Finnentrop is a ''Gemeinde'' (
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
Olpe district in
North Rhine-Westphalia
North Rhine-Westphalia (german: Nordrhein-Westfalen, ; li, Noordrien-Wesfale ; nds, Noordrhien-Westfalen; ksh, Noodrhing-Wäßßfaale), commonly shortened to NRW (), is a state (''Land'') in Western Germany. With more than 18 million inha ...
,
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
Finnentrop is situated in the
Sauerland, near the forks of the rivers
Bigge and
Lenne
The Lenne is a tributary of the river Ruhr in the Sauerland hills, western Germany. It has caused flooding in recent years.
Having its source on top of the ''Kahler Asten'' near Winterberg in an intermittent spring at an elevation of , the Len ...
. Finnentrop shares borders with
Sundern and
Eslohe
Eslohe is a municipality in the Hochsauerland district, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.
Geography
Eslohe is situated approximately 25 km south-west of Meschede.
Neighbouring municipalities
* Finnentrop
* Lennestadt
* Meschede
* Schm ...
(both part of
Hochsauerland
Hochsauerlandkreis (meaning “High Sauerland District” in German) is a Kreis (district) in the east of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Neighboring districts are Soest, Paderborn, Höxter, Waldeck-Frankenberg, Siegen-Wittgenstein, Olpe, M ...
district),
Lennestadt
Lennestadt (occasionally also ''die Lennestadt'') lies in the Sauerland in southeast North Rhine-Westphalia and is a community in Olpe district. It is the district's most populous municipality.
Lennestadt itself is not an actual town but a commun ...
and
Attendorn
Attendorn () is a German town in the Olpe district in North Rhine-Westphalia. As of 2019 it had a population of 24,264.
History
The town's location was favoured by the good climate in the Attendorn-Elsper Limestone Double Basin (''Attendorn- ...
(both in Olpe district), as well as with
Plettenberg
Plettenberg (; Westphalian: ''Plettmert'') is a town in the Märkischer Kreis, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.
Geography
Plettenberg is located to the west of the Sauerland hills. The highest elevation of the town area is in the ''Ebbegebir ...
(
Märkischer Kreis
The Märkischer Kreis is a district ('' Kreis'') in central North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Neighbouring districts are Unna, Soest, Hochsauerland, Olpe, Oberbergischer Kreis, Ennepe-Ruhr, and the city of Hagen.
History
The district was creat ...
district). Finnentrop is divided into the following constituent communities:
History
While the municipality of Finnentrop didn't come into being before 1 July 1969, the history of the constituting villages dates back from the Middle Ages. In 1162 Lenhausen and Rönkhausen were mentioned for the first time. Until 13 July 1908, the place now known as Finnentrop had three names: ''Habbecke'', ''Neubrücke'' (“Newbridge”) and, once the
Ruhr-Sieg railway was built, ''Bahnhof Finnentrop'' (“Finnentrop Railway Station”). Neubrücke consisted of only one building at the forks of Bigge and Lenne (''Reuters Haus'', first mentioned in 1847). The “new bridge” seems to have already been built by 1847, as the “Reuter” had to charge tolls.
The new municipality was cobbled together in 1969 from parts of the old
Amt of Serkenrode (
Meschede
Meschede () is a town in the Hochsauerland district, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is the capital of the district Hochsauerlandkreis.
Education
One of the five branches of South Westphalia University of Applied Sciences (also: Fachh ...
district), the communities of
Schliprüthen and
Oedingen and parts of
Attendorn
Attendorn () is a German town in the Olpe district in North Rhine-Westphalia. As of 2019 it had a population of 24,264.
History
The town's location was favoured by the good climate in the Attendorn-Elsper Limestone Double Basin (''Attendorn- ...
-Land and
Helden. This restructuring also saw the municipality pass from
Meschede
Meschede () is a town in the Hochsauerland district, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is the capital of the district Hochsauerlandkreis.
Education
One of the five branches of South Westphalia University of Applied Sciences (also: Fachh ...
district (which was abolished in 1974) to Olpe district. The municipality's name is drawn from the original centre of Finnentrop situated a few hundred metres up the Bigge river, now known as ''Altfinnentrop'' (“alt” is
German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
** Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ge ...
for “old”). The ending ''—trop'' comes from ''trop'' or ''torp'', meaning “village”. The
High German
The High German dialects (german: hochdeutsche Mundarten), or simply High German (); not to be confused with Standard High German which is commonly also called ''High German'', comprise the varieties of German spoken south of the Benrath and ...
word ''Dorf'' is a cognate, as is the
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
word ''thorpe''.
