Dietkirchen (Limburg an der Lahn)

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Dietkirchen
Coat of arms of the formerly independent community Dietkirchen
Coordinates: 50 ° 24 ′ 10 ″  N , 8 ° 5 ′ 30 ″  E
Height : 133  (115-180)  m above sea level NHN
Area : 3.1 km²
Residents : 1724  (Sep 2019)
Population density : 556 inhabitants / km²
Incorporation : 1st October 1971
Postal code : 65553
Area code : 06431
map
Dietkirchen as a district of Limburg

Dietkirchen an der Lahn is a district of the district town of Limburg an der Lahn in the central Hessian district of Limburg-Weilburg . The place, also called "Dickerisch" in the dialect of the region, is dominated by the Lubentius Basilica , the most important church building in the region in the early Middle Ages.

Geographical location

Dietkirchen seen from the southeast
Friedrich Christian Reinermann: View over Dehrn to Dietkirchen around 1815

Dietkirchen is located directly on the west bank of the Lahn . The towering limestone rock on which the Lubentius basilica rises is striking. The place itself is at an altitude of 120 to 170 meters. In the northern part of the district, the landscape rises to up to 180 meters, while in the southern part below the church rock on the banks of the Lahn it drops to 115 meters.

From a natural point of view, the place lies on the eastern narrowing of the Limburg Lahn valley widening towards the narrower Runkeler Lahn valley. The image of the old town center is shaped by numerous retaining walls for terracing the building plots because of the great height difference . With the exception of the vegetation on the banks of the Lahn, the district consists almost exclusively of agricultural land.

The Dietkirchen district borders in the north on the Runkel district of Dehrn , in the east and south on Eschhofen , in the south-west on the core city of Limburg and in the west and north-west on Offheim .

history

St. Lubentius Church in the evening light

Prehistoric times

In the area of ​​the Lubentius Church, archaeologists have discovered traces that point to a cult site from the Copper Age (2000 to 4000 BC), as well as the remains of a settlement that is assigned to the Urnfield Culture (1300 to 800 BC).

Excavations in the Lubentius Basilica indicate that there was a pagan place of worship and gathering on the limestone rock in front of the church. The stretch Forst, a judicial meeting at which the latest in the early Middle Ages the blood jurisdiction was exercised for the wide surroundings, lay nearby. It is mentioned in a document as early as 1217.

First documentary mention

Dietkirchen was first mentioned in a document in 841 as "in ecclesia dietkircha" . However, the village is older. The meaning of the place name is unclear. The second part “-kirchen” relates to the collegiate church according to the unanimous opinion. The interpretation of the syllable "Diet-" causes problems . Some historians suspect that it comes from Old High German and means "people". The place name then means "People's Church" and refers to the prominent position as the central church of the archdeaconate. Others assume a pre-Germanic meaning of the name; accordingly the syllable "Diet-" should refer to the important ford over the Lahn below the church.

Christianization

Parish home

The Christianization of the Lahn area and the former Lubentiusstift play a special role in the history of the village. The legend that Saint Lubentius did missionary work there is demonstrably wrong. The beginnings of Christianity on the Lahn range from about the 6th to the end of the 7th century. The village was probably founded during this period.

Lubentius pen

Lubentiuskirche seen from the south

The first mention of the Lubentiusstift is dated to the year 841. The remains of St. Lubentius rest in the Romanesque collegiate church, around whom many legends have developed. The remains were probably transferred from Kobern on the Moselle to Dietkirchen before 841 . According to archaeological finds, a stone previous church was built around 720. Before that there may have been a wooden church here. The monastery was built between 830 and 838.

