Hemer

Hemer is a town in the Märkischer Kreis district, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.

Geography

Hemer is located at the north end of the Sauerland near the Ruhr river. The highest elevation, at 546 metres (1,791 ft), is in the ''Balver Wald'' in the south of the city. The lowest elevation, at 160 metres (525 ft), is at the ''Edelburg'' in the northeast.

History

Burial mounds show that around 1250 BC, Bronze Age shepherds and farmers lived in the area. Graves from the time of the Merovingian Franks around the year 650 were found near the present city centre.

Hemer was first mentioned in 1072 by its old name ''Hademare'' in a document of bishop Anno II of Cologne, granting lands to the newly founded Benedictine Grafschaft Abbey, including St. Vitus's church and two farms, the later '' :de:Haus Hemer'' and the '' :de:Hedhof''. In 1124 the parish of St. Vitus was separated from the parish of Menden.

Hemer remained an unimportant settlement without market rights, even when the Counts of the Mark gained independence from the episcopal state of Cologne in the 13th century, when Hemer found itself on the boundary of the two states. But despite the political insignificance of the ''Kirchspiel Hemer'' ("Hemer parish"), it was already quite densely settled, thanks to its location on the old road from the Rhineland to Middle Germany (now ''Bundesstrasse'' 7), and to the iron mining and smelting industries already developed here. The boundary with Cologne, formed by the valley of the Hönne river southeast of Hemer, was protected by Klusenstein Castle, built in 1353. Local government in the parish of Hemer was the responsibility of the ''"Amt"'' of Iserlohn until 1647, when it was transferred to the family of Wachtendonk, who owned Haus Hemer at that time.

The Reformation reached Hemer in the second half of the 16th century, when the Church of St. Vitus (Hemer) (german: Vituskirche) became Protestant (it was demolished in 1818, and replaced by the new '' Ebbergkirche'' nearby, built in 1819/20). Between 1697 and 1700 , the bishop of Hildesheim and a relative of the new owners of Haus Hemer, built the church of Saints Peter and Paul in Baroque style as the new church for the Roman Catholics.

During the Napoleonic period Hemer was a ''"mairie"'' in the ''"arrondissement"'' of Hagen in the ''"département"'' of the Ruhr of the Napoleonic satellite Grand Duchy of Berg.

Creation of Amt Hemer

On October 31, 1841, the ''Amt Hemer'' was created by 14 municipalities previously administered by the ''Landbezirk Iserlohn''. It originally consisted of the municipalities of de:Becke, :de:Brockhausen, :de:Calle, :de:Deilinghofen, :de:Evingsen, :de:Frönsberg, :de:Ihmert, :de:Kesbern, :de:Landhausen, :de:Lössel, :de:Niederhemer, :de:Oberhemer, :de:Sundwig and :de:Westig, as well as the manors (''Rittergut'') of Edelburg, Haus Hemer and Klusenstein. The ''Amt'' was part of the ''Kreis Iserlohn''. In 1910 Niederhemer and Oberhemer were merged into Hemer. In 1920 Lössel became part of the ''Amt Oestrich''.

Communal reform of 1929

The three industrial municipalities of Hemer, Sundwig and Westig had already grown into a single urban area by World War I. The idea of merging the three municipalities had already been mooted before the war, but due to the war it was not until 1920 that it was formally proposed. However, neither Sundwig nor Westig was initially enthusiastic and both later opposed the merger, mostly because the industrialists in the two places were worried that the tax rates would rise to the higher rates of Hemer. At the same time the city of Iserlohn unsuccessfully tried to incorporate several municipalities: Letmathe and Oestrich to the west, and also the industrial municipalities of the Amt Hemer. Because of the opposition, the merger of the three municipalities was delayed until 1929, when it was carried out by order of the Prussian Ministry of the Interior. At the same time the municipality of Calle was split into four parts: the northern Griesenbrauck was added to Landhausen; Bilveringsen passed to Hemer; the central part around Wermingsen was incorporated into Iserlohn; and the southern parts passed to Westig. With effect from August 1, 1929, Hemer, Sundwig and Westig, as well as Landhausen and the remains of Calle were merged, covering an area of 26.82 km² (10.36 mi²) and having a population of 13,809.

