Schüttorf
Encyclopedia
Schüttorf is a town in the district of Grafschaft Bentheim in southwesternmost Lower Saxony
near the Dutch
border
and the boundary with Westphalia
(North Rhine-Westphalia
). The town of Schüttorf forms with the surrounding communities the Joint Community (Samtgemeinde) of Schüttorf. It is the district’s oldest town. It lies on the river Vechte
, roughly 5 km east of Bad Bentheim
, and 20 km southeast of Nordhorn
.
and Westphalia
. The surroundings may be characterized as settled countryside. Middle centres in the area are, among others, Nordhorn
and Rheine
.
The town is crossed through the middle southeast to northwest by the river Vechte
, which farther downstream flows into the Netherlands. The town’s highest point rises to 48 m above sea level
. Schüttorf lies in the foothills of the Bentheimer Berg, a great sandstone
formation from the Cretaceous
rising to 80 m and a wooded western outlier of the Teutoburg Forest
. Only a small piece of the Bentheim Forest is in the town. All together, roughly 89 ha of woodland
is found within the town, making up 8% of the town’s total land area.
North of the town is found a former heathland
, which sees mainly agronomic use nowadays. There were still broad heathlands in the town just before the First World War. The last heath was converted to agricultural
land in 1993. A peculiarity was the dune
area in Schüttorf, which consisted of windblown sand, but this was quarried and exploited in the mid-20th century. The outlying centre where these dunes were is, however, still popularly called “Marokko
” or, in Low German, Witten Over (“White Shore”), referring to the area’s “desert
like” appearance.
There are quite a number of open areas around the town, mainly used for agriculture. Residential areas are characterized by one-family dwellings. There are no genuine highrises in town. With the completion of the Schüttorfer Kreuz (“Schüttorf Cross”), an Autobahn cloverleaf
formed by the A 30
and the A 31
, greater commercial and industrial areas were laid out in the town’s northeast near this interchange in 2004 and 2005.
A beautiful floodplain
landscape is the Große Maate northwest of town. In this lowland
area by the Vechte
are many pools replenished over and over again by flooding. Many butterfly
and other insect
species are found here, and also the rare kingfisher
. The Holmer Maate is another of Schüttorf’s floodplain landscapes, where lapwing
s and great crested grebes
may be spotted. Near the centre is the Vechteniederung Recreation Area, which is a floodplain and contains stormwater basins.
in the southeast, Quendorf
in the northwest and Engden
in the north. Within the district of Grafschaft Bentheim, Schüttorf borders on the town of Bad Bentheim
in the west. In the east, the town limit is also part of the boundary with the neighbouring district of Emsland
, bordering there on Ahlde, an outlying centre of the community of Emsbüren
. There is found – only 2 km from Schüttorf – a noteworthy, small conservation area with a heath pond.
The town of Schüttorf lies mainly on valley sand plates which are crossed by the Vechte Lowland, which is almost flush with them along this stretch. The lowland lies roughly 30 m above sea level and is from 200 to 500 m wide. Bordering its edges are river terraces with a height of roughly 35 m above sea level. Owing to the slight difference in elevation even within the river valley, the middle Vechte meandered in the past, leading to the formation of many backwater
s. Since then, however, the river has been straightened and is kept at Schüttorf level.
The Vechte Lowland is part of the Nordhorn glacial terminal basin, which was filled during the Saalian Stage by a glacier
. This same glacier also pushed up the terminal moraine
that is now the Uelsen Hills and the Lingen Heights
in today’s Grafschaft Bentheim and Emsland. In the south, the glacier found its abutment at the Mesozoic
Bentheim Cretaceous Sandstone Mountain Chain. During the last ice age
, the terminal basin was filled with fluvial sand, and locally, sand dunes were blown up by the wind. Within the Vechte Valley, the river deposited Holocene
– that is, post-ice-age – sands and floodplain loam
.
The mainly sandy, partly loamy or moor
y soils of the valley sand plates and the narrow river floodplain are relatively sparse in soil quality, ranking between 11 and 30 on the scale used in Germany (which goes up to 100). The outliers of the Bentheim Hill are made up of Bentheim sandstone
, a sandstone from the Early Cretaceous. These heights are the northwesternmost outposts of the Central European Uplands. Towards the surface are, as a general rule, clay
ey soils and till loam. The clay is also used by industry, such as at the brickyard in Suddendorf.
amounts to between 700 and 800 mm. The climate is Subatlantic with rather mild winters and fairly warm summers. In Schüttorf itself, there is no weather station
run by the German Weather Service (Deutscher Wetterdienst). The nearest weather station is Nordhorn
, whose weather is not notably different from Schüttorf’s.
Lower Saxony’s state hydrological
service maintains a water quality
monitoring station in Samern where the Vechte’s water levels and water quality are measured and documented.
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Schüttorf has 11,711 inhabitants (as of 18 April 2005) in an area of 11.23 km², 51.3% of whom are female. The town’s population density is 1027/km².
Evangelical-Reformed Christians account for 40.7% of the town’s population, whereas 22.1% are Catholic
, 14.9% are Lutheran
and 22% either hold no religious beliefs or belong to other faiths. There are 942 foreigners (8%) living in Schüttorf, among whom the biggest group is Turkish
nationals (448), and the second-biggest Dutch nationals (187). There are 1,894 people (16.2%) living in Schüttorf who are German nationals, but whose background is foreign (as of 1 January 2006).
There were three great surges in the population growth. The first came in the late 19th century, especially in the 1890s while the textile industry
boom due to the Industrial Revolution
was luring workers to Schüttorf. After the Second World War came the second wave of immigration when roughly 2,600 refugees driven out of Germany’s former eastern territories reached Schüttorf. Towards the end of the 1990s, the population once again rose sharply owing mainly to locally favourable building land prices.
in 1945 in the Second World War’s last days and was completely gutted. The fire also destroyed the town archive
and many valuable historical documents, making research into Schüttorf’s history very difficult. Many things, however, have been reconstructed since then.
of the name Schüttorf is not exactly known and various folk explanations have been put forth, the most widespread of which is the legend that tells of the river Vechte
being diverted around the town as early as 1295 by building a dam
. The workers on this project are said to have dumped out the contents of their pushcarts on the command Schütt’t d’r up. This legend, however, only explains the sound of one of the town’s modern names (the Low German name Schüttrupp).
The earliest forms of the name Schüttorf were Scuhtthorp, Scutorpe, Scuttorpe and Scotdorpe in documents from 1154. On a coin issue from the first half of the 13th century is the form SCOTOR(p)E.
Hermann Abels (see 2) is of the opinion that the name’s origin is the Dutch
word schut (limber wall, dam, sluice
), which comes close to the folk meaning. Historically, however, it comes up short, as it assumes that the Vechte was already dammed at the time the placename arose, and it leaves unexplained all forms in Scot-, which must be derived from the Low German Schott (“dividing wall in a stall”).
Another explanation has the name coming from the Vechteschuten, barge
s (Schuten) being the flat-bottomed boats with a very small draught
that were used for shipping Bentheim sandstone
. The Vechte is navigable by barge as far up as Schüttorf, and it is known that the stone was loaded here. This explanation, however, presupposes intensive river shipping
at the time of the town’s founding.
Quite another explanation is that the name Schüttorf stems from Scutthorpe or Scuttrop, which means “Protection Village” (this would be Schutzdorf in Modern High German
), referring to Altena Castle in the town. Historically, however, this explanation also does not bear up under scrutiny, for the castle
was not built until well after the town’s founding.
A modern explanation says that the placename comes from the Low German Scuit (“Irishman”). Ireland
’s mediaeval name was Scoti or Scotti. In Gaelic
there are many dialects containing and illustrating the vowel variants o and u. Furthermore, finds at digs around Schüttorf of Celtic cross
es and fan crosses show that there were once Irish monk
s in the area.
s in nearby Emsbüren
were also built at about this time. Also, a clay pot found in 1927 comes from this same era.
Already very early on, there was an important crossing of two trade routes on the site that is now Schüttorf, as the river Vechte could be crossed here at a ford. At this hub was an “original yard” around which the settlement developed and which existed until 1792 as the Alter Hof (“Old Yard”).
In the 6th or 7th century missionaries
from the British Isles
came to Schüttorf. At archaeological
digs, Irish Celtic crosses, for instance, have been found. The naming of Schüttorf’s outlying centre of Schottbrink, whose existence can be proved by the 15th century, bears further witness to an Irish presence in the area.
In the 8th and 9th centuries, farmers from the Calais
and Boulogne
area came and settled in Schüttorf to further Christianization. Even today many families still bear names that come from villages in that region, such as Hermeling from Hermelinghen
, Hummert from Humbert
or Wanning from Maninghen (see 3).
Schüttorf had its first documentary mention in 1154, in the curtis Scutthorp, as an estate belonging to the Counts at Bentheim. Town rights were granted Schüttorf on 6 November 1295, the Sunday after All Hallows, by Count Egbert at Bentheim. The document witnessing this has been preserved and is now found at the Fürstlich Bentheimschen Archiv in Burgsteinfurt. This makes Schüttorf Grafschaft Bentheim’s oldest town. It is known, however, that before the founding there were a count’s main court and an ecclesiastical centre for the Upper County here. In 1295 there were only two other towns within 30 km of Schüttorf: Horstmar
and Oldenzaal, making the new town into an important market and shipping place, and Schüttorf became a member of the Hanse. The town rights contained in particular six rights to which townsmen were entitled. Namely these were:
Beyond these six rights, there are a great many special conditions for the so-called Wicbeldeslude (this would be Weichbildleute in Modern High German) – or people from the outlying countryside – which indeed make up the bulk of the document. These people were inhabitants of the town who were subject to a special right, but they were not townsmen. In 1297, Schüttorf was also given its own jurisdiction by Count Bernd in the coram judico nostro Scottorpe.
The town’s inner political organization was left up to the townsmen. Quickly, a ruling class
of traders and craftsmen arose. New townsmen were always invested on St. Peter’s Day (22 January), and even unwed women had the right to become townswomen. Until 1555, townsmen were obliged yearly to pay the Bürgergewinnungsgeld (“townsman’s recovery tax”), which cost them each five Taler, roughly matching the price of a fat ox and a calf. To put this into perspective, a master mason
earned roughly six Schilling a day, meaning that he had to work for three and a half days to earn a Taler. Alternatively it was also possible to pay a considerably lower inhabitant tax, but this brought with it no townsman’s rights. Many inhabitants chose this thriftier alternative. To be allowed to live within the town’s walls, it was a requirement for townsmen and other inhabitants alike to swear an oath
of loyalty to the town of Schüttorf. Until 1719, all fully grown townsmen had the right to vote
for town councillors, but thereafter only fully grown married men who were citizens were allowed to vote.
In 1465, Count Everwyn at Bentheim once again renewed and expanded the town rights. The document witnessing this no longer exists, having been lost in the town hall fire in 1945. The new town rights were subdivided into 49 sections and dated in perpetuity. The town rights were subsequently affirmed and expanded by each Count. From 1589, however, relations between the Count’s court in Bentheim under Count Arnold and the town were souring. In this year, the Count even had the town’s mayor imprison
ed, releasing him only after the payment of 100 golden guilders and a hogshead (actually described as 1½ barrels) of wine
. The situation thereafter steadily escalated. In 1645, Count Ernst Wilhelm refused to renew the town rights. Instead, he had the town’s mayor imprisoned for 38 weeks and then banished
him. After this, the townsmen appealed to the Imperial Court in Vienna
. This grievance is still preserved there. Ernst Wilhelm on the other hand petitioned the Reichshofrat for the cassation of the town rights. The conflict further escalated when in 1668 the House of the Counts at Bentheim converted to Catholicism
while Schüttorf remained Reformed. When Ernst Wilhelm abdicated
in 1693, the town refused to render homage to his son, Arnold Maruk, although in the end it was forced to do so.
owned, but as of 1638 also for each hearth. Special taxes were levied in the 15th century for the war against the Hussites, and again in the 16th century to prevent the danger from the Turks
and to fight the Anabaptists
. Towards the end of the 17th century, war contributions rose, and there were even foreign troops stationed in Schüttorf, leading to a grave financial emergency in the town. In 1682, the Count of Bentheim even felt himself forced to gather in taxes with the troops’ help.
Right after town rights were granted, work began on fortifying the town, which involved building a 1 400 m-long town wall enclosing an area of 15 ha. Roughly 30 000 m³ of Bentheim sandstone was quarried and brought to town by oxcart to build the wall. By the late 14th century, Schüttorf was girt by a strong defence system that had at its disposal three town gates:
To fortify the town further, Altena Castle (Burg Altena) was built, being completed in the first half of the 14th century. Then, in 1560, the castle became the widow’s seat of the House of the Counts at Bentheim. As of the 17th century, the castle was gradually sinking into oblivion, slowly falling into ruins that, over the townsfolk’s loud protests, were eventually torn down in 1975 to make way for a thoroughfare. Parts of the town’s old wall are preserved in the southwest Old Town (Altstadt).
Burg Altena is not to be confused with the castle in Altena
, which bears the same name, but which still stands today.
, namely de Schomackere Amte (shoemakers), leading to the conclusion that this profession was particularly widespread. In 1362, Count Otto recognized the wall builders’ and cabinetmakers’ guilds, and finally in 1387, Count Bernhard recognized the smiths’
guild. In 1465, in the new town rights, these were still the only guilds mentioned, and no others. To be allowed to practise one of these professions it was a requirement to be a Schüttorf townsman, and also to have “won over” that profession’s guild. This entailed considerable material benefits.
Already quite early on, there was welfare in Schüttorf. The Heiliger Geist Stiftung (“Holy Ghost Foundation”) had its first documentary mention in 1379, when Count Bernhard gave the Foundation a plot of land free of charge on which to build an almshouse
. The Foundation supplied poor
and elderly
townsfolk with clothing, and from 1384, the needy also got a yearly allowance of four Schilling. The Heiliger Geist Stiftung still exists today and is owned by the town. It has broadened its work into promoting youth.
Foreign Minister Charles-Maurice de Talleyrand guaranteed the Count at Bentheim neutrality than Napoleon ignored it, annexing the County on 12 June 1806 to the Duchy of Berg. This was forthwith followed by marked encroachment upon Schüttorf’s jurisdiction and the upcoming town council election. On 7 March 1809, the Interior Minister stripped Schüttorf of its town rights and instead created the municipality of Schüttorf out of the town itself and the outlying communities of Quendorf
, Wengsel, Suddendorf
and Neerlage. At the same time, a census
was compiled, which found the town’s population to be 1,040, and the municipality’s 2,140. In 1810, the municipality was further enlarged by having the communities of Salzbergen
, Hummeldorf and Steide added to it. In Napoleon’s time, serfdom
also came to an end in the region. In a decree about the “abolition of serfdom in the Grand Duchy of Berg” issued on 12 December 1808 by the Imperial camp at Madrid
, Napoleon ordered that even the Colonen and serfs were to be granted all civil rights
. In 1813, the French were driven out and Schüttorf was merged with the Kingdom of Hanover
. There was a blanket invalidation of all French laws. However, a return to the old structures proved difficult.
On 15 May 1851, an order reached the town of Schüttorf from the Osnabrück
Landdrost
ei for the town to conform to the new Hanoverian town system. This, however, would have required the town to have a professional mayor and a town police
force, things that the town could then ill afford. Thus, Schüttorf was placed under the Hanoverian Landgemeindeordnung as a community (Gemeinde) – and thereby also under a royal Amt. The later mayor Dr. Scheurmann called this a dark chapter in Schüttorf town history. Even Hanover’s annexation
by Prussia
and the founding of the Empire
in 1871 changed nothing with regards to Schüttorf’s status as a community.
on handloom
s having already been done here for centuries, and on the other hand to cottage industry being channelled into this field. In the 17th century, many Schüttorfers had been going each year to the wealthy Netherlands
to improve their livelihoods by cutting peat
, mowing or selling wares. With the onset of hard times in the Netherlands in the early 19th century, however, this source of income dwindled. A remedy was afforded by more intensive home weaving. About 1850, the Schlikker family already employed about 400 weavers, and a few years later the first factory building was built. In 1865, the Schümer family’s dye
works followed. In 1867, the first Schlikker und Söhne mechanically powered cotton
loom went into operation. In 1881 came the cotton spinning works. What followed was an economic upswing and a skyrocketing population. At the turn of the 20th century, Schüttorf was said to be the town with the most millionaires in proportion to population. Nonetheless, the saturated textile manufacturers gradually withdrew from this business, as they could foresee an end to the boom, and they busied themselves instead as bankers and financiers in, for example, the expansion of the textile industry in neighbouring Nordhorn
, which was quickly overtaking Schüttorf.
s, which were important to waging a war. This led to extremely high joblessness, moving the community to resolve to cultivate at its own cost the heath
surrounding Schüttorf, to give people something to do. However, this led to a heavy burden on the town’s coffers. Owing to high inflation
, Schüttorf was forced to issue token money
and bread tokens.
After the war the community resolved to install a professional mayor as the first step back towards townhood. On 28 February 1924, the Berliner Dr. Franz Scheurmann was installed as Schüttorf’s first full-time mayor, a fact officially recorded in a document. On 15 June 1924 came the decision that as of 1 July, Schüttorf would once more be constituted as a town. From that day, too, Schüttorf would also have its own police force. On 1 October 1924, the town founded a town savings bank
to encourage the townsfolk to save after the inflation.
leader Arnold Horstmeier and the NSDAP district leader Dr. Josef Ständer. He was succeeded by Arnold Horstmeier, who was appointed mayor, and who imposed on the outgoing mayor a restraining order
forbidding him to speak or stay in Schüttorf. In Schüttorf there came great disputes between the state and the Reformed Church, as Pastor Friedrich Middendorf was a member of the Reichsbruderrat (“Reich Brotherly Council”) of the Confessing Church
. Despite mass protests, he eventually had to leave the community after having a restraining order imposed on him forbidding him to stay in the region.
In Schüttorf, before the National Socialist régime came to power, there were three Jewish families, two of whom fled, and the other of whom was deported. Today, there are no Jews living in Schüttorf.
During the Allied
air war
on Germany
, Schüttorf was repeatedly bombed, not as a primary target, however. When Allied fliers had not used all their bombs on their mission, it was common practice simply to dump the unused ones anywhere before leaving Germany. Schüttorf was unlucky enough to be chosen as the dumping ground several times. On 3 April 1945, after the Allies had taken Bad Bentheim
(then still Bentheim), they supposed that strong German forces were lying in wait in Schüttorf, and so they shelled
the town heavily, with bomber squadrons also dropping phosphorus
incendiary bombs. This brought about the utter destruction of 15 houses. A further 25 were heavily damaged, and roughly 600 lightly damaged.
