Schüttorf | |
|---|---|
 Flag  Coat of arms | |
Schüttorf's location in Grafschaft Bentheim  | |
  Schüttorf  Schüttorf | |
| Coordinates:52°19′N7°13′E / 52.317°N 7.217°E /52.317; 7.217 | |
| Country | Germany |
| State | Lower Saxony |
| District | Grafschaft Bentheim |
| Municipal assoc. | Schüttorf |
| Government | |
| • Mayor | Jörn Tüchter (CDU) |
| Area | |
• Total | 19.45 km2 (7.51 sq mi) |
| Elevation | 33 m (108 ft) |
| Population (2022-12-31)[1] | |
• Total | 13,273 |
| • Density | 680/km2 (1,800/sq mi) |
| Time zone | UTC+01:00 (CET) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC+02:00 (CEST) |
| Postal codes | 48465 |
| Dialling codes | 05923 |
| Vehicle registration | NOH |
| Website | www.schuettorf.de |
Schüttorf (German pronunciation:[ˈʃʏtɔʁf]ⓘ;Northern Low Saxon:Schüttrup) is a town in the district ofGrafschaft Bentheim in southwesternmostLower Saxony near theDutchborder and the boundary withWestphalia (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 riverVechte, roughly 5 km east ofBad Bentheim, and 20 km southeast ofNordhorn.
The town of Schüttorf lies in southwesternmost Lower Saxony and in the westernmost part of theFederal 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 theEmsland andWestphalia. The surroundings may be characterized as settled countryside. Middle centres in the area are, among others,Nordhorn andRheine.[2]
The town is crossed through the middle southeast to northwest by the riverVechte, which farther downstream flows into the Netherlands. The town's highest point rises to 48 m abovesea level. Schüttorf lies in the foothills of theBentheimer Berg, a greatsandstone formation from theCretaceous rising to 80 m and a wooded western outlier of theTeutoburg Forest. Only a small piece of the Bentheim Forest is in the town. All together, roughly 89 ha ofwoodland is found within the town, making up 8% of the town's total land area.[2]
North of the town is found a formerheathland, which sees mainly agronomic use nowadays. There were still broad heathlands in the town just before theFirst World War. The last heath was converted toagricultural land in 1993. A peculiarity was thedune 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, inLow German,Witten Over (“White Shore”), referring to the area's “desertlike” 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 genuinehighrises in town. With the completion of theSchüttorfer Kreuz (“Schüttorf Cross”), anAutobahncloverleaf formed by theA 30 and theA 31, greater commercial and industrial areas were laid out in the town's northeast near this interchange in 2004 and 2005.
A beautifulfloodplain landscape is theGroße Maate northwest of town. In thislowland area by theVechte are many pools replenished over and over again byflooding. Manybutterfly and otherinsect species are found here, and also the rarekingfisher. TheHolmer Maate is another of Schüttorf's floodplain landscapes, wherelapwings andgreat crested grebes may be spotted. Near the centre is the Vechteniederung Recreation Area, which is a floodplain and contains stormwater basins.
| Use | Area inha |
|---|---|
| residential | 242 |
| commercial-industrial | 100 |
| recreation | 52 |
| transport | 135 |
| agriculture | 382 |
The town of Schüttorf mainly borders on other members of the Joint Community, namelySamern in the southeast,Quendorf in the northwest andEngden in the north. Within the district ofGrafschaft Bentheim, Schüttorf borders on the town ofBad Bentheim in the west. In the east, the town limit is also part of the boundary with the neighbouring district ofEmsland, bordering there on Ahlde, an outlying centre of the community ofEmsbüren. There is found – only 2 km from Schüttorf – a noteworthy, small conservation area with a heath pond.