Also with effect from August 1, 1929, the municipality of Brockhausen was incorporated into Deilinghofen. The rural Brockhausen had only 588 inhabitants, and because of its low income was not considered to be financially viable as an independent unit.

On January 30, 1936, the municipality of Hemer received the right to call itself a city (''Stadt'').

Military

In 1934 Hemer became a garrison town. In January 1934 it was decided to build three barracks in neighboring Iserlohn, which however was unable also to provide enough free land for a training area. At a meeting in June, land around the village of Apricke was selected, of which 3 km² was bought by the state in autumn of the same year. The hospital was also inspected and later acquired as a military hospital. This was very welcome to Hemer, as the hospital had turned out to be far too big and too expensive for the Amt, and in this way it was possible later to build a new smaller hospital.

In December 1934 temporary barracks for one battalion were also built in Hemer. On October 30, 1936, an official garrison contract between Hemer and the state was signed, which included the building of permanent barracks. Construction was still unfinished when World War II started in 1939, but was then rushed through and the buildings were reassigned as a prisoner of war camp, the '' Stalag VI-A''.

The first Polish POWs arrived in October 1939, and had to sleep on the floor as the beds were still not finished. Inadequate equipment remained a problem throughout the whole of the war, both because the material was needed at the front, and also because the camp was permanently overpopulated. At first the inmates were mostly from Poland and France, but after the beginning of the war with the Soviet Union in 1941 Soviet POWs quickly became the majority.

It is estimated that during the six years of the war more than 200,000 inmates were held in the camp. Those who were capable of forced labour usually lived near their places of work, so the main camp was in a sense a "dying camp" for those who fell ill because of the bad living conditions and the hard labour. At an unconfirmed estimate, about 24,000 POWs were buried in Hemer. The fictional film ''Hart's War'' is set in the camp in early 1945.

After the war the barracks of the Stalag, renamed to ''Camp Roosevelt'' were at first used as a camp for detaining Nazi prisoners. In 1947, it was renamed ''Casernes Ardennes'' and were used by the Belgian army till 1955. After the establishment of the German Bundeswehr the barracks became home of a tank battalion in 1957. Originally simply named after its location on the ''Jüberg'' hill, it received its final name, ''Blücher-Kaserne'', in 1964.

In 1953 Canadian troops moved into newly built barracks in Deilinghofen (Forts Macleod and Prince of Wales) as well as two former German barrack complexes in Iserlohn (Forts QuèAppelle and Beausejour). Canadian soldiers and their families resided in two separate locations in Hemer. The main location centered on Berliner Strasse where the school and community center were located. The secondary location centered on Bredde Strasse, the site that was formerly used by the Belgians. In 1970 the Canadian military was transferred to bases in the Black Forest Region (Baden-Baden and Lahr) and most of the former Canadian holdings, including Married Quarters in Hemer, were taken over by British military. In 1994 the British left and the Deilinghofen barracks were converted to civil use with the barracks in Iserlohn either transferred back to the Bundeswehr or also converted to civil use.

Due to the changing duties of the Bundeswehr, tanks are not needed as much as they were during the Cold War. The closure of the barracks was announced in 2004, and on January 23, 2007, the last soldiers left Hemer, 50 years after the Bundeswehr moved into the barracks.

Communal reform of 1975

With the reorganization of the districts and municipalities in 1974 the ''Amt'' was dissolved. Evingsen had already become part of Altena in 1969. In 1974 Kesbern became part of Iserlohn, while the other municipalities of Becke, Deilinghofen, Frönsberg and Ihmert were added to the town of Hemer.