The German paratrooper
s who had been stationed in Schüttorf had withdrawn already anyway, to Lingen
, blowing up all bridge
s on the Vechte and wrecking the electrical and telephone systems as they went. On 4 April 1945, the town hall was struck by an aerial bomb and burnt, along with the town’s archive. The next day, Schüttorf was liberated by British
troops. All together, Schüttorf counted 222 dead, eight civilians had been killed in bombings and shellings, and 114 inhabitants were said to be missing.
The British military government installed Bernhard Verwold as honorary mayor in April 1945 until the townsfolk could once again elect a mayor themselves. This they eventually did, and on 25 January 1946 they returned the later honorary citizen Dr. Franz Scheurmann to the mayor’s office. In 1960, he was awarded the Bundesverdienstkreuz
. (see 4)
One Nazi opponent was Friedrich Middendorff, who was made pastor of the Evangelical-Reformed parish in Schüttorf in 1926. Even before the Machtergreifung
, he had been openly disagreeing with National Socialist Ideology in the Deutsches Allgemeines Sonntagsblatt, and he was also known through his work in the Christlich-Sozialer Volksdienst, and he quickly became a target for the Nazis. What followed was surveillance by the Gestapo
and state reprisals. The disagreement reached its apex on 18 April 1937 when several hundred Schüttorfers gathered before the town hall after Middendorff had been arrested and “sang him free”, standing there for hours singing chorales until he was released. His article Ein Weniges zur Judenfrage (“A Little About the Jewish Question
”), which was seized and banned, had become well known. Middendorff had to flee town in 1937, and so did his family the following year. Only after the war, when the Third Reich had been defeated, in 1946, did he come back to Schüttorf. He later held many offices, and became from 1946 to 1953 the ecclesiastical president of the Evangelical-Reformed Church. Later he was the lead candidate for the DFU in the Lower Saxony elections. In 1973, however, he lost his life in a traffic accident. A square in Schüttorf, Friedrich-Middendorff-Platz, is named after him. (see 5)
In 1209, a church consecrated to Saint Lawrence
in Schüttorf was mentioned in a document for the first time. In 1544, Count Arnold converted to the Lutheran faith
, and along with him the whole County. In 1588, the County became Evangelical-Reformed and thereby Calvinist
. Even today, most Schüttorfers are Evangelical-Reformed. From 1598 to 1599, however, Schüttorf was occupied by Spanish
troops and Reformed services were banned on penalty. In 1629, a convent
was founded in Schüttorf. It stood at first under the Beguines’ care, but was later transferred to the Augustinians
. In 1843, the convent was torn down.
built in the Gothic style
with four bays
, a transept
and a polygon
al choir. It also once served as the burying place for the Bentheim Counts.
The nave
was built in stages. The oldest part likely dates from 1355 and consists of a one-naved, cross-shaped building with today’s fourth bay as the crossing and today’s crossing as the choir, as well as the second and third bays and the fourth bay’s side nave. The tower stood on the spot where today the first bay stands. In the fourth bay’s north side nave is found a fresco-secco
painting from the 14th century. Bit by bit, the bays were widened with side naves. The nave was likely only joined to the tower after that was finished.
The church’s overall length is 54 m and its breadth 19 m. The tower is 81.17 m high and can be seen from anywhere in Schüttorf. This church had its first documentary mention in 1355 when an indulgence letter for its construction was sold; in 1390, it was expanded. Building work on the choir in today’s building began on the Thursday after Corpus Christi
in 1477. It was finished on Christmas Eve
1478. Work on the nave began in 1500, while work continued on the square west tower, which had an eight-sided pyramid
al cupola
, until 1535. This tower burnt six times, however, in 1684, 1703, 1799, 1817 (twice in as many days) and 1889 after being struck by lightning
. A legend has it that the last tower fire on 8 February 1889 was quenched with milk
, which in the fire’s heat quickly dried and formed a crust, smothering the fire. The original bell
s for the tower came from the years 1502 and 1772; however, in 1917, these bells had to be handed over and melted down for war requirements. Today there are six bells hanging in the tower, among them an old firebell from 1435 that was spared in 1917. The church’s organ
is a two-manualled instrument with tin pipes. it was built in 1963 by the Swiss
organ-building business Th. Kuhn.
The Catholic Church of Mary (Marienkirche) was built in 1868. It contains a sandstone Madonna
from the late 16th century. Before this church was built, Schüttorf’s Catholics had to make do with the chapel
at Altena Castle. After the Second World War, there first came a New Apostolic church and in 1955 the Lutheran church. The Lutheran church has been called Christophorus-Kirche (“St. Christopher’s Church”) since 1992. In this same year, a small mosque
was founded in an old workshop. Since 2004 there has also been a House of God for the Free Christian community. Furthermore, Schüttorf has, besides an Evangelical and a Catholic, also an old Jewish cemetery
.
. On 14 December 1970 the Joint Community (Samtgemeinde) of Schüttorf was founded. This at first consisted of nine communities, the town of Schüttorf itself and the communities of Engden
, Drievorden, Neerlage, Wengsel, Ohne
, Quendorf
, Samern
and Suddendorf
. Later, the communities of Engden and Drievorden were merged into the community of Engden, and likewise the communities of Neerlage and Wengsel into the community of Isterberg
, so that the Joint Community now consisted of seven communities. The Joint Community’s work is to take charge of collective planning work, to promote tourism
and to take charge of disposing of sewage
and rubbish. Furthermore, adult education
, the promotion and creation of cultural institutions and civil status functions also fall within its field of responsibility. The Joint Community is administered by the Samtgemeinderat (Joint Community council), the Samtgemeindeausschuss (Joint Community board) and the Samtgemeindebürgermeister (Joint Community mayor) and has its own seal.
Politics in Schüttorf is subdivided into the Joint Community administration and the town’s own administration; so there is not only a Joint Community council but also a town council for Schüttorf itself. The Joint Community mayor and the mayor, moreover, are two different persons, and each of the other constituent communities in the Joint Community has its own mayor. The mayor’s office also has at its side an unelected town director (Stadtdirektor). Until November 2006 the mayoralty was honorary, but it was then replaced with a full-time, professional position.
On Schüttorf’s town council, the SPD once traditionally held a majority; however, once an independent voters’ community was founded in September 1968, the SPD could no longer achieve an absolute majority. This situation still held true in 2006, since which time, when municipal elections were last held, Schüttorf has been governed by a “Jamaica coalition”. The current mayor is Thomas Michael Hamerlik (CDU) with two deputies: Claudia Middelberg (Bündnis 90/Die Grünen) and Jochen Vahl (FDP).
After Dr. Franz Scheurmann (see Third Reich and Second World War above) left office in 1949, he was followed by Johann Wenning (SPD) who held office until 1952, when Scheurmann (CDU) was reëlected, holding office until October 1956. After this, Johann Wenning was once again mayor until 1972. On 16 November of that year, Hermann Brinkmann (SPD) was elected, serving until 16 January 1989 when he was beaten by Karl-Heinrich Dreyer (SPD), who himself held office until 8 November 2006, when he was declared the town’s “honorary mayor”. Shortly thereafter, he was awarded the Bundesverdienstkreuz for his achievements. His successor is Thomas M. Hamerlik (CDU).
, the choice of arms having been left to the townsmen. The oldest preserved document showing Schüttorf’s arms as a seal dates from 1315.
The coat of arms shows a stylized town gate with two towers between which is found Grafschaft Bentheim’s arms. It is, however, not one of Schüttorf’s town gates shown in the arms – the arms are older than the town gates – but rather the arms are meant to symbolize the town’s status as such.
Schüttorf also has its own flag
, which has two broad horizontal stripes and bears in the middle the town’s arms in oval form.
) in the Netherlands
, in the Twente
region. This town partnership was part of the EUREGIO
programme, a municipal league, to which roughly 140 German and Dutch towns, communities and districts belong. The EUREGIO league seeks to develop cross-border economic relations and fosters cultural exchange and German-Dutch school contacts. In 2005, Vriezenveen cancelled the town partnership, although Schüttorf remained part of EUREGIO. Dutch
is an optional subject in Schüttorf’s Realschule
.
. A regional airport is to be found 15 minutes’ drive away at Klausheide near Nordhorn
.
61 on the Wiehengebirgs-Bahn (Bad Bentheim
–Rheine
–Osnabrück
–Herford
–Bielefeld
).
In local road transport, bus
lines join Schüttorf with Nordhorn
, Bad Bentheim, Ochtrup
and the surrounding villages.
known as the Schüttorfer Kreuz where the Autobahnen A 30 (Bad Oeynhausen
– Osnabrück
– Hengelo
) and A 31 (Emden
– Oberhausen
) cross each other.
factory (Wilhelm Edel & Co.) was also established. Schüttorf managed to do very well for itself from this industrialization, which was reflected in the population figures (1871: 1692 inhabitants, 1900: 4110). (see 6). In the textile industry crisis in the 1970s, the industry in Schüttorf, too, fell into crisis, and nowadays only the firms RoFa and G. Schümer GmbH & Co. still exist. As a result of this, joblessness rose, and the town’s tax revenues fell.
After the Schüttorfer Kreuz was completed in December 2004, Schüttorf profited from its favourable transport location and its proximity to the Dutch border. Schüttorf had at this time laid out a big industrial area on the Autobahn and tried by fostering the economy to get businesses to locate there. The Joint Community’s unemployment rate lay at 6.7% in May 2007, which was lower than the figure for Lower Saxony as a whole (8.5%), but higher than the figure for the district (6.1%).
One of the biggest business taxpayers in Schüttorf since 1971 has been the Swiss company Georg Utz GmbH with 280 employees. This enterprise maintains a plastics factory in which plastic palettes and containers are made. Similarly big is a corrugated cardboard factory run by the Prowell Group, which was completed in 2005 right on the cloverleaf. Stemmann-Technik GmbH, with its 320 employees, produces pantographs
for the ICE
and other train
s, tram
ways and metros
as well as further products for energy and data transfer in industry. Midsized businesses are Arnold Lammering GmbH & Co. KG, a steel
wholesale
r with roughly 100 employees, Mannebeck Landtechnik, which manufactures stable equipment and Kortmann Beton GmbH & Co. KG, which makes concrete
parts and blocks. Until 2004, the town was also home to a lime sand brickworks, but this was closed and torn down. Schüttorf’s favourable transport location encourages shipper
s to set up shop here. Five such companies have done so: Rigterink GmbH & Co. KG, Fiege net, SLK Kock internationale Spedition & Logistik GmbH, Euregio-Logistik GmbH and Wanning Spedition GmbH & Co. KG.
The best known company in Schüttorf, even far beyond the town, is the Danish
company Tulip Food Company GmbH which processes meat
and sausage
products which are sold under this name in German supermarket
s. Further companies known well beyond the town are the family business (since 1821) H. Klümper GmbH & Co. KG and Klüsta-Schinken Klümper & Stamme GmbH, which distribute ham
specialities. The biggest service business in Schüttorf is the Index, a discotheque with 6000 to 7000 guests every weekend.
power station
had been established on Fabrikstraße. From 1897, Schüttorf had electric street lighting, thus becoming one of the first towns in the German Empire
to have it. In the same year, the lighting on Unter den Linden
in Berlin
was electrified. On 1 April 1909, the town bought the power station for 110,000 gold marks, and it has been owned by the town ever since. By 1955, the network switched from direct current to three-phase alternating current, and it stopped generating its own electricity. In 1928 and 1929, Schüttorf acquired a town watermain. From 28 December 1970, the town works also began supplying natural gas
. Today, the two local swimming pool
s are also owned by the town works.
. The Krankenhaus Annaheim with 40 beds was opened in 1907. It was named after Schlikker’s late wife. In the 1980s, a nursing home
run by the Evangelical-Reformed church was made part of the hospital. The hospital, however, had never been solvent, and was closed in 1996. In the building arose a healthcare centre to which medical and physiotherapeutic practices also belong. Today, there are nine physician
s, two veterinarian
s and six dentist
s in practice in Schüttorf.
, the Schüttrupper Platt. The Joint Community’s homeland club (Heimatverein) for instance stages regular events under the title Wij kürt ock Platt. There is a Low German theatre
group. At the primary school in German lessons, the local dialect is discussed and there also appear literature and newspaper articles in Low German.
Besides the “Great Church” (the Evangelical-Reformed Church of Saint Lawrence), the Town Hall is particularly worth seeing. It is a two-story stone-block building made of Bentheim sandstone
with crow-stepped gable
s from the 15th century, in which Schüttorf’s ell
wand is kept. This is a 68 cm-long metal bar which served for calibration. On the marketplace before the town hall is a bronze
statue
of a woman leading two goat
s. Right next door to the town hall stands the Catholic Church. Behind the church school is found the old Princely watermill
from 1914. It is the only preserved mill of many that Schüttorf once had and it lies on a kolk
pothole surrounded by old weeping willows.
Also in Schüttorf, there is a whole range of residential buildings that are worth seeing. Originally, one-story timber frame Dielenhäuser – houses with very high entrance halls – with gable
s towering over jetty bressummers, as are still commonly seen, for instance, in Quakenbrück
, were the predominant type. In Schüttorf, however, the façade
s were not seldom massively remodelled. After demolitions, only a few older examples are still to be seen. Worthy of mention among them is the town pharmacy
, which was originally made up of two forward-gabled single houses that were joined about 1750 with a false façade. The righthand part of the building dates from about 1645. A few older houses are still found on Steinstraße. Among these, house no. 7, which originally dates from the 17th century, is particularly worthy of mention. The façade was remodelled in 1827 in the Dutch Classicist
style. On Singel (no. 1) stands a timber-frame
Dielenhaus from about 1600. It is used nowadays as an inn
.
Three villa
s are especially striking. The Villa Remy on Bentheimer Straße was built in 1906 in Baroque
building master Johann Conrad Schlaun’s style, although he had been dead since 1773. The hipped
mansard roof
recalls the Baroque, while the façades are Classicist. Villa Rost on Lehmkuhle, also known nowadays as the “Blue Villa”, is a renovated villa from 1902. Villa Schlikker on Steinstraße was a gift from manufacturer Herman ten Wolde to his daughter Ida and his son-in-law in 1903. This house is a protected monument because of its rich Art Nouveau
interior design.
s, the Vechtebad, an indoor swimming pool, and an outdoor swimming pool, founded in 1935 and overhauled in 1997. Furthermore, there is also the Quendorfer See (lake) which affords bathing or swimming. The best known player in the FC’s football
division was Simon Cziommer
, who now plays for AZ Alkmaar. A pure, if smaller, football club is SC Borussia 26 Schüttorf. TC Schüttorf 85 has its own tennis
hall and tennis court
s. The Reitsportgemeinschaft Schüttorf e.V. (horseback riding) conducts dressage
and show jumping
. Another big sport club is the Sportfischerverein Schüttorf e. V. (sport fishing) with roughly 760 members.
All together Schüttorf has four sport halls at its disposal, three sport fields, a riding hall, a tennis area, a playing field and nine children’s playground
s. Another popular kind of sport, especially in the colder months, is Kloatsheeten, which involves teams rolling a small wooden disk with a lead
en core along roadways. There are many small private clubs, which can be seen, mostly in January, on the local roads playing the game.
Schüttorf also has its Unabhängiges Jugendzentrum KOMPLEX Schüttorf e.V. – independent youth centre – but despite the name, concert
s are also staged there and there are various projects and work associations for young people. The YMCA
(or CVJM in Germany) maintains a youth café in Schüttorf. There is a local fire brigade, and there is also a youth fire brigade. There are even three carrier pigeon
breeding clubs in town, and other clubs for those who raise small animals. There are four glee clubs, five music clubs and a few other clubs and associations.
and Whitesnake
. Also, Frank Zappa
, Rod Stewart
, the Simple Minds
, David Bowie
, BBM and Die Toten Hosen
appeared in Schüttorf. Legendary was the appearance of Münster
band Törner Stier Crew, who in 1982 outdid Frank Zappa onstage as the better opening band before 50,000 spectators.. The town administration’s and the building office’s growing stricter requirements hindered the running of the festival. Once these became nearly impossible to fulfil, another festival was held in 1994 under the name Schüttorf Open Air near Bad Bentheim
-Gildehaus. In 1995 there was then another Schüttorf Open Air near Gildehaus at which the Rolling Stones appeared. Since this time, the festival has no longer existed, and also an attempt to revive it in 2004 failed. Parallelling it, however, the Komplex Open Air in Schüttorf has been developed over the last few years, organized by the Komplex youth centre’s Konzertinitiative Zikadumda. Thus far, renowned bands such as Blackmail
and 4Lyn
have played there, but local bands, too, can book appearances.
Furthermore, three yearly marksmanship festivals are held in Schüttorf by different shooting clubs – the Bürger-Schützenfest, the Gilde-Schützenfest and the Adler-Schützenfest. There are summer and autumn kermises. Since 1984, there has been a weekly market
in Schüttorf
.
One of Schüttorf’s regional specialities is Kaneelkökskes, flat, round little cakes baked to a crisp in a waffle iron
and with a light taste of cinnamon
imparted by a small amount of cinnamon oil.
Schümers Korn (corn or grain), although it is baked in the neighbouring community of Salzbergen
, can also be said to be a Schüttorf speciality. The Schümer distillery was at first located in the inner town, but at the Count’s behest, it was not allowed to build its own mill, as the wind blowing over the land belonged to the Lord. Schümer moved just outside the community limit and ran his newly built mill nevertheless with “the Count’s wind”.
One custom practised in Schüttorf and the old County (now district) is the Weggenbringen. When a child is born to a family, the neighbours and friends bring a Weggen, a loaf of raisin bread
that is often up to two metres long, and which is borne on a ladder
. Traditionally, the Weggen was baked by the neighbours themselves and given as a Christening
gift along with ham
and cheese
. After the Christening, it is then consumed. The clothing for this is the Holtbeus, a blue work jacket with black trousers, grey socks, wooden shoes, a top hat
and a red neckerchief tied with a matchbox. Today, the Weggen is hardly ever brought anymore on the Friday before the Christening. Even when there is a Weggenbringen, it is not usually a Weggen with ham and cheese that is brought, but rather things like Bobbycar
s, child car seats and other useful articles.
Also well known is the old poem Die gläserne Kutsche (“The Glass Coach”), which tells of a glass coach
drawn every year on Saint John’s Night through Schüttorf by three black, fire-snorting stallion
s.
The town song is in High German
, while “The Glass Coach” is in Low German.
also a municipal kindergarten and two further ones under the Evangelical-Reformed Church’s sponsorship and one more under the German Red Cross
’s. There are three primary schools, a Hauptschule
and a Realschule
, and until 2004 there was also a middle school
(Orientierungsstufe) but this was abolished by the state of Lower Saxony. The Hauptschule and Realschule have since 2006 been joined to the all-day school programme.
