Wetzlar

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
coat of arms Germany map
Coat of arms of the city of Wetzlar
Wetzlar
Map of Germany, position of the city of Wetzlar highlighted

Coordinates: 50 ° 33 '  N , 8 ° 30'  E

Basic data
State : Hesse
Administrative region : to water
County : Lahn-Dill district
Height : 156 m above sea level NHN
Area : 75.67 km 2
Residents: 52,955 (Dec. 31, 2019)
Population density : 700 inhabitants per km 2
Postcodes : 35576-35586
Primaries : 06441, 0641, 06446
License plate : WZ
Community key : 06 5 32 023
City structure: 12 districts ,
9 districts

City administration address :
Ernst-Leitz-Strasse 30
35578 Wetzlar
Website : www.wetzlar.de
Lord Mayor : Manfred Wagner ( SPD )
Location of the city of Wetzlar in the Lahn-Dill district
Dietzhölztal Haiger Eschenburg Siegbach Dillenburg Breitscheid (Hessen) Driedorf Greifenstein (Hessen) Bischoffen Herborn Sinn (Hessen) Mittenaar Hohenahr Ehringshausen Aßlar Lahnau Wetzlar Hüttenberg (Hessen) Solms Leun Braunfels Schöffengrund Waldsolms Nordrhein-Westfalen Rheinland-Pfalz Landkreis Marburg-Biedenkopf Landkreis Gießen Wetteraukreis Hochtaunuskreis Landkreis Limburg-Weilburgmap
About this picture
View of Wetzlar
Cathedral, old Lahn bridge and old town
The Kornmarkt in the old town

Wetzlar is a city in central Hesse and a former imperial city . From 1689 to 1806 the city was the last seat of the Reich Chamber of Commerce . Wetzlar is the district town of the Lahn-Dill district and - like six other larger medium-sized towns in the state of Hesse  - a town with a special status . It takes over the tasks of the district and in many areas resembles an independent city . As an important cultural, industrial and commercial center, the university town is one of the ten regional centers in the state of Hesse.

Wetzlar and Gießen , not far to the east, are the two cores of the central Hessian agglomeration with its approx. 200,000 inhabitants; in the urban agglomeration there are around 275,000 inhabitants. There are close ties with the nearby Rhine-Main area .

Wetzlar's economic importance is based on its optical, precision engineering, electrotechnical and steel processing industries . Wetzlar is known as a sports city with important athletes, sports events and clubs. Some teams play in the respective national leagues. Several supraregional performance centers and support points are located to promote sport. The urban area is at the height of the confluence of the Dill and Lahn rivers .

geography

At the Mühlgraben

location

Wetzlar is located in the Lahn-Dill area in Central Hesse on the Lahn at an altitude of 148-402 meters, shortly after its change of direction from south to west at the Dill estuary. The city extends over mostly hilly terrain up to the hills on both sides of the Lahn valley. It lies at the point of separation of the Hessian low mountain ranges : south of the Lahn lies the Taunus ; the Westerwald begins north of the Lahn and west of the Dill ; north of the Lahn and east of the Dill the Gladenbacher Bergland begins , which is naturally assigned to the Westerwald. The highest point of the urban area is the Stoppelberg with a height of 402 meters, the lowest point is the Lahn with 148 meters of altitude.

The closest larger cities are 50 km northwest Siegen and Dillenburg 30 km, north-east Marburg 40 km, east Gießen (up the Lahn, from center to center about 12 km), south Frankfurt am Main 60 km, and west Koblenz 80 km and down the Lahn Limburg an der Lahn 40 km.

In the valleys of Lahn (east and west) and Dill (north) there are densely built-up neighboring communities, some of which merge directly into Wetzlar. The low mountain ranges surrounding the city in the northwest, northeast and south are densely wooded and sparsely populated.

Panoramic view from the Kalsmunt castle ruins to the northeast of the old town and new town, in the foreground the company Leica Microsystems

geology

Wetzlar, embedded in the landscape (November 2016)

Wetzlar is located on the eastern edge of the Rhenish Slate Mountains . The subsoil consists of geologically young sediments of the Lahn and much older Devonian and Carboniferous rocks of two main geological units of the slate mountains, the Lahnmulde and in the southeast of the so-called Gießener blanket . The northwestern part of the urban area is covered by silts , sands and gravels in the Lahn valley , which are only slightly solidified. They were deposited by the Lahn, whose valley, which is up to one kilometer wide, becomes increasingly narrow and deeper to the west. The main part of the city is to some intense verfalteten , disturbed and slated shales , sandstones , quartzites and limestones built. They were deposited in Devonian and Carboniferous in a sea ​​shaped by island chains, volcanoes and atolls , which was pushed together during the Variscan mountain formation and covered by a tectonic blanket that was transported by them . The rocks resulting from the sea deposits can be found in the cityscape, as they were often used as building material.

Neighboring communities

Neighboring communities, districts and districts of Wetzlar

Wetzlar borders in the northwest on the city of Aßlar (Lahn-Dill-Kreis), in the north and northeast on the communities Hohenahr (Lahn-Dill-Kreis) and Biebertal ( district Gießen ), in the east on the communities Lahnau (Lahn-Dill-Kreis) ) and Heuchelheim as well as to the city of Gießen (both district of Gießen), in the south to the communities Hüttenberg and Schöffengrund and in the west to the city of Solms (all Lahn-Dill district).

City structure

The old core city area of ​​Wetzlar with 31,107 inhabitants is divided into twelve districts : Old Town , Neustadt, Hauserberg, Büblingshausen , Sturzkopf, Stoppelberger Hohl, Nauborner Straße, Silhöfer Aue / Westend , Altenberger Straße , Dalheim , Dillfeld and Niedergirmes . Niedergirmes is the largest district with over 6,000 inhabitants.

There are also eight districts that only became part of Wetzlar with the dissolution of the city ​​of Lahn in 1979, but had long been firmly integrated with the city with the exception of Blasbach, Dutenhofen and Münchholzhausen. These are east of the core town of Naunheim (3772), Garbenheim (2208), Münchholzhausen (2338) and Dutenhofen (3119). Nauborn (3886) lies south of the city center and Steindorf (1724) adjoins the city center to the west. North of the city center are Blasbach (966) and Hermannstein (3900) (population figures in brackets, as of December 31, 2017).

climate

Wetzlar has a temperate climate in the middle latitudes all year round . Different small climatic conditions result from the valley courses and different terrain heights. The mean daily temperature is around 17 to 18 ° C in summer  and around 1 to 2 ° C in winter. The mean amount of precipitation is 600 to 700 millimeters and is thus slightly below the average in Germany. On the hills to the south and north of the Lahn valley, it rains exactly the average value at 800 millimeters. The wettest months are June and December with 74 and 73.3 millimeters, the least rainy month is February with 49.1 millimeters.


Average monthly temperatures and precipitation for Wetzlar
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
Max. Temperature ( ° C ) 3 4th 10 14th 19th 22nd 24 24 20th 14th 8th 4th O 13.9
Min. Temperature (° C) −2 −2 1 4th 8th 11 13 12 9 5 2 −2 O 5
Precipitation ( mm ) 57 49 58 53 70 74 62 66 53 56 67 73 Σ 738
Hours of sunshine ( h / d ) 1 3 4th 6th 7th 7th 7th 6th 5 6th 1 1 O 4.5
Rainy days ( d ) 10 8th 8th 9 10 10 10 10 8th 8th 10 10 Σ 111
T
e
m
p
e
r
a
t
u
r
3
−2
4th
−2
10
1
14th
4th
19th
8th
22nd
11
24
13
24
12
20th
9
14th
5
8th
2
4th
−2
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
N
i
e
d
e
r
s
c
h
l
a
g
57
49
58
53
70
74
62
66
53
56
67
73
  Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
Source: Wetzlar climate data

history

Prehistory and early history, early and high Middle Ages

The Wetzlar region was already settled in the Paleolithic , including in the area of ​​the Dalheim district (deserted areas of Dalheim and Wanendorf). Due to the favorable climate, people stayed there even in the Worm Ice Age around 50,000 years ago.

The most recent extensive excavations along the Lahn in Wetzlar-Dalheim have produced larger, 7,500 to 7,000 year old remains of a ceramic band culture. Further settlements of Germanic origin in the immediate vicinity are currently being uncovered. Some of them date from the time of the birth of Christ and were continuously inhabited for around 1400 years. There were also three Celtic settlements in the district of Wetzlar .

Iron ore extraction and smelting in and around Wetzlar has been documented as early as the Celtic La Tène period . Iron processing has a tradition of around 2500 years there. There were also mining fields for copper, silver and gold in and around Wetzlar, albeit much later.

In Waldgirmes, right on the eastern city limits, a civil Roman settlement was under construction, see Roman Forum Lahnau-Waldgirmes and in Dorlar there was a Roman military camp in the first decade of the first century AD .

The name Wetzlar possibly originated up to the 3rd century, the final syllable -lar indicates (details in the history of the city of Wetzlar ), demonstrably the city has existed since the 8th century.

At an unknown point in time, Wetzlar acquired the market rights and thus the right to raise market tariffs. Over the years, a market settlement developed on a hill, which later became the cathedral hill with the Marienstift. It was a magnet for traders and craftsmen. For the first church building before 897 it was then also a possible meeting point for believing Christians.

The old imperial castle Kalsmunt : According to Karl Metz, this castle or palace is said to be an early Roman foundation. Charlemagne built this castle for Zedler around the year 785 in order to be able to keep the already existing city in check. She is said to have been called Carols Mons (Carlmund or Carlmont) by him, the current name is interpreted as follows: Kals- = Karls and - munt = vassal , d. H. a feudal man of the Franconian court. Other sources consider the name to be pre-Germanic or Celtic, such as: The name Kalsmunt is of Celtic origin and means “barren hill” , meaning useless / fruitless / barren hill. The imperial coins for Wetzlar were minted at the Reichsburg Kalsmunt.

A donation from Ingold to the Lorsch Monastery from the year 832 in the Lorsch Codex (document copy no. 3146) is considered an early first mention of the city .

The Konradin Gebhard , Count in the Wetterau and from 904 Duke of Lorraine , had a Salvatorkirche (Church of the Redeemer) consecrated in 897, which replaced earlier buildings. In 914/915 he donated the St. Maria monastery in Wetzlar, where he was buried. At the beginning of the 10th century the Marienstiftes , a collegiate monastery , was founded by Gebhard's sons Hermann I , a later Duke of Swabia , and Udo I , Count in the Wetterau.

Late Middle Ages, imperial city, imperial chamber court

The Hohenstaufen emperor Friedrich I. Barbarossa created an imperial bailiwick in the Wetzlar area and in 1180 put the citizens of Wetzlar on an equal footing with the citizens of Frankfurt. Wetzlar also became an imperial city and remained so until 1803. To protect the city and to secure the Wetterau as imperial land, he further expanded the existing imperial castle Kalsmunt high above Wetzlar. In 1286, King Rudolf von Habsburg appointed Count Adolf von Nassau to be the castle captain at Kalsmunt Castle. Adolf kept the office until he was elected King of the Roman-German Empire. The trade route that crossed the Lahn near Wetzlar, the Wetzlar iron products, of which the iron market (forum ferri) still testifies today , wool weaving and leather processing appeared as a good basis for the further development of the city.

On July 9, 1277, Jews were first mentioned in Wetzlar in a royal document. The Teutonic Order settled in the city's Teutonic Order Court from 1285 to 1809.

In 1285 the "false emperor" Dietrich Holzschuh, called Tile Kolup , who posed as Friedrich II (who had actually died in Italy in 1250), came to Wetzlar. Coming from Neuss , he went to Frankfurt to meet the rightful King Rudolf von Habsburg . When the king moved to Wetzlar, the city leaders arrested Tile Kolup and handed him over. As a magician, heretic and blasphemer, he was sentenced to death in flames and executed the next day in Wetzlar.

Territory of the imperial city in the 18th century

Most of the city ​​fortifications , the remains of which can still be seen today, had been completed by 1250 . By the middle of the 14th century, the city's population is estimated at 6,000. Compared to other cities in Germany, it was already a big city for that time . Around 1350 the high point of medieval urban development was reached.

The decades-long feud with the Counts of Solms , who tried to make Wetzlar a Solmese country town, threatened the vital trade routes. That is why Hermannstein Castle (1373–1379) was built in the north of Wetzlar to further protect the city. The emperor supported the city, but not very successfully. In 1378 and 1393 he transferred the hereditary bailiwick to Hermann II (Hessen) , known as the scholar . Since then, the administration and protection of Wetzlar with the Reichsburg Calsmunt were the landgrave of the Hessian fiefdom of the Reich. Every time a Hessian landgrave took office, the council and the citizenship had to pay homage to the landgrave as hereditary bailiff and protector. The protection relationship has not remained entirely free of conflict over the centuries. The landgraviate had to repeatedly enforce its rights against the council and the citizens, even under threat of military force.

The city got into debt and fell under compulsory administration in 1387 , but was accepted into the Rheinisch-Schwäbische Städtebund . The city's decline led to a reduction in the number of inhabitants to just 1,500 by the end of the Thirty Years War .

Wetzlar - Excerpt from the Topographia Hassiae by Matthäus Merian 1655
The former seat of the Chancellery of the Reich Chamber of Commerce

A stroke of luck for Wetzlar was the relocation of the highest court of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation , the Imperial Chamber of Commerce , to Wetzlar in 1689 . From May to September 1772, Johann Wolfgang Goethe was registered as an intern at the Imperial Court of Justice. His hapless romance with Charlotte ("Lotte") Buff during this time was the subject of his first novel " The Sorrows of Young Werther ", with which he made Wetzlar known worldwide. The Lotte-Haus at the Deutschordenshof in Lotte-Straße is still a reminder today. With the dissolution of the empire in 1806, the existence of the Reich Chamber of Commerce also ended.

