Wiesental
The Wiesental is a valley in the southern Black Forest that is named after the Wiese river . The meadow is a right tributary of the Rhine . It rises on the Feldberg and flows into Basel . The Wiesental was one of the earliest industrialized areas in the former Grand Duchy of Baden and an important production location for the textile industry.
Geographical location
With the exception of the two Swiss municipalities of Riehen and Basel at the mouth of the meadow and the municipality of Feldberg with its Wiesenquelle ( district of Breisgau-Hochschwarzwald ), the Wiesental belongs entirely to the district of Lörrach . It stretches along 55 kilometers of the meadow in a south-westerly direction from the Feldberg (where the meadow rises at around 1200 m above sea level ) to Basel ( 244 m above sea level ). About in the middle of the valley, below Schopfheim , the meadow joins its largest inflow, the Kleiner Wiese . The Kleine Wiese is created near Tegernau through the union of the Köhlgarten and Belchenwiese; its valley is known as the Kleines Wiesental .
The largest city in the Wiesental is Lörrach with around 48,000 inhabitants, followed by Schopfheim with around 19,000.
geology
In the rear part of the valley there are mainly gneiss and granite . Around Zell this changes, however, from there on the right side is mainly sandstone , on the left side more limestone (see e.g. Dinkelberg , Homburg Forest or Eichener See ).
traffic
The main traffic artery of the Wiesental is the federal road 317 , which runs through the valley in a south-westerly direction almost along the meadow. At Schopfheim the B 518 branches off in the direction of Wehra valley and Hochrhein, at Lörrach there is a connection to the A98 , which, with the help of the Wiesental bridge, leads across the valley like a viaduct. The Wiesentalbahn , which runs from Basel ( Badischer Bahnhof ) to Zell and is now operated by the Swiss SBB and also has a connection to the Basel SBB train station, also runs parallel to the meadow .
In the past, a narrow-gauge railway ran from Zell to Todtnau (" Todtnauerli "). This was given up in 1967. The Wehratal Railway , which began in Schopfheim and led via Wehr into the Rhine Valley, was also shut down .
history
First settlement
The Wiesental was inhabited early on, as Roman finds in the area of Maulburg and Brombach show. The large-scale settlement of the valley probably began later; Grave finds near Fahrnau and Schopfheim indicate a settlement of the Middle Wiesental around 700 AD, the rear Wiesental was probably not settled until the 10th and 11th centuries. The Brombach district of Lörrach was mentioned in a document as early as 786. The oldest town in the Wiesental is Schopfheim (first documented mention: 807), which received market rights from the Lords of Rötteln around 1250 .
Ownership from the High Middle Ages
In the High Middle Ages , the Wiesental was owned by numerous ecclesiastical and secular lords. In the Vorderen Wiesental, near Lörrach, Brombach and Rötteln, the lords of Rötteln held an important position as bailiffs of the Basel monastery of St. Alban and built their castle above Lörrach. In addition to the area of the Vorderen Wiesental, the Röttlers also had numerous possessions in the Middle (Maulburg, Schopfheim and others) and Kleiner Wiesental. A sideline of the Röttler were the Lords of Rotenburg, who had their castle near Wieslet . The Lords of Waldeck had property and rights in Fahrnau, Steinen, Hägelberg and Fröhnd, the noble Kaltenbach family had established a rule in the neighboring Kandertal, while the von Kienberg family had rights and property mainly on the Dinkelberg, but also in Gresgen . The von Klingen family in Langenau and Gersbach, and the von Wehr family in the Upper Wiesental valley, were also wealthy in the Wiesental. The aristocratic von Wart family had rights to Endenburg, Schlächtenaus and Weitenau and those of Grenchen to Fröhnd, Schönau, Wembach and Höllstein. In addition, the monasteries had numerous rights and possessions in the valley, in particular St. Blasien and the Säckingen monastery . During the 12th century, the St. Blasien monastery owned the entire area around Schönau and Todtnau from several noble families (von Waldeck, von Eichstetten , von Wehr-Wildenstein, von Grenchen and Höllstein) and in the 13th century from the lords von Stein and Künaberg also received Fröhnd and also had its own provost's office in the Middle Wiesental near Weitenau. The area around Zell and Häg-Ehrsberg belonged to the Säckingen monastery. It is interesting that, especially in the 12th century, a large part of the aristocratic property came to the monasteries. The Lords of Kaltenbach donated their property to the St. Blasien monastery and thereby founded the Bürgeln Provost ; Most of the possessions of the Propstei Weitenau went back to the Lords of Wart, the Lords of Waldeck also handed over their property to the St. Blasien Monastery and the Wettingen Monastery received gifts from the Lords of Üsenberg.
