Rheda-Wiedenbrück
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Rheda-Wiedenbrück (; Westphalian: ''Raie-Wienbrügge'') is a city in the district of Gütersloh, in
North Rhine-Westphalia North Rhine-Westphalia or North-Rhine/Westphalia, commonly shortened to NRW, is a States of Germany, state () in Old states of Germany, Western Germany. With more than 18 million inhabitants, it is the List of German states by population, most ...
,
Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...
.


Geography

The twin community lies within the valley of the river Ems in the
Westphalian Lowland The Westphalian Lowland, also known as the Westphalian Basin is a flat landscape that mainly lies within the German region of Westphalia, although small areas also fall within North Rhine (in the extreme southwest) and in Lower Saxony (on the no ...
south of the
Teutoburg Forest The Teutoburg Forest ( ; ) is a range of low, forested hills in the German states of Lower Saxony and North Rhine-Westphalia. Until the 17th century, the official name of the hill ridge was Osning. It was first renamed the ''Teutoburg Forest'' ...
, which is about 30 km away. The formerly independent towns of Rheda and Wiedenbrück are separated by the Federal Highway 2 which does not, however, form the historic border between the two districts. The Ems river runs through the city. The nearest major cities are
Gütersloh Gütersloh () is a town in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, in the region of Ostwestfalen-Lippe and the administrative region of Detmold (administrative region), Detmold. Gütersloh is the administrative centre for a Gütersloh (distric ...
(about 11 km),
Bielefeld Bielefeld () is a city in the Ostwestfalen-Lippe Region in the north-east of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. With a population of 341,755, it is also the most populous city in the administrative region () of Detmold (region), Detmold and the L ...
and
Paderborn Paderborn (; Westphalian language, Westphalian: ''Patterbuorn'', also ''Paterboärn'') is a city in eastern North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, capital of the Paderborn (district), Paderborn district. The name of the city derives from the river Pade ...
around 35 km away, and
Hamm Hamm may refer to: Places ;Germany: * Hamm, North Rhine-Westphalia, a city north-east of Dortmund * Hamm (Sieg), a municipality in the eponymous ''Verbandsgemeinde'' in the district of Altenkirchen, Rhineland-Palatinate * Hamm, Bitburg-Prüm, part ...
about 55 km away. The river enters from the southeast into an urban area. Close to the public pool in Wiedenbrück, an artificial side arm branches off to the north of the river Ems. The Ems and the artificial branch are flowing around the old historic Wiedenbrück city centre and come together again behind the Ems lake at the height of the Wiedenbrück High School. The river then flows through the grounds of the State Garden Show 1988, connects the Wiedenbrücker center with the center of Rheda and leaves the urban area in the northernmost tip. Several small tributaries of the Ems are located in the municipality. Other notable waters are the Buxelssee northeast of the motorway, the Bänischsee northeast of Rheda and Lintel lake east of Wiedenbrück. One characteristic of the two combined cities is a green strip several kilometers long along the Ems, starting at Emssee in downtown Wiedenbrück and ending near the water castle in Rheda. The overall flat terrain falls from south to north. Outside the settlement areas, the city is dominated by agriculture and the city has comparatively large forest areas surrounding the city.


Expanse and utilisation of city area

The city, which is classified as a small center city municipality has an area of 86.68 km². The majority consists of agricultural and forest area, a combined 72%. The greatest distance from north to south is 12.6 km, from east to west about 14 km. The length of the city border is 50,2 km, the highest elevation at 105m and the lowest point at 66m above mean sea level.


Neighbouring municipalities

*
Oelde Oelde () is a town in the district of Warendorf (district), Warendorf, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located near Beckum, Germany, Beckum. Geography Division of the town Oelde consists of 5 districts: * Oelde * Stromberg * Lette * S ...
*
Herzebrock-Clarholz Herzebrock-Clarholz is a town in the Gütersloh (district), district of Gütersloh in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located approximately 10 km west of Gütersloh. Adjacent towns *Bredeck *Harsewinkel *Gütersloh *Rheda ...
*
Gütersloh Gütersloh () is a town in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, in the region of Ostwestfalen-Lippe and the administrative region of Detmold (administrative region), Detmold. Gütersloh is the administrative centre for a Gütersloh (distric ...
*
Rietberg Rietberg () is a town in the district of Gütersloh in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located approximately 10 km south of Gütersloh and 25 km north-west of Paderborn in the region Ostwestfalen-Lippe. The town is l ...
* Langenberg


Division and organisation

Rheda-Wiedenbrück is divided according to § 3 of the main articles of associationHauptsatzung der Stadt Rheda-Wiedenbrück
date November 9, 1999 in its 7th revision dated March 25, 2008
in the city itself and the three villages Batenhorst, Lintel and St. Vit. Before 1 October 2004 the neighbourhood Nordrheda-Ems also was classified as a village, but was then merged with Rheda. The following table shows the numbers of inhabitants and areas of the towns and city areas as of 1 January 2013.


