Wanfried is a town 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 ...

in northeasternmost

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

. 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 literally means “country town”.

Geography

Location

The town lies right on the boundary with

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 ...

. It is found in 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 northeast of the Schlierbachswald (range). Northeast of Wanfried, beyond the Thuringian boundary, is the neighbouring Eichsfeld-Hainich-Werratal Nature Park. The Hessian middle centre 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 ...

lies only some 11 km upstream to the west. Other nearby towns of its kind are

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 ...

(some 25 km to the east) and

Eisenach Eisenach () is a town in Thuringia, Germany with 42,000 inhabitants, located west of Erfurt, southeast of Kassel and northeast of Frankfurt. It is the main urban centre of western Thuringia and bordering northeastern Hessian regions, situat ...

(some 28 km to the southeast), both of which lie in Thuringia.

Neighbouring communities

Wanfried borders in the north on the community of Geismar, and more particularly on its constituent community of Döringsdorf (in

’s Eichsfeld district), in the east on the communities of Hildebrandshausen and Katharinenberg (both in Thuringia’s

Unstrut-Hainich-Kreis Unstrut-Hainich-Kreis is a ''Kreis'' (district) in the north of Thuringia, Germany. Neighboring districts are (from the north clockwise) the districts Eichsfeld, Kyffhäuserkreis, Sömmerda, Gotha, Wartburgkreis and the district Werra-Meißner i ...

), in the southeast and the south on the town of

Treffurt Treffurt () is a small town in the western region of the Wartburgkreis district which belongs to the federal state of Thuringia. The former municipality Ifta was merged into Treffurt in January 2019. The town lies near the Werra and is surrounded ...

(in Thuringia’s

Wartburgkreis Wartburgkreis is a ''Kreis'' (district) in the west of Thuringia, Germany. Neighboring districts are (from the north clockwise) the districts Unstrut-Hainich-Kreis, Gotha, Schmalkalden-Meiningen, and the districts Fulda, Hersfeld-Rotenburg and Wer ...

) and in the west on the town of

and the community of

Meinhard Meinhard is a municipality in the Werra-Meißner-Kreis in Hesse, Germany. Geography Location The community lies in the North Hesse Low Mountain Range landscape on the edge of the Werra valley, 3 km from the district seat of Eschwege. Near ...

, and more particularly on its constituent community of Frieda (both in the Werra-Meißner-Kreis).

Constituent communities

Wanfried’s '' Stadtteile'' are Wanfried (main town), Altenburschla, Aue,

Heldra Heldra is a village in the Werra-Meißner-Kreis on northeastern edge of Hesse, Germany. For administrative purposes it has been, since 1972, part of Wanfried, but the district is a rural one and Wanfried is 7 km (4 miles) away to the nort ...

and Völkershausen.

History

Wanfried is an ancient town. When

Saint Boniface Boniface, OSB ( la, Bonifatius; 675 – 5 June 754) was an English Benedictines, Benedictine monk and leading figure in the Anglo-Saxon mission to the Germanic parts of the Frankish Empire during the eighth century. He organised significant ...

came to this area, it was already here. There were even already Christians here. He built the first churches. Even on the Hülfensberg he built a church and a

monastery A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes a place reserved for prayer which ...

. While gazing from the Hülfensberg, Saint Boniface supposedly said, according to legend, “Wann wird endlich Frieden schweben über dieser schönen Aue?” (“When will peace at last hover over this lovely floodplain?).

Folk etymology Folk etymology (also known as popular etymology, analogical reformation, reanalysis, morphological reanalysis or etymological reinterpretation) is a change in a word or phrase resulting from the replacement of an unfamiliar form by a more famili ...

holds that this yielded the local placenames Wanfried, Frieda, Schwebda and Aue. As a place in a border area, Wanfried, which had already been mentioned by 813 under the names ''In wanen In Riden'' and ''Uuanenreodum'', was often the object of territorial swaps and pledges by both the

Hessian A Hessian is an inhabitant of the German state of Hesse. Hessian may also refer to: Named from the toponym *Hessian (soldier), eighteenth-century German regiments in service with the British Empire **Hessian (boot), a style of boot **Hessian f ...

and

Thuringian Thuringian is an East Central German dialect group spoken in much of the modern German Free State of Thuringia north of the Rennsteig ridge, southwestern Saxony-Anhalt and adjacent territories of Hesse and Bavaria. It is close to Upper Saxon spo ...

