Buchenbach is a
municipality
A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate.
The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...
in the south west of the
Black Forest
The Black Forest (german: Schwarzwald ) is a large forested mountain range in the state of Baden-Württemberg in southwest Germany, bounded by the Rhine Valley to the west and south and close to the borders with France and Switzerland. It is t ...
in
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
. It is located in the district of
Breisgau-Hochschwarzwald
Breisgau-Hochschwarzwald (french: Arrondissement de Brisgau-Haute-Forêt-Noire) is a (district) in the southwest of Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Fifty towns and municipalities with 133 settlements lie within the district. The district itself belon ...
in
Baden-Württemberg
Baden-Württemberg (; ), commonly shortened to BW or BaWü, is a German state () in Southwest Germany, east of the Rhine, which forms the southern part of Germany's western border with France. With more than 11.07 million inhabitants across a ...
. It is made up of four communities, the main town of Buchenbach and the villages of Falkensteig, Unteribental and Wagensteig. The current municipality was formed by the merger of the former entities of Buchenbach and Falkensteig on 1 December 1971, with Wagensteig being joined to them on 1 August 1973 and Unteribental on 1 January 1975.
Geography
The municipality is located within the
South Black Forest Natural Park, about 12 km as the crow flies east of
Freiburg im Breisgau
Freiburg im Breisgau (; abbreviated as Freiburg i. Br. or Freiburg i. B.; Low Alemannic German, Low Alemannic: ''Friburg im Brisgau''), commonly referred to as Freiburg, is an independent city in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. With a population o ...
. It stretches from the lower end of the
Höllental, below
Rotbach to the valley of the
Wagensteigbach
Wagensteigbach is a river of Baden-Württemberg, Germany. At its confluence with the Rotbach near Kirchzarten, the Dreisam is formed.
See also
*List of rivers of Baden-Württemberg
A list of rivers of Baden-Württemberg, Germany:
A
* Aal
* ...
, and Unteribental borders the
St. Märgen plateau. A little to the west of Buchenbach, these two mountain streams merge to form the
Dreisam
The Dreisam (Celtic: ''*tragisamā'', "the very fast one") is a 29 km long river (48.8 km including its source river Rotbach), and a tributary of the Elz in the German state of Baden-Württemberg. The waters of the Dreisam feed the fam ...
, so Buchenbach is the starting point of the Dreisam valley.
Neighbouring municipalities
Clockwise from the north, Buchenbach borders on the municipalities of
Sankt Peter,
St. Märgen,
Breitnau
Breitnau is a municipality in the district of Breisgau-Hochschwarzwald in Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany, about 30 kilometres from the city of Freiburg im Breisgau. It is located within the High Black Forest.
Geography
The municipalit ...
,
Oberried,
Kirchzarten
Kirchzarten is a town in the district of Breisgau-Hochschwarzwald in the federal-state of Baden-Württemberg in southwestern Germany.
A Zionist agricultural training farm was founded in Kirchzarten in 1919 to prepare young people to become farme ...
and
Stegen
Stegen is a municipality in the Breisgau-Hochschwarzwald district, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It borders on the city of Freiburg, being about 8 km away as the crow flies, lying in the valley of the river Dreisam. The municipality inc ...
.
History
Buchenbach and Wiesneck
Lying in the lower Wagensteig valley, Buchenbach is made up of numerous small settlements and isolated farmsteads. Constituent settlements include Ober- and Unterbuchenbach, and the village of Wiesneck, which was independent of the town until 1837. Wiesneck is in fact the oldest part of the municipality, with a castle that is first documented in 1079. This was owned by the counts of
Haigerloch
Haigerloch is a town in the north-western part of the Swabian Alb in Germany.
Geography Geographical location
Haigerloch lies at between 430 and 550 metres elevation in the valley of the Eyach river, which forms two loops in a steep shelly limest ...
-Wiesneck. In 1118, Bruno von Haigerloch-Wiesneck founded the monastery of St. Märgen. The Haigerloch-Wiesneck line died out in 1170, and the castle fell into the possession of a branch of the
Zollern Zollern may refer to:
* House of Hohenzollern, a German former royal dynasty
** Beatrix of Zollern (1362–1414), wife of Duke Albert III of Austria
** Count of Zollern, including a list of people with the title
* County of Zollern, a medieval co ...
s, who styled themselves as
Counts of Hoheberg. In 1293 they sold the castle. In 1577 it fell into the possession of the Barons of
Sickingen-Hohenburg. The castle was sacked in 1121 by the
Zähringers and in 1646, during the
Thirty Years War
The Thirty Years' War was one of the longest and List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, most destructive conflicts in History of Europe, European history, lasting from 1618 to 1648. Fought primarily in Central Europe, an es ...