History

It is suspected that in 785 a first small church was built in Wiedenbrück. Excavations show the emergence of a transept basilica built after 900. The dendrochronological analysis of two tree coffins found north of the Saint Aegidius church resulted in a dating to the years 907/923 and 926/42. Rheda was documented at the latest in 1088 and earliest in 1085. Since its first mentioning in 1170 until 1807/1815, the castle or the later Rheda Castle was the center of the Rheda ruling region (the County of
Bentheim-Tecklenburg-Rheda Bentheim-Tecklenburg-Rheda was a historical county of the Holy Roman Empire, located in present northwestern North Rhine-Westphalia and southwestern Lower Saxony, Germany. The princely branch of Bentheim-Tecklenburg-Rheda, with its family seats ...
). Wiedenbrück was the seat of the Office Reckenberg and thus an exclave of the Bishopric of Osnabrück. Emperor Otto granted the rights of market, coin and customs law for Wiedenbrück to the bishop of Osnabrück in the year 952. Several certificates issued by Otto III (HRE) in Wiedenbrück in 985 are known. It is therefore assumed that a royal court existed in Wiedenbrück at that time. In 1225 bishop Engelbert of Osnabrück took over the ancient legal court responsibility for Wiedenbrück and other cities. This is one of the starting points of the development of the Bishopric of Osnabrück to a
territorial state The term territorial state is used to refer to a state, typical of the High Middle Ages, since around 1000 AD, and "other large-scale complex organizations that attained size, stability, capacity, efficiency, and territorial reach not seen since ant ...
of the Bishop of Osnabrück. The oldest surviving coins from Wiedenbrück are dated 1230. In 1231 Wiedenbrück was proclaimed ''civitas''. Aldermen were elected to the Court and a seal was announced. In 1249 the new town was founded and a year later castle Reckenberg was mentioned for the first time. Around 1462 a first constitution was drafted, based on the constitution of Osnabrück. In 1543 Wiedenbrück was
reformed Reform is beneficial change. Reform, reformed or reforming may also refer to: Media * ''Reform'' (album), a 2011 album by Jane Zhang * Reform (band), a Swedish jazz fusion group * ''Reform'' (magazine), a Christian magazine Places * Reform, Al ...
by Hermann Bonnus, a representative of the Bishop Franz of Waldeck. By 1565 Wiedenbrück was predominantly
Lutheran Lutheranism is a major branch of Protestantism that emerged under the work of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German friar and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practices of the Catholic Church launched ...
. In the same year the boundaries between the Office Reckenberg to which Wiedenbrück counted, and the adjacent Rheda were established in the so-called Bielefeld recess, as two independent sovereign areas were first recognized. After first steps for a
Counter-Reformation The Counter-Reformation (), also sometimes called the Catholic Revival, was the period of Catholic resurgence that was initiated in response to, and as an alternative to or from similar insights as, the Protestant Reformations at the time. It w ...
were taken in 1624/1625, Wiedenbrück was occupied in 1626 during the
Thirty Years' War The Thirty Years' War, fought primarily in Central Europe between 1618 and 1648, was one of the most destructive conflicts in History of Europe, European history. An estimated 4.5 to 8 million soldiers and civilians died from battle, famine ...
by the Danes . When the Bishop Franz Wilhelm von Wartenberg assumed office in 1628, he continued the Counter-Reformation. In 1637 Wiedenbrück established one of the oldest high schools in the region, the ''Gymnasium Marianum'', a Latin School and forerunner of the current ''Ratsgymnasium'' high school in Wiedenbrück. The Franciscan monastery was founded in 1644 by Bishop Franz Wilhelm. Three years later, in July 1647 Wiedenbrück was taken by the Swedes, but cleared after dismantling of the fortress within two months. When in 1648 in Münster and Osnabrück the
Peace of Westphalia The Peace of Westphalia (, ) is the collective name for two peace treaties signed in October 1648 in the Westphalian cities of Osnabrück and Münster. They ended the Thirty Years' War (1618–1648) and brought peace to the Holy Roman Empire ...
was negotiated, this did require the alternation of a Catholic and a Lutheran bishop in the House of Brunswick-Lüneburg for the Bishopric of Osnabrück. In 1664, prompted by Ernst August I., the refortification of the city began. In 1716 the last urban copper coins were minted. In 1726, a new office building was constructed on the Reckenberg. As a result of the conversion of bishopric Osnabrück into a principality, Wiedenbrück was attached to the
house of Hanover The House of Hanover ( ) is a European royal house with roots tracing back to the 17th century. Its members, known as Hanoverians, ruled Hanover, Great Britain, Ireland, and the British Empire at various times during the 17th to 20th centurie ...
in 1802. In 1807 the city became part of the
Kingdom of Westphalia The Kingdom of Westphalia was a client state of First French Empire, France in present-day Germany that existed from 1807 to 1813. While formally independent, it was ruled by Napoleon's brother Jérôme Bonaparte. It was named after Westphalia, ...
. The chapter of fellows of collegiate was disbanded in 1810, and the Office Reckenberg with Wiedenbrück were ceded to
Prussia Prussia (; ; Old Prussian: ''Prūsija'') was a Germans, German state centred on the North European Plain that originated from the 1525 secularization of the Prussia (region), Prussian part of the State of the Teutonic Order. For centuries, ...
at the
Congress of Vienna The Congress of Vienna of 1814–1815 was a series of international diplomatic meetings to discuss and agree upon a possible new layout of the European political and constitutional order after the downfall of the French Emperor Napoleon, Napol ...
in 1816 and assigned to the new province of
Westphalia Westphalia (; ; ) is a region of northwestern Germany and one of the three historic parts of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It has an area of and 7.9 million inhabitants. The territory of the region is almost identical with the h ...
. Wiedenbrück thus separated from the
Diocese of Osnabrück In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associated ...
, the Catholic communities of the former Office Reckenberg came to the
Archdiocese of Paderborn The Metropolitan Archdiocese of Paderborn () is a Latin Church archdiocese of the Catholic Church in Germany; its seat is Paderborn.
. In the early morning hours of 10 November 1938 members of the SA, who had previously gathered in the adjacent restaurant Neuhaus, set the Rheda synagogue on fire. The remains were demolished and the property subsequently sold. In 1938 the federal highway A2 was opened to traffic. The highway was not, as is sometimes falsely claimed built almost exactly on the border between Rheda Wiedenbrück, but crosses it several times in different city areas. In 1940, Field Marshal Hermann Goering ordered the confiscation of all bronze church bells, which were to be used for arms manufacturing. From 1816 until the local government reform in 1970, the city was the seat of the district named after the city of Wiedenbrück.