Landgraves, whose spheres of interest came up against each other here. After the Battle of Wettin (1264), the community mentioned at this time as ''Wenefridun'' was ceded to Thuringia. To expand his new Hessian Landgraviate,

Henry I Henry I may refer to: 876–1366 * Henry I the Fowler, King of Germany (876–936) * Henry I, Duke of Bavaria (died 955) * Henry I of Austria, Margrave of Austria (died 1018) * Henry I of France (1008–1060) * Henry I the Long, Margrave of the No ...

bought the communities of Wanfried and Frieda and a few villages in the

Eichsfeld The Eichsfeld ( or ; English: ''Oak-field'') is a historical region in the southeast of the state of Lower Saxony (which is called "Untereichsfeld" = lower Eichsfeld) and northwest of the state of Thuringia ("Obereichsfeld" = upper Eichsfeld) in th ...

from the Thuringian Landgrave in 1306. A few years later, with and assault by Hermann II of

, began the violent disputes over Wanfried’s ownership. Hermann managed to take the place in a surprise attack; however, he could not keep it in the long run. In 1336, Hermann’s castle, Normannstein was taken by a coalition of Hessian,

Electoral Mainz The Electorate of Mainz (german: Kurfürstentum Mainz or ', la, Electoratus Moguntinus), previously known in English as Mentz and by its French name Mayence, was one of the most prestigious and influential states of the Holy Roman Empire. In the ...

and Saxonian troops. After the booty had been shared out among the victors, the Hessian Landgrave

Otto I Otto I (23 November 912 – 7 May 973), traditionally known as Otto the Great (german: Otto der Große, it, Ottone il Grande), was East Francia, East Frankish king from 936 and Holy Roman Emperor from 962 until his death in 973. He was the olde ...

sought to link the new, isolated properties to his territory by a territorial corridor. To this end, he acquired in 1365 from the Lords at

Völkershausen Völkershausen is a village and a former municipality in the Wartburgkreis district of Thuringia, Germany. Since 31 December 2013, it is part of the town Vacha. On 13 March 1989, it was struck by an earthquake of magnitude 5.6, which was triggere ...

their court rights over the villages of Altenburschla, Döringsdorf,

, Helderbach, Rambach and Weißenborn. Before Wanfried passed for good to the Hessian Landgraves, there were once again conflicts with neighbouring Thuringia in the course of the ''Sternerkrieg'' (war), in the late 14th century. Wanfried was raised to town on 30 August 1608 through Hessian Landgrave Moritz’s privilege, and was granted market rights, too. In 1616, the town of Wanfried was named in the ''Verzeichnis der fürnembsten Städte Europas'' (“Directory of Europe’s Finest Cities”) as an important trading centre. As a starting point for shipping on the Werra, whose river system had been secured by locks at

and Allendorf, the town grew into a trading centre in which wares of all kinds were traded. After the goods had cleared the ''Auf der Schlagd'' customs office, they were consigned to the town's warehouses, shortly thereafter to be shipped out again overland. The shippers brought mostly goods from the coastal cities bound especially for Thuringia and Bavaria, important destinations there being the trading centres of

Leipzig Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as wel ...

and

Nuremberg Nuremberg ( ; german: link=no, Nürnberg ; in the local East Franconian dialect: ''Nämberch'' ) is the second-largest city of the German state of Bavaria after its capital Munich, and its 518,370 (2019) inhabitants make it the 14th-largest ...