The French occupied Wetzlar also lost in 1803 by the Reichsdeputationshauptschluss his imperial immediacy: In the wake of media coverage it came together with the Principality of Aschaffenburg and the Principality of Regensburg as county Wetzlar to the state of Reichserzkanzlers Imperial Baron Karl Theodor von Dalberg , 1810 to the Grand Duchy of Frankfurt . After the Congress of Vienna , the area fell to Prussia in 1815 , and in 1822 it became the seat of the district administrator of the newly created district of Wetzlar .

Wetzlar becomes an industrial city

The iron ore extraction, smelting and processing in and around Wetzlar already has a 2500-year tradition. The "modern" industrialization of Wetzlar did not begin until the Lahn was made navigable through locks around 1850. With the opening of two railway lines in 1862/63 ( Lahn Valley Railway with the Wetzlar – Limburg – Koblenz and Cologne-Gießen Railway ), which met in Wetzlar, and the Berlin-Wetzlar Railway , the so-called Kanonenbahn . In 1878 the city found connection to distant raw material and sales markets and became an industrial location. In 1869 there were 100 ore mines in operation in the city of Wetzlar alone, with a former mining authority and mining district. The Buderus brothers' first blast furnace in Wetzlar was put into operation in 1872. For over 100 years, the iron ore ( Roteisenstein ) found in mining and metallurgy in the Lahn-Dill area was processed in the Sophienhütte . From 1887 ore mines in Wetzlar were gradually shut down, only briefly interrupted by the First World War . The foreign ores, which were then offered on the world market and extracted more cheaply in open-cast mining, accelerated the process. In 1926 mining in Wetzlar came to a complete standstill. Other noteworthy metalworking companies were Röchling, the Hessische Berg- und Hüttenwerke, the Carolinenhütte and the Herkuleswerk. The Carl Kellner Optical Institute was the nucleus for an optical and precision engineering industry with a worldwide reputation with companies such as Leitz , ( Leica ), Hensoldt (today Carl Zeiss Sports Optics ), Minox , Pfeiffer , Loh , Christian Kremp , Seibert , Wilhelm Will , Hollmann, Leidolf and many others. These companies made the city today's high-tech location .

Wetzlar in the 20th century

25 Pfennig emergency note from 1920

In the course of advancing industrialization, the city grew beyond its medieval city limits. In 1903 Niedergirmes was incorporated with its extensive industrial facilities and the station district.

In the First World War , about two kilometers behind who was southeast of downtown Spilburg (documentary first mention in 1310), a prison camp of the XVIII. Army corps with over 15,000 prisoners of war from Russia . It was mainly Ukrainian prisoners who were offered better conditions than usual in order to win them over as possible future allies against Russia. The Büblingshausen district later developed from the camp . 540 Wetzlar men were killed in the First World War.

At the end of the First World War, the city's population of 15,000 was exceeded. Due to increasing traffic problems, a ring road was built in the west of the old town and the old stone Lahn bridge was relieved by another bridge. Until 1932 the district of Wetzlar was an exclave of the Rhine province in Hesse, before the district and thus also the city of Wetzlar was incorporated into the Prussian province of Hesse-Nassau. After 1933 an extensive new barracks complex was built on the road to Steindorf.

Of 132 Jews who lived in Wetzlar in 1933, 46 still lived in the city in 1939. About half of the Wetzlar Jews were deported to extermination camps by a Frankfurt office of the Gestapo . The other families emigrated to America, South Africa, Palestine and France. During the Second World War , the city, as an industrial focus (iron works, optical industry), was the target of heavy bombing attacks, which particularly hit the station district and the Niedergirmes district. However, apart from the cathedral, the historic old town was largely spared from the attacks.

In Dalheim for prisoners of war Allied Air Force members (POW = Prisoners of War) from May 1944 to March 1945 a so-called was a transit camp Dulag Luft entertain as a "transit camp" where they after questioning the so-called main camp were distributed (Stalag).

During the war, forced laborers also had to work for the armaments industry in Wetzlar, sometimes in underground production halls under the Hauserberg to protect against bombs. It is estimated that around 10,000 foreigners must have resided in the city area at the end of the Second World War, some as forced laborers and prisoners of war . Together with surviving Jews, several thousand former forced laborers were housed as "Displaced Persons" in the later Sixt-von-Arnim barracks in Wetzlar Westend until 1952.

After the Second World War, Wetzlar was initially a garrison for American and later also French units , but still belonged to the American zone of occupation . As part of the reorganization of Germany, the city was assigned to the newly founded state of Hesse. The huge influx of displaced persons and refugees led to a doubling of the population to over 30,000 at the beginning of the 1950s. New living space urgently had to be created, which is why the development and expansion of a number of new residential areas and entire city districts were pushed ahead. Between 1951 and 1953 a dense, multi-storey settlement was built in the Westend. From 1956, the expansion of the new residential city began , partly built in rows and partly in high-rise buildings, which should accommodate at least 4800 people. From 1957 was a great army - location in the former Wehrmacht -Kasernen ( Spilburg- and Sixt von Armin Barracks ) from the time NS . Around 6000 soldiers were stationed here at times. After the location was dissolved in 1992, only the district military replacement office responsible for Central Hesse remained .

As the nucleus of today's Dalheim district , the so-called Altenberger Kolonie was built along Altenberger Strasse by the Buderus and Röchling-Buderus plants after the First World War . These terraced houses, which were very progressive at the time, with attached sheds and attached garden plots, were rented to employees of the two factories. At the end of the 1940s / beginning of the 1950s, the companies Buderus, Leitz and the city added the area around the Bredow settlement with a kindergarten, playground and sports field as well as the Austrian settlement , named after the victorious battle of Wetzlar (Archduke Karl of Austria against Napoleon's General Jourdan) including the Eichendorff School. In the 1960s, the city of Wetzlar planned the large new development area in Dalheim based on a design by Professors March and Maurer. The expansion of the new city district began in 1965.

On January 1, 1977, in the course of the Hessian regional reform , Wetzlar was united with the neighboring city of Giessen and 14 surrounding communities to form the new city ​​of Lahn . The independent city had around 156,000 inhabitants. After fierce protests, especially from Wetzlar, Lahn was dissolved on July 31, 1979 and Wetzlar again became an independent city. However, the territorial reform was not reversed, but the current city area essentially corresponds to the former city district of Wetzlar, plus the places Dutenhofen and Münchholzhausen. Since then, Wetzlar has been the seat of the Lahn-Dill district, which is made up of parts of the old districts of Wetzlar and Dillenburg . For the city of Wetzlar, the WZ license plate was re-approved in September 2011 and reintroduced from July 1, 2012.

In the 1970s, the traditional iron ore mining in the Lahn-Dill area came to an end due to the exhaustion of the deposits there. As a result, the epoch of pig iron production in Wetzlar ended in 1981 with the blow-out of the last blast furnace from Buderus: The increasing proportion of imported iron ore ultimately made the operation uneconomical.

Territorial history and administration

The following list shows the previously known territories or administrative units to which Wetzlar was subordinate:

Religions: past and present

The city of Wetzlar and later the surrounding area belonged from the origins to the Diocese of Trier / (before that until 1801) Archdiocese of Trier until 1933 . The archbishop was provost of the Wetzlar cathedral . The four Catholic parishes of Wetzlar have seven church buildings and belong to the Wetzlar district in the northeastern part of the Limburg diocese .

The proportion of religious communities in 1939 was 78.4 percent Protestants, 15.7 percent Catholics and one percent other Christians.

The Jewish community in Wetzlar existed until the time of National Socialism and revived in the post-war period thanks to the displaced persons . It wasn't until the last DPs left the city in March 1949 that a community no longer existed.

The 16 Protestant churches in Wetzlar (some community centers are responsible for two churches) belong mainly to the Evangelical Church in the Rhineland , because Wetzlar is a small exclave in the very east of this area. Only the districts of Naunheim and Hermannstein belong to the Evangelical Church in Hesse and Nassau .

There are two mosques available for the Muslim community of Wetzlar . There is also an Alevi community .

Numerous other church groups are represented in the city, such as the Jehovah's Witnesses , the Mormons , the New Apostolic Church , etc.

Population statistics

Population development

As a result of industrialization in the second half of the 19th century, Wetzlar's population growth accelerated: in 1890 the city had 8144 inhabitants, in 1925 there were already 16,500. After the Second World War, growth gained further momentum; Over 26,250 inhabitants (1950) the city grew - also as a result of further incorporations - to over 52,000 inhabitants at the end of the 1970s. Since then, only minor changes have been registered.

According to the city's population register, Wetzlar had 51,733 inhabitants on June 30, 2010 (of which 24,778 are male and 26,992 female); 30,464 of these were in the city center and 21,306 in the city districts. In the census on May 9, 2011, the city had 50,826 inhabitants. The proportion of foreigners was 11.7% in 2017, with 112 nations represented. The largest proportion was made up of Turkish citizens with 37% of the non-German population. By 2017, the proportion of foreigners rose to 16.4%. According to religious affiliation, the city counted 39.7% Protestant, 17.3 Catholic and 43% of the residents were non-denominational or of other faith at the end of 2017. Wetzlar is the twelfth largest city in Hesse with currently 55,371 inhabitants at the beginning of 2019 (including second homes).

In September 2019, 2,264 unemployed people were registered in Wetzlar.

Population development of Wetzlar from 1871 to 2017
year Residents
1871 6,923
1885 9,271
1895 10,015
1910 13,389
1925 16,482
1933 17,392
1939 21,018
1946 22,530
1950 26,252
year Residents
1961 37.281
1967 36,680
1980 52,100
1990 51,400
2000 52,600
2004 52,545
2010 51,000
2016 52,446
2018 53,895

(only main residences, respective territorial status)

Sources: lagis-hessen.de, Mittelhessen.de, verwaltungsgeschichte.de

Nationalities

The proportion of foreigners in August 2016 was 12.4% (6,632 inhabitants), who were spread over 118 nations, of which 2,257 people come from Turkey, 581 from Greece, 329 from Poland, 316 from Spain, 228 from Italy and 223 from Russia . According to the 2011 census , 31.6% of the residents of Wetzlar have a migration background , which corresponds to 16,040 people.

Denomination statistics

According to the 2011 census , almost half of the population belonged to the Protestant churches; In 2011, 45.7% of the population were Protestant , 19.2% Roman Catholic and 35.1% were non-denominational , belonged to another religious community or did not provide any information. The number of Protestants and Catholics has fallen since then. Currently (as of December 31, 2019) 21,053 (39.7%) of the population are Protestant, 9,151 (17.3%) Roman Catholic and 22,812 (43.0%) are non-denominational or belong to another religious community.

politics

City Council

The city council is the highest body of the city. Its political composition is determined every five years in local elections by the city's electorate. Whoever has reached the age of 18 and is a German citizen within the meaning of the Basic Law or a citizen of one of the other member states of the European Union may vote. Everyone has to have been registered in the city for at least three months.

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 59 seats
Parties and constituencies 2016 2011 2006 2001 1997
Share a Seats Share a Seats Share a Seats Share a Seats Share a Seats
Social Democratic Party of Germany SPD 32.1 19th 34.9 21st 39.1 23 40.7 24 41.2 24
Christian Democratic Union of Germany CDU 26.6 16 29.5 17th 36.0 21st 36.2 21st 28.9 17th
Free voters (formerly FWG) FW 10.3 6th 9.2 5 10.1 6th 9.1 6th 14.6 9
Free Democratic Party FDP 9.9 6th 7.6 5 6.8 4th 6.9 4th 6.5 4th
Alliance 90 / The Greens GREEN 9.0 5 14.7 9 8.0 5 7.1 4th 8.7 5
National Democratic Party of Germany NPD 7.8 5 - - - - - - - -
The left LEFT 4.2 2 4.1 2 - - - - - -
percentage of invalid votes 4.0 4.5 3.7 2.7 2.0
Total seats 59 59 59 59 59
Voter turnout in% 40.8 39.8 37.2 45.9 60.8
a percentage of the valid votes cast

59 city councilors and the city's local councils had to be elected for the legislative period from April 1, 2016 to March 31, 2021. Of the 39 296 eligible voters, 16 031 went to vote. The turnout increased from 39.8% in 2011 to 40.8% in 2016.

Lord Mayor and full-time magistrate

The directly elected Lord Mayor of Wetzlar is the SPD politician Manfred Wagner , who took office on November 27, 2015. In addition, the full-time magistrate includes the mayor Andreas Viertelhausen (FWG) and the city councilors Jörg Kratkey (SPD) and Norbert Kortlüke (Greens) as heads of department.

Coat of arms, flag and official seal

On June 1, 1965, the city of Wetzlar in what was then the district of Wetzlar was approved to change the previous coat of arms.

Coat of arms Wetzlar.svg
Blazon : "In red a gold crowned and armored black eagle, above its right wing a silver paw cross."

The original color of the eagle, which was black at the time, was very likely silver, because of the contrast to the red background and the resulting better visibility.

Reasons for the coat of arms: The black imperial eagle on a red background with a golden crown stands for the imperial immediacy of the former imperial city. There are at least three explanations for the silver paw cross:
a) it could stand for the former minting right of the imperial city
b) it is a takeover of the cross in a slightly different form from the coat of arms of King Henry (VII), who stayed in the city in 1228
c) it could serve as a reference to the Teutonic Order.

The coat of arms has remained almost unchanged since the 12th century.

The coat of arms was approved by the Hessian Minister of the Interior on June 1, 1965.

Flag description
"Between narrow black side stripes a wide red central strip, covered in the upper third with the city coat of arms."
Official seal
The city of Wetzlar has an official seal in which the city coat of arms with the inscription "City of Wetzlar" is included.

