Ringe () is a community in the district of

Grafschaft Bentheim County of Bentheim () is a districts of Germany, district (''Landkreis'') in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is bounded by (from the west and clockwise) the Netherlands, Dutch provinces of Overijssel and Drenthe, the district of Emsland, and the distri ...

Lower Saxony Lower Saxony is a States of Germany, German state (') in Northern Germany, northwestern Germany. It is the second-largest state by land area, with , and fourth-largest in population (8 million in 2021) among the 16 ' of the Germany, Federal Re ...

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 ...

Emlichheim

Ringe has roughly 2,000 inhabitants and belongs to the Joint Community (''Samtgemeinde'') of Emlichheim. The community consists of the three centres of Großringe, Kleinringe and Neugnadenfeld and is mainly characterized by

agriculture Agriculture encompasses crop and livestock production, aquaculture, and forestry for food and non-food products. Agriculture was a key factor in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created ...

, although it also has an interesting history behind it. The community's geography was once

moorland Moorland or moor is a type of Habitat (ecology), habitat found in upland (geology), upland areas in temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands and the biomes of montane grasslands and shrublands, characterised by low-growing vegetation on So ...

, but this was cultivated by

prisoners of war A prisoner of war (POW) is a person held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold prisoners of war for a ...

in the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, for which the

Nazis Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

built a special camp, the ''Lager Alexisdorf''. After the war, homeless refugees found housing here, converting the camp into a new settlement, called Neugnadenfeld, now one of Ringe's three centres (''

Ortsteil A village is a human settlement or Residential community, community, larger than a hamlet (place), hamlet but smaller than a town with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand. Although villages are often located ...

e'').

The moors

Today, there is no longer much in the way of pure moorland in the community, but conservationists have been trying for a few years to recultivate these as the moors, a habitat for some threatened animal species, are becoming scarcer.

History

The community also has a building steeped in history, the ''Altes Landhaus Buddenberg''. This nowadays houses a restaurant and guest rooms. In the house's more than 200-year history, it was mainly home to an

inn Inns are generally establishments or buildings where travelers can seek lodging, and usually, food and drink. Inns are typically located in the country or along a highway. Before the advent of motorized transportation, they also provided accomm ...

and a

grocer A grocery store (American English, AE), grocery shop or grocer's shop (British English, BE) or simply grocery is a retail store that primarily retails a general range of food Product (business), products, which may be Fresh food, fresh or Food p ...

's shop for the rural population. In 1997, after the house had been being used as a private home, it burnt down. A few years later, through help from donations and local history enthusiasts, the house was built anew and lovingly restored as required for preserving historic monuments.

Geography

Through the community of Ringe flows the river

Vechte The Vechte (, ) or Vecht (), often called Overijsselse Vecht () in the Netherlands to avoid confusion with Vecht (Utrecht), its Utrecht counterpart, is a river in Germany and the Netherlands. Its total length is , of which is in Germany. The Ve ...

, which downstream, at Laar, crosses the border into the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

Economy

The community's economic mainstay is still to a great extent agriculture. However, some service businesses and

plastics Plastics are a wide range of synthetic or semisynthetic materials composed primarily of polymers. Their defining characteristic, plasticity, allows them to be molded, extruded, or pressed into a diverse range of solid forms. This adaptab ...

-processing businesses have also set up shop in town.

References

External links

Joint Community’s website
{{Authority control County of Bentheim (district)