Diez

Basic data
State :	Rhineland-Palatinate
County :	Rhein-Lahn district
Association municipality :	Diez
Height :	110 m above sea level NHN
Area :	12.41 km 2
Residents:	11,084 (Dec. 31, 2019)
Population density :	893 inhabitants per km 2
Postal code :	65582
Area code :	06432
License plate :	EMS, DIZ, GOH
Community key :	07 1 41 029
Association administration address:	Louise-Seher-Strasse 1 ; 65582 Diez
Website :	www.stadt-diez.de
City Mayor:	Annette Wick ( SPD )
Location of the city of Diez in the Rhein-Lahn district

View over the Lahn to the Grafenschloss

The city of Diez is a state-recognized spa and a former residential town on the Lahn in the Rhein-Lahn district in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate . It is the administrative seat of the association of the same name .

According to Rhineland-Palatinate state planning, Diez fulfills the function of a medium-sized center and, together with the immediately adjacent Hessian city of Limburg an der Lahn, forms a transnational dual center with around 45,000 inhabitants.

geography

Geographical location

Historic town center with old (front) and new Lahn bridge and castle (top left)

The center of Diez is four kilometers southwest of Limburg an der Lahn and 31 kilometers east of Koblenz . The city of Limburg (Hessen) seamlessly connects to Diez. The landscape around Diez belongs to the Rhenish Slate Mountains . The Lahn valley forms the border between the mountain ranges of northern Westerwald and the rising south Taunus . The Lahn leaves the Limburg Basin at Diezer Pforte and, accompanied by sloping terrace corridors, merges into the Lower Lahn Valley at Fachingen . The city of Diez is located at the mouth of the Aar ( originating in the Taunus ) into the Lahn . The only district of Freiendiez is east of the city center on the Aar.

geology

The soils in the Diez region are predominantly brown or parabrown .

history

The first traces of human settlement for the Paleolithic (20,000–12,000 BC) were found in the Wildweiberlei cave system (between Diez and Altendiez ). The Diezer area was also inhabited in Celtic times; Barrows and finds of pottery from the Latène period bear witness to this.

The place name Diez changed over the course of time from the Franconian Theodissa via Thidesse / Diedisse and Dietz to today's spelling Diez . The settlement of Theodissa was mentioned in a document of Charlemagne in 790 as the property of the Prüm Abbey. In the post-Carolingian period, Diez, in the Niederlahngau area , belonged to the domain of the Konradines .

The Counts of Diez were mentioned by name for the first time in 1073 in a deed of sale of goods in Bodenheim . Heinrich II. Von Diez (1145–1189) accompanied Friedrich Barbarossa on his Italian trains and was involved in diplomatic negotiations there. His son Heinrich III. belonged to the Regency Council and the Educators' Group of Henry VII .

Count Gerhard IV. (1276–1308) founded a collegiate monastery in 1289 at the foot of the castle hill. The founding community came from the Canons' Monastery of Salt . The monastery was named after the patroness of the Sankt Marien Stift church .

The city of Diez was granted city rights by Ludwig the Bavarian in 1329. A city fortification with a wall and five gates was then built.

The dynasty of the Counts of Diez died out in 1386.

From 1453, after the death of his son, Philipp the Elder called himself Count von Katzenelnbogen-Diez . As early as 1446, a vineyard across the bridge from Henne Krebs can be found in his deeds . In 1479 the male line of the Counts of Katzenelnbogen died out. Landgrave Heinrich III. von Hessen inherited the county and with it Diez too. The title Graf zu Diez (Dietz) is still part of the family name in the House of Hessen .

In 1634 the Infante Don Fernando and his troops approached the city and county of Diez. All the inhabitants had fled into the city with their best possessions. Princess Sophie Hedwig von Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel (1592–1642) and her court bravely faced him (the widow of Ernst Casimir von Nassau-Dietz 1573–1632) and invited him to dinner with his senior officers. The chivalrous young gentleman accepted the invitation and, on the intercession of the princess, spared town and country any contribution. In order to prevent any looting, he stopped on the road when he withdrew until all of his troops had passed the Lahn Bridge.