Environmental areas, or units, within the municipal area can be broken down thus according to mainly geomorphological and geological criteria, and soil science (see1):
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 manybackwaters. 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 theSaalian Stage by aglacier. This same glacier also pushed up theterminal moraine that is now the Uelsen Hills and theLingen Heights in today's Grafschaft Bentheim and Emsland. In the south, the glacier found its abutment at theMesozoic Bentheim Cretaceous Sandstone Mountain Chain. During the lastice 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 depositedHolocene – that is, post-ice-age – sands and floodplainloam.
The mainly sandy, partly loamy ormoory soils of the valley sand plates and the narrow river floodplain are relatively sparse insoil quality, ranking between 11 and 30 on the scale used in Germany (which goes up to 100). The outliers of theBentheim Hill are made up of Bentheimsandstone, 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,clayey soils and till loam. The clay is also used by industry, such as at the brickyard in Suddendorf.
Schüttorf lies in the Mid-European Temperate Zone. The average yearly temperature is 8.5 °C, the meanair pressure is 1015.2 hPa and the mean yearlyprecipitation amounts to between 700 and 800 mm. The climate is Subatlantic with rather mild winters and fairly warm summers. In Schüttorf itself, there is noweather station run by the German Weather Service (Deutscher Wetterdienst). The nearest weather station isNordhorn, whose weather is not notably different from Schüttorf's.
Lower Saxony's statehydrological service maintains awater 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% areCatholic, 14.9% areLutheran 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 isTurkish 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).
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 theSecond World War.
There were three great surges in the population growth. The first came in the late 19th century, especially in the 1890s while thetextile industryboom due to theIndustrial 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.
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Schüttorf's town hall was struck by anaerial bomb in 1945 in the Second World War's last days and was completely gutted. The fire also destroyed the townarchive and many valuable historical documents, making research into Schüttorf's history very difficult. Many things, however, have been reconstructed since then.
Theetymology 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 riverVechte being diverted around the town as early as 1295 by building adam. The workers on this project are said to have dumped out the contents of their pushcarts on the commandSchütt’t d’r up. This legend, however, only explains the sound of one of the town's modern names (theLow German name Schüttrupp).
The earliest forms of the name Schüttorf wereScuhtthorp,Scutorpe,Scuttorpe andScotdorpe in documents from 1154. On a coin issue from the first half of the 13th century is the formSCOTOR(p)E.
Hermann Abels (see2) is of the opinion that the name's origin is theDutch wordschut (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 inScot-, which must be derived from the Low GermanSchott (“dividing wall in a stall”).
Another explanation has the name coming from theVechteschuten,barges (Schuten) being the flat-bottomed boats with a very smalldraught that were used for shipping Bentheimsandstone. 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 rivershipping at the time of the town's founding.
Quite another explanation is that the name Schüttorf stems fromScutthorpe orScuttrop, which means “Protection Village” (this would beSchutzdorf inModern High German), referring to Altena Castle in the town. Historically, however, this explanation also does not bear up under scrutiny, for thecastle was not built until well after the town's founding.
A modern explanation says that the placename comes from the Low GermanScuit (“Irishman”).Ireland’s mediaeval name wasScoti orScotti. InGaelic there are many dialects containing and illustrating the vowel variantso andu. Furthermore, finds at digs around Schüttorf ofCeltic crosses and fan crosses show that there were once Irishmonks in the area.
During excavation work for arailway line, a woman’sthighbone was unearthed in Schüttorf reckoned to date from roughly 2000 BC. Schüttorf must therefore have already been settled by that time. Thecromlechs in nearbyEmsbüren 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 aford. At this hub was an “original yard” around which the settlement developed and which existed until 1792 as theAlter Hof (“Old Yard”).
In the 6th or 7th centurymissionaries from theBritish Isles came to Schüttorf. Atarchaeological 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 theCalais andBoulogne 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 fromHermelinghen, Hummert fromHumbert or Wanning fromManinghen (see3).
