Desert saxons

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Desert saxons
Coordinates: 50 ° 29 ′ 57 ″  N , 10 ° 0 ′ 15 ″  E
Height : 577 m above sea level NHN
Area : 18.65 km²
Residents : 1225  (June 30, 2019)
Population density : 66 inhabitants / km²
Incorporation : December 31, 1970
Postal code : 36115
Area code : 06683
View of Wüstensachsen and the Wasserkuppe in the background on the right
View of Wüstensachsen and the Wasserkuppe in the background on the right

Wüstensachsen is a district of the municipality of Ehrenberg (Rhön) in the Fulda district in Hesse and the seat of the municipal administration. The place is a state-recognized health resort .

Geographical location

Desert Saxony is located at the upper end of the Ulster Valley . The Ulster, which rises here on the mountain slopes, flows through the town towards the north. Desert Saxony is surrounded in all other directions by the up to 900 meter high mountains of the Rhön , including the Wasserkuppe in the west, the Heidelstein in the south and the Stirnberg in the east.

Desert Saxony borders Melperts in the north, Reulbach and Sandberg in the west, Gersfeld (Rhön) and the Bavarian Ginolfs in the south, and Roth vor der Rhön in the east, which is also Bavarian .

history

Desert Saxony was first mentioned in 1141. On December 31, 1970, Wüstensachsen merged with Melperts, Reulbach, Seiferts and Thaiden to form the municipality of Ehrenberg (Rhön).

Desert Saxony is said to have existed as early as the 8th or 9th century and was settled by Saxons. They later left the place. This made it a desolation. Hence the name Wüstensachsen comes from. In 1141, Wüstensachsen was mentioned in a document as the Voestenasse . The plague in 1350 killed 60% of the population. Balthasar von Steinau called Steinrück built a castle around 1500 and a church in 1517. In 1590 the church burned down completely, except for the choir and the foundation walls. A new church was built. The reconstruction was completed in 1597. In 1673 a post office was built in the upper inn. In the years 1718–1787, many inhabitants of the desert Saxons emigrated to Hungary and Russia. An elementary school is built in 1732. A major fire in 1780 destroyed 14 houses. Around 1800 the main line of business was cloth making and agriculture. The federal road 278 from Bischofsheim in the Rhön to Tann was built in the years 1835-1838. A new church was built in 1851/52.

Catholic Parish Church of St. Michael

In the years 1844 to 1853, many desert adults emigrated to America . At the turn of the century, 30 Jewish families lived in Wüstensachsen. In 1910 Fabian Diegelmann generated electrical energy with his castle mill and supplied the village with electricity. The post bus replaced the stagecoach in 1913. On February 1, 1916, the Hilders –Wüstensachsen railway line began operating. In 1936/37 a labor camp for young women was set up by the Nazis. The synagogue was destroyed by the Nazis during the November pogroms in 1938 . The last Jews fled desert Saxony in 1939. In 2014, a memorial for the Jewish citizens expelled and murdered by the Nazis was set up in the center of the village.

Numerous houses are destroyed and people are killed as a result of several bombing raids on desert Saxony during World War II . In 1965, Wüstensachsen was given the title “State Recognized Resort”.

In the course of the regional reform in Hesse , on December 31, 1970, the previously independent communities of Melperts, Seiferts and Wüstensachsen merged on a voluntary basis to form the new community of Ehrenberg. Wüstensachsen became the seat of the municipal administration. For Wüstensachsen as for the other formerly independent municipalities, local districts with local advisory council and local councilor were formed according to the Hessian municipal code.

In 1983, Wüstensachsen was given the title “ climatic health resort ”.