In the middle of a park-like cemetery one encounters a Romanesque church building, which is characterized by the heaviness of the structural elements typical of the architecture of the time and generally cubic mass, from which only the interior is able to detach in places. The demands of the architecture and the quality of the interior are still reminiscent of the important ecclesiastical role of the monastery and the archdeaconate, which has been attested since 1021 . All parts of the diocese of Trier on the right bank of the Rhine were administered from Dietkirchen . Six deaneries were subordinate to Dietkirchen. At this point in time, the construction work on today's collegiate church must have already started. It was consecrated on August 5, 1225. The construction work presumably lasted around ten years. By 1326 at the latest, the Dietkirchen dean's office had its own land chapter, a spiritual community, analogous to the monastery chapters. His memory book recorded the last entry in 1709, after the other land chapters in the archdeaconate had already disappeared during the Reformation .

As another patron saint besides Lubentius, Saint Juliana is named. The church was the burial place for some members of the regionally important lower noble family Frei von Dehrn . The Catholics of Dietkirchen have been making pilgrimages to the Maria Hilf Beselich pilgrimage chapel for many decades , where they proclaim their faith.

Lahn ferry and bridge

Kurt van der Burg Bridge

The Lahn ferry in Dietkirchen is mentioned between 1048 and 1098. The operation of this ferry was a feudal right. In 1959 the ferry service was stopped. As a replacement, a 145 meter long and 3.30 meter wide wooden bicycle and foot bridge was built below the rock in 1989, which provides a direct connection to the neighboring town of Eschhofen . In 2010 it was named after the then Dietkirch mayor Kurt van der Burg. The two long- distance cycle routes R7 and R8 in Hessen meet at this bridge . The bridge also represents the connection between Dietkirchen and the Eschhofen sewage treatment plant, also completed in 1989, on the opposite side of the Lahn. The sewer pipes are led over the Lahn under the wooden planks on which pedestrians and cyclists move.

In the area of ​​the Emsbach estuary there is a ford in the Lahn that was used intensively in Franconian times at the latest . The imperial Reichspost later used this route on the Frankfurt - Cologne route and contributed to the fact that the term post wall is still alive today.

Dietkircher market

The first beginnings of the Dietkirch market can no longer be dated. They are probably in the High Middle Ages . References to a fair on Lubentius Day date back to the late 13th century, but it is only clearly documented in 1538. In earlier times, the market was an attraction for visitors from the wider area.

Since 1991 there has been a new edition of the market on the initiative of the mayor at the time, Kurt van der Burg and the cooperation of all associations. As a historically oriented market, it is re-launched every three years in October and, along with the annual tent fair in August, is the festive highlight in Dietkirchen.

POW camp

Memorial stone on the war cemetery
Celtic high cross on the war cemetery

During the First World War , a prisoner of war camp was set up on both sides of the road from Limburg to Dietkirchen at the end of 1914 . The complex, consisting of barracks , was designed for up to 12,000 prisoners. Initially, mainly English, Irish and French soldiers were detained there, towards the end of the war especially Russians and Poles, and occasionally also Italians. On December 23, 1914, the first dead person in the camp, an Irishman, Fredrick Reilly (* August 24, 1864, † December 20, 1914), was buried in the nearby grave field with military honors. In May 1915 the camp reached its occupancy limit. During the day, the prisoners had to work in companies and on farms in the area. In August 1916, the cemetery , which was located south of the road between Limburg and Dietkirchen together with the medical station, was expanded into a war cemetery . For Pentecost on May 25, 1917, a three meter high Celtic cross was erected in memory of the Irish deceased. On August 3rd, a sculpture by the French sculptor Eduard Colomo, who was himself a prisoner in Dietkirchen, was completed.

Until 1920 the camp served as a transit station for former German soldiers who had been released from Allied captivity. In 1923, all but the Russian dead and one French were exhumed and buried either in their homeland or in larger, central burial sites.

