Willingen (official name: ''Willingen (Upland)'') is a municipality in

Waldeck-Frankenberg Waldeck-Frankenberg is a ''Kreis'' (district) in the north of Hesse, Germany. Neighbouring districts are Höxter, Kassel, Schwalm-Eder, Marburg-Biedenkopf, Siegen-Wittgenstein, Hochsauerland. History The district was created in 1972 by merging ...

in northern

Hesse 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 Dar ...

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 ...

, some 80 km west of

Kassel Kassel (; in Germany, spelled Cassel until 1926) is a city on the Fulda River in northern Hesse, Germany. It is the administrative seat of the Regierungsbezirk Kassel and the district of the same name and had 201,048 inhabitants in December 2020 ...

Geography

Location

Willingen is found in Waldeck-Frankenberg district in the Upland. Its main town stretches between two river valleys, the Hoppecke in the west and the Itter in the east. The ski resort Skigebiet Willingen is near. It is located 60 km west of Kassel.

Mühlenkopfschanze Mühlenkopfschanze is a ski jumping hill located in Willingen, Germany. The audience capacity is 35,000. With a K-point of , it is the largest ski jumping hill in the world, and holds World Cup events every year. The current hill record of was s ...

ski jump is also located here.

Neighbouring communities

Willingen borders in the north on the community of

Diemelsee The Diemelsee or Diemel Reservoir (german: Diemelstausee) is a reservoir with a surface area of 1.65 km² and about capacity of 19.9 million m³ on the River Diemel in the counties of Waldeck-Frankenberg in North Hesse, and Hoch ...

, in the east on the town of

Korbach Korbach (pronunciation: ˈkoːɐˌbax), officially the Hanseatic City of Korbach (German: Hansestadt Korbach), is the district seat of Waldeck-Frankenberg in northern Hesse, Germany. It is over a thousand years old and is located on the German Tim ...

, in the south on the community of Medebach, and in the west on the towns of Winterberg, Olsberg and

Brilon Brilon (; Westphalian language, Westphalian: ''Brailen'') is a town in North Rhine-Westphalia, central Germany, that belongs to the Hochsauerlandkreis. Geography Brilon is situated on the Brilon Heights at an altitude of about 450 m on the up ...

(all three in the

Hochsauerlandkreis 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� ...

North Rhine-Westphalia North Rhine-Westphalia (german: Nordrhein-Westfalen, ; li, Noordrien-Wesfale ; nds, Noordrhien-Westfalen; ksh, Noodrhing-Wäßßfaale), commonly shortened to NRW (), is a States of Germany, state (''Land'') in Western Germany. With more tha ...

Constituent communities

Willingen consists of the following centres: * Bömighausen, 300 inhabitants (as of 1 September 2003) * Eimelrod, 582 inhabitants (as of 31. December 2006) * Hemmighausen, 100 inhabitants * Neerdar, 100 inhabitants * Rattlar, 400 inhabitants * Schwalefeld, 900 inhabitants * Usseln, 2,100 inhabitants * Welleringhausen, 100 inhabitants * Willingen, 3,500 inhabitants

History

Willingen was founded in 1874 in the second municipal reform by uniting the villages of Bömighausen, Eimelrod, Hemmighausen, Neerdar, Rattlar, Schwalefeld, Welleringhausen and the climatic spas of Usseln and Willingen. Until 1929, Willingen belonged to the

Free State of Waldeck The Free State of Waldeck-Pyrmont (german: Freistaat Waldeck-Pyrmont), later the Free State of Waldeck (), was a constituent state of the Weimar Republic. It was created following the German Revolution which forced Prince Friedrich of Waldeck an ...

, after which it passed to

Prussia Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an em ...

Politics

Municipal council

Willingen's council is made up of 31 councillors, with seats apportioned thus, in accordance with municipal elections held on 6 March 2016: Note: FWG is a citizens' coalition.

