Wehrsdorf
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Wehrsdorf
Municipality of Sohland on the Spree
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| Height : | 328 m above sea level NN |
| Residents : | 1645 (May 9, 2011) |
| Incorporation : | March 1, 1994 |
| Postal code : | 02689 |
| Area code : | 035936 |
Wehrsdorf ( Upper Lusatian dialect : Werrschdurf , Upper Sorbian Wernarjecy ) is a village in the municipality of Sohland on the Spree in Saxony . Wehrsdorf is located directly on the federal highway 98 with a connection to the federal highway 4 via Bautzen or Burkau . As the final stop of various bus routes, the village is well connected to the public transport system.
The place was created as a forest hoof village in the valley of the Kaltbach . Typical of the region are the half-timbered houses , which testify to the old hand weaving of the 17th to 19th centuries.
Wehrsdorf is a resort and was a climatic health resort until 1990 .
geography
Wehrsdorf is located in the Lusatian Mountains north of the Schluckenauer Zipfel , near the Czech Republic in a valley that extends from west to east. The valley flanks are lined with loess , the subsoil is formed by Pleistocene gravel . The Tännichtberg ( 461 m ) rises to the south .
The valley borders in the west on the higher Steinigtwolmsdorfer plateau and slopes from there to the east. Accordingly, the place is divided from west to east into the three districts Ober-, Mittel- and Niederdorf.
Cold air often sinks into the Wehrsdorfer valley through talks in the Steinigtwolmsdorf plateau to the west. Therefore, the springing there Bach is also called "Kaltenbach" and the area's dialect the "Kalbcht" (translated as "Kaltenbach area").
history
Wehrsdorf was settled towards the end of the colonization period. While the place is not yet mentioned in a border document from 1241, a coin find in the Wehrsdorfer Flur does not suggest that it was founded after 1258 . The place name goes back to a locator "Werner", as confirmed in documents from 1448: ( "Wernstorff" ) and 1547 : ( "Wernersdorff" ). The town was sold for the first time in 1507, after which it came into the possession of the Bautzen City Council as far as the Upper Lusatian Pönfall . The manor changed frequently until 1739.
From 1501 to 1516 Wehrsdorf was ravaged by the plague , of which the so-called "plague cross" in Oberdorf - a stone cross with the date 1501 carved into it - heralds. After the disease had raged for 15 years, there were only seven survivors in the village. According to eyewitness reports, around 1880 there were two elongated hills on the edge of the forest near the Steinberg, which were popularly referred to as the "plague graves".
Agriculture was made difficult by the geological nature of the valley, with deposits of ice-age gravels that often reached just below the surface, and the harsh climate. So the landlord decided in 1739 to sell the estate and the associated village for 40,000 thalers to the Bautzner Domstift . The canons had little interest in agriculture, but encouraged the development of the textile industry.
From the beginning, the people of Wehrsdorf had also operated linen weaving and bleaching in the village. The upswing that these trades now took in contrast to declining agriculture is best shown in the fact that just 10 years after the place fell to the cathedral monastery, the entire manorial estate was smashed and the buildings were sold to a canvas manufacturer. The canvas was made at home and bought up by the manufacturers who also supplied the yarn. Linen weaving continued to expand in the village. In 1743, of the 236 families who lived in the village, 122 linen weavers and a further 43 were engaged in flax spinning, finishing or other textile work. Only 71 families were farming.
Bleaching also played an important role in the village. For this, water often had to be brought in over long distances, for which purpose tunnels were sometimes dug into the mountain.
In the 19th century there was a transition to industrial textile production and home weaving died out. In 1871 there were 11 textile companies in the village, which was now the center of the linen industry in Upper Lusatia. The largest company was the “J. G. Böhme & Sons ”. The sons of the founder of linen weaving, Johann Gottlob Böhme, made a special contribution to the introduction of mechanized methods in weaving and bleaching. Around 1858 they erected a large drying tower made of field stones for the bleaching plant. It formed a functional unit with the production facility at that time, a bleaching meadow and a water tunnel (so-called “underground passage”). The drying tower, the bleaching meadow, albeit partially built, and the water tunnel are still preserved.
In 2013, the municipality acquired the site with the listed drying tower and planned to demolish it, which met with criticism from the population. On the part of the monument authority, the requirement was made to include the drying tower in the project and the demolition request was suspended by mutual agreement.
