Osterwald is a community and part of the Joint Community (''Samtgemeinde'') of

Neuenhaus Neuenhaus is a town in the district of Grafschaft Bentheim in Lower Saxony, and is the seat of a like-named collective municipality Neuenhaus (Samtgemeinde), Neuenhaus. Neuenhaus lies on the rivers Dinkel and Vechte near the border with the Neth ...

in the district of

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

Lower Saxony Lower Saxony (german: Niedersachsen ; nds, Neddersassen; stq, Läichsaksen) is a German state (') in northwestern Germany. It is the second-largest state by land area, with , and fourth-largest in population (8 million in 2021) among the 16 ...

. The community consists of the centres of Osterwald, Alte Piccardie and Hohenkörben (Veldhausen parish). In Osterwald are found two brooks: the Soermannsbecke and the Böltbecke, which later empty into the Lee

Neighbouring communities

Osterwald’s neighbours are Veldhausen,

, Grasdorf,

Georgsdorf Georgsdorf is a community in the district of Grafschaft Bentheim in Lower Saxony. Geography Location Georgsdorf lies north of Nordhorn on the ''Süd-Nord-Kanal'' (South-North Canal) and the ''Coevorden-Piccardie-Kanal''. It belongs to the Joint ...

, Esche, Hohenkörben and Bimolten.

History

The name Osterwald first crops up in 14th-century documents.

Politics

The mayor is Gerda Brookmann.

Economy

Osterwald’s economic mainstay is

agriculture Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people to ...

, and its next most important source of livelihood is the

petroleum Petroleum, also known as crude oil, or simply oil, is a naturally occurring yellowish-black liquid mixture of mainly hydrocarbons, and is found in geological formations. The name ''petroleum'' covers both naturally occurring unprocessed crud ...

industry. Moreover, many smaller businesses are to be found, such as carpenter’s shops, a driving school and a shoe shop. Once, the petroleum industry was the community’s greatest economic factor. Also built in this time was the

swimming pool A swimming pool, swimming bath, wading pool, paddling pool, or simply pool, is a structure designed to hold water to enable Human swimming, swimming or other leisure activities. Pools can be built into the ground (in-ground pools) or built ...

, whose ceiling fell in; since that time, it has not been used.

Sport

Besides a football field used by BCO n.e.V.(Bolz Club Osterwald), there is also a sport hall, where

volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Summ ...

handball Handball (also known as team handball, European handball or Olympic handball) is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each (six outcourt players and a goalkeeper) pass a ball using their hands with the aim of throwing it into the g ...

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

and

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

are played.

Population

Some of the people among those locally born, mostly older people, still speak

Low German : : : : : (70,000) (30,000) (8,000) , familycolor = Indo-European , fam2 = Germanic , fam3 = West Germanic , fam4 = North Sea Germanic , ancestor = Old Saxon , ancestor2 = Middle L ...

Culture

In Osterwald there are a petroleum museum and a

farming Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people to ...

museum. At the village community house, theatre performances or children’s

musicals Musical theatre is a form of theatrical performance that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance. The story and emotional content of a musical – humor, pathos, love, anger – are communicated through words, music, movement ...

share space with

wedding A wedding is a ceremony where two people are united in marriage. Wedding traditions and customs vary greatly between cultures, ethnic groups, religions, countries, and social classes. Most wedding ceremonies involve an exchange of marriage vo ...

s and other celebrations. Furthermore, Osterwald is also a favourite place for people to come and play the regional game known as ''Kloatscheeten'' which involves teams rolling a small wooden disk with a leaden core along roadways.

References

External links

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