Castle Vippach

coat of arms	Germany map
	Coordinates: 51 ° 6 '  N , 11 ° 9'  E
Basic data
State :	Thuringia
County :	Sömmerda
Management Community :	Gramme-Vippach
Height :	175 m above sea level NHN
Area :	20.97 km 2
Residents:	1370 (Dec. 31, 2019)
Population density :	65 inhabitants per km 2
Postal code :	99195
Area code :	036371
License plate :	SÖM
Community key :	16 0 68 048
Address of the municipal administration:	Erfurter Str. 11 99195 Schloßvippach
Website :	www.schlossvippach.de
Mayor :	Uwe Koehler ( CDU )
Location of the community of Schloßvippach in the district of Sömmerda

Schloßvippach is a municipality in the Sömmerda district in Thuringia and the seat of the Gramme-Vippach administrative community , to which eleven additional municipalities are affiliated. The name of the place goes back to a Vippach castle that was demolished during the Soviet occupation zone in 1948.

location

Schloßvippach is located in the fertile Thuringian Basin east of the federal highway 71 and on the state roads 1054 and 1056. A district to the east is Dielsdorf . The Vippach is a stream that runs south of the village.

history

Early history

Corded ceramists settled in the vicinity of the place and its surroundings as early as the Neolithic 2,000 years before Christ . In 1875 the Jena archaeologist Friedrich Klopfleisch discovered a central grave. In addition to human graves and everyday objects, horse graves were also found during the excavation, which is an indication of the importance of horse breeding in this region. Since 2008, the already well-known Bronze Age settlement of Schloßvippach has been excavated by archaeologists for prehistory and early history from the Friedrich Schiller University in Jena , as it offers a unique ensemble of findings with different house buildings, wells, paved paths and the associated burial ground. Many other finds were made from the Iron Age , the period of the Thuringian Empire and the Franks . At that time the region belonged to the Ostergau.

8th to 11th centuries

The place was first mentioned in a document in 793. The Fulda monastery had a great influence in Thuringia as an educational center. The village is mentioned twice in the 8th century property registers of the monastery in the Erfurt region. These writings are not really dated, but belong exactly to the period 780-802. Schloßvippach was created out of two settlements, the lower village and the upper village. The Obermarbach burial ground shows the mixed Germanic-Slavic population.

11th to 19th centuries

Schloßvippach was first mentioned in the 11th century. The place was mentioned by Lords of Vippach. The castle complex can be traced back to around 1050. In the upper village, the St. Petri Church was built around the year 1100, perhaps a foundation by the Peterskloster in Erfurt. The tower of the church dates from 1261, which means that the church could be finished by then. In the middle of the 12th century the village was fortified with walls, trenches and thick bushes. Landgrave Friedrich I the bitten destroyed the village and the castle around 1309, but both were rebuilt. The castle and the Petrikirche were then again destroyed in the Thuringian Count's War around 1343. Due to financial worries, Otto von Vippach sold the rebuilt castle and a third of the village of Vippach to the council of Erfurt. This happened around 1387. From 1387 it went on for over 400 years, when the castle, which had been rebuilt several times, secured the protection of Erfurt areas from the northeast. The castle captain was at the same time the landlord, court lord, church and school patron for the village. In 1483 the villages of Berlstedt and Kleinbrembach came to Erfurt . The Vippach office was formed from these villages, with an official in charge of the castle. Among other things, his tasks included the settlement of territorial disputes between the following neighboring towns: Schloßvippach, Dielsdorf and Sprötau. In the vicinity of Schloßvippach, vines and hops were grown in addition to the usual crops. The region was also known as the "Thuringian Herb Garden". In addition to the many farmers, there were their own craftsmen (64) around 1500. Martin Luther's teachings were well received by the population.

During the Thirty Years War , Vippach Castle was devastated several times: in 1622/23 by Duke Friedrich von Altenburg and in 1628 by Croatian troops. Erfurt and Schloßvippach had a fairly quiet period from the mid-1630s to 1650 because the Swedes conquered the north of Germany. Between 1660 and 1670 there were 477 inhabitants in the village. These were distributed over 97 inhabited and 131 more devastated houses. In addition there were seven public buildings, the stables and barns.

The Erfurt area became Electoral Mainz with Schloßvippach in 1664 (belonged to Mainz). The residents had to submit to the new master in 1667 in the castle courtyard. The year 1683 brought the plague , which claimed hundreds of victims. The right to the fair was obtained in 1699. Part of the property was divided into inheritance rights among 30 subjects in 1701, and the community lasted until the middle of the 19th century. The place wrote a population of 782 in 194 houses. After that (1802) Schlossvippach became Prussian.

After the battle of Jena and Auerstedt was over, the village and the castle were looted by French soldiers in 1806. From 1806 to 1813, Schloßvippach, like Erfurt, was part of territories conquered by Napoleon ( Principality of Erfurt ). In a surprise attack on October 17, 1813, the Prussian major Friedrich Hellwig and 55 hussars captured 70 Polish Uhlans who were Napoleon's allies. Schlossvippach had 28 men who then helped in the Wars of Liberation from 1813 to 1815.