The municipal
arms
Arms or ARMS may refer to:
*Arm or arms, the upper limbs of the body
Arm, Arms, or ARMS may also refer to:
People
* Ida A. T. Arms (1856–1931), American missionary-educator, temperance leader
Coat of arms or weapons
*Armaments or weapons
**Fi ...
shows a rose under a wavy chevron. The rose stands for the Lords of Finnentrop (''von Vinnentrop'') and dates back to the year 1358. The chevron stands for the two rivers, the Bigge and the Lenne, which merge in the municipality. The colour green refers to the great swathes of greenery in the municipal area.
Finnentrop maintains partnership arrangements with:
*
Diksmuide,
Belgium
Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...
(since 1979);
*
Helbra,
Saxony-Anhalt
Saxony-Anhalt (german: Sachsen-Anhalt ; nds, Sassen-Anholt) is a state of Germany, bordering the states of Brandenburg, Saxony, Thuringia and Lower Saxony. It covers an area of
and has a population of 2.18 million inhabitants, making it th ...
(since 1990).
Mayors
The mayor between 1997 and 2020 was the jurist Dietmar Heß (* 1955) (CDU).
In September 2020 Achim Henkel (CDU) has been elected. The 53 year old first chief police officer used to be in charge of the policestation in Olpe for many years.
Culture and sightseeing
Theatres & Museums
* Schützenhof Lichtspiele, 1954-vintage
movie theater renovated in 2006 with 170 seats
* Heimatstube Schönholthausen (museum)
Buildings
File:Kirche Schliprüthen-2.jpg, St. Georg in Schliprüthen
File:Pfarrkirche Mariä Himmelfaht, Schönholthausen, Südostansicht.jpg, Mariä Himmelfahrt in Schönholthausen
File:Matthiaskapelle im Winter.jpg, Matthiaskapelle in Altfinnentrop
File:Haus Bamenohl-Haupthaus.jpg, Haus Bamenohl
File:Schloss Ahausen-4.jpg, Schloss Ahausen
File:Wasserschloss Lenhausen (7648999282).jpg, Schloss Lenhausen
* ''St. Georg''
hall church
A hall church is a church with a nave and aisles of approximately equal height, often united under a single immense roof. The term was invented in the mid-19th century by Wilhelm Lübke, a pioneering German art historian. In contrast to an archi ...
in (Schliprüthen), dating from before the 12th century
*
Romanesque Catholic
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
parish church ''Mariä Himmelfahrt'' in Schönholthausen, dating in parts from the 13th century
*
Matthiaskapelle chapel in Altfinnentrop from 1383
*
Haus Bamenohl castle in Bamenohl (14th century)
*
Schloss Ahausen castle close to Heggen
*
Schloss Lenhausen castle in Lenhausen (13th century)
* Reiterstellwerk (
historic signal box)
Regular events
*
Schützenfest (marksmen's festival) in the larger villages
* Prunksitzung by the Lenhausen Carnival Club (LCC) (revue, Saturday before ''Altweibertag'' – Old Women's Day)
* Prunksitzung by the Festkommitee Finnentroper Karneval (revue)
* Waldfest “Im Schee” Finnentrop (“forest festival”, weekend before
Whitsun
Whitsun (also Whitsunday or Whit Sunday) is the name used in Britain, and other countries among Anglicans and Methodists, for the Christian High Holy Day of Pentecost. It is the seventh Sunday after Easter, which commemorates the descent of the ...
)
* Spritzenfest of the fire station Bamenohl (second weekend in August)
*
Open-air concert
A music festival is a community event with performances of singing and instrument playing that is often presented with a theme such as musical genre (e.g., rock, blues, folk, jazz, classical music), nationality, locality of musicians, or hol ...
at Haus Bamenohl (third weekend in August)
* Bürger
frühschoppen of the fire brigade on
German Unity Day
German Unity Day (german: Tag der Deutschen Einheit) is the National Day of Germany, celebrated on 3 October as a public holiday. It commemorates German reunification in 1990 when the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) joined the Federal ...