Coat of arms

The field is parted horizontally, below the middle, by a row of interlocking arrows between the gold above and the green below. It is meant, of course, to look like treetops, and refers to the Upland's extensive woods. There are two charges, one inside the other. The eight-pointed black star is the ubiquitous – in terms of the local civic heraldry – Star of Waldeck, borne centuries ago by the Counts of Waldeck when they held sway over the area. The snowflake is included as a charge within the star and is representative of the community's status as a winter resort. The community was granted this coat of arms on 12 June 1974.

Culture and sightseeing

Willingen's landmark is the great railway bridge, ''"Das Viadukt"'', built about 1918. The community thrives mainly on

tourism 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 mor ...

. There were 1.3 million overnight stays in 2003, and attractions include

winter sports Winter sports or winter activities are competitive sports or non-competitive recreational activities which are played on snow or ice. Most are variations of skiing, ice skating and sledding. Traditionally, such games were only played in cold are ...

and

bowling Bowling is a target sport and recreational activity in which a player rolls a ball toward pins (in pin bowling) or another target (in target bowling). The term ''bowling'' usually refers to pin bowling (most commonly ten-pin bowling), thou ...

clubs.

Regular events

Among Willingen's sports events are the International Ski Federation's annual

FIS Ski Jumping World Cup The FIS Ski Jumping World Cup is the world's highest level of ski jumping and the FIS Ski Flying World Cup as the subdivisional part of the competition. It was founded by Torbjørn Yggeseth for the 1979/80 season and organized by the Internatio ...

competition at the

, and the annual ''Mountainbike-Event'' at the

Ettelsberg Ettelsberg is a mountain of Landkreis Waldeck-Frankenberg, Hesse, 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 ...

. Nearby lie the trails of ''Bike Arena Sauerland''.

Transport

Willingen lies on the ''Uplandbahn''

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 ...

line between

and

-Wald.

Gallery

Image:Willingen, kerk1 foto3 2010-08-10 12.14.JPG, Willingen, bar/restaurant in former church building Image:Willingen, spoorviadukt foto1 2010-08-10 12.22.JPG, Willingen, viaduct Image:Usseln, kerk foto4 2010-08-10 12.44.JPG, Usseln, church Image:Tussen Usseln en Dudighausen, panorama foto2 2010-08-10 12.53.JPG, Between Usseln and Düdinghausen, panorama

Notable people

Stephan Leyhe Stephan Leyhe (; born 5 January 1992) is a German ski jumper. He made his World Cup debut in December 2014 in Engelberg Engelberg (lit.: ''mountain of angel(s)'') is a village resort and a municipality in the canton of Obwalden in Switzerlan ...

(born 1992), ski jumper *

Jochen Behle Jochen Behle (born 7 July 1960 in Korbach, Hesse) is a former (West) German cross-country skier who competed from 1980 to 1998. Competing in six Winter Olympics, he earned his best career finish of fourth in the 4 × 10 km relay at Lilleha ...

(born 1960), former cross-country skier and trainer in the cross-country skiing, lives in the district Schwalefeld and started for the SC Willingen *

Tobias Lindner Tobias Lindner (born January 11, 1982 in Karlsruhe) is a German economist and politician of Bündnis 90/Die Grünen who has been serving as member of the Bundestag since 2011, as a list member for Rhineland-Palatinate. Since December 8, 2021, he h ...

(born 1961), former biathlete, grew up in Willingen and started for SC Willingen *

Klaus Huber Klaus Huber (30 November 1924 – 2 October 2017) was a Swiss composer and academic based in Basel and Freiburg. Among his students were Brian Ferneyhough, Michael Jarrell, Younghi Pagh-Paan, Toshio Hosokawa, Wolfgang Rihm, and Kaija Saariaho. ...

(born 1968), former

ski jumping Ski jumping is a winter sport in which competitors aim to achieve the farthest jump after sliding down on their skis from a specially designed curved ramp. Along with jump length, competitor's aerial style and other factors also affect the fina ...

, ski jumping trainer at the SC Willingen * Petra Behle (born 1969), former biathlete, started for SC Willingen * Anna Häfele (born 1989), ski jumping champion, started for SC Willingen

References

External links

* * http://sites.google.com/site/photowithkalirajan/home/trip/germany/20090330 {{Authority control Waldeck-Frankenberg Principality of Waldeck and Pyrmont