19th century to the present

With the end of French rule, the Vippach district became part of the Grand Duchy of Saxony-Weimar-Eisenach in 1815. These places were incorporated into the Großrudestedt office and the exclave status of the place ended. With the integration into the, the exclave status of the place ended. In 1843 Schloßvippach had 1,143 inhabitants. Up to the First World War there was a continuous upswing, accompanied by brisk construction activity and many associations were founded. In 1871 the community held a peace festival, 42 participants in the Franco-German War from Weimar were brought back to Schloßvippach. Only one soldier from Vippach died. A kindergarten was established in 1897. Electrification began in 1906 with a light and power line from the power station in Gispersleben. 1909 Foundation of the post office with telegraph service. Two of the three bells of the St. Vitus Church were melted down because of the First World War.

In 1920 Schloßvippach was added to the then Free State of Thuringia. In 1921 own emergency banknotes were issued. In 1931 there were 1230 people living in the village.

During the Nazi era, a lynching occurred on March 8, 1945 . The 25-year-old Canadian pilot Thomas M. Draper crashed his plane near the sports field and was shot while being transported away. His body is said to have been exhumed and taken to Canada in the late 1940s. Investigations against the perpetrators never took place.

During the war, 73 Polish, 23 Russian and one Yugoslav slave laborers were registered in Schlossvippach. In Dielsdorf (Schloßvippach) there were 21 people from Poland . Most of them were housed in courtyards where they had to work. In addition, prisoners of war were on duty, which were located in the former restaurant "Zum Löwen", Karl-Buchholz-Str. 213 (today No. 20a). The first command consisted of 28 French prisoners of war, who were locked in in the evening and guarded by a soldier. They were later moved to the community hall in Dielsdorf (Schloßvippach). From autumn 1943, 35 Italian military internees were still registered.

An unknown concentration camp prisoner was murdered by the SS on a death march from the Niederorschel satellite camp to the Buchenwald concentration camp . The prisoners stopped in Schloßvippach between April 6 and 8, 1945 and were housed in a field barn. Since October 2nd, 1984 a memorial stele commemorates this death march.

In the Second World War , 67 soldiers from Schloßvippach died or were missing. The population rose to 1900 because in 1946 there were 600 displaced persons. After the Second World War, the place was added to the Soviet occupation zone and went through the corresponding social change, in addition, a land reform was carried out. The castle with the best construction was owned by the Collenbusch family until 1945. It was destroyed in 1948 due to basic Soviet military administration.

Every family in the village was obliged to send a member to the demolition work when threatened with punishment. Six mayors took turns from 1945 to 1949. The first LPG was founded in 1953, and in 1960, under considerable pressure, “full cooperative status” was achieved. In 1989 an SPD and the Democratic Awakening formed in Schloßvippach as well. In the local elections in May 1990, the CDU 6, the SPD 3, the FDP 1, the PDS 1 and other groups together won 7 seats. On October 3, 1990, the official reunification day, the mayor planted an oak tree in the forecourt of the church.

Population development (as of December 31 of the respective year)

1994 - 1,506 1995 - 1,550 1996-1,586 1997 - 1,611 1998 - 1,613 1999 - 1,591 2000 - 1,581 2001 - 1,565

2002 - 1,542 2003 - 1,500 2004 - 1,499 2005 - 1,475 2006 - 1,449 2007 - 1,421 2008 - 1,414 2009 - 1,391

2010 - 1,367 2011 - 1,410 2012 - 1,393 2013 - 1,398 2014 - 1,404 2015 - 1,408 2016 - 1,403 2017 - 1,394

2018 - 1,377 2019 - 1,370

Data source: Thuringian State Office for Statistics

politics

Municipal council

The municipal council from Schloßvippach consists of 12 councilors:

CDU - open list:	4 seats
Schloßvippach voluntary community of voters:	3 seats
Free voter community Dielsdorf:	3 seats
Civil Democratic Voting Community:	2 seats

(Status: local elections on May 26, 2018)

mayor

The honorary mayor Uwe Köhler was elected on June 5, 2016.

coat of arms

Blazon : "Split and divided twice by red and silver."

Parish partnership

• Ober-Olm Rhineland-Palatinate
• Ramonchamp in France

Culture and sights

• Evangelical parish church St. Vitus with furnishings, in the west of the village, in the "Unterdorf". The church must have existed as early as 1261, the tower probably dates from that time. The nave was built in late Gothic style around 1500. There are open stairs on the north and south sides. Only from the middle of the 15th century is St. Vitus the main parish church of the village. The cemetery has existed since 1843.

• The Schloßvippach , a moated castle and the headquarters of the first mentioned in the 11th century Lords of Vippach was built about 1050 in the east of the village. The oldest parts of this stately building, demolished at the time of the Soviet Zone in 1948, were the keep from the 14th century and the gate building from 1650. As a "replacement measure" for the neighboring A 71 motorway, the muddy moat was renatured in 2004, the natural stone bridge was reconstructed and the neglected island cleared.

