Meckesheim

coat of arms	Germany map
	Coordinates: 49 ° 19 '  N , 8 ° 49'  E
Basic data
State :	Baden-Württemberg
Administrative region :	Karlsruhe
County :	Rhein-Neckar district
Height :	154 m above sea level NHN
Area :	16.33 km 2
Residents:	5230 (December 31, 2018)
Population density :	320 inhabitants per km 2
Postal code :	74909
Area code :	06226
License plate :	HD
Community key :	08 2 26 049
Address of the municipal administration:	Friedrichstrasse 10 74909 Meckesheim
Website :	www.meckesheim.de
Mayor :	Maik Brandt ( CDU )
Location of the community of Meckesheim in the Rhein-Neckar district

Center of Meckesheim

Meckesheim ( Kurpfälzisch [ ˈmɛksə ]) is a municipality in the Electoral Palatinate in the Rhein-Neckar district of Baden-Württemberg . It consists of the suburbs of Meckesheim (main town) and Mönchzell (district) and had 5226 inhabitants on March 1, 2019.

geography

Location and natural space

Meckesheim is located in Kraichgau approx. 13 km (as the crow flies) southeast of Heidelberg on the Elsenz . The Lobbach , Schwarzbach and Rohrbächle flow into the Elsenz in the Meckesheim district .

The district extends over a height of 135 meters (boundary wall) to 267 meters (Mönchzeller Reichelsberg). The district size is 1633 hectares (462 hectares are accounted for by the Mönchzell district). 14.1 percent of this is settlement and traffic area, 45.7 percent is used for agriculture and 38.3 percent is forested.

The lower Schwarzbachtal has been under nature protection since 1997 . Large parts of the district belong to the nature reserve Lower and Middle Elsenztal. In addition, the area northeast of Elsenz and Schwarzbach is part of the Neckartal-Odenwald Nature Park .

Schwarzbachaue near Meckesheim

Neighboring communities

Adjacent communities are, starting in the north in a clockwise direction, Mauer , Wiesenbach , Lobbach , Spechbach , Eschelbronn , Zuzenhausen , Dielheim and Wiesloch .

Community structure

In addition to the village of Meckesheim, the northeastern village of Mönchzell has also been part of the municipality since the local government reform . The hamlet of Meckesheimerhof in the west was created in 1964 as part of a land consolidation .

history

Roman time

A Roman road led from Heidelberg via Waldhilsbach, Meckesheim, Mönchszell and on to the Upper German-Raetian Limes and crossed the still marshy Elsenz valley near Meckesheim.

Franconian time

Meckesheim was first mentioned in the Lorsch Codex in 822 as Meckinesheim and is probably a Franconian settlement that got its name from a tribal prince Mekin (or similar). The ruins of the Martinskirche, east of the village, are one of the oldest parish churches in the area. It was probably built during the time of the Frankish conquest in the 6th or 7th century.

Pre-Electoral Palatinate Period

The Meckesheimer Zent , attested in 1295, developed into a high court district and comprised several communities. Previously, the Counts of Katzenelnbogen were enfeoffed with it. From 1299 Berthold, the royal vice justiciar of Wimpfen, exercised the bailiwick. Around 1325, Meckesheim belonged to the imperial fief of the Lords of Weinsberg . The church patronage law for "Mekkisheim" and the local court are also mentioned for this period. The Zentgericht was called "Waldpotengericht", d. H. referred to as the judgment of the ruling messenger.

Electoral Palatinate period

In 1330 the village passed to the Count Palatine. In 1347, Count Palatine Ruprecht I pledged it to Engelhard von Hirschhorn. He had already moved the Meckesheim Central Court to Neckargemünd in 1346 . After a few pledges, the local government rights lay with the Palatinate Office of Dilsberg from 1369. In contrast to the surrounding manorial places, well over half of the land in Meckesheim was free peasant property.

