Old Morsch

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Old Morsch
community Morschen
Coordinates: 51 ° 4 ′ 2 ″  N , 9 ° 36 ′ 56 ″  E
Height : 191 m above sea level NHN
Area : 1.55 km²
Residents : 1430  (2014)
Population density : 925 inhabitants / km²
Incorporation : 1st January 1974
Postal code : 34326
Area code : 05664
Haydau Monastery

Altmorschen has been part of the municipality of Morschen in the Schwalm-Eder district in northern Hesse since the beginning of the 21st century . The place originated in the Middle Ages and its development is closely connected with the Cistercian monastery Haydau .

geography

The place is located in the east of the district at the foothills of the Knüllgebirge on the east bank of the Fulda . On the opposite side of the river lies Neumorschen . The state road 3225 and the Fulda cycle path lead through the village . The federal highway 83 and the Bebra-Baunatal-Guntershausen railway line run along the Fulda . The Fuldatalbrücke Morschen on the high-speed line Hanover – Würzburg runs over the Fulda .

Within the district of Altmorschen are the former Haydau monastery , the Leimbachs Hof farmstead, the Leimbach desert and what is now the desert chapel on the Kapellberg.

history

middle Ages

The place Aldenmorsene was first mentioned in a document in 1235, when the local Cistercian monastery Haydau ( Heide ) was founded, but is probably much older: In 1238 Altmorschen and Konnefeld had part of the market rights of Wichte . The parish Altmorschen was transferred from Hermann von Spangenberg to the monastery Haydau in 1270 ; In 1318 it was incorporated into the monastery and parish to Eubach together with its branch church Neumorschen . In 1318 the von Leimbach family, from which the first abbess of Haydau, Gertrud von Leimbach , came, donated property in Altmorschen to the monastery, and in 1325 the monastery became the owners of the entire village through further donations from the lords of Treffurt-Spangenberg. In 1331 the monastery bought the Altmorschen court from the lords of Treffurt . In 1350 the Lords of Treffurt sold the entire remaining Spangenberg estate to Landgrave Heinrich II of Hesse .

In historical documents, the place is documented under the following place names (the year it was mentioned in brackets): Aldenmorsene (1235), Morsene (1235), Altenmorßen (1620), Alt-Morschen .

Between the 16th and 20th centuries

Soon after the Reformation , in the 17th century, the monastery buildings became a pleasure palace for hunting parties. In 1830 the facilities in Altmorschen were transferred to a state domain .

At the beginning of the 20th century, the Raiffeisen Association appeared as the owner and user of the local domain. During the First World War , numerous prisoners of war were housed in the historic monastery buildings. They had to do forced labor in agriculture, in commercial enterprises and in nearby industrial plants.

Altmorschen in the Nazi era

In the years 1933–1945, the National Socialist (NS) regime also left its mark on Altmorschen, which was traditionally influenced by the SPD . In the Reichstag elections on March 5, 1933, the SPD lost the majority it had held for a long time, the NSDAP was able to achieve a 57.5% share of the votes in town, and a lot has changed for the town. The clubs were brought into line, workers' sports and choral clubs were abolished. There was only one singing and one sports club in the village, both geared towards the Nazi ideology. Social Democrats and Communists were put under pressure, any open resistance against the National Socialists was quickly given up, otherwise they would be placed in the Walkemühle educational center near Adelshausen. The previous mayor Paul Frankfurth (SPD) resigned at the end of March 1933 and Wilhelm Meyer (NSDAP) took up his post.

The reconnection of the Saarland to the German Reich on January 13, 1935, was celebrated by the residents of Altmorschen with speeches, a torchlight procession and a celebration in the Wickenhof Hall. On June 3, 1935, the village celebrated the 700th anniversary of the Haydau Monastery and the 60th anniversary of the men's choir. NSDAP Gauleiter Weinrich and District President von Mombarth from Kassel also took part.

In 1936, the Melsung NSDAP district leader Reinhardt announced that unemployment in the district, which had affected 1,600 people in 1933, had been completely eliminated by the construction of the Reichsautobahn.

In the elections in March 1936, only seven voters in the entire Melsungen district voted against Adolf Hitler . In Altmorschen three no votes were recorded, and since only Heinrich Wohlgemuth, Jakob Frankfurth and his wife made use of the secret right to vote, they were quickly identified and posted on the notice board.

The persecution of the Jews, which began throughout the Reich, did not affect Altmorschen, since no Jewish families lived here in the 1930s. However, several Jewish families were deported from the neighboring towns of Binsförth and Neumorschen.

At the beginning of the Second World War , parts of the border population were resettled inland to protect them. Around 300 people from the Pirmasens district had to be accommodated in the Morschen area. After the initial successes of the Wehrmacht in Poland and France, displaced persons came to the town from western and eastern Germany. In 1940 the local administration took over the remaining former monastery complex.

From 1942 onwards, train traffic from Altmorschen was severely restricted, with only six trains running on the Kassel-Bebra route.

Altmorschen received nothing from the bombing raids, which hit the Melsungen region hard, except for an air raid on a freight train shortly before the village. However, the residents witnessed the destruction of Kassel on October 22, 1943, when the sky turned red at night. Quite a few old mortars had to fear and mourn for relatives and friends. Many of the now homeless Kasselans sought refuge in the Morschen area.