, by the French. Wiesneck grew up as a small settlement around the castle. Since the location fell within the state of
Baden
Baden (; ) is a historical territory in South Germany, in earlier times on both sides of the Upper Rhine but since the Napoleonic Wars only East of the Rhine.
History
The margraves of Baden originated from the House of Zähringen. Baden is ...
, Baron
Wilhelm von Sickingen
Wilhelm may refer to:
People and fictional characters
* William Charles John Pitcher, costume designer known professionally as "Wilhelm"
* Wilhelm (name), a list of people and fictional characters with the given name or surname
Other uses
* Mount ...
eventually sold his overlordship of the village to the state of Baden, which joined it to the larger town of Buchenbach.
Buchenbach itself is first heard of in 1350. It was an Austrian possession, and from 1653 by the Barons of Sickingen owning most of the land. The settlements of Ober- und Unterbuchenbach were under different overlords, causing continual difficulties and disputes, so that there were numerous reorganizations of the municipality down to the 19th century.
Falkensteig
The village derives its name from the
Falkenstein Castle built in the 12th century by the lords of Falkenstein and destroyed in 1388 by the townspeople of Freiburg. In the 17th century, the area fell into the possession of the lords of
Pfirt
Ferrette (; german: Pfirt ; gsw-FR, Pfìrt) is a commune in the Haut-Rhin department in Alsace in north-eastern France.
It is situated close to the Swiss border. Its main attraction is the Château de Ferrette.
County of Ferrette
The County ...
, and subsequently to the state of Baden. An attempt to join it to Buchenbach in the 19th century failed.
Unteribental
Unteribental was founded in 1120 and was under the
Zähringers. Subsequently, it was merged into
Stegen
Stegen is a municipality in the Breisgau-Hochschwarzwald district, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It borders on the city of Freiburg, being about 8 km away as the crow flies, lying in the valley of the river Dreisam. The municipality inc ...
. In 1827, however, it became independent again. From the time it came under the authority of the state of Baden in 1806, it was treated as part of the Freiburg district.
Wagensteig
Wagensteig is first heard of in 1125, at which time it belonged to the
St. Märgen monastery. After the
secularisation
In sociology, secularization (or secularisation) is the transformation of a society from close identification with religious values and institutions toward non-religious values and secular institutions. The ''secularization thesis'' expresses the ...
mandated by the
German Mediatisation
German mediatisation (; german: deutsche Mediatisierung) was the major territorial restructuring that took place between 1802 and 1814 in Germany and the surrounding region by means of the mass mediatisation and secularisation of a large number ...
it came under the authority of the state of Baden, from 1819 forming part of the Freiburg district. One of the oldest routes from the Neckar and Danube regions across the Black Forest to the Rhine Valley passes through the Wagensteig valley. The name of the valley itself comes from ''Wagenstadt'' ("cart town"), the form "Wagensteig" first appearing in the 12th century, in a judgement by Bishop Ulrich of Konstanz in a conflict between the church in Zarten and the monastery at St. Märgen over the rights to tithes in the district. The bishop concluded that the tithes from everywhere up to the town "Waginstat" should go to St. Märgen.
Politics
Municipal council
Following the municipal elections of 13 June 2004, the local council is made up as follows:
Along with the neighbouring municipalities of Kirchzarten, Oberried and Stegen, Buchenbach belongs to the ''Gemeindeverwaltungsverband Dreisamtal'' (
Dreisam Valley
The Dreisam Valley (german: Dreisamtal) is a valley east of the south German city of Freiburg. The valley lies within the Southern Black Forest Nature Park in the state of Baden-Württemberg.
Location
The Dreisam Valley runs for a few kilomet ...
Authority), whose offices are in Kirchzarten.
Arms
Above three hills vert (green), vertically divided; dexter (right) argent (white), with a beech tree vert (green) above the dexter hill, sinister (left) gules with a wavy
fess
In heraldry, a fess or fesse (from Middle English ''fesse'', from Old French ''faisse'', from Latin ''fascia'', "band") is a charge on a coat of arms (or flag) that takes the form of a band running horizontally across the centre of the shield.Wo ...
argent (white) bordered sable (black). Flag: green and white.