During the Thirty Years War , the place was fought over several times, so that the population decreased from 570 to 80. In the Palatinate War of Succession , the place was burned on August 10, 1689 by Melac's troops. In 1722 a fire destroyed almost the entire village. 96 houses were burned, including the church, town hall and school house, and only 5 to 7 houses were spared from the flames. Although the "free Meckesheimer farmers" were not subordinate to an aristocratic family, but to the Electoral Palatinate, they too had to deliver their tithe, namely 2/3 to the monastery of the Holy Spirit in Heidelberg and 1/3 to the Electoral Palatinate court chamber.

In 1782 the wooden bridge over the Elsenz was replaced by one made of stone.

Under the Grand Duchy to the Baden Republic

In 1803 the place came to Baden . During the coalition wars, from November 1813 to July 1814, the Russian Imperial Artillery Park was quartered with 12,339 men in Meckesheim; an enormous burden for the village, which then numbered 743 souls.

Particularly important for the economy in Meckesheim and the surrounding area was the construction of the station in 1862 by the Grand Ducal Baden State Railways . This means that Meckesheim and the neighboring towns were connected to the railway lines to Heidelberg and Heilbronn (since 1869).

Before the First World War, Meckesheim voted nationally liberal . At the beginning of the Weimar Republic , the Social Democrats were the strongest force in town, which were then overtaken by the NSDAP. In the presidential election of April 10, 1932, 66% voted for Adolf Hitler . In the Reichstag election of November 6, 1932, the NSDAP again received 66 percent of the vote. In the Reichstag election of March 5, 1933, 69.7 percent voted for the NSDAP (Reich average 33.1 percent). During the Second World War, American troops bombed the station area in March 1945.

Second World War

During the Second World War in 1944, a four-engine American fighter aircraft loaded with incendiary bombs and carrying five passengers crashed above the beech forest near Spechbacherweg. All inmates died in the crash and were buried in Eschelbronn. On a Sunday in October 1944 at around 11 am, an American fighter plane crashed in the “Oberes Bemannsbruch” area, killing the pilot. Two days later, a German fighter plane crashed in the “Fürthteich” area. The pilot survived the crash with broken legs on both sides. The community was under fire, especially in the months of January to March 1945, which is why the fields were only cultivated during the night. In March 1945, the Schwarzbachbrücke (railway bridge) was also shot at, but not hit. Several people were killed or injured when shelling moving trains. The following structures were destroyed in bombing raids, which were flown on March 24, 1945 between 7.15 and 7.30 a.m.

• the community-owned residential building (civil servants' residence) at Zeppelinstrasse 2-4 with four apartments
• the station building, partly with an apartment and station inn
• the residential building at Bahnhofstrasse 36 with two apartments
• the villa in Schatthäuserstraße 1

Further shelling took place from March 31 to April 1, 1945. Buildings near the train station, in the center of the village and on the mountain were damaged, including the community's gymnasium, which was hit by an artillery shell and its tower and front were destroyed. In the Hindenburgallee (later Friedrichsallee) several buildings had bullet holes and some roofs were covered. American soldiers and German soldiers in the “Plötzberg” field faced each other in infantry combat with artillery support. 17 soldiers and civilians from the community were killed in the fighting around Meckesheim. When German soldiers spread the information that Meckesheim should no longer be defended, they withdrew towards Mosbach and Heilbronn. In total, over a hundred soldiers from Meckesheim were killed in the Second World War. Fifty more were reported missing.

On April 1, 1945, at 11:30 a.m., Meckesheim was occupied by American soldiers who, coming from Mauer, drove into Meckesheim in a captured German tank, passed Friedrichstrasse, took a man with them at the Mall brewery and drove on to Mayor August Kirsch. At the instructions of the occupiers, all residential buildings had to be flagged in white as a sign of the "capitulation of Meckesheim". Around 4 p.m. there was a house search for weapons and soldiers. The school building, the town hall, the “zum Löwen” inn and a few other houses were converted into quarters for the American soldiers. The residents had to leave their houses and apartments without taking personal belongings with them. They were allowed to enter the yard three times a day to feed the farm animals. The American soldiers stored fuel and other supplies in the Hindenburgallee.