City partnerships and sponsorships

Memorial plaque for the conclusion of the town twinning with Ilmenau at Wetzlarer Platz in Ilmenau

Wetzlar has had a number of lively city ​​partnerships for several decades .

Wetzlar entered into its first international city partnership with the French city ​​of Avignon . Signed as early as April 1960, this connection became one of the first Franco-German town twinning ever. In 1969 the English twin town Colchester was added, followed in 1974 by Schladming ( Austria ) and 1987 by Siena ( Italy ). Another partnership has existed since 1980 with Reith bei Kitzbühel in Austria as a partner municipality in the Garbenheim district of Wetzlar. The most recent international city partnership has existed since 2008 with the city of Písek in the Czech Republic .

Wetzlar took on a sponsorship for the Berlin district of Neukölln as early as 1959 , which was later developed into a partnership. After the political turning point in East Germany, relationships were established with the Goethestadt Ilmenau in Thuringia, from which an official city partnership emerged in 1990.

The town twinning is intensively cultivated through mutual visits, for example in the form of official delegations and regular student exchanges. The twin cities are also honored by the naming of a number of Wetzlar parks, in particular the facilities around the historic old town were named after the twin cities. In 1990 the city was awarded the badge of honor by the Council of Europe in recognition of its great commitment to partnership .

Further partnerships exist with the Namibian capital Windhoek , the city of Point Pedro in Sri Lanka (through the mediation of Humedica ) and the community of Nossa Senhora Apareçida in São Paulo , Brazil .

In addition to the town twinning, Wetzlar has taken on a number of sponsorships. The city of Dori ( Burkina Faso ) in the Sahel region has been supported since 1975 . As part of this sponsorship, a number of projects such as the construction of school buildings and the equipment of the hospital could be funded. A similar sponsorship exists for the 8th district of Moscow . With the sponsorship for the East German song , which was taken over in 1962 , the songs of the former German settlement areas in Eastern Europe are to be preserved and maintained. In this context, the city maintains an archive with around 1,700 song books and a song search file with around 63,000 song title entries.

From 1958 to 1995 the minesweeper Wetzlar, a Lindau-class ship , converted into a minehunter from 1976, was in service with the German Navy .

Since 1990 was Airbus 310-300 of Lufthansa with the marking D-AIDH the name of Wetzlar . The plane was sold in 2003 by Lufthansa to the now insolvent Air Madrid . Since 2007, carries Airbus 321-231 of Lufthansa with the marking D-AISH the name of Wetzlar .

Culture and sights

The most important sights are in the historic old town with the Romanesque / Gothic cathedral , the museums and the carefully restored half-timbered houses. The old town stretches down to the Lahn and the old Lahnbrücke with its alleys and small squares . In places, a well-preserved city ​​wall can still be seen, the course of which is largely lined with parks.

Cultural highlights are the Wetzlar Festival , the "International Guitar Days Wetzlar" and the Fantastic Days . The City of Wetzlar's Fantastic Prize is a literary prize that has been awarded annually since 1983. The following cultural facilities should be mentioned: the town hall with the theater, the Rittal Arena Wetzlar with concerts, sporting events and shows as well as the Fantastic Library , the world's largest publicly accessible library for science fiction , fantasy , utopian , horror , fantasy . , Travel and adventure literature and fairy tales , legends and myths .

A number of institutions and associations for history, homeland and customs are committed to preserving customs, making history and stories tangible and creating cultural diversity.

After a cabinet decision of the Hessian state government on May 19, 2009, the 52nd Hessentag was held in Wetzlar from June 1 to 10, 2012 . In 1975 it was already part of the Hessentagstadt.

Historical old city

The almost complete ensemble of historical buildings and residential buildings in the old town with half-timbered houses and stone buildings from the Romanesque ( cathedral ), Gothic , Renaissance and Baroque periods is largely preserved and largely restored as it was towards the end of the 18th century depicted. There are the places Buttermarkt / Domplatz , Fischmarkt , Eisenmarkt , Kornmarkt and the former Franziskanerhof , now Schillerplatz . The 50 or so buildings that are particularly noteworthy include: The wall stand construction on Brodschirm from 1356, the Alte Münz on Eisenmarkt, the Roman Emperor (15th century), a former theater and ballroom; the former Deutschordenshof , today the municipal museum, the Lottehaus , home of Charlotte Buff , the Jerusalemhaus , in which Karl Wilhelm Jerusalem shot himself and thus achieved a notoriety as Werther , the princely Palais Papius , which houses the collection of historical furniture compiled by Freiin Irmgard von Lemmers-Danforth .

The stone Alte Lahnbrücke was first mentioned in 1288.

Considerable remains of the city fortifications from the 13th and 14th centuries are still preserved, for example a fortification tower known as the tailor's tower or Säuturm , the Kalsmuntpforte as the city gate to the former suburb of Silhofen and large parts of the city wall. The watchtowers at that time were assigned to the Wetzlar guilds with their respective wall areas, where they were jointly responsible for maintaining them and, if necessary, for defense. It was the tailors' guild that was responsible for the tailor's tower with wall area derived from it. The name Säuturm instead of tailor's tower came about because pigs (sows) from the local farmers were driven to pasture outside the city wall through its tower gate. Later, the so-called Säuwaadskirmes (Säuwaad equals Sauweide), an old traditional folk festival, was celebrated on this pasture or meadow . It is perhaps the oldest and longest cultivated folk festival in Wetzlar and existed there until mid-1960, later relocated to the grounds of the Klosterwaldsportplatz.

Also in the old suburbs of Langgasse and Neustadt , connected to the old town by the Alte Lahnbrücke , there are still some interesting historical buildings. However, the new town in particular lost its medieval character in the 20th century as a result of four-lane road construction.

A building erected in the middle of the 14th century as a town hall was used as a seat and chancellery by the Reich Chamber of Commerce (1689 to 1806) after several renovations . The court later moved to the so-called ducal house opposite and then to the Von Ingelheim'sche Palais until it was dissolved in 1806 . After another renovation, the building was used as a barracks and later as the main post office. After they moved out, it was used, among other things, as a restaurant and residential building.

Further monuments and sights

In the newer districts around the old town there are a number of middle-class houses and villas. These originate mainly from the heyday of Wetzlar as a Leitz , later Leica city ​​(villas by Leitz, Kellner, Barnack) and as a Buderus location (for example the White Villa). Some of the masters 'houses and workers' settlements, which were modern for the time, also date from this era.

The two towers of the Landwehr built in the 14th century on two heights east and south of the city , the Garbenheimer Warte ( converted into a Bismarck tower around 1900 ) and the Brühlsbacher Warte are now observation towers.

The Reichsburg Kalsmunt was possibly founded around the year 800. To protect the city and to secure the Wetterau as an imperial land, it was expanded further in the 12th century. The origin of the name of the Reichsburg Kalsmunt has not been clearly established. The following interpretation cannot be ruled out: Kals = Charles and - munt = vassal , that is, a feudal man of the Franconian court. Accordingly, it was a complex from the time of Charlemagne . The imperial coins for Wetzlar were minted at the Reichsburg Kalsmunt. In the later Middle Ages, the Magdalenenhausen farm belonged to Kalsmunt Castle , which has been attested since 1324 on the side of Kalsmunt facing away from the city. After the castle fell into disrepair due to frequent changes of ownership and the transition to Hesse in the 16th century, Count Bernhard III bought the castle. von Solms-Braunfels the Hofgut. The name of the estate goes back to Countess Magdalena von Solms-Braunfels, who lived towards the end of the 17th century. The two-story, representative half-timbered house was built for the countess in 1693. In 1716 Count Wilhelm Moritz laid out a zoo around the estate, but it was abandoned again around 1800. After the death of Countess Magdalena in 1720, only a forester and administrator lived on the estate. In 1810, Georg Buff, the last official of the Teutonic Order, acquired the property from Wetzlar. The house has been used as a restaurant and excursion restaurant since the 19th century.

The castle Hermannstein is a typical example of a Gothic residential tower complex on the French model. It was built from 1373 to 1379 for Landgrave Hermann I of Hesse to protect the city. The princes of Solms-Braunfels were repeatedly in feud with Wetzlar.

Wetzlar Cathedral

Wetzlar Cathedral

The cathedral (Marienstift) is one of the landmarks of Wetzlar. Construction of the cathedral, which has not yet been completed, began in 1230. It is the successor to a Salvator Church, consecrated in 897, and this already succeeds a previous church. The cathedral was the name of the collegiate and parish church from the end of the 17th century. The name prevailed in the time of the Imperial Chamber Court (1689–1806), when the Elector Archbishop of Trier (one of the electoral princes in the Holy Roman Empire ) was provost , the cathedral was the episcopal church .

The building was badly damaged during World War II . Air bombs destroyed the choir, the high altar, the rood screen as well as both organs and the stained glass windows in the cathedral. After the end of the war, most of the damage was repaired, but the rood screen with the organ of the Catholic community there and the high altar were finally lost. As long as the cathedral was destroyed, the Michael's chapel was used as a place of worship.

The building looks like a "book in stone about medieval architectural styles". Despite its centuries of construction and despite the fact that the tower was not completed, it presents a cohesive picture today.

As a special feature, the cathedral is the oldest simultaneous church in the area of ​​the Evangelical Church in the Rhineland and is one of the oldest churches in Germany, which is shared equally by Catholics and Protestants.

Other sacred buildings

Fountain on the cathedral square

The Michaelskapelle is a double chapel south of the cathedral choir, which was built around the year 1250. It was used as a former construction hut for the cathedral and later as a charnel house or ossuary. A large crucifixion group (1509) stands on the west wall.

After the Second World War, the cathedral was destroyed, so the Michael's Chapel was used as a church service room, but there was no organ here. A company from Lich was commissioned by the Catholic cathedral parish to build a pipe organ with 871 active pipes for the Michael's Chapel. In order to be able to build such a new instrument, she needed material. This should be contributed by the cathedral parish. The choir of Wetzlar Cathedral, bombed by air mines in the spring of 1945, was a real treasure trove. Because with the destruction of the rood screen, which separated the church from the Catholic choir, the organ on top of it also crumbled into ruins. The cathedral organ, built in 1893 in the workshop of the world-famous organ builder Johann Klais Bonn, was thus a thing of the past, but it was a valuable store of spare parts for the new organ. This benefited from the fact that the valuable console and the two manual keyboards were lying on the rubble and were still usable. A sound body was created from collected organ parts, most of which came from destroyed churches. The organ of the Michaelskapelle could be consecrated in 1949.

The remains of the Theutbirg basilica are located near the Nauborn district. The Teutbirg Church in loco qui dicitur Nivora was first mentioned in 778, but it was built well before 778. The church will likely have existed until the turn of the 9th century. The remains of the wall were only discovered in 1927. In addition to bones, some broken vessels from the period between 700 and 780 and an iron ax were found in the associated cemetery.

The Franciscan Church , a monastery founded in 1263, is also known as the Lower City Church . The choir is still used for church services. The nave of the church is profaned .

Altenberg Monastery is a former Premonstratensian monastery. The complex, founded around 1260/1270 by the blessed Gertrude , daughter of St. Elisabeth , is today the manor and Königsberger deaconess mother house.

The Hospital Church is a church built by J. L. Splittdorf in the years 1755–1764, built in the Rococo style, with a remarkable structure of the pulpit, organ above the altar and three-sided galleries. The first mention of the hospital suggests that it and the accompanying chapel were built in the middle of the 13th century.

Parks, plants

Avignon plant
Colchester facility

The old town is surrounded by an almost complete ring of parks, called plants, which are primarily named after the Wetzlar twin cities. These are the Avignon plant in the south, the Colchester plant in the west and the Siena Promenade in the east. The ring is closed in the north by the rose garden , a historic cemetery area. Among other things, the unspecified grave of Karl Wilhelm Jerusalem , the model for Goethe's Werther, and the designated grave of the optician Carl Kellner are located here . The rose garden is the location of the Wetzlar open-air theater .

Other larger parks in the outskirts of the city are the Schladming facility , the Neukölln facility , the Ilmenau facility and the Europapark as the location of the Europabad .

Monuments, works of art, fountains

The three-tier obelisk made of Lahn marble in the Schladming complex in Dalheim is a reminder of the Battle of Wetzlar , in which Archduke Karl of Austria defeated the troops of the Sambre and Maas army under General Jourdan in 1796 . At Tile Kolup , the false Emperor Frederick II, is remembered with two monuments. The older one is located in the city forest near Friedenstrasse, the younger one was built as a flame throne in the Spilburg . The Colchester complex on the Lahninsel is lavishly landscaped, including a stone labyrinth and a maze . The Ukrainian memorial is located on Frankfurter Strasse, commemorating those who died in the camp during the First World War. The hunting memorial from 1877 in Hausertorstrasse is a reminder of the Rhenish hunter battalion. In the rose garden, a former cemetery now used as a park, there are a number of old grave monuments, the most famous of which is that of Baroness Albini.

Some monuments are related to the industrial history of the city. The Giesser is a Buderus art cast sculpture in front of the Buderus headquarters. Another modern iron sculpture is the family of Louis Leitz at Karl-Kellner-Ring (corner Ernst-Leitz-Straße).

A number of well-known well structures have also been preserved in the area of ​​the old town. The Kornmarktbrunnen on the square of the same name was first mentioned in 1341. The Eisenmarktbrunnen is decorated with a figure of St. Barbara . The Goethe fountain is located on the Philosophenweg, opposite the Wöllbacher Tor.

Events

Theater and concerts

There is a wide range of theaters and concerts in Wetzlar. The cultural and music events in the largest multifunctional hall in the region, the Rittal Arena Wetzlar (around 6,000 spectators), are of supraregional importance . Equally significant are the annual Wetzlar Festival in June, July and August with operas , operettas , musicals , plays , concerts and cabaret , which are mainly held in the rose garden , in the Lottehof and in the Hermannstein estate (currently no regular events).

