With the “Law on the Reorganization of the Municipalities in the Meppen Area” in March 1974, a total of 13 once independent villages became parts of the Meppen municipal area. The incorporation of the villages of Apeldorn, Bokeloh, Borken, Groß Fullen, Klein Fullen, Helte, Hemsen, Holthausen, Hüntel, Rühle, Schwefingen, Teglingen and Versen was intended to streamline and simplify the administrative structures – but some of the village inhabitants also took a critical view of the act and feared the loss of their village identities, local traditions that had grown over centuries and historically evolved (village) cultures. In many places there is still a pronounced awareness of one’s own village history, which people identify with rather than with the town to which the village has belonged since its incorporation. In this exhibition, the Stadtmuseum, in cooperation with the artists’ collective “Syndikat Gefährliche Liebschaften” (Dangerous Liaisons Syndicate), goes in search of Emsland village history(s), identities and images in the Meppen area, talking to the people who live here and letting them have their say. The development of the city from village beginnings and the formation of regional administrative structures since the Middle Ages are also vividly traced.

Fee: adults 4 €, families 7 €, children (6 – 16 years) 2,00 €.

Cooperation partner: Förderunion für Kunst und Kultur e. V. / Dangerous Liaisons Syndicate