Madness
| Basic data | |
|---|---|
| formerly Pruss. Province : | Hanover |
| former administrative district : | Osnabrück |
| former district : | Aschendorf-Hümmling |
| Geographic location : | 52 ° 52 ′ N , 7 ° 26 ′ E |
| Height : | 37 m above sea level NN |
| Area : | 28.95 km² |
| Residents : | 998 (1939) |
| Population density : | 35 inhabitants per km² |
Wahn is a deserted settlement and until April 1, 1941 was a municipality in what was then the district of Aschendorf-Hümmling . The settlement was then cleared in order to expand the Krupp shooting range to Meppen. All buildings were demolished and the residents were relocated to neighboring communities.
geography
The Wahn desert is about halfway between Sögel and Lathen on today's state road 53 at the confluence of the main road from Renkenberge . The area of the former municipality is now divided into the municipalities of Lathen, Sögel, Renkenberge and Werpeloh .
history
Around 1000 Wahn was named "Walinoon" in the Corvey register, from which the name of the settlement is derived from a person name, ie the settlement of the Wali. In 1749 the Antoniuskirche was built according to plans by Johann Conrad Schlaun . The place received its first solid road from Lathen to Sögel in 1868. Field stones were used as paving stones. The connection to the railway network with the opening of the Hümmlinger Kreisbahn took place in 1898.
On September 5, 1877 in Meppen by the company Krupp of shooting Meppen opened, were tested on the guns. In 1917 a shell accidentally hit the Wahner rectory, smashed through the roof and exploded in a filing cabinet, leading to the plan to expand the Meppen shooting range and to dissolve the village of Wahn. A commission, to which the local pastor Barenkamp belonged, negotiated with the authorities about expropriation and compensation of the villagers. However, with the end of the First World War , the plans were not implemented.
The Antonius Church was enlarged in the 1920s. It was now 37 meters long and offered 652 seats. After the church tower was completed in 1931, the Wahner church was given the nickname "Dom des Hümmlings".
In 1936 Adolf Hitler visited the shooting range at Wahn and subsequently initiated a law published in the Reichsgesetzblatt that ordered the dissolution of the community of Wahn. At that time, Wahn was one of the largest villages in the Emsland. In addition to four restaurants and a train station, there was a dairy and a sawmill in the village . In 1941, Wahn was destroyed for the expansion of the Krupp shooting range (today WTD 91), a test site for weapons and ammunition. A total of 1,007 residents of Wahn were resettled and found a new home in 67 locations. Many Wahners were resettled in Rastdorf , others in the municipality of Lathen in the newly created district of Wahn . Some families moved to Silesia and only a few years later lost their homes a second time. In 1942 a farewell service was held in the Antonius Church, attended by around 800 villagers. The church was then de-dedicated and demolished a short time later.
Population development
| year | Residents |
|---|---|
| 1821 | 579 |
| 1848 | 638 |
| 1871 | 649 |
| 1885 | 602 |
| 1905 | 701 |
| 1925 | 919 |
| 1939 | 998 |
| 1941 | 1.007 |
Madness as a place of warning and remembrance
The history of the former Hümmling community Wahn between Sögel and Lathen is to be worked up and structures of the village can be experienced again. This means that the foundation walls of the church should be completely exposed in 2007. The foundations of the Wahner Church were exposed, re-edged and redesigned, revealing the steps to the high altar , the place of the baptismal font and a complete mosaic . A start was made on digging up old roads over a length of around 1.8 kilometers. Flinte are to mark farms along these paths and information boards provide information about the former owners and their whereabouts.
The mass for the Wahner Treffen, which took place on June 17, 2007, was held for the first time in the “new” church.
"It's not about to market the site and its history touristy, but to get delusions as a warning for the future and to remember the fate of the former residents." ( Hermann Bröring , former district administrator of the district of Emsland )
Commemoration
Every year, on the 3rd Sunday in June, former residents (up to 150/200 people) of Wahn meet in their former home for a service at the Wahner Friedhof . This is followed by a procession to the small chapel of grace, after which the visitors gather in the town center near their former church. This tradition has lasted for over 60 years.
Today there is a memorial stone and a bronze plaque on the site of the former village center. An information board with texts and pictures reminds us of the Antonius Church (also known as the “Wahner Dom”), once one of the largest churches in Northwest Germany.
In the Heimathof in Sögel in the so-called Wahnzimmer there is an exhibition about the forcibly resettled community of Wahn.
gallery
Info pavilion
Exposed road through delusion
One of many markings from Wahner Hofstellen
Foundation walls of St. Antonius Church
Cemetery madness
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ The data and facts are taken from the article Search for the disappeared village (Karsten Krogmann: Search for the disappeared village. 70 years ago, on the orders of Adolf Hitler, the 1000-inhabitant town of Wahn was erased , in: Nordwest-Zeitung from 18. January 2012, p. 11).
- ↑ Info on wahn-use-olde-heimat.de