*
Christmas market
A Christmas market, also known as ''Christkindlmarkt'' (literally: ''Christ Child Market'', but the term "Christkind" usually refers to an angel-like "spirit of Christmas" rather than literally the Christ Child), ''Christkindlesmarkt'', ''Chris ...
at the town hall (second weekend in
Advent)
Economy and infrastructure
Among the nationally known companies in Finnentrop are
Eibach (automotive springs),
Metten Fleischwaren (meat processing) and a plant of
ThyssenKrupp Steel Europe AG.
Transport
Finnentrop station is situated at the
Ruhr–Sieg railway
The Ruhr–Sieg railway is a 106 km long double-track, electrified main line from Hagen to Siegen via Iserlohn-Letmathe, Finnentrop and Kreuztal in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. The line, which has many tunnels, runs primarily ...
, from where the
Bigge Valley Railway Bigge may refer to:
People
* Arthur Bigge, 1st Baron Stamfordham (1849–1931), British officer and Royal Private Secretary
* Charles William Bigge (1773–1849), English banker
* George Bigge (1869–1935), English cricketer and British Army of ...
connects to
Olpe. The Attendorn-Finnentrop aerodrome is situated close to the village of Heggen.
Public institutions
* Rathaus Finnentrop (town hall)
* Erlebnisbad Finto (
natatorium
A swimming pool, swimming bath, wading pool, paddling pool, or simply pool, is a structure designed to hold water to enable swimming or other leisure activities. Pools can be built into the ground (in-ground pools) or built above ground (as ...
)
* Jugendherberge Bamenohl (Germany's first private
youth hostel
A hostel is a form of low-cost, short-term shared sociable lodging where guests can rent a bed, usually a bunk bed in a dormitory, with shared use of a lounge and sometimes a kitchen. Rooms can be mixed or single-sex and have private or shared ...
after the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...
)
* Jugendherberge Heggen (
hostel
* Finnentrop volunteer fire brigade with eleven fire stations
Education
There are six
primary school
A primary school (in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, and South Africa), junior school (in Australia), elementary school or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary e ...
s, one
Hauptschule
A ''Hauptschule'' (, "general school") is a secondary school in Germany, starting after four years of elementary schooling (''Grundschule''), which offers Lower Secondary Education (Level 2) according to the International Standard Classification ...
, one
Realschule
''Realschule'' () is a type of secondary school in Germany, Switzerland and Liechtenstein. It has also existed in Croatia (''realna gimnazija''), the Austrian Empire, the German Empire, Denmark and Norway (''realskole''), Sweden (''realskola''), ...
and one
Gesamtschule
A comprehensive school typically describes a secondary school for pupils aged approximately 11–18, that does not select its intake on the basis of academic achievement or aptitude, in contrast to a selective school system where admission is res ...
.
Famous people
Honorary citizens
* Erwin Oberkalkofen, former mayor
* Ernst Vollmer, former municipality director
Sons and daughters of the municipality
*
Gertrud von Plettenberg († 1608),
Mistress
Mistress is the feminine form of the English word "master" (''master'' + ''-ess'') and may refer to:
Romance and relationships
* Mistress (lover), a term for a woman who is in a sexual and romantic relationship with a man who is married to a ...
of
Ernest of Bavaria
Ernest of Bavaria (german: Ernst von Bayern) (17 December 1554 – 17 February 1612) was Prince-elector-archbishop of the Archbishopric of Cologne from 1583 to 1612 as successor of the expelled Gebhard Truchsess von Waldburg. He was also bishop ...
,
Prince-elector
The prince-electors (german: Kurfürst pl. , cz, Kurfiřt, la, Princeps Elector), or electors for short, were the members of the electoral college that elected the emperor of the Holy Roman Empire.
From the 13th century onwards, the prin ...
-
archbishop of the
Archbishopric of Cologne
The Archdiocese of Cologne ( la, Archidioecesis Coloniensis; german: Erzbistum Köln) is an archdiocese of the Catholic Church in western North Rhine-Westphalia and northern Rhineland-Palatinate in Germany.
History
The Electorate of Colo ...
