Wiltz
| coat of arms | map |
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| Basic data | |
| State : |
 Luxembourg
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| Coordinates : | 49 ° 58 ' N , 5 ° 56' E |
| Canton : | Wiltz |
| Residents : | 7066 (January 1, 2019) |
| Area : | 39.3 km² |
| Population density : | 180 inhabitants / km² |
| Municipality number: | 0807 |
| Website: | www.wiltz.lu |
| politics | |
| Mayor: | Frank Arndt ( LSAP ) |
| Elective system : | Proportional vote |
Wiltz ( Luxembourgish Wooltz or Wolz) is a city and a municipality in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg and belongs to the canton of Wiltz , of which it is the capital. It is located on the Sauer tributary of the same name in the northwest.
On January 1, 2015, the city of Wiltz merged with the former municipality of Eschweiler .
Composition of the community
The municipality of Wiltz consists of the following localities:
- Erpeldingen
- Eschweiler
- Knaphoscheid
- Niederwiltz
- Rullingen
- Selscheid
- Weidingen
- Wiltz
history
The name Wiltz comes from the Celtic and means “by the stream”. Wiltz was first mentioned in a document in 764. It was the seat of the Counts of Wiltz, one of the oldest families in Luxembourg.
Amadeus von Wiltz attended Ermesinde's wedding in 1214 . Walther von Wiltz fought with the Duke of Brabant in the Battle of Worringen in 1288 .
The gentlemen von Befort , Bereldingen and Meysemburg descend from the Wiltz family .
As early as the 13th century, the village of Wiltz received letters of freedom from the lord of the castle. The files were burned in a fire at the end of the 14th or beginning of the 15th century. On October 22, 1437, Godart von Wiltz renewed the letters of freedom. The influence of the Lords of Wiltz grew steadily and reached its peak in the 17th century. In 1682 Count von Wiltz listed 64 noble vassals . The Wiltz ladies and gentlemen gained more and more the favor of the respective ruler with increasing influence. In 1536 they were given the title "Baron". Johann V became the fortress commander in Diedenhofen in 1629 and was allowed to call himself "Graf" from then on. He was the dazzling figure in the history of the nobles von Wiltz and is still popularly known today as "Grof Jan". In 1631 he began building what is now the castle, but was unable to finish it due to the turmoil of the Thirty Years War . From 1656 onwards, the Wiltz family of counts was called de Custine. Theodore François de Paule Joseph de Custine was the last count to leave the castle in 1793 while fleeing from the Republicans. He died on October 26, 1799 in Bamberg and was buried there too. Life in feudal times always had the castle and rule as the focal point.
Wiltz formed his own parish very early on and was converted to Christianity 1200 years ago.
After feudal dependency was abolished, other worries and hardships took its place. The forced conscription into the French army, the coercion on the part of the authorities, the poor living conditions brought unrest and discontent among the population.
All this led to the "Klëppelkrich", the peasant uprising in 1798. Wars, peace treaties, political reallocations, revolts, diseases and famines shaped the following years. Wiltz was industrialized very early on. There were no large industries, but many small and medium-sized family businesses that made their way through life with their craft. But hunger was always at home in the workers' and craftsmen's huts, as well as with the farmers and day laborers of the 19th century.
The world wars
After the introduction of compulsory military service, a general strike was called in Luxembourg. 21 Luxembourgers, including 4 teachers and 2 community officials from Wiltz, were shot by the German occupier as a result. In 1945 27 families with 91 people of the 4,000 inhabitants were resettled, 15 men died in concentration camps , 164 boys were forcibly recruited into the German Wehrmacht , 42 died, 15 are missing and 21 came back mutilated.
The Ardennes offensive claimed another 50 lives. 80% of the houses in Wiltz were destroyed or damaged. After the war, the city received the title of "Martyr City". The Fátima monument "op Baessent" and the national strike memorial remind of this time.
The end of the leather industry in Wiltz
In Wiltz, the processing of beef and veal hides into leather goes back to the 16th century. In 1868 the city had 28 tanneries , of which the two largest - Ideal and Lambert - produced leather until the middle of the 20th century. The Lambert fast tannery closed its doors in 1953. Up to 300 people worked here at times, mainly producing floor leather and straps. Between the two world wars, the Ideal leather factory supplied fine leather all over the world and employed around 1200 people. Even after the Second World War, production was in full swing, so that Ideal was the most important factory for luxury leather in Western Europe for a while. The Ideal leather factory ceased to exist on January 7, 1961 due to unprofitability. The reasons are internal problems, expansion of plastics and restrictions on trade with the countries of the East as a result of the Cold War .
After the closure, some employees found new jobs in the same branch in Oisterwijk, the Netherlands. Some of the older people were used by the Luxembourg state for road works, while the younger ones had to look around for work themselves. Most of them found a job in the south in the iron industry or on the railroad.
