Kruft

Basic data
State :	Rhineland-Palatinate
County :	Mayen-Koblenz
Association municipality :	Pellenz
Height :	150 m above sea level NHN
Area :	18.18 km 2
Residents:	4117 (Dec. 31, 2019)
Population density :	226 inhabitants per km 2
Postal code :	56642
Area code :	02652
License plate :	MYK, MY
Community key :	07 1 37 057
Association administration address:	Rathausstrasse 2-4 ; 56637 Plaidt
Website :	ortsgemeinde-kruft.de
Local Mayor :	Walter Kill ( CDU )
Location of the local community Kruft in the district of Mayen-Koblenz

Kruft (in Krufter Platt: Kroft ) is a municipality in the district of Mayen-Koblenz in Rhineland-Palatinate . It belongs to the Verbandsgemeinde Pellenz , which has its administrative headquarters in Plaidt.

Geographical location

The community lies on the northern edge of the Pellenz . The municipality borders in the northwest on the Laacher See . In the west lies the city of Mendig . The 463 meter high “Krufter Ofen” and the 428 meter high “Heidekopf” are located northwest of the local area in the Kruft district , both of which are in the Laacher See nature reserve . To the southeast, in the nature reserve of the same name, lies the 295 meter high Korretsberg , also known as "Krufter Hummerich".

history

Even the Romans operated underground quarries for the extraction of tuff in the community area . There is evidence that these stones were brought to Italy and used there in the construction of public buildings. The trass obtained was also used in the construction. Today many underground tunnels in the municipality still bear witness to the activities of the Romans. Around AD 400, the Romans were ousted by the Franks . This is also evident from finds in Franconian graves with grave goods. The Frankish tribe of the Ripuaren or Ripuarier settled in the country from the Moselle northwards to Cologne.

In later centuries the inhabitants of Krufter devoted themselves mainly to agriculture. Here, too, there are still some old farms as witnesses from this time. The old provost's office also bears witness to a period in the history of the community in which there were close ties to Laach Abbey . Kruft is already mentioned in a document from 1093. In the Pellenzgau , the municipality of Kruft was an enclave that belonged to the Laach monastery. The 'Laacher Hof' (often incorrectly referred to as Oehrling's court) in the center of the village, built in its origins in 1548 and then built by Abbot Placidus Kessenich in 1666 in its current size, is evidence of this (see architect and builder Heinzen: Fraukircher Hof , Burghaus Wassenach , ...). The Krufter had to deliver their tithe there as serfs of the monastery . The saying “It is good to live under the crook” comes from this time.

Another specialty in the municipality of Kruft is the Breidelsgut, a foundation that has existed for centuries. In 1615 Laach exchanged the “Breidelswald” for 400 acres of arable land near Kruft; these are still owned by the Breidelsmärkerschaft today. The Breidelsmärker may cultivate these 400 acres of land free of charge or lease them, whereby they are entitled to the rent. This foundation also outlasted all the dissolution efforts of the Third Reich .

In 1794 the French appeared in Kruft and held the community for almost 20 years. In 1802, the Laach monastery was dissolved by Napoleon. The monastery property was sold. This ended a 700-year serfdom for Kruft.

In the years 1850 to 1907, the history of Kruft was shaped by the Neuwied manufacturer Christoph Reusch (1783–1866) and his son Julius (1823–1907). In 1850 he bought one of the two Krufter flour mills. Between 1860 and 1870 he expanded the Lochsmühle with a farm, located two hundred meters outside the village, to include a mansion (Villa Reusch) and a park with grottos, tunnels and fountains that is also illuminated at night. By 1880 Gut Idylle was already so well known across the country that it was first mentioned in the brochure “Guide to Laacher See” and was listed as a sight on the map. Today Gut Idylle is one of 156 goods listed by name in Germany (one of two in Rhineland-Palatinate).

Heinrich Hoffmann called von Fallersleben (among other things the poet of the Deutschlandlied) had a warm friendship with Julius Reusch since they were studying together. Since the mid-1860s, he was a frequent guest on his lands and in the manor house. He was the namesake of "Gut Idylle". During the Neuwied and Krufter time of Hoffmann von Fallersleben his famous nursery rhyme texts such as “All birds are already there”, “Cuckoo, cuckoo, calls from the forest”, “A little man stands in the forest” or “Tomorrow comes Santa Claus ".

After Julius Reusch's death, his sister Ida sold Gut Idylle for one million marks to the company later renamed Tuffstein und Basalt-Lava AG (TUBAG), which moved its headquarters to the representative Villa Reusch at the end of the 1920s.

