The Organisation

Our non-profit Organisation "Heimatverein Freren" was founded in 1963 in Freren, Germany. Since 2003 we are located in our historic clubhouse, the "Heimathaus".

What we do

We preserve the History of our hometown and surrounding areas. We organise events like bicycling tours and hiking tours. We also share our history with different time-limited exhibitions like our previous exhibition on toys.

Our History

after being dispossessed during the second world war, the "Internatsgenossenschaft" got a compensation of 200,000 DM after the war ended. Since the "Internatsgenossenschaft" had no intention of rebuilding, they decided to donate the money to charity. A share of over 11,000 DM became the founding money for our non-profit organisation. The "Heimatverein" was officially founded in 1963 by former "Internatsgenossenschaft"-members and was one of the first organisations of its kind in our area.

The first board members where Heinrich Franksmann, Georg Siepenkort and Georg Wintering. In 1964 Bernhard Fritze joined the board.

Research, education and recreation were the purposes set by our founders.

Throughout our city's history, we were able to preserve its beauty. For example, we prevented the drainage of a river branch, campaigned for the restoration of the old rectory and made a unique tree-lined road a natural reserve, thus protecting the trees from being cut down.

In 1984 we rented two rooms in the old rectory, by which we made it our first clubhouse. In 1991 the old Kirchwall-school became our new clubhouse for the next couple of years. During these years, we collected many exhibits and books. Over time our library grew to over 1,000 books. This was also the first time we had enough space to permanently display some of our exhibits of local undertakings.

In 2003 we moved into our current clubhouse, the "Heimathaus". The building used to be a judge's house and was part of a broader complex consisting of the judge's house, the court building and a house for the court servants. The last judge in office bought the house in the 1970s after the court's dissolution. After he died in 1998, he handed the building down to us.