Municipalities as of 1904

*Becke - consisting of the settlements (') Brelen, Edelburg, Höcklingsen, Mesterscheid, Oese, Urbecke. Area 5.50 km² (2.12 mi²), population 501.
*Brockhausen - Apricke, Bäingsen, Brockhausen, Grevenborn, Im Hagen, Hönnetal, Klusenstein, Riemke. Area 9.29 km² (3.59 mi²), population 526.
*Calle - Bilveringsen, Bredenbruch, zur Calle, Düingsen, Franzberg, Griesenbrauck, Magney, Schleddenhof, Wermingsen. Area 8.59 km² (3.32 mi²), population 900.
*Deilinghofen - Bautenheide, Deilinghofen, Habichtseil, Hembecke, Hohenstein, Langenbruch, Nierungsen. Area 9.68 km² (3.74 mi²), population 1124.
*Evingsen - Evingsen, Giebel, Heide, Heidermühle, Heidersiepen, Hüingsen, auf der Hütte, Kohlberg, Löttringsen, Löttringserhahn, Nettenscheid, Rüssenberg, Schwarzpaul, Springen, Stodt, Tüssenberg. Area 6.97 km² (2.69 mi²), population 1049.
*Frönsberg - Beckmerhagen, Drubbelhelle, Ebberg, Frönsberg, Heppingsen, Heppingserbach, Hestern, Hültershagen, Ispei, Rohland, Stephanopel, Wachmecke, Winterhof. Area 6.03 km² (2.33 mi²), population 323.
*Ihmert - Bredenbruch, Dieckgraben, Elfenfohren, Hasberg, Holmecke, Ihmert, Ihmerterbach, Ihmerterort, Johannistal, Rottmecke, Stemmessiepen, Stümpen, Sülberg, Tüttebelle, Westendorf. Area 9.00 km² (3.47 mi²), population 987.
*Kesbern - Attern, Bräke, Oberdahlsen, Niederdahlsen, Eichholz, Eileringsen, Gunzenheide, im Hagen, Hardorn, Hegenscheid, vorm Hey, Kesbern, Lohsiepen, Lennenstück, Meerbrauck, Osthelle, im Schlaa, Siepen, Voswinkel, Wixberg. Area 13.40 km² (5.17 mi²), population 552.
*Landhausen - Krebsbach (Tannenberg), Landhausen, Stübecken. Area 5.12 km² (1.98 mi²), population 338.
*Lössel - Bühle, Dümpel, Düsternsiepen, Emberg, Großenstück, Häken, Heide, Hilkenhohl, Langenstück, Liehard, Lieth, Lössel, Lüsecken, Mooskamp, Pillingsen, Pillingserbach, Roden, Roland, Saat, Schmidthacke, Schorhelle, Selberg, Sieschotte, Silbering, Stümpen, Stübke, am Ühler. Area 6.86 km² (2.65 mi²), population 1214.
*Niederhemer - Haus Hemer, Niederhemer, Rosenhoff. Area 3.15 km² (1.22 mi²), population 2477.
*Oberhemer - area 3.43 km² (1.32 mi²), population 2,524.
*Sundwig - Dieken, Eichenufer (Eickenufer), Grüntal (Grünental), Siegeloh, Sundwig, Sundwigerbach, Wenhagen. Area 6.23 km² (2.40 mi²), population 1,383.
*Westig - Westig, Westigerbach, Westigerkreuz. Area 4.11 km² (1.59 mi²), population 1,756.

List of mayors

Until 1995 the mayor was an honorary post with only formal duties, while the actual head of administration was the ''Stadtdirektor''. This system was introduced in 1946 by the British military government, and was abolished in 1999. However, when Reiner Hermann was forced to resign in 1994, shortly after the new system was adopted, Hemer became the first commune of North Rhine-Westphalia to get a professional mayor in 1995.

Religion

As of 2005, 15.982 citizens were Protestants, 11,998 Roman Catholic, and 10,111 have other or no religion.

Five Roman Catholic parishes are located in the city - St. Peter and Paul (Niederhemer, Becke), Christ König (Stadtmitte), St. Peter Canisius (Westig), St. Mary (Bredenbruch, Ihmert) and St. Bonifatius (Sundwig, Deilinghofen). All five parishes work together in a parish cluster (''Pastoralverbund''). They are member of the deanery ''Märkisches Sauerland'' within the Archdiocese of Paderborn

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