In addition, the Wetzlar town hall serves as a culture, congress and conference center. This is also where the New Cellar Theater Wetzlar is located, which entertains with comedies , plays and musicals . Further cultural highlights are the International Guitar Days in Wetzlar and the summer matinees in the rose garden . The Wetzlar Culture Days in mid-June are a three-day summer music festival on the Lahninsel and in the city center with music , folklore , theater and art . The Theaterring Wetzlar organizes a monthly theater evening during the winter months with touring theaters. The groups from Wetzlar Besenkammerspiele and the Merenberger Musiktheater play in the Harlequin im Riesen . The Kulturring After work offers visits to theater events of the City Theater Gießen and conducts its own cabaret events . In addition, there are regular theater and concerts (rock, pop, jazz, cabaret, readings, celebrations, etc.) at the Cultural Franzi and the '' Theratersyndikat '' at the Avignon-conditioning, in the colorful cat in the Naunheimer road, Culture Station in the Lahnstrasse, in the center for high tech and culture Ernst-Leitz-Saal, Steinbühlstrasse 15c and the small stage in the Lahnstrasse corner of Erbsengasse, in the Cafe Vinyl on Schillerplatz, in the E-Werk in the Garbenheimer Strasse, Black Pearl in the Franz- Schubert-Straße as well as in the event workshop in Dillfeld.

Festivals and series of events

The traditional Gallusmarkt has been attested in Wetzlar since 1318, and has now been for over 700 years. King Ludwig granted the city the right to hold a fair on the day of St. Gall , i.e. every year on October 16. Today it takes place, among other things, as a Sunday shopping with lots of activities in the pedestrian zones.

The numerous carnival clubs create a good atmosphere during the barrel night with events and balls. The large carnival parade across the city, usually with over a hundred train numbers and several kilometers in length, always takes place on Shrovetide Sunday with great participation by the population.

The ox festival is the largest folk festival in Central Hesse and has been celebrated every three years since 1852. The week-long festival with an attached agricultural and animal show takes place on the “Finsterloh” festival site. A highlight of the ox festival is a parade through Wetzlar.

Other regularly recurring events are the bridge festival around the Alte Lahnbrücke with the bridge run , the "summer night wine festival " on Schillerplatz in the old town. The motor show takes place in April, where local dealers present the latest car models. In the run-up to Christmas there is an Advent market with a craft village on Schillerplatz, a Christmas market with a large ice rink on Domplatz and a smaller market with stalls and a historic horse carousel near the train station. Circus tent performances are occasionally offered on the brook pasture .

Music, song, dance, cabaret

The scene in Wetzlar is particularly well represented in the area of ​​cabaret and independent music. In addition to the Harlekin , Bunte Katzen , Irish Inn , Kleine Bühne and Café Vinyl locations, the Franzis cultural center is a location for free music and the theater syndicate. All kinds of other artistic activities are also promoted and presented there. In addition to the music and adult education centers, there are currently more than 40 choirs, 12 orchestras (also 13 choirs and orchestras for church music), 16 music groups, nine dance groups, two ballet studios and a few dance clubs and dance schools, offering a wide range of opportunities to listen, watch or actively participate. Several wind orchestras, in particular the Buderus wind orchestra Conny Dellner with its original Egerland chapel , the Oberkrainer Express, the "Wetzlar Alphorn Ensemble", the City Winds orchestra project 2019 and the Egerland duo with the old town musicians .

Culture, museums, libraries and galleries

Culture

The German Center for Choral Music (DCFC) with 365,000 choral works moved from Limburg to Wetzlar in 2020. The city of Wetzlar sees this as an addition to the sponsorship it took over in 1962 for the "East German Song". The move became necessary because the previous building for the world's largest archive for choral music is now unsuitable for storage. In future, the existing stock can be found in a warehouse and office building of a logistics company at Wetzlarer Siegmund-Hiepe-Strasse 28 to 32. The collector Manfred Bender is the owner of the huge choir.

Museums

Reich Chamber Court Museum

The City and Industry Museum is an extremely diverse museum with exhibits from the medieval and early modern history of the city and evidence of regional industrial culture (heavy industry, optics and precision engineering, mining), including the Karsten Porezag Collection , a nationwide unique collection of historical mine lamps. In addition, this museum provides an insight into the prehistory and early history of the region and presents evidence of the Celtic era .

Two museums are dedicated to Goethe's environment. The Lottehaus is a memorial for Charlotte Kestner geb. Buff as a reminder of the time when Goethe was often a guest here. Thanks to extensive monument preservation studies, it was possible to reconstruct the former Teutonic Order House in Wetzlar approximately in the state in which Johann Wolfgang Goethe found it at the end of the 18th century. Thousands of Werther tourists from all over the world visit this building every year . The Jerusalem House is another memorial for Goethe's novel The Sorrows of Young Werther . Karl Wilhelm Jerusalem once took his own life in this building , presumably out of lovesickness. Jerusalem was one of the real models of Werther . As described in Werther , the memorial today featuresEmilia Galotti opened on the desk”. Today the restored old building houses the Wetzlar museum administration as well as the Goethe Werther collection.

The Irmgard Freiin von Lemmers-Danforth collection shows European living culture from the Renaissance and Baroque periods , compiled and made publicly accessible by the Wetzlar pediatrician in the princely palace , the so-called Palais Papius (named after Franz von Pape , called Papius, an assessor at the Imperial Court of Justice). It is one of the world's most important collections of historical furniture from the Renaissance and Baroque periods.

Story and concept

The beginnings of the collection of European living culture of the Renaissance and the Baroque can be found in the late 1920s, when the purchase of furniture for apartments and medical practices became Dr. Irmgard Freiin von Lemmers-Danforths became. With the desire to collect and show a panorama of bourgeois and courtly living, the areas of handicrafts, painting, plastic and textile art soon came to the attention of the collector. Until her death in 1984 she collected around 450 pieces. In 1963 she donated large parts of her collection to the city of Wetzlar, which four years later moved into the aristocratic palace of the former camera assistant professor Johann Hermann Franz von Pape (1717–1793), known as Papius. Since then, the objects have been presented there in so-called style rooms, which are largely dedicated to an era and an art landscape. Irmgard von Lemmers-Danforth himself arranged this exhibition arrangement, which was based on the concept of the period rooms. The collector was familiar with this presentation scheme from the 19th century from her visits to the former Kaiser Friedrich Museum in Berlin (today's Bode Museum).

The Museum of the Reich Chamber of Commerce is nationwide (next to the Legal History Museum at the Federal Court of Justice in Karlsruhe ) the only legal history museum and therefore a magnet for lawyers and those interested in the history of law and justice in Germany. It is supported by the Gesellschaft für Reichskammergerichtsforschung e. V. and the city of Wetzlar. A number of high-quality exhibits on the constitutional history of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation are presented there. A research center of the Max Planck Institute for European Legal History is also assigned to the museum .

Several museums present the field of optics. First of all, the optics course , a unique science course, is intended to strengthen the optical competence of the Wetzlar location. It is a joint project of citizens, universities, schools, the city marketing of the city of Wetzlar, the Chamber of Industry and Commerce and 70 companies. It was opened in May 2008 with initially eight installations that lead from the Forum shopping center to the old town. A total of 20 different main installations are planned, in November 2008 a dark department store was added. Furthermore, the Viseum , the house of optics and precision mechanics, presents the most modern high-tech products from 14 Wetzlar and Central Hessian companies in the fields of optics, sensor technology and precision mechanics in a late baroque building. The motto is: “Understand seeing!”. The exhibits demonstrate how optical and optoelectronic systems can improve the performance spectrum of our eyes with the help of the technical use of the properties of light. Another museum in this area is the Ernst Leitz collection of historical microscopes in the New Town Hall.

New Town Hall, Ernst-Leitz-Straße

The Leitz "Haus Friedwart" in Wetzlar is a unique Art Nouveau ensemble in Germany. A new foundation wants to preserve the former residence of the Leitz family, to whom the world owes the legendary “Leica”, as a cultural site. Other smaller and private museums include the brass museum on the "Spilburg", the Wetzlar toy and doll museum , in the new Bundeswehr Museum in Niedergirmeser Elisabethenstraße you can visit 175 years of Wetzlar military history, the agricultural museum as well as the local museums and village parlors in the districts . Near Wetzlar, in Oberbiel , there is the Grube Fortuna visitor mine with a mine railway museum . It is one of the numerous former iron ore mines in the Lahn-Dill district. At the former Malapertus ore mine , an old winding tower has been preserved, which today is one of the last two winding towers that bears witness to the mining past in the Lahn-Dill area. Large parts of the pit are currently being restored and made accessible to the public.

In addition to other uses, the Leica world includes a museum about the Leica camera brand, its technology and history.

Libraries and Archives

In 1962, the scientific collection center and library for songs from the former German eastern territories was founded in Wetzlar with the sponsorship of the East German song .

The Fantastic Library Wetzlar , opened in 1989, developed into the world's largest publicly accessible collection of fantastic literature. It has a stock of around 150,000 titles in the fantastic literary genres (science fiction, fantasy, classic fantasy, horror, utopia, travel and adventure literature, fairy tales, sagas / myths).

The city ​​library currently has around 45,000 items. More than 200 pictures, mostly originals (mainly by local artists), and sculptures can be borrowed from the associated art library . The city's historical archive has, among other things, a large collection of documents (more than 4,400 documents) as well as files from the imperial city period to the present day.

Galleries

Almost a dozen galleries are spread across the city. In the gallery at the cathedral include. a. Works by artists with well-known names such as Janosch , Günter Grass , Armin Mueller-Stahl , James Rizzi , Niki de Saint Phalle , Friedensreich Hundertwasser or Udo Lindenberg are constantly represented. Furthermore, the gallery in the Stadthaus am Dom, the gallery "Arthaus Genzel" on the Domplatz, the Atelier Ludwig Leitz with the artistic works of Ludwig Leitz , the gallery in the old town hall , the gallery in the new town hall, the gallery Atzbach, the graphics and Houses illustrations, as well as the gallery Kunst + am Kornmarkt with a focus on bronze casts from the Berlin School of Sculpture and contemporary, young art with a focus on sculpture.

In addition, under the title Art in the Hospital, regularly changing photo exhibitions are shown in the wards of the Urological Clinic of the Wetzlar Clinic. The art project Atelier Löwenherz offers adults with mental or physical disabilities and non-disabled people the opportunity to be artistically active under supervision. In the first painting school in Wetzlar , children from the age of six learn how to enjoy creative activities. Painting courses for adults, beginners and advanced learners are also offered. The Form and Color Association (founded in 1991) is a loose association of amateur artists with the aim of exchanging ideas and experiences, working together in small groups and organizing regular exhibitions.

The "FotoFreunde Wetzlar" association founded in 1931 is one of the oldest photo clubs in Germany. He organizes exhibitions, audiovisual shows and photo competitions and now sells the "Wetzlar Calendar" worldwide. One of the founding members was probably the Leica inventor Oskar Barnack .

Culture awards

Since 1983, the city of Wetzlar has been awarding the Fantastic Prize of the city of Wetzlar, endowed with 4,000 euros, for original German-language publications from the genre of fantasy. Since 2006, the city has been awarding the Lotte plaque as an undoped culture prize, named after Charlotte Buff . The first prize winner was the chairman of the Kulturgemeinschaft Hans-Günther Kolb, followed by Georg Schmidt-von Rhein (2007, Society for Reich Chamber Court Research), Joachim Eichhorn (2008, church music director), Hartmut Schmidt (2009, former head of the municipal collections) and Martin Knell ( 2010, conductor).

Culinary specialties

"Dulges" (also known as stirring dulges *) is a seared dough made from grated and drained raw potatoes , onions , bacon , salt and spices in a cast-iron roaster (* with repeated short stirring). "Tastes far better than it looks" . A dry slice of brown bread and / or applesauce can be served with this. Among other things, there is a variant in which minced meat balls are fried in the potato dough.

“Schmandelskuche” (= sour cream cake?) Is a kind of potato cake with an onion topping and a sweet cover (jam, cream, pudding or similar).

There is no longer any wine from Wetzlar, but still: up to the 14th century, vineyards on the banks of the Lahn spread from the Rhine-Main area under the influence of the Cistercian monastery Eberbach (Rheingau). Only the introduction of terrace viticulture in 10/11. The 19th century also enabled viticulture in the very narrow lower Lahn valley. Viticulture on the Lahn is first mentioned in documents in the 12th century, for Nassau (1159). Other first mentions of vineyards include: Arnstein Monastery (around 1200), Wetzlar (1242) or Laurenburg (1275). Many hill and street names in and around Wetzlar still reveal the former viticulture today. The Lahntal was known for its excellent red wines for centuries. At the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century, weather conditions led to frost damage, vine diseases and pests and thus to a reduction in the area under vines and the decline in viticulture. The Lahn wine no longer has its own growing area, but belongs to the Middle Rhine wine-growing region . Today there are only two wine villages left here: Obernhof and Weinähr in the Gelbach Valley.

sport and freetime

With numerous top athletes and clubs, Wetzlar is a regular place for public reporting. Tourism in Wetzlar has been growing significantly for years.

Sports

A number of Wetzlar clubs are represented in the national leagues. RSV Lahn-Dill ( wheelchair basketball Bundesliga ) and HSG Wetzlar ( men's handball Bundesliga ) should be mentioned in particular . As 2010 World Cup winners, thirteen times German champions, fourteen times cup winners (eleven times the double from championship and cup), six times European Cup winners ( IWBF Champions Cup ) and vice-World Cup winners 2006, the RSV is one of the world's best clubs. In the German national handball team, which became European champions in 2016, there were three players from HSG Wetzlar: Steffen Fäth , Jannik Kohlbacher and the outstanding goalkeeper Andreas Wolff .

