Country bumpkins, backwoodsmen and provincials live in small towns, nests or in the middle of Wallachia: that’s what it often sounded like when townspeople talked about villagers. Many city dwellers looked down on people who came from Oberammergau, Negernbötel or Grossengottern instead of Hamburg or Munich, some with disdain, some with pity. Or at least Frankfurt or Cologne.
The times have changed. Meanwhile, envy rather than arrogance mixes in the view of villagers. “The new desire to live in the country is here, and it can also be traced in the migration statistics,” says Catherina Hinz, Executive Director of the Berlin Institute for Population and Development, who presented a study on migration in Germany last June in Berlin. Villages and small towns were clearly among the migration winners compared to the late 2000s, according to the study. And they also benefited from the lack of attractiveness of the big cities, which have become more and more crowded and expensive in recent years.
The corona pandemic fueled the trend. According to the study, many people felt the desire for more freedom, space and proximity to nature during the lockdown. City dwellers are increasingly moving to the suburbs of the metropolises – or straight outside. Space and WiFi, that’s all many former city dwellers need (anymore).
It’s only boring in the country for those who don’t look properly. If you look around, you will find lots of small records in the villages, with which the villages adorn themselves.
The average age in Nieby is 64.2 years – a German record. There is no church here, no school. The bus runs twice a day. What remains is a retirement home with 28 residents.
Kirchspiel-Garding, a community with many children and the lowest average age, is also nearby: the average age of the residents is 28 years.
The lowest lying village is also in Schleswig-Holstein. Neuendorf-Sachsenbande is 3.54 meters below sea level in Germany’s only accessible natural depression.
If you want to soak up the sun, you don’t have to fly straight to the Mediterranean Sea. The place with the most hours of sunshine is in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania: In Zinnowitz on Usedom, the sun shines an average of 1917.5 hours a year.
The smallest inhabited island swims in the Steinhuder Meer in Lower Saxony. The Wilhelmstein is a 1.25 hectare artificial island near Hanover. It was built in the 18th century as a state fortress for the county of Schaumburg-Lippe.
The best place to look at the starry sky is in Gülpe in Brandenburg. The village is considered the darkest place in Germany. The Milky Way can be seen there with the naked eye.
Dierfeld in the Eifel consists of only one farm where nine people live. This makes the estate in Rhineland-Palatinate the smallest municipality in Germany.
The Bavarian Schwanfeld is considered the oldest village in Germany, even if there is no evidence of continuous settlement. Around 7,500 years ago, Linear Pottery Cultures settled there, farming and living in huts.
Kühnhaide in Saxony is the coldest inhabited place in Germany. The minus 30 degree mark is undercut almost every winter. The summer months can also be bitterly cold – up to and including ground frost.
Oberjoch in the Bavarian Allgäu lies at 1136 meters and boasts of being the highest “ski and mountain village” in the country.
“Aha! Ten minutes of everyday knowledge” is WELT’s knowledge podcast. Every Tuesday and Thursday we answer everyday questions from the field of science. Subscribe to the podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Deezer, Amazon Music, Google Podcasts or directly via RSS feed.