The Swedes tried in vain to blow up the Lahn Bridge in 1634 (the powder charge was too weak; only one bridge pillar shifted from its place).

Diez - Excerpt from the Topographia Hassiae by Matthäus Merian 1655

Diez later became the ancestral seat of the Counts of Nassau-Diez , who served as governors in the Netherlands in the 17th and 18th centuries and to which today's Dutch royal family goes back.

On 16./17. September 1796 came in the course of the First coalition war between Austrians and French in the area between Diez and Limburg (especially in the Diersteiner Aue) to the battle of Limburg . After the battle on the Mensfelder Kopf, the French withdrew from the approaching Austrians over the Lahn bridge through the town of Diez. To stop the pursuers, they set the rows of houses on fire in the narrow street in front of the bridge. They shot anyone who tried to put out the flames; therefore, large parts of today's old town burned down. Diez served the Austrians and the French alternately as a quarter .

At the end of the 18th century, all areas on the left bank of the Rhine went to France (" French era ") and the Principality of Orange was established. In 1806, the county of Nassau-Diez became part of the Duchy of Nassau . The Diez Higher Appeal Court existed from 1810 to 1818 . After the annexation of the Duchy of Nassau by Prussia in the German War in 1866, the "Nassauer Land" and with it Diez became Prussian . Due to the Prussian ordinance of February 22, 1867, the Diez office was dissolved and the Unterlahnkreis with the district town of Diez was formed. Initially, Limburg was also part of the Unterlahn district; Limburg got the seat of the newly established Limburg district in 1886 . In the course of the regional reform of 1969, the Unterlahnkreis and the Loreleykreis (seat: St. Goarshausen ) were merged to form the Rhein-Lahn-Kreis ; the spa town of Bad Ems was named as its seat . With that Diez lost its function as a district town.

Philipp von Hessen , the chief president of the former province of Hessen-Nassau , ordered the incorporation of the financially strong municipality of Freiendiez into the city of Diez in 1938 . At that time Freiendiez had over 3000 inhabitants and had more than 900 hectares of municipal area. The former independent community became the Diez-Ost district. In 1988 a citizens' initiative was able to get the district officially renamed "Freiendiez".

A memorial in Robert-Heck-Park commemorates the execution of 16 young Luxembourgers in autumn 1944. Immediately next to it is a memorial stone for Nazi victims .

On February 7, 1984, a flood caused millions of euros in damage.

Lower nobility

Several knight families settled in Diez in the High Middle Ages . Presumably they were former castle men of the Counts of Diez, who had emerged from the class of ministerials . However, in the early 13th century, when the families first became tangible, they had largely broken away from their connection to the count's house.

The most important and long-lived house is usually only named by Diez or Ardeck Castle after her headquarters . They led a gold or silver lion in a red shield. The family carried the title of Hereditary Marshal of the County of Diez and used it long after the end of the county into the 18th century. Its oldest member was mentioned in 1291. Numerous members appear as officials of Kurtrier and various Nassau lines in the region, occasionally in the entire Rhineland and into what is now Saarland. Important members were Dietrich the Old († between 1543 and 1569), Burggraf zu Ehrenbreitstein , Anna, 1545 Abbess of the Dierstein Monastery , Emmerich († probably 1560), caretaker of the Dierstein Monastery, Johann Valentin († between 1610 and 1612), Kurmainzischer procurator and margravial Baden council of Mainz. The last member of the male line died in 1733, the last female member in 1778. Through its long existence, the house accumulated extensive property in the region, which expanded from Diez in particular to the north, east and south-east. But there are also possessions in Darmstadt, Ochtendung, Kobern on the Moselle, Kreuznach and Bergzabern, among others.

