Niedenstein

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

Coordinates: 51 ° 14 ′  N , 9 ° 19 ′  E

Basic data
State : Hesse
Administrative region : kassel
County : Schwalm-Eder district
Height : 337 m above sea level NHN
Area : 30.61 km 2
Residents: 5299 (Dec. 31, 2019)
Population density : 173 inhabitants per km 2
Postal code : 34305
Primaries : 05624, 05603
License plate : HR, FZ, MEG, ZIG
Community key : 06 6 34 018
LOCODE : DE N9T
City structure: 5 districts

City administration address : 		Obertor 8
34305 Niedenstein
Website : www.niedenstein.de
Mayor : Frank Grunewald (independent)
Location of the town of Niedenstein in the Schwalm-Eder district
Kassel Landkreis Fulda Landkreis Hersfeld-Rotenburg Landkreis Kassel Landkreis Marburg-Biedenkopf Landkreis Waldeck-Frankenberg Vogelsbergkreis Vogelsbergkreis Werra-Meißner-Kreis Knüllwald Homberg (Efze) Frielendorf Schwarzenborn (Knüll) Neukirchen (Knüll) Oberaula Ottrau Schrecksbach Willingshausen Schwalmstadt Gilserberg Jesberg Neuental Bad Zwesten Borken (Hessen) Morschen Malsfeld Wabern (Hessen) Felsberg (Hessen) Spangenberg Melsungen Körle Guxhagen Edermünde Gudensberg Niedenstein Fritzlarmap
About this picture
View from the Hessenturm to Niedenstein (city center)

Niedenstein is a small town and a state-approved climatic health resort in the Schwalm-Eder district in northern Hesse (Germany).

geography

Geographical location

Niedenstein is located in the southeast of the Habichtswald Nature Park . The core city extends on the western slope of the wooded Langenberge . The next big city is Kassel, 15 km northeast . The mountains around Niedenstein include the Schwengeberg ( 557  m above sea  level , highest mountain in the urban area) and the Niedensteiner Kopf ( 475  m above sea level , with the Hessenturm), both of which belong to the Langenberg range, the Sengelsberg ( a natural monument). 448  m above sea level. NN ) north of the city core, and when the district Kirchberg preferred Wartberg ( 306  m above sea level. NN ). Parts of the city center are traversed by the eastern Ems tributary Wiehoff , the district of Kirchberg by the Ems.

Neighboring communities

In the north, Niedenstein borders on the community of Schauenburg ( district of Kassel ), on the other side of the Langenberge in the east and southeast on the city of Gudensberg . To the south is Fritzlar , whose core town is about 15 km from the core town of Niedenstein, and to the west is the municipality of Bad Emstal ; Gudensberg and Fritzlar are in the Schwalm-Eder district, Bad Emstal is part of the Kassel district.

City structure

The city has almost 6000 inhabitants. It consists of five districts. In addition to the core town of Niedenstein (about 2200 inhabitants) are the Ermetheis (about 700 inhabitants), Metze (about 950 inhabitants), Kirchberg (about 850 inhabitants) and Wichdorf (about 1200 inhabitants).

history

The Niedenstein area was settled early on, as evidenced by the main discovery site of the Neolithic Wartberg culture on the Wartberg . 1254 is the first documented mention of Niedenstein Castle on the Niedensteiner Kopf , when Konrad II of Elben held it for Duchess Sophie von Brabant and her son Heinrich against troops of Archbishop Gerhard von Dhaun of Mainz . The castle was devastated in 1387 by troops from the Archbishop of Mainz, Adolf I , after which it was only partially restored, finally abandoned and completely destroyed in 1631. Nothing more can be found of her today.

It was Konrad von Elben who, on Duchess Sophie's order, founded the new settlement of Niedenstein ("Nydensteyne"), which was already known as a city ( oppidum ) in 1259, in the original Wichdorf area that belonged to him .

In 1554 the city had 87 households with around 400 inhabitants. In 1578 Landgrave Wilhelm IV granted Niedenstein the right to hold two markets a year.

The Thirty Years' War brought almost total destruction: in 1631 General Tilly's Croatian horsemen conquered the city, looted it and set it on fire; more than a third of the houses fell victim to the flames and the castle was completely destroyed. When the war was over in 1648, just four people lived in Niedenstein and only 14 houses were still standing.

Niedenstein, the smallest town in terms of population in the short-lived Napoleonic Kingdom of Westphalia (1807-1813), was the administrative seat of the canton of Niedenstein during the "French era" . The small town did not experience any significant population growth until the second half of the 20th century, when individual passenger traffic and commuter work increased. In 1834 there were 610 inhabitants, and in 1939 the population was only 630.

Jewish community

The Jewish cemetery on Friedensstrasse, laid out in 1832

In the 19th century and until the Second World War, Niedenstein was home to a relatively large Jewish community ; in the 1880s it made up more than 22 percent of the total population, and in 1933 about 10 percent of the population were Jewish. Those of them who did not manage to escape from Germany in time became victims of the Nazi regime: of those Jewish people who were born in Niedenstein and / or who lived there for a long time, at least 61 known by name died during the Nazi era.