Since the neighboring community of Zuzenhausen was still being defended by German soldiers, some German artillery shells continued to hit the Meckesheim district. Damage occurred in the “Obere Gottsäcker” win when a motorized American artillery battery came up and shelled Zuzenhausen. Some American soldiers in Meckesheim were drawn together for the fighting for Zuzenhausen. The American occupation of Meckesheim lasted about half a year. In January 1956, the last two Meckesheim residents came back from Soviet captivity.

Baden-Württemberg community

After the Second World War , the community took in 500 displaced people . Meckesheim changed from an agricultural community, which in 1960 still owned 102 farms, to the location of small and medium-sized businesses and a place of residence for out-commuters. The CDU became the dominant political force in the town for decades .

From 1938 on, Meckesheim belonged to the district of Heidelberg , which in 1973 became part of the Rhein-Neckar district . On December 31, 1973, the neighboring town of Mönchzell was incorporated. The municipality of Meckesheim (with Mönchzell) reached its highest population in 1998 with 5483 inhabitants. Since 2000, the population has been shrinking steadily to just over 5,000. In 2013, Meckesheim hit the headlines nationwide when it turned out that the municipality had not collected trade tax for years and that some of the trade tax was already barred. In 2016, Meckesheim hit the headlines because of a container village for refugees. More than 200 refugees, mainly black African refugees from the initial reception center in Sinsheim, were to be accommodated there by Christmas 2016. The building permit was suspended for the time being on November 21, 2016 by the Mannheim Administrative Court.

Population development

year	1439	1577	1650	1727	1744	1818	1852	1865	1905	1939	1961	1965	1970	1975	1980	1985	1990	1995	2000	2005	2010	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019
Residents (until 1970 without Mönchzell)	320	570	100	329	400	884	1032	1078	1342	1656	2779	3094	3395	4509	4628	4759	5116	5452	5365	5386	5278	5044	5097	5215	5230	5171

The graphic shows the population development including the Mönchzell district for the period before 1974.

Religions

The community has been Protestant since the Reformation in the 16th century . The Catholic proportion of the population in Meckesheim was below average in comparison with the Palatinate and rose slowly to 23 percent by 1925. After the Second World War, the proportion increased to a third due to the admission of displaced persons .

From around 1700 Jews were also resident in Meckesheim. The proportion of the population reached its highest level in the 18th century with 5 percent.

politics

The former town hall of Meckesheim

Municipal council

The parish council normally has 14 members who are directly elected every five years. Due to the system of false suburbs , at least 3 of them come from the Mönchzell district. In addition, the mayor acts as the municipal council chairman with voting rights.

In the 2019 local elections , there were also 2 compensation seats, so that the council has 16 members until the next election in 2024. Overall, the 2019 election led to the following result (in brackets: difference to 2014):

CDU	30.5% (−10.1)	5 seats (−1)
MuM ( voter group )	26.2% (−10.6)	4 seats (−1)
M² (voter group)	24.2% (+24.2)	4 seats (+4)
SPD	19.1% (−3.5)	3 seats (± 0)

The turnout was 67.5% (+14.7).

Mönchzell is a place within the meaning of the Baden-Württemberg municipal code . The district has a local council and mayor who presides over the local council.

mayor

Current

The mayor is directly elected for eight years. Mayor of Meckesheim is Maik Brandt (CDU), deputy mayor are Hans Walter Sonnentag (CDU) and Jürgen Köttig (MuM).

List of the mayors and mayors of Meckesheim

Mayor

• 1574 to 1601 Jörg Brückenweber
• 1601 to (?) Viniol Hoffmann
• 1657 to 1658 Hans Konrad Welcker
• 1658 to 1679 Georg Walter
• 1679 to 1680 Georg Fabian
• 1680 to 1685 Leonhard Allespach
• 1685 to 1688 Andreas Keller
• 1688 to 1690 Hans Bagsack
• 1690 to 1691 Hans Kolb
• 1691 to 1692 Hans Müller
• 1692 to 1698 Andreas Zimmermann
• 1698 to 1699 Martin Welcker
• 1699 to 1710 Georg Bauer
• 1701 to 1726 Bartel Schäfer
• 1726 to 1749 Balthasar Fabian
• 1749 to 1770 (?) Kilian
• 1770 to 1780 Georg Welker
• 1780 to 1781 (?) Kilian
• 1781 to 1814 Georg Peter Maurer
• 1814 to 1828 Jakob Friedrich Rausmüller (also Raußmüller, Rauschenmüller), innkeeper and mayor of Meckesheim
• 1828 to 1833 (?) Wesch

