Wilhelmsfeld
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Coordinates: 49 ° 28 ' N , 8 ° 45' E |
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| Basic data | ||
| State : | Baden-Württemberg | |
| Administrative region : | Karlsruhe | |
| County : | Rhein-Neckar district | |
| Height : | 386 m above sea level NHN | |
| Area : | 4.75 km 2 | |
| Residents: | 3164 (December 31, 2018) | |
| Population density : | 666 inhabitants per km 2 | |
| Postal code : | 69259 | |
| Area code : | 06220 | |
| License plate : | HD | |
| Community key : | 08 2 26 099 | |
| LOCODE : | DE 79A | |
| Address of the municipal administration: |
Johann-Wilhelm-Strasse 61 69259 Wilhelmsfeld |
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| Website : | ||
| Mayor : | Christoph Oeldorf (FW) | |
| Location of the community Wilhelmsfeld in the Rhein-Neckar-Kreis | ||
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Wilhelmsfeld is a community with around 3200 inhabitants in the Rhein-Neckar district in the north-west of Baden-Württemberg . The state-approved climatic health resort was created at the beginning of the 18th century in the cleared area of the Odenwald .
geography
location
Wilhelmsfeld is located in the Rhein-Neckar district, a few kilometers northeast of Heidelberg.
Natural space
The municipality is located at a height of 280 to 530 meters in the hilly landscape of the southern Odenwald , directly behind its red sandstone step . The location is characterized by the valley floor of the Hilsbach, into which the Belschbach flows, and the surrounding wooded heights. The Hilsbach flows to the east of the Steinach . In the west a saddle opens to the Schriesheimer Tal.
climate
The climate differs significantly from that of the Upper Rhine Plain, which is only a few kilometers to the west . It is much more balanced with less temperature fluctuations and on average 2 ° C cooler, which almost rules out sultry midsummer days. Favored by the saddle in the west and the altitude, the amount of precipitation is relatively high.
District
The comparatively small district extends over 475 hectares. Of this, 25.5 percent is settlement and traffic area, 19.6 percent is used for agriculture and 54.3 percent is forested. A narrow, northerly strip on which the Belschbach flows belongs to the district.
Neighboring communities
The municipality of Wilhelmsfeld borders Schriesheim in the west, the Centwald, an exclave of Weinheim , is almost enclosed in the north, Heiligkreuzsteinach follows in the northeast, Schönau in the east and Heidelberg in the south . Neighboring towns are Altenbach (Schriesheim) in the west, Hinterheubach (Heiligkreuzsteinach) in the north, Altneudorf (Schönau) in the east and Peterstal (Heidelberg) in the south .
Community structure
Wilhelmsfeld originally developed from three small groups of houses, the upper village, the middle village and the lower village. Since a development plan was drawn up very late, individual houses were repeatedly built separately from the rest of the settlement development on the district, some of which later turned into small hamlets. Only with the upswing in the decades after the Second World War did a relatively closed townscape emerge, but it still has loosened up buildings.
history
middle Ages
The Odenwald region around today's Wilhelmsfeld was probably settled from the year 1100. The Hilsbach valley remained untouched because of the steep and barren soil. The local Centallmendwald served the surrounding villages as a supplier of wood and cattle pasture and the Heidelberg electors as a hunting ground. Occasionally, charcoal burners and potash cookers also settled down.
The settlement of Wilhelmsfeld began at the beginning of the 18th century. The exact year is not known. The place was first mentioned in writing on July 7, 1710, when the bailiff of the Waldeck winery asked for Hans Adam Reinhard and four other farmers from the Steinach Valley to approve the settlement from Elector Johann Wilhelm , who also agreed on December 23. The place, which was named after the Elector Wilhelmsfeld (at the beginning, however, was sometimes also called Neudorf ), belonged to the Waldeck winery of the Heidelberg Oberamt , whose cellar or mayor was in Heiligkreuzsteinach . Due to the difficulties, the land first had to be cleared , the new establishment received tax exemption for at least ten years, which favored the influx of further settlers. In 1727 the new village already had 108 inhabitants. From the tax lists of that time, however, it emerges that the place must have been particularly poor. In the years that followed, large harvest losses were recorded several times due to capricious weather conditions, such as in 1754, when heavy rains spoiled the winter fruit , or in 1778, when another crop failure was reported.