Due to the ownership of the monastery, new noble families came to office and property in the Wiesental, for example the Lords von Stein , who exercised the office of Meier at Zell and Häg for the Säckingen monastery and bequeathed this office to the von Schönau family . Also from the Lords of Stein to those of Schönau came the reign of Neuenstein, which then passed to Rudolf III in 1400 . was sold by Hachberg-Sausenberg ; At the time of sale, it comprised the area between the Wiesen- and Wehratal with the places Gersbach , Schlechtbach , Raitbach , Kürnberg , Schweigmatt and other farms, i.e. the eastern part of today's district of Schopfheim. The Habsburgs in the Wiesental also appeared as patrons of the Säckingen monastery (since 1181) and St. Blasien (since 1254) and became important masters, particularly in the Upper Wiesental. As guardians of the Murbach monastery , they also claimed feudal sovereignty over Schopfheim.
A certain consolidation began from the 13th century. The lords of Rötteln initially inherited the holdings of those of Waldeck and von Wehr (or they received the bailiwick through the respective provosts), but in turn died out with Lüthold II. In 1316, whereby the Rötteln possessions came to the House of Hachberg-Sausenberg . The Margraves of Hachberg had already inherited the rule of Sausenberg near Kandern, which emerged from the former Kaltenbach possessions . In 1503 they also died out, so that their property fell to the Margraves of Baden (or Baden-Durlach ). The Margraves of Hachberg had already started to consolidate their dominion in the Wiesental, and their successors from Baden continued this policy. The Vordere Wiesental is therefore part of the Markgräflerland . In the Upper Wiesental, the possessions of the monasteries Säckingen (Vogtei Zell) and St. Blasien (Vogtei Schönau and Todtnau) continued under the rule of the Habsburgs; The Obere Wiesental became part of Upper Austria and remained in Habsburg hands until 1805. It was not until the Peace of Pressburg on December 26, 1805 that this part of the valley came to the new Grand Duchy of Baden.
The border between Upper Austria and Baden-Durlach ran between Hausen and Zell, roughly in the middle of the valley. The separation between the two rulers was not only a political one, but also a denominational one: the Habsburgs remained Catholic, while Baden-Durlach switched to Protestantism. Even today, the upper Wiesental is still more Catholic, the one in front more Protestant.
Modern times
The Wiesental was an important scene of the revolution of 1848 . Georg Herwegh traveled through the valley with his German Democratic Legion and was defeated near Dossenbach on April 27, 1848 . Friedrich Hecker had also traveled through the valley for a few weeks, with volunteers in Utzenfeld joining him . The decisive battle between Hecker and the federal troops took place on April 20, 1848 on the Scheideck, between Kandern and the Schlächtenhaus (see battle on the Scheideck ). In September Gustav Struve proclaimed the "German Republic" in Lörrach. However, his uprising was put down.
Industry
The Wiesental was a center of textile production well into the 20th century. The industrialization of the valley began very early. The main reason for this was the hydropower of the meadow: the river not only has a steep gradient, but also a relatively constant water level. Another reason for the economic boom in the valley was its proximity to Switzerland and Alsace , which also attracted capital from these countries. The great importance of the Wiesental as an industrial location for the then Grand Duchy of Baden is also evident in the Badnerlied , in which it says in a stanza:
In the Wiesental there are factories,
like castles clear and bright,
plumes of smoke billowing from chimneys,
from Lörrach to Zell.
Towards the end of the 20th century, however, the textile industry withdrew more and more from the valley. Today there are only a few places where there are textile factories. Today the economy of the Wiesental is mainly characterized by mechanical engineering companies, not a few of which are leaders in the world market. The Mittlere Wiesental, for example, is known for its vacuum pump industry.
Culture and sights
dialect
High Alemannic is spoken in the Wiesental , a form of Alemannic dialects that is very similar to Swiss German . What is particularly noticeable about this dialect is the initial shift from Germanic “k” to “ch”: for example, child and head are pronounced in High Alemannic “Chind” and “Chopf”. The Wiesentäler dialect is not homogeneous in itself; Pronunciation and vocabulary can differ further from place to place. As a literary example of the Wiesentäler dialect, Johann Peter Hebel's Allemannische Gedichte (sic!) Can be mentioned, which the poet, who grew up in Hausen, wrote in the language of his homeland. The poem Der Abendstern refers directly to the Wiesental:
He has been: "O mother, lie au,
thou shines
as beautifully in Morgethau as in the Heavenly Hall!"
"Hey", since she, "that's why it's Wiesethal."