*
Friedrich Georg Pape (1763−1816), one of the first German democrats
*
Johann Joseph Freidhoff (1768−1818), engraver
*
Alexander Haindorf (1784–1862), doctor, Jewish reformer, psychologist, university lecturer
*
Eduard Bartling (1845−1927), entrepreneur and politician
*
Lawrence Becker (1869–1947), lawyer and judge who served as
Solicitor of the United States Treasury The Solicitor of the Treasury position was created in the United States Department of the Treasury by an act of May 29, 1830 , which changed the name of the Agent of the Treasury.
Function
The Solicitor of the Treasury served as legal advisor to th ...
*
Henry M. Arens (1873−1963), original name ''Heinrich Martin Arens'', politician who served in many offices in
Minnesota
Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...
, including the
U.S. House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they ...
*
Josef Baumhoff (1887−1962), German official, newspaper publisher and politician
*
Kilian Kirchhoff
Padre Kilian Kirchhoff OFM (given name: Josef Kirchhoff; born 18 December 1892 in Rönkhausen; executed 24 April 1944 in Brandenburg-Görden Prison) was a Catholic priest, translator and dissident. He was executed by the Third Reich for critica ...
(1892–1944), priest, translator and dissident
*
Erich Feldmann (1929−1998), Priester, Kirchenhistoriker und Augustinusforscher
*
Klaus-Dieter Uelhoff (born 1936), politician, member of the
Bundestag
The Bundestag (, "Federal Diet") is the German federal parliament. It is the only federal representative body that is directly elected by the German people. It is comparable to the United States House of Representatives or the House of Common ...
*
Reinhard Wilhelm
Reinhard Wilhelm (born June 5, 1946) is a German computer scientist.
Life and work
Wilhelm was born in , today part of the municipality of Finnentrop, Westphalia. He studied math, physics and mathematical logic at University of Münster and co ...
(born 1946), scientist
*
Paul Scheermann (born 1949), soccer player
*
Hilde Mattheis (born 1954), politician, member of the
Bundestag
The Bundestag (, "Federal Diet") is the German federal parliament. It is the only federal representative body that is directly elected by the German people. It is comparable to the United States House of Representatives or the House of Common ...
Famous people who have worked in the municipality
*
John A. Roebling
John Augustus Roebling (born Johann August Röbling; June 12, 1806 – July 22, 1869) was a German-born American civil engineer. He designed and built wire rope suspension bridges, in particular the Brooklyn Bridge, which has been designated as ...
(1806−1869), original name ''Johann August Röbling'', civil engineer, designer of the
Brooklyn Bridge
*
Johannes Dornseiffer (1837−1914), priest, co-founder of many savings and loan companies connected with
Friedrich Wilhelm Raiffeisen
Friedrich Wilhelm Raiffeisen (30 March 1818 – 11 March 1888) was a German mayor and cooperative pioneer. Several credit union systems and cooperative banks have been named after Raiffeisen, who pioneered rural credit unions.
Life
Friedrich Wilhe ...
*
Hermann Hagedorn, (1884–1951), German writer, lyric poet and teacher
*
Angela Maria Autsch (1900−1944), nun of the
Trinitarian Order
The Trinitarians, formally known as the Order of the Most Holy Trinity and of the Captives ( la, Ordo Sanctissimae Trinitatis et Captivorum; abbreviated OSsT), is a mendicant order of the Catholic Church for men founded in Cerfroid, outside Pari ...
, was murdered in the
Auschwitz concentration camp
Artists
*
Andreas Schmidt, film actor and theatre director based out of
Kreuzberg
Kreuzberg () is a district of Berlin, Germany. It is part of the Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg borough located south of Mitte. During the Cold War era, it was one of the poorest areas of West Berlin, but since German reunification in 1990 it ha ...
,
Berlin
Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...
Further reading
* Bitter, Franz, ''Finnentrop Sauerland. Das Pfarrdorf, seine Industrie, der Eisenbahnknotenpunkt und seine Bewohner.'' Finnentrop 1955. edited by Sasse, R., 2005
* Feldmann, Thomas, ''Die Finnentroper Chronik.'' Finnentrop 1994.
* ''Pickert’sche Sammlung'', written by Voss, W., edited by Sasse, R., 200
* further collection of literature from the ''Arbeitskreis für Geschichte und Heimatpflege in der Gemeinde Finnentrop e.V. '
References
External links
*
{{Authority control
Olpe (district)