International wheelchair basketball match in the Rittal Arena in 2007

In football, the national player Nia Künzer became known for her golden goal in the 2003 World Cup final. The FSV Hessen Wetzlar played from 2015 to June 2019 in the 2. Bundesliga to relegation to the Regionalliga Süd (women). The first men's team of Eintracht Wetzlar played for many years in the football league Hessen and was even first class for one season in the 1940s. In the meantime, after being relegated several times, the team has also withdrawn from the Gießen / Marburg regional league in order to dare a fresh start. The Enwag Stadium was also used by the men's regional division Teutonia Watzenborn-Steinberg for its home games in the 2016/17 season.

In gymnastics, KTV Wetzlar (Kunstturnen-Bundesliga) and TSG Niedergirmes together form an artistic gymnastics performance center with a DTB gymnastics school. In 2013 the Destination Wetzlar team was promoted to the 1st Paintball Bundesliga .

The city also became known for its top athletes in artistic gymnastics, including Fabian Hambüchen on the horizontal bar as a European champion, world champion and Olympic champion. Gabriele Weller from KTV Wetzlar was four times German champion in artistic gymnastics, took part in three world championships and the 1992 Olympic Games and was twice FICEP European champion.

In rowing, the RG Wetzlar provided several Olympic champions, world, European and German champions in 1880 , for example the world and Olympic champions from 1968 Jörg Siebert , in 1972 Hans-Johann Färber and Mareike Adams as four-time rowing world champions. Also in dance with world, European and German masters such as the dance couples Ursula Breuer and Karl Breuer as well as Ellen Jonas and Volker Schmidt from the Schwarz-Rot-Club Wetzlar , Johanna-Elisabeth and Adrian Klisan won silver on November 18, 2013 in Bonn the standard world championship for professionals . The Judo Club (JC) Wetzlar currently has some bronze medal winners at the EM 2019. The RKB I cycling team currently plays in the 1st Bundesliga and RKB II in the 2nd Bundesliga. In Twirling , the RSV Büblingshausen with the 2006 European Cup in curling and the Skat team Nur Net Passe , Wetzlar athletes achieved national recognition. The bowlers of the KSV, as well as the Wetzlar rifle clubs, also provide supraregional masters in their field. Klaus Enders , a former German motorcycle racer , was able to become sidecar world champion six times in a BMW as a pilot between 1967 and 1974 , together with co-driver Ralf Engelhardt .

One of the largest sports clubs in Central Hesse is TV Wetzlar , whose most successful departments in volleyball (women) and badminton (men) have played in the Bundesliga for many years. Almost all types of sport are offered in the 82 sports clubs with 22,000 members, 7,300 of them young people. Their swimming department provided German champions and Olympic participants several times, and the fencing department of TV Wetzlar regularly provided some members at German championships. In 2004, two people from Wetzlar were voted among the best 100 German athletes of the century via ZDF .

Wetzlar is always the location of national and international sporting events of importance. The city was one of the official venues of the handball world championship 2007 , the European wheelchair basketball championship 2007 , the American football European championship 2010 , as well as world, European and German championships in dance sport, most recently the standard world championships for seniors in 2005 and Standard World Championship for amateurs (main class) 2010 in the Rittal Arena. Annually recurring events with international participation include the Wetzlar Marathon since 2005 and the Wetzlar Open since 2006 , an ATP tennis tournament in which world ranking points can be achieved. Track and field athletes from different disciplines start successfully in several clubs nationwide. In 2017 the sprint team Wetzlar was founded, which now has several German champions.

The largest sports facility in the city is the Wetzlar Stadium , built in 1948 , located almost directly on the Lahn, with a capacity of around 8,000 spectators. The stadium has two covered stands and a floodlight system. Since 2019 it has been named enwag-Stadion through a sponsorship of the local energy provider . The Rittal Arena, which opened in 2005 and has a maximum of 6,000 seats, is a multi-purpose hall near the train station and has been used as a venue for international sporting events, such as several preliminary rounds of the 2007 handball world championship, since it opened in 1973. Meter pool and grandstand.

The largest sports club in Wetzlar is the Wetzlar section of the German Alpine Club with over 5000 members . The Alpine Club's Cube climbing center has existed since January 2009 in the TV Wetzlar sports park on the Spilburg site. There are training and bouldering areas on the approximately 2300 m² climbing area, with a height difference of more than 13 m . This artificial climbing facility, with levels of difficulty (UIAA) 3–10, can be used by anyone for a fee. On October 31, 2009 the Hessen Championship was held there. On the southern outskirts of the city, the adventure course , a high ropes course (forest climbing facility), was built in the city forest at Finsterloh .

tourism

Tourism is of decisive and growing importance for Wetzlar. In 2017, 900 beds in hotels and bed and breakfast hotels were registered with the tourist information. With the “Arcona Living Ernst Leitz Hotel”, now renamed “Vienna House Ernst Leitz Wetzlar”, and “Trip Inn Goethe Hotel”, which opened in 2018, capacity grew by a further 500 to 1,800 beds by the end of 2018. With the "B&B Hotel" opened in 2019, the city now has more than 2000 beds in various operating categories. The combination of the Rittal Arena and the B&B hotel is intended to be a kind of keystone for the overall forum / arena concept. The number of overnight stays reached a new record in 2018 at 253,820, of which around 17 percent were foreign guests. This was increased by 7.5 percent in 2019 with 272,771 overnight stays. Lack of statistics: establishments with fewer than ten beds, as well as the more than 60 holiday apartments with 250 beds, are not included in the count. The real number of overnight stays should therefore be higher than the official values. Wetzlar is in second place in Central Hesse behind Marburg. Wetzlar advertises with accessibility. The number of tourists visiting Wetzlar is increasing every year. The number of day tourists and overnight stays have therefore increased by a good 25 percent in the previous ten years. According to the report, the respective length of stay of the visitors was 1.9 vacation days. The city's hotel bed capacity is occupied by around 40 percent on an annual average.

Since July 2020 Wetzlar has been able to officially call itself a “tourist destination”. This means that the city has the right to levy a tourist tax on overnight stays .

Tourist routes, hiking trails

Brühlsbacher Warte (“Pencil”), early 2007

The city is located on the following scenic routes: Deutsche Fachwerkstrasse , Lahn-Ferien-Strasse and Solmser Strasse . The Orange Route also leads through the Wetzlar city area. The city is a member of the Taunus Club and the Westerwald Association and is the seat of the Lahntal Tourismus Verband e. V.

On September 18, 2019, the "Wetzlarer Goetheweg" was chosen by the German People's Sports Association (DVV) as 2nd place in "Germany's most beautiful hiking trails 2019" in the "City and Culture" category. Only last year the Wetzlarer Goetheweg with a length of 8 km or in its extended 10 km variant was designated and opened by the tourist information as a permanent hiking trail of the DVV. The Goetheweg follows in the footsteps of Johann Wolfgang Goethe. During his stay in 1772, the young Goethe liked to hike to Garbenheim, his “home of choice”, and enjoyed the view of the romantic Lahn valley. Two new quality trails in and around Wetzlar: the 3-Türme-Weg and the comfort trail Kirschenwäldchen were recognized by the German Hiking Association as "Quality trails for hiking in Germany" at the CMT travel fair in Stuttgart in January.

In Wetzlar and the surrounding area there are a number of hiking trails and opportunities for hiking on the Lahnhöhenwege on both sides of the Lahn. In autumn 2012, the miners route was officially opened as an alternative day stage from Wetzlar to Braunfels , together with the remnant section of the Lahn hiking trail above Diez . The city is the starting point of a Way of St. James signposted by the Taunus Club , the Lahn-Camino to Burg Lahneck and the hospital chapel in Lahnstein . The Elisabethpfad from Frankfurt to Marburg also leads through Wetzlar. On August 28, 2015, Goethe's 266th birthday, a new 7.5 kilometer “Goethe Hiking Trail” was opened. It leads from the “Lottehaus” in Wetzlar's old town to Goetheplatz in the Garbenheim district and follows the paths that the poet hiked during his stay in Wetzlar in the summer of 1772. There are also very beautiful hiking trails to the Premonstratensian convent Altenberg near Wetzlar. Here grew Gertrud (1227-1297), the third daughter of Countess Elizabeth of Hungary in July (born 7 1207 at Castle Sárospatak in Hungary , † November 17, 1231 in Marburg , and Elizabeth of Hungary called, is a Holy of Catholic Church). Gertrude, was only born after the death of her father. She grew up in Altenberg Monastery from her second year and became its abbess at the age of 21. Gertrud was in 1348 by Pope Clement VI. beatified .

The Dill hiking trail leads from Haiger to Wetzlar. The four-tower hike runs entirely in the Wetzlar city area and connects four historic towers: the Garbenheimer Warte (today's Bismarck tower), the Brühlsbacher Warte (pencil) , the Stoppelberg tower and the Kalsmunt castle ruins. The distance of this hike around the old town is about 14 kilometers, the difference in altitude is 264 meters. Another hike runs around 18 kilometers through the southern region and leads from Brandoberndorf through the Sieben-Mühlen-Tal to Wetzlar.

According to the ADFC , the Lahntal cycle path leading through Wetzlar is one of the top 10 German long-distance cycle paths. The Lahn is well suited for water hikers with canoes or rowing boats. There are five official entry and exit points in the city with rest stops, toilets, a campsite, shops, accommodation and bus connections.

Discotheques, trendy restaurants and excursion restaurants

There are several discos that have existed for decades. One of the oldest in the core area of ​​Wetzlar was the Poco , a rock disco on the Dill, which has existed since 1978 and has been closed since March / April 2014; The Poco has become known in particular for its extraordinary carnival event (Fasching Total) , which celebrated around the clock from Saturday to Ash Wednesday . Also in the area of ​​the Lahnhof shopping street there has been a discotheque of the Supermäx / Lollipop chain since the 1990s , which opened under the new name Mäx in March / April 2014 after being vacant for many years .

Some trendy bars and lounges have also established themselves here in the old town area. More recently, a number of locations have also been established on the site of the former Spilburg barracks .

The most popular excursion restaurants include, for example, the establishments on both sides of the old Lahnbrücke, on the Kirschenwäldchen, the Simberg, Magdalenenhausen and the Naunheimer Mühle.

Transport, economy and infrastructure

traffic

A Roman network of roads around Wetzlar was in place early on. As early as the Middle Ages, the Wetzlar junction was well connected to the national transport network. Among other things, the city was located on the historic Hohe Straße trade route, an important trade route. It led from Antwerp via Cologne , the imperial cities of Wetzlar and Friedberg to Frankfurt am Main . It was also known as the Cölnische Hohe Heer- und Geleitstrasse . Or the Weinstrasse (Wagenstrasse), which led from Mainz or Höchst via Usingen and Wetzlar, past Marburg to the west , to Hildesheim and on towards Bremen or Lübeck .

Road traffic

Wetzlar is located on the A 45 (Sauerland line Dortmund - Aschaffenburg ) or Europastraße E 41 with the exits Wetzlarer Kreuz (to the A 480 to Wetzlar-Nord, Aßlar and Wetzlar-Blasbach), Wetzlar-Ost (to the B 49 towards the city center) and Wetzlar -Süd (in the southern districts of Münchholzhausen, Dutenhofen and Blankenfeld).

The A 480 and E 40 autobahns were supposed to run from the Luxembourg border near Trier through the Westerwald to the Hattenbacher Dreieck . This route was planned as the A 48 . For cost reasons, it was never fully implemented. The B 49 should now start traffic. Today it is called A 480 and only leads from the Wetzlar Nord / Aßlar exit to the Wetzlarer Kreuz and beyond to the current end of the motorway with the temporary exit to Wetzlar-Blasbach. A few kilometers northeast of Giessen, the part that has been expanded so far continues and leads from Heuchelheim-Nord to the Reiskirchener Dreieck on the A5 . The route from there to the Hattenbacher Dreieck is still the A5.

The following federal highways run through the city: the B 49 ( Trier - Alsfeld ) or E 44 as an east-west connection. Furthermore the B 277 , it connects Asslar with the Dalheim junction. Between Wetzlar and Limburg, the four-lane expansion of the B 49 has begun over several years in 13 construction phases. The B 49 used to run right through the city center and the districts of Dutenhofen and Steindorf in an east-west direction. Coming from Asslar, the B 277 ran north-south through the city center and then via Rechtenbach to Butzbach. Today's B 49 was known as the B 429 until 1985 . The federal roads in the course of through-town traffic in the city of Wetzlar were downgraded to state roads (B 49: January 1, 1985, B 277: January 1, 1990).

Since the municipal regional reform in the 1970s, the vehicle distinguishing mark has been a special case for the city of Wetzlar. From 1956 to December 31, 1976, the Wetzlar district with the district town of the same name had the WZ registration number . When the city of Lahn was founded on January 1, 1977, the L license plate was introduced, which was replaced by the LDK combination on November 1, 1990 as part of German reunification (see also license plate number (Germany) # expansion of the system ). The WZ indicator was reintroduced on July 1, 2012.

Rail transport

Wetzlar is located on the Dill route Siegen – Gießen and the Lahntalbahn Koblenz – Wetzlar, which meet at the Wetzlar train station and are mainly used by regional and regional express trains. Since 2009, Wetzlar has been served daily by a pair of trains from the international Eurocity long-distance train , which was discontinued in December 2011 when the 2011/12 timetable changed. The train ran from Siegen via Frankfurt, Stuttgart and Munich to Klagenfurt am Wörthersee and via a through coach to Ljubljana and Zagreb . Larger cities that can be reached directly from Wetzlar include Frankfurt am Main, Fulda, Koblenz, Limburg an der Lahn, Gießen, Friedberg (Hesse), Marburg and Siegen. Until 2002, Wetzlar was a stop for InterRegio trains to and from Norddeich Mole . In 2003 there was a short interlude of Connex trains between Cologne and Berlin .

