Ringe is a community in the district of Grafschaft Bentheim in

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 ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG),, is a country in Central Europe. It is the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany lies between the Baltic and North Sea to the north and the Alps to the sou ...

Emlichheim

Ringe has roughly 2,000 inhabitants and belongs to the Joint Community (''Samtgemeinde'') of

Emlichheim Emlichheim (Low German: Emmelkamp) is a municipality in the district of Grafschaft Bentheim in Lower Saxony, Germany, roughly 20 km south of Emmen, and 25 km northwest of Nordhorn. Geography Emlichheim lies right on the German- Du ...

. The community consists of the three centres of Großringe, Kleinringe and Neugnadenfeld and is mainly characterized by

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 peop ...

, although it also has an interesting history behind it. The community’s geography was once moorland, but this was cultivated by

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

in the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, for which the

Nazis Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hit ...

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

Ortsteil A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town (although the word is often used to describe both hamlets and smaller towns), with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to ...

e'').

The moors

Today, there is no longer much in the way of pure moorland in the community, but

conservationists The conservation movement, also known as nature conservation, is a political, environmental, and social movement that seeks to manage and protect natural resources, including animal, fungus, and plant species as well as their habitat for the ...

have been trying for a few years to recultivate these as the moors, a habitat for some threatened animal species, are becoming scarcer.

History

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

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

and a

grocer A grocery store ( AE), grocery shop ( BE) or simply grocery is a store that primarily retails a general range of food products, which may be fresh or packaged. In everyday U.S. usage, however, "grocery store" is a synonym for supermarket, a ...

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

Geography

Through the community of Ringe flows the river

Vechte The Vechte () (in German language, German and in Low German, Low Saxon (Dutch Low Saxon pronunciation: ̯ɛxtəThe places near the Vechte in the County of Bentheim have the same pronunciation or Vecht (in Dutch language, Dutch) (), often call ...

, which downstream, at

Laar Laar () is a community in the district of Grafschaft Bentheim in Lower Saxony. The community’s name comes from the Old Dutch for “glade in the woods”. Geography Location Laar lies northwest of Nordhorn on the German- Dutch border. It belo ...

, crosses the border into the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

Economy

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

plastics Plastics are a wide range of synthetic or semi-synthetic materials that use polymers as a main ingredient. Their plasticity makes it possible for plastics to be moulded, extruded or pressed into solid objects of various shapes. This adaptab ...

-processing businesses have also set up shop in town.

References

External links

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