Betzdorf

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coat of arms Germany map
Coat of arms of the city of Betzdorf
Betzdorf
Map of Germany, position of the city of Betzdorf highlighted

Coordinates: 50 ° 47 '  N , 7 ° 52'  E

Basic data
State : Rhineland-Palatinate
County : Altenkirchen (Westerwald)
Association municipality : Betzdorf-Gebhardshain
Height : 211 m above sea level NHN
Area : 9.57 km 2
Residents: 10,064 (Dec. 31, 2019)
Population density : 1052 inhabitants per km 2
Postal code : 57518
Area code : 02741
License plate : AK
Community key : 07 1 32 006
City structure: 4 districts
Association administration address: Hellerstraße 2
57518 Betzdorf
Website : www.vg-bg.de
City Mayor : Benjamin Geldsetzer ( SPD )
Location of the town of Betzdorf in the Altenkirchen district (Westerwald)
Friesenhagen Harbach (Landkreis Altenkirchen) Niederfischbach Mudersbach Brachbach Kirchen (Sieg) Herdorf Daaden Emmerzhausen Mauden Derschen Nisterberg Friedewald (Westerwald) Weitefeld Niederdreisbach Schutzbach Grünebach Alsdorf (Westerwald) Betzdorf Scheuerfeld Wallmenroth Willroth Krunkel Horhausen (Westerwald) Pleckhausen Güllesheim Obersteinebach Niedersteinebach Bürdenbach Eulenberg (Westerwald) Peterslahr Rott (Westerwald) Burglahr Oberlahr Eichen (Westerwald) Seifen (Westerwald) Seelbach (Westerwald) Flammersfeld Kescheid Reiferscheid Berzhausen Obernau (Westerwald) Walterschen Schürdt Orfgen Ziegenhain (Westerwald) Giershausen Katzwinkel (Sieg) Birken-Honigsessen Wissen (Stadt) Hövels Mittelhof Nauroth Elkenroth Rosenheim (Landkreis Altenkirchen) Kausen Dickendorf Malberg (Westerwald) Steinebach/Sieg Fensdorf Gebhardshain Elben (Westerwald) Steineroth Molzhain Selbach (Sieg) Forst (bei Wissen, Sieg) Bitzen Etzbach Roth (Landkreis Altenkirchen) Bruchertseifen Fürthen Hamm (Sieg) Seelbach bei Hamm (Sieg) Breitscheidt Pracht Birkenbeul Niederirsen Kircheib Hirz-Maulsbach Fiersbach Mehren (Westerwald) Rettersen Ersfeld Hasselbach (Westerwald) Forstmehren Kraam Werkhausen Oberirsen Weyerbusch Hemmelzen Neitersen Birnbach Ölsen Schöneberg (Westerwald) Stürzelbach Fluterschen Oberwambach Berod bei Hachenburg Gieleroth Almersbach Altenkirchen (Westerwald) Michelbach (Westerwald) Ingelbach Sörth Mammelzen Eichelhardt Idelberg Isert Helmeroth Racksen Volkerzen Hilgenroth Obererbach (Westerwald) Bachenberg Busenhausen Heupelzen Wölmersen Kettenhausen Helmenzen Nordrhein-Westfalen Landkreis Neuwied Westerwaldkreis Landkreis Neuwiedmap
About this picture

Betzdorf is a town in the Altenkirchen district in the northern part of Rhineland-Palatinate . It is the administrative seat of the Betzdorf-Gebhardshain community . Betzdorf is a railway town and designated as a medium-sized center according to state planning .

geography

The city of Betzdorf is located about 20 km southwest of Siegen in a basin between Westerwald in the south and Siegerland in the north. Here the river Heller flows into the Sieg . Betzdorf is the largest city in the Altenkirchen district.

The districts of Bruche, Dauersberg and Struthof belong to the city .

history

The first reliable documented mention of Betzdorf was in 1249 on a document from Countess Mechthild von Sayn .

The growth of the initially not very important place only began with the construction of the Cologne-Deutz / Gießen railway line with a branch line from Betzdorf to Siegen , making Betzdorf a hub and railway town with a marshalling yard for the surrounding iron ore mines . In 1882, the neo-Gothic St. Ignatius Church was completed for the growing Catholic community .