Schüttorf’s oldest school is the Kirchschule (“Church School”) or Evangelische Volksschule Schüttorf (“Schüttorf Evangelical Elementary School”) from 1608. The school founded then as a Latin grammar school had room for 200 pupils. In July 2007, the school moved into the former Hauptschule’s building. The old building has stood empty since then and is either to be made into flats for the elderly or to become a transregional museum building. Going back to a founding in 1712 is the Catholic community’s Katholische Volksschule Schüttorf. It is today the town’s smallest primary school with room for only 200 pupils. The biggest is the municipal school Grundschule auf dem Süsteresch founded in 1970.
In 1955, Schüttorf became home to the Erich-Kästner-Schule, a school for those with learning difficulties. The Hauptschule was founded in 1967, while the Realschule developed out of the elementary school. Young Schüttorfers who want to go to a Gymnasium
can commute to one of the surrounding Gymnasien, in particular the Burg-Gymnasium Bad Bentheim
, the municipal Gymnasium in Ochtrup
, the Gymnasium Rheine
or the private Missionsgymnasium St. Antonius in Bardel (see 9).
Since September 2007, Schüttorf has had its own school museum housed in the community centre (Bürgerhaus) near the former Church School.
, died 3 October 1964 in Nordhorn
), on whom this honour was bestowed on 8 May 1962. In May 1957, he had also been awarded the Bundesverdienstkreuz am Bande and since 1966, a square, Dr. Scheurmann-Platz in Schüttorf, has been named after him. Scheurmann set himself to work during his time in office above all for the town archive, bringing many old documents and historical papers together, which he published in many essays about Schüttorf (see 10).
Lower Saxony
Lower Saxony is a German state situated in north-western Germany and is second in area and fourth in population among the sixteen states of Germany...
near the Dutch
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
border
Border
Borders define geographic boundaries of political entities or legal jurisdictions, such as governments, sovereign states, federated states and other subnational entities. Some borders—such as a state's internal administrative borders, or inter-state borders within the Schengen Area—are open and...
and the boundary with Westphalia
Westphalia
Westphalia is a region in Germany, centred on the cities of Arnsberg, Bielefeld, Dortmund, Minden and Münster.Westphalia is roughly the region between the rivers Rhine and Weser, located north and south of the Ruhr River. No exact definition of borders can be given, because the name "Westphalia"...
(North Rhine-Westphalia
North Rhine-Westphalia
North Rhine-Westphalia is the most populous state of Germany, with four of the country's ten largest cities. The state was formed in 1946 as a merger of the northern Rhineland and Westphalia, both formerly part of Prussia. Its capital is Düsseldorf. The state is currently run by a coalition of the...
). The town of Schüttorf forms with the surrounding communities the Joint Community (Samtgemeinde) of Schüttorf. It is the district’s oldest town. It lies on the river Vechte
Vechte
The Vechte or Vecht , often called Overijsselse Vecht in the Netherlands to avoid confusion with its Utrecht counterpart, is a river in Germany and the Netherlands...
, roughly 5 km east of Bad Bentheim
Bad Bentheim
Bad Bentheim is a town in Lower Saxony, Germany lying in the district of Grafschaft Bentheim on the borders with North Rhine-Westphalia and the Netherlands roughly 15 km south of Nordhorn and 20 km northeast of Enschede. It is also a state-recognized thermal brine and sulphur spa town,...
, and 20 km southeast of Nordhorn
Nordhorn
Nordhorn is the district seat of Grafschaft Bentheim in Lower Saxony's southwesternmost corner near the border with the Netherlands and the boundary with North Rhine-Westphalia.- Name's origin :...
.
Location and landscape description
The town of Schüttorf lies in southwesternmost Lower Saxony and in the westernmost part of the Federal Republic of Germany. It is roughly 10 km to the Dutch border. With regards to the cultural makeup and to the natural environment, it lies in a transitional zone between the EmslandEmsland
Landkreis Emsland is a district in Lower Saxony, Germany named after the river Ems. It is bounded by the districts of Leer, Cloppenburg and Osnabrück, the state of North Rhine-Westphalia , the district of Bentheim and the Netherlands .- History :For a long time the region of the Emsland was...
and Westphalia
Westphalia
Westphalia is a region in Germany, centred on the cities of Arnsberg, Bielefeld, Dortmund, Minden and Münster.Westphalia is roughly the region between the rivers Rhine and Weser, located north and south of the Ruhr River. No exact definition of borders can be given, because the name "Westphalia"...
. The surroundings may be characterized as settled countryside. Middle centres in the area are, among others, Nordhorn
Nordhorn
Nordhorn is the district seat of Grafschaft Bentheim in Lower Saxony's southwesternmost corner near the border with the Netherlands and the boundary with North Rhine-Westphalia.- Name's origin :...
and Rheine
Rheine
Rheine is a city in the district of Steinfurt in Westphalia, Germany. It is the largest city in the district and the location of Rheine Air Base.-Geography:Rheine is located on the river Ems, approx. north of Münster, approx...
.
The town is crossed through the middle southeast to northwest by the river Vechte
Vechte
The Vechte or Vecht , often called Overijsselse Vecht in the Netherlands to avoid confusion with its Utrecht counterpart, is a river in Germany and the Netherlands...
, which farther downstream flows into the Netherlands. The town’s highest point rises to 48 m above sea level
Sea level
Mean sea level is a measure of the average height of the ocean's surface ; used as a standard in reckoning land elevation...
. Schüttorf lies in the foothills of the Bentheimer Berg, a great sandstone
Sandstone
Sandstone is a sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized minerals or rock grains.Most sandstone is composed of quartz and/or feldspar because these are the most common minerals in the Earth's crust. Like sand, sandstone may be any colour, but the most common colours are tan, brown, yellow,...
formation from the Cretaceous
Cretaceous
The Cretaceous , derived from the Latin "creta" , usually abbreviated K for its German translation Kreide , is a geologic period and system from circa to million years ago. In the geologic timescale, the Cretaceous follows the Jurassic period and is followed by the Paleogene period of the...
rising to 80 m and a wooded western outlier of the Teutoburg Forest
Teutoburg Forest
The Teutoburg Forest is a range of low, forested mountains in the German states of Lower Saxony and North Rhine-Westphalia which used to be believed to be the scene of a decisive battle in AD 9...
. Only a small piece of the Bentheim Forest is in the town. All together, roughly 89 ha of woodland
Woodland
Ecologically, a woodland is a low-density forest forming open habitats with plenty of sunlight and limited shade. Woodlands may support an understory of shrubs and herbaceous plants including grasses. Woodland may form a transition to shrubland under drier conditions or during early stages of...
is found within the town, making up 8% of the town’s total land area.
North of the town is found a former heathland
Heath (habitat)
A heath or heathland is a dwarf-shrub habitat found on mainly low quality acidic soils, characterised by open, low growing woody vegetation, often dominated by plants of the Ericaceae. There are some clear differences between heath and moorland...
, which sees mainly agronomic use nowadays. There were still broad heathlands in the town just before the First World War. The last heath was converted to agricultural
Agriculture
Agriculture is the cultivation of animals, plants, fungi and other life forms for food, fiber, and other products used to sustain life. Agriculture was the key implement in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that nurtured the...
land in 1993. A peculiarity was the dune
Dune
In physical geography, a dune is a hill of sand built by wind. Dunes occur in different forms and sizes, formed by interaction with the wind. Most kinds of dunes are longer on the windward side where the sand is pushed up the dune and have a shorter "slip face" in the lee of the wind...
area in Schüttorf, which consisted of windblown sand, but this was quarried and exploited in the mid-20th century. The outlying centre where these dunes were is, however, still popularly called “Marokko
Morocco
Morocco , officially the Kingdom of Morocco , is a country located in North Africa. It has a population of more than 32 million and an area of 710,850 km², and also primarily administers the disputed region of the Western Sahara...
” or, in Low German, Witten Over (“White Shore”), referring to the area’s “desert
Desert
A desert is a landscape or region that receives an extremely low amount of precipitation, less than enough to support growth of most plants. Most deserts have an average annual precipitation of less than...
like” appearance.
There are quite a number of open areas around the town, mainly used for agriculture. Residential areas are characterized by one-family dwellings. There are no genuine highrises in town. With the completion of the Schüttorfer Kreuz (“Schüttorf Cross”), an Autobahn cloverleaf
Cloverleaf interchange
A cloverleaf interchange is a two-level interchange in which left turns, reverse direction in left-driving regions, are handled by ramp roads...
formed by the A 30
Bundesautobahn 30
is a highway in northwestern Germany. It runs from west to east, starting at the Dutch border. On the border it connects with the Dutch A1 motorway, hence, the A 30 is part of the important European connection Berlin - Amsterdam...
and the A 31
Bundesautobahn 31
is a German Autobahn that connects the coast of the North Sea near Emden to the Ruhr area. It is also known as Emsland-Autobahn or East Frisian Skewer....
, greater commercial and industrial areas were laid out in the town’s northeast near this interchange in 2004 and 2005.
A beautiful floodplain
Floodplain
A floodplain, or flood plain, is a flat or nearly flat land adjacent a stream or river that stretches from the banks of its channel to the base of the enclosing valley walls and experiences flooding during periods of high discharge...
landscape is the Große Maate northwest of town. In this lowland
Lowland
In physical geography, a lowland is any broad expanse of land with a general low level. The term is thus applied to the landward portion of the upward slope from oceanic depths to continental highlands, to a region of depression in the interior of a mountainous region, to a plain of denudation, or...
area by the Vechte
Vechte
The Vechte or Vecht , often called Overijsselse Vecht in the Netherlands to avoid confusion with its Utrecht counterpart, is a river in Germany and the Netherlands...
are many pools replenished over and over again by flooding. Many butterfly
Butterfly
A butterfly is a mainly day-flying insect of the order Lepidoptera, which includes the butterflies and moths. Like other holometabolous insects, the butterfly's life cycle consists of four parts: egg, larva, pupa and adult. Most species are diurnal. Butterflies have large, often brightly coloured...
and other insect
Insect
Insects are a class of living creatures within the arthropods that have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body , three pairs of jointed legs, compound eyes, and two antennae...
species are found here, and also the rare kingfisher
Kingfisher
Kingfishers are a group of small to medium sized brightly coloured birds in the order Coraciiformes. They have a cosmopolitan distribution, with most species being found in the Old World and Australia...
. The Holmer Maate is another of Schüttorf’s floodplain landscapes, where lapwing
Northern Lapwing
The Northern Lapwing , also known as the Peewit, Green Plover or just Lapwing, is a bird in the plover family. It is common through temperate Eurasia....
s and great crested grebes
Great Crested Grebe
The Great Crested Grebe is a member of the grebe family of water birds.- Description :The Great Crested Grebe is long with a wingspan. It is an excellent swimmer and diver, and pursues its fish prey underwater. The adults are unmistakable in summer with head and neck decorations...
may be spotted. Near the centre is the Vechteniederung Recreation Area, which is a floodplain and contains stormwater basins.
| Use | Area in ha Hectare The hectare is a metric unit of area defined as 10,000 square metres , and primarily used in the measurement of land. In 1795, when the metric system was introduced, the are was defined as being 100 square metres and the hectare was thus 100 ares or 1/100 km2... |
|---|---|
| residential | 242 |
| commercial-industrial | 100 |
| recreation | 52 |
| transport | 135 |
| agriculture | 382 |
Neighbouring communities
The town of Schüttorf mainly borders on other members of the Joint Community, namely SamernSamern
Samern is a community in the district of Grafschaft Bentheim in Lower Saxony, Germany.-Location:Samern lies between Nordhorn and Steinfurt on the boundary with North Rhine-Westphalia...
in the southeast, Quendorf
Quendorf
Quendorf is a rural community belonging to the Joint Community of Schüttorf in southwestern Lower Saxony. There is no village centre. The community is made up of several settlements and scattered farms...
in the northwest and Engden
Engden
-Location:Engden lies between Nordhorn and Schüttorf. It belongs to the Joint Community of Schüttorf, whose administrative seat is in the like-named town.-Politics:...
in the north. Within the district of Grafschaft Bentheim, Schüttorf borders on the town of Bad Bentheim
Bad Bentheim
Bad Bentheim is a town in Lower Saxony, Germany lying in the district of Grafschaft Bentheim on the borders with North Rhine-Westphalia and the Netherlands roughly 15 km south of Nordhorn and 20 km northeast of Enschede. It is also a state-recognized thermal brine and sulphur spa town,...
in the west. In the east, the town limit is also part of the boundary with the neighbouring district of Emsland
Emsland
Landkreis Emsland is a district in Lower Saxony, Germany named after the river Ems. It is bounded by the districts of Leer, Cloppenburg and Osnabrück, the state of North Rhine-Westphalia , the district of Bentheim and the Netherlands .- History :For a long time the region of the Emsland was...
, bordering there on Ahlde, an outlying centre of the community of Emsbüren
Emsbüren
Emsbüren is a municipality in the Emsland district, Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated on the river Ems, approx. 15 km south of Lingen, and 15 km northwest of Rheine.It has a railway station: Leschede....
. There is found – only 2 km from Schüttorf – a noteworthy, small conservation area with a heath pond.
Environmental classification
Environmental areas, or units, within the municipal area can be broken down thus according to mainly geomorphological and geological criteria, and soil science (see 1):- D30 Dümm Geest Lowland and Ems-Hunte-Geest
- Nordhorn-Bentheim Sand Area – with subunits:
- Nordhorn-Engden Moor- and Sand Landscape
- (Middle) Vechte Lowland/Nordhorn Lowland
- Nordhorn-Bentheim Sand Area – with subunits:
- D34 Münsterland (Westphalian) Depression
- Westmünsterland – with subunit:
- Bentheim Forest
- Westmünsterland – with subunit:
The town of Schüttorf lies mainly on valley sand plates which are crossed by the Vechte Lowland, which is almost flush with them along this stretch. The lowland lies roughly 30 m above sea level and is from 200 to 500 m wide. Bordering its edges are river terraces with a height of roughly 35 m above sea level. Owing to the slight difference in elevation even within the river valley, the middle Vechte meandered in the past, leading to the formation of many backwater
Backwater
Backwater or Backwaters may refer to:* Backwater , water in a main river which is backed up by an obstruction such as the tide or a dam, or a branch of a main river which runs alongside it before rejoining it...
s. Since then, however, the river has been straightened and is kept at Schüttorf level.
Geology and local soil science conditions
Glacier
A glacier is a large persistent body of ice that forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation over many years, often centuries. At least 0.1 km² in area and 50 m thick, but often much larger, a glacier slowly deforms and flows due to stresses induced by its weight...
. This same glacier also pushed up the terminal moraine
Terminal moraine
A terminal moraine, also called end moraine, is a moraine that forms at the end of the glacier called the snout.Terminal moraines mark the maximum advance of the glacier. An end moraine is at the present boundary of the glacier....
that is now the Uelsen Hills and the Lingen Heights
Lingen Heights
The Lingen Heights is a landscape of low, rolling hills up to 91 metres high in the North German Plain in the western part of the north German state of Lower Saxony.- Geography :...
in today’s Grafschaft Bentheim and Emsland. In the south, the glacier found its abutment at the Mesozoic
Mesozoic
The Mesozoic era is an interval of geological time from about 250 million years ago to about 65 million years ago. It is often referred to as the age of reptiles because reptiles, namely dinosaurs, were the dominant terrestrial and marine vertebrates of the time...
Bentheim Cretaceous Sandstone Mountain Chain. During the last ice age
Ice age
An ice age or, more precisely, glacial age, is a generic geological period of long-term reduction in the temperature of the Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental ice sheets, polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers...
, the terminal basin was filled with fluvial sand, and locally, sand dunes were blown up by the wind. Within the Vechte Valley, the river deposited Holocene
Holocene
The Holocene is a geological epoch which began at the end of the Pleistocene and continues to the present. The Holocene is part of the Quaternary period. Its name comes from the Greek words and , meaning "entirely recent"...
– that is, post-ice-age – sands and floodplain loam
Loam
Loam is soil composed of sand, silt, and clay in relatively even concentration . Loam soils generally contain more nutrients and humus than sandy soils, have better infiltration and drainage than silty soils, and are easier to till than clay soils...
.
The mainly sandy, partly loamy or moor
Moorland
Moorland or moor is a type of habitat, in the temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands biome, found in upland areas, characterised by low-growing vegetation on acidic soils and heavy fog...
y soils of the valley sand plates and the narrow river floodplain are relatively sparse in soil quality, ranking between 11 and 30 on the scale used in Germany (which goes up to 100). The outliers of the Bentheim Hill are made up of Bentheim sandstone
Sandstone
Sandstone is a sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized minerals or rock grains.Most sandstone is composed of quartz and/or feldspar because these are the most common minerals in the Earth's crust. Like sand, sandstone may be any colour, but the most common colours are tan, brown, yellow,...
, a sandstone from the Early Cretaceous. These heights are the northwesternmost outposts of the Central European Uplands. Towards the surface are, as a general rule, clay
Clay
Clay is a general term including many combinations of one or more clay minerals with traces of metal oxides and organic matter. Geologic clay deposits are mostly composed of phyllosilicate minerals containing variable amounts of water trapped in the mineral structure.- Formation :Clay minerals...
ey soils and till loam. The clay is also used by industry, such as at the brickyard in Suddendorf.
Climate
Schüttorf lies in the Mid-European Temperate Zone. The average yearly temperature is 8.5°C, the mean air pressure is 1015.2 hPa and the mean yearly precipitationPrecipitation (meteorology)
In meteorology, precipitation In meteorology, precipitation In meteorology, precipitation (also known as one of the classes of hydrometeors, which are atmospheric water phenomena is any product of the condensation of atmospheric water vapor that falls under gravity. The main forms of precipitation...
amounts to between 700 and 800 mm. The climate is Subatlantic with rather mild winters and fairly warm summers. In Schüttorf itself, there is no weather station
Weather station
A weather station is a facility, either on land or sea, with instruments and equipment for observing atmospheric conditions to provide information for weather forecasts and to study the weather and climate. The measurements taken include temperature, barometric pressure, humidity, wind speed, wind...
run by the German Weather Service (Deutscher Wetterdienst). The nearest weather station is Nordhorn
Nordhorn
Nordhorn is the district seat of Grafschaft Bentheim in Lower Saxony's southwesternmost corner near the border with the Netherlands and the boundary with North Rhine-Westphalia.- Name's origin :...
, whose weather is not notably different from Schüttorf’s.
Lower Saxony’s state hydrological
Hydrology
Hydrology is the study of the movement, distribution, and quality of water on Earth and other planets, including the hydrologic cycle, water resources and environmental watershed sustainability...
service maintains a water quality
Water quality
Water quality is the physical, chemical and biological characteristics of water. It is a measure of the condition of water relative to the requirements of one or more biotic species and or to any human need or purpose. It is most frequently used by reference to a set of standards against which...
monitoring station in Samern where the Vechte’s water levels and water quality are measured and documented.