The regional express between Siegen and Frankfurt am Main ( Main-Sieg-Express ) is operated by the Hessische Landesbahn GmbH (HLB) . This runs every hour between Siegen and Gießen and is connected to Frankfurt every two hours. At 5:47 am, the so-called “commuter train” (RE-Sprinter) runs from Siegen to Frankfurt am Main and connects Wetzlar - without stopping in Gießen - in 54 minutes with Frankfurt. The late train arrives from Frankfurt at 6:20 p.m. This only stops in Frankfurt West and Bad Nauheim and takes 50 minutes from Frankfurt Central Station to Wetzlar.

The HLB has also been running on the Lahn Valley Railway since December 2011, where it operates the Limburg – Weilburg – Wetzlar – Gießen route. The trains have a short stop in Giessen and then continue in the direction of Alsfeld and Fulda. Only two lines are served by Deutsche Bahn: the RE 25 Koblenz-Limburg-Wetzlar-Gießen ( Lahntal-Express ) and the RB 40 between Dillenburg, Wetzlar, Gießen, Friedberg and Frankfurt ( Mittelhessen-Express ). This stops between Dillenburg and Gießen at all stations on the way.

In addition to the Wetzlar train station in the city center, there is another train station in the Dutenhofen district . The former station in Garbenheim was closed with the closure of the Lollar – Wetzlar line , part of the Kanonenbahn . Since February 2007 the freight trains from Central Hesse ( DB Cargo ) have been put together again at the reduced freight yard .

From 2021, DB Fernverkehr is planning another intercity connection every two hours from Münster via Siegen and Wetzlar to Frankfurt am Main.

Transportation

Local public transport is organized as part of the Rhein-Main-Verkehrsverbund (RMV). The city of Wetzlar is an independent authority for local public transport and one of the 26 municipal shareholders of the RMV (15 districts, 4 large cities and 7 special status cities). The local public transport organization of the city of Wetzlar has commissioned its own company, Werner-Gimmler-Wetzlarer-Verkehrsbetriebe und Reisebüro GmbH , with the implementation of the bus transport .

The city has a well-developed urban bus network with fourteen bus routes, some of which run every 20 to 30 minutes. These are all connected to the central station Bahnhof / ZOB , which is in the immediate vicinity of the train station. In addition, there are various lines in overland traffic in the Wetzlar area. In the late evening hours the night bus line 007, the so-called disco bus , goes to almost all parts of the city. The tariff of the Rhein-Main-Verkehrsverbund applies on all lines. In addition, the Citybus connects the old town with the train station and the Forum Wetzlar shopping center every 20 minutes at a standard rate of 50 cents on weekdays from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. and on weekdays until 3 p.m. The Naunheim local traffic serves the residential area on Simberg via the town center to the food markets in the east of Naunheim as so-called market traffic.

air traffic

Spilburg barracks or Gaffey Barracks (aerial
photo around 1950)

The distance to Frankfurt is about 70 kilometers, to the regional airport Siegerland about 40 kilometers. The Gießen-Lützellinden airfield for general aviation is located directly on the city limits between Wetzlar and Gießen, between the districts of Gießen-Lützellinden and Wetzlar-Münchholzhausen . There is also a glider airfield in the Lahnwiesen north of the Garbenheim district. The Spilburg barracks (picture on the right) was used until after the Second World War, and along its east side it was provided with a fully functional airfield including a tower and hangar. The facility was dismantled in the mid-1950s.

retail trade

Forum Wetzlar
In the Wetzlar forum

According to the figures from the Society for Consumer Research , Wetzlar is one of the most attractive trading locations in Germany. According to this, the city has a high coefficient of centrality and, with retail sales of around 10,000 euros per inhabitant, ranks third among all cities with over 50,000 inhabitants in Germany.

In the spring of 2005, the new Forum Wetzlar shopping center was opened near the train station. According to the operator, it is the largest shopping center in the Central Hesse region with around 24,000 m² of retail space and almost 120 shops, with a catchment area of ​​around 540,000 people and well over 7 million visitors per year. There are 1,700 parking spaces available in the associated multi-storey car park. The Forum is not the first shopping center in the city, not far from it is the Herkules-Center (the former smaller Coloraden ) with 40 shops, as well as several other large, connected retail spaces (Lahnhof, department stores along Bahnhofstrasse and Karl-Kellner-Ring ). On August 4, 2016, construction work began near the train station for an IKEA location , which opened in May 2017.

In addition, there are many small retail stores in various industries as well as cafes and restaurants in the old town of Wetzlar, which can be reached in about ten minutes on foot from the station area or with the city ​​bus .

Established businesses

The city is home to several internationally active and globally known companies. The Buderus Group was founded in 1731, making it one of the oldest (large) companies still in existence in Europe. As BBT Thermotechnik , now Bosch Thermotechnik , Buderus was by far the largest employer in the Central Hessian region for decades with well over 10,000 employees in Wetzlar alone (over 16,000 worldwide) in the areas of casting (with cement), stainless steel and heating technology as well as the local headquarters . Economic changes, repeated takeovers of the majority of the shares as well as closings and sales of parts of the company have changed the group significantly, but it is still one of the big companies in Hessen. In 2008 the new, 30,000 m² dispatch warehouse of the company Bosch Thermotechnik, represented by the contract logistics company LGI, opened. It is located in the Dillfeld industrial park . As a subsidiary of the Austrian steel group voestalpine, Buderus Edelstahl now employs over 1,600 people, making it the largest industrial employer in Wetzlar.

Since the middle of the 19th century, Wetzlar has been the seat of the Optical Institute , the successor company Leitz and their successor companies Leica Camera and Leica Microsystems GmbH. The Leitz works, which Ernst Leitz brought to international renown, especially with microscope production, employed over 7000 people in the city at their peak. Even before the First World War, Oskar Barnack developed the Leica : Lei (= Leitz) + ca (= Camera) in Wetzlar, the first 35mm camera . In February 2014, another Leica Camera AG company building with a state-of-the-art production and administration complex was opened in the new Leitz Park. After completion of the third construction phase, the Leitz Park was expanded in 2018 to include the Leica world with a museum, archive, academy and outlet store, a design hotel, a building owned by CW Sonderoptik GmbH and an office building. The companies Viaoptic and Weller Feinwerktechnik are also represented in the Leitz Park.

Leica Microsystems also manufactures laser scanning microscopes at its Mannheim location , including confocal microscopes , multiphoton microscopes and, since 2007, STED microscopes . Stefan Hell was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in October 2014 for the development of STED microscopy .

In addition to the Carl Zeiss locations in Jena , Göttingen and Oberkochen, Wetzlar forms a center of the optical industry in Germany, because in addition to Leitz / Leica there are cameras from the companies Leidolf and Minox (has moved its headquarters to Isny ​​in the Allgäu), the company's binoculars and telescopes Hensoldt AG (now Carl Zeiss Sports Optics ), Zeiss Group (with over 2,000 employees at peak times), the microscopes from Seibert, Wilhelm Loh Optikmaschinenbau (now Satisloh ), Oculus Optikgeräte , Helmut Hund GmbH, and Hexagon Manufacturing Intelligence (formerly Leitz Messtechnik) and a large number of other medium-sized precision engineering and optical companies. The trade fair for optics, electronics and mechanics W3 + Fair in Wetzlar is the main location of the German optics specialist companies.

Other well-known companies are Siemens , Philips Automotive Playback Modules AG (APM, with around 1,200 employees at the time - the company was taken over by the Taiwanese Lite-On in early 2007 ) and Siemens VDO Automotive AG, which was sold to Continental AG in July 2007 . Furthermore, now in neighboring Aßlar based Pfeiffer Vacuum GmbH , formerly Arthur Pfeiffer Vacuum Technology (through its revised gyrocompass the use of rockets for space travel has been improved), or Sancura BKK, a national health insurance , which after a merger with several other Betriebskrankenkassen as DAK -Health operates. The Euler brewery, which was founded in 1852, stopped production in 1992, but the brewing ring it initiated is still in Wetzlar.

The Spilburg business park, a former barracks, has become a predominantly positive location for a number of companies, especially in the fields of optics / precision mechanics, information technology and services. In January 2010, Volksbank Mittelhessen eG also built an administration building complex there . In addition, there are areas in the Westend with good traffic connections, as well as Hörnsheimer Eck and Dillfeld , for the settlement of further, new businesses .

Numerous smaller service providers are also represented in Wetzlar. An architecture office won several international awards, for example a digital agency in San Francisco for the design of a residential building in Bad Homburg was awarded a prize for looking after a customer in the hotel industry, as well as the international design prize "Good Design 2019".

media

As the largest daily newspaper in the region, the Wetzlarer Neue Zeitung was published as the main edition of the Wetzlar-based newspaper group Lahn-Dill . In the meantime, it has been taken over by VRM Mainz and completely changed in terms of content and appearance. The new appearance has nothing in common with the previous version.

In addition, the advertising-financed advertising papers KOMPAKT! (formerly Der Gute Sonntag), experience Lahn-Dill (formerly Lahn-Dill-Anzeiger) with an event calendar and Sunday morning magazine , as well as the monthly Wetzlar city ​​magazine . The monthly Wetzlar Kurier as a CDU-related newspaper for the Lahn-Dill district often takes politically controversial positions. The quarterly SPD newspaper Wetzlarer Nachrichten is a counterpart. Other media from Wetzlar include the Wetzlar youth network, the Wetzlar children's network and the NETZ Bangladesh magazine .

In the meantime, a cluster of Christian media institutions and companies of supraregional and sometimes global importance has established itself. These include ERF Medien , formerly "Evangeliums-Rundfunk" (ERF), as a partner of Trans World Radio (TWR), which was founded in 1959 and produces radio and television programs and broadcasts them worldwide. Other organizations in this sector are the Christian Internet Working Group (CINA), the Christian Media Association KEP with the Christian Media Academy and the Evangelical news agency idea . The headquarters of the Gideonbund for Germany (the common German name for "The Gideons International") is in Wetzlar, the international headquarters of the Gideonbund is Nashville ( Tennessee , USA ).

Public facilities

Regionally important public institutions in Wetzlar are the district administration for the Lahn-Dill district and a seat of the IHK Lahn-Dill . Wetzlar is also the location of a tax office , a Hessian forest office , a state environmental office , the rural area, nature and consumer protection department of the Gießen regional council , the building materials and soil testing center Wetzlar, a branch of the public prosecutor's office in Limburg a. d. Lahn, a district court , an office of the Limburg-Wetzlar Employment Agency , the education and advice center of the Hessen State Office for Agriculture , the Waterways and Shipping Office for the Wetzlar outskirts and the Wetzlar customs office . The state's upper land consolidation authority also has its headquarters in Wetzlar.

The city maintains a police station of the Lahn-Dill police department , three fire stations in the city area and others in the city districts and with the Wetzlar Clinic (around 25,000 patients annually) one of the largest hospitals in the region with more than 650 beds. In addition, on the site of the former Spilburg barracks, there is the Hessian disaster control central warehouse, where, among other things, equipment for disaster cases is stored, as well as a branch of the state authority Hessen Mobil with the building materials and soil testing center in Wetzlar .

Public institutions or offices that have recently been relocated from the city are a branch of the Landeszentralbank (briefly merged in Gießen, later dissolved there), the treasury from Wetzlar to Gießen, the main post office (as before), the Lahn-Dill police headquarters (now in Dillenburg ), the regional studio Mittelhessen of the Hessischer Rundfunk as an institution under public law (now in Gießen), the land registry office (summarized in Marburg), the health department (now Herborn), the former school authority (now in Weilburg), the deployment site of the water police (now Weilburg ), the civil service school (deleted without replacement, building now in other private school use), the district armed forces replacement office (dissolved, now career advice office of the Bundeswehr in Wetzlar), the labor court (now Gießen), the headquarters of the labor office in Wetzlar (now Limburg) the office for soil management ( now Marburg) and now also the remaining branch of the office for soil management ment (now Gießen) The IHK Wetzlar gave up its independence in 2008 and merged with the IHK Dillenburg to form the IHK Lahn-Dill . The majority of the decision-makers at the IHK Lahn-Dill are based in Dillenburg.

education

Campus Wetzlar of the Technical University

Wetzlar is a location of the Technical University of Central Hesse . A building complex on the site of the former Wetzlar Spilburg barracks serves as the campus . At the center Dual university studies (ZDH) which is constantly growing since April 25, 2001 StudiumPlus offered a dual university degree that by the THM in cooperation with the Chamber of Commerce is offered and companies in the region. There are currently seven bachelor's degree programs in business administration, engineering / mechanical engineering, engineering / electrical engineering, civil engineering, software technology, organizational management in medicine and industrial engineering, as well as the three master’s degree courses in process management, systems engineering and technical sales, others are in the works. In the 2019/20 winter semester, 1,601 students are enrolled there, 611 of them are currently new enrollments ("freshmen"). Wetzlar has been an official university location since October 27, 2010.

Already in the early 19th century there was a university in the city, the law school Wetzlar . When Emperor Franz II laid down the imperial crown in 1806, the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation ended and the Imperial Court of Justice was dissolved. In order to reduce the disadvantages for Wetzlar, Karl Theodor von Dalberg tried to bind a number of lawyers to Wetzlar by founding a law school, but it did not last long. It was dissolved again in 1816. From 1903 to 1915 there was a royal teachers' seminar, during the First World War the building was used as a military hospital, after which it was occupied by the Wetzlar district hospital, and in 1979 the building was replaced by a new tax office. There was also an evangelical school teacher seminar, a preparatory institute, an agricultural winter school and a pre-school and climbing school.