Modern times
In 1803 the Electoral Palatinate was dissolved and Wilhelmsfeld came to Baden , where in 1807, like the entire Waldeck winery, it was incorporated into the Baden Oberamt Heidelberg . In 1810 Wilhelmsfeld was detached from the large community of Heiligkreuzsteinach and became an independent community.
Pastor Friedrich August Lehlbach , who set up three companies in the Steinach Valley, and the mayor Nikolaus Bauder took an active part in the struggles of the revolutionary period of 1848/49 . After the violent crackdown, the mayor was deposed and the Baden authorities advised him to emigrate to the United States . Within a short time, 48 Wilhelmsfelder left the town with around 700 inhabitants for America.
Twentieth century
During the First World War , 55 soldiers were killed in Wilhelmsfeld, which at that time had around 900 inhabitants. The Spanish flu killed another 48 people .
As almost everywhere, the period between the two world wars was marked by shortages, inflation and political unrest.
Politically, the National Liberals were mostly in the lead in Wilhelmsfeld before the SPD won votes at the end of the 19th century and became the strongest party in 1912. It retained its supremacy in the Weimar Republic . In the November 1932 Reichstag election , the NSDAP received 40.1 percent of the vote, the SPD 35.1 percent and the KPD 10.5 percent.
After the seizure of power of the Nazis a "done Gleichschaltung " of public life. The SPD and KPD as well as several associations classified as “workers' associations” were banned in the “red” Wilhelmsfeld. According to the “ Law for the Prevention of Hereditary Offspring ”, two Wilhelmsfeld citizens were murdered. 126 Wilhelmsfeld soldiers were killed during the Second World War . With the entry of US troops on March 29, 1945, the war in Wilhelmsfeld was over.
During the industrialization between 1875 and 1939, the population development in Wilhelmsfeld lagged far behind that of the region. The poor transport connections and the numerous job opportunities in the cities on the Rhine plain led to people moving away. But then a rapid development began. During the Second World War, bombed out townspeople were quartered in the village. This was followed by numerous expellees, the majority of them Sudeten Germans, and finally increasing automobilization made the influx of commuters possible, so that the population increased by 140 percent between 1939 and 1964.
Many infrastructure measures, which were taken for granted elsewhere, but which required large financial investments from the Wilhelmsfeld community due to the widely scattered settlement, have now been implemented, such as sewerage, paved roads, street lighting, waste disposal and water supply.
In 1966 the community was officially recognized as a climatic health resort.
During the community reform in the 1970s, Wilhelmsfeld was able to maintain its independence and became a member of the community administration association Schönau. The district of Heidelberg, on the other hand, was dissolved in the course of the district reform in 1973 and the community was incorporated into the newly founded Rhein-Neckar district based in Heidelberg.
In 1989 Wilhelmsfeld had more than 3,000 inhabitants for the first time.
| year | 1727 | 1777 | 1818 | 1852 | 1905 | 1939 | 1950 | 1961 | 1970 | 1987 | 1991 | 1995 | 2000 | 2005 | 2010 | 2015 |
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| Residents | 108 | 293 | 491 | 727 | 868 | 962 | 1418 | 2002 | 2584 | 2831 | 3073 | 3297 | 3305 | 3336 | 3258 | 3197 |
Incorporations
Due to the late founding, Wilhelmsfeld initially had no official district of its own. It was not until 1790 that the forest-free area in Hilsbachtal was assigned to the place and the Centallmentwald was divided among the older communities. Wilhelmsfeld sued against it and in 1815 was awarded a 25 hectare forest area. In addition, however, the demarcations from the neighboring communities reached in part to the local development. It was not until 1930 that the state forest of the Ziegelhausener Waldgemarkung was divided up and Wilhelmsfeld was awarded 220 hectares. However, no agreement could be reached on the forest of Lützelsachsen to the north . The Baden Ministry of the Interior rejected an application for incorporation in 1924.