Population
Evangelical-Reformed Christians account for 40.7% of the town’s population, whereas 22.1% are Catholic
Catholicism
Catholicism is a broad term for the body of the Catholic faith, its theologies and doctrines, its liturgical, ethical, spiritual, and behavioral characteristics, as well as a religious people as a whole....
, 14.9% are Lutheran
Lutheranism
Lutheranism is a major branch of Western Christianity that identifies with the theology of Martin Luther, a German reformer. Luther's efforts to reform the theology and practice of the church launched the Protestant Reformation...
and 22% either hold no religious beliefs or belong to other faiths. There are 942 foreigners (8%) living in Schüttorf, among whom the biggest group is Turkish
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
nationals (448), and the second-biggest Dutch nationals (187). There are 1,894 people (16.2%) living in Schüttorf who are German nationals, but whose background is foreign (as of 1 January 2006).
Population development
The first population count for Schüttorf is yielded by a document from Claus von Tecklenburg from the year 1399, which clearly speaks of a total of 350 persons. What is known from this is that in 1399, Schüttorf had at least 52 townsmen, as they are named in the document. However, it seems unlikely that there were considerably more. Going by average family size, it seems likelier that at this time, the population was actually somewhere between 200 and 250 inhabitants in the town. Thereafter, the town’s population climbed continuously, a trend interrupted only by the Second World War.There were three great surges in the population growth. The first came in the late 19th century, especially in the 1890s while the textile industry
Textile industry
The textile industry is primarily concerned with the production of yarn, and cloth and the subsequent design or manufacture of clothing and their distribution. The raw material may be natural, or synthetic using products of the chemical industry....
boom due to the Industrial Revolution
Industrial Revolution
The Industrial Revolution was a period from the 18th to the 19th century where major changes in agriculture, manufacturing, mining, transportation, and technology had a profound effect on the social, economic and cultural conditions of the times...
was luring workers to Schüttorf. After the Second World War came the second wave of immigration when roughly 2,600 refugees driven out of Germany’s former eastern territories reached Schüttorf. Towards the end of the 1990s, the population once again rose sharply owing mainly to locally favourable building land prices.
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History
Schüttorf’s town hall was struck by an aerial bombAerial bombing of cities
A species of strategic bombing, the aerial bombing of cities began in 1915 during World War I, grew to a vast scale in World War II, and continues to the present day. The development of aerial bombardment marked an increased capacity of armed forces to deliver explosive weapons in populated areas...
in 1945 in the Second World War’s last days and was completely gutted. The fire also destroyed the town archive
Archive
An archive is a collection of historical records, or the physical place they are located. Archives contain primary source documents that have accumulated over the course of an individual or organization's lifetime, and are kept to show the function of an organization...
and many valuable historical documents, making research into Schüttorf’s history very difficult. Many things, however, have been reconstructed since then.
Etymology
The etymologyEtymology
Etymology is the study of the history of words, their origins, and how their form and meaning have changed over time.For languages with a long written history, etymologists make use of texts in these languages and texts about the languages to gather knowledge about how words were used during...
of the name Schüttorf is not exactly known and various folk explanations have been put forth, the most widespread of which is the legend that tells of the river Vechte
Vechte
The Vechte or Vecht , often called Overijsselse Vecht in the Netherlands to avoid confusion with its Utrecht counterpart, is a river in Germany and the Netherlands...
being diverted around the town as early as 1295 by building a dam
Dam
A dam is a barrier that impounds water or underground streams. Dams generally serve the primary purpose of retaining water, while other structures such as floodgates or levees are used to manage or prevent water flow into specific land regions. Hydropower and pumped-storage hydroelectricity are...
. The workers on this project are said to have dumped out the contents of their pushcarts on the command Schütt’t d’r up. This legend, however, only explains the sound of one of the town’s modern names (the Low German name Schüttrupp).
The earliest forms of the name Schüttorf were Scuhtthorp, Scutorpe, Scuttorpe and Scotdorpe in documents from 1154. On a coin issue from the first half of the 13th century is the form SCOTOR(p)E.
Hermann Abels (see 2) is of the opinion that the name’s origin is the Dutch
Dutch language
Dutch is a West Germanic language and the native language of the majority of the population of the Netherlands, Belgium, and Suriname, the three member states of the Dutch Language Union. Most speakers live in the European Union, where it is a first language for about 23 million and a second...
word schut (limber wall, dam, sluice
Sluice
A sluice is a water channel that is controlled at its head by a gate . For example, a millrace is a sluice that channels water toward a water mill...
), which comes close to the folk meaning. Historically, however, it comes up short, as it assumes that the Vechte was already dammed at the time the placename arose, and it leaves unexplained all forms in Scot-, which must be derived from the Low German Schott (“dividing wall in a stall”).
Another explanation has the name coming from the Vechteschuten, barge
Barge
A barge is a flat-bottomed boat, built mainly for river and canal transport of heavy goods. Some barges are not self-propelled and need to be towed by tugboats or pushed by towboats...
s (Schuten) being the flat-bottomed boats with a very small draught
Draft (hull)
The draft of a ship's hull is the vertical distance between the waterline and the bottom of the hull , with the thickness of the hull included; in the case of not being included the draft outline would be obtained...
that were used for shipping Bentheim sandstone
Sandstone
Sandstone is a sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized minerals or rock grains.Most sandstone is composed of quartz and/or feldspar because these are the most common minerals in the Earth's crust. Like sand, sandstone may be any colour, but the most common colours are tan, brown, yellow,...
. The Vechte is navigable by barge as far up as Schüttorf, and it is known that the stone was loaded here. This explanation, however, presupposes intensive river shipping
Shipping
Shipping has multiple meanings. It can be a physical process of transporting commodities and merchandise goods and cargo, by land, air, and sea. It also can describe the movement of objects by ship.Land or "ground" shipping can be by train or by truck...
at the time of the town’s founding.
Quite another explanation is that the name Schüttorf stems from Scutthorpe or Scuttrop, which means “Protection Village” (this would be Schutzdorf in Modern High German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
), referring to Altena Castle in the town. Historically, however, this explanation also does not bear up under scrutiny, for the castle
Castle
A castle is a type of fortified structure built in Europe and the Middle East during the Middle Ages by European nobility. Scholars debate the scope of the word castle, but usually consider it to be the private fortified residence of a lord or noble...
was not built until well after the town’s founding.
A modern explanation says that the placename comes from the Low German Scuit (“Irishman”). Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
’s mediaeval name was Scoti or Scotti. In Gaelic
Irish language
Irish , also known as Irish Gaelic, is a Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family, originating in Ireland and historically spoken by the Irish people. Irish is now spoken as a first language by a minority of Irish people, as well as being a second language of a larger proportion of...
there are many dialects containing and illustrating the vowel variants o and u. Furthermore, finds at digs around Schüttorf of Celtic cross
Celtic cross
A Celtic cross is a symbol that combines a cross with a ring surrounding the intersection. In the Celtic Christian world it was combined with the Christian cross and this design was often used for high crosses – a free-standing cross made of stone and often richly decorated...
es and fan crosses show that there were once Irish monk
Monk
A monk is a person who practices religious asceticism, living either alone or with any number of monks, while always maintaining some degree of physical separation from those not sharing the same purpose...
s in the area.
Early history
During excavation work for a railway line, a woman’s thighbone was unearthed in Schüttorf reckoned to date from roughly 2000 BC. Schüttorf must therefore have already been settled by that time. The cromlechCromlech
Cromlech is a Brythonic word used to describe prehistoric megalithic structures, where crom means "bent" and llech means "flagstone". The term is now virtually obsolete in archaeology, but remains in use as a colloquial term for two different types of megalithic monument.In English it usually...
s in nearby Emsbüren
Emsbüren
Emsbüren is a municipality in the Emsland district, Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated on the river Ems, approx. 15 km south of Lingen, and 15 km northwest of Rheine.It has a railway station: Leschede....
were also built at about this time. Also, a clay pot found in 1927 comes from this same era.
Already very early on, there was an important crossing of two trade routes on the site that is now Schüttorf, as the river Vechte could be crossed here at a ford. At this hub was an “original yard” around which the settlement developed and which existed until 1792 as the Alter Hof (“Old Yard”).
In the 6th or 7th century missionaries
Missionary
A missionary is a member of a religious group sent into an area to do evangelism or ministries of service, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care and economic development. The word "mission" originates from 1598 when the Jesuits sent members abroad, derived from the Latin...
from the British Isles
British Isles
The British Isles are a group of islands off the northwest coast of continental Europe that include the islands of Great Britain and Ireland and over six thousand smaller isles. There are two sovereign states located on the islands: the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and...
came to Schüttorf. At archaeological
Archaeology
Archaeology, or archeology , is the study of human society, primarily through the recovery and analysis of the material culture and environmental data that they have left behind, which includes artifacts, architecture, biofacts and cultural landscapes...
digs, Irish Celtic crosses, for instance, have been found. The naming of Schüttorf’s outlying centre of Schottbrink, whose existence can be proved by the 15th century, bears further witness to an Irish presence in the area.
In the 8th and 9th centuries, farmers from the Calais
Calais
Calais is a town in Northern France in the department of Pas-de-Calais, of which it is a sub-prefecture. Although Calais is by far the largest city in Pas-de-Calais, the department's capital is its third-largest city of Arras....
and Boulogne
Boulogne-sur-Mer
-Road:* Metropolitan bus services are operated by the TCRB* Coach services to Calais and Dunkerque* A16 motorway-Rail:* The main railway station is Gare de Boulogne-Ville and located in the south of the city....
area came and settled in Schüttorf to further Christianization. Even today many families still bear names that come from villages in that region, such as Hermeling from Hermelinghen
Hermelinghen
Hermelinghen is a commune in the Pas-de-Calais department in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region of France.-Geography:A small farming village located 13 miles south of Calais, on the D191 road. It is the source of the Slack River.-Population:...
, Hummert from Humbert
Humbert
Humbert is a Germanic given name, from hun "warrior" and beraht "bright". It also came into use as a surname-Given name:* Emebert or Ablebert Humbert (Latinized Humbertus) is a Germanic given name, from hun "warrior" and beraht "bright". It also came into use as a surname-Given name:* Emebert or...
or Wanning from Maninghen (see 3).
Town rights
Horstmar
Horstmar is a German city, located in North Rhine-Westphalia in the Steinfurt district, approx. north-west of Münster.-History:Its castle was built as early as the 9th century; the first mention of Horstmar is as early as the early 11th century....
and Oldenzaal, making the new town into an important market and shipping place, and Schüttorf became a member of the Hanse. The town rights contained in particular six rights to which townsmen were entitled. Namely these were:
- taxTaxTo tax is to impose a financial charge or other levy upon a taxpayer by a state or the functional equivalent of a state such that failure to pay is punishable by law. Taxes are also imposed by many subnational entities...
exemption; - a share of the court’s proceeds (⅔ of all taxes and fines);
- free inheritance right;
- acquisition of freedom after one year and six weeks;
- tax freedom for dealers in woodWoodWood is a hard, fibrous tissue found in many trees. It has been used for hundreds of thousands of years for both fuel and as a construction material. It is an organic material, a natural composite of cellulose fibers embedded in a matrix of lignin which resists compression...
and peatPeatPeat is an accumulation of partially decayed vegetation matter or histosol. Peat forms in wetland bogs, moors, muskegs, pocosins, mires, and peat swamp forests. Peat is harvested as an important source of fuel in certain parts of the world...
; - all rights enjoyed by the MünsterMünsterMünster is an independent city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located in the northern part of the state and is considered to be the cultural centre of the Westphalia region. It is also capital of the local government region Münsterland...
townsmen.
Beyond these six rights, there are a great many special conditions for the so-called Wicbeldeslude (this would be Weichbildleute in Modern High German) – or people from the outlying countryside – which indeed make up the bulk of the document. These people were inhabitants of the town who were subject to a special right, but they were not townsmen. In 1297, Schüttorf was also given its own jurisdiction by Count Bernd in the coram judico nostro Scottorpe.
The town’s inner political organization was left up to the townsmen. Quickly, a ruling class
Ruling class
The term ruling class refers to the social class of a given society that decides upon and sets that society's political policy - assuming there is one such particular class in the given society....
of traders and craftsmen arose. New townsmen were always invested on St. Peter’s Day (22 January), and even unwed women had the right to become townswomen. Until 1555, townsmen were obliged yearly to pay the Bürgergewinnungsgeld (“townsman’s recovery tax”), which cost them each five Taler, roughly matching the price of a fat ox and a calf. To put this into perspective, a master mason
Masonry
Masonry is the building of structures from individual units laid in and bound together by mortar; the term masonry can also refer to the units themselves. The common materials of masonry construction are brick, stone, marble, granite, travertine, limestone; concrete block, glass block, stucco, and...
earned roughly six Schilling a day, meaning that he had to work for three and a half days to earn a Taler. Alternatively it was also possible to pay a considerably lower inhabitant tax, but this brought with it no townsman’s rights. Many inhabitants chose this thriftier alternative. To be allowed to live within the town’s walls, it was a requirement for townsmen and other inhabitants alike to swear an oath
Oath
An oath is either a statement of fact or a promise calling upon something or someone that the oath maker considers sacred, usually God, as a witness to the binding nature of the promise or the truth of the statement of fact. To swear is to take an oath, to make a solemn vow...
of loyalty to the town of Schüttorf. Until 1719, all fully grown townsmen had the right to vote
Suffrage
Suffrage, political franchise, or simply the franchise, distinct from mere voting rights, is the civil right to vote gained through the democratic process...
for town councillors, but thereafter only fully grown married men who were citizens were allowed to vote.
In 1465, Count Everwyn at Bentheim once again renewed and expanded the town rights. The document witnessing this no longer exists, having been lost in the town hall fire in 1945. The new town rights were subdivided into 49 sections and dated in perpetuity. The town rights were subsequently affirmed and expanded by each Count. From 1589, however, relations between the Count’s court in Bentheim under Count Arnold and the town were souring. In this year, the Count even had the town’s mayor imprison
Prison
A prison is a place in which people are physically confined and, usually, deprived of a range of personal freedoms. Imprisonment or incarceration is a legal penalty that may be imposed by the state for the commission of a crime...
ed, releasing him only after the payment of 100 golden guilders and a hogshead (actually described as 1½ barrels) of wine
Wine
Wine is an alcoholic beverage, made of fermented fruit juice, usually from grapes. The natural chemical balance of grapes lets them ferment without the addition of sugars, acids, enzymes, or other nutrients. Grape wine is produced by fermenting crushed grapes using various types of yeast. Yeast...
. The situation thereafter steadily escalated. In 1645, Count Ernst Wilhelm refused to renew the town rights. Instead, he had the town’s mayor imprisoned for 38 weeks and then banished
Exile
Exile means to be away from one's home , while either being explicitly refused permission to return and/or being threatened with imprisonment or death upon return...
him. After this, the townsmen appealed to the Imperial Court in Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
. This grievance is still preserved there. Ernst Wilhelm on the other hand petitioned the Reichshofrat for the cassation of the town rights. The conflict further escalated when in 1668 the House of the Counts at Bentheim converted to Catholicism
Catholicism
Catholicism is a broad term for the body of the Catholic faith, its theologies and doctrines, its liturgical, ethical, spiritual, and behavioral characteristics, as well as a religious people as a whole....
while Schüttorf remained Reformed. When Ernst Wilhelm abdicated
Abdication
Abdication occurs when a monarch, such as a king or emperor, renounces his office.-Terminology:The word abdication comes derives from the Latin abdicatio. meaning to disown or renounce...
in 1693, the town refused to render homage to his son, Arnold Maruk, although in the end it was forced to do so.
Taxes
Even though the town of Schüttorf was entitled to full tax freedom in the town rights of 1295, it says in the town rights of 1465: “unse Stadt und Börger […] nicht beschwehren mitt ungewohnliche Schattinge” (“not burden our town and townsmen with unusual taxes”). So, of course, taxes were imposed. At first, taxes were levied by head of cattleCattle
Cattle are the most common type of large domesticated ungulates. They are a prominent modern member of the subfamily Bovinae, are the most widespread species of the genus Bos, and are most commonly classified collectively as Bos primigenius...
owned, but as of 1638 also for each hearth. Special taxes were levied in the 15th century for the war against the Hussites, and again in the 16th century to prevent the danger from the Turks
Siege of Vienna
The Siege of Vienna in 1529 was the first attempt by the Ottoman Empire, led by Suleiman the Magnificent, to capture the city of Vienna, Austria. The siege signalled the pinnacle of the Ottoman Empire's power, the maximum extent of Ottoman expansion in central Europe, and was the result of a...
and to fight the Anabaptists
Münster Rebellion
The Münster Rebellion was an attempt by radical Anabaptists to establish a communal sectarian government in the German city of Münster. The city became an Anabaptist center from 1534 to 1535, and fell under Anabaptist rule for 18 months — from February 1534, when the city hall was seized and...
. Towards the end of the 17th century, war contributions rose, and there were even foreign troops stationed in Schüttorf, leading to a grave financial emergency in the town. In 1682, the Count of Bentheim even felt himself forced to gather in taxes with the troops’ help.
Town fortification
- The Voeporte (completed 1424): The Föhntor
- The Steenporte (completed 1392): The Steintor
- The Wyneporte (completed 1379): The Windtor
To fortify the town further, Altena Castle (Burg Altena) was built, being completed in the first half of the 14th century. Then, in 1560, the castle became the widow’s seat of the House of the Counts at Bentheim. As of the 17th century, the castle was gradually sinking into oblivion, slowly falling into ruins that, over the townsfolk’s loud protests, were eventually torn down in 1975 to make way for a thoroughfare. Parts of the town’s old wall are preserved in the southwest Old Town (Altstadt).
Burg Altena is not to be confused with the castle in Altena
Altena
Altena is a town in the district of Märkischer Kreis, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. The town's castle is the origin for the later Dukes of Berg. Altena is situated on the Lenne river valley, in the northern streches of the Sauerland.-History:...
, which bears the same name, but which still stands today.
Guilds
In 1341, Count Simon at Bentheim recognized Schüttorf’s first guildGuild
A guild is an association of craftsmen in a particular trade. The earliest types of guild were formed as confraternities of workers. They were organized in a manner something between a trade union, a cartel, and a secret society...