All major types of schools are offered in the city, but mainly comprehensive schools (grades 5–10) and three upper secondary schools (grades 11–13). Among them is the Goethe School , the largest upper secondary school in Hesse with over 1000 students. There are high schools , technical colleges , vocational schools with technical training , a Hessenkolleg (adult diploma), until 2011 a civil service school , a nursing school , the vocational training and technology center (BTZ) of the Hessian Chamber of Crafts , a community college , dance , ballet , singing and music schools . The German distance learning school enables children abroad to have the highest possible level of education for grades 1 to 5 according to the curriculum of the German ministries of education.

The Hessen Nature Conservation Academy is a cooperation model between the State of Hesse and the Naturschutz-Zentrum Hessen e. V. and is supported by the Hessian associations of nature and environmental protection, the state of Hesse, the Lahn-Dill district and the city of Wetzlar. The academy is active in the field of environmental education and is the Hessian representative in the “ National Working Group of State-sponsored Educational Institutions in Nature Conservation and Environmental Protection ” (BANU).

The Mathematics Center Wetzlar organizes courses and competitions for mathematically interested and talented children and young people. The Junior MatheClub is for students in grades 3 to 6, the MatheClub for grades 7 to 13. The center also organizes advanced training for math teachers.

The Christian Media Academy offers basic journalism courses for students and volunteers. There are also advanced training courses for editors and media professionals. As the operator of this school, the Christian Media Association KEP also organizes PR workshops for employees of organizations, associations and Christian communities, which are also suitable as additional training for journalists and volunteers.

In the city center of Wetzlar there is also one of six rescue service schools in Germany, which is run by the Deutsche Malteser gGmbH . At this school, which is one of the largest of its kind in Hesse and also has a branch in Frankenthal (Palatinate) , one is trained or further qualified in emergency medical professions, e.g. B. as a rescue worker , paramedic or (until 2014) paramedic . Emergency paramedics have also been trained there since 2014 .

Personalities

The first known personality in the city was Count Gebhard dux regni quod a multis Hlotharii dicitur ("Duke of the kingdom, which is called by many that Lothar", means the Lotharii Regnum , the later Lorraine), had a Salvatorkirche (Church of the Redeemer) in 897 consecrated in place of a previous church on the later “Domberg”, founded the monastery of St. Maria in Wetzlar in 914/915, where he was also buried.

Probably the most famous personality in Wetzlar's history, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe worked as a lawyer at the Imperial Court of Justice in 1772 . Under the impression of his love for Charlotte Buff from Wetzlar and the suicide of Karl Wilhelm Jerusalem , Goethe made the city known worldwide with his novel The Sorrows of Young Werther . Buff, "Werthers Lotte", married the Hanoverian legation secretary Johann Christian Kestner , who had already been working as a chamber court secretary at the Reich Chamber Court in Wetzlar since 1767. He later became royal British-Hanoverian court advisor and vice archivist in Hanover .

The pioneers of optics such as Carl Kellner , Moritz Hensoldt , Ernst Leitz , his son of the same name and Oscar Barnack later made it very important . As pioneers and developers of technical innovations such as the world's first 35mm camera, microscopes and binoculars, they also had a major influence on Wetzlar's development into an industrial city.

Trivia

  • Peter Fleischmann The socially critical German feature film Das Unheil from 1972 was shot exclusively in Wetzlar and includes the cathedral, the old town, as well as the Buderus factories and the Bundeswehr location at the time.
  • In the early 1980s, Charly Weller worked as assistant director under Peter Fleischmann, followed by his first own productions such as Wetzlar ist nicht Washington ( Kleines Fernsehspiel , ZDF), Der Kinzler , a short film about the Wetzlar original "Hakim Rex Aquarillo".

literature

  • Magnus Backes, Hans Feldtkeller : Art travel guide Hessen. Special edition Gondrom Verlag, Bindach 1988, ISBN 3-8112-0588-9 .
  • Rolf Beck: The Leitz works in Wetzlar . 2nd Edition. Sutton, Erfurt 1999, ISBN 3-89702-124-2 .
  • Rolf Beck: microscopes from Ernst Leitz in Wetzlar . Sutton, Erfurt 2002, ISBN 3-89702-292-3 .
  • Eckehart Schubert: The Bilstein and the Theutbirg basilica. Leaflet to the ramparts and the pre-Romanesque church building near Wetzlar-Nauborn. 1999, ISBN 3-89822-149-0 .
  • Gustav Faber : Travels through Germany. Twelve journeys through German history and the present. Insel Verlag, Frankfurt am Main / Leipzig 1992, ISBN 3-458-33295-2 .
  • Herbert Flender, Walter Ebertz: Wetzlar Anno… Editor and publisher: Schnitzlersche Buchdruckerei, Wetzlar 1975.
  • Herbert Flender, Gerd Scharfscheer: Wetzlar city chronicle . 2nd Edition. Wetzlardruck, Wetzlar 1980.
  • Heinrich Gloël : Goethe's time in Wetzlar. Pictures from the Reichskammergericht- and Wertherstadt . Reprint (Will printing) of the Mittler edition, Berlin 1911. Wetzlar City Administration, Wetzlar 1999.
  • Herbert Hahn: Studies on the history of the imperial city Wetzlar in the Middle Ages. 1984, ISBN 3-88443-141-2 .
  • Irene Jung: Wetzlar, as it used to be. 1st edition. Wartberg Verlag, 2000, ISBN 3-86134-940-X .
  • Irene Jung: Wetzlar. A little city history. Sutton Verlag, 2010, ISBN 978-3-86680-715-0 .
  • Wolfram Koeppe: Dr. Irmgard Freiin von Lemmers-Danforth - European home decor, Renaissance and Baroque. W. Bechstein, letterpress and offset printing, Wetzlar 1994, ISBN 3-7954-5742-4 .
  • Karl Metz: The Kalsmunt. Early and late Roman research on the Aliso - Halisin - Solisin and the origin of the city of Wetzlar. Printing and publishing: Schnitzlersche Buchdruckerei und Buchhandlung, Wetzlar 1940.
  • Karsten Porezag: Wetzlar - portrait of a lovable city. Wetzlar 2004, ISBN 3-9807950-3-9 .
  • Karsten Porezag: Mining town of Wetzlar: History of iron ore mining and metallurgy in the historical town area . Wetzlardruck, Wetzlar 1987, ISBN 3-926617-00-4 .
  • August Schoenwerk, Herbert Flender: History of the city and district of Wetzlar . 2. revised u. exp. Edition. Pegasus Verlag, Wetzlar 1975, ISBN 3-87619-005-3 .
  • Friedrich Wilhelm von Ulmenstein : History and topographical description of the Kaiserl. freyen imperial city of Wetzlar . (Three volumes.) First part, which comprehends the oldest and middle history of the city . Hadamar 1802 ( e-copy ).
  • Hans Georg Waldschmidt: When the police were still driving Isetta. Stories from Wetzlar. Wartberg Verlag, 2009, ISBN 978-3-8313-2089-9 .
  • Knaur's cultural guide Germany. Weltbild Verlag, Augsburg 1998, ISBN 3-8289-0703-2 .
  • State Office for the Preservation of Monuments Hesse (Ed.): Cultural monuments in Hesse. City of Wetzlar . Theiss, Stuttgart 2004, ISBN 3-8062-1900-1 .
  • Zedler: Large complete universal lexicon of all sciences and arts… By Johann Heinrich Zedler, Johann Peter von Ludewig and Carl Günther Ludovici, pp. 1451–1478.

See also

Portal: Mittelhessen  - Overview of Wikipedia content on the topic of Central Hesse

Web links

Commons : Wetzlar  - collection of images, videos and audio files
Further content in the
sister projects of Wikipedia:

Commons-logo.svg Commons - multimedia content
Wiktfavicon en.svg Wiktionary - Dictionary entries
Wikisource-logo.svg Wikisource - Sources and full texts
Wikiquote-logo.svg Wikiquote - Quotes
Wikinews-logo.svg Wikinews - News
Wikivoyage-Logo-v3-icon.svg Wikivoyage - Travel Guide