The Peterstal , which has 40 inhabitants, tried to be incorporated into Wilhelmsfeld in 1840, but this was rejected by the Heidelberg district office. In the 1920s, however, Peterstal should lose its independence because the poor place was not viable in the opinion of the authorities. Wilhelmsfeld submitted an application for incorporation, although it would probably have been overwhelmed with the establishment of the infrastructure. Wilhelmsfeld then applied for a merger with Peterstal and Ziegelhausen. However, Ziegelhausen feared too high financial burdens that it would have to bear for the two poor Odenwald communities, which is why Wilhelmsfeld withdrew the application in 1930 and Peterstal was finally attached to Ziegelhausen in 1936.
The Schriesheimer Hof was right at the center of the village. Since its inhabitants used the facilities of Wilhelmsfeld, the municipality first applied for incorporation in 1885. As in 1927, the attempt failed. In 1963 the community was even defeated by the Administrative Court . It was not until January 1, 1977 that the Schriesheimer Hof was attached to Wilhelmsfeld by a decree by the Minister of the Interior.
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| Wilhelmsfeld, view from Teltschikturm |
Religions
Since Wilhelmsfeld was founded, the population was almost exclusively Reformed and belonged to the parish of Heiligkreuzsteinach. In 1867 Wilhelmsfeld received its own parish and a year later the church was consecrated. From 1872 to the beginning of the 1990s Altenbach was a branch of the Wilhelmsfeld parish, which belongs to the Neckargemünd parish of the Evangelical Church in Baden .
The initially few Catholics were able to increase their number due to the influx after the Second World War and in 1961 they made up 27 percent of the population. The community, which belongs to the Heidelberg-Weinheim deanery of the Archdiocese of Freiburg , has had its own church since 1909 .
In 1955 the New Apostolic congregation built a church. The current building dates from 1981.
politics
Municipal council
In addition to the presiding mayor, the municipal council has 14 members who are directly elected every five years . The 2019 local elections led to the following result:
| Political party | Seats |
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| Free voters | 4th |
| Green initiative Wilhelmsfeld | 3 |
| CDU Wilhelmsfeld | 3 |
| Wilhelmsfeld community | 4th |
| Turnout: 66.4% | |
mayor
Since becoming self-employed in 1810, Wilhelmsfeld had a bailiff , who from 1831 was mayor. Today the mayor - a full-time employee since 1965 - is directly elected every eight years. On April 23, 2017, Christoph Oeldorf was elected as the new mayor. He took up his new office on July 1st.
Previous community leaders:
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coat of arms
The blazon of the coat of arms reads: In blue an inclined, overturned silver sickle (cutting edge upwards) with a black handle, covered with a left-facing silver hatchet with a black handle.
The coat of arms goes back to a seal from 1810. The coat of arms was designed by the Baden General State Archives in 1911 based on its model. The sickle and the hatchet stand for agriculture and forest work, Wilhelmsfeld's most important occupations in the 19th century.
The flag
The flag is white and blue and was awarded by the Ministry of the Interior in 1956. The colors white and blue were the corporate colors of the Wittelsbach family to which Elector Johann Wilhelm belonged. From this tradition, not only the flag of Wilhelmsfeld developed, but also that of the Free State of Bavaria , which was ruled for many centuries by members of the Wittelbach dynasty.
Town twinning
Since 2008 there has been a partnership between Wilhelmsfeld and Calamba , the birthplace of José Rizal in the Philippines .
Culture and sights
The Protestant church was built in 1867. The single-nave hall church made of red sandstone has 13 pointed arch windows. The Steinmeyer organ dates from 1903. The ringing consists of four bells that were cast in 1949 by Bachert ( Bad Friedrichshall- Kochendorf).
The first small Catholic church was built in 1909 and dedicated to St. Boniface . It was partially demolished because of its small size. The new building from 1975 integrates the apse, south and west walls of the old church.
The town hall goes back to a building from the year 1911. In 1963 and 2001 it was generously expanded and was used several times. Over time, it housed classrooms, official apartments and premises for the police and the savings bank. Today the town hall houses a citizens' hall in addition to the administration. The volunteer fire brigade is located next door.
The Odenwaldhalle was inaugurated in 1974. As a multi-purpose hall, it is used for school sports, concerts and festivities. Next to it is the José Rizal Park, inaugurated in 1978, with a Rizal statue by Anastacio Caedo . In 2003, busts of four companions of Rizal's were put up: Pastor Ullmer, Otto Becker , Ferdinand Blumentritt and Rudolf Virchow .