The Specht von Diez are mentioned for the first time in 1215, but soon appear mainly as von Bubenheim or Specht von Bubenheim after the now desolate place Bubenheim near Kirberg . The family kept a slanted bar in the shield. They were likely relatives of von Ahlbach and von Kirchdorf-Kirberg. The family is only partially traceable and appears with offices and fiefs in Diez, Montabaur, Netzbach, Fachingen, Holzheim, Aull, Erbach bei Camberg and Freiendiez. The last descendants of the family can be found in Montabaur in 1352.

The Rödel von Diez (not to be confused with the Rödel family after the homonymous farm near Welterod ) may have emerged from an unequal connection between a Count von Diez. This is indicated by two leopards crossing one another in their shield. The Rödel are first mentioned in 1263. In addition to Diez, a castle built before 1362 near Hahnstätten and an inheritance at Reifenberg Castle were the family's seats. An important member was Dietrich or Tilmann († 1323), dean of St. Florin in Koblenz. The family was last mentioned in 1395. The family was wealthy with free float in the region as far as Steinbach and Thalheim near Hadamar, Burglehen in Montabaur, Balduinstein and Rheineck and larger estates in Rhens, Breisig and Andernach.

Smaller, barely comprehensible families are the vom Turm in Diez , those from 1253 to 1326, and the Nail von Diez , who are mentioned from 1299 to 1367.

Religions

Weathercock on the collegiate church

Diez Collegiate Church

Christianity

Roman Catholic Church

The city of Diez is assigned to the Roman Catholic parish Herz-Jesu in Diez and belongs with it to the pastoral area Diez, which in turn is incorporated into the Limburg district in the Limburg diocese .

Evangelical Church (EKHN)

On the Protestant side , the core city Diez collegiate community and the district Freiendiez the parish of St. James , in each case in the Dean's Office Nassau region of the provost Rheinhessen-Nassau region in the Evangelical Church in Hessen and Nassau (EKHN) belong.

Judaism

In Diez, residents of the Jewish faith can be identified as early as the Middle Ages (1286 and 1303). In the years 1337 and 1348/49 the Jewish population in Diez was also affected by pogroms . The maximum number of Jewish residents was counted in 1895 with 130 people. At first Diez was also the seat of the district rabbinate , from the end of the 18th century the seat of the regional rabbi of Nassau-Orange. From 1860 the Jewish community in Diez belonged to the Ems rabbinical district.

A German-Israelite children's home existed in Diez until it was closed in 1935. A memorial plaque on the Schlossberg (above the Schlossberg stairs) commemorates the expulsion and deportation of the children and their educators on August 20, 1935.

The synagogue was desecrated in the November pogroms in 1938 and the interior was destroyed. After the war, the building was demolished in 1951.

After 1939 12 Diez of Jewish origin were deported and murdered in the Nazi concentration camps .

An old Jewish cemetery (laid out at the beginning of the 17th century) was leveled during the National Socialist era . The tax office is located on the property today.

A newer Jewish cemetery (laid out at the end of the 19th century) is located on the Guckenberg in Diez.

politics

City council

City council election 2019 in Diez

Participation: 51.3% (+ 9.7%)

%

40

30th

20th

10

0

36.9

27.1

25.7

10.3

Gains and losses

compared to 2014

% p

8th

6th

4th

2

0

-2

-4

-6

+6.5

-5.1

-5.2

+3.8

The city council in Diez consists of 28 council members, who were elected in a personalized proportional representation in the local elections on May 26, 2019 , and the honorary city mayor as chairman.

Allocation of seats in the city council:

choice	SPD	CDU	FDP	FWG	BfD	WGR	total
2019	10	8th	3	7th	-	-	28 seats
2014	8th	9	2	6th	3	-	28 seats
2009	7th	7th	3	6th	5	-	28 seats
2004	7th	9	2	3	6th	1	28 seats

FWG = Free Voting Group Diez-Freiendiez e. V.
BfD = Citizens for Diez e. V.

City Mayor

In May 2014, Frank Dobra (CDU) was elected as the new city mayor. Predecessor Gerhard Maxeiner was in office for 25 years. He did not stand for re-election in 2019.