Schüttorf had its first documentary mention in 1154, in thecurtis Scutthorp, as an estate belonging to the Counts at Bentheim. Town rights were granted Schüttorf on 6 November 1295, the Sunday afterAll Hallows, by Count Egbert at Bentheim. The document witnessing this has been preserved and is now found at theFürstlich Bentheimschen Archiv inBurgsteinfurt. 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 andOldenzaal, making the new town into an important market and shipping place, and Schüttorf became a member of theHanse. 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-calledWicbeldeslude (this would beWeichbildleute 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 thecoram judico nostro Scottorpe.
The town's inner political organization was left up to the townsmen. Quickly, aruling 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 theBürgergewinnungsgeld (“townsman’s recovery tax”), which cost them each fiveTaler, roughly matching the price of a fat ox and a calf. To put this into perspective, a mastermason earned roughly sixSchilling a day, meaning that he had to work for three and a half days to earn aTaler. 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 anoath of loyalty to the town of Schüttorf. Until 1719, all fully grown townsmen had theright 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 imprisoned, releasing him only after the payment of 100 golden guilders and a hogshead (actually described as 1½ barrels) ofwine. 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 thenbanished him. After this, the townsmen appealed to the Imperial Court inVienna. This grievance is still preserved there. Ernst Wilhelm on the other hand petitioned theReichshofrat for thecassation of the town rights. The conflict further escalated when in 1668 the House of the Counts at Bentheim converted toCatholicism while Schüttorf remained Reformed. When Ernst Wilhelmabdicated in 1693, the town refused to render homage to his son, Arnold Maruk, although in the end it was forced to do so.
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 ofcattle owned, but as of 1638 also for each hearth. Special taxes were levied in the 15th century for the war against theHussites, and again in the 16th century to prevent thedanger from the Turks and to fight theAnabaptists. 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 inAltena, which bears the same name, but which still stands today.
In 1341, Count Simon at Bentheim recognized Schüttorf's firstguild, namelyde Schomackere Amte (shoemakers), leading to the conclusion that this profession was particularly widespread. In 1362, Count Otto recognized the wall builders’ andcabinetmakers’ guilds, and finally in 1387, Count Bernhard recognized thesmiths’ 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 waswelfare in Schüttorf. TheHeiliger 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 analmshouse. The Foundation suppliedpoor andelderly townsfolk with clothing, and from 1384, the needy also got a yearly allowance of fourSchilling. TheHeiliger Geist Stiftung still exists today and is owned by the town. It has broadened its work into promoting youth.
No sooner hadFrench Foreign MinisterCharles-Maurice de Talleyrand guaranteed the Count at Bentheim neutrality thanNapoleon ignored it, annexing the County on 12 June 1806 to theDuchy 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 ofQuendorf,Wengsel,Suddendorf andNeerlage. At the same time, acensus 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 ofSalzbergen,Hummeldorf andSteide 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 atMadrid, Napoleon ordered that even theColonen and serfs were to be granted allcivil rights. In 1813, the French were driven out and Schüttorf was merged with theKingdom 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 theOsnabrückLanddrostei 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 townpolice force, things that the town could then ill afford. Thus, Schüttorf was placed under the HanoverianLandgemeindeordnung as a community (Gemeinde) – and thereby also under a royalAmt. The later mayor Dr. Scheurmann called this a dark chapter in Schüttorf town history. Even Hanover'sannexation byPrussia and the founding of theEmpire in 1871 changed nothing with regards to Schüttorf's status as a community.
The decisive rôle in Schüttorf'sindustrialization was played by the textile industry. This was due, on the one hand, to textile manufacture fromlinen on handlooms having already been done here for centuries, and on the other hand tocottage industry being channelled into this field. In the 17th century, many Schüttorfers had been going each year to the wealthyNetherlands to improve their livelihoods by cuttingpeat, 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'sdyeworks followed. In 1867, the first Schlikker und Söhne mechanically poweredcotton 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 neighbouringNordhorn, which was quickly overtaking Schüttorf.