The Teltschikturm , a 41 meter high observation tower, stands on the Schriesheimer Kopf at a height of 530 meters. It was financed by a donation from the Teltschik family. From the tower you have a panoramic view of Eichelberg , Tromm , Krehberg and Melibokus in the north, the Odenwald Mountains with the Katzenbuckel in the east, the Königstuhl in the south and the Rhine plain with the adjoining Palatinate mountains in the west.
The location in the Neckartal-Odenwald nature park enables varied hikes. Three cross-country trails of 4 km, 5 km and 10 km in length (375–534 m altitude) begin at the car park at the Wilhelmsfeld sports field.
On Shrove Tuesday, the volunteer fire brigade ignites the carnival fire with a fire wheel . Winter is - as traditionally in the Electoral Palatinate - goodbye with the summer train . The Kerwe always takes place on the first weekend in July. The Kerwel run with half marathon is held on Kerwes Sunday.
Economy and Infrastructure
economy
For a long time the Wilhelmsfelder lived from agriculture and forest work. Grain, potatoes and fruit were primarily grown. Animal husbandry was also important. Today, however, agriculture no longer plays a role. In 1966 there were still 88 full-time and part-time farms, in 2007 there was only one part-time farm.
In 1930 the Heidelberg district office suggested that Wilhelmsfeld could become a climatic health resort. From the 1950s onwards, the place developed into a popular summer weekend destination for city dwellers on the Rhine plain. The number of overnight stays also increased. A year after it was named a climatic health resort in 1966, 27,000 overnight stays were counted. A changed travel behavior of the population then led to a decline in tourism. Today Wilhelmsfeld is mainly a destination for day trips by hikers or, in winter, by cross-country skiers.
There is no industrial or commercial area in Wilhelmsfeld. Almost 90 percent of the working population are out- commuters .
traffic
In Wilhelm field, the cross country roads L 536 and L 596 kilometers south Nine runs Neckar tal the Federal Highway 37 (Mannheim Heilbronn). The federal highway 3 (Darmstadt – Heidelberg) and the federal highway 5 (Frankfurt – Karlsruhe) are just as far to the west on Bergstrasse .
Due to the arduous routes, the introduction of the Kraftpost line to Heidelberg in 1927 was a great relief. Today bus lines run to Heidelberg, Heiligkreuzsteinach, Schriesheim and Mannheim. Wilhelmsfeld is part of the tariff area of the Rhein-Neckar transport association .
education
In Wilhelmsfeld there is the Christian Morgenstern primary school and a library. Secondary schools can be attended in the neighboring communities. There are also two crèches, a kindergarten and a forest kindergarten.
Personalities
Honorary citizen
The highest award of the Wilhelmsfeld community is honorary citizenship . In addition to Paul von Hindenburg , Adolf Hitler and Robert Wagner (revoked after the Second World War) who were appointed during the Nazi era in 1933, honorary citizenship was awarded three times:
- 1957: Andreas Schmitt, counselor
- 1990: Georg Bauder
- 2008: Manfred Holtzmann, Mayor 1965–1985
Personalities who have worked on site
- On April 5th, 1885, the Empress Elisabeth of Austria-Hungary and her daughter Valerie stopped for a hike in Wilhelmsfeld and visited the Protestant church. To commemorate this event, a memorial was set up on the Kleiner Philosophenweg.
- The Filipino doctor, poet and national hero , José Rizal , spent an important part of his life in Wilhelmsfeld. In 1886 he stayed for several months with the Ullmer family in the Protestant parsonage while he was studying at the University Eye Clinic in Heidelberg , and it was here that he wrote the novel “ Noli me tangere ”. A memorial plaque at the rectory in Wilhelmsfeld, a street named after José Rizal and the Rizal Park near the Odenwaldhalle remind of this. The old parish well was donated to the Philippine government, which had it installed in Luneta Park in Manila .
- The historian Meinrad Schaab lived with his family in Wilhelmsfeld. He was a co-founder of the CDU local association, was a member of the local council and was chairman of the CDU parliamentary group.