In May 2019, Annette Wick (SPD) was elected with 57.1% of the vote, beating Axel Fickeis (CDU) with 42.9%.

Twin town

Twin city of Diez is the Saxon spa town of Bad Duben .

Culture and sights

Buildings

The cityscape is dominated by the high medieval Count Castle Diez , the oldest parts of which were built in the 11th century. From 1743 to 1784 the Grafenschloss was used as a Nassau official building, after which it served as a penal institution or penitentiary until 1927. In the 18th and 19th centuries, the most important processing facility for Lahn marble was located here . Since June 24, 2006 it has been a youth hostel of the German Youth Hostel Association and since October 3, 2007, it has provided space for the new museum in the Grafenschloss (in the work wing and in the Gothic House).

Below the Castle of the Counts is a medieval abbey church , built by Count Gerhard 1289. She was Maria consecrated seat of Canons. Inside there are several tombs of Diez and Nassau nobles, among which the artistically elaborate one of Princess Amalie von Diez-Nassau stands out. Another striking piece of equipment is the Romanesque tombstone. It is older than the Church, its origin is unknown.

The city wall and remains of one of the city gates from the 14th / 15th centuries. Century are still partially preserved.

On the northern outskirts is the Baroque Oranienstein Castle , which Princess Albertine Agnes (1634–1696) had built in 1684 on the ruins of the “Dierstein” Benedictine monastery . Her niece Henriette Amalie von Nassau-Diez , born Princess of Anhalt-Dessau , redesigned the palace into a baroque palace in 1696 . Under her, the building was finally completed after 21 years in 1705.

Museums

The Nassau-Oranien Museum in Oranienstein Castle offers regular tours through the baroque rooms of the castle and shows the connections between Diez, the noble family of Orange and today's Dutch royal family .

The museum in Grafenschloss Diez in Grafenschloss Diez - topics of the permanent exhibition: Prehistory and early history, history of the Grafenschloss, town history of Diez (from the Middle Ages to today), Prince's gallery.

Museum in the Grafenschloss Diez

City forest "Hain"

The grove is the Diezer Stadtwald. The approximately 40 hectare site was originally part of the park of Oranienstein Castle . Wilhelm V (1748–1806) donated the area to the citizens of Diez. Today the grove is used as a local recreation area with a playground, fitness trail and tennis and mini golf courses. There is also a climbing park in the grove.

Music and concerts

Oranienstein concerts
Concert events in Haus Eberhard
Religious music
Choirs, choral music
Music clubs
Kalkwerk Festival

House Eberhard in Pfaffengasse

Visual arts

Ateliers in the Kulturspeicher
Ateliers in Wilhelm-von-Nassau-Park
Malkreis in Haus Eberhard
Exhibitions in Haus Eberhard

performing Arts

So theater club in the culture store
Theodissa's stage
Theater in the Kalkwerk

Cultural centers and venues

Haus Eberhard (exhibitions, concerts, readings, parties and celebrations)
Culture store with theater stage, studios and music rehearsal rooms
Kalkwerk with rehearsal rooms, theater group (s), annual Kalkwerk Festival
Schlossfels garden (live music, workshops, readings, festivals and celebrations)

Celebrations, entertainment, customs

carnival
Fair
Festivals (old town festival, spring market, Martinsmarkt, Hainfest, castle bivouac in Oranienstein)

Other facilities

City library (reopened in Theodor-Osmers-Haus , Wilhelmstr. 48 since May 19, 2008)
City archive in the Eberhard house

Economy and Infrastructure

Diez is a Bundeswehr location (see there) and has various small industries. The lime and marble industries were important, but most of the quarries were closed in the 1970s.

Established businesses

Since 1963 Diez has been the seat of the company WF Kaiser u. Co. GmbH , commonly known as Kaiser Backforms .