Population development
In the census of May 9, 2011, Wehrsdorf consisted of 480 residential buildings in which 1645 people lived. The average age was 46 years.
| year | Residents |
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| 1547 | 36 obsessive men |
| 1777 | 18 possessed men, 53 gardeners, 122 cottagers |
| 1834 | 1436 |
| 1871 | 2207 |
| 1890 | 2300 |
| 1910 | 2351 |
| 1925 | 2357 |
| 1939 | 2331 |
| 1946 | 2614 |
| 1950 | 2740 |
| 1964 | 2670 |
| 1990 | 1900 |
| 2005 | 1776 |
| 2011 | 1645 |
Place name forms
1419: Wernharstorff, 1448: Wernstorff, 1507: Wernßdorff, 1519: Wernhärstorff, 1547: Wernstorff, Wermsdorff, 1567: Werßdorf, 1657: Werschdorff, Wehrsdorff, 1791: Wehrsdorf, Werßdorf
Administrative affiliation
1777: Bautzen district, 1843: Bautzen district court, 1856: Schirgiswalde court office , 1875: Bautzen district administration , 1952: Bautzen district , 1994: Bautzen district
Religions
Wehrsdorf is a mainly evangelical-Lutheran village, in the place is the St. Trinity Church .
Until the Thirty Years War , Wehrsdorf belonged to the parish of Hainspach . The old church path, which led from the Hereditary Court across the border, is still partially preserved. After the Counter-Reformation of Bohemia , the Wehrsdorfer went to church in Sohland until their own church was built.
coat of arms
The historical coat of arms of the village of Wehrsdorf is heavily structured and is more reminiscent of an urban coat of arms. It is initially divided into an upper and a lower field, the lower being a crenellated city wall; so it is very reminiscent of the Bautzen coat of arms. A man wielding a sword stands in a gate of the wall, presumably an indication of the jurisdiction.
In the upper field on the left the insignia of the episcopate, the miter and the bishop's staff , and in the right corner the symbolization of the Lamb of God ; In this way, clerical and secular elements are combined in the Wehrsdorf coat of arms .
Economy and Infrastructure
Educational institutions
Around 1723 there was the first school in town, which was replaced by the central school built in 1877. It still serves as a primary school today. The Karl Thomas School , newly built in 1987, served as a branch for the Wilthen Municipal Gymnasium from 1993 , but was closed in June 2002 due to a lack of students.
economy
In addition to a furniture factory, there are several small craft businesses. Until the political turnaround in 1990, Wehrsdorf was also a location for the textile industry (weaving) and the wood industry ( wooden toys , wooden handles).
Culture
Attractions
The St. Trinity Church , built in 1725 as a baroque hall building, was renovated in 2000 and has a decisive impact on the Wehrsdorf townscape. The cemetery on the hillside, with its gravestones made of Saxon sandstone , some of which date from the 18th and 19th centuries , is also worth seeing. Wehrsdorf has a large number of half-timbered houses, which were used as farm and weaver houses in earlier times. A particularly interesting ensemble is the most stylistically stunning near the church Faktoreihaus with the slightly earlier located a stone drying tower for the linen cloths. Other contemporary witnesses of the place are the "Geißliche" near the church , which reminds of a former school director and a plague cross from the 16th century in the upper village.
regional customs
- Easter shooting
- Maintenance of the Upper Lusatian dialect
Leisure and sports facilities
There are ski lifts, forest pools and various sports facilities in the village . In winter, trails are groomed for cross-country skiing. There is also a sports hall, which is also used for cultural events, and a bowling alley. The rest area in front of “Leuners Steinbruch” is available as a kind of natural stage, the towering rock of the quarry providing the backdrop.
Personalities
Sons and daughters of the church
- Christian Gottfried Thomas (1748–1806), composer and music historian working in Leipzig
- Eduard Kauffer (1824–1874), ballad poet
- August Matthes called "Bihms Koarle" (Böhmes Karl) (1854–1937), dialect poet
- Karl Thomas (1915–1944), bricklayer, anti-fascist, died in Mauthausen concentration camp
- Armin Jähne (* 1941), ancient historian and publicist
- Hans-Jürgen Bombach (* 1945), track and field athlete
- Christof Tannert (1946–2019), German biologist and politician
Literature (sources)
- Weberort Wehrsdorf , issue 5 from the series Das Schöne Bautzner Land , publisher: Council of the district of Bautzen, July 1956
- Around Bautzen and Schirgiswalde (= values of the German homeland . Volume 12). 1st edition. Akademie Verlag, Berlin 1967.
- Cornelius Gurlitt : Wehrsdorf. In: Descriptive representation of the older architectural and art monuments of the Kingdom of Saxony. 32nd issue: Bautzen Official Authority (Part II) . CC Meinhold, Dresden 1908, p. 304.
Individual evidence
- ↑ 2011 census - Sohland ad Spree community
- ^ Wehrsdorf. In: Digital historical directory of Saxony. ISGV eV, accessed on November 17, 2019 .
- ^ Thomasius, Christian Gottfried. In: Hugo Riemann: Musik-Lexikon, Volume 2, Salzwasser Verlag, Paderborn 2015 (reprint of the 1916 edition), ISBN 978-3-84608-633-9 , p. 71.
Web links
- Wehrsdorf in the Digital Historical Directory of Saxony
Sohland on the Spree | Taubenheim / Spree | Wehrsdorf