On April 1, 1886, the municipalities of Betzdorf, Alsdorf (Westerwald) , Grünebach , Sassenroth , Dauersberg , Scheuerfeld , Bruche and Wallmenroth separated from the mayor's office in Kirchen (Sieg) . The municipality of Bruche was incorporated into Betzdorf in 1907. In 1935 the mayor's offices were renamed to offices. Its importance as a railway junction resulted in heavy air raids during World War II , which destroyed two thirds of the city by bombs. On March 12, 1945, 61 people were killed in an air raid. This attack was carried out by the US 8th Air Force using B-17 bombers.

After the Allied forces broke out of the Remagen bridgehead at the end of March 1945, units of the First United States Army came across the Sieg near Betzdorf in April 1945 and formed a bridgehead in the Hohenbetzdorf-Molzberg area. In this area fierce fighting developed between the American and German divisions, in the course of which many soldiers on both sides lost their lives. The battles around Betzdorf lasted until April 6, 1945. The opponents were the 8th and 78th Infantry Divisions on the American side and the 59th Infantry Division on the German side.

1953 Betzdorf became titular town . In the following years, almost all Betzdorf railway systems and facilities, such as the repair shop , the railway depot , the Federal Railroad Operations Office, the marshalling yard , the railway maintenance office, the telecommunications maintenance department, the station administration and goods handling , were shut down, so that Betzdorf is now only used for passenger transport is a small railway junction .

On June 7, 1969, the previously independent community of Dauersberg was incorporated into Betzdorf.

As a result of the administrative reform in Rhineland-Palatinate , the Betzdorf office finally became the Betzdorf Association with its administrative headquarters in the city of Betzdorf, which was merged into the Betzdorf-Gebhardshain Association on January 1, 2017.

Population statistics

The development of the population of Betzdorf in relation to today's urban area; the values ​​from 1871 to 1987 are based on censuses:

year Residents
1815 401
1835 615
1871 1568
1905 6458
1939 8979
1950 9315
1961 10,300
year Residents
1970 10,490
1987 10.154
1997 10,861
2005 10,451
2011 10,018
2017 10.139
2019 10,064
Population development of Betzdorf from 1815 to 2017 according to the table below

Denomination statistics

According to the 2011 census , 23.4% of the population were Protestant , 47.2% Roman Catholic and 29.4% were non-denominational , belonged to another religious community or did not provide any information. The number of Protestants and Catholics has fallen since then. At the end of April 2020, Betzdorf had 10,209 inhabitants, 3,991 (39.1 percent) Catholics , 2,109 (21.1 percent) Protestants and 39.8% either had another religion or no religion at all.

politics

City council

The city ​​council in Betzdorf 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.

The distribution of seats in the city council:

choice SPD CDU GREEN FDP left FWG total
2019 9 9 4th 3 1 2 28 seats
2014 10 11 3 1 - 3 28 seats
2009 10 9 3 3 - 3 28 seats
2004 7th 15th 1 2 - 3 28 seats

mayor

Mayor of the Betzdorf-Gebhardshain community is Bernd Brato ( SPD ). He came in November 2006 through direct elections to the two offices of city mayor for the city of Betzdorf, as well as mayor for the municipality, which he took up in January 2007. He resigned from his position on May 26, 2019. In the local elections that followed, Benjamin Geldsetzer (also SPD) was elected to the office of mayor with 57.6%.

coat of arms

Coat of arms of Betzdorf
 Blazon : "Split, on the left in black a silver sloping bar, covered with three black boar heads, on the right in red a golden lion with a red tongue looking at the viewer."
Reasons for the coat of arms: The lion comes from the coat of arms of the Counts of Sayn and the boar heads from that of the Lords of Freusburg.

Town twinning

The city of Betzdorf maintains partnerships with the cities

Culture and sights

View of the train station, Betzdorf-Hohenbetzdorf and the Molzberg in the background
The Kreuzkirche in Betzdorf

see also: → List of cultural monuments in Betzdorf and list of natural monuments in Betzdorf

Regular events

The largest regular events are the shooting festival in early September, the Betzdorf shooting club , the spring festival in May, the Barbara festival in October and the Betzdorf Christmas market on the second weekend of Advent. In addition, numerous events by the Betzdorf associations (concerts, theater, carnival, etc.) take place throughout the year.