mayor

• 1833 to 1846 (?) Wesch
• 1846 to 1847 Georg Kirsch
• 1847 to 1856 (?) Glock
• 1856 to 1868 Johann Adam Kilian
• 1868 to 1870 (?) Kilian
• 1870 to 1871 (?) Fabian
• 1871 to 1883 H. Rothenhöfer
• 1883 to 1884 Johann Georg Welcker
• 1884 to 1893 Jakob Stoll
• 1893 to 1905 Georg Barther
• 1905 to 1919 Peter Welker
• 1919 to 1920 Georg Welker
• 1920 to 1945 August Kirsch
• 1945 to 1948 Heinrich Dellinger
• 1948 to 1962 Georg Ludwig
• 1964 to 1982 Friedrich Soine
• 1982 to 2000 Manfred Koch
• 2000 to 2016 Hans-Jürgen Moos
• 2016 to 2024 Maik Brandt

Mayor

Gunter Dörtzbach is the head of the Mönchzell suburb. The deputy is Rose Schuh.

coat of arms

The blazon of the coat of arms reads: By a curved silver tip, in which a six-spoke half black mill wheel rising from a blue wavy bar; in front in black a golden lion turned to the left, in the back roughened obliquely to the left in blue and silver.

The coat of arms is derived from the local seal in the 18th century and was awarded by the General State Archives in 1900. The lion and the white and blue diamonds come from the coat of arms of the Electoral Palatinate , to which Meckesheim belonged until 1802. The mill wheel protruding from the river stands for the three water mills that existed in the Meckesheim district.

The flag is blue-white-blue.

Partner communities

A partnership with the town of Jouy-en-Josas in France, near Versailles , has existed since 1971 .

Culture and sights

• The church of St. Martin, which has only survived as a ruin, is located east of the village above the county road to Mönchzell. It was built during the time of the Frankish settlement in the 6th or 7th century. Essentially only the surrounding walls of the square choir with a pointed arched triumphal arch and a window dated 1501 are preserved. The church deteriorated after the Marienkirche in the village became a parish church in the course of the Reformation in the 16th century. The cemetery around the Martinskirche was used as a burial place until 1817. In 1900 a Roman grave relief was found in the masonry of the church. The church ruins were secured in 1960 and the enclosure wall in 1997.
• The Protestant parish church was built in 1847-49 in place of the older Marienkirche (later also Galluskirche).
• The Catholic Church of St. Anthony of Padua was built in 1904 as a neo-Romanesque building. Since the construction of a larger Catholic church in 1962, the building, under the name Wilhelm-Baden-Haus , served as a church meeting place until 2012. It then went into private ownership.
• The Catholic Church of St. Martin in der Au was built from 1962 after the old Catholic Church had become too small for the community. The building has a trapezoid tapering towards the altar and a 23-meter-high, round bell tower, which was originally planned to be higher, but was made lower because of the unsafe building site in the Elsenzauen.
• The New Apostolic Church is a modern, purpose built building from 1958.

• 

  Ruins of the old Martinskirche

• 

  Evangelical parish church

• 

  Wilhelm Baden House

• 

  Catholic Church of St. Martin

• The town hall is a building from 1729, which was acquired by the municipality after the destruction of the old town hall in the conflagration of 1722 in 1731 and later given a classical facade.
• The town's schoolhouse was built after the fire of 1722 and replaced by a new building in 1824. It was expanded to its present size in 1850 and 1904.
• The guard house with the sandstone pillars in front was built for the night watch in 1818 and also served as a local prison.
• The power station on the Elsenz goes back to a mill that was first built in 1719, which was converted into a power station in 1908 after temporary industrial use in the Art Nouveau style.
• The monument to Elector Carl Theodor located on the Elsenzbrücke was erected in 1782 as part of the bridge construction.