Authorities, institutions, bodies

District Court
Employment Agency Montabaur (Diez office)
Federal Police Academy : Training and further education center Diez
Surveying and land registry office Sankt Goarshausen, Diez branch
Tax office
Association municipality administration
Correctional facility
Motor vehicle registration office
TÜV Rheinland test center Diez
Landesbetrieb Liegenschafts- und Baubetreuung (LBB), Diez branch
Landesbetrieb Mobility Rhineland-Palatinate (LBM), regional office Diez
Waterways and Shipping Office Koblenz, Diez branch
VHF transmitter of the SWR ( transmitter Lahntal , free-standing steel lattice tower at 50.368898 N 8.012574 O)

Urban development and location marketing

Diez City Center Alliance (BID)

Following the example of the North American concept of the Business Improvement District , a cooperative came together in Diez in 2006/2007 to enliven and (co-) develop the city center of Diez as a private real estate and location community. The intensive cooperation with the community of Diez also provides a basis for this. In this way, private and communal resources will be used synergistically in order to be able to implement new development opportunities for the city's business and service sectors. A corresponding cooperation agreement was concluded in May 2008 between the Diez City Center Alliance (BID) and the city of Diez.

Orange table

The initiative group Oraniertisch of Diezer Bürger is a non-commercial association for the development of the living environment of the city and region of Diez. This work takes place in six existing working groups, which choose and work on focal points and projects within their subject area.

traffic

Private transport

The federal highway 3 with junction 41 Diez and the federal highways 54 and 417 as well as the state road 318 are the main traffic arteries for Diez.

Rail transport

Diez can be reached with the Lahntalbahn on the Koblenz - Gießen route to the regional train line RB23 Lahn-Eifel-Bahn (Limburg - Bad Ems - Koblenz - Andernach - Mendig - Mayen Ost) and the Lahntal Express RE25 (Koblenz Hbf - Bad Ems - Limburg - Wetzlar - Gießen), which are served by Deutsche Bahn . Another railway line: Limburg – Altenkirchen with the Diez-Ost stop on the city limits of Limburg provides the connection to the Westerwald . From here the trains of the Hessische Landesbahn HLB RB90 Westerwald-Sieg-Bahn (Limburg (Lahn) –Westerburg – Nistertal / Bad Marienberg-Hachenburg – Altenkirchen – Au-Wissen-Siegen-Kreuztal) as well as the line RB 29 ( Unterwesterwaldbahn ) ( Limburg – Elz Süd-Montabaur – Siershahn). The reactivation of the disused Aartalbahn in the direction of Wiesbaden has been in the political discussion in its Rhineland-Palatinate section since 2008, but implementation is not in sight.

The listed station building from 1862 is designed as a nine-axis classical plastered building with tower-like raised side elevations. However, even after the building was sold to a recycling company in 2011, the overall condition of the station is still desolate. There is no accessibility.

City bus and regional bus services

Numerous bus lines in the Rhein-Mosel transport association (VRM) connect Diez to the surrounding area in local public transport . Bus number 580 ( St.Goarshausen -Rheinfähre - Katzenelnbogen - Diez - Limburg (Lahn) Station -Südseite - Limburg Süd station ) connects Diez with the Rhineland, the train station Limburg-South and the industrial zone industrial road in Diez. There is also the 530 bus ( Montabaur - Nentershausen -Diez- Limburg ), which connects Diez with the medium-sized centers of Montabaur and Limburg. Within Diez, line 581 (Stadtverkehr Diez) also runs on the route Diez Schulstrasse - tax office - Diez train station - town hall - Diez Schulstrasse - Kiga Schläfer - Toom-Markt - Schulstrasse. The 567 bus runs from Limburg via Diez, Hahnstätten and Rückershausen to Michelbach.

Long-distance bus transport

The next option to connect to long-distance bus services is at the bus stop at Limburg-Süd train station. From here, long-distance buses run by DeinBus.de and Flixbus and in the direction of Frankfurt am Main, Mainz, Wiesbaden and Cologne.

Tourism traffic

The city is a stop on the German- Dutch holiday route Oranier-Route , the Lahn-Ferien-Straße and the Rheinischer Sagenweg .