TheFirst World War led to a standstill in the textile industry, which by this time had grown into the most important economic activity in town, butraw materials were no longer being delivered. Only one business avoided closure by makinguniforms, which were important to waging a war. This led to extremely highjoblessness, moving the community to resolve to cultivate at its own cost theheath surrounding Schüttorf, to give people something to do. However, this led to a heavy burden on the town's coffers. Owing to highinflation, Schüttorf was forced to issuetoken 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 townsavings bank to encourage the townsfolk to save after the inflation.
In October 1942, Mayor Scheurmann was removed from office owing to serious differences with the localNSDAP 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 arestraining order forbidding him to speak or stay in Schüttorf. In Schüttorf there came great disputes between the state and the Reformed Church, as PastorFriedrich Middendorf was a member of theReichsbruderrat (“Reich Brotherly Council”) of theConfessing 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 threeJewish families, two of whom fled, and the other of whom was deported. Today, there are no Jews living in Schüttorf.
During theAlliedair war onGermany, 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 takenBad Bentheim (then still Bentheim), they supposed that strong German forces were lying in wait in Schüttorf, and so theyshelled the town heavily, withbomber squadrons also droppingphosphorusincendiary bombs. This brought about the utter destruction of 15 houses. A further 25 were heavily damaged, and roughly 600 lightly damaged.
The Germanparatroopers who had been stationed in Schüttorf had withdrawn already anyway, toLingen, blowing up allbridges on the Vechte and wrecking the electrical andtelephone 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 byBritish troops. All together, Schüttorf counted 222 dead, eight civilians had been killed in bombings and shellings, and 114 inhabitants were said to be missing.
TheBritish 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 theBundesverdienstkreuz. (see4)
One Nazi opponent was Friedrich Middendorff, who was made pastor of the Evangelical-Reformed parish in Schüttorf in 1926. Even before theMachtergreifung, he had been openly disagreeing withNational Socialist Ideology in theDeutsches Allgemeines Sonntagsblatt, and he was also known through his work in theChristlich-Sozialer Volksdienst, and he quickly became a target for theNazis. What followed was surveillance by theGestapo 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 articleEin Weniges zur Judenfrage (“A Little About theJewish 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 theThird 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 theDFU [de] in the Lower Saxony elections. In 1973, however, he lost his life in atraffic accident. A square in Schüttorf,Friedrich-Middendorff-Platz, is named after him. (see5)
In 1209, a church consecrated toSaint Lawrence in Schüttorf was mentioned in a document for the first time. In 1544, Count Arnold converted to theLutheran faith, and along with him the whole County. In 1588, the County became Evangelical-Reformed and therebyCalvinist. Even today, most Schüttorfers are Evangelical-Reformed. From 1598 to 1599, however, Schüttorf was occupied bySpanish troops and Reformed services were banned on penalty. In 1629, aconvent was founded in Schüttorf. It stood at first under theBeguines’ care, but was later transferred to theAugustinians. In 1843, the convent was torn down.
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 asgroße Kirche (“Big Church”) orSchüttorfer Riese (“Schüttorf Giant”). This church is a three-navedhall church built in theGothic style with fourbays, atransept and apolygonalchoir. It also once served as the burying place for the Bentheim Counts.
Thenave 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 afresco-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 anindulgence letter for its construction was sold; in 1390, it was expanded. Building work on the choir in today's building began on the Thursday afterCorpus Christi in 1477. It was finished onChristmas Eve 1478. Work on the nave began in 1500, while work continued on the square west tower, which had an eight-sidedpyramidalcupola, until 1535. This tower burnt six times, however, in 1684, 1703, 1799, 1817 (twice in as many days) and 1889 after being struck bylightning. A legend has it that the last tower fire on 8 February 1889 was quenched withmilk, which in the fire's heat quickly dried and formed a crust, smothering the fire. The originalbells 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'sorgan is a two-manualled instrument with tin pipes. it was built in 1963 by theSwiss organ-building businessTh. Kuhn.
The Catholic Church of Mary (Marienkirche) was built in 1868. It contains a sandstoneMadonna from the late 16th century. Before this church was built, Schüttorf's Catholics had to make do with thechapel 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 calledChristophorus-Kirche (“St. Christopher’s Church”) since 1992. In this same year, a smallmosque 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 Jewishcemetery.
