Rethen
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| Rethen | |
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| Country | Germany |
| State | Lower Saxony |
| District | Gifhorn |
| Population | 1,222 (2000) |
| Area | 7.37 km² |
| Population density | 165 /km² |
| Elevation | 83 m |
| Coordinates | 52°22′ N 10°28′ E |
| Postal code | 38533 |
| Area code | 05304 |
| Licence plate code | GF |
| Mayor | Heinrich Hintze (CDU) |
| Website | Vordorf.de |
The formally independent municipality Rethen is part of the municipality Vordorf in North Germany. Today, the 1301 for the first time documentary mentioned place, has about 1200 inhabitants. Rethen is part of the Samtgemeinde Papenteich at the administrative district of Gifhorn (Lower Saxony). Together with the villages Vordorf and Eickhorst it forms the municipality Vordorf which is situated half a way between Braunschweig and Gifhorn.
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[edit] Geography
[edit] Geographical position
Rethen is situated north of Braunschweig, between the Harz and the Lüneburg Heath. However, administrative it belongs to the [[district of Gifhorn. The village is part of the municipality Vordorf and is around 3km northeast of the central village Vordorf. Rethen is around 4 km to the west to the German highway 4 (near Meine) and around 7 km to the north of the interchange Brunswick North (A2 /A391). Other bigger towns nearby are: Wolfsburg, Salzgitter, Wolfenbüttel, Gifhorn, Peine and Celle.
[edit] Neighbourhood
* distance till downtown
| City of Gifhorn (16 km) | ||||
| Municipality Rötgesbüttel (8 km) | ||||
| Municipality Adenbüttel (2 km) |  |
Municipality Meine (4 km) | City of Wolfsburg (22 km) | |
| Municipality Schwülper (5 km) | Eickhorst (2 km) | Vordorf (4 km) | ||
| City of Braunschweig (14 km) |
[edit] Geologie
Rethen is located centrally on the sandy-clayey plateau of Papenteich. The ground moraine originated from the deposition of rubble and stone of the defrosting glacier at the end of the last Ice age about 12,000 years ago. Out of this a fertile Loess developed. The scenery around Rethen shows only extremely low height differences. A specialty in the Rethen area and the neighbour areas of Meine and Vordorf sedimentary rock of marl penetrating the surface and increasing the farmland quality.
[edit] Population
| Year | Inhabitants | Houses | Year | Inhabitants | Houses | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1821 | 328 | 37 | 1950 | 848 | 91 | |
| 1848 | 365 | 55 | 1961 | 687 | 119 | |
| 1890 | 386 | 75 | 1970 | 725 | 134 | |
| 1900 | 420 | unknown | 1980 | 843 | unknown | |
| 1905 | 473 | unknown | 1990 | 879 | unknown | |
| 1925 | 499 | 89 | 2000 | 1222 | ~310 | |
| 1939 | 503 | unknown |
It isn’t possible to find any exactly population figures for the time before the year 1821. The only reliable dates are sporadic documents, mentioning the number of different farms and buildings in Rethen. In 1489 a document listed 3 Hufner (greater farms), 4 smallholdings and 13 Kötner (small Prussian house owner). This wasn’t changing much until next notification in 1773 with 6 greater farms, 14 Kötner and 4 Brinksitzer (smallest farms). A greater enlargement of the village started not earlier than in the end of 18th century.As a result of the sparsely notes, scientist believe that between 200 and 250 people were living in the village during the middle ages.
The next enlargement was triggered by refugees of the World War II. Many of them removed later further to the west. This was mainly because of the nonexistent possibilities of housing space within the village. The latest enlargement started during suburbanization in the 1990s, activated by new preparations of land for building and the vicinity to several larger cities and Highways. Model calculations shows an further growth of population figures during next decades based on the facts named above. [1]
[edit] History
[edit] Prehistory
The first signs of settlement in the boundary of Rethen are going back more than 5000 years. In 1995 Megalithic tomb remains were found near the village. The settlement, belonging to the tomb, is assumed within 3 km.
[edit] Abandoned villages
In the vicinity of Rethen several abandoned villages were assumed or already found. Most of them are out of Rethens boundary nowadays. All villages has been deserted between 13th and 16th century.
- Algesbüttel was mentioned first time in the year 1022. The place had around 7 farmes and one church. The last documentary mentioning was in 1480 as a fiefdom of Lüneburg.
- Ossenrode (Asenroth) was mentioned first time in the year 1112. The place had around 4 farms and was situated in the north-east of Rethen. Archaeological records belongs to the 12th and 14th century.
- Zinsrode (Sinesrode) was situated between Rethen and Vordorf. The place is located but not ascertained. At the surface area several arranged stones can be seen. The last documentary mentioning was in the end of 15th century.
- Wendenbüttel (Wendenbutle) was mentioned first time in the year 1007 and was situated in the south of Rethen. Archaeological records belongs to the 10th and 14th century.
Other abandoned villages around Rethen are: Dudanroth (1000 n.Chr), Bromhorst (1007 n.Chr.) and Arnsbüttel (never documentary mentioned).
