Altastenberg

Altastenberg City of Winterberg Coordinates: 51 ° 11 ′ 22 "  N , 8 ° 27 ′ 56"  E
Height :	773  (740-790)  m
Area :	3.54 km²
Residents :	323  (Jun. 30, 2019)
Population density :	91 inhabitants / km²
Incorporation :	1st January 1975
Postal code :	59955
Area code :	02981
Location of Altastenberg in Winterberg
Aerial view of Altastenberg

Altastenberg is a district of Winterberg in North Rhine-Westphalia ( Germany ).

It is a state-approved climatic health resort and is one of the town's hilltop villages . Altastenberg is 740 to 790  m above sea level. NN the highest place in the Sauerland . The village has just under 340 inhabitants.

Geographical location

Altastenberg is located in the southeast part of the Hochsauerlandkreis about two kilometers northwest of the Kahler Asten ( 841.9  m above sea level ), about two kilometers west of the Brembergs ( 810  m above sea level ) and about 4.5 kilometers (each as the crow flies ) west of Winterberg. It is located between the headwaters or upper reaches of the Lenne in the south and the Neger in the northwest, near the main ridge of the Rothaargebirge , over which part of the Rhine-Weser watershed runs.

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View of the village from the southwest

history

Altastenberg, view from the northeast

Originally named after the field name "Lichtenscheid", Johann von Hanxleden laid out it around 1540 when he settled charcoal burners and shepherds there. So he came into conflict with the citizens of Winterberg, who claimed the land for themselves. Until the end of the Electorate of Cologne, Count von Waldeck claimed at least taxes, if not sovereignty, because he had leased the land to Hanxleden. Around 1600 the place belonged to the Oberkirchen Patrimonial Court, whose court lord at that time was Kaspar von Fürstenberg. Around 1563 the place probably had three, around 1600 six, 1630 ten and 1720 fourteen farms.

The persecution of witches can be traced back to 1630 with four executed and burned people. The place was ecclesiastically assigned to Winterberg until 1785. Up to this time the Astenbergers belonged to the local parish of St. Jakobus and were then parish off. Until then, their dead were also buried in the churchyard of the Winterberg parish church. In the parish archives of St. Jakobus in Winterberg it is recorded for 1720 that every farm owner had to bring a sledge of wood to the pastor every year. On delivery he received a pot of beer, a little butter and bread, and hay for the horses. There was initially a chapel from the 18th century until a new church was built in 1971/1972.

From the 18th century the place was called Altastenberg , in contrast to the newly developed village south of the Kahler Asten .

Most of the inhabitants worked as shepherds, charcoal burners and carters. The manufacture and sale of wooden goods in the traveling trade offered, in addition to meager agriculture and perhaps slate mining in the neighboring village of Nordenau, modest opportunities for additional income.

Until the end of the Second World War, the place was spared from fighting. It was not until the beginning of 1945 that Allied low-flying attacks continued to occur without causing any significant damage. On March 16, a Wehrmacht intelligence department was quartered in the village and in the barracks on the Kahler Asten. The construction of a planned launch base for the V2 did not come about. In the village, residents could repeatedly see the tails of fire from V2 rockets, which, as one suspected , were shot down from the Frankenberg (Eder) area . On March 29, a major general of the Wehrmacht appeared and declared himself the local commander with the task of organizing the fight against the Allied troops in the village. On April 1 and 2, 27 tanks of the Panzer-Lehr Division reached the village with their commander and took up defensive positions here. It was fatal that these tanks were posted in the immediate vicinity of the houses. On April 2, US troops fired at these positions for the first time. The Volkssturm , sent to neighboring Winterberg that day, fled back towards Altastenberg, where he was captured by the Americans and brought to Neuastenberg. On April 3, the Wehrmacht withdrew most of the soldiers without their tanks to Nordenau and to the Großer Bildchen . On April 4, the US troops fired again from Neuastenberg at the remaining units of the Wehrmacht. Around noon, a street fight that lasted about six hours began, in which more and more buildings in the village were hit and partly destroyed. Finally the Wehrmacht withdrew from the overwhelming force of the US troops in the direction of Großer Bildchen. There she had already built new combat positions and laid mines. On the night of April 5, the Wehrmacht shelled Altastenberg from there and from the direction of Siedlinghausen . Other houses were damaged or destroyed. A warehouse of IG Farben , Leverkusen branch, which had stored equipment in the rifle tent, was also burned. The population, around 100 people, had fled during the fighting in the old damp slate tunnels near the village, into which another 25 people escaped from the basement of a destroyed building on April 4th. As early as April 6, the tunnel residents were able to return to the village with the permission of the Americans. Some of the residents had previously been evacuated to Neuastenberg by US troops. A day later, the US combat troops moved on. 16 German soldiers are said to have died in the fighting in the village, two of whom were buried in the village cemetery. The number of American casualties remained unknown. The German troops had laid numerous mines in the local area. Winterberg residents and British soldiers later died in explosions.

In World War II, fell 19 Altastenberger. Most of them died as soldiers on the Eastern Front or in captivity. A civil person was also killed.

After the end of the Second World War, the place initially belonged to the British occupation zone and was later part of the newly formed state of North Rhine-Westphalia.

On January 1, 1975 Altastenberg was incorporated into the city of Winterberg.

tourism

Your hotel in Altastenberg

Today tourism is the main industry in Altastenberg. The village is known, among other things, for its winter sports facilities. The nearby Winterberg ski lift carousel is only a few hundred meters away. There are ski lifts , a cross-country ski run and a ski jump (Westfalenschanze) right at the entrance to the village . The so-called cream slope is visited in winter by skiers, snowboarders and tobogganists. The place is also well visited in summer because of its sports facilities and other recreational opportunities. Altastenberg is located directly on the Rothaarsteig on the Kahler Asten. The Kreuzberg chapel is also worth seeing .

literature

• Hugo Cramer: The district of Brilon in the Second World War 1939–1945 - reports from many employees from all over the district. Josefs-Druckerei, Bigge 1955.
• Klaus Hamper: Winterberg Hochsauerland. Landscape History Customs. Brinkmann, Winterberg 1968.
• Elisabeth Hanschmidt, Paul Aust: Winterberg with the villages on the Kahler Asten. Westfälischer Heimatbund, Münster 1992.
• Alfred Bruns: The Oberkirchen witch protocols. In: Witches - jurisdiction in the Sauerland region of Cologne. Slate mining local museum, Schmallenberg-Holthausen 1984.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ City of Winterberg: Winterberg in facts and figures , accessed on December 30, 2019
2. ↑ Topographical Information Management, Cologne District Government, Department GEObasis NRW ( Notes )
3. ^ Hugo Cramer: The district of Brilon in the Second World War 1939-1945. Bigge 1955, pp. 114-120, Altastenberg section.
4. ^ Hugo Cramer: The district of Brilon in the Second World War 1939-1945. Bigge 1955, pp. 231-232.
5. ^ Federal Statistical Office (ed.): Historical municipality directory for the Federal Republic of Germany. Name, border and key number changes in municipalities, counties and administrative districts from May 27, 1970 to December 31, 1982 . W. Kohlhammer, Stuttgart / Mainz 1983, ISBN 3-17-003263-1 , p. 332 .

Web links

Commons : Altastenberg  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Homepage of Altastenberg
• Altastenberg in the Westphalia culture atlas