When Lower Saxony was founded in 1946, Schüttorf became part of thisBundesland. 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 ofEngden,Drievorden,Neerlage,Wengsel,Ohne,Quendorf,Samern andSuddendorf. 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 ofIsterberg, so that the Joint Community now consisted of seven communities. The Joint Community's work is to take charge of collective planning work, to promotetourism and to take charge of disposing ofsewage andrubbish. 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 theSamtgemeinderat (Joint Community council), theSamtgemeindeausschuss (Joint Community board) and theSamtgemeindebürgermeister (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.
| Party/group | Seats |
|---|---|
| CDU | 9 |
| SPD | 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 (seeThird 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 theBundesverdienstkreuz 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 |
The town's arms presumably came into being not long after Schüttorf was raised to town. Town privilege is not mentioned by any seal orcoat of arms, 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 ownflag, which has two broad horizontal stripes and bears in the middle the town's arms in oval form.
Schüttorf maintained until 2005 atown partnership with Vriezenveen (Twenterand) in theNetherlands, in theTwente region. This town partnership was part of theEUREGIO 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'sRealschule.
Schüttorf lies roughly a 50-minute drive away from the internationalMünster/Osnabrück Airport (FMO) inGreven. A regional airport is to be found 15 minutes’ drive away at Klausheide[3] nearNordhorn.
Schüttorfrailway station lies on the Bad Bentheim–Mindenrailway line (KBS 375). There is local rail transport provided by theRB 61 on theWiehengebirgs-Bahn (Bad Bentheim–Rheine–Osnabrück–Herford–Bielefeld).
In local road transport,buslines join Schüttorf withNordhorn, Bad Bentheim,Ochtrup and the surrounding villages.
In Schüttorf's northeast is found thecloverleaf known as theSchüttorfer Kreuz where theAutobahnen A 30 (Bad Oeynhausen –Osnabrück –Hengelo) and A 31 (Emden –Oberhausen) cross each other.
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, amargarine 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). (see6). 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 theSchüttorfer 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 aplastics factory in which plastic palettes and containers are made. Similarly big is acorrugated cardboard factory run by the Prowell Group, which was completed in 2005 right on the cloverleaf. Stemmann-Technik GmbH, with its 320 employees, producespantographs for theICE and othertrains,tramways andmetros as well as further products for energy and data transfer in industry. Midsized businesses are Arnold Lammering GmbH & Co. KG, asteelwholesaler with roughly 100 employees, Mannebeck Landtechnik, which manufactures stable equipment and Kortmann Beton GmbH & Co. KG, which makesconcrete 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 encouragesshippers 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 theDanish company Tulip Food Company GmbH which processesmeat andsausage products which are sold under this name in Germansupermarkets. 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 distributeham specialities. The biggest service business in Schüttorf is the Index, adiscotheque with 6000 to 7000 guests every weekend.
Schüttorf has at its disposal its ownStadtwerke Schüttorf GmbH – the town works – which is publicly owned. Already in 1896, adirect-currentpower station had been established on Fabrikstraße. From 1897, Schüttorf had electricstreet lighting, thus becoming one of the first towns in theGerman Empire to have it. In the same year, the lighting onUnter den Linden inBerlin 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 tothree-phase alternating current, and it stopped generating its own electricity. In 1928 and 1929, Schüttorf acquired a townwatermain. From 28 December 1970, the town works also began supplyingnatural gas. Today, the two localswimming pools are also owned by the town works.
On 17 October 1904, the manufacturer Hermann Schlikker endowed the town with 250,000 gold marks to build ahospital. TheKrankenhaus Annaheim with 40 beds was opened in 1907. It was named after Schlikker's late wife. In the 1980s, anursing 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 ahealthcare centre to which medical andphysiotherapeutic practices also belong. Today, there are ninephysicians, twoveterinarians and sixdentists in practice in Schüttorf.