. In the

Thirty Years' War The Thirty Years' War was one of the longest and most destructive conflicts in European history The history of Europe is traditionally divided into four time periods: prehistoric Europe (prior to about 800 BC), classical antiquity (80 ...

, the town was sacked by Tilly's troops on 25 June 1626. In 1627, Wanfried belonged to the domain of the ''Rotenburger Quart'' and as of 1667 was residence of the

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 ...

sideline of

Hesse-Wanfried The mini-state Hesse-Wanfried existed from about 1700 to 1731. It was a principality (Landgraviate) of the Holy Roman Empire in the area of the today's Land of Hesse. Governed by a cadet line of the House of Hesse under the sovereignty of the land ...

. In 1667, Landgrave Karl moved into the palace here as founder of the line. Karl's sons, Wilhelm and Christian, ruled here until their line died out in 1755. In accordance with the house agreement, the Landgraviate of Hesse-Wanfried then passed back to Hesse-Rotenburg. In 1834, Hesse-Rotenburg itself passed back to the main line of

Hesse-Kassel The Landgraviate of Hesse-Kassel (german: Landgrafschaft Hessen-Kassel), spelled Hesse-Cassel during its entire existence, was a state in the Holy Roman Empire that was directly subject to the Emperor. The state was created in 1567 when the Lan ...

. Wanfried's former importance as an entrepôt is confirmed by a trader's balance sheet from the time about the end of the 16th century and beginning of the 17th. At this time, goods shipped out amounted to 80,000

hundredweight The hundredweight (abbreviation: cwt), formerly also known as the centum weight or quintal, is a British imperial and US customary unit of weight or mass. Its value differs between the US and British imperial systems. The two values are distingu ...

yearly, and the turnover came in at 132,000 hundredweight. Preferred goods were

coffee Coffee is a drink prepared from roasted coffee beans. Darkly colored, bitter, and slightly acidic, coffee has a stimulant, stimulating effect on humans, primarily due to its caffeine content. It is the most popular hot drink in the world. S ...

sugar Sugar is the generic name for sweet-tasting, soluble carbohydrates, many of which are used in food. Simple sugars, also called monosaccharides, include glucose, fructose, and galactose. Compound sugars, also called disaccharides or double ...

, oil, spices,

tobacco Tobacco is the common name of several plants in the genus '' Nicotiana'' of the family Solanaceae, and the general term for any product prepared from the cured leaves of these plants. More than 70 species of tobacco are known, but the ...

wool Wool is the textile fibre obtained from sheep and other mammals, especially goats, rabbits, and camelids. The term may also refer to inorganic materials, such as mineral wool and glass wool, that have properties similar to animal wool. As ...

len goods,

wine Wine is an alcoholic drink typically made from fermented grapes. Yeast consumes the sugar in the grapes and converts it to ethanol and carbon dioxide, releasing heat in the process. Different varieties of grapes and strains of yeasts are m ...

honey Honey is a sweet and viscous substance made by several bees, the best-known of which are honey bees. Honey is made and stored to nourish bee colonies. Bees produce honey by gathering and then refining the sugary secretions of plants (primar ...

and fish. It was at this time that the stately trade houses arose on the market street, great townsmen's houses, inns, hostels, a stock exchange and a brewery. In the latter half of the 19th century, shipping on the Werra shrank ever more in importance as inland goods transport shifted to the

railway Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...

s. Wanfried was linked to the rail network in 1902 by the ''Werratalbahn''. In the 19th century, the trading town of Wanfried saw a boom in its wealth. The walls and towers were razed and the old town hall was torn down. The town's former glamour has been outlasted by the stately

timber-frame Timber framing (german: Holzfachwerk) and "post-and-beam" construction are traditional methods of building with heavy timbers, creating structures using squared-off and carefully fitted and joined timbers with joints secured by large wooden ...

houses, which form an almost unbroken set. The inhabitants have been overwhelmingly

Protestant Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...

since the

Reformation The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and in ...