• 

  Guard house

• 

  Power station

• 

  Hydroelectric power station and Elsenz Bridge with monument

Economy and Infrastructure

traffic

Railway station building in Meckesheim (2014)

The Meckesheim train station is on the Elsenz Valley Railway ( Neckargemünd - Bad Friedrichshall ). The Schwarzbachtalbahn branches off here to Aglasterhausen . Both routes are integrated into the network of the RheinNeckar S-Bahn , which means that connections to Heidelberg and Mannheim are free.

As an important railway junction, Meckesheim is also the system stop of the RE line Mannheim - Heidelberg - Meckesheim - Bad Friedrichshall - Heilbronn, which will be linked to Stuttgart from December 2019.

From the train station, the 743 bus runs every hour via Mönchzell and Lobenfeld to Waldwimmersbach. Since May 24, 1998, at the suggestion of the Verkehrsforum 2000, it has also stopped at the Gasthaus Ochsen, which improves the previously poor development of the area between the town center and the train station. Until 2008 the line ran more irregularly and only to Mönchzell or in school traffic to Lobenfeld.

In the 1998 local transport plan, an express bus line to Wiesloch was provided, but this was rejected because test drives resulted in an unsuitable travel time of 63 minutes.

In 1997 a taxi line to Spechbach and Waldwimmersbach was introduced. Since July 2018 there has been a taxi service between Dielheim and the Meckesheim railway junction.

In Meckesheim's school traffic, line 782 to the Neckarbischofsheim grammar school and line 748 between the Neckargemünd school center and Waldwimmersbach or Zuzenhausen run. There is also one trip at night - two trips on weekend nights - on the BRN line 755 (Neckargemünd line bundle) from Heidelberg or Neckargemünd to Sinsheim and back.

Meckesheim belongs to the tariff area of ​​the Rhein-Neckar transport association .

Historically noteworthy is the Wiesloch – Meckesheim / Waldangelloch railway , which connected Meckesheim via Schatthausen , Baiertal , Horrenberg , Dielheim and Alt-Wiesloch with Wiesloch City and the Wiesloch- Walldorf train station . The line was opened in 1901. The section between Schatthausen and Meckesheim was closed again in 1922. Due to its function as a railway junction, Meckesheim changed from a rural to a commercial settlement before the Second World War.

Meckesheim is located on the B 45 ( Wöllstadt - Sinsheim ), which was designed as a bypass road during the expansion in 1961/62 due to the already heavy through traffic through the town. The A 6 runs to the south .

education

school

Since 2016 there has been a community school in Meckesheim with a primary school that is open all day. In Mönchzell there is a primary school with regular school operations.

School in Mönchzell

The first schoolhouse in Meckesheim and Mönchzell was the reformed schoolhouse, which was built in 1618. At a time that can no longer be determined, the community built another schoolhouse at the location of the current old school. It was torn down in 1824 because it had become too small and was replaced by today's "old school". The current school building was inaugurated in 1967 and has been called the Karl Bühler School since 1991. The "Alte Schulstube" school museum brings lessons from the old days to life.

The school in Mönchzell was built in 1904.

Others

The Meckesheim public observatory opened in 2013.

Personalities

• Jakob Friedrich Rausmüller (1767–1846), innkeeper, mayor from 1814 to 1828, member of the state parliament 1818–1823
• Johann Adam Müller (1769–1832) was known as the “peasant prophet”
• Johann Friedrich Hautz (1797–1862), high school teacher and historian; Director at the Grand Ducal Lyceum in Heidelberg
• Ferdinand Adolf Kehrer (1837-1914), director of the University Women's Hospital in Heidelberg, led in Meckenheim on September 25, 1881 the first conservative cesarean by
• Karl Bühler (1879–1963), psychologist
• Albrecht Müller (* 1938), politician (SPD), author and management consultant, grew up in Meckesheim
• Veit Rosenberger (1963–2016), ancient historian
• Simone Eckert (* 1966), musician; Winner of the Echo-Klassik Prize; Head of the international early music ensemble Hamburger Ratsmusik
• Stefan Emmerling (* 1966), soccer player and coach, grew up in Meckesheim
• Philipp Klingmann (* 1988), soccer player, grew up in Mönchzell

literature

• Friedrich Zimmermann: Local history of the Kraichgaudorfes Meckesheim. 1937 (ed.): Mecklenburg community of Meckesheim
• State Archive administration Baden-Württemberg in connection with d. Cities and districts Heidelberg u. Mannheim (Hrsg.): The city and districts Heidelberg and Mannheim: Official district description .