Historical sources

The Niedenstein city archive is kept in the Hessian State Archive in Marburg (inventory 330 Niedenstein). Almost all of the holdings have been developed and can be researched online.

Territorial reform

On September 1, 1970 , as part of the regional reform in Hessen, the previously independent municipality of Ermetheis and the city of Niedenstein voluntarily merged to form the expanded city of Niedenstein. On December 31, 1971, Kirchberg, Metze and Wichdorf were added by incorporation .

politics

City Council

The local elections on March 6, 2016 produced the following results, compared to previous local elections:

Distribution of seats in the 2016 city council
    
A total of 23 seats
Parties and constituencies %
2016 		Seats
2016 		%
2011 		Seats
2011 		%
2006 		Seats
2006 		%
2001 		Seats
2001
FWG Free voter community Niedenstein 40.0 9 19.6 4th 23.7 5 18.7 6th
SPD Social Democratic Party of Germany 30.9 7th 41.8 10 46.7 11 51.3 16
CDU Christian Democratic Union of Germany 18.5 4th 20.8 5 20.9 5 23.0 7th
GREEN Alliance 90 / The Greens 10.6 3 17.8 4th 8.6 2 7.0 2
total 100.0 23 100.0 23 100.0 23 100.0 31
Voter turnout in% 60.9 57.1 57.4 66.3

Town twinning

Niedenstein maintains a partnership with the French commune of Saint-Germer-de-Fly (in the Oise department ), around 80 km north-west of Paris.

Culture and sights

Museums

  • Altenburg and City Museum
  • Wichdorfer Heimatmuseum
  • Kirchberg local history museum
  • Metze home office and archive for village history

Buildings

Evangelical Church in Niedenstein
The court and dance linden tree
Hessenturm on the Niedensteiner head
  • The Protestant church from 1777 is a hall building with a set tower. The interior is by pulpit, Pfarr state and three sided circumferential gallery and a 1844 by the Kassel Orgelbaumeister Carl Wilhelm built organ with two manuals and 18 registers marked; Except for the latter, the furnishings are neo-Gothic , including remnants of historicist glazing.
  • Former synagogue
  • Altenburg , a fortified pre-Germanic hilltop settlement on the mountain of the same name northwest of Niedenstein, which was already abandoned around the birth of Christ. The previously assumed equation with the Chatti capital Mattium is incorrect. Numerous excavation exhibits from the Altenburg area are now in the Hessian State Museum in Kassel.
  • Falkenstein castle ruins in the neighboring municipality of Bad Emstal to the west on the Falkenstein mountain near Niedenstein.

Natural monuments and special objects

Personalities

literature

Web links

Commons : Niedenstein  - collection of images, videos and audio files
Wikisource: Niedenstein in Merian's Topographia Hassiae  - Sources and full texts

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Hessian State Statistical Office: Population status on December 31, 2019 (districts and urban districts as well as municipalities, population figures based on the 2011 census) ( help ).
  2. ↑ 79th meeting of the specialist committee for health resorts, recreational areas and healing wells in Hesse on November 21, 2012 . In: State pointer for the state of Hesse . No. 9 , 2014, ISSN  0724-7885 , p. 187 .
  3. ↑ a b "Niedenstein". Historical local dictionary for Hesse (as of March 26, 2014). In: Landesgeschichtliches Informationssystem Hessen (LAGIS). Hessian State Office for Historical Cultural Studies (HLGL), accessed on November 3, 2014 .
  4. ^ Karl E. Demandt: Population and social history of the Jewish community in Niedenstein 1653–1866.
  5. ↑ Lists from Yad Vashem in Jerusalem and the information in the “Memorial Book - Victims of the Persecution of Jews under the National Socialist Tyranny in Germany 1933–1945”.
  6. ↑ Overview of the "Stadtarchiv Niedenstein"  holdings (HStAM holdings 330 Niedenstein). In: Archive Information System Hessen (Arcinsys Hessen), accessed on July 18, 2011.
  7. ↑ The municipality of Ermetheis in the Fritzlat-Homberg district merged to form the town of “Niedenstein” on August 17, 1970 . In: The Hessian Minister of the Interior (ed.): State Gazette for the State of Hesse. 1970 No. 37 , p. 1785 , point 1672 ( online at the information system of the Hessian state parliament [PDF; 3,9 MB ]).
  8. ^ 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. 391 and 392 .
  9. ^ Result of the municipal election on March 6, 2016. Hessian State Statistical Office, accessed in April 2016 .
  10. ^ Hessian State Statistical Office: Result of the municipal elections on March 27, 2011
  11. ^ Hessian State Statistical Office: Result of the municipal elections on March 26, 2006
  12. ↑ Since October 2019 the organ has been extensively restored by the organ building company Mebold from Siegen .
  13. ↑ a b Map services of the Federal Agency for Nature Conservation ( information )