Merger with the municipality of Eschweiler
On December 18, 2013, the local council unanimously gave the college of lay judges the task of starting merger talks with the Eschweiler community. On the occasion of two citizens' forums on April 28 and 30, 2014, the councils of lay judges from Wiltz and Eschweiler promoted a referendum, which took place on May 25 and was approved by the citizens. On December 19, 2014, the law to merge the municipalities of Wiltz and Eschweiler came into force.
coat of arms
The current coat of arms was introduced in 1951. It shows a lion on a blue-silver striped background at the top front, a silver caduceus staff on a red background at the top, a silver anchor on a red background at the bottom front and a golden beehive and six golden bees flying on a blue background at the bottom.
Town twinning
- Celorico de Basto is a municipality in the north of Portugal. A partnership was agreed on June 22, 2005 during the "Festival of Friendship".
- Since March 28, 2008, Wiltz has had a partnership with Zavidovići , from where the majority of the city's Bosnian residents come from.
- A friendship pact has existed with the city of Bastnach in Belgium since June 16, 2006.
schools
Wiltz has three primary schools and one secondary school, the Lycée du Nord .
Uni Campus Wiltz
Since 2012 there has been an independent university campus for several private universities in Wiltzer Schloss. Under the name “Campus Wiltz”, a job-oriented, partly also part-time higher degree is offered.
- BBI-Lux: International Institute for Hotel and Tourism Management
- UBI-Lux: International Institute for Business Management
- BSI-Lux: International Institute for “Doctorates in Business Administration” - DBA
BBI and UBI offer their study programs exclusively in English. The Business Science Institute (BSI) also has priority, also in French if required. Since September 2017, the BSI has also been conducting a German-language part-time doctoral program in cooperation with the Luxembourg research institute "European Institute for Knowledge and Value Management" (EIKV) .
The " University for Digital Technologies in Medicine and Dentistry ", a state-recognized private university, is also located in Schloss Wiltz. It offers part-time postgraduate master’s courses in digital technologies in healthcare.
Inlingua has an antenna in Wiltzer Castle and offers language courses there.
Worth seeing
- Wiltz Castle
- Prabbeli cultural center
- Jardin de Wiltz park
- Amusement park Kaul
- National Museum of Brewing Art
- Tannery Museum
- Museum of the Battle of the Bulge 1944–1945
Cultural events
- The Wiltzer Festival ( Weelzer Festival ) is a music and art festival that takes place every summer on the grounds of Wiltz Castle.
- The Gorse Festival (Geenzefest) has been held every year since 1948 during the Pentecost weekend. The main attraction of the Gorse Festival is the procession on Whit Monday.
- On a hill above Wiltz there is a statue of the Virgin of Fátima in whose honor a procession with over 20,000 participants takes place every year on Ascension Day , which is particularly popular with the Portuguese population of Luxembourg. The idea for the procession of the Blessed Virgin of Fátima came about during the siege of the city during the Battle of the Bulge , when several people sought shelter in the basement of their house from the heavy bombing. They swore that if they survived the night, they would initiate a procession in honor of the Virgin.
- During the night of the lanterns, the Jardin de Wiltz and its surroundings are decorated with lights and the streets of Wiltz are animated with concerts and performances.
Trivia
The Simon brewery is located in Wiltz. It was founded in 1824 by Georges Pauly and is one of the last independent breweries in Luxembourg.
Wiltz is an international center of the scout movement . There are several Boy Scout campsites and buildings around the city. In addition, the “International Scouting One Penny Monument” is located in Wiltz in honor of Robert Baden-Powell , the founder of the scout movement.
Wiltz has a local radio station , Radio LNW .
Daughters and sons of the city
- Guy de Muyser (* 1926), politician and ambassador
- Roger Leiner (1955–2016), comic artist, illustrator and caricaturist
- Théo Malget (* 1961), football player
- Romain Schneider (* 1962), politician
- Ralph Diseviscourt (* 1976), extreme athlete and cyclist
- Ralph Schon (* 1990), soccer player
- Kevin Malget (born 1991), soccer player
- Chris Philipps (* 1994), soccer player
- Philippe Ernzer (* 1998), amateur meteorologist
Individual evidence
- ↑ STATEC Luxembourg - Population par canton et commune 1821–2019 (French)
- ↑ Wort.lu: The merger of Wiltz and Eschweiler is perfect , accessed on January 5, 2014
- ↑ [1] (link not available)
- ↑ Luxembourg castles and palaces (PDF; 14 MB)
- ^ University campus Wiltz
- ^ BI-Lux: International Institute for Hotel and Tourism Management
- ↑ UBI-Lux: International Institute for Business Management ( Memento from July 30, 2017 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ Business Science Institute Luxembourg
- ↑ Part-time doctoral degree from BSI and EIKV in German and English
- ↑ Cours de langue au Luxembourg avec inlingua
- ↑ 62nd Wiltz "Geenzefest" attracted thousands of visitors. ( Memento from June 14, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Tageblatt. Fir Lëtzebuerg newspaper , May 24, 2010.
- ↑ A short history of the Fatima site in Wiltz (PDF)
- ↑ www.industrie.lu