Education, upbringing, schools

Kindergartens and day care centers

Catholic kindergarten, Schlesierstrasse
Evangelical kindergarten and day-care center, Schloßberg
Evangelical day care center, Friedhofstrasse
Evangelical kindergarten, Bert-Brecht-Straße
Waldorf Kindergarten, Wilhelm-von-Nassau-Park

schools

Karl von Ibell School, elementary school
Pestalozzi School, elementary school and specialty school, Freiendiez district
Sophie-Hedwig-Gymnasium , all-day school and grammar school
Nicolaus August Otto School, a. a. Vocational school, vocational schools with various orientations, vocational high school, vocational high school specializing in business and environmental technology
Free Waldorf School Diez, all-day school and comprehensive school with thirteen grade levels
Optonia, private technical school for ophthalmic optics and optometry
IB branch office Diez of the International Federation (IB), external training for disadvantaged and disabled young people and young adults
Theodissa Realschule plus Diez, all-day school and Realschule plus , school provider: Rhein-Lahn district administration

Education providers and adult education

Adult Education Center and Association for Adult Education V.

Youth center and youth welfare

Albert-Schweitzer-Familienwerk Rhineland-Palatinate / Saarland e. V., Schaumburger Strasse, weekly and children's group Diez
Youth Center, Wilhelm-von-Nassau-Park

Health and social services

Hospital and specialist clinic

Hospital of the German Red Cross
Specialist clinic for psychotraumatology

Rescue and emergency services

Diez-Freiendiez volunteer fire department
German Red Cross Rescue Service Diez
German Red Cross Local Association Diez
German Life Saving Society Diez / Altendiez

Malteser Aid Service Rhein-Lahn

sport and freetime

Camping ground on the Lahn
Indoor swimming pool Oranienbad Diez-Limburg
Ice rink Diez, at the indoor pool
Mini golf course in the grove
Lahn Lama tours in and around Diez
Baggersee Diez "Baggersee Beach Club"

Personalities

sons and daughters of the town

Philipp Heinrich Hoen (1576–1649), lawyer, professor and statesman
Georg Daniel Raht (1740 – after 1815), Nassau bailiff
Friedrich Gustav Habel (1792–1867), private scholar, archivist and castle researcher
Clemens de Lassaulx (1809–1906), forester in the Rhine Province, known as the "father of the Eifel forest"
Wilhelm Dilthey (1810–1862), Nassau bailiff
Julius Oppermann (1825–1880), revolutionary of the 1848s
Heinrich Velde (1827–1905), architect, royal railway and operations inspector
Ernst Schüsten (1868–1952), mayor and honorary citizen of Diez, district administrator
Robert Heck (1873–1958), Mayor of Diez 1920–1933 and 1945–1950, historian and writer
Hermann Gross (1875 – after 1929), civil servant, economics councilor and president of the Chamber of Agriculture for the Province of Hanover
Maria Batzer (1877–1965), writer
Karl Zimmermann (1885–1943), photographer
August Jäger (1887–1949), lawyer, executed as a war criminal in 1949 in Poznan
Renate Lenz-Fuchs (1910–2001), German lawyer and former mayor of Diez
Erich Meckel (1919–1981), politician and member of the state parliament
Hansjürgen Rosenbauer (* 1941), television presenter and director of the ORB
Bernd Westphal (* 1944), diplomat
Fritz Korbach (1945–2011), football coach
Christa Prets (* 1947), Austrian politician, member of the EU Parliament
Georg Ruby (* 1953), jazz musician
Priska Hinz (* 1959), politician
Sabine Hornung (* 1971), archaeologist
Eve-Marie Becker (* 1972), Protestant theologian
Markus Wingenbach (* 1978), former soccer referee
Roman Weidenfeller (* 1980), soccer player
Svenja Spriestersbach (* 1981), handball player
Michael Stahl (* 1987), soccer player
Hanne Kah (* 1991), musician