# Dissen, Lower Saxony

Dissen am Teutoburger Wald is an old charactered town in the district of Osnabrück, in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated in the Teutoburg Forest, approximately 20 km southeast of Osnabrück.

## Geography

Dissen is located on the southern slope of the Teutoburg Forest at the transition to East Westphalia. The highest point is the Hankenüll (307 meters) on the northeastern city limits. From east to west is the city area about eight kilometers, from north to south about ten kilometers. The land use is composed as follows: 43.8 percent agricultural use, 41.7 percent forest area, 9.8 percent building and courtyard areas and 4.7 percent traffic and other areas.
Dissen is bordered to the north by Hilter and Melle, to the west by Bad Rothenfelde, and to the south and east by the North Rhine-Westphalian towns of Versmold and Borgholzhausen in the Gütersloh district.
The city consists of the districts Dissen, Aschen, Erpen, and Nolle.

## History

Dissen was first mentioned in documents in 822, when Louis the Pious handed over the Meierhof in Dissen to the Bishop of Osnabrück. Since when the place exists is not known.
A public school with three classes was founded in 1857. In April 1832, a major fire destroyed 32 buildings, 200 people lost their roof over their heads. On November 8, 1951 Dissen received the city rights. The name "Dissen am Teutoburger Wald" was officially ordered by the Lower Saxony Ministry of the Interior with effect from 1 January 1976. Since 1 March 2005 Dissen has a full-time mayor. Since May 26, 2019 Eugen Görlitz (CDU) is mayor.
Origin of the place name
Old names of the place are 1217, 1284, 1325 (de) Disne, 1223, 1282, 1402, 1412, 1442, 1456/58, 1463, 1556, (after 1605) (de) Dissen, 1225 (in) Dyssene, (approx 1240) Dissene, 1246 (de) Dissenen, 1271 (de) Dissine, 1279 (in) Dhissene, 1402 Dyssen, 1412 Dyssen, 16th c. Dyssen and 1565 Dissenn. Difficult, perhaps too low-German hazy in a form Disina "misty, hazy area", perhaps referring to the moorland at Dissener Bach. Or maybe as Desina> Dissen to North Germanic anord. of the "haystack, ëschober", norw. desja "small pile", which was also borrowed in English. Then about hill town. Hard to solve so far.

### Incorporations

On April 1, 1974, there was an area exchange between the city of Dissen and the neighboring community Bad Rothenfelde, in which Dissen gained a little more than 100 inhabitants, but also ceded nearly 600 inhabitants.

### Population development

| Year | Population |
| 1885 | 1536 |
| 1910 | 2016 |
| 1925 | 2182 |
| 1933 | 2515 |
| 1939 | 2617 |
| 1950 | 4340 |
| 1956 | 4353 |
| 1961 | 6962 |
| 1970 | 7433 |
| 1973 | 7976 |
| 1975 | 7754 |
| 1985 | 8108 |
| 1987 | 8060 |
| 1990 | 8401 |
| 1995 | 9010 |
| 2000 | 9222 |
| 2005 | 9322 |
| 2010 | 9271 |
| 2011 | 9396 |
| 2014 | 9270 |
| 2015 | 9390 |
| 2017 | 9689 |
| 2018 | 9882 |
| 2019 | 9998 |

## Politics

City Council
The following table shows the municipal election results since 1996.
Council of the city of Dissen: election results and city councils :
| | CDU | CDU | SPD | SPD | GRÜNE | GRÜNE | FDP | FDP | UWG | UWG | Total | Total | Poll |
| Legislative period | % | seats | % | seats | % | seats | % | seats | % | seats | % | seats | % |
| 1996–2001 | 37,9 | 9 | 46,2 | 11 | 2,8 | 1 | 5,6 | 1 | 7,5 | 1 | 100 | 23 | 64,5 |
| 2001–2006 | 45,3 | 12 | 42,6 | 11 | 2,4 | 0 | 3,6 | 0 | 6,1 | 2 | 100 | 25 | 58,6 |
| 2006–2011 | 45,9 | 10 | 40,1 | 9 | 4,1 | 1 | 4,8 | 1 | 5,1 | 1 | 100 | 22 | 48,7 |
| 2011–2016 | 40,9 | 9 | 39,4 | 9 | 7,2 | 1 | 3,0 | 1 | 9,5 | 2 | 100 | 22 | 50,1 |
| 2016–2021 | 45,3 | 10 | 25,7 | 5 | 7,7 | 2 | – | – | 21,3 | 5 | 100 | 22 | 49,6 |
| Percentages rounded. Sources: Landesbetrieb für Statistik und Kommunikationstechnologie Niedersachsen, Landkreis Osnabrück. ||||||||||||||||||
Mayors
* Georg Majerski (2005-2011)
* Hartmut Nümann (2011-2019)
* Eugen Görlitz (2019-Incumbent)Town Hall of Dissen

### Coat of arms

Blazon: In green under a golden crown a golden wheel.

### Twin towns and sister cities

* Germany Dissen-Striesow, Landkreis Spree-Neiße, Brandenburg
* Germany Gudensberg, Schwalm-Eder-Kreis, Hesse
* Germany Thum, Erzgebirgskreis, Saxony

## Main sights

* Fernmeldeturm Dissen (with viewing platform)
* Frommenhof
* St. Mauritius (Dissen) (13. century)

## Notable people

* Hermann Heinrich Grafe (1818–1869), founder of the League of Free Evangelical Churches in Germany
* Christoph Friedrich Kurlbaum (1833–nach 1890), businessman and member of the parliament
* Erich Goudefroy (1880–1960), President of the Reichsbahn directorate Mainz and Altona
* Marianne Brentzel (* 1943), Author
* Gerda Krämer (* 1945), Politician (SPD)
* Klaus Feldmann (* 1950), General
* Rainer Spiering (* 1956), Politician (CDU)
* Andy Grote (* 1968), Politician (SPD)
* Marco Heggen (* 1970), Musician
* Gerwald Claus-Brunner (1972–2016), Politician (Pirates)