, namely de Schomackere Amte (shoemakers), leading to the conclusion that this profession was particularly widespread. In 1362, Count Otto recognized the wall builders’ and cabinetmakers’ guilds, and finally in 1387, Count Bernhard recognized the smiths’
Smith (metalwork)
A metalsmith, often shortened to smith, is a person involved in making metal objects. In contemporary use a metalsmith is a person who uses metal as a material, uses traditional metalsmithing techniques , whose work thematically relates to the practice or history of the practice, or who engages in...
guild. In 1465, in the new town rights, these were still the only guilds mentioned, and no others. To be allowed to practise one of these professions it was a requirement to be a Schüttorf townsman, and also to have “won over” that profession’s guild. This entailed considerable material benefits.
Already quite early on, there was welfare in Schüttorf. The Heiliger Geist Stiftung (“Holy Ghost Foundation”) had its first documentary mention in 1379, when Count Bernhard gave the Foundation a plot of land free of charge on which to build an almshouse
Almshouse
Almshouses are charitable housing provided to enable people to live in a particular community...
. The Foundation supplied poor
Poverty
Poverty is the lack of a certain amount of material possessions or money. Absolute poverty or destitution is inability to afford basic human needs, which commonly includes clean and fresh water, nutrition, health care, education, clothing and shelter. About 1.7 billion people are estimated to live...
and elderly
Old age
Old age consists of ages nearing or surpassing the average life span of human beings, and thus the end of the human life cycle...
townsfolk with clothing, and from 1384, the needy also got a yearly allowance of four Schilling. The Heiliger Geist Stiftung still exists today and is owned by the town. It has broadened its work into promoting youth.
Municipality and community
No sooner had FrenchFrance
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
Foreign Minister Charles-Maurice de Talleyrand guaranteed the Count at Bentheim neutrality than Napoleon ignored it, annexing the County on 12 June 1806 to the Duchy of Berg. This was forthwith followed by marked encroachment upon Schüttorf’s jurisdiction and the upcoming town council election. On 7 March 1809, the Interior Minister stripped Schüttorf of its town rights and instead created the municipality of Schüttorf out of the town itself and the outlying communities of Quendorf
Quendorf
Quendorf is a rural community belonging to the Joint Community of Schüttorf in southwestern Lower Saxony. There is no village centre. The community is made up of several settlements and scattered farms...
, Wengsel, Suddendorf
Suddendorf
Suddendorf is a village and a former municipality in the district of Grafschaft Bentheim in Lower Saxony, Germany. Since 1 November 2011, it is part of the town Schüttorf.-History:...
and Neerlage. At the same time, a census
Census
A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring and recording information about the members of a given population. It is a regularly occurring and official count of a particular population. The term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common...
was compiled, which found the town’s population to be 1,040, and the municipality’s 2,140. In 1810, the municipality was further enlarged by having the communities of Salzbergen
Salzbergen
Salzbergen is a municipality in the Emsland district, Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated on the river Ems, approx. 25 km south of Lingen, and 10 km northwest of Rheine.It has the oldest oil refinery in the world, opened in 1860....
, Hummeldorf and Steide added to it. In Napoleon’s time, serfdom
Serfdom
Serfdom is the status of peasants under feudalism, specifically relating to Manorialism. It was a condition of bondage or modified slavery which developed primarily during the High Middle Ages in Europe and lasted to the mid-19th century...
also came to an end in the region. In a decree about the “abolition of serfdom in the Grand Duchy of Berg” issued on 12 December 1808 by the Imperial camp at Madrid
Madrid
Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...
, Napoleon ordered that even the Colonen and serfs were to be granted all civil rights
Civil rights
Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from unwarranted infringement by governments and private organizations, and ensure one's ability to participate in the civil and political life of the state without discrimination or repression.Civil rights include...
. In 1813, the French were driven out and Schüttorf was merged with the Kingdom of Hanover
Kingdom of Hanover
The Kingdom of Hanover was established in October 1814 by the Congress of Vienna, with the restoration of George III to his Hanoverian territories after the Napoleonic era. It succeeded the former Electorate of Brunswick-Lüneburg , and joined with 38 other sovereign states in the German...
. There was a blanket invalidation of all French laws. However, a return to the old structures proved difficult.
On 15 May 1851, an order reached the town of Schüttorf from the Osnabrück
Osnabrück
Osnabrück is a city in Lower Saxony, Germany, some 80 km NNE of Dortmund, 45 km NE of Münster, and some 100 km due west of Hanover. It lies in a valley penned between the Wiehen Hills and the northern tip of the Teutoburg Forest...
Landdrost
Drost
Seneschal of the Realm, Riksdrots , Rigsdrost , or Valtakunnandrotsi is a Danish and Swedish name of a supreme state official, with at least a connotation to administration of judiciary, who in medieval Scandinavia was often a leader in the government.The word drots/drost...
ei for the town to conform to the new Hanoverian town system. This, however, would have required the town to have a professional mayor and a town police
Police
The police is a personification of the state designated to put in practice the enforced law, protect property and reduce civil disorder in civilian matters. Their powers include the legitimized use of force...
force, things that the town could then ill afford. Thus, Schüttorf was placed under the Hanoverian Landgemeindeordnung as a community (Gemeinde) – and thereby also under a royal Amt. The later mayor Dr. Scheurmann called this a dark chapter in Schüttorf town history. Even Hanover’s annexation
Annexation
Annexation is the de jure incorporation of some territory into another geo-political entity . Usually, it is implied that the territory and population being annexed is the smaller, more peripheral, and weaker of the two merging entities, barring physical size...
by Prussia
Prussia
Prussia was a German kingdom and historic state originating out of the Duchy of Prussia and the Margraviate of Brandenburg. For centuries, the House of Hohenzollern ruled Prussia, successfully expanding its size by way of an unusually well-organized and effective army. Prussia shaped the history...
and the founding of the Empire
German Empire
The German Empire refers to Germany during the "Second Reich" period from the unification of Germany and proclamation of Wilhelm I as German Emperor on 18 January 1871, to 1918, when it became a federal republic after defeat in World War I and the abdication of the Emperor, Wilhelm II.The German...
in 1871 changed nothing with regards to Schüttorf’s status as a community.
The rise of industry
The decisive rôle in Schüttorf’s industrialization was played by the textile industry. This was due, on the one hand, to textile manufacture from linenLinen
Linen is a textile made from the fibers of the flax plant, Linum usitatissimum. Linen is labor-intensive to manufacture, but when it is made into garments, it is valued for its exceptional coolness and freshness in hot weather....
on handloom
Loom
A loom is a device used to weave cloth. The basic purpose of any loom is to hold the warp threads under tension to facilitate the interweaving of the weft threads...
s having already been done here for centuries, and on the other hand to cottage industry being channelled into this field. In the 17th century, many Schüttorfers had been going each year to the wealthy Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
to improve their livelihoods by cutting peat
Peat
Peat is an accumulation of partially decayed vegetation matter or histosol. Peat forms in wetland bogs, moors, muskegs, pocosins, mires, and peat swamp forests. Peat is harvested as an important source of fuel in certain parts of the world...
, mowing or selling wares. With the onset of hard times in the Netherlands in the early 19th century, however, this source of income dwindled. A remedy was afforded by more intensive home weaving. About 1850, the Schlikker family already employed about 400 weavers, and a few years later the first factory building was built. In 1865, the Schümer family’s dye
Dye
A dye is a colored substance that has an affinity to the substrate to which it is being applied. The dye is generally applied in an aqueous solution, and requires a mordant to improve the fastness of the dye on the fiber....
works followed. In 1867, the first Schlikker und Söhne mechanically powered cotton
Cotton
Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective capsule, around the seeds of cotton plants of the genus Gossypium. The fiber is almost pure cellulose. The botanical purpose of cotton fiber is to aid in seed dispersal....
loom went into operation. In 1881 came the cotton spinning works. What followed was an economic upswing and a skyrocketing population. At the turn of the 20th century, Schüttorf was said to be the town with the most millionaires in proportion to population. Nonetheless, the saturated textile manufacturers gradually withdrew from this business, as they could foresee an end to the boom, and they busied themselves instead as bankers and financiers in, for example, the expansion of the textile industry in neighbouring Nordhorn
Nordhorn
Nordhorn is the district seat of Grafschaft Bentheim in Lower Saxony's southwesternmost corner near the border with the Netherlands and the boundary with North Rhine-Westphalia.- Name's origin :...
, which was quickly overtaking Schüttorf.
First World War and reinstatement of town rights
The First World War led to a standstill in the textile industry, which by this time had grown into the most important economic activity in town, but raw materials were no longer being delivered. Only one business avoided closure by making uniformUniform
A uniform is a set of standard clothing worn by members of an organization while participating in that organization's activity. Modern uniforms are worn by armed forces and paramilitary organizations such as police, emergency services, security guards, in some workplaces and schools and by inmates...
s, which were important to waging a war. This led to extremely high joblessness, moving the community to resolve to cultivate at its own cost the heath
Heath (habitat)
A heath or heathland is a dwarf-shrub habitat found on mainly low quality acidic soils, characterised by open, low growing woody vegetation, often dominated by plants of the Ericaceae. There are some clear differences between heath and moorland...
surrounding Schüttorf, to give people something to do. However, this led to a heavy burden on the town’s coffers. Owing to high inflation
Inflation
In economics, inflation is a rise in the general level of prices of goods and services in an economy over a period of time.When the general price level rises, each unit of currency buys fewer goods and services. Consequently, inflation also reflects an erosion in the purchasing power of money – a...
, Schüttorf was forced to issue token money
Token money
Token money is money made from tokens of some form, as opposed to account money. Coins are token money, as are paper notes.Token money has a strong privacy feature in that it works as money without the intervention of any other party in each transaction between two parties. Privacy makes money...
and bread tokens.
After the war the community resolved to install a professional mayor as the first step back towards townhood. On 28 February 1924, the Berliner Dr. Franz Scheurmann was installed as Schüttorf’s first full-time mayor, a fact officially recorded in a document. On 15 June 1924 came the decision that as of 1 July, Schüttorf would once more be constituted as a town. From that day, too, Schüttorf would also have its own police force. On 1 October 1924, the town founded a town savings bank
Savings bank
A savings bank is a financial institution whose primary purpose is accepting savings deposits. It may also perform some other functions.In Europe, savings banks originated in the 19th or sometimes even the 18th century. Their original objective was to provide easily accessible savings products to...
to encourage the townsfolk to save after the inflation.
Third Reich and Second World War
In October 1942, Mayor Scheurmann was removed from office owing to serious differences with the local NSDAPNational Socialist German Workers Party
The National Socialist German Workers' Party , commonly known in English as the Nazi Party, was a political party in Germany between 1920 and 1945. Its predecessor, the German Workers' Party , existed from 1919 to 1920...
leader Arnold Horstmeier and the NSDAP district leader Dr. Josef Ständer. He was succeeded by Arnold Horstmeier, who was appointed mayor, and who imposed on the outgoing mayor a restraining order
Restraining order
A restraining order or order of protection is a form of legal injunction that requires a party to do, or to refrain from doing, certain acts. A party that refuses to comply with an order faces criminal or civil penalties and may have to pay damages or accept sanctions...
forbidding him to speak or stay in Schüttorf. In Schüttorf there came great disputes between the state and the Reformed Church, as Pastor Friedrich Middendorf was a member of the Reichsbruderrat (“Reich Brotherly Council”) of the Confessing Church
Confessing Church
The Confessing Church was a Protestant schismatic church in Nazi Germany that arose in opposition to government-sponsored efforts to nazify the German Protestant church.-Demographics:...
. Despite mass protests, he eventually had to leave the community after having a restraining order imposed on him forbidding him to stay in the region.
In Schüttorf, before the National Socialist régime came to power, there were three Jewish families, two of whom fled, and the other of whom was deported. Today, there are no Jews living in Schüttorf.
During the Allied
Western Allies
The Western Allies were a political and geographic grouping among the Allied Powers of the Second World War. It generally includes the United Kingdom and British Commonwealth, the United States, France and various other European and Latin American countries, but excludes China, the Soviet Union,...
air war
Air War
"Air War" is a single by Crystal Castles. It was released on 17 December 2007 on London UK's Trouble Records as 7" vinyl. An earlier version of the song was released in July 2006 as the B-Side to "Alice Practice" on London UK's Merok Records. The lyrics are from the James Joyce book Ulysses...
on Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, Schüttorf was repeatedly bombed, not as a primary target, however. When Allied fliers had not used all their bombs on their mission, it was common practice simply to dump the unused ones anywhere before leaving Germany. Schüttorf was unlucky enough to be chosen as the dumping ground several times. On 3 April 1945, after the Allies had taken Bad Bentheim
Bad Bentheim
Bad Bentheim is a town in Lower Saxony, Germany lying in the district of Grafschaft Bentheim on the borders with North Rhine-Westphalia and the Netherlands roughly 15 km south of Nordhorn and 20 km northeast of Enschede. It is also a state-recognized thermal brine and sulphur spa town,...
(then still Bentheim), they supposed that strong German forces were lying in wait in Schüttorf, and so they shelled
Artillery
Originally applied to any group of infantry primarily armed with projectile weapons, artillery has over time become limited in meaning to refer only to those engines of war that operate by projection of munitions far beyond the range of effect of personal weapons...
the town heavily, with bomber squadrons also dropping phosphorus
Phosphorus
Phosphorus is the chemical element that has the symbol P and atomic number 15. A multivalent nonmetal of the nitrogen group, phosphorus as a mineral is almost always present in its maximally oxidized state, as inorganic phosphate rocks...
incendiary bombs. This brought about the utter destruction of 15 houses. A further 25 were heavily damaged, and roughly 600 lightly damaged.
The German paratrooper
Paratrooper
Paratroopers are soldiers trained in parachuting and generally operate as part of an airborne force.Paratroopers are used for tactical advantage as they can be inserted into the battlefield from the air, thereby allowing them to be positioned in areas not accessible by land...
s who had been stationed in Schüttorf had withdrawn already anyway, to Lingen
Lingen
Lingen is a town in Lower Saxony, Germany. In 2008 the population was 52,353, and in addition there are about 5,000 people who have registered the city as their secondary residence...
, blowing up all bridge
Bridge
A bridge is a structure built to span physical obstacles such as a body of water, valley, or road, for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle...
s on the Vechte and wrecking the electrical and telephone systems as they went. On 4 April 1945, the town hall was struck by an aerial bomb and burnt, along with the town’s archive. The next day, Schüttorf was liberated by British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
troops. All together, Schüttorf counted 222 dead, eight civilians had been killed in bombings and shellings, and 114 inhabitants were said to be missing.
The British military government installed Bernhard Verwold as honorary mayor in April 1945 until the townsfolk could once again elect a mayor themselves. This they eventually did, and on 25 January 1946 they returned the later honorary citizen Dr. Franz Scheurmann to the mayor’s office. In 1960, he was awarded the Bundesverdienstkreuz
Bundesverdienstkreuz
The Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany is the only general state decoration of the Federal Republic of Germany. It has existed since 7 September 1951, and between 3,000 and 5,200 awards are given every year across all classes...
. (see 4)
One Nazi opponent was Friedrich Middendorff, who was made pastor of the Evangelical-Reformed parish in Schüttorf in 1926. Even before the Machtergreifung
Machtergreifung
Machtergreifung is a German word meaning "seizure of power". It is normally used specifically to refer to the Nazi takeover of power in the democratic Weimar Republic on 30 January 1933, the day Hitler was sworn in as Chancellor of Germany, turning it into the Nazi German dictatorship.-Term:The...
, he had been openly disagreeing with National Socialist Ideology in the Deutsches Allgemeines Sonntagsblatt, and he was also known through his work in the Christlich-Sozialer Volksdienst, and he quickly became a target for the Nazis. What followed was surveillance by the Gestapo
Gestapo
The Gestapo was the official secret police of Nazi Germany. Beginning on 20 April 1934, it was under the administration of the SS leader Heinrich Himmler in his position as Chief of German Police...
and state reprisals. The disagreement reached its apex on 18 April 1937 when several hundred Schüttorfers gathered before the town hall after Middendorff had been arrested and “sang him free”, standing there for hours singing chorales until he was released. His article Ein Weniges zur Judenfrage (“A Little About the Jewish Question
Jewish Question
The Jewish question encompasses the issues and resolutions surrounding the historically unequal civil, legal and national statuses between minority Ashkenazi Jews and non-Jews, particularly in Europe. The first issues discussed and debated by societies, politicians and writers in western and...
”), which was seized and banned, had become well known. Middendorff had to flee town in 1937, and so did his family the following year. Only after the war, when the Third Reich had been defeated, in 1946, did he come back to Schüttorf. He later held many offices, and became from 1946 to 1953 the ecclesiastical president of the Evangelical-Reformed Church. Later he was the lead candidate for the DFU in the Lower Saxony elections. In 1973, however, he lost his life in a traffic accident. A square in Schüttorf, Friedrich-Middendorff-Platz, is named after him. (see 5)
Religious history
Saint Lawrence
Lawrence of Rome was one of the seven deacons of ancient Rome who were martyred during the persecution of Valerian in 258.- Holy Chalice :...
in Schüttorf was mentioned in a document for the first time. In 1544, Count Arnold converted to the Lutheran faith
Lutheranism
Lutheranism is a major branch of Western Christianity that identifies with the theology of Martin Luther, a German reformer. Luther's efforts to reform the theology and practice of the church launched the Protestant Reformation...
, and along with him the whole County. In 1588, the County became Evangelical-Reformed and thereby Calvinist
Calvinism
Calvinism is a Protestant theological system and an approach to the Christian life...
. Even today, most Schüttorfers are Evangelical-Reformed. From 1598 to 1599, however, Schüttorf was occupied by Spanish
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
troops and Reformed services were banned on penalty. In 1629, a convent
Convent
A convent is either a community of priests, religious brothers, religious sisters, or nuns, or the building used by the community, particularly in the Roman Catholic Church and in the Anglican Communion...
was founded in Schüttorf. It stood at first under the Beguines’ care, but was later transferred to the Augustinians
Augustinians
The term Augustinians, named after Saint Augustine of Hippo , applies to two separate and unrelated types of Catholic religious orders:...
. In 1843, the convent was torn down.
Churches
Schüttorf has at its disposal six Houses of God. The most striking is the Evangelical-Reformed Church of Saint Lawrence (Kirche St. Laurentius), also known as große Kirche (“Big Church”) or Schüttorfer Riese (“Schüttorf Giant”). This church is a three-naved hall churchHall church
A hall church is a church with nave and side aisles of approximately equal height, often united under a single immense roof. The term was first coined in the mid-19th century by the pioneering German art historian Wilhelm Lübke....
built in the Gothic style
Gothic architecture
Gothic architecture is a style of architecture that flourished during the high and late medieval period. It evolved from Romanesque architecture and was succeeded by Renaissance architecture....
with four bays
Bay (architecture)
A bay is a unit of form in architecture. This unit is defined as the zone between the outer edges of an engaged column, pilaster, or post; or within a window frame, doorframe, or vertical 'bas relief' wall form.-Defining elements:...
