Börgerende-Rethwisch is a

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...

in the

Rostock Rostock (; Polabian language, Polabian: ''Roztoc''), officially the Hanseatic and University City of Rostock (), is the largest city in the German States of Germany, state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and lies in the Mecklenburgian part of the sta ...

district, in

Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Mecklenburg-Vorpommern (MV; ; ), also known by its Anglicisation, anglicized name Mecklenburg–Western Pomerania, is a Federated state, state in the north-east of Germany. Of the country's States of Germany, sixteen states, Mecklenburg-Vorpom ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

Geography

The municipality runs from the

Baltic Sea The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by the countries of Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden, and the North European Plain, North and Central European Plain regions. It is the ...

coast for almost 5 km southeast into the interior. Within its territory is the Conventer See, an old bay whose outlet to the Baltic has silted up turning it into a lake. The lake is a

nature reserve A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or bioreserve, natural or nature preserve, or nature conservation area) is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, funga, or features of geologic ...

which is known for its variety of waders and water fowl. To the west of Börgerende is Germany's oldest seaside resort,

Heiligendamm Heiligendamm () is a German seaside resort founded in 1793. It is the oldest seaside spa in continental Europe. Heiligendamm is part of the town Bad Doberan in the state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and historically belongs to Mecklenburg. The ...

. As well as Börgerende and Rethwisch, the villages of Bahrenhorst and Neu Rethwisch are also part of the municipality.

History

The village of Rethwisch was first documented in 1297. In 1299, a clergyman from Doberan Abbey was installed in Rabenhorst. In the war damage assessment of 1312 of the damage caused by the conflict between Rostock's townsfolk under

Nicholas Nicholas is a male name, the Anglophone version of an ancient Greek name in use since antiquity, and cognate with the modern Greek , . It originally derived from a combination of two Ancient Greek, Greek words meaning 'victory' and 'people'. In ...

and the troops of

Henry the Lion Henry the Lion (; 1129/1131 – 6 August 1195), also known as Henry III, Duke of Saxony (ruled 1142-1180) and Henry XII, Duke of Bavaria (ruled 1156-1180), was a member of the Welf dynasty. Henry was one of the most powerful German princes of ...

an administrator (''magister curie'') of

Doberan Abbey Doberan Abbey (''Kloster Doberan'') is a former Cistercian monastery in Bad Doberan, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany. The Brick Gothic church continues in use as Doberan Minster (''Doberaner Münster''). After the conversion to Christianity o ...

, a cemetery and a sexton were mentioned in connexion with the place. In addition to the administrator, there were at that time about twenty households in the village, all of which had German names. In 1353 comes the first record of a ''capella Redwisch'' (Rethwisch Chapel) and, one year later a ''ecclesia Redewisch'' (Rethwisch Church). Reference is made to the fact that the church was previously located in Rabenhorst, but had moved its seat to Rethwisch. After

the Reformation The Reformation, also known as the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation, was a time of major theological movement in Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the papacy and ...

the abbey's estate was transferred in 1552 to the ''Domanialverband'' (territorial union) of the local lords. The independent municipalities of Börgerende and Rethwisch were merged on 20 June 1957 and, at the same time, transferred from the district of Rostock Land to the newly formed

Bad Doberan Bad Doberan () is a town in the district of Rostock, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany. It was the capital of the former district of Bad Doberan. In 2012, its population was 11,427. Geography Bad Doberan is situated just west of Rostock's city c ...

. The largest hotel in GDR times was the

FDGB The Free German Trade Union Federation ( or ''FDGB'') was the sole national trade union centre of the German Democratic Republic (GDR or East Germany) which existed from 1946 to 1990. As a mass organisation of the GDR, nominally representing al ...

holiday home, the ''Hotel Waterkant''. It was opened on 11 August 1976 and had 462 beds, a restaurant with 240 seats, a swimming pool and several medical facilities. The building soon stood empty after

the Wende The Peaceful Revolution () – also, in German called ' (, "the turning point") – was one of the peaceful revolutions of 1989 at the peak of the collapse of the Eastern Bloc in the late 1980s. A process of sociopolitical change that led to, am ...

and the ruins were demolished in 2008. On its site is a new residential area with detached and terraced houses. A relict from the East German era is the listed Baltic Sea watchtower, one of the two surviving coastal watchtowers on the Baltic Sea. Artists working with ceramics, graphics and pictorial art display their works for tourists in the Art Barn or ''Kunst-Scheune''.

Rethwisch Church

The church dates to the early 14th century. It is triple-aisled and made of granite and fieldstone, the west tower is wooden. The oldest parts of the carved altar date to the 15th century. The

ambry An ambry (or ''almery'', ''aumbry''; from the medieval form ''almarium'', cf. Lat. ''armārium'', "a place for keeping tools"; cf. O. Fr. ''aumoire'' and mod. armoire) is a recessed cabinet in the wall of a Christianity, Christian church (building) ...

is in the shape of a pinnacle turret.

References

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