. The small

parish (founded in 1908) grew greatly 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 opposin ...

from all the Ethnic German refugees from Eastern Europe . The time from March through June 1945 in nazi-administered and American liberated Wanfried is described by Agnes Humbert from her viewpoint as a former French political prisoner and badly mistreated slave-labourer in her diary ''Notre guerre, souvenirs de Resistance'' (''Résistance, Memoirs of Occupied France''). In 1945, at the Wanfried lordly seat, the Kalkhof, the

Wanfried agreement The Wanfried Agreement (German: ''Wanfrieder Abkommen'') concerned a transfer of territory between the U.S. and Soviet occupation zones after World War II in Hesse, Germany, which took place after the determination of the main inner German bord ...

, a territorial swap between the

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

and

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

zones of occupation along the so-called Whisky-Vodka Line (a local railway, not the border), was signed. Under the pseudonym “Friedheim”, the small town on the zonal border cropped up in producer Niklaus Schilling's feature films '' The Willi Busch Report'' and ', produced respectively a few years before and in the year after

German reunification German reunification (german: link=no, Deutsche Wiedervereinigung) was the process of re-establishing Germany as a united and fully sovereign state, which took place between 2 May 1989 and 15 March 1991. The day of 3 October 1990 when the Ge ...

. Wanfried – or Friedheim – stood for a very quiet place about which not much was ever heard, but into which a local newspaper editor sought to bring some life by himself secretly initiating incidents on the border so that he could then report them in his paper. The town of Wanfried celebrated its 400-year jubilee of the granting of town rights in 2008.

Politics

Town council

The municipal election held on 26 March 2006 yielded the following results: Heading the town council is Frank Susebach (SPD).

Mayors

Since October 2007, Wilhelm Gebhard (CDU) has been the mayor. He beat his opponent, Otto Frank (SPD), who held office from 1989 to 2007, with 51.7% of the vote. Unopposed, he was re-elected in 2013, gaining 92.52%. The turnout was 55.35%. He was re-elected in May 2019. This time he got 82.68%, while a rival candidate got 17.32%. The turnout was 69.89%.https://www.wanfried.de/amtliche-bekanntmachung-vom-04-06-2019-bekanntmachung-des-endgueltigen-wahlergebnisses-und-des-namens-des-gewaehlten-bewerbers-der-wahl-des-buergermeisters-in-der-stadt-wanfried-am-26-mai-2019/ Result of election May 2019. Retrieved August 14, 2019

Coat of arms

The town's

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 ...

might be described thus: Gules a bordure argent surmounted by the bust of a knight armoured proper. Even the oldest known seal, from 1578, showed the knight. It could be a rendering of

Roland Roland (; frk, *Hrōþiland; lat-med, Hruodlandus or ''Rotholandus''; it, Orlando or ''Rolando''; died 15 August 778) was a Frankish military leader under Charlemagne who became one of the principal figures in the literary cycle known as the ...

, which was put in the arms as a sign of the lawcourt. It is also conceivable that the arms are

canting ' (IPA: , VOS Spelling: ''tjanting'', jv, ꦕꦤ꧀ꦛꦶꦁ, Tjanting) is a pen-like tool used to apply liquid hot wax ( jv, ) in the batik-making process in Indonesia, more precisely '' batik tulis'' (lit. "written batik"). Traditional ''T ...

with the knight standing as a peacekeeper in this former, once constantly contested bordertown. ''Wahr’ ’n Fried'' would, after all, be a rather vernacular way of saying “Keep the peace” in

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 **Ger ...

, and it does sound rather like “Wanfried”.

Town partnerships

Plouescat Plouescat (; ) is a commune in the Finistère department of Brittany in north-western France. It is a seaside resort, complete with a casino and a large camping and caravanning site, adjacent to its extensive beach of fine, powdery sand. The reg ...

Finistère Finistère (, ; br, Penn-ar-Bed ) is a department of France in the extreme west of Brittany. In 2019, it had a population of 915,090.