- The TV presenter Otto Höpfner spent his old age in his house on Bergstrasse in Wilhelmsfeld. After his death in Paris in 2005, he was buried in the Wilhelmsfeld cemetery. The grave is still preserved to this day (2016).
literature
- Harald Gomille: Wilhelmsfeld: The history of the community . Regional culture, Ubstadt-Weiher 2004, ISBN 978-3-89735-267-4 .
- State Archive administration Baden-Württemberg in connection with d. Cities and districts Heidelberg u. Mannheim (Hrsg.): The city and districts Heidelberg and Mannheim: Official district description .
- Vol. 1: General part . Karlsruhe 1966.
- Vol. 2: The city of Heidelberg and the municipalities of the district of Heidelberg . Karlsruhe 1968.
Individual evidence
- ↑ State Statistical Office Baden-Württemberg - Population by nationality and gender on December 31, 2018 (CSV file) ( help on this ).
- ↑ District description, Vol. 2 , pp. 1039/1040.
- ↑ State Statistical Office Baden-Württemberg, as of December 31, 2008 ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ^ Wilhelmsfeld: The history of the community . Pp. 256-260.
- ^ Wilhelmsfeld: The history of the community . P. 15/16.
- ↑ Wilhelmsfeld. The history of the community . P. 23
- ^ Wilhelmsfeld: The history of the community . Pp. 17-35.
- ^ Wilhelmsfeld: The history of the community . Pp. 34-38.
- ^ Wilhelmsfeld: The history of the community . Pp. 70-73.
- ^ Wilhelmsfeld: The history of the community . Pp. 83-85.
- ^ Wilhelmsfeld: The history of the community . Pp. 42/43.
- ^ Wilhelmsfeld: The history of the community . Pp. 91-151.
- ↑ District description, Vol. 2 , p. 1046.
- ^ Wilhelmsfeld: The history of the community . Pp. 269-292.
- ^ Wilhelmsfeld: The history of the community . Pp. 60/61.
- ^ Population figures up to 1961: District description, Vol. 2 , p. 1046. Thereafter: State Statistical Office Baden-Württemberg
- ^ Wilhelmsfeld: The history of the community . P. 38/39.
- ^ Wilhelmsfeld: The history of the community . Pp. 41, 61/62.
- ^ Federal Statistical Office (ed.): Historical municipality directory for the Federal Republic of Germany. Name, border and key number changes in municipalities, counties and administrative districts from May 27, 1970 to December 31, 1982 . W. Kohlhammer, Stuttgart / Mainz 1983, ISBN 3-17-003263-1 , p. 487 .
- ^ Wilhelmsfeld: The history of the community . P. 40.
- ↑ District description, Vol. 2 , pp. 1045/1046.
- ↑ State Statistical Office Baden-Württemberg: Municipal elections 2019, Wilhelmsfeld ; Wilhelmsfeld municipality: municipal council elections 2019 (PDF) ; accessed May 30, 2019.
- ^ Wilhelmsfeld: The history of the community . P. 51.
- ^ Herwig John, Gabriele Wüst: Wappenbuch Rhein-Neckar-Kreis . Ubstadt-Weiher 1996, ISBN 3-929366-27-4 , p. 135.
- ^ Evangelical parish of Wilhelmsfeld
- ^ Wilhelmsfeld: The history of the community . Pp. 365-368.
- ^ Wilhelmsfeld: The history of the community . Pp. 64/65.
- ^ Wilhelmsfeld: The history of the community . Pp. 241/242, 264/265.
- ↑ www.teltschik.de
- ↑ Wilhelmsfelder Kerwelauf
- ^ Wilhelmsfeld: The history of the community . Pp. 373-378.
- ↑ Baden-Württemberg State Statistical Office ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ^ Wilhelmsfeld: The history of the community . Pp. 447-451.
- ↑ State Statistical Office Baden-Württemberg, as of June 30, 2007 ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ^ Wilhelmsfeld: The history of the community . Pp. 93/94, 228.
- ^ Wilhelmsfeld: The history of the community . Pp. 242/243.
- ^ Wilhelmsfeld: The history of the community . Pp. 238-242.
- ^ Fred Ludwig Sepaintner in Baden-Württemberg Biographies, Volume 3 . Stuttgart 2002, ISBN 3-17-017332-4 , pp. 340-344.
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