Rühme: From asparagus to industrial area
Asparagus, the long, slim vegetable is today’s topic. During an urban quarter guided tour Volker Abrolat, a guardian of the cultural heritage, revives the history of Rühme. The former village looks back on a long tradition. The first documented mention dates back to the year 1007. The first settlers established themselves in the common reed – nobody knows why. Even sand dunes are said to have been around here. And of course sandy ground where upon the white gold was growing: asparagus occupied more than 60 % of the arable land once. Around 1900 the company Hinze & Co., a tinning factory joined the scenery. At this place especially women were drudging on a piece work basis. In 1934 Rühme was forced to suburbanize into Brunswieck. Today the quarter is dominated by a huge industrial estate. But also the historical memory is still visible.
Stone age, Bronze Age and Asparagus
Abrolat tells us that in 12.000 there were Stone-Age settlements here. In the 5th and 4th century it were Bronze-Age settlements and in the 8th and 9th century the rural conglomeration in the reeds began. In 1852 a devastating fire destroyed nearly the whole village. From 11 farms only five were left over.
The fields of asparagus were huge, it’s expansion reached even the „Schwarze Berg“. The vegetable was peeled and processed in the tinning factory Hinze & Co. I try to image what it feels like to peel asparagus for more than 8 hours a day. That means one and the same movement of the hand, day in, day out. Capral tunnel syndrom inevitable, right? The factory was shut and teared down in 2019. A former estate building can be seen in the Osterbergstraße. However, only the beam with the biblical saying survived the fire. We continue our walk from here to the Schunteraue and from there to the St. Trinitatis Church. It is only since 1936 that Rühme has its own church, before that the village belonged to the St. Magni community.
At the Wendenturm
The tower mentioned 1400 was originally errected as a watchtower for the Brunswieck Landwehr. A licensed house is already verifiable in the Wendenturm in the year 1672. Since 1777 it is private property. The tower used to be a tollhouse in the 18th and 19th century. Today the restaurant Wendenturm is situated here.
Landwehr: ramparts and ditches for protection
At the end of the tour Abrolat shows us the Landwehr memorial. I am surprised as I have not heard of this model before. Probably I would have never thought of looking for such a memorial at this place respectively on this busy radial street. The Landwehr surrounded the city once and had seven watch- and defense towers. One of them was the Wendenturm. Here at the Landwehr model the diverting tour ends.