, a transept
Transept
For the periodical go to The Transept.A transept is a transverse section, of any building, which lies across the main body of the building. In Christian churches, a transept is an area set crosswise to the nave in a cruciform building in Romanesque and Gothic Christian church architecture...
and a polygon
Polygon
In geometry a polygon is a flat shape consisting of straight lines that are joined to form a closed chain orcircuit.A polygon is traditionally a plane figure that is bounded by a closed path, composed of a finite sequence of straight line segments...
al choir. It also once served as the burying place for the Bentheim Counts.
The nave
Nave
In Romanesque and Gothic Christian abbey, cathedral basilica and church architecture, the nave is the central approach to the high altar, the main body of the church. "Nave" was probably suggested by the keel shape of its vaulting...
was built in stages. The oldest part likely dates from 1355 and consists of a one-naved, cross-shaped building with today’s fourth bay as the crossing and today’s crossing as the choir, as well as the second and third bays and the fourth bay’s side nave. The tower stood on the spot where today the first bay stands. In the fourth bay’s north side nave is found a fresco-secco
Fresco-secco
Fresco-secco is a fresco painting technique in which pigments ground in water are tempered using egg yolk or whole egg mixed with water which are applied to plaster that has been moistened to simulate fresh plaster. No white is used...
painting from the 14th century. Bit by bit, the bays were widened with side naves. The nave was likely only joined to the tower after that was finished.
The church’s overall length is 54 m and its breadth 19 m. The tower is 81.17 m high and can be seen from anywhere in Schüttorf. This church had its first documentary mention in 1355 when an indulgence letter for its construction was sold; in 1390, it was expanded. Building work on the choir in today’s building began on the Thursday after Corpus Christi
Corpus Christi (feast)
Corpus Christi is a Latin Rite solemnity, now designated the solemnity of The Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ . It is also celebrated in some Anglican, Lutheran and Old Catholic Churches. Like Trinity Sunday and the Solemnity of Christ the King, it does not commemorate a particular event in...
in 1477. It was finished on Christmas Eve
Christmas Eve
Christmas Eve refers to the evening or entire day preceding Christmas Day, a widely celebrated festival commemorating the birth of Jesus of Nazareth that takes place on December 25...
1478. Work on the nave began in 1500, while work continued on the square west tower, which had an eight-sided pyramid
Pyramid
A pyramid is a structure whose outer surfaces are triangular and converge at a single point. The base of a pyramid can be trilateral, quadrilateral, or any polygon shape, meaning that a pyramid has at least three triangular surfaces...
al cupola
Cupola
In architecture, a cupola is a small, most-often dome-like, structure on top of a building. Often used to provide a lookout or to admit light and air, it usually crowns a larger roof or dome....
, until 1535. This tower burnt six times, however, in 1684, 1703, 1799, 1817 (twice in as many days) and 1889 after being struck by lightning
Lightning
Lightning is an atmospheric electrostatic discharge accompanied by thunder, which typically occurs during thunderstorms, and sometimes during volcanic eruptions or dust storms...
. A legend has it that the last tower fire on 8 February 1889 was quenched with milk
Milk
Milk is a white liquid produced by the mammary glands of mammals. It is the primary source of nutrition for young mammals before they are able to digest other types of food. Early-lactation milk contains colostrum, which carries the mother's antibodies to the baby and can reduce the risk of many...
, which in the fire’s heat quickly dried and formed a crust, smothering the fire. The original bell
Church bell
A church bell is a bell which is rung in a church either to signify the hour or the time for worshippers to go to church, perhaps to attend a wedding, funeral, or other service...
s for the tower came from the years 1502 and 1772; however, in 1917, these bells had to be handed over and melted down for war requirements. Today there are six bells hanging in the tower, among them an old firebell from 1435 that was spared in 1917. The church’s organ
Organ (music)
The organ , is a keyboard instrument of one or more divisions, each played with its own keyboard operated either with the hands or with the feet. The organ is a relatively old musical instrument in the Western musical tradition, dating from the time of Ctesibius of Alexandria who is credited with...
is a two-manualled instrument with tin pipes. it was built in 1963 by the Swiss
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
organ-building business Th. Kuhn.
The Catholic Church of Mary (Marienkirche) was built in 1868. It contains a sandstone Madonna
Madonna (art)
Images of the Madonna and the Madonna and Child or Virgin and Child are pictorial or sculptured representations of Mary, Mother of Jesus, either alone, or more frequently, with the infant Jesus. These images are central icons of Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodox Christianity where Mary remains...
from the late 16th century. Before this church was built, Schüttorf’s Catholics had to make do with the chapel
Chapel
A chapel is a building used by Christians as a place of fellowship and worship. It may be part of a larger structure or complex, such as a church, college, hospital, palace, prison or funeral home, located on board a military or commercial ship, or it may be an entirely free-standing building,...
at Altena Castle. After the Second World War, there first came a New Apostolic church and in 1955 the Lutheran church. The Lutheran church has been called Christophorus-Kirche (“St. Christopher’s Church”) since 1992. In this same year, a small mosque
Mosque
A mosque is a place of worship for followers of Islam. The word is likely to have entered the English language through French , from Portuguese , from Spanish , and from Berber , ultimately originating in — . The Arabic word masjid literally means a place of prostration...
was founded in an old workshop. Since 2004 there has also been a House of God for the Free Christian community. Furthermore, Schüttorf has, besides an Evangelical and a Catholic, also an old Jewish cemetery
Cemetery
A cemetery is a place in which dead bodies and cremated remains are buried. The term "cemetery" implies that the land is specifically designated as a burying ground. Cemeteries in the Western world are where the final ceremonies of death are observed...
.
Joint Community
When Lower Saxony was founded in 1946, Schüttorf became part of this BundeslandStates of Germany
Germany is made up of sixteen which are partly sovereign constituent states of the Federal Republic of Germany. Land literally translates as "country", and constitutionally speaking, they are constituent countries...
. On 14 December 1970 the Joint Community (Samtgemeinde) of Schüttorf was founded. This at first consisted of nine communities, the town of Schüttorf itself and the communities of Engden
Engden
-Location:Engden lies between Nordhorn and Schüttorf. It belongs to the Joint Community of Schüttorf, whose administrative seat is in the like-named town.-Politics:...
, Drievorden, Neerlage, Wengsel, Ohne
Ohne
Ohne is a community in the district of Grafschaft Bentheim in Lower Saxony, Germany.-Location:Ohne lies between Nordhorn and Steinfurt on the boundary with North Rhine-Westphalia...
, Quendorf
Quendorf
Quendorf is a rural community belonging to the Joint Community of Schüttorf in southwestern Lower Saxony. There is no village centre. The community is made up of several settlements and scattered farms...
, Samern
Samern
Samern is a community in the district of Grafschaft Bentheim in Lower Saxony, Germany.-Location:Samern lies between Nordhorn and Steinfurt on the boundary with North Rhine-Westphalia...
and Suddendorf
Suddendorf
Suddendorf is a village and a former municipality in the district of Grafschaft Bentheim in Lower Saxony, Germany. Since 1 November 2011, it is part of the town Schüttorf.-History:...
. Later, the communities of Engden and Drievorden were merged into the community of Engden, and likewise the communities of Neerlage and Wengsel into the community of Isterberg
Isterberg
The community of Isterberg in Lower Saxony’s district of Grafschaft Bentheim came into being in the 1970s through the amalgamation of the two former communities of Wengsel and Neerlage. It lies between Bad Bentheim and Nordhorn and belongs to the Joint Community of Schüttorf, whose administrative...
, so that the Joint Community now consisted of seven communities. The Joint Community’s work is to take charge of collective planning work, to promote tourism
Tourism
Tourism is travel for recreational, leisure or business purposes. The World Tourism Organization defines tourists as people "traveling to and staying in places outside their usual environment for not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business and other purposes".Tourism has become a...
and to take charge of disposing of sewage
Sewage
Sewage is water-carried waste, in solution or suspension, that is intended to be removed from a community. Also known as wastewater, it is more than 99% water and is characterized by volume or rate of flow, physical condition, chemical constituents and the bacteriological organisms that it contains...
and rubbish. Furthermore, adult education
Adult education
Adult education is the practice of teaching and educating adults. Adult education takes place in the workplace, through 'extension' school or 'school of continuing education' . Other learning places include folk high schools, community colleges, and lifelong learning centers...
, the promotion and creation of cultural institutions and civil status functions also fall within its field of responsibility. The Joint Community is administered by the Samtgemeinderat (Joint Community council), the Samtgemeindeausschuss (Joint Community board) and the Samtgemeindebürgermeister (Joint Community mayor) and has its own seal.
Politics in Schüttorf is subdivided into the Joint Community administration and the town’s own administration; so there is not only a Joint Community council but also a town council for Schüttorf itself. The Joint Community mayor and the mayor, moreover, are two different persons, and each of the other constituent communities in the Joint Community has its own mayor. The mayor’s office also has at its side an unelected town director (Stadtdirektor). Until November 2006 the mayoralty was honorary, but it was then replaced with a full-time, professional position.
Town council and mayor
| Party/Group | Seats |
|---|---|
| CDU Christian Democratic Union (Germany) The Christian Democratic Union of Germany is a Christian democratic and conservative political party in Germany. It is regarded as on the centre-right of the German political spectrum... |
9 |
| SPD Social Democratic Party of Germany The Social Democratic Party of Germany is a social-democratic political party in Germany... |
9 |
| Bündnis 90/Die Grünen | 2 |
| FDP | 1 |
| Wählergemeinschaft Bürger für Bürger | 1 |
| Schüttorfer-Liste | 1 |
On Schüttorf’s town council, the SPD once traditionally held a majority; however, once an independent voters’ community was founded in September 1968, the SPD could no longer achieve an absolute majority. This situation still held true in 2006, since which time, when municipal elections were last held, Schüttorf has been governed by a “Jamaica coalition”. The current mayor is Thomas Michael Hamerlik (CDU) with two deputies: Claudia Middelberg (Bündnis 90/Die Grünen) and Jochen Vahl (FDP).
After Dr. Franz Scheurmann (see Third Reich and Second World War above) left office in 1949, he was followed by Johann Wenning (SPD) who held office until 1952, when Scheurmann (CDU) was reëlected, holding office until October 1956. After this, Johann Wenning was once again mayor until 1972. On 16 November of that year, Hermann Brinkmann (SPD) was elected, serving until 16 January 1989 when he was beaten by Karl-Heinrich Dreyer (SPD), who himself held office until 8 November 2006, when he was declared the town’s “honorary mayor”. Shortly thereafter, he was awarded the Bundesverdienstkreuz for his achievements. His successor is Thomas M. Hamerlik (CDU).
| Mayor | Time |
|---|---|
| Dr Franz Scheurmann later (CDU) | 28 February 1924 – October 1942 25 January 1946 – 5 January 1949 1952 – October 1956 |
| Arnold Horstmeyer (NSDAP) | October 1942 – April 1945 (installed by NSDAP district leadership) |
| Bernhard Verwold | April 1945 – 25 January 1946 (installed by British military government) |
| Johann Wenning (SPD) | 5 January 1949 – 1952 October 1956 – 16 October 1972 |
| Hermann Brinkmann (SPD) | 16 November 1972 – 14 November 1988 |
| Karl-Heinz Dreyer (SPD) | 16 January 1989 – 8 November 2006 |
| Thomas Michael Hamerlik (CDU) | 8 November 2006 – today |
Coat of arms
The town’s arms presumably came into being not long after Schüttorf was raised to town. Town privilege is not mentioned by any seal or coat of armsCoat of arms
A coat of arms is a unique heraldic design on a shield or escutcheon or on a surcoat or tabard used to cover and protect armour and to identify the wearer. Thus the term is often stated as "coat-armour", because it was anciently displayed on the front of a coat of cloth...
, the choice of arms having been left to the townsmen. The oldest preserved document showing Schüttorf’s arms as a seal dates from 1315.
The coat of arms shows a stylized town gate with two towers between which is found Grafschaft Bentheim’s arms. It is, however, not one of Schüttorf’s town gates shown in the arms – the arms are older than the town gates – but rather the arms are meant to symbolize the town’s status as such.
Schüttorf also has its own flag
Flag
A flag is a piece of fabric with a distinctive design that is usually rectangular and used as a symbol, as a signaling device, or decoration. The term flag is also used to refer to the graphic design employed by a flag, or to its depiction in another medium.The first flags were used to assist...
, which has two broad horizontal stripes and bears in the middle the town’s arms in oval form.
Town partnerships
Schüttorf maintained until 2005 a town partnership with Vriezenveen (TwenterandTwenterand
Twenterand is a municipality in the province of Overijssel in the eastern Netherlands. The name means "edge of Twente" as it is situated on the northwestern fringe of the historical region of Twente....
) in the Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
, in the Twente
Twente
Twente is a non-administrative region in the eastern Netherlands. It encompasses the most urbanised and easternmost part of the province of Overijssel...
region. This town partnership was part of the EUREGIO
EUREGIO
EUREGIO is a cross-border region between the Netherlands and Germany. It was founded in 1958 and is organized as an Eingetragener Verein. Participating communities are in Niedersachsen and Nordrhein-Westfalen in Germany and parts of the Dutch provinces Gelderland, Overijssel and Drenthe...
programme, a municipal league, to which roughly 140 German and Dutch towns, communities and districts belong. The EUREGIO league seeks to develop cross-border economic relations and fosters cultural exchange and German-Dutch school contacts. In 2005, Vriezenveen cancelled the town partnership, although Schüttorf remained part of EUREGIO. Dutch
Dutch language
Dutch is a West Germanic language and the native language of the majority of the population of the Netherlands, Belgium, and Suriname, the three member states of the Dutch Language Union. Most speakers live in the European Union, where it is a first language for about 23 million and a second...
is an optional subject in Schüttorf’s Realschule
Realschule
The Realschule is a type of secondary school in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and Liechtenstein. It has also existed in Croatia , Denmark , Sweden , Hungary and in the Russian Empire .-History:The Realschule was an outgrowth of the rationalism and empiricism of the seventeenth and...
.
Air transport
Schüttorf lies roughly a 50-minute drive away from the international Münster/Osnabrück Airport (FMO) in GrevenGreven
Greven is a medium-sized town in the district of Steinfurt, in Germany's most populous state of North Rhine-Westphalia and close to the city of Münster.-Geography:Greven is situated on the river Ems, approx...
. A regional airport is to be found 15 minutes’ drive away at Klausheide near Nordhorn
Nordhorn
Nordhorn is the district seat of Grafschaft Bentheim in Lower Saxony's southwesternmost corner near the border with the Netherlands and the boundary with North Rhine-Westphalia.- Name's origin :...
.
Rail and bus transport
Schüttorf railway station lies on the Bad Bentheim–Minden railway line (KBS 375). There is local rail transport provided by the RBRegionalBahn
The Regionalbahn is a type of local passenger train in Germany.-Service:Regionalbahn trains usually call at all stations on a given line, with the exception of RB trains within S-Bahn networks, these may only call at selected stations...
61 on the Wiehengebirgs-Bahn (Bad Bentheim
Bad Bentheim
Bad Bentheim is a town in Lower Saxony, Germany lying in the district of Grafschaft Bentheim on the borders with North Rhine-Westphalia and the Netherlands roughly 15 km south of Nordhorn and 20 km northeast of Enschede. It is also a state-recognized thermal brine and sulphur spa town,...
–Rheine
Rheine
Rheine is a city in the district of Steinfurt in Westphalia, Germany. It is the largest city in the district and the location of Rheine Air Base.-Geography:Rheine is located on the river Ems, approx. north of Münster, approx...
–Osnabrück
Osnabrück
Osnabrück is a city in Lower Saxony, Germany, some 80 km NNE of Dortmund, 45 km NE of Münster, and some 100 km due west of Hanover. It lies in a valley penned between the Wiehen Hills and the northern tip of the Teutoburg Forest...
–Herford
Herford
Herford is a town in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, located in the lowlands between the hill chains of the Wiehen Hills and the Teutoburg Forest. It is the capital of the district of Herford.- Geographic location :...
–Bielefeld
Bielefeld
Bielefeld is an independent city in the Ostwestfalen-Lippe Region in the north-east of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. With a population of 323,000, it is also the most populous city in the Regierungsbezirk Detmold...
).
In local road transport, bus
Bus
A bus is a road vehicle designed to carry passengers. Buses can have a capacity as high as 300 passengers. The most common type of bus is the single-decker bus, with larger loads carried by double-decker buses and articulated buses, and smaller loads carried by midibuses and minibuses; coaches are...
lines join Schüttorf with Nordhorn
Nordhorn
Nordhorn is the district seat of Grafschaft Bentheim in Lower Saxony's southwesternmost corner near the border with the Netherlands and the boundary with North Rhine-Westphalia.- Name's origin :...
, Bad Bentheim, Ochtrup
Ochtrup
Ochtrup is a town in the district of Steinfurt, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is situated approx. 20 km west of Rheine and 20 km east of Enschede.-History:...
and the surrounding villages.
Roads
In Schüttorf’s northeast is found the cloverleafCloverleaf interchange
A cloverleaf interchange is a two-level interchange in which left turns, reverse direction in left-driving regions, are handled by ramp roads...
known as the Schüttorfer Kreuz where the Autobahnen A 30 (Bad Oeynhausen
Bad Oeynhausen
Bad Oeynhausen is a spa town in the Minden-Lübbecke district, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.- Geography :Bad Oeynhausen is located on the banks of the Weser river, which runs along the eastern edges of the town. Bad Oeynhausen has the world's highest carbonated, thermal saltwater fountain,...
– Osnabrück
Osnabrück
Osnabrück is a city in Lower Saxony, Germany, some 80 km NNE of Dortmund, 45 km NE of Münster, and some 100 km due west of Hanover. It lies in a valley penned between the Wiehen Hills and the northern tip of the Teutoburg Forest...
– Hengelo
Hengelo
Hengelo is a municipality and a city in the eastern Netherlands, in the province of Overijssel. The city lies along the motorways A1/E30 and A35 and it has a station for the International Amsterdam – Hannover – Berlin service.-Traffic and transport:...
) and A 31 (Emden
Emden
Emden is a city and seaport in the northwest of Germany, on the river Ems. It is the main city of the region of East Frisia; in 2006, the city had a total population of 51,692.-History:...
– Oberhausen
Oberhausen
Oberhausen is a city on the river Emscher in the Ruhr Area, Germany, located between Duisburg and Essen . The city hosts the International Short Film Festival Oberhausen and its Gasometer Oberhausen is an anchor point of the European Route of Industrial Heritage. It is also well known for the...
) cross each other.
