Heiden, Germany
Heiden is a municipality in the district of Borken in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located approximately 5 km east of Borken. Its most important symbol are the "devil stones". Geography. Location. Heiden is located in the west of the Westphalian Lowland near to the changeover to the Ruhr area in the south. In the north of Heiden are "The Mountains" ("Die Berge"). Heiden is surrounded by many woods. Neighbouring places. In the north Heiden borders the city of Borken and the city of Velen, in the east borders the municipality of Reken. The  southern border of Heiden to Dorsten is also the border to the district of Recklinghausen. Division. Officially, Heiden has no division. Nevertheless, there are hamlets outside the urban settlement of Heiden. On the one hand, there are the dispersed settlements of Leblich with its Hamlets "Buschausen", "Leblich" and "Heiden along the Railway Street" in the south and on the other hand "Nordick" and "Lammersfeld" in the north. History. Early history. In one of Heidens forests ("The Uhlen") you can find the "devil stones" (in German "Teufelssteine" or in Low German "Düwelsteene") these are the remains of a Neolithic dolmen from  3500–2800 B.C. These are the earlist evidence of human settlement in the local area. Foundation/Name. Heiden was founded as the farm "Heghinc". In the year 870, Heiden was first mentioned in a donation to a monastery. During its development to a settlement, Heiden was also named "Heidion", "Heithene", "Hethen" and finally "Heyden". The origin of the Name "Heiden" is the heathland (German: "Heideland"), which is the natural landscape in Heidens area. Since 1975, Heiden is a municipality. Politics. The parties and associations in the municipal council were voted every five years. Patrick Voßkamp (CDU), whose term began in 2020 , is the current mayor. He was preceded by Hans-Jürgen Benson (SPD), whose term began in 2015. Before 2015, the independent candidate Heiner Buß was mayor for 15 years.