Furthermore, the Betzdorf City Night takes place every two years , a cycle race through the Betzdorf city center, which is occupied by well-known cyclists.

Economy and Infrastructure

traffic

Bus station in Betzdorf

The city Betzdorf is a railway junction in the transport with access to the local rail -lines:

Before the Asdorftalbahn was shut down , there were also passenger trains from Betzdorf to Freudenberg and Olpe / Dieringhausen .

Alternatively, various bus lines run from the bus station in the center of the city by four transport companies that connect neighboring communities and other districts. Most trips serve as school trips, which is why they mainly only run in the morning and early noon. Since the state border with North Rhine-Westphalia is not far away, communities and districts are inevitably also served there.

Betzdorf is about 20 kilometers off the A 45 on the federal highway 62 . The nearest regional airport is Siegerland Airport ; the next international airports Cologne / Bonn and Frankfurt can be reached by train. The Betzdorf-Kirchen airfield is 4 kilometers northwest of Betzdorf.

Educational institutions

In Betzdorf there are two primary schools , the Bertha-von-Suttner Realschule plus , the Integrated Comprehensive School Geschwister Scholl Betzdorf-Kirchen, the Freiherr-vom-Stein-Gymnasium as well as a vocational school , a library and an adult education center .

Leisure and sports facilities

In addition to several smaller sports fields, there is the Eurogreen stadium “Auf dem Bühl” in Betzdorf , which serves as the home stadium of SG 06 Betzdorf and is owned by the city, as well as the Molzberg leisure sports facility, which belongs to the Betzdorf-Gebhardshain community and the Kirchen community . The Molzberg leisure pool is also operated by the two municipalities .

electric energy supply

A few kilometers south of the city center there is a substation named after the nearby district of Dauersberg , which contains switchgear for 380, 220 and 110 kV. It is one of the largest nodes in the German energy supply network , where a large part of the high-voltage lines connecting the Rhine-Ruhr and Rhine-Main metropolitan regions converge.

see also: → Dauersberg substation

Curiosities

Betzdorf owned the largest Easter egg in Germany, which was located at the entrance to the village on the B 62 (coming from Kirchen). It came to a height of 9.27 m and a diameter of 5.71 m. The Easter egg was created in spring 2008 as part of the “City Talks Betzdorf”. Since it was damaged several times by vandals, it was finally wrapped in a large jute cloth until it was finally removed in October 2011.

Personalities

sons and daughters of the town

Personalities who have worked on site

Web links

Commons : Betzdorf  - Collection of Images

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b State Statistical Office of Rhineland-Palatinate - population status 2019, districts, municipalities, association communities ( help on this ).
  2. ↑ a b State Statistical Office Rhineland-Palatinate - regional data
  3. ^ Siegerländer Heimatkalender 1977, p. 10, Verlag für Heimatliteratur
  4. ↑ http://www.taphilo.com/history/8thaf/8thaf-missions.xls
  5. ↑ Official municipality directory (= State Statistical Office of Rhineland-Palatinate [Hrsg.]: Statistical volumes . Volume 407 ). Bad Ems February 2016, p. 159 (PDF; 2.8 MB).
  6. ^ City of Betzdorf Religion , 2011 census
  7. ↑ Betzdorf Municipal Statistics 2019 , accessed on June 3, 2020
  8. ↑ Results of City Council Betzdorf 2019 , accessed on August 7, 2019
  9. ^ The Regional Returning Officer Rhineland-Palatinate: Municipal elections 2014, city and municipal council elections
  10. ↑ Brato is leaving one of his offices. In: Siegener newspaper. January 16, 2019, accessed May 30, 2019 .
  11. ^ Andreas Neuser: 57.6 percent: Benjamin Geldsetzer mayor of Betzdorf. In: Rhein Zeitung. May 27, 2019, accessed May 30, 2019 .
  12. ↑ See Thomas Kapielski : time container. Small festive order. Merve, Berlin 2009, ISBN 978-3-88396-270-2 , p. 64.
  13. ↑ Andreas Neuser: Demolished: Betzdorfer egg is history. In: Rhein-Zeitung , October 31, 2011
  14. ^ Father Hermann-Josef Burbach died ( Memento from August 16, 2013 in the web archive archive.today )