Günthersleben-Wechmar is a former

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 the German state ( Bundesland) of

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 lar ...

in the district of

Gotha Gotha () is the fifth-largest city in Thuringia, Germany, west of Erfurt and east of Eisenach with a population of 44,000. The city is the capital of the Gotha (district), district of Gotha and was also a residence of the Ernestine House of Wet ...

. Since July 2018, it is part of the municipality

Drei Gleichen Drei Gleichen is a municipality in the district of Gotha, in Thuringia, Germany. It was formed on 1 January 2009 by the merger of the former municipalities Grabsleben, Mühlberg, Seebergen and Wandersleben. Since May 1992, these municipalities ...

.Gebietsänderungen von Januar bis Dezember 2018
Statistisches Bundesamt The village of Wechmar is notable for having been the home of the

Bach family The Bach family refers to several notable composers of the baroque and classical periods of music, the best-known of whom was Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750). A family genealogy was drawn up by Johann Sebastian Bach himself in 1735 when he ...

of musicians and composers.

Geography

The A4, one of Germany's primary east-to-west

Autobahn The (; German plural ) is the federal controlled-access highway system in Germany. The official German term is (abbreviated ''BAB''), which translates as 'federal motorway'. The literal meaning of the word is 'Federal Auto(mobile) Track' ...

en, is located adjacent to Günthersleben-Wechmar. Its proximity to the nearby district capital of

, which itself is one of a whole chain of cities and towns following the former ''

Via Regia The Via Regia (Royal Highway) is a European Cultural Route following the route of the historic road of the Middle Ages. There were many such ''viae regiae'' associated with the king in the medieval Holy Roman Empire. History Origins The V ...

'' from Frankfurt to the east, makes it easily accessible and has contributed to the prosperity of its two constituent villages, Günthersleben and Wechmar.

History

The oldest extant document referring to both villages is the ''brevarium lulli'', an inventory of possessions of the abbey of Hersfeld. In this document, dating from 786, they are referred to as ''Wehemare'' and ''Gonresleibin''. Up to the late Middle Ages, no specifically noteworthy historical events took place. Sometime between 1590 and 1600, however, Veit Bach settled in Wechmar, who is seen by most as the "founding father" of the Bach musical family. The most prominent person in this lineage is, of course,

Johann Sebastian Bach Johann Sebastian Bach (28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his orchestral music such as the '' Brandenburg Concertos''; instrumental compositions such as the Cello Suites; keyboard wo ...

, who was the great-great-grandson of Veit Bach and whose grandfather Christoph Bach grew up in Wechmar before taking a position as city musician in

Erfurt Erfurt () is the capital and largest city in the Central German state of Thuringia. It is located in the wide valley of the Gera river (progression: ), in the southern part of the Thuringian Basin, north of the Thuringian Forest. It sits i ...

. Based on these facts, the Village of Wechmar proudly calls itself "Home of the founding fathers of the Bach musical family" (''Urväterheimat der Musikerfamilie Bach''). As of 2006, there are once again some descendants of the Bach family living in Wechmar. During World War II several men and women were brought to the area as forced labour. A family with five children worked on the Swaine family farm in Günthersleben and 70 prisoners of war from Poland on Willy Hesse's estate. Men and women from Ukraine, Poland, and Russia, as well as military prisoners from Italy, were forced to work in the Thüringer Machine factory in Gothaer Straße. A Polish forced labourer was publicly hanged. A stone monument to his memory was erected in 2002..

Famous Residents

The family of the Freiherren von Wechmar can also trace its origins to the village of Wechmar. The former

President of the UN General Assembly The president of the United Nations General Assembly is a position voted by representatives in the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) on a yearly basis. The president is the chair and presiding officer of the General Assembly. Election ...

and former German ambassador to the UN,

Rüdiger von Wechmar Baron Rüdiger von Wechmar (15 November 1923 – 17 October 2007) was a German diplomat. He was West German ambassador to the UN in the 1970s. During the thirty-fifth ordinary and the eighth emergency special sessions, from 1980 to 1981, he was ...

, who is also an honorary citizen of Wechmar, is currently their most prominent member.

Tourist attractions

Buildings in any way connected to the Bach family are, of course, the primary attractions, including the house of Veit Bach and the mill at which members of the Bach family worked as millers. There are, however, quite a few other places in both Günthersleben and Wechmar worth noticing: *The Landhaus Studnitz, with its rococo hall, famous for its ornately painted ceiling *The churches of St Vitus in Wechmar, St. Peter in Günthersleben *The remains of a moated castle in Günthersleben, a rather beautiful artificial island Morgenstimmung in Wechmar.jpg, Sunrise in Wechmar Veit Bach Mühle.jpg, Veit Bach Mill Bachhaus + Bach Museum.jpg, Bach House + Bach Museum Schild am Bach Museum.jpg, Johann Sebastian Bach Logo at the Bach Museum

References

External links

Official site
of Günthersleben-Wechmar * {{DEFAULTSORT:Gunthersleben-Wechmar Articles containing video clips Former municipalities in Thuringia Gotha (district) Saxe-Coburg and Gotha