The camp cemetery was used again during the Second World War . Soviet prisoners of war who had died in “Main Camp XII” near Diez were buried there. During the First World War, around 330 Russians, 130 French, 60 Italians, 47 English, 45 Irish, seven Serbs, two Belgians and one Romanian were buried in the cemetery. By the end of World War II, the number of Soviet burials had grown to an estimated 945. That is why the cemetery is popularly referred to as both the "French cemetery" and the "Russian cemetery". In 1954, the remains of three Soviet prisoners of war were buried there, who had been shot by SS men in the last days of the war near Oberweyer and initially buried there by the local mayor. In 1959, the city of Limburg had a memorial stone erected for the Soviet dead on the site of the no longer repairable French monument. Between 1998 and 2005 the entire facility was completely renovated.

Dietkirchen as a district of Limburg

Old school
Old town hall of Dietkirchen
Ceremonial flagging at the entrance to the village from the direction of Limburg
View from the Kirchenfelsen over the "Weinberg" to the Lahn

Dietkirchen is the only district of Limburg that has not had its own primary school since 1969. In order to avoid the resulting disadvantages for the village community, all Dietkirch children have been taught together in one class at the Limburg Leo Sternberg School since the closure. For the first time from the school year 2012/2013, this agreement could not be maintained.

On October 1, 1971, the municipality gave up its independence and was incorporated into the city of Limburg as the first of the surrounding towns as part of the regional reform in Hesse . Dietkirchen has been part of the Hessian village renewal program since 2001 . With the support of funding from this program, several old farm buildings, particularly those on Brunnenstrasse and Limburger Strasse, have already been renovated and converted into residential buildings.

Wine has been grown on the southwest slope of the Stiftsfelsen since 1998. The harvest is between 300 and 400 kilograms per year and is mainly processed into mass wine .

In 2012 Dietkirchen took part in the European Village Renewal Award of the European ARGE Land and Village Renewal and was awarded for “special achievements in individual areas of village development”.

Territorial history and administration

The following list gives an overview of the territories in which Dietkirchen was located and the administrative units to which it was subordinate:

population

Population development

Dietkirchen: Population from 1834 to 2014
year     Residents
1834
  
 462
1840
  
 494
1846
  
 522
1852
  
 543
1858
  
 560
1864
  
 607
1871
  
 658
1875
  
 678
1885
  
 694
1895
  
 672
1905
  
 753
1910
  
 764
1925
  
 782
1939
  
 803
1946
  
 1.002
1950
  
 1.010
1956
  
 1,023
1961
  
 1,052
1967
  
 1.107
1970
  
 1,193
1974
  
 1,122
1987
  
 1,503
1994
  
 1,644
2014
  
 1,693
Data source: Historical municipality register for Hesse: The population of the municipalities from 1834 to 1967. Wiesbaden: Hessisches Statistisches Landesamt, 1968.
Other sources:

Religious affiliation

 Source: Historical local dictionary

• 1885: 13 Protestant, 681 Catholic residents
• 1961: 83 Protestant, 963 Roman Catholic residents

politics

Local advisory board

The Dietkirchen local council consists of seven members. Since the local elections in 2016 , four members have belonged to the CDU , two from Bündnis 90 / Die Grünen and one member of the SPD . Mayor is Markus Wirth from the CDU.

coat of arms

On February 20, 1968, the municipality of Dietkirchen in what was then the district of Limburg was given a coat of arms with the following blazon : In a shield split by silver and green, a linden tree with a floor piece in confused colors.

Partnerships

The town twinning between the city of Limburg and the Belgian city of Oudenburg had its origins in an initiative by the Dietkirchen municipality shortly before it was incorporated into Limburg.

societies

Dietkirchen has a beautification club, the gymnastics and sports club TuS Dietkirchen , the men's choir "Liederkranz", the choir "Cäcilia" of the Lubentius Church with St. Lubentius children's choir, a fruit and horticultural association , the Dietkirchen volunteer fire brigade (founded in 1934) with youth fire brigade since May 14, 1974, a rifle club , the association “Children and Youth in the Village”, the “Vereinsring Fastnacht” and local groups of the Catholic women's community, the Catholic workers' movement and the VdK . The association ring, which originally only served to coordinate activities, now focuses primarily on the organization of the historic Dietkirch market, which takes place every 3 years.

