Meinhard is a municipality in the

Werra-Meißner-Kreis Werra-Meißner is a ''Kreis'' (district) in the north of Hesse, Germany. Neighboring districts are Göttingen, Eichsfeld, Unstrut-Hainich-Kreis, Wartburgkreis, district-free Eisenach, Hersfeld-Rotenburg, Schwalm-Eder-Kreis, Kassel. History The di ...

Hesse Hesse (, , ) or Hessia (, ; german: Hessen ), officially the State of Hessen (german: links=no, Land Hessen), is a States of Germany, state in Germany. Its capital city is Wiesbaden, and the largest urban area is Frankfurt. Two other major histor ...

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 ...

Geography

Location

The community lies in the North Hesse Low Mountain Range landscape on the edge of the

Werra The Werra (), a river in central Germany, is the right-bank headwater of the Weser. "Weser" is a synonym in an old dialect of German. The Werra has its source near Eisfeld in southern Thuringia. After the Werra joins the river Fulda in the t ...

valley, 3 km from the district seat of

Eschwege Eschwege (), the district seat of the Werra-Meißner-Kreis, is a town in northeastern Hesse, Germany. In 1971, the town hosted the eleventh ''Hessentag'' state festival. Geography Location The town lies on a broad plain tract of the river Wer ...

. Near Meinhard-Frieda, the Frieda empties into the Werra. After heavy rainfall, it can swell into a fast-running river that can wash the bank of the Werra away. On the bank facing Meinhard-Jestädt, the Wehre empties into the Werra.

Neighbouring communities

Meinhard borders in the northeast and the east on the communities of Volkerode, Pfaffschwende, Kella and Geismar (all four in

Thuringia Thuringia (; german: Thüringen ), officially the Free State of Thuringia ( ), is a state of central Germany, covering , the sixth smallest of the sixteen German states. It has a population of about 2.1 million. Erfurt is the capital and larg ...

’s Eichsfeld district), in the southeast on the town of

Wanfried Wanfried is a town in the Werra-Meißner-Kreis in northeasternmost Hesse, Germany. It is classified as a ''Landstadt'', a designation given in Germany to a municipality that is officially a town (''Stadt''), but whose population is below 5,000. It ...

, in the south and west on the town of

and in the northwest on the town of

Bad Sooden-Allendorf Bad Sooden-Allendorf is a spa town in the Werra-Meißner-Kreis in Hesse, Germany. Geography Location The spa town of Bad Sooden-Allendorf lies in the Werra valley near the Hoher Meißner, right on the boundary with Thuringia, almost at Germany's ...

(all three in the Werra-Meißner-Kreis).

Constituent communities

The community’s seven ''

Ortsteil A village is a clustered human settlement or Residential community, community, larger than a hamlet (place), hamlet but smaller than a town (although the word is often used to describe both hamlets and smaller towns), with a population t ...

e'' are Frieda, Grebendorf (administrative seat), Hitzelrode,

Jestädt Jestädt is a borough of the Municipality (german: Gemeinde) of Meinhard in the Werra-Meißner-Kreis in the State of Hesse of Germany. Geography Jestädt lies at the far southwestern foothills of the Gobert mountain range in the ''Werrat ...

, Neuerode, Motzenrode and Schwebda.

Politics

Community council

The municipal election held on 26 March 2006 yielded the following results:

Mayor

*2002–2013: Hans Giller (SPD) *2013–incumbent: Gerhold Brill

Culture and sightseeing

Buildings

* Ruins of Schwebda Castle (

moat A moat is a deep, broad ditch, either dry or filled with water, that is dug and surrounds a castle, fortification, building or town, historically to provide it with a preliminary line of defence. In some places moats evolved into more extensive ...

ed)

Economy and infrastructure

Transport

Through ''

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'' ...

'' 249 (

Mühlhausen Mühlhausen () is a city in the north-west of Thuringia, Germany, north of Niederdorla, the country's geographical centre, north-west of Erfurt, east of Kassel and south-east of Göttingen. Mühlhausen was first mentioned in 967 and bec ...

), which runs right through the community, Meinhard is linked to the highway network.

Famous people

* Friedrich Rudolf Ernst ''Freiherr'' von Feilitzsch (b. 14 July 1858 in

; d. 23 January 1942 in Bückeburg), politician in the Principality of

Schaumburg-Lippe Schaumburg-Lippe, also Lippe-Schaumburg, was created as a county in 1647, became a principality in 1807, a free state in 1918, and was until 1946 a small state in Germany, located in the present day state of Lower Saxony, with its capital at Bück ...

and its first Prime Minister. * Heinz Fromm (b. 10 July 1948 in Meinhard-Frieda) has been since June 2000 President of the Federal Office for Constitutional Protection

References

External links

Homepage of the constituent community of Grebendorf
{{Authority control Werra-Meißner-Kreis