Religions

Of the 47,723 inhabitants (as of 1 January 2013), a total of 23,428 or about 49.1% are of Roman Catholic faith. Rheda-Wiedenbrück belongs to the Archdiocese of Paderborn. 10,274 inhabitants, or about 21.6% are Protestant faith. These believers are part of the church district of Gütersloh in the Evangelical Church of Westphalia. The remaining 10,802 inhabitants or 23.6%, have a different creed or religious affiliation. Because the district of Gütersloh is a stronghold of the
Assyrian people Assyrians (, ) are an ethnic group Indigenous peoples, indigenous to Mesopotamia, a geographical region in West Asia. Modern Assyrians Assyrian continuity, share descent directly from the ancient Assyrians, one of the key civilizations of Mesop ...
living in Germany, the city has a relatively high share of members of the
Syriac Orthodox Church The Syriac Orthodox Church (), also informally known as the Jacobite Church, is an Oriental Orthodox Christian denomination, denomination that originates from the Church of Antioch. The church currently has around 4-5 million followers. The ch ...
.


Population history

The following overview shows the numbers of inhabitants of the city Rheda-Wiedenbrück and for 1939, 1950 and 1961 the number of inhabitants of the present-day city area. The figures up to 1970 and for 1987 are census results Statistisches Landesamt Nordrhein-Westfalen: ''Die Wohnbevölkerung in den Gemeinden Nordrhein-Westfalens 1970 : Ergebnisse der Volkszählung am 27. Mai 1970''. Düsseldorf 1972, S. 46.Landesamt für Datenverarbeitung und Statistik Nordrhein-Westfalen: ''Sonderreihe zur Volkszählung 1987 in Nordrhein-Westfalen, Band 1.1: Bevölkerung, Privathaushalte und Erwerbstätige.'' Düsseldorf 1989, S. 110. and from 1975 based on official updates by the State Office for Data Processing and Statistics.Landesamt für Datenverarbeitung und Statistik Nordrhein-Westfalen: ''Landesdatenbank Nordrhein-Westfalen''
/ref> The figures from 1975 to 1985 are estimated values, the figures from 1990 extrapolations based on the results of the census of 1987. The data refer to the resident population and from 1985 to the population with the main place of residence in the city.


Economy

The
Tönnies Holding The Tönnies Group is a German family business in the meat industry that operates internationally. Its core business is meat processing of pork and beef. For pork, Tönnies is the Germany, German market leader. With a revenue of over €6 billion, ...
has its
headquarters Headquarters (often referred to as HQ) notes the location where most or all of the important functions of an organization are coordinated. The term is used in a wide variety of situations, including private sector corporations, non-profits, mil ...
in Rheda-Wiedenbrück and operates the largest
pork Pork is the culinary name for the meat of the pig (''Sus domesticus''). It is the most commonly consumed meat worldwide, with evidence of pig animal husbandry, husbandry dating back to 8000–9000 BCE. Pork is eaten both freshly cooke ...
plant in Germany there.