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

* Schörfling am Attersee,

Upper Austria Upper Austria (german: Oberösterreich ; bar, Obaöstareich) is one of the nine states or of Austria. Its capital is Linz. Upper Austria borders Germany and the Czech Republic, as well as the other Austrian states of Lower Austria, Styria, a ...

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

The outlying centre of Altenburschla has the following sister village: * Villeneuve-les-Sablons,

Oise Oise ( ; ; pcd, Oése) is a department in the north of France. It is named after the river Oise. Inhabitants of the department are called ''Oisiens'' () or ''Isariens'', after the Latin name for the river, Isara. It had a population of 829,419 ...

, France

Culture and sightseeing

Museums

* Wanfried local museum at the ''Keudellsches Schloss'' * Documentation centre for German postwar history * Village museum in the outlying centre of

Buildings

* Schlagd, old harbour on the Werra with

warehouses * ''Keudellsches Schloss'' * Wanfried Landgrave’s palace * Historic Town Hall, built in the 17th century * ''Harm'sches Haus'' from the time of river shipping * Hotel "Zum Schwan", lavishly restored timber-frame house from 1690 * Old Post, former Thurn-und-Taxis postal house, built in 1751 * Aue lordly seat from 1576 and ruins of the Aue

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 castle * Ruins of an old fief house (in Völkershausen, Schlierbachswald) * Hostel "Im Kleegarten" in Heldra, lavishly restored estate aus from the 17th century that has already won a number of prizes for monument protection

Natural monuments

* Plesse (479.6 m above

sea level Mean sea level (MSL, often shortened to sea level) is an average surface level of one or more among Earth's coastal bodies of water from which heights such as elevation may be measured. The global MSL is a type of vertical datuma standardised g ...

), mountain with 60 m-tall light limestone rock face and the "Plesseturm" (tower), near Wanfried * Heldrastein (503.8 m above sea level; “King of the Werra valley”), mountain with 62 m-tall and 2 km-wide rock face and the "Turm der Einheit" (“Unity Tower”), near Treffurt *

Hülfensberg The Hülfensberg (called Stuffenberg in the Middle Ages) is a 448 m high, heavily wooded mountain in the Geismar municipality in the Eichsfeld district, Thuringia, Germany. The mountain has been a pilgrimage site since the late Middle Ages, and ...

(448.2 m above sea level), richly wooded mountain and

pilgrimage A pilgrimage is a journey, often into an unknown or foreign place, where a person goes in search of new or expanded meaning about their self, others, nature, or a higher good, through the experience. It can lead to a personal transformation, aft ...

site near Geismar

Sport

* Schützenverein Wanfried 1568 (shooting club) * VfL Wanfried; biggest sport club in Wanfried and second biggest club in the

* Wanfried is the district’s team handball stronghold.

Leisure

* Outdoor swimming pool * Playing field with skating complex

Regular events

* "Schmandfest" (smetana festival) every August * "Volks-, Schützen-, und Heimatfest" (folk, shooting and local history festival) yearly on the second weekend in July * Christmas market on the second Saturday in December * "Strohbärenfest" (“Straw Bear Festival”) in Heldra (on Ash Wednesday) * Jazz-Matinee; Kalkhof in early summer * Wanfrieder Lesung (“reading”); in summer * Soapbox derby; yearly towards the end of summer holidays * "Weinfest"; yearly on the third Saturday in September * "Mountainbike-Orientierungsfahrt"; yearly on the second Saturday in October

Economy and infrastructure

Transport

Through Wanfried, which lies on the "Deutsche Fachwerkstraße" (“German Timber Frame Road”), run ''

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'' ...

n'' 250 and 249.

Education

The town has at its disposal one

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 ...

(Gerhart-Hauptmann-Schule) and one integrated

comprehensive school 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 ...

(Elisabeth-Selbert-Schule), which since the 2006-2007 schoolyear has been functioning as a branch school of the Anne-Frank-Schule in

References

External links

Town’s official webpage

Premiumwanderweg 6 Heldrastein
{{Authority control Werra-Meißner-Kreis