In the spring of 1945, German troops wanted to stop the approaching US Army on the Fulda and therefore blew up the Fulda bridge between Alt- and Neumorschen on the morning of March 31st. As fighting was to be expected, the inhabitants evacuated the village and retreated into forests and fields. The commanding German officer forbade the residents to surrender by hoisting white sheets, threatening them to be shot. The fighting began in the late afternoon. Grenades hit residential and farm buildings. The Americans also shot at civilians in the fields, injuring eleven people. A woman and a man later died from their wounds. Another resident was shot dead in front of the old school. Two wounded Americans were burned to death in a barn. Towards evening the battle was over. Two houses, a barn and a stable had been completely destroyed, and a house and a barn were badly damaged. A German tank was hit and its commander died. On Easter Monday, April 2, 1945, the US troops finally occupied the place and it remained under American occupation law until the establishment of the Federal Republic of Germany in 1949.

76 Altmörsch men died as soldiers at the front, the majority in 1944 and 1945. The fate of many missing soldiers could only be clarified years after the end of the war.

From 1949

The municipality of Morschen was formed in the course of the regional reform in Hesse on January 1, 1974 by virtue of state law through the merger of the previously independent municipalities Altmorschen, Heina, Konnefeld and Neumorschen. Previously, the municipalities of Binsförth had already been incorporated into the municipality of Altmorschen on April 1, 1972, Eubach on July 1, 1971 and Wichte on December 31, 1971 . Altmorschen became the seat of the municipal administration and local districts were set up for all former municipalities . Simultaneously with the merger to form the municipality of Morschen, it came into the newly formed Schwalm-Eder district due to the amalgamation of the previous districts of Melsungen , Fritzlar-Homberg and Ziegenhain .

In the 1980s, the municipal administration had the manor house renovated and made it their town hall . Soon afterwards, money was also available to restore the early Gothic village church. Almost all historical buildings have been declared architectural monuments.

population

Population development

 Source: Historical local dictionary

• 1585: 96 households
• 1774: 94 households
Altmorschen: Population from 1834 to 2014
year     Residents
1834
  
848
1840
  
848
1846
  
897
1852
  
852
1858
  
791
1864
  
796
1871
  
787
1875
  
747
1885
  
679
1895
  
756
1905
  
763
1910
  
804
1925
  
925
1939
  
1.007
1946
  
1,547
1950
  
1,601
1956
  
1,479
1961
  
1,514
1967
  
1,677
1970
  
1,667
2011
  
1,516
2014
  
1,430
Data source: Historical municipality register for Hesse: The population of the municipalities 1834 to 1967. Wiesbaden: Hessisches Statistisches Landesamt, 1968.
Other sources::; Morschen community

Religious affiliation

 Source: Historical local dictionary

• 1885: 0657 Protestant (= 100.00%) residents
• 1961: 1384 Protestant (= 91.41%), 113 Catholic (= 7.46%) residents

Attractions

literature

Web links

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

swell

  1. ↑ Brief portraits of the districts. In: Internet presence. Morschen community, archived from the original on December 19, 2014 .;
  2. a b c d The checkered history of Haydau Monastery in Altmorschen. From convent to refugee home. 2005, accessed March 7, 2020 .
  3. a b c d e Altmorschen, Schwalm-Eder district. Historical local dictionary for Hessen. (As of October 16, 2018). In: Landesgeschichtliches Informationssystem Hessen (LAGIS).
  4. ↑ Summarized history of Altmorschen , accessed March 7, 2020.
  5. Otto Wohlgemuth: Social Democracy in Altmorschen . Altmorschen 2002, p. 23 .
  6. ^ Otto Wohlgemuth: Morschen in the 20th century . Altmorschen 2000, p. 53 .
  7. Otto Wohlgemuth: Social Democracy in Altmorschen . Altmorschen 2002, p. 25 .
  8. Handbook of the district of Melsungen 1937 . Bernecker Verlag, Melsungen 1937.
  9. ^ Otto Wohlgemuth: Morschen in the 20th century . Altmorschen 2000, p. 57 .
  10. ^ Otto Wohlgemuth: Morschen in the 20th century . Altmorschen 2000, p. 69-71 .
  11. ^ Municipal reform in Hesse: mergers and integrations of municipalities from June 21, 1971 . In: The Hessian Minister of the Interior (ed.): State Gazette for the State of Hesse. 1971 No. 28 , p. 1117 , item 988; Paragraph 9. ( Online at the information system of the Hessian State Parliament [PDF; 5.0 MB ]).
  12. Law on the reorganization of the districts Fritzlar-Homberg, Melsungen and Ziegenhain (GVBl. II 330-22) of September 28, 1973 . In: The Hessian Minister of the Interior (ed.): Law and Ordinance Gazette for the State of Hesse . 1973 No. 25 , p. 356 , §§ 14 and 27 ( online at the information system of the Hessian state parliament [PDF; 2,3 MB ]).
  13. a b ; Federal Statistical Office (Hrsg.): Historical municipality register 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. 405-406 .