After the First World War , a structural change began in the municipality of Kruft. A cement factory was built. A company for refractory products expanded its capacities and the production of pumice building materials could also be started on a larger scale. After the Second World War , the community was finally transformed into an industrial community. New pumice building material plants were built, as there was a great need for building material due to the immense destruction of the war. The economic structure improved in that, although related but crisis-proof businesses settled in the community. In the municipality of Kruft today, in addition to numerous pumice building material plants, there is a large cement plant, a company for refractory products, a concrete plant that manufactures products for landscaping, a concrete shell and many efficient craft businesses. The number of farms has decreased significantly, although the remaining farms have increased their efficiency.

politics

Municipal council

The municipal council in Kruft consists of 20 council members, who were elected in the local elections on May 26, 2019 in a personalized proportional representation, and the honorary local mayor as chairman.

The distribution of seats in the municipal council:

choice	SPD	CDU	total
2019	6th	14th	20 seats
2014	6th	14th	20 seats
2009	6th	14th	20 seats
2004	5	15th	20 seats

mayor

Walter Kill (CDU) became local mayor of Kruft on June 25, 2019. In the direct election on May 26, 2019, he was elected for five years with 83.42% of the vote. Walter Kill's predecessor was Rudolf Schneichel (CDU), who had held the office since 1998.

coat of arms

Blasonierung : "In the holy red Maria holding blue coat with gold crown, the Christ child on the right arm, with silver both Nimbus standing on gold crescent of golden halo encircled."

Justification of the coat of arms: The municipal coat of arms goes back to a seal of the aldermen that can be traced back to 1562. The portrait of Maria symbolizes the village's earlier affiliation with Laach Abbey , which was called Abbatia (Sanctae) Mariae ad Lacum in the Middle Ages . Kruft was owned by the abbey, which until 1802 exercised sovereign rights over the village in addition to the landlord.

The coat of arms has been prepared by heraldist Wilhelm Ewald designed in 1931 by the abovementioned seal the color assignments after the coat of arms from the year 1605, both of which are held in the approval certificate, which it on April 24, 1950 by the Rhineland-Palatinate Minister Peter Altmaier approved has been. Kruft is one of the few parishes that are entitled to have the image of the Mother of God in their coat of arms.

Parish partnership

Kruft has had a partnership with the French municipality of Paray-Vieille-Poste since 1967 .

Churches

The Catholic parish church is dedicated to St. Dedicated to Dionysius , the second patron is St. Sebastianus .

Krufter Parish Church of St. Dionysius from the southeast

Parish Church of St. Dionysius from the north-west

Brotherhoods

Kruft has a very old rifle brotherhood : The St. Sebastianus Schützenbruderschaft 1380 eV Kruft, whose founding year stated in the club name is not documented. In the present, the brotherhood feels just as committed to the traditional values of faith, customs and homeland as the cultivation of shooting sports.

The Nothgottes Brotherhood was founded in 1928 and in 2005 had more than 300 members. Every year on the first weekend in September she undertakes a three-day pilgrimage on foot to Nothgottes, 87 kilometers away (former Capuchin monastery above Rüdesheim). Around 100 pilgrims take part in the pilgrimage, which is led by two pilgrim guides (there was a pilgrim guide for the first time in 2004/2005). The earliest known pilgrimage was 1674. The pilgrimage probably originated in a vow during or after the great plague wave of 1666.

The Maria Hilf Brotherhood makes a foot pilgrimage to Maria Hilf in Koblenz-Lützel in mid-September , while the Bornhofen Brotherhood makes a foot pilgrimage to Kamp-Bornhofen in early June .

Infrastructure

Road traffic

Favorable location between A 61 ( Cologne , Koblenz , Ludwigshafen am Rhein ) and A 48 ( Trier ).

Railway connection:

Kruft has a train station on the Lahn-Eifel-Bahn ( Kaisersesch - Mayen - Mendig - Andernach - Koblenz Hbf - Niederlahnstein - Bad Ems - Diez - Limburg an der Lahn ), which is served by the regional train lines RB23 and RB38. These run every hour according to the Rhineland-Palatinate cycle.

Regional bus transport

Regular (hourly) bus lines from / to Andernach / Neuwied & Koblenz , and to Mayen (to the west).

Due to the location of Kruft in the district of Mayen-Koblenz, the tariff of the Verkehrsverbund Rhein-Mosel VRM applies to train and bus tickets .

Kruft in literature

Günter Grass's novel “Örtlich numbt” is partly set in Kruft.

Personalities

Hanns Altmeier (1906–1979), art teacher, worked as a teacher in Kruft
Fritz Gasper († 2007), District Administrator of the Eifelkreis Bitburg-Prüm , came from Kruft
Ferdinand Röse (1815–1859), poet and philosopher, died in Kruft