Twin towns – sister cities

Rheda-Wiedenbrück is twinned with: * Adjengré, Togo *
Aouda Aouda (औद / ''Auda''), a character in ''Around the World in Eighty Days'' by Jules Verne, is an Indian princess accompanied by Phileas Fogg and Passepartout. The daughter of a Bombay Parsi merchant, she was married against her will to the ...
, Togo *
Oldenzaal Oldenzaal (; Tweants: ''Oldnzel'') is a municipality and a city in the eastern province of Overijssel in the Netherlands. It is part of the region of Twente and is close to the German border. It received city rights in 1249. Historically, the ...
, Netherlands *
Palamós Palamós () is a town and municipality in the Mediterranean Costa Brava, located in the ''comarca'' of Baix Empordà, in the province of Girona, Catalonia, Spain. Palamós is located at the northern end of a large bay. The town is by-passed by th ...
, Spain


Notable people

*
Martin Harlinghausen Martin Harlinghausen (17 January 1902 – 22 March 1986) was a German military aviator and general. Harlinghausen specialised in maritime interdiction and anti-warship operations. During World War II Harlinghausen was the leading exponent of a ...
(1902–1986), general *
Liz Mohn Elisabeth Mohn (née Beckmann; born 21 June 1941) is a German billionaire businesswoman and philanthropist. She was married to Reinhard Mohn until his death in 2009. Liz Mohn represents the fifth generation of the family that founded and cont ...
(born 1941), businesswoman and philanthropist *
Tim Krohn Tim Krohn (born 9 February 1965) is an author of Swiss literature, recipient of the 1994 Conrad-Ferdinand-Meyer-Preis. Born in Wiedenbrück, North Rhine-Westphalia, Krohn grew up in canton of Glarus, Glarus. He interrupted his studies of German s ...
(born 1965), Swiss writer *
Hanne Wolharn Hanne Bernadine Wolharn (born November 4, 1968, in Rheda-Wiedenbrück, West Germany) is a German actress. She plays Senta Lemke on the German soap opera ''Gute Zeiten, schlechte Zeiten'' from October 10, 2000, to March 15, 2007. Wolharn is going t ...
(born 1968), actress *
Ingo Pohlmann Ingo Pohlmann (stage name Pohlmann; born 18 May 1972 in Rheda-Wiedenbrück) is a German pop music singer. Biography Pohlmann is a trained bricklayer. After he did his community service, he moved to Münster where he had first appearances. Later ...
(born 1972), pop musician *
Nicole Kortlüke Nicole Kortlüke (born 9 March 1976) is a German film editor. Career Kortlüke worked as assistant editor for productions such as ''Speer und Er, Emma's Bliss'' and films of the German crime series ''Tatort''. From 2002 to 2005 she studied film ...
(born 1974), film editor *
Tobias Böckers Tobias M. Böckers is the head of the German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (German: Deutsches Zentrum für Neurodegenerative Erkrankungen, (DZNE)) Institute of Anatomy and Cell Biology at the University of Ulm. The focus of his work is ...
(born 1964), anatomist and neuroscientist *Markus Siegenhort, metal musician * Ulrich von Zons (born 1968), politician


Associated with the town

*
Luise Hensel Luise Hensel (30 March 1798 – 18 December 1876) was a German teacher and religious poet, who influenced the romantic style of her friend and fellow poet, Clemens Brentano. Life Luise Hensel was the sister of Wilhelm Hensel and the sister-in- ...
(1798–1876), poet, lived for more than 20 years in Wiedenbrück *
Bernhard Hoetger Bernhard Hoetger (4 May 1874 in Dortmund – 18 July 1949 in Interlaken) was a German sculptor, painter and handicrafts artist of the Expressionist movement. Life Hoetger was the son of a Dortmund blacksmith, he studied sculpture in Detmold f ...
(1874–1949), artist, lived in Wiedenbrück for a short time *
Luigi Colani Luigi Colani (born Lutz Colani; 2 August 1928 – 16 September 2019) was a German industrial designer. His long career began in the 1950s when he designed cars for companies including Fiat, Alfa Romeo, Lancia, Volkswagen, and BMW. In 1957, he d ...
(1928–2019), designer, lived temporarily in Rheda *
Judith Lefeber Judith Mahdavi Lefeber (born 14 March 1981) is a German singer, who gained fame as a finalist of the first season of the television show ''Deutschland sucht den Superstar'', the German version of ''Pop Idol''. Biography Lefeber was born in Mani ...
(born 1981), singer, grew up in Rheda-Wiedenbrück


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Rheda-Wiedenbruck Towns in North Rhine-Westphalia