In Schüttorf,Low German is traditionally spoken. For a few years now, people have been moved to preserve the localdialect, theSchüttrupper Platt. The Joint Community's homeland club (Heimatverein) for instance stages regular events under the titleWij kürt ock Platt. There is a Low Germantheatre group. At theprimary 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 Bentheimsandstone withcrow-stepped gables from the 15th century, in which Schüttorf'sellwand is kept. This is a 68 cm-long metal bar which served for calibration. On the marketplace before the town hall is abronzestatue of a woman leading twogoats. Right next door to the town hall stands the Catholic Church. Behind the church school is found the old Princelywatermill from 1914. It is the only preserved mill of many that Schüttorf once had and it lies on akolk pothole surrounded by oldweeping willows.
Also in Schüttorf, there is a whole range of residential buildings that are worth seeing. Originally, one-story timber frameDielenhäuser – houses with very high entrance halls – withgables towering over jetty bressummers, as are still commonly seen, for instance, inQuakenbrück, were the predominant type. In Schüttorf, however, thefaçades were not seldom massively remodelled. After demolitions, only a few older examples are still to be seen. Worthy of mention among them is the townpharmacy, 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 DutchClassicist style. On Singel (no. 1) stands atimber-frameDielenhaus from about 1600. It is used nowadays as aninn.
Threevillas are especially striking. TheVilla Remy on Bentheimer Straße was built in 1906 inBaroque building masterJohann Conrad Schlaun’s style, although he had been dead since 1773. Thehippedmansard 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 richArt Nouveau interior design.
Schüttorf is home to theTheater der Obergrafschaft,[4] 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.
In Schüttorf there are two publicswimming pools, theVechtebad, an indoor swimming pool, and an outdoor swimming pool, founded in 1935 and overhauled in 1997. Furthermore, there is also theQuendorfer See (lake) which affords bathing or swimming. The best known player in the FC'sfootball division wasSimon Cziommer, who now plays forAZ Alkmaar. A pure, if smaller,football club isSC Borussia 26 Schüttorf.TC Schüttorf 85 has its owntennis hall andtennis courts. TheReitsportgemeinschaft Schüttorf e.V. (horseback riding) conductsdressage andshow jumping. Another big sport club is theSportfischerverein Schüttorf e. V. (sport fishing) with roughly 760 members.
All together Schüttorf has foursport halls at its disposal, threesport fields, a riding hall, a tennis area, a playing field and nine children'splaygrounds. Another popular kind of sport, especially in the colder months, isKloatsheeten, which involves teams rolling a small wooden disk with aleaden 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 itsUnabhängiges Jugendzentrum KOMPLEX Schüttorf e.V. – independentyouth centre – but despite the name,concerts are also staged there and there are various projects and work associations for young people. TheYMCA (or CVJM in Germany) maintains a youth café in Schüttorf. There is a localfire brigade, and there is also a youth fire brigade. There are even threecarrier 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.
An important nationally well known regular event was theSchüttorf Open Air. From 1980 to 1994 thisopen-air festival was held regularly every year on the Vechtewiesen (meadows) in Schüttorf. Well known bands were, for instance,Midnight Oil andWhitesnake. Also,Frank Zappa,Rod Stewart, theSimple Minds,David Bowie,BBM andDie Toten Hosen appeared in Schüttorf. Legendary was the appearance ofMünster bandTörner Stier Crew, who in 1982 outdid Frank Zappa onstage as the better opening band before 50,000 spectators.[5] 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 nameSchüttorf Open Air nearBad Bentheim-Gildehaus. In 1995 there was then anotherSchüttorf Open Air near Gildehaus at which theRolling Stones appeared. Since this time, the festival has no longer existed, and also an attempt to revive it in 2004 failed. Parallelling it, however, theKomplex Open Air in Schüttorf has been developed over the last few years, organized by theKomplex youth centre'sKonzertinitiative Zikadumda. Thus far, renowned bands such asBlackmail and4Lyn have played there, but local bands, too, can book appearances.
