Rethen

The formally independent municipality Rethen is part of the municipality Vordorf in North Germany. First documented in 1301, it now has a population of about 1200. 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 halfway between Braunschweig and Gifhorn.

Geography

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 3 km 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.

Neighbourhood

* distance from downtown

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%.

Voluntary association

Following voluntary associations and institutions are situated in Rethen:
* Skittle Clubs: founded 1928 (“Morgenstern – Morning star) and 1954 (“Gemütlichkeit”) the members of both Skittle Clubs: meeting regularly every week.
* TSV Rethen: founded 1947 the club had about 637 member in the year 2000. The club offers Volleyball, Tennis, Gymnastics, Dance and Tai Chi Chuan. The football department had been outsourced in 2006.
* FSV Adenbüttel Rethen: founded on the 29. April 2006 as a merger of the football departments of TSV Rethen and MTV Adenbüttel.
* Schützenverein: founded 1962 the Schützenverein had about 637 member in the year 2000. The club owns an air gun – shooting range and organises the yearly Schützenfest
* Youth Club Rethen: founded 1973 is the youth club Rethen the oldest self governing youth club in Northern Germany. In 1998 the club had more than 90 members.
* Choir „Polyhymnia“: founded 1895

ightseeing

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. [ [http://www.zeitwanderer.de/mythos_und_logos/regionalgeschichte/dolmen/rethen.html The Megalithic tomb of Rethen] (German)]

Economy and infrastructure

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

Public facilities

Kindergarten: In the year 1992 a Kindergarten was establishes opposite to the sports field. During the antecedent centuries children from Rethen visited the Kindergartens in the surrounding villages and cities. Operator of the Kindergarten is the “Kindergarten Vordorf e. V.“. The Kindergarten offers places for up to 50 children in two age-mixed groups.

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.

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

External links

* [http://www.papenteich.de/ Papenteich Homepage] de

Sources