• A little south of the former castle is the small (formerly much larger) St. Petri Church , together with excavations evidence of a second medieval settlement core in the east of today's village. It was built around 1100, so it is older than St. Vitus and was the main parish church of Schloßvippach until the middle of the 15th century. Peterskirche was destroyed in 1309 and 1343 and rebuilt in 1350. At that time Dietrich von Vippach donated the bronze bell, which makes it one of the oldest bells in Thuringia. During the Thirty Years' War, the church was used as a quarry to strengthen the drawbridge of the nearby castle. Only the eastern part, the former sacristy, remained. In 1708/10 the remaining remnants were converted into a chapel and received the roof turret with a tail dome. The Petri churchyard was no longer used from 1843. In 1916 a Luther oak was planted in front of the church.

• Stately buildings in the village are the Ratskeller (which is also the town hall, built in 1841 and rebuilt before 1900) and the neighboring former inn " Zur Sonne " with a courtyard gate. During the GDR era as well as afterwards, buildings in the formerly affluent place were lost.

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  Demolished castle in Schloßvippach

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  Castle moat in Schloßvippach

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  Petrikirche in Schloßvippach

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  St. Vitus Church in Schloßvippach

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  Memorial for Friedrich von Hellwig in Schloßvippach

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  Ratskeller extension in Schloßvippach

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  Ratskeller in Schloßvippach

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  View of the Ratskeller, church and former inn

Historical monuments

• In front of the St. Vitus Church is the Hellwig Stone , a monument erected in 1913 to commemorate a successful battle of a Prussian Freikorps under the leadership of Major Friedrich Hellwig against Polish Uhlans allied with Napoleon in Schloßvippach.
• Despite being largely cleared during the GDR era, the cemetery still features historical monuments to those who died in the two world wars and family graves.
• In the cemetery there is also the grave memorial for a concentration camp prisoner who was murdered by SS men in April 1945 during a death march of the Niederorschel concentration camp external command . A memorial stele on Erfurter Straße has been commemorating this event since 1984 .
• Memorial stone on the sports field for the Canadian aviator Thomas Maynard Draper, who fell victim to one of the so-called air murders on March 8, 1945 . The stone was solemnly consecrated on March 8, 2019.
• Langenstein's dish northeast of Schloßvippach at the fork in the road Sprötau and Orlishausen. For centuries - until 1830 - court was held here, primarily in the case of territorial disputes between the neighboring communities.
• Hill grave stone hills north of Schloßvippach

Others

On March 8, 1945, near the sports field , one of the so-called aviator murders of the Canadian pilot Thomas Maynard Draper, who had survived the shooting down of his plane , occurred . The prisoners should be transferred to Weimar, but was prior to transport from the added hurrying district administrator of the district Weimar , Franz Hofmann shot. During the Second World War , 28 prisoners of war from France , 35 military internees from Italy and 97 women and men from Poland , Russia and Yugoslavia had to do forced labor in the agriculture of Schloßvippach . After Dielsdorf 21 Poles came.

Personalities

• Johann Christian Wilhelm August Hopfensack (* 1801 in Schloßvippach, † 1874 in Kleve ), theologian, educator and poet of evangelical sacred songs
• Karl Buchholz (* 1849 in Schloßvippach; † 1889 in Weimar), "Painter Thuringian Homeland"

Individual evidence

1. ^ Population of the municipalities from the Thuringian State Office for Statistics  ( help on this ).
2. ↑ Thuringian Association of the Persecuted of the Nazi Regime - Association of Antifascists and Study Group of German Resistance 1933–1945 (Ed.): Local history guide to sites of resistance and persecution 1933–1945. Thuringia . tape 8 . VAS - Publishing House for Academic Writings, Frankfurt am Main 2003, ISBN 3-88864-343-0 , p. 274-275 .
3. ^ Anette Kletzke: Silent memory of Thomas Maynard Draper. The community of interest “Liberty Convoy” and the community of Schloßvippach inaugurate the memorial stone at the sports field. In: Thüringer Allgemeine, local edition Sömmerda of March 9, 2019, No. 58, p. 15.
4. ↑ Anette Kletzke: Memorial stone for the Canadian pilot . In Thüringer Allgemeine , local edition Sömmerda of March 6, 2019, No. 55, p. 13
5. ↑ Thuringian Association of the Persecuted of the Nazi Regime - Association of Antifascists and Study Group of German Resistance 1933–1945 (Ed.): Local history guide to sites of resistance and persecution 1933–1945. Volume 8: Thuringia. VAS - Verlag für Akademische Schriften, Frankfurt am Main 2003, ISBN 3-88864-343-0 , p. 274 f.

literature

• Manfred Schiller, Klaus Weise: 1200 years of Vippach Castle. Festschrift. 793-1993. Men's choir "Liedertafel" and the community of Schloßvippach, Schlossvippach 1993.
• Thomas Bienert: "The once magnificent castle of Schloßvippach". In: Thüringer Allgemeine , 2006, (From the series: The fate of battered and extinguished noble seats. ).

Web links

Commons : Schloßvippach  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Current aerial photo from the Thuringian State Office for Surveying and Geoinformation (TLVermGeo)
• Website of the administrative association
• Official website of the municipality
• Bronze and Iron Age settlement