consequences. Owing to the absorption and integration of a large number of refugees grave economic and demographic shifts were brought about. After almost 160 years Halle lost its position as district capital due to a reorganization of administrative districts in 1973: Gütersloh became capital of the new district. Until then Halle even had its own license plate code "HW". There are no known documents about the name Halle and the nascence of the town. The most common (but non- provable) explanation is that it is derived from "hale", meaning salt. Religion More than half of the population is member of Lutheran churches, some 15% are Roman Catholic. Besides the Lutheran parish of Evangelical Church of Westphalia (with the two churches of St. Johannis and Hörste) and the Catholic parish Herz-Jesu (Sacred Heart of Jesus) there are also the Free Church congregations of the Mennonites-Plymouth Brethren, the New Apostolic Church and the Free Evangelical Church. Muslims can attend services in the Ayasofya Mosque of the Turkish-Islamic cultural association and additionally Jehovah's Witnesses as well as the Kurdish Yazidi are represented with one parochial bodies each. Incorporations On October 1, 1938 the community Oldendorf and on October 1, 1956 a part of the community Gartnisch were amalgamated into the town of Halle. Within the scope of the government reorganization of North Rhine-Westphalia and based on the "Gesetz zur Neugliederung von Gemeinden des Landkreises Halle (Law on reorganization of communities in the rural district Halle)" dating June 24, 1969 the communities Ascheloh, Eggeberg and Gartnisch where transferred from the Amt Halle (Westf.) (administrative office of Halle (Westf.)) into the town of Halle. Due to the "Bielefeld-law", dating October 24, 1972 the town of Halle was united with the communities of Bokel, Hesseln, Hörste, Kölkebeck and Künsebeck on January 1, 1973. The new town of Halle also replaced the former administrative office of Halle. Based on the same law parts of the communities of Amshausen, Borgholzhausen, Brockhagen and Theenhausen were integrated into the town. Inhabitants With a few restrictions the population figures on Halle can be traced back to the year 1491. In the years 1491–1541 the inhabitants count is stated with approx. 49. Between 1500 and 1600 this number grew to approx. 350. It is for the year 1871 that an exact number of inhabitants is known, Halle had 5,545 inhabitants at the time, including later incorporations to the borough. Without these incorporations