963 ( Memento of 19 April 2014 Internet Archive )
  16. ↑ medieval-zentrum.eu
  17. ↑ Wolfgang Benz , Barbara Distel (ed.): The place of terror . History of the National Socialist Concentration Camps. Volume 2: Early camp, Dachau, Emsland camp. CH Beck, Munich 2005, ISBN 3-406-52962-3 , pp. 212-215.
  18. ^ Museum in the Armory: Behind Locks and Bars ( Memento from June 1, 2012 in the Internet Archive )
  19. ↑ Prison for women in Vechta: The Falkenrott open department of the prison for women in Vechta
  20. ↑ a b c 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 / Mainz 1983, ISBN 3-17-003263-1 , p. 276 .
  21. ↑ a b RegIS Online: Data & Facts - Vechta District - Population , accessed on September 22, 2011.
  22. ↑ Deutschlandradio: Russians on the flat country
  23. ↑ Doctorate, Michael Rademacher, University of Osnabrück.
  24. ↑ Numbers and data on Vechta.de ( Memento from May 24, 2010 in the Internet Archive )
  25. ↑ Incorporation of the former municipality of Langförden.
  26. ^ Alemannia Judaica: Vechta (district town, district of Vechta, Lower Saxony) with Goldenstedt and Lohne (district of Vechta) Jewish history / synagogue
  27. ↑ Website of the communal data processing in Oldenburg , accessed on November 27, 2016
  28. ↑ Bylaws on the number of councilors for the city of Vechta to be elected , accessed on January 30, 2017.
  29. ↑ Kater is the new mayor of Vechta. In: NDR.de. November 3, 2019, accessed November 3, 2019 .
  30. ^ City of Vechta: Directory of mayors since 1715 ( memento of May 26, 2011 in the Internet Archive ), accessed on February 19, 2012.
  31. ↑ a b Main Statute of the City of Vechta , accessed on September 18, 2011.
  32. ↑ Landesbühne - Theater für Vechta , accessed on September 20, 2011.
  33. ↑ https://www.museum-vechta.de/
  34. ^ Parish of St. Mariä Himmelfahrt - St. Georg ( memento from September 30, 2011 in the Internet Archive ), accessed on September 21, 2011.
  35. ↑ https://www.nordkreis-vechta.de/sehenswuerdigungen-9/vechta/113-vechtapropsteikirche.html
  36. ^ Vechta Northern District: Churches and Chapels - Klosterkirche , accessed on April 3, 2012.
  37. ^ Vechta Northern District: Sights - Museums & Exhibitions , accessed on September 25, 2011.
  38. ↑ “Wasser marsch!” For fountains on Europaplatz , accessed on October 5, 2011.
  39. ↑ Map of the pit stop route ( Memento from October 28, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
  40. ↑ Vechta stations on the pit stop route
  41. ↑ Mühlenstrasse working group in the Mühlenvereinigung Niedersachsen-Bremen e. V .: Borgerdings Mühle Vechta / Spreda
  42. ↑ Mühlenstrasse working group in the Mühlenvereinigung Niedersachsen-Bremen e. V .: Vechta watermill
  43. ↑ Map of the Way of St. James http://www.via-regia.org/kulturstrasse/karte.php
  44. ↑ Mühlenstraße working group in the Mühlenvereinigung Niedersachsen - Bremen e. V .: Bunten-Mühle Langförden
  45. ↑ Medienwerkstatt Mühlacker Verlagsgesellschaft mbH: Bunten Mühle in Vechta
  46. ↑ otterdvd film: The Langförden Colorful WindMill in Vechta. . February 19, 2018. 6:55 minutes (Dutch)
  47. ↑ otterdvd film: Dismantling the Langförden colorful windmill in Vechta. . February 24, 2018. 19:08 minutes (Dutch)
  48. ↑ otterdvd film: Langfördener WindMühle Duitsland onttakeld No 2 . March 2, 2018. 17:12 minutes (Dutch). The translation “kleurrijke molen” in the Dutch text is wrong, as “Bunten” refers to the family name of the former miller and baker and not to the adjective “bunt”.
  49. ↑ SC Rasta Vechta becomes champion in the 2012/2013 season of ProA ( Memento from November 10, 2013 in the Internet Archive )
  50. ↑ The new RASTA-DOME ( Memento from November 21, 2012 in the Internet Archive ), accessed on December 2, 2012.
  51. ^ Vechta prison: The history of the Vechta prison
  52. ↑ Prison for women in Vechta: History of the prison for women in Vechta
  53. ↑ Stefan Hirsch: uniVista in jail . uniVista. Campus magazine Vechta . October 11, 2010.
  54. ↑ RegIS Online: Facts & figures - District of Vechta - Labor market , accessed on 22. September 2011.
  55. ↑ Free travel from July 11th ( Memento from June 17th, 2015 in the web archive archive.today )
  56. ^ City of Vechta: The bridge between the park and the city center is opened . May 24, 2018, accessed June 3, 2018
  57. ^ ADFC: ADFC-Fahrradklima-Text 2016. Evaluation Vechta
  58. ^ Peter Linkert: Service In Vechta: A washing facility for bicycles . nwzonline.de. October 22, 2019
  59. ↑ About moobil + ( Memento of October 4, 2013 in the Internet Archive ), accessed on November 3, 2013.
  60. ↑ 100th anniversary ( memento of October 15, 2007 in the Internet Archive ). Entrepreneur magazine 1–2 / 2007.
  61. ↑ Prisons in Lower Saxony ( Memento from July 19, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
  62. ^ Geest-Verlag - Der Verlag ( Memento from September 25, 2011 in the Internet Archive ), accessed on September 23, 2011.
  63. ↑ Numbers and data on the university , accessed on November 30, 2016
  64. ↑ St. Marienhospital - About Us - History , accessed on May 27, 2014.