[edit] Founding of Rethen
The history of places names is, besides documents, the most important indicator to explore the exact time of founding. In older research papers, Rethen (Rethene, Rethen, Rethne, Reten, Rethenne) was deduced from Rietheim. Within this word, Riet means a swampy area. The so called –heim is mostly linked to some of the earliest settlements, partly going back up to the Cherusci. But no continued settlement is proved about that long time.
In the latest Scientific published papers (1994), Rethen is considered as a frankish founding, related to the founding of Meine. It is believed, that the Franks founded several settlements while they subdued the Saxons in 8th century. In that century, an important road crossed the, in that time existing, Northforest in east-west direction, supposable in the vicinity of Rethen and Meine. A number of examples were already explored, where several Frankish settlements where assigned to one central village. However, this relation continued just short time. Already in 11th century, the border between the Bishopric of Halberstadt and the Bishopric of Hildesheim divided both villages. Several tryouts of the different Bishops of Hildesheim to take over the Rethen area failed. The border existed for around 500 years, up to the Protestant Reformation.
The first documentary mentioning of Rethen was in the year 1301 by the name Rethene. The document evidence a sale of estate in Rethen. Knight Balduin von Wenden sold his estates in Rethen to the Monastery St. Crucis in Braunschweig. In this era, Rethen was an only agricultural village.
[edit] Culture and sightseeing
[edit] Language
Linguistically Rethen belongs to the German language area around Hannover. However, a part of the population still use German combined with phrases from the old Brunswick and the Papenteich Low Saxon. In former times the everyday speech of Rethen was an Eastphalian Papenteich dialect, whereas the speech in school and church was Standard German.
With the changes of the 20th century the Low Saxon dialect disappeared more and more. After World War II it was displaced completely by standard German.
[edit] Religion
| Denomination | People | Percentage |
|---|---|---|
| Protestantism/Lutheranism | 740 | 61 % |
| Roman Catholicism | 114 | 9 % |
| Atheism and others | rest | 30 % |
Since Protestant Reformation people in Rethen were part of the Lutheranism church and highly affected by the ecclesiastical life.
First changes were noted in the early 19th century. Until then 350 people visited the worship in average. This number reduced during the next decades (1938: 100people) to the nowadays level of 70 (1990s). Likewise the percentage of protestant interest in the whole population decreased from 91 % to 61 %.
[edit] Sightseeing
[edit] Megalithic tomb
In 1995, during farming activities , a Megalithic tomb (Dolmen) was found within the Rethen district (near the Maaßel forest). Six (rather small) stones form an arrangement, straightened in east-west direction. Based on investigations of the local archaeological department, the tomb is dated on 3,000 B.C. It is assumed, that the arrangement was a collective grave, build as a kind of cottage. The Neolithic settlement belonging to the grave is supposed in a vicinity of about 3 km.
The grave is probably a disturbed arrangement, which was coverer earlier with wood or stones. Some bigger stones as well as the cover were probably removed in former times and used, e.g., for the building of a house. The arrangement was made accessible and handed over to the public in 1996. The Rethen Dolmen was the first known Megalithic tomb in the district of Gifhorn.
[edit] Economy and infrastructure
[edit] Infrastructure
- Road network: The nowadays road network was constructed in the second half of the 19th century. The streets names was established in 1976. Previously the houses were just numbered.
- Freah water/sewage: Although Rethen ever has more than enough clear groundwater, the village was attached to the public water supply network in 1963. In 1977 Rethen was connected to the sewage system as well.
- Energie: The electric power supply was installed in 1916.
- natural gas The grid gas supply was installed in 1996
[edit] Politics
In it’s early times Rethen belongs to area of the Welf dynasty, but changed a lot between the House of Brunswick and the House of Lüneburg. With the construction of the Gifhorn District in 1549, Rethen belongs to the Gografschaft Rötgesbüttel. Up to 1972 Gifhorn belongs to the region of Lüneburg (formally principality Lüneburg). After the district reform of 1972, Gifhorn was affiliated to the region of Braunschweig. In the short era of the Kingdom of Westphalia it belongs to the Canton Rötgesbüttel and with that to the Département Oker.
In 1970 Rethen and 14 other municipalities formed the Samtgemeinde Papenteich with the administrative centre in Meine. In this time Rethen was still an independent municipality. The union with Vordorf and Eickhorst followed under the new name “Gemeinde Vordorf” (Municipality Vordorf) with the election of the first municipality council at June 28, 1974.
[edit] Further reading
- Falk, Michael (2001), Geschichtliches aus Rethen – Namen, Zahlen und Daten, Dokumente und Fotos; Adenbüttel 2001
- Der Landkreis Gifhorn. Hrsg. von Niedersächsischen Landesverwaltungsamt. Bremen 1972. (Die Landkreise in Gifhorn, Bd. 26. ISBN 3-87172-327-4.)
- Klose, Heinz (1983) Geschichtliches aus dem Papenteich; Meine 1983; ISBN 3-87040-029-3.
- Meibeyer, Wolfgang (2004) Siedlungskundliches über den Papenteich; Schriftreihe des Landkreises Gifhorn; Gifhorn 2004; ISBN 3-929632-70-5
[edit] External links
[edit] Sources