Population development

Desert Saxony: Population from 1834 to 2019
year     Residents
1834
  
 1,115
1840
  
 1,126
1846
  
 1,154
1852
  
 1,182
1858
  
 1,112
1864
  
 1,049
1871
  
 1,086
1875
  
 1,033
1885
  
 985
1895
  
 973
1905
  
 1.002
1910
  
 988
1925
  
 1.014
1939
  
 1,160
1946
  
 1,536
1950
  
 1,442
1956
  
 1,259
1961
  
 1,183
1967
  
 1,171
1970
  
 1,203
1980
  
 ?
1992
  
 1,452
1995
  
 1,384
2000
  
 1,297
2005
  
 1,266
2010
  
 1,243
2015
  
 1,220
2019
  
 1,225
Data source: Historical municipality register for Hesse: The population of the municipalities from 1834 to 1967. Wiesbaden: Hessisches Statistisches Landesamt, 1968.
Further sources: up to 1970 :; from 1962

Culture and sights

Lindenallee at the Ritterhof in Wüstensachsen The Ritterhof was founded by Karl von Thüngen in the 16th century as an "outpost" of the Wüstensachsen Castle. At this point in time the Middle Ages and with it the actual heyday of knights had come to an end, but the nobles who used the path certainly corresponded to our current ideas of knights.

But when the path was re-routed in the course of land consolidations in the 1920s, the linden trees disappeared in the direction of the Ulster Bridge; "Through human ignorance and myopia", as the author of the desert adult Ortschronik commented. The old and gnarled trees that grew below the Ritterhof were placed under nature protection in 1936 and registered as natural monuments in 1968 under the name "Lindenallee zu den Ritterhöfen". At that time the avenue consisted of 11 linden trees and 1 elm tree. Over the years there have been fewer and fewer trees. Today there are still 4 linden trees.

Lindenallee at the Ritterhof
Linde Wüstensachsen, 3.jpg
Linde Wüstensachsen, 2.jpg

Economy and Infrastructure

traffic

The federal road 278 runs through the desert saxony . The federal road 284 branches off to the west to Gersfeld over the Wasserkuppe . Subordinate roads lead from Wüstensachsen to Oberelsbach in Lower Franconia and to the Ehrenberg district of Reulbach .

From 1916 there was a railway connection with the Götzenhof – Wüstensachsen railway, which was discontinued in 1966 for passenger traffic and a few years later for freight traffic.

Furthermore, the Rhön cycle path leads from Bad Salzungen to Hammelburg through the village.

Public facilities

There is a primary school, a kindergarten and a community library in Wüstensachsen.

The outdoor pool with a large sunbathing area, the paddle pond with boat rental and the mini golf course on the leisure area offer leisure activities.

On the outskirts there is an adventure playground with a barbecue area.

In the direction of the head mountain, a Kneipp facility, surrounded by green meadows and fruit trees, invites you to relax and unwind.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Wüstensachsen, district of Fulda. Historical local dictionary for Hessen. (As of October 16, 2018). In: Landesgeschichtliches Informationssystem Hessen (LAGIS).
  2. ↑ a b Resident Statute 2020 (PDF; 4 MB). In: website. Ehrenberg Municipality (Rhön), p. 3 , accessed August 2020 .
  3. ↑ Hessian Ministry for Economic Affairs, Energy, Transport and Regional Development: 80th meeting of the specialist committee for health resorts, recreation areas and healing wells in Hesse on October 14, 2014 . State gazette for the state of Hesse 7/2015 page 148.
  4. ↑ Wüstensachsen - Jewish history / synagogue. In: www.alemannia-judaica.de. Accessed August 2020 .
  5. ↑ Inge Hohmann: 150 years ago the church was consecrated and the synagogue in Wüstensachsen was built - article in "Buchenblätter", 2/2016 (accessed on February 13, 2016)
  6. ↑ Ceremonial handover of the memorial for Jewish citizens in desert Saxony . In: www.fuldaerzeitung.de . ( fuldaerzeitung.de [accessed December 23, 2016]).
  7. ↑ Amalgamation of communities to form the community "Ehrenberg", district of Fulda on January 7, 1971 . In: The Hessian Minister of the Interior (ed.): State Gazette for the State of Hesse. 1971 No. 4 , p. 140 , point 161 ( online at the information system of the Hessian state parliament [PDF; 6.3 MB ]).
  8. ↑ main statute. (PDF; 120 kB) § 5. In: Website. Ehrenberg community, accessed in August 2020 .