Translation:
He says: “Oh mother, look
as beautiful
down there in the morning dew
as in your heavenly hall!”
“Of course,” she says, “that's why it's the meadow valley”.
Attractions
Between Todtnau and Aftersteg there are the Todtnau waterfalls , where the water plunges 97 meters into the depth. There are further waterfalls in the side valleys of the meadow, the Angenbachtal near Häg and the Schuhlochbachtal near Atzenbach (Atzenbach waterfall). In Todtnau there are also Germany's longest toboggan run (3500 m), one of the longest all-weather toboggan runs in Germany (2900 m) and a mountain bike downhill run . The Utzenfluh nature reserve has existed near Utzenfeld since 1940 .
Further downstream in Zell, the Wiesentäler Textile Museum was opened in 1996 , which gives an insight into everyday life and the history of this branch of the economy that was once so important for the Wiesental. In Hausen im Wiesental there is the Hebelhaus (alem. Hebelhuus ), where Johann Peter Hebel spent part of his childhood. Today the house is set up as a literature museum.
Other museums can be found in Schopfheim: A technical museum with a collection of metal typesetting machines , the city museum and a teddy bear museum in the Gersbach district . There is also a reconstruction of a baroque defense system in Gersbach . On top of that, Gersbach became “Federal Gold Village ” in the competition Our village should be more beautiful - our village has a future .
Above the Lörracher district Haagen is Rötteln Castle seen from afar. The castle ruin, which is open all year round, is one of the largest of its kind in all of southern Baden and was the seat of the former lords of the Vorderen Wiesental. Numerous other castle ruins, whose degree of preservation is not as high as that of Rötteln, can be found at Wieslet ( Rotenburg castle ruins ), Raitbach ( Turmhölzle ruins and Burgholz castle ruins ) and Zell ( Henschenberg ruins ). The Roman manor near Brombach, whose foundation walls were excavated in 1981, is even older than the castle ruins. Also in Brombach is the castle of the same name, first mentioned in 1294 and the seat of the local administration since the 1960s.
Well-known meadow valleys
The well-known Alemannic-Baden poet Johann Peter Hebel was born in Basel in 1760 and spent his childhood partly in Basel and partly in Hausen . The language, landscape and way of life of the Wiesental had a very strong influence on the young Hebel and found their way into his Alemannic poems . Another well-known writer (and philosopher) who was born in the Wiesental is Max Picard , who was born in Schopfheim . Schopfheim was also the home and birthplace of the priest and pacifist Max Josef Metzger , who was executed by the National Socialists. Constanze Mozart , née Weber, also came from the Wiesental as a native of Zell . The soccer players Sebastian Deisler and Melanie Behringer as well as coach Ottmar Hitzfeld were born in Lörrach . Joachim Löw , German national football coach, comes from Schönau in the Black Forest and Karl Ludwig Nessler , the inventor of the permanent wave , was born in Todtnau .
literature
- Theodor Humpert : The meadow valley. A local economics. Buhl 1920.
- Theodor Humpert: The district of Schönau im Wiesental . Schoenau 1920.
- Landesarchivdirektion Baden-Württemberg, district of Lörrach (ed.): The district of Lörrach , volume I (Aitern to Inzlingen). Jan Thorbecke Verlag, Sigmaringen 1993, ISBN 3-7995-1353-1 .
- Clemens Fabrizio: Left and right of the meadow. Postcards from yesteryear. Schopfheim 1980.
- Hans O. Steiger, Werner Beetschen: In the valley of the meadow. Between the Black Forest and the Basel Rhine knee. Basel 2000, ISBN 3-9521893-0-8 .
Web links
- Image gallery of the Wiesental "from the source to the mouth"
- Wiesental
- Wiesental: stories and impressions
Remarks
- ↑ Lörrach district, p. 136, p. 870.
- ↑ Lörrach district, p. 137
- ↑ Lörrach district, p. 121 and p. 130
- ↑ Thomas Simon: Grundherrschaft und Vogtei: a structural analysis of late medieval and early modern rule formation. Frankfurt 1995, p. 111f.
- ↑ Erwin Johann Joseph Pfister: Historical representation of the state constitution of the Grand Duchy and the administration of the same , volume 1. Winter, Heidelberg 1829, second section, p. 150 ( full text / preview in the Google book search).
- ↑ Lörrach district, p. 160
- ↑ Landkreis Lörrach, p. 154. However, the area was given as a fiefdom to the Margraves of Hachberg and Baden and came de facto under their rule.
- ↑ Lörrach district, p. 135
- ↑ Lörrach district, p. 142.
- ↑ Lörrach district, p. 148.
- ↑ Heckerzug ( Memento of the original from July 19, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