Economy
Towards the end of the 19th century, a strong textile industry was developing itself in Schüttorf with several large local businesses (Schlikker & Söhne, Gathmann & Gerdemann, G. Schümer & Co. and ten Wolde, later Carl Rremy; today’s RoFa is not one of the original textile companies, but was founded by H. Lammering and later taken over by Gerhard Schlikker jun., Levert Rost and Wilhelm Edel; the name RoFa comes from the postwar shareholders Rost and Falley). Moreover, a margarineMargarine
Margarine , as a generic term, can indicate any of a wide range of butter substitutes, typically composed of vegetable oils. In many parts of the world, the market share of margarine and spreads has overtaken that of butter...
factory (Wilhelm Edel & Co.) was also established. Schüttorf managed to do very well for itself from this industrialization, which was reflected in the population figures (1871: 1692 inhabitants, 1900: 4110). (see 6). In the textile industry crisis in the 1970s, the industry in Schüttorf, too, fell into crisis, and nowadays only the firms RoFa and G. Schümer GmbH & Co. still exist. As a result of this, joblessness rose, and the town’s tax revenues fell.
After the Schüttorfer Kreuz was completed in December 2004, Schüttorf profited from its favourable transport location and its proximity to the Dutch border. Schüttorf had at this time laid out a big industrial area on the Autobahn and tried by fostering the economy to get businesses to locate there. The Joint Community’s unemployment rate lay at 6.7% in May 2007, which was lower than the figure for Lower Saxony as a whole (8.5%), but higher than the figure for the district (6.1%).
Established businesses
A full town business directory can be found in source 7).One of the biggest business taxpayers in Schüttorf since 1971 has been the Swiss company Georg Utz GmbH with 280 employees. This enterprise maintains a plastics factory in which plastic palettes and containers are made. Similarly big is a corrugated cardboard factory run by the Prowell Group, which was completed in 2005 right on the cloverleaf. Stemmann-Technik GmbH, with its 320 employees, produces pantographs
Pantograph (rail)
A pantograph for rail lines is a hinged electric-rod device that collects electric current from overhead lines for electric trains or trams. The pantograph typically connects to a one-wire line, with the track acting as the ground wire...
for the ICE
InterCityExpress
The Intercity-Express or ICE is a system of high-speed trains predominantly running in Germany and neighbouring countries. It is the highest service category offered by DB Fernverkehr and is the flagship of Deutsche Bahn...
and other train
Train
A train is a connected series of vehicles for rail transport that move along a track to transport cargo or passengers from one place to another place. The track usually consists of two rails, but might also be a monorail or maglev guideway.Propulsion for the train is provided by a separate...
s, tram
Tram
A tram is a passenger rail vehicle which runs on tracks along public urban streets and also sometimes on separate rights of way. It may also run between cities and/or towns , and/or partially grade separated even in the cities...
ways and metros
Rapid transit
A rapid transit, underground, subway, elevated railway, metro or metropolitan railway system is an electric passenger railway in an urban area with a high capacity and frequency, and grade separation from other traffic. Rapid transit systems are typically located either in underground tunnels or on...
as well as further products for energy and data transfer in industry. Midsized businesses are Arnold Lammering GmbH & Co. KG, a steel
Steel
Steel is an alloy that consists mostly of iron and has a carbon content between 0.2% and 2.1% by weight, depending on the grade. Carbon is the most common alloying material for iron, but various other alloying elements are used, such as manganese, chromium, vanadium, and tungsten...
wholesale
Wholesale
Wholesaling, jobbing, or distributing is defined as the sale of goods or merchandise to retailers, to industrial, commercial, institutional, or other professional business users, or to other wholesalers and related subordinated services...
r with roughly 100 employees, Mannebeck Landtechnik, which manufactures stable equipment and Kortmann Beton GmbH & Co. KG, which makes concrete
Concrete
Concrete is a composite construction material, composed of cement and other cementitious materials such as fly ash and slag cement, aggregate , water and chemical admixtures.The word concrete comes from the Latin word...
parts and blocks. Until 2004, the town was also home to a lime sand brickworks, but this was closed and torn down. Schüttorf’s favourable transport location encourages shipper
Shipper
A shipper can be:*Someone who sends goods for shipment, by packaging, labeling, and arranging for transit, or who coordinates the transport of goods*Shipping , someone who supports a fictional romantic relationship, usually on the Internet...
s to set up shop here. Five such companies have done so: Rigterink GmbH & Co. KG, Fiege net, SLK Kock internationale Spedition & Logistik GmbH, Euregio-Logistik GmbH and Wanning Spedition GmbH & Co. KG.
The best known company in Schüttorf, even far beyond the town, is the Danish
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
company Tulip Food Company GmbH which processes meat
Meat
Meat is animal flesh that is used as food. Most often, this means the skeletal muscle and associated fat and other tissues, but it may also describe other edible tissues such as organs and offal...
and sausage
Sausage
A sausage is a food usually made from ground meat , mixed with salt, herbs, and other spices, although vegetarian sausages are available. The word sausage is derived from Old French saussiche, from the Latin word salsus, meaning salted.Typically, a sausage is formed in a casing traditionally made...
products which are sold under this name in German supermarket
Supermarket
A supermarket, a form of grocery store, is a self-service store offering a wide variety of food and household merchandise, organized into departments...
s. Further companies known well beyond the town are the family business (since 1821) H. Klümper GmbH & Co. KG and Klüsta-Schinken Klümper & Stamme GmbH, which distribute ham
Ham
Ham is a cut of meat from the thigh of the hind leg of certain animals, especiallypigs. Nearly all hams sold today are fully cooked or cured.-Etymology:...
specialities. The biggest service business in Schüttorf is the Index, a discotheque with 6000 to 7000 guests every weekend.
Town works
Schüttorf has at its disposal its own Stadtwerke Schüttorf GmbH – the town works – which is publicly owned. Already in 1896, a direct-currentDirect current
Direct current is the unidirectional flow of electric charge. Direct current is produced by such sources as batteries, thermocouples, solar cells, and commutator-type electric machines of the dynamo type. Direct current may flow in a conductor such as a wire, but can also flow through...
power station
Power station
A power station is an industrial facility for the generation of electric energy....
had been established on Fabrikstraße. From 1897, Schüttorf had electric street lighting, thus becoming one of the first towns in the German Empire
German Empire
The German Empire refers to Germany during the "Second Reich" period from the unification of Germany and proclamation of Wilhelm I as German Emperor on 18 January 1871, to 1918, when it became a federal republic after defeat in World War I and the abdication of the Emperor, Wilhelm II.The German...
to have it. In the same year, the lighting on Unter den Linden
Unter den Linden
Unter den Linden is a boulevard in the Mitte district of Berlin, the capital of Germany. It is named for its linden trees that line the grassed pedestrian mall between two carriageways....
in Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
was electrified. On 1 April 1909, the town bought the power station for 110,000 gold marks, and it has been owned by the town ever since. By 1955, the network switched from direct current to three-phase alternating current, and it stopped generating its own electricity. In 1928 and 1929, Schüttorf acquired a town watermain. From 28 December 1970, the town works also began supplying natural gas
Natural gas
Natural gas is a naturally occurring gas mixture consisting primarily of methane, typically with 0–20% higher hydrocarbons . It is found associated with other hydrocarbon fuel, in coal beds, as methane clathrates, and is an important fuel source and a major feedstock for fertilizers.Most natural...
. Today, the two local swimming pool
Swimming pool
A swimming pool, swimming bath, wading pool, or simply a pool, is a container filled with water intended for swimming or water-based recreation. There are many standard sizes; the largest is the Olympic-size swimming pool...
s are also owned by the town works.
Medical institutions
On 17 October 1904, the manufacturer Hermann Schlikker endowed the town with 250,000 gold marks to build a hospitalHospital
A hospital is a health care institution providing patient treatment by specialized staff and equipment. Hospitals often, but not always, provide for inpatient care or longer-term patient stays....
. The Krankenhaus Annaheim with 40 beds was opened in 1907. It was named after Schlikker’s late wife. In the 1980s, a nursing home
Nursing home
A nursing home, convalescent home, skilled nursing unit , care home, rest home, or old people's home provides a type of care of residents: it is a place of residence for people who require constant nursing care and have significant deficiencies with activities of daily living...
run by the Evangelical-Reformed church was made part of the hospital. The hospital, however, had never been solvent, and was closed in 1996. In the building arose a healthcare centre to which medical and physiotherapeutic practices also belong. Today, there are nine physician
Physician
A physician is a health care provider who practices the profession of medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring human health through the study, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, injury and other physical and mental impairments...
s, two veterinarian
Veterinarian
A veterinary physician, colloquially called a vet, shortened from veterinarian or veterinary surgeon , is a professional who treats disease, disorder and injury in animals....
s and six dentist
Dentist
A dentist, also known as a 'dental surgeon', is a doctor that specializes in the diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of diseases and conditions of the oral cavity. The dentist's supporting team aides in providing oral health services...
s in practice in Schüttorf.
Schüttrupper Platt
In Schüttorf, Low German is traditionally spoken. For a few years now, people have been moved to preserve the local dialectDialect
The term dialect is used in two distinct ways, even by linguists. One usage refers to a variety of a language that is a characteristic of a particular group of the language's speakers. The term is applied most often to regional speech patterns, but a dialect may also be defined by other factors,...
, the Schüttrupper Platt. The Joint Community’s homeland club (Heimatverein) for instance stages regular events under the title Wij kürt ock Platt. There is a Low German theatre
Theatre
Theatre is a collaborative form of fine art that uses live performers to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place. The performers may communicate this experience to the audience through combinations of gesture, speech, song, music or dance...
group. At the primary school in German lessons, the local dialect is discussed and there also appear literature and newspaper articles in Low German.
Buildings
Sandstone
Sandstone is a sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized minerals or rock grains.Most sandstone is composed of quartz and/or feldspar because these are the most common minerals in the Earth's crust. Like sand, sandstone may be any colour, but the most common colours are tan, brown, yellow,...
with crow-stepped gable
Crow-stepped gable
A Stepped gable, Crow-stepped gable, or Corbie step is a stair-step type of design at the top of the triangular gable-end of a building...
s from the 15th century, in which Schüttorf’s ell
Ell
An ell , is a unit of measurement, approximating the length of a man's arm.Several national forms existed, with different lengths, includingthe Scottish ell ,the Flemish ell ,the French ell...
wand is kept. This is a 68 cm-long metal bar which served for calibration. On the marketplace before the town hall is a bronze
Bronze
Bronze is a metal alloy consisting primarily of copper, usually with tin as the main additive. It is hard and brittle, and it was particularly significant in antiquity, so much so that the Bronze Age was named after the metal...
statue
Statue
A statue is a sculpture in the round representing a person or persons, an animal, an idea or an event, normally full-length, as opposed to a bust, and at least close to life-size, or larger...
of a woman leading two goat
Goat
The domestic goat is a subspecies of goat domesticated from the wild goat of southwest Asia and Eastern Europe. The goat is a member of the Bovidae family and is closely related to the sheep as both are in the goat-antelope subfamily Caprinae. There are over three hundred distinct breeds of...
s. Right next door to the town hall stands the Catholic Church. Behind the church school is found the old Princely watermill
Watermill
A watermill is a structure that uses a water wheel or turbine to drive a mechanical process such as flour, lumber or textile production, or metal shaping .- History :...
from 1914. It is the only preserved mill of many that Schüttorf once had and it lies on a kolk
Kolk
A kolk is an underwater vortex that is created when rapidly rushing water passes an underwater obstacle in boundary areas of high shear. High velocity gradients produce a violently rotating column of water, similar to a tornado. Kolks are capable of plucking multi-ton blocks of rock and...
pothole surrounded by old weeping willows.
Also in Schüttorf, there is a whole range of residential buildings that are worth seeing. Originally, one-story timber frame Dielenhäuser – houses with very high entrance halls – with gable
Gable
A gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of a sloping roof. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed depends on the structural system being used and aesthetic concerns. Thus the type of roof enclosing the volume dictates the shape of the gable...
s towering over jetty bressummers, as are still commonly seen, for instance, in Quakenbrück
Quakenbrück
Quakenbrück is a town in the district of Osnabrück, in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated on the river Hase. It is part of the Samtgemeinde of Artland....
, were the predominant type. In Schüttorf, however, the façade
Facade
A facade or façade is generally one exterior side of a building, usually, but not always, the front. The word comes from the French language, literally meaning "frontage" or "face"....
s were not seldom massively remodelled. After demolitions, only a few older examples are still to be seen. Worthy of mention among them is the town pharmacy
Pharmacy
Pharmacy is the health profession that links the health sciences with the chemical sciences and it is charged with ensuring the safe and effective use of pharmaceutical drugs...
, which was originally made up of two forward-gabled single houses that were joined about 1750 with a false façade. The righthand part of the building dates from about 1645. A few older houses are still found on Steinstraße. Among these, house no. 7, which originally dates from the 17th century, is particularly worthy of mention. The façade was remodelled in 1827 in the Dutch Classicist
Classicism
Classicism, in the arts, refers generally to a high regard for classical antiquity, as setting standards for taste which the classicists seek to emulate. The art of classicism typically seeks to be formal and restrained: of the Discobolus Sir Kenneth Clark observed, "if we object to his restraint...
style. On Singel (no. 1) stands a timber-frame
Timber framing
Timber framing , or half-timbering, also called in North America "post-and-beam" construction, is the method of creating structures using heavy squared off and carefully fitted and joined timbers with joints secured by large wooden pegs . It is commonplace in large barns...
Dielenhaus from about 1600. It is used nowadays as an inn
INN
InterNetNews is a Usenet news server package, originally released by Rich Salz in 1991, and presented at the Summer 1992 USENIX conference in San Antonio, Texas...
.
Three villa
Villa
A villa was originally an ancient Roman upper-class country house. Since its origins in the Roman villa, the idea and function of a villa have evolved considerably. After the fall of the Roman Republic, villas became small farming compounds, which were increasingly fortified in Late Antiquity,...
s are especially striking. The Villa Remy on Bentheimer Straße was built in 1906 in Baroque
Baroque
The Baroque is a period and the style that used exaggerated motion and clear, easily interpreted detail to produce drama, tension, exuberance, and grandeur in sculpture, painting, literature, dance, and music...
building master Johann Conrad Schlaun’s style, although he had been dead since 1773. The hipped
Hip roof
A hip roof, or hipped roof, is a type of roof where all sides slope downwards to the walls, usually with a fairly gentle slope. Thus it is a house with no gables or other vertical sides to the roof. A square hip roof is shaped like a pyramid. Hip roofs on the houses could have two triangular side...
mansard roof
Mansard roof
A mansard or mansard roof is a four-sided gambrel-style hip roof characterized by two slopes on each of its sides with the lower slope at a steeper angle than the upper that is punctured by dormer windows. The roof creates an additional floor of habitable space, such as a garret...
recalls the Baroque, while the façades are Classicist. Villa Rost on Lehmkuhle, also known nowadays as the “Blue Villa”, is a renovated villa from 1902. Villa Schlikker on Steinstraße was a gift from manufacturer Herman ten Wolde to his daughter Ida and his son-in-law in 1903. This house is a protected monument because of its rich Art Nouveau
Art Nouveau
Art Nouveau is an international philosophy and style of art, architecture and applied art—especially the decorative arts—that were most popular during 1890–1910. The name "Art Nouveau" is French for "new art"...
interior design.
Theatre
Schüttorf is home to the Theater der Obergrafschaft (8), which has existed since 1975. Here, performances are staged about twice every month. As well, famous artists are invited, and plays by Schüttorfers are rehearsed and performed. By 2006 there had been 350 performances all together with over 150,000 visitors.Sport and leisure
In Schüttorf there are two public swimming poolSwimming pool
A swimming pool, swimming bath, wading pool, or simply a pool, is a container filled with water intended for swimming or water-based recreation. There are many standard sizes; the largest is the Olympic-size swimming pool...
s, the Vechtebad, an indoor swimming pool, and an outdoor swimming pool, founded in 1935 and overhauled in 1997. Furthermore, there is also the Quendorfer See (lake) which affords bathing or swimming. The best known player in the FC’s football
Football (soccer)
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a sport played between two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball...
division was Simon Cziommer
Simon Cziommer
Simon Cziommer is a German footballer currently playing for FC Red Bull Salzburg.- Career :Since he joined FC Twente in 1999 he has scored 28 goals for various clubs. He has played in UEFA Cup and UEFA Champions League games, the latter with his former club FC Schalke 04...
, who now plays for AZ Alkmaar. A pure, if smaller, football club is SC Borussia 26 Schüttorf. TC Schüttorf 85 has its own tennis
Tennis
Tennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all...
hall and tennis court
Tennis court
A tennis court is where the game of tennis is played. It is a firm rectangular surface with a low net stretched across the center. The same surface can be used to play both doubles and singles.-Dimensions:...
s. The Reitsportgemeinschaft Schüttorf e.V. (horseback riding) conducts dressage
Dressage
Dressage is a competitive equestrian sport, defined by the International Equestrian Federation as "the highest expression of horse training." Competitions are held at all levels from amateur to the World Equestrian Games...
and show jumping
Show jumping
Show jumping, also known as "stadium jumping," "open jumping," or "jumpers," is a member of a family of English riding equestrian events that also includes dressage, eventing, hunters, and equitation. Jumping classes commonly are seen at horse shows throughout the world, including the Olympics...
. Another big sport club is the Sportfischerverein Schüttorf e. V. (sport fishing) with roughly 760 members.
All together Schüttorf has four sport halls at its disposal, three sport fields, a riding hall, a tennis area, a playing field and nine children’s playground
Playground
A playground or play area is a place with a specific design for children be able to play there. It may be indoors but is typically outdoors...
s. Another popular kind of sport, especially in the colder months, is Kloatsheeten, which involves teams rolling a small wooden disk with a lead
Lead
Lead is a main-group element in the carbon group with the symbol Pb and atomic number 82. Lead is a soft, malleable poor metal. It is also counted as one of the heavy metals. Metallic lead has a bluish-white color after being freshly cut, but it soon tarnishes to a dull grayish color when exposed...
en core along roadways. There are many small private clubs, which can be seen, mostly in January, on the local roads playing the game.
Schüttorf also has its Unabhängiges Jugendzentrum KOMPLEX Schüttorf e.V. – independent youth centre – but despite the name, concert
Concert
A concert is a live performance before an audience. The performance may be by a single musician, sometimes then called a recital, or by a musical ensemble, such as an orchestra, a choir, or a musical band...
s are also staged there and there are various projects and work associations for young people. The YMCA
YMCA
The Young Men's Christian Association is a worldwide organization of more than 45 million members from 125 national federations affiliated through the World Alliance of YMCAs...