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. Urban agglomeration Gießen-Wetzlar on citypopulation.de, accessed on July 31, 2019
  3. Sympathy for technology - modern industrial potential ( Memento from March 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive )
  4. DHB base in Dutenhofen starts work at hessen-handball.de, from November 27, 2011.
  5. ^ Association is looking for a new sponsor for a high performance center in Wetzlar at regiomelder-offenbach.de, from July 5, 2013.
  6. New sports and performance center inaugurated, near the city of Wetzlar on October 21, 2010. ( Memento from November 5, 2013 in the Internet Archive )
  7. ^ The gymnastics school of KTV 68 Wetzlar
  8. Roland Walter u. a .: Geology of Central Europe. 5th edition. Schweizerbarth'sche Verlagsbuchhandlung, Stuttgart 1992, ISBN 3-510-65149-9 .
  9. Niedergirmes district. In: Internet presence. City of Wetzlar, accessed on June 24, 2018 .
  10. Resident population according to their own registration update (as of December 31, 2017). In: Internet presence. City of Wetzlar, archived from the original on March 27, 2018 ; accessed on November 9, 2018 .
  11. Environmental Atlas Hesse . In: Hessian State Office for Environment and Geology, 2005.
  12. Data source for precipitation: According to the formerly free German Weather Service, normal period 1961–1990, average temperature: www.sonnenlaender.de
  13. August Schoenwerk: History of the city and district of Wetzlar. 2. revised u. exp. Edition. by Herbert Flender. Pegasus Verlag, Wetzlar 1975, ISBN 3-87619-005-3 , p. 14.
  14. ^ Area for Prehistory and Early History at the Friedrich Schiller University Jena - The ceramic earthworks of Wetzlar-Dalheim, "Rittplatz" ( Memento from December 19, 2008 in the Internet Archive )
  15. ^ In: Schmiedewerkstätte, Markus Balbach
  16. ^ Department for Prehistory and Early History at the Friedrich Schiller University Jena - The Blacksmith of Atzbach ( Memento from August 19, 2008 in the Internet Archive )
  17. ^ Department for Prehistory and Early History at the Friedrich Schiller University Jena - The excavations in Wetzlar-Dalheim 2002/03 ( Memento from August 19, 2008 in the Internet Archive )
  18. http://www.porezag.de/index.php/veroeffnahmungen/montangeschichte/8-kupfererzbergbau-inhalt.html
  19. Gregor Berhorst: The settlement situation of the place names of the Bonn area / natural area, toponymy and settlement foundation. Bonn 1990.
  20. Karl Metz: Der Kalsmunt, early and late Roman research on Aliso - Halisin - Solisin and the origin of the city of Wetzlar. City of Wetzlar, 1940.
  21. Wetzlar. In: Johann Heinrich Zedler : Large complete universal lexicon of all sciences and arts . Volume 55, Leipzig 1748, column 1451-1478.
  22. Johann Heinrich Zedler, Johann Peter von Ludewig, Carl Günther Ludovici: Large complete universal lexicon of all sciences and arts ... pp. 1451–1478, here p. 1477.
  23. a b Rüdiger E. Barth: The Duke in Lothringen in the 10th century. P. 180.
  24. ^ City history: An unspectacular beginning. In: Internet presence. City of Wetzlar, accessed on June 24, 2018 .
  25. ^ Wetzlarer Museumsschriften 4, p. 48. Wetzlar 1992, with 38 black and white images.
  26. ^ Gustav Faber : Travels through Germany. Insel Verlag, Frankfurt am Main / Leipzig 1992, ISBN 3-458-33295-2 , p. 198 ff.
  27. ^ A. Schoenwerk: History of the city and district of Wetzlar. 2nd Edition. Wetzlar 1975.
  28. 12th and 13th centuries. The medieval heyday. The Teutonic Order of Wetzlar. In: Internet presence. City of Wetzlar, accessed on June 24, 2018 .
  29. Dr. Irene Jung: Time travel through Wetzlar ( Memento from July 27, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) (accessed on March 20, 2014)
  30. Werner Brandel: The Lahn Canalization. In: www.travelnotes.de. Archived from the original on January 1, 2017 ; accessed on June 24, 2018 .
  31. Secret Building Councilor Houselle: Berlin and its buildings (1896).
  32. Zeno: Lexicon entry on »Wetzlar«. Meyers Großes Konversations-Lexikon, Volume 20. Leipzig ... Retrieved on July 23, 2020 .
  33. Knud Schöber, Wilfried Garn: Spilburg, an idyll in the dialogue between yesterday, today and tomorrow. ICD, Wetzlar 2000, ISBN 3-931873-02-1 .
  34. Wilhelm Doegen, Theodor Kappstein: POWs Völker. Berlin 1921, p. 16.
  35. ^ Else Lasker Schüler Foundation, Wuppertal: Ukrainian soldiers in Wetzlar. ( Memento from November 21, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) In: www.exil-club.de. Retrieved June 24, 2018.
  36. Martin H. Heller: Ahnungen and optimistic mood. Wetzlar's population in a roller coaster of emotions, in: Wetzlarer Neue Zeitung, July 31, 2014
  37. ^ History of the Jews in Wetzlar ( Memento from December 11, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) and books about Wetzlar before the Second World War ( Memento from February 8, 2008 in the Internet Archive )
  38. ^ The aerial warfare over Wetzlar - Dulag Luft West at geocaching.com.
  39. See Stefan Geck: Dulag Luft, Auswertstelle West. Air Force interrogation camp for Western Allied prisoners of war in World War II . Lang, Frankfurt am Main a. a. 2008, ISBN 978-3-631-57791-2 (also dissertation, University of Würzburg 2007).
  40. Klaus Petri / Mittelhessen / Page 11 / 06.11.2019: Lecture on forced labor in Wetzlar during the Second World War .
  41. a b Irene Jung, Wolfgang Wiedl: Wetzlar. A look at the city's history. 2012.
  42. Law on the reorganization of the Dill district, the districts of Gießen and Wetzlar and the city of Gießen (GVBl. II 330-28) of May 13, 1974 . In: The Hessian Minister of the Interior (ed.): Law and Ordinance Gazette for the State of Hesse . 1974 No. 17 , p. 237 , § 1 ( online at the information system of the Hessian state parliament [PDF; 1,3 MB ]).
  43. Mittelhessen.de: Wetzlar drives WZ again. (No longer available online.) June 29, 2012, formerly in the original ; Retrieved June 29, 2012 .  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / www.mittelhessen.de
  44. ^ Michael Rademacher: German administrative history from the unification of the empire in 1871 to the reunification in 1990. State of Hesse. (Online material for the dissertation, Osnabrück 2006).
  45. Wetzlar, Lahn-Dill district. Historical local dictionary for Hessen. (As of October 12, 2015). In: Landesgeschichtliches Informationssystem Hessen (LAGIS).
  46. ^ Website of the Wetzlar district in the Limburg diocese
  47. ^ Michael Rademacher: German administrative history from the unification of the empire in 1871 to reunification in 1990. Inhabitants of the city of Wetzlar until 1939. (Online material for the dissertation, Osnabrück 2006).
  48. Michael Rademacher: German administrative history from the unification of the empire in 1871 to the reunification in 1990. Population of the communities in the district of Wetzlar. (Online material for the dissertation, Osnabrück 2006).
  49. Non-Germans by nationality. As of June 30, 2012. In: website. City of Wetzlar, archived from the original on January 2, 2016 ; accessed in February 2019 .
  50. ^ Website of the city of Wetzlar (from the web archive ) : 2005 ( Memento from May 20, 2006 in the Internet Archive ); 2006 ( Memento of October 8, 2006 in the Internet Archive ); 2009 ( Memento of March 22, 2016 in the Internet Archive ); 2012 ( Memento from January 1, 2014 in the Internet Archive ); 2015 ( Memento of February 2, 2017 in the Internet Archive ); 2017 ( Memento of March 27, 2018 in the Internet Archive ) Retrieved January 2019.
  51. Resident population by religious affiliation 2017. In: Internet presence. City of Wetzlar, archived from the original on June 24, 2018 ; accessed on June 24, 2018 .
  52. Wetzlar is growing and scratching the 54 000 In: Mittelhessen.de from January 2019.
  53. Limburg Employment Agency , October 2019.
  54. wetzlar.de city ​​portrait , population statistics , nationality statistics  ( page no longer available , search in web archives ). Retrieved January 23, 2018.@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / www.wetzlar.de
  55. Wetzlar residents by religion (extrapolation) at zensus2011.de.
  56. ^ City of Wetzlar Religion , 2011 census
  57. City of Wetzlar data facts , accessed on April 13, 2020
  58. ^ Result of the municipal election on March 6, 2016. Hessian State Statistical Office, accessed in April 2016 .
  59. Local elections 2011 in Hessen. Retrieved July 23, 2020 .
  60. Statistics-Hessen.de: GV532023. Retrieved July 23, 2020 .
  61. a b c § 2 city arms, city flag. (PDF; 93.1 kB) In: Main statutes of the city of Wetzlar. City of Wetlar, November 13, 1979, accessed on August 28, 2017 .
  62. Hans Joachim von Brockhusen: Wetzlar and the imperial eagle ... In: Mitteilungen des Wetzlarer Geschichtsverein. Wetzlar, Issue 16 1954, p. 99 ff.
  63. Hans Joachim von Brockhusen: Wetzlar and the imperial eagle ... In: Mitteilungen des Wetzlarer Geschichtsverein. Wetzlar, Issue 16 1954, p. 108 ff.
  64. approval of the amendment of a coat of arms of the city of Wetzlar, Region of Wiesbaden on 1 June 1965 . In: The Hessian Minister of the Interior (ed.): State Gazette for the State of Hesse. 1965 no. 25 , p. 714 , point 590 ( online at the information system of the Hessian state parliament [PDF; 4.0 MB ]).
  65. ^ Website Wetzlar - Sister Cities
  66. List of awards by the Council of Europe. (PDF; 154 kB) Archived from the original on September 1, 2014 ; accessed on January 29, 2016 .
  67. ^ The Pomeranian Newspaper. No. 13/2008, p. 3.
  68. Flugzeugbilder.net ( Memento from June 16, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
  69. Lufthansa fleet information ( memento from June 21, 2012 in the Internet Archive )
  70. hr-online: Cabinet resolution - Wetzlar is the Hessentagstadt 2012
  71. ^ Eduard Sebald: The Wetzlar Cathedral , p. 62.
  72. City of Wetzlar: City history - 8th to 12th centuries: An unspectacular beginning. Retrieved April 2, 2020 .
  73. Werner Volkmar: epaper.mittelhessen.de/issue.act?issueId=158015&mutationShortcut=E201&issueDate=20191129&thumbUrl= http://zh.diginews-service.apa.at/download/ZHUFDGJFKA/a2ee7a02-0167-4601-8fc8e8c85 ZH_20191129_E201_3 / THUMBNAIL_1-x_75_380.jpg Pipes collected in destroyed churches , p.44, Mittelhessen.de
  74. napoleon-online.de - Field Marshal Karl Archduke of Austria and Duke of Saxony-Teschen
  75. Ukrainians in Wetzlar ( Memento from November 21, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
  76. August Schoenwerk: History of the city and district of Wetzlar. 2. revised u. exp. Edition. by Herbert Flender. Pegasus Verlag, Wetzlar 1975, ISBN 3-87619-005-3 , p. 300.
  77. theater. In: Theatersyndikat. Wetzlar, 2020, accessed on July 23, 2020 .
  78. ^ Every year the gala concert in the Wetzlarer Neue Zeitung on November 29, 2016.
  79. ^ Gießener Anzeiger Verlags GmbH & Co KG: Gala concert band brass music - Central Hesse. Retrieved July 23, 2020 .
  80. Conny Dellner helps the "offspring" in Wetzlarer Neue Zeitung of November 13, 2012.
  81. Oberkrainer Express. In: http://www.oberkrainer-finder.com . 2020, accessed on July 23, 2020 .
  82. ^ Gießener Anzeiger Verlag GmbH & Co KG: "Wetzlar Alphornbläser" in action - Central Hesse. Retrieved July 23, 2020 .
  83. Orchestra project goes into a new round. Wetzlar, December 17, 2019, accessed on July 23, 2020 .
  84. Fossi and Charly inspire in Wetzlarer Neue Zeitung on April 11, 2014.
  85. ^ Benjamin Müller, Marcus Narloch-Bode: Sheet music archive with 360,000 choral works moves from Limburg to Wetzlar. Hessenschau, February 15, 2020, accessed on July 23, 2020 .
  86. Dieter Fluck: Archive for Choral Music moves from Limburg to Wetzlar - Central Hesse. Gießener Anzeiger Verlags GmbH, April 21, 2020, accessed on July 23, 2020 .
  87. Karsten Porezag. ZVAB, accessed on July 23, 2020 .
  88. Karsten Porezag: Wetzlar: Portrait of a lovable city . 2004, ISBN 3-9807950-3-9 (9783980795036).
  89. ^ The Lemmers-Danforth Collection. Bode Museum, 2020, accessed July 23, 2020 .
  90. Legal History Museum. Stadtwiki Karlsruhe, accessed on July 23, 2020 .
  91. Dunkelkaufhaus Wetzlar ( Memento from February 21, 2009 in the Internet Archive )
  92. Experience optics. Wetzlar Tourismus, 2020, accessed on July 23, 2020 .
  93. ^ Haus Friedwart ( Memento from August 1, 2012 in the web archive archive.today )
  94. Malapertus Pit
  95. ^ Homepage of the Fantastic Library Wetzlar
  96. Tanja Freudenmann: https://www.mittelhessen.de/lokales/wetzlar/wetzlar/westend-ist-heimat-der-fotofreunde_20803727# Westend is the home of photo friends , 11/30/2019 / Mittelhessen.de/lokales/wetzlar
  97. Renate Schoene, Gottfried Pahl: Bibliography on viticulture on the Lahn. Bad Ems 2002, ISSN  1863-8619 DNB 981484719
  98. Gottfried Pahl, Renate Schoene (ed.): Bibliography on viticulture on the Lahn. 2002.
  99. INTERVIEW WITH GABI WELLER on gymmedia online from February 20, 2000.
  100. ^ TV Wetzlar volleyball
  101. ^ Association portrait of the Badminton Performance Center in Central Hesse
  102. https://www.wetzlar.de/rathaus/aktuelles/pressemitteilungen/2019_11/flutlichtanlage-stadion.php
  103. ^ City of Wetzlar : Sports facilities.
  104. Cube climbing center
  105. Climbing like in the Alps . In: Wetzlarer Neue Zeitung. January 17, 2009.
  106. Steffen Gross: 500 new hotel beds for Wetzlar . In: Wetzlarer Neue Zeitung . June 7, 2018 ( Mittelhessen.de ).
  107. Pascal Reeber: https://epaper.mittelhessen.de/issue.act , p.9 / Mittelhessen.de /.
  108. a b lhe / gro: Wetzlar will be a tourist destination in the future . In: Wetzlarer Neue Zeitung . July 4, 2020, p. 11 .
  109. Informative and useful things for people with disabilities. Wetzlar, 2020, accessed on July 23, 2020 .
  110. For the first time, estimate for the number of guests and overnight stays in Hesse's smaller accommodation establishments. February 25, 2019, accessed July 23, 2020 .
  111. "3.7 million guests in Wetzlar - counted" at Wetzlarer Neue Zeitung.
  112. Lahn valley. Tourist Association, 2020, accessed on July 23, 2020 .
  113. Wetzlarer Goetheweg. Retrieved July 23, 2020 .
  114. ^ Gießener Anzeiger Verlags GmbH & Co KG: Hiking on new paths - Central Hesse. Retrieved July 23, 2020 .
  115. Bergmannsroute ( Memento from April 29, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) at Geopark Westerwald-Lahn-Taunus.
  116. ^ Karl-Josef Schäfer: The Way of St. James from Wetzlar to Lahnstein. A pilgrim guide for the Lahn-Camino. BoD, Norderstedt 2007, ISBN 978-3-8334-9475-8 .
  117. The Way of St. James on the Lahn: Wetzlar - Lahnstein at fernwege.de.
  118. The Jakobsweg Lahn-Camino at Wanderkompass.
  119. Goetheweg: In Werther's footsteps near the city of Wetzlar (PDF 1.35 MB).
  120. ^ Four towers hike Wetzlar at GPS Hiking Atlas Germany.
  121. PERSPECTIVES in long-distance transport ( Memento from September 20, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) DB AG, March 2015. (PDF)
  122. Pascal Reeber: Intercity comes later - Central Hesse. Gießener Anzeiger Verlags GmbH & Co KG, February 12, 2020, accessed on July 23, 2020 .
  123. ^ Hanno Bender, Marcelo Crescenti.
  124. Ikea construction work begins in Wetzlar. 150 new jobs. In: hessenschau.de. Hessischer Rundfunk , August 4, 2016, archived from the original on November 9, 2016 ; Retrieved June 17, 2017 .
  125. ↑ Extract from the commercial register for "Leica Camera"
  126. Leitz-Park 2018 ( Memento from October 16, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) In: de.leica-camera.com. Retrieved June 24, 2018.
  127. The TCS STED has been on the market since 2007 and delivers a resolution below 100 nm. The TCS STED CW has been available with a resolution below 80 nm since 2009 .
  128. p.16 HRB_1923 - 03/27/2020 "Extract from the commercial register for Minox"
  129. Minox moves to the Allgäu. Photo Contact, November 25, 2019, accessed July 23, 2020 .
  130. Karsten Porezag in "Geheime Kommandosache" p.99ff, ISBN 3-926617-20-9
  131. red / Photo: Peter Gronych: Peter Gronych and Yvonne Dollega received another award. WNZ Mittelhessen, 08.10.10, page 11 [1]
  132. Tanja Freudenmann. Saturday, November 9, 2019. WNZ Mittelhessen Page 11 people people. [2]
  133. Tanja Freudenmann. Saturday, November 9, 2019. WNZ Mittelhessen Page 11 people people. [3]
  134. ^ Gießener Anzeiger Verlag GmbH & Co KG: Wetzlar architects create "Good Design" - Central Hesse. Retrieved July 23, 2020 .
  135. ^ History of the Gideon League
  136. ^ Statutes of the IHK Lahn-Dill
  137. ^ WSA Koblenz. WSA, 2020, accessed in 2020 .
  138. ^ Lahn-Dill-Kliniken: The company. Retrieved July 23, 2020 .
  139. Inauguration of the office for soil management in the Gießener Anzeiger.
  140. Organization chart of the Lahn-Dill Chamber of Commerce and Industry
  141. ^ The dual study program in Hessen - StudiumPlus. Retrieved July 23, 2020 .
  142. Irene Jung: From the imperial city to the district town - a city history with ups and downs . In: Wetzlar as a business location . European Economic Publishing House, Darmstadt 2002, ISBN 3-932845-57-9 , p. 132.
  143. Zeno: Lexicon entry on »Wetzlar«. Meyers Großes Konversations-Lexikon, Volume 20. Leipzig ... Retrieved on July 23, 2020 .
  144. ^ German correspondence school, elementary school
  145. ^ Nature Conservation Academy Hessen ( Memento from March 31, 2008 in the Internet Archive )
  146. Friedel Fiedler: MZW front page. Mathematics Center Wetzlar, 2020, accessed on July 23, 2020 .
  147. Christian Media Association KEP e. V. → Work areas → Christian Media Academy (access on February 24, 2010)


This article was added to the list of excellent articles on June 1, 2008 in this version .