Pest in Wanfried and Pestlinde
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The plague in Wanfried was an epidemic outbreak in March 1682 that lasted a year and to which a large part of the residents of the north Hessian city of Wanfried fell victim. Even today, the plague linden tree reminds of the great death in the " plague year " 1682 and of pastor Johannes Gleim (1653–1697), of whom the church book of the Evangelical City Church reports that he cared for the people in his community with devotion and tirelessly that year helped. He had to bury over 300 people. All were outside the city on the “ Pestacker" to bury. Pastor Gleim's friend, the cantor Jakob Faber, was among them . In his honor and in memory of everyone else, Gleim planted a linden branch on Faber's grave in 1683 , which has grown into a stately tree over the centuries and keeps the memory alive.
history
"The Thirty Years' War (1618–1648) was a long time of the worst tribulations for the residents," wrote City Secretary Reinhold Strauss in the chronicle of the city of Wanfried from 1908. Due to the location of the place at the crossroads of various military roads , it was used by war peoples crossed from many countries, both hostile and friendly. According to the chronicle, the soldiers from friendly states behaved no better than the enemy in many respects. Since the troops mostly received no pay, they had to take everything they could get with them, especially for food.
Wanfried was attacked, looted and burned down during the war years. The great hardship and privation of the people, who were left with almost nothing and who sought refuge partly in cellars and partly in the woods out of fear of the war peoples, as well as the constant change and the accumulation of troops, resulted in a high mortality among the inhabitants . When the 30-year war came to an end, so the chronicle, trade and change were paralyzed; no more cattle in the village, cellars and floors empty, the fields undeveloped and devastated. Most of the buildings and apartments were destroyed. It took a long time for people to recover from the rigors.
“As soon as the horrors of the 30 Years War were over, another eerie guest, the plague, made its way into the walls of the city,” writes the chronicler. The city files do not entirely agree with the entries in the church register about the time of the outbreak of the disease. According to the city's files, the epidemic is said to have broken out as early as March 1682; According to the entries in the Protestant church book, the epidemic began in the village with a person who died on September 7th, when the signs of the plague were first recognized. The disease always took the same cruel course: Sudden fever and nausea, then individual dark spots on the body that developed into thick boils, and then, in almost all cases, an excruciating death followed within a few days.
When the risk of infection grew, the military cordoned off Wanfried in June 1682. Nobody should go into the cordoned off area, nobody should go out. No foreign ship was allowed to enter the port and none of those lying here were allowed to leave. Carriages were directed around Wanfried. Fires were kept constant at the transfer points for goods, food and letters in order to “clean” the air. The cordoning off measures were so strict that the city administration repeatedly complained against it.
Wanfried reached the peak of the epidemic in the autumn months. At that time the city looked bleak. The streets, the warehouses, the hostels, the inns were deserted. The shops became deserted. And the plague struck ever more ruthlessly. Some families in the city died out completely. The fear of infection was so great that no one wanted to enter a house in which a sick person was lying. The administration of the city was forced to pay very high sums for the conditions at the time in order to remove the corpses from their apartments and to take the sick to the infirmary and the high school, which were set up as hospitals . The burial of the plague victims did not take place in the actual cemetery in front of the Untertor, but on the “Pestacker” near the infirmary.
The Wanfrieder Stadtchronik reports: “In this difficult time, in which all ties of friendship and family ties were broken, as everyone feared for their own lives, deeds of the most noble philanthropy and charity were also shown . The city has kept the names of these men, who have earned great merit in all situations through self-sacrificing care, constant helpfulness and fearlessness, for posterity as an honorable memory. They are: Konrad Wetzestein, Martin Klaus, Christian Döring, Georg Weske and Jakob Sänger. "
Pastor Johannes Gleim also tells us that he “followed his conscience and did his service in accordance with the hope that supported him.” He was one of the few who repeatedly rushed to help despite the risk of infection; consoled the sick and those who were abandoned by the death or flight of their loved ones. One of the hardest hit families was that of his friend and neighbor Jakob Faber. In a short time he lost parents, brother, wife and seven of his children. The last victim was Faber himself. He died on August 3, 1682 at the age of 55. Pastor Gleim buried him that night.
When winter came the plague slowly subsided and by spring it was over. After the epidemic ended, clothes, linen and the like were burned outside the city for days. All buildings had to be cleaned and whitewashed with lime inside and out within the given deadlines .
The plague linden tree
| Plague linden tree | |||
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.jpg) The old tree still reminds of the " Black Death " in the 17th century.
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| place | Wanfried in the Werra-Meißner district in North Hesse | ||
| Federal Republic | Germany | ||
| Tree species | Summer linden (Tilia platyphyllos) | ||
| Height above sea level | 166 m | ||
| Geographical location | 51 ° 11 '8 " N , 10 ° 9' 53.1" E | ||
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| Status natural monument | Designated as a natural monument on July 21, 1936 | ||
| Age | 340 years | ||
| Trunk circumference (chest height) |
more than four meters | ||
| Tree height | just under 20 m | ||
When the city was released again in the spring of 1683, Pastor Gleim personally planted a linden tree for his friend Faber as a final greeting on his grave. Since July 1936 the summer linden tree, known as the “Pestlinde”, has been a designated natural monument . In the list of natural monuments in the Werra-Meißner district, the Pestlinde has the number ND 636.510 with an expulsion date of July 21, 1936.
In 2017, the pest linden tree in Wanfried was around 18 m high and measured 4.31 m in circumference.
The old linden tree stands to the right of the Werra, north of the historic port facility " Schlagd " by Wanfried in the Werra-Meißner district in North Hesse .
The many burial mounds in the shadowy circle of the linden tree have long since crumbled over time. The plague cemetery, which had been avoided for a long time, became an area for those seeking relaxation. The "Uferpromenade" leads past the linden tree from the former shipping pier, whose listed storage barns are used by a restaurant, to the water treading facility . The right-hand variant of the Werra Valley Cycle Path to Frieda also runs along this road .
poem
The burial mounds and plague cemetery are forgotten,
the black crosses are falling into disrepair.
Only the linden branch is alive.
It grew up
into a strong trunk,
a mighty linden tree,
and seems to outlast everything.
literature
- Reinhold Strauss: Chronicle of the city of Wanfried . Carl Braun, Wanfried 1908.
- Wilhelm Pippart: The Blackberry Man . Old things, legends and songs from the central Werra valley . 4th edition. Self-published by Helmut Pippart, Wanfried 2012.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b The town church owes a lot to these personalities: Johannes Gleim (* 1653 to † 1697). In: stadtkirche-wanfried.de. April 17, 2014, accessed April 25, 2021 .
- ↑ Reinhold Strauss (* 1859; † 1939) grew up in Lengenfeld unterm Stein in the Thuringian Südeichsfeld. After a commercial apprenticeship in Eschwege, he switched to an administrative career and became city secretary in Wanfried in the mid-1880s.
- ↑ a b c d Reinhold Strauss: Chronicle of the city of Wanfried. P. 56 f.
- ↑ a b c Information from the notice board by the tree. ( Photo of the notice board at baumkunde.de )
- ↑ Wilhelm Pippart: In the shadow of the plague linden tree. In: Der Brombeermann p. 264 f.
- ↑ Klaus Heinemann: Pestlinde in Wanfried. In: baumkunde.de. April 25, 2017, accessed May 20, 2021 .
- ↑ Quoting from: The town church owes a lot to these personalities: Johannes Gleim (* 1653 to † 1697). In: stadtkirche-wanfried.de. April 17, 2014, accessed April 25, 2021 .
