# Rahden

Rahden is a town in the far north of North Rhine-Westphalia between Bielefeld and Bremen and between Hanover and Osnabrück. Rahden is part of the Minden-Lübbecke District in East Westphalia-Lippe.
Rahden was first mentioned in 1033, and from 1816 to 1831 was county town of the district Rahden.

## Geography

Rahden is situated approximately 15 kilometres (9.3 mi) north of Lübbecke and 25 kilometres (16 mi) north-west of Minden. It is the northernmost town of North Rhine-Westphalia.

### Town subdivisions

The town of Rahden consists of 7 districts:
* Rahden (4,689 inhabitants)
* Kleinendorf (4,242 inhabitants)
* Varl (1,676 inhabitants)
* Sielhorst (791 inhabitants)
* Preußisch Ströhen (2,075 inhabitants)
* Wehe (1,730 inhabitants)
* Tonnenheide (1,784 inhabitants)

## Mayors

Bert Honsel (CDU) was elected mayor in September 2015 with 61.1% of the votes.
| Term of office | Mayor |
| 1973–1985 | Reinhold Spönemann (CDU) |
| 1985–1999 | Wilhelm Möhring (CDU) |
| 1999–2015 | Bernd Hachmann (CDU) |
| since 2015 | Bert Honsel (CDU) |

## International relations

Rahden is twinned with:
* Glindow (Berlin, Germany) -- since 1990
* Galgahévíz (Hungary) -- since 1995

## Notable people

* Tine Wittler (born 1973), German writer and television presenter

### Honorary citizen

The only honorary citizen of Rahden is Professor Carl Langhorst [de] (d. 1950 Rahden). He was born in 1867 in the Great Village and was a prominent portrait painter, poet and the composer of the "New Westphalia March." A street in downtown Rahden is named after him.

### Sons and daughters of the town

The individuals listed here come from the city Rahden and have both regional, national or even international importance. Here, the list is not exhaustive.
(As far as possible, rather than the flat giving Rahden the origin of the respective municipality or later noted the district. By screenability each column is not just a last name in alphabetical order, but it can also be found quickly anniversary dates.)
| Name | born | in | died | in | note |
| Christine von Halle [de] | 1533 | Rahden | 1603 | Breitenburg | Wife of Heinrich Rantzau |
| Carl Langhorst | 1867 | Rahden | 1950 | | Painter and composer |
| Christian Rosenbohm [de] | 1878 | Rahden | 1948 | Lübbecke | Member of the Landtag NRW, County Council Member for Westphalia |
| Friedhelm Ortgies | 1950 | Rahden | | | Member of the NRW state parliament |
| Wilhelm Priesmeier [de] | 1954 | Rahden | | | Member of the Bundestag |
| Andreas Brandhorst | 1956 | Rahden | | | Fantasy- and Science-Fiction-author and translator |
| Heinrich Bretthorst | 1883 | Rahden | 1962 | Leipzig | politician(SPD/SED) |
| Benny [de] (Benny Schnier) | 1957 | Rahden | | | Radio and television presenter and singer |
| Kurt Bock | 1958 | Rahden | | | Chairman of BASF |
| Achim Post | 1959 | Rahden | | | Deputy federal secretary of the SPD, a member of the Bundestag |
| Michael Buhre [de] | 1961 | Rahden | | | Mayor of Minden |
| Dietmar Kolbus | 1966 | Rahden | | | chess players |
| Jens-Hermann Kleine [de] | 1972 | Rahden | | | Director of Office Unterspreewald, Brandenburg |
| Chris Bollenbach [de] | 1972 | Rahden | | | Was a member of the NRW state parliament |
| Friedrich Schepsmeier [de] | 1949 | Rahden | | | Was a member of the NRW state parliament |
| Tine Wittler | 1973 | Rahden | | | Writer and television presenter (for use in homes, RTL) |
| Lars Windhorst | 1976 | Rahden | | | Entrepreneurial wunderkind of the 90 |
| Stefan Wessels | 1979 | Rahden | | | Keeper, played from 1998 till 2003 at FC Bayern München |