Economy and infrastructure
Transport
On the western border of the municipality is the Himmelreich station on the
Höllentalbahn, with a half-hourly service throughout the day to Freiburg im Breisgau and on into the Black Forest, alternately to
Neustadt and
Seebrugg on the
Schluchsee
The Schluchsee is a reservoir lake in the district of Breisgau-Hochschwarzwald, southeast of the Titisee in the Black Forest near Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany.
Name
In the Alemannic dialects of the region the name of the lake is the ''Schluec ...
.
In the west of Buchenbach, the
Bundesstraße
''Bundesstraße'' (German for "federal highway"), abbreviated ''B'', is the denotation for German and Austrian national highways.
Germany
Germany's ''Bundesstraßen'' network has a total length of about 40,000 km.
German ''Bundesstraßen'' ...
B31 (
Breisach
Breisach (formerly Altbreisach; Low Alemannic: ''Alt-Brisach'') is a town with approximately 16,500 inhabitants, situated along the Rhine in the Rhine Valley, in the district Breisgau-Hochschwarzwald, Baden-Württemberg, Germany, about halfway b ...
–
Lindau
Lindau (german: Lindau (Bodensee), ''Lindau am Bodensee''; ; Low Alemannic German, Low Alemannic: ''Lindou'') is a major Town#Germany, town and Lindau (island), island on the eastern side of Lake Constance (''Bodensee'' in German) in Bavaria, Ge ...
trunk road), the most important link between Freiburg im Breisgau, the Black Forest and
Lake Constance
Lake Constance (german: Bodensee, ) refers to three Body of water, bodies of water on the Rhine at the northern foot of the Alps: Upper Lake Constance (''Obersee''), Lower Lake Constance (''Untersee''), and a connecting stretch of the Rhine, ca ...
, runs through the village of Falkenstein. The
Landesstrasse L128 provincial highway runs around the edge of the municipality, through the Wagensteig valley and on to St. Märgen and
Thurner. A more direct route to Thurner branches off between Buchenbach and Wagensteig, as the local road K4907 through the Spirzen valley.
Industry
The main employers are:
* Holzwerke Dold GmbH, a
sawmill
A sawmill (saw mill, saw-mill) or lumber mill is a facility where logs are cut into lumber. Modern sawmills use a motorized saw to cut logs lengthwise to make long pieces, and crosswise to length depending on standard or custom sizes (dimensi ...
and producer of furniture and building materials, employing about 250 people;
* Siko GmbH, makers of measuring instruments, with about 140 employees
Buchenbach also offers facilities to Black Forest
tourists
Tourism is travel for pleasure or business; also the theory and practice of touring, the business of attracting, accommodating, and entertaining tourists, and the business of operating tours. The World Tourism Organization defines tourism mo ...
. The
Freiburg-Lake Constance Black Forest Trail, a
long-distance footpath
A long-distance trail (or long-distance footpath, track, way, greenway) is a longer recreational trail mainly through rural areas used for hiking, backpacking, cycling, horse riding or cross-country skiing. They exist on all continents exce ...
, passes through the main town.
People
Honorary citizens
*
Oskar Saier
Oskar Saier (12 August 1932 in Wagensteig
Buchenbach is a municipality in the south west of the Black Forest in Germany. It is located in the district of Breisgau-Hochschwarzwald in Baden-Württemberg. It is made up of four communities, the ma ...
, former
Roman Catholic
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
*Rome, the capital city of Italy
*Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
*Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...
Archbishop of Freiburg
The following men have been archbishops of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Freiburg.
References
SourcesArchdiocese of Freiburg- catholic-hierarchy.org
{{Hierarchy of the Catholic Church in Germany
Freiburg
Freiburg im Breisgau (; ...
, was born in Wagensteig
Other people associated with the municipality
*
Alfred Döblin
Bruno Alfred Döblin (; 10 August 1878 – 26 June 1957) was a German novelist, essayist, and doctor, best known for his novel '' Berlin Alexanderplatz'' (1929). A prolific writer whose œuvre spans more than half a century and a wide variety of ...
was treated in the Husemann clinic.
*
Erwin Dold Erwin Dold (16 November 1919, in Wagensteig, part of the community of Buchenbach – 11 September 2012, in Buchenbach) was a fighter pilot in the Luftwaffe, despite the fact that he was not a Nazi Party member, then sergeant-major in the Luftwaffe ...
(1919–2012), German concentration camp commandant in World War 2
References
External links
Official municipal websiteBuchenbach: History and pictures
{{Authority control
Breisgau-Hochschwarzwald
Baden