(or CVJM in Germany) maintains a youth café in Schüttorf. There is a local fire brigade, and there is also a youth fire brigade. There are even three carrier pigeon
Carrier pigeon
A carrier pigeon is a homing pigeon that is used to carry messages. Using pigeons to carry messages is generally called "pigeon post". Most homing or racing type varieties are used to carry messages. There is no specific breed actually called "carrier pigeon"...
breeding clubs in town, and other clubs for those who raise small animals. There are four glee clubs, five music clubs and a few other clubs and associations.
Regular events
An important nationally well known regular event was the Schüttorf Open Air. From 1980 to 1994 this open-air festival was held regularly every year on the Vechtewiesen (meadows) in Schüttorf. Well known bands were, for instance, Midnight OilMidnight Oil
Midnight Oil , were an Australian rock band from Sydney originally performing as Farm from 1972 with drummer Rob Hirst, bass guitarist Andrew James and keyboard player/lead guitarist Jim Moginie...
and Whitesnake
Whitesnake
Whitesnake are an English rock band, founded in 1978 by David Coverdale after his departure from his previous band, Deep Purple. The band's early material has been compared by critics to Deep Purple, but by the mid 1980s they had moved to a more commercial hard rock style...
. Also, Frank Zappa
Frank Zappa
Frank Vincent Zappa was an American composer, singer-songwriter, electric guitarist, record producer and film director. In a career spanning more than 30 years, Zappa wrote rock, jazz, orchestral and musique concrète works. He also directed feature-length films and music videos, and designed...
, Rod Stewart
Rod Stewart
Roderick David "Rod" Stewart, CBE is a British singer-songwriter and musician, born and raised in North London, England and currently residing in Epping. He is of Scottish and English ancestry....
, the Simple Minds
Simple Minds
Simple Minds are a Scottish rock band who achieved worldwide popularity from the mid-1980s to the early 1990s. The band produced a handful of critically acclaimed albums in the early 1980s and best known for their #1 US, Canada and Netherlands hit single "Don't You ", from the soundtrack of the...
, David Bowie
David Bowie
David Bowie is an English musician, actor, record producer and arranger. A major figure for over four decades in the world of popular music, Bowie is widely regarded as an innovator, particularly for his work in the 1970s...
, BBM and Die Toten Hosen
Die Toten Hosen
Die Toten Hosen is a German punk band from Düsseldorf. They have enjoyed decades-long mass appeal in Germany.The band's name literally means "The Dead Pants" in English, although the phrase "tote Hose" is a German expression meaning "nothing going on" or "boring"...
appeared in Schüttorf. Legendary was the appearance of Münster
Münster
Münster is an independent city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located in the northern part of the state and is considered to be the cultural centre of the Westphalia region. It is also capital of the local government region Münsterland...
band Törner Stier Crew, who in 1982 outdid Frank Zappa onstage as the better opening band before 50,000 spectators.. The town administration’s and the building office’s growing stricter requirements hindered the running of the festival. Once these became nearly impossible to fulfil, another festival was held in 1994 under the name Schüttorf Open Air near Bad Bentheim
Bad Bentheim
Bad Bentheim is a town in Lower Saxony, Germany lying in the district of Grafschaft Bentheim on the borders with North Rhine-Westphalia and the Netherlands roughly 15 km south of Nordhorn and 20 km northeast of Enschede. It is also a state-recognized thermal brine and sulphur spa town,...
-Gildehaus. In 1995 there was then another Schüttorf Open Air near Gildehaus at which the Rolling Stones appeared. Since this time, the festival has no longer existed, and also an attempt to revive it in 2004 failed. Parallelling it, however, the Komplex Open Air in Schüttorf has been developed over the last few years, organized by the Komplex youth centre’s Konzertinitiative Zikadumda. Thus far, renowned bands such as Blackmail
Blackmail
In common usage, blackmail is a crime involving threats to reveal substantially true or false information about a person to the public, a family member, or associates unless a demand is met. It may be defined as coercion involving threats of physical harm, threat of criminal prosecution, or threats...
and 4Lyn
4Lyn
4Lyn is a rap rock/nu metal band from Hamburg, Germany. 4Lyn began their career as Headtrip in 1995 as high schoolers. They recorded demos and played locally, and in 2000 a gig at the Ohrenschmaus Festival in Hamburg got them attention from label scouts...
have played there, but local bands, too, can book appearances.
Furthermore, three yearly marksmanship festivals are held in Schüttorf by different shooting clubs – the Bürger-Schützenfest, the Gilde-Schützenfest and the Adler-Schützenfest. There are summer and autumn kermises. Since 1984, there has been a weekly market
Market
A market is one of many varieties of systems, institutions, procedures, social relations and infrastructures whereby parties engage in exchange. While parties may exchange goods and services by barter, most markets rely on sellers offering their goods or services in exchange for money from buyers...
in Schüttorf
Culinary specialities
In Schüttorf, as in most rural areas in northern Germany, meals can be quite hefty. Widespread is self-prepared Hausmannskost (“plain fare”). The North’s typical dishes are also eaten here, the most popular sidedish being potatoPotato
The potato is a starchy, tuberous crop from the perennial Solanum tuberosum of the Solanaceae family . The word potato may refer to the plant itself as well as the edible tuber. In the region of the Andes, there are some other closely related cultivated potato species...
.
One of Schüttorf’s regional specialities is Kaneelkökskes, flat, round little cakes baked to a crisp in a waffle iron
Waffle iron
A waffle iron is a cooking appliance used to make waffles.It usually consists of two hinged metal plates, molded to create the honeycomb pattern found on waffles...
and with a light taste of cinnamon
Cinnamon
Cinnamon is a spice obtained from the inner bark of several trees from the genus Cinnamomum that is used in both sweet and savoury foods...
imparted by a small amount of cinnamon oil.
Schümers Korn (corn or grain), although it is baked in the neighbouring community of Salzbergen
Salzbergen
Salzbergen is a municipality in the Emsland district, Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated on the river Ems, approx. 25 km south of Lingen, and 10 km northwest of Rheine.It has the oldest oil refinery in the world, opened in 1860....
, can also be said to be a Schüttorf speciality. The Schümer distillery was at first located in the inner town, but at the Count’s behest, it was not allowed to build its own mill, as the wind blowing over the land belonged to the Lord. Schümer moved just outside the community limit and ran his newly built mill nevertheless with “the Count’s wind”.
One custom practised in Schüttorf and the old County (now district) is the Weggenbringen. When a child is born to a family, the neighbours and friends bring a Weggen, a loaf of raisin bread
Raisin bread
Raisin bread is a bread that contains raisins that was first invented by Henry David Thoreau. It is often classified as a sweet bread and is sometimes combined with cinnamon sugar. Served toasted or as a dessert, the bread is commonly found in the United States, Northern Europe, Germany and...
that is often up to two metres long, and which is borne on a ladder
Ladder
A ladder is a vertical or inclined set of rungs or steps. There are two types: rigid ladders that can be leaned against a vertical surface such as a wall, and rope ladders that are hung from the top. The vertical members of a rigid ladder are called stringers or stiles . Rigid ladders are usually...
. Traditionally, the Weggen was baked by the neighbours themselves and given as a Christening
Baptism
In Christianity, baptism is for the majority the rite of admission , almost invariably with the use of water, into the Christian Church generally and also membership of a particular church tradition...
gift along with ham
Ham
Ham is a cut of meat from the thigh of the hind leg of certain animals, especiallypigs. Nearly all hams sold today are fully cooked or cured.-Etymology:...
and cheese
Cheese
Cheese is a generic term for a diverse group of milk-based food products. Cheese is produced throughout the world in wide-ranging flavors, textures, and forms....
. After the Christening, it is then consumed. The clothing for this is the Holtbeus, a blue work jacket with black trousers, grey socks, wooden shoes, a top hat
Top hat
A top hat, beaver hat, high hat silk hat, cylinder hat, chimney pot hat or stove pipe hat is a tall, flat-crowned, broad-brimmed hat, predominantly worn from the latter part of the 18th to the middle of the 20th century...
and a red neckerchief tied with a matchbox. Today, the Weggen is hardly ever brought anymore on the Friday before the Christening. Even when there is a Weggenbringen, it is not usually a Weggen with ham and cheese that is brought, but rather things like Bobbycar
Bobbycar
A Bobby-Car is a toy car designed for children from the age of around two. The Classic model is red, made of plastic and is about 60 cm long and 40 cm high. It has four wheels. The car has been produced by the BIG company since 1972 at sites in Fürth and Burghaslach in Germany. After the...
s, child car seats and other useful articles.
Songs and verse
In the 1920s, the Schüttorf shoemaker Fritz Lübke composed a song for the town that quickly came to enjoy great popularity and was sung in Schüttorf. Today only older inhabitants still know the song, which Lübke gave the name Mein Schüttorf.Durch der Grafschaft grüne Fluren, Fließt der Vechte silbern’ Band. Flüstert leis’ in alten Sagen, Vom Gescheh’n an früheren Tagen, Von daheim und Vaterland. |
Ob vorbei die alten Zeiten, Schüttorf bleibt sich ewig treu. Arbeit schaffen fleiß’ge Hände, Einig sind sich alle Stände, Schätzend beides: Alt und Neu. |
Mag’s auch schön’re Städte geben, Schüttorf ist mein Heimatort, Nur für Schüttorf woll’n wir leben, Seinem Wohl gilt unser Streben, — Schüttorf, dauere immerfort! — |
(Through the County’s green meadows, Flows the Vechte’s silver band. Whispers lightly in old legends, Of events in earlier days, Of home and Fatherland.) |
(Whether the old times are past, Schüttorf remains for ever true. Work accomplish hardworking hands, As one are all ranks, Treasuring both: old and new.) |
(Though there might be lovelier towns, Schüttorf is my hometown, Only for Schüttorf do we want to live, Its well-being is our quest, — Schüttorf, last evermore! —) |
Also well known is the old poem Die gläserne Kutsche (“The Glass Coach”), which tells of a glass coach
Coach (carriage)
A coach was originally a large, usually closed, four-wheeled carriage with two or more horses harnessed as a team, controlled by a coachman and/or one or more postilions. It had doors in the sides, with generally a front and a back seat inside and, for the driver, a small, usually elevated seat in...
drawn every year on Saint John’s Night through Schüttorf by three black, fire-snorting stallion
Stallion
A Stallion is a male horse.Stallion may also refer to:* Stallion , an American pop rock group* Stallion , a figure in the Gobot toyline* Stallion , a character in the console role-playing game series...
s.
De Wiewe, de fröger dat Labben nich löten, de kwammen in de Glaskutsch met Handen und Vöten. Tot Spott van Alle. In de Süntjannsnacht wörden se döör de Stroaten van Schüttrup bracht. |
(The women who could not leave the gossip, Who came into the glass coach with hands and feet. To everyone’s taunting. On Saint John’s Night they are brought through the streets of Schüttorf.) |
The town song is in High German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
, while “The Glass Coach” is in Low German.
Education
In Schüttorf there are, besides the school kindergartenKindergarten
A kindergarten is a preschool educational institution for children. The term was created by Friedrich Fröbel for the play and activity institute that he created in 1837 in Bad Blankenburg as a social experience for children for their transition from home to school...
also a municipal kindergarten and two further ones under the Evangelical-Reformed Church’s sponsorship and one more under the German Red Cross
German Red Cross
The German Red Cross , or the DRK, is the national Red Cross Society in Germany.With over 4.5 million members, it is the third largest Red Cross society in the world. The German Red Cross offers a wide range of services within and outside Germany...
’s. There are three primary schools, a Hauptschule
Hauptschule
A Hauptschule is a secondary school in Germany and Austria, starting after 4 years of elementary schooling, which offers Lower Secondary Education according to the International Standard Classification of Education...
and a Realschule
Realschule
The Realschule is a type of secondary school in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and Liechtenstein. It has also existed in Croatia , Denmark , Sweden , Hungary and in the Russian Empire .-History:The Realschule was an outgrowth of the rationalism and empiricism of the seventeenth and...
, and until 2004 there was also a middle school
Middle school
Middle School and Junior High School are levels of schooling between elementary and high schools. Most school systems use one term or the other, not both. The terms are not interchangeable...
(Orientierungsstufe) but this was abolished by the state of Lower Saxony. The Hauptschule and Realschule have since 2006 been joined to the all-day school programme.
Schüttorf’s oldest school is the Kirchschule (“Church School”) or Evangelische Volksschule Schüttorf (“Schüttorf Evangelical Elementary School”) from 1608. The school founded then as a Latin grammar school had room for 200 pupils. In July 2007, the school moved into the former Hauptschule’s building. The old building has stood empty since then and is either to be made into flats for the elderly or to become a transregional museum building. Going back to a founding in 1712 is the Catholic community’s Katholische Volksschule Schüttorf. It is today the town’s smallest primary school with room for only 200 pupils. The biggest is the municipal school Grundschule auf dem Süsteresch founded in 1970.
In 1955, Schüttorf became home to the Erich-Kästner-Schule, a school for those with learning difficulties. The Hauptschule was founded in 1967, while the Realschule developed out of the elementary school. Young Schüttorfers who want to go to a Gymnasium
Gymnasium (school)
A gymnasium is a type of school providing secondary education in some parts of Europe, comparable to English grammar schools or sixth form colleges and U.S. college preparatory high schools. The word γυμνάσιον was used in Ancient Greece, meaning a locality for both physical and intellectual...
can commute to one of the surrounding Gymnasien, in particular the Burg-Gymnasium Bad Bentheim
Bad Bentheim
Bad Bentheim is a town in Lower Saxony, Germany lying in the district of Grafschaft Bentheim on the borders with North Rhine-Westphalia and the Netherlands roughly 15 km south of Nordhorn and 20 km northeast of Enschede. It is also a state-recognized thermal brine and sulphur spa town,...
, the municipal Gymnasium in Ochtrup
Ochtrup
Ochtrup is a town in the district of Steinfurt, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is situated approx. 20 km west of Rheine and 20 km east of Enschede.-History:...
, the Gymnasium Rheine
Rheine
Rheine is a city in the district of Steinfurt in Westphalia, Germany. It is the largest city in the district and the location of Rheine Air Base.-Geography:Rheine is located on the river Ems, approx. north of Münster, approx...
or the private Missionsgymnasium St. Antonius in Bardel (see 9).
Since September 2007, Schüttorf has had its own school museum housed in the community centre (Bürgerhaus) near the former Church School.
Honorary citizens
Schüttorf’s first, and thus far only, honorary citizen is the town’s first full-time mayor, who was later also a Landrat for Grafschaft Bentheim, Franz Scheurmann (born 8 May 1892 in BerlinBerlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
, died 3 October 1964 in Nordhorn
Nordhorn
Nordhorn is the district seat of Grafschaft Bentheim in Lower Saxony's southwesternmost corner near the border with the Netherlands and the boundary with North Rhine-Westphalia.- Name's origin :...
), on whom this honour was bestowed on 8 May 1962. In May 1957, he had also been awarded the Bundesverdienstkreuz am Bande and since 1966, a square, Dr. Scheurmann-Platz in Schüttorf, has been named after him. Scheurmann set himself to work during his time in office above all for the town archive, bringing many old documents and historical papers together, which he published in many essays about Schüttorf (see 10).
Sons and daughters of the town
The following overview contains important personages born in Schüttorf, listed chronologically by birth year. Whether their later lives dealt with Schüttorf or not is not considered. The list does not profess to be complete.- 1425, Johan van den MynnestenMaster I. A. M. of ZwolleMaster I. A. M. of Zwolle was an anonymous Dutch goldsmith and engraver who signed many of his works with his initials I. A. M. or I. A., and added "Zwolle" to some. His work is characterized by crowded and active scenes of people, graded tones and crisp strokes...
, German-Dutch painterPaintingPainting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . The application of the medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush but other objects can be used. In art, the term painting describes both the act and the result of the action. However, painting is...
and copper engraver - 1826, 13 December, Johann Hermann Julius Maekel, German portrait and landscape painter
- 1873 Georg Schümer (1873-1945), educator, writer, politician, member of the Landtag, peace activist
- 1912, 2 February, Hans LeussinkHans LeussinkHans Leussink was a German teacher and politician. He served as the country's Minister for Education and Research from 1969 to 1972....
, German Minister for Education and Science (1969–1972) - Herbert Wagner, German education researcher, geographer and historian
- 1980, 6 November, Simon CziommerSimon CziommerSimon Cziommer is a German footballer currently playing for FC Red Bull Salzburg.- Career :Since he joined FC Twente in 1999 he has scored 28 goals for various clubs. He has played in UEFA Cup and UEFA Champions League games, the latter with his former club FC Schalke 04...
, German footballer
Further reading
- Publisher Town of Schüttorf: 700 Jahre Stadt Schüttorf – Beiträge zur Geschichte – 1295–1995. Druckerei Hellendoorn, Schüttorf 1995, ISBN 3-922428-39-8
- Publisher Joint Community of Schüttorf / Volkshochschule des Landkreises Grafschaft Bentheim: Schüttorf • Stadt im Wandel. A. Hellendoorn, Bad Bentheim 1997, ISBN 3-922428-48-7
- Rainer Lahmann-Lammert and Michael Munch: Hinter jedem Stein eine Geschichte – Auf Spurensuche in Schüttorf. Lechte Druck, Emsdetten
- Hermann Harmsen: 1111 plattdütsche Spröckskes up Schüttrupper Platt. Schüttorf 2000
- Herbert Wagner: Die Gestapo war nicht allein… Politische Sozialkontrolle und Staatsterror im deutsch-niederländischen Grenzgebiet 1929 - 1945. LIT-Verlag, Münster 2004 (contains, among other things, Schüttorf in the Third Reich).
- Heinrich Specht (publisher): Die gläserne Kutsche, Bentheimer Sagen, Erzählungen und Schwänke. Heimatverein der Grafschaft, 1967.
Sources
- Sofie Meysel: Die Naturräumlichen Einheiten auf Blatt 83/84 Osnabrück-Bentheim. Bundesanstalt für Landeskunde und Raumforschung, Bonn-Bad Godesberg 1961
- Hermann Abels: Die Ortsnamen des Emslandes in ihrer sprachlichen und kulturgeschichtlichen Bedeutung. Schöningh, Paderborn 1927
- Heinrich Funke: Zur Frühgeschichte der Stadt Schüttorf. In: Bentheimer Jahrbuch 1985. Verlag Heimatverein der Grafschaft Bentheim, Bad Bentheim 1984. ISBN 3922428118
- studiengesellschaft-emsland-bentheim.de Biography of Johann Wenning
- studiengesellschaft-emsland-bentheim.de Biography of Gerhard Schlikker and history of Schüttorf textile industry
- schuettorf.de Schüttorf business directory
- theater-der-obergrafschaft.de Theater der Obergrafschaft Schüttorf homepage
- gbiu.de Schüttorf school history
- studiengesellschaft-emsland-bentheim.de Biography of Dr. Franz Scheuermann