Infrastructure

In Dietkirchen, the Dietkirchen Volunteer Fire Brigade , founded in 1934 (with its youth fire brigade since May 14, 1974), provides fire protection and general help.

Personalities

  • Wilhelm Breithecker (born January 31, 1897 in Ellar ; † July 4, 1982 ibid), August 1, 1929 Regens am Konvikt Montabaur, February 1, 1939 Catholic. Pastor in Dietkirchen, first arrested March 7, 1939 for the secret continuation of the Bund New Germany; Detention in concentration camps in Berlin, Sachsenhausen and Dachau from July 3, 1939 to March 28, 1945; February 5, 1947 Dean of Dietkirchen, retired December 1, 1970; Honorary citizen of Dietkirchen. His grave is at the St. Lubentius Church in Dietkirchen.

literature

  • Marie-Luise Crone: Dietkirchen, history of a village in the shadow of St. Lubentiusstift , magistrate of the district town of Limburg an der Lahn, 1991, ISBN 3-9802789-0-5
  • School chronicle Dietkirchen: 1825–1969 , Magistrate of the district town Limburg an der Lahn, 2002
  • Lorenz Müller: St. Lubentius and Dietkirchen an der Lahn, an investigation , self-published by the author, 1969
  • Wilhelm Schäfer: The collegiate church St. Lubentius and Juliana zu Dietkirchen in the Lahntal , Darmstadt 1964
  • Wilhelm Schäfer: The building history of the collegiate church St. Lubentius zu Dietkirchen im Lahntal , self-published by the Historical Commission for Nassau, Wiesbaden 1966
  • Wolf-Heino Struck : The Nekrologium II of the St. Lubentius-Stift zu Dietkirchen ad Lahn , Mainz, Ges. F. Middle Rhine. Church history, 1969
  • Wolf-Heino Struck: The St. Lubentius Abbey in Dietkirchen , GERMANIA SACRA series, Walter de Gruyter, Berlin 1986
  • Literature about Dietkirchen in the Hessian Bibliography

Web links

Commons : Dietkirchen  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Budget statute - budget year 2013. Limburg ad Lahn, accessed in December 2018 .
  2. ↑ Limburg in Numbers , accessed in January 2020.
  3. ↑ Peter Paul Schweitzer: Dietkirchen - The name of the church and the village on the Lahn . In: Nassau Annals . tape 117 . Verlag des Verein für Nassau antiquity and historical research, 2006, ISSN  0077-2887 , p. 1-16 .
  4. ^ Franz-Josef Sehr : 250 years pilgrimage chapel Maria Hilf Beselich . In: Yearbook for the Limburg-Weilburg district 2017 . The district committee of the district of Limburg-Weilburg, Limburg-Weilburg 2016, ISBN 3-927006-54-8 , p. 137-141 .
  5. ↑ Website with detailed pages on the history of the prisoner of war camp and the prisoner of war cemetery
  6. ^ 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 GmbH, Stuttgart and Mainz 1983, ISBN 3-17-003263-1 , p. 369 .
  7. ↑ a b c Dietkirchen, Limburg-Weilburg district. Historical local dictionary for Hessen. (As of March 23, 2018). In: Landesgeschichtliches Informationssystem Hessen (LAGIS).
  8. ^ Michael Rademacher: German administrative history from the unification of the empire in 1871 to the reunification in 1990. State of Hesse. (Online material for the dissertation, Osnabrück 2006).
  9. ↑ Dietkirchen local advisory board on the website of the City of Limburg, accessed in January 2017.
  10. ↑ approval of a coat of arms of the community Dietkirchen, Limburg, City of Wiesbaden on 20 February 1968 . In: The Hessian Minister of the Interior (ed.): State Gazette for the State of Hesse. 1968 No. 10 , p. 375 , point 300 ( online at the information system of the Hessian state parliament [PDF; 5.9 MB ]).