Furthermore, three yearlymarksmanship festivals are held in Schüttorf by different shooting clubs – theBürger-Schützenfest, theGilde-Schützenfest and theAdler-Schützenfest. There are summer and autumnkermises. Since 1984, there has been a weeklymarket in Schüttorf
In Schüttorf, as in most rural areas in northern Germany, meals can be quite hefty. Widespread is self-preparedHausmannskost (“plain fare”). The North's typical dishes are also eaten here, the most popular sidedish beingpotato.
One of Schüttorf's regional specialities isKaneelkökskes, flat, round little cakes baked to a crisp in awaffle iron and with a light taste ofcinnamon imparted by a small amount ofcinnamon oil.
Schümers Korn (corn or grain), although it is baked in the neighbouring community ofSalzbergen, can also be said to be a Schüttorf speciality. The Schümerdistillery 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 theWeggenbringen. When a child is born to a family, the neighbours and friends bring aWeggen, a loaf ofraisin bread that is often up to two metres long, and which is borne on aladder. Traditionally, theWeggen was baked by the neighbours themselves and given as aChristening gift along withham andcheese. After the Christening, it is then consumed. The clothing for this is theHoltbeus, a blue work jacket with black trousers, grey socks,wooden shoes, atop hat and a red neckerchief tied with a matchbox. Today, theWeggen is hardly ever brought anymore on the Friday before the Christening. Even when there is aWeggenbringen, it is not usually aWeggen with ham and cheese that is brought, but rather things likeBobbycars,child car seats and other useful articles.
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 nameMein Schüttorf.
Durch der Grafschaft grüne Fluren, | Ob vorbei die alten Zeiten, | Mag's auch schön’re Städte geben, | (Through the County’s green meadows, | (Whether the old times are past, | (Though there might be lovelier towns, |
Also well known is the oldpoemDie gläserne Kutsche (“The Glass Coach”), which tells of a glasscoach drawn every year on Saint John's Night through Schüttorf by three black, fire-snortingstallions.
De Wiewe, de fröger dat Labben nich löten, | (The women who could not leave the gossip, |
The town song is inHigh German, while “The Glass Coach” is inLow German.
In Schüttorf there are, besides the schoolkindergarten also a municipal kindergarten and two further ones under the Evangelical-Reformed Church's sponsorship and one more under theGerman Red Cross’s. There are threeprimary schools, aHauptschule and aRealschule, and until 2004 there was also amiddle school (Orientierungsstufe) but this was abolished by the state of Lower Saxony. TheHauptschule andRealschule have since 2006 been joined to the all-day school programme.
Schüttorf’s oldest school is theKirchschule (“Church School”) orEvangelische 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 formerHauptschule’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'sKatholische Volksschule Schüttorf. It is today the town's smallest primary school with room for only 200 pupils. The biggest is the municipal schoolGrundschule auf dem Süsteresch founded in 1970.
In 1955, Schüttorf became home to theErich-Kästner-Schule, a school for those with learning difficulties. TheHauptschule was founded in 1967, while theRealschule developed out of the elementary school. Young Schüttorfers who want to go to aGymnasium can commute to one of the surrounding Gymnasien, in particular theBurg-GymnasiumBad Bentheim, the municipal Gymnasium inOchtrup, theGymnasiumRheine or the privateMissionsgymnasium St. Antonius inBardel (see9).
Since September 2007, Schüttorf has had its own school museum housed in the community centre (Bürgerhaus) near the former Church School.
Schüttorf's first, and thus far only, honorary citizen is the town's first full-time mayor, who was later also aLandrat forGrafschaft Bentheim, Franz Scheurmann (born 8 May 1892 inBerlin, died 3 October 1964 inNordhorn), on whom this honour was bestowed on 8 May 1962. In May 1957, he had also been awarded theBundesverdienstkreuz 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 (see10).
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.
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