Web links

Commons : Meckesheim  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Wikivoyage: Meckesheim  - travel guide

• https://www.meckesheim.de/
• LEO-BW, discover regional studies online , Meckesheim
• https://www.fundsplitter.com/ History and current news from Meckesheim with Mönchzell

Individual evidence

1. ↑ State Statistical Office Baden-Württemberg - Population by nationality and gender on December 31, 2018 (CSV file) ( help on this ).
2. ↑ Statistisches Landesamt Baden-Württemberg, status: December 31, 2010  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
3. ^ State Institute for Environment, Measurements and Nature Conservation Baden-Württemberg
4. ^ The state of Baden-Württemberg. Official description by district and municipality. Volume V: Karlsruhe district Kohlhammer, Stuttgart 1976, ISBN 3-17-002542-2 , pp. 358–359.
5. ^ Friedrich Zimmermann: Ortsgeschichte des Kraichgaudorfes Meckesheim, 1937 (Ed.): Gemeinde Meckesheim , p. 61.
6. ↑ Minst, Karl Josef [transl.]: Lorscher Codex (Volume 4), Certificate 2627, Year 822 - Reg. 3172. In: Heidelberger historical stocks - digital. Heidelberg University Library, p. 189 , accessed on February 11, 2016 . 
7. ^ Friedrich Zimmermann: Ortsgeschichte des Kraichgaudorfes Meckesheim, 1937 (Ed.): Gemeinde Meckesheim , S. 53 f.
8. ↑ Friedrich Zimmermann: Local history of the Kraichgaudorfes Meckesheim, 1937 (Ed.): Municipality of Meckesheim , p. 62 f.
9. ^ Friedrich Zimmermann: Ortsgeschichte des Kraichgaudorfes Meckesheim, 1937 (Ed.): Gemeinde Meckesheim , p. 68 f.
10. ↑ https://www.meckesheim.de/seite/224631/geschichte.html History of Meckesheim
11. ^ Georg Ludwig : Report on the war events in Meckesheim , mayor's office in Meckesheim, November 25, 1960, PDF
12. ^ Meckesheim - German Digital Library. Accessed May 1, 2019 . 
13. ^ 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, Stuttgart / Mainz 1983, ISBN 3-17-003263-1 , p. 487 .
14. ↑ rheinneckarblog.de
15. ↑ morgenweb.de
16. ^ District description, Volume 2, p. 681: Meckesheim without Mönchzell.
17. ↑ ^{a b} Baden-Württemberg State Statistical Office, population of Meckesheim. Retrieved July 4, 2020 . 
18. ↑ State Statistical Office Baden-Württemberg, Stuttgart, 2015 statistik.baden-wuerttemberg.de
19. ↑ State Statistical Office of Baden-Württemberg: Municipal council elections 2019, Meckesheim ; Mecklenburg municipality : municipal council election 2019 ; accessed May 31, 2019.
20. ^ Herwig John, Gabriele Wüst: Wappenbuch Rhein-Neckar-Kreis . Ubstadt-Weiher 1996, ISBN 3-929366-27-4 , p. 80.
21. ↑ ^{a b c} Jürgen Heß, Herbert Hoffmann, Siegbert Luksch: No. 5: Looking back at 150 years of the Meckesheim railway location: 11: Chronology. (PDF; 568 kB) November 29, 2013, accessed January 2017 . 
22. ↑ Jürgen Heß: A look back at 150 years of the Meckesheim railway location (=  series of publications on the local history of Meckesheim . No. 5 ). November 29, 2013, 9 timetables .
23. ↑ VRN timetable 2001.
24. ↑ Another milestone in the community of Dielheim in terms of local transport ... In: Kraichgau-Lokal. July 3, 2018, accessed on April 21, 2019 (German).