Halver is a town in Germany.

History

Around 950 the ''Oberhof Halvara'' was first mentioned in the ''Werdener Probsteiregister''. For more than 500 years Halver was the seat of a Fehmic court, the earliest definite evidence of which is in 1243; it ceased to exist in 1753. This court was most famous because of the trial of duke Henry XVI the Rich of

Bavaria Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total lan ...

-Landshut and the knight of Toerring on May 2, 1430. With effect from October 1, 1912 the municipality Halver was split,

Schalksmühle Schalksmühle is a municipality in district Märkischer Kreis, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is the town with the highest rate of millionaires relating to the population in North Rhine-Westphalia(2004). Geography Schalksmühle is located ...

becoming an independent municipality. Both were administered together in the

Amt Halver Amt is a type of administrative division governing a group of municipalities, today only in Germany, but formerly also common in other countries of Northern Europe. Its size and functions differ by country and the term is roughly equivalent to ...

. As part of the communal reforms of the district of

Altena Altena (; Westphalian: ''Altenoa'') is a town in the district of Märkischer Kreis, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. The town's castle is the origin for the later Dukes of Berg. Altena is situated on the Lenne river valley, in the northern stre ...

the ''Amt'' was dissolved on January 1, 1969, and Halver was granted city rights. Nicolai kirche halver alms

Coat of arms

The red and white checked base refers to the

fess In heraldry, a fess or fesse (from Middle English ''fesse'', from Old French ''faisse'', from Latin ''fascia'', "band") is a charge on a coat of arms (or flag) that takes the form of a band running horizontally across the centre of the shiel ...

from the arms of the

Counts of the Mark The County of Mark (german: Grafschaft Mark, links=no, french: Comté de La Marck, links=no colloquially known as ) was a county and state of the Holy Roman Empire in the Lower Rhenish–Westphalian Circle. It lay on both sides of the Ruhr River ...

. The stone judgement table under a linden tree represents the ''Feme'' court. It was designed by

Otto Hupp Hermann Joseph Otto Hubert August Constantin Hupp (May 21, 1859 – January 31, 1949) was a German graphical artist. His main working area was heraldry, yet he also worked as a typeface designer, creating commercial symbols and metal works. Life a ...

, and was granted on March 29, 1935. The ''Amt Halver'' had a separate coat of arms, which was also designed by Otto Hupp. It combined elements from the two member municipalities Halver and Schalksmühle: in the upper part is a linden branch symbolizing Halver, in the bottom the upper half of a black mill wheel as the symbol of Schalksmühle. Separating the two is the red and white checked fess, as above. The coat of arms was granted on June 8, 1936, and expired with the dissolving of the Amt in 1969.

Number of inhabitants

Municipality Halver * 1915: 6.476 * 1925: 7.729 * 1935: 8.122 * 1939: 8.772 * 1946: 12.045 * 1961: 13.684 * 1968: 15.713 Town Halver * 1969: 16.254 * 1978: 16.176 * 1988: 15.399 * 1995: 16.983 * 1999: 17.876 * 2003: 18.111 * 2006: 17.776 * 2008: 17.465 * 2010: 17.159 * 2012: 16.300 * 2014: 16.677

Mayor

At the election in 2015, Michael Brosch (SPD) became the new mayor in Halver, he won against his predecessor Dr. Bernd Eicker.

International relations

The

town twinning A sister city or a twin town relationship is a form of legal or social agreement between two geographically and politically distinct localities for the purpose of promoting cultural and commercial ties. While there are early examples of inter ...

with the Swedish city Katrineholm originated from the connection between a music group from Halver and a traditional dancing group from Katrineholm. It was officially signed on September 30, 1963. On April 25, 1975 the twinning agreement with the French city

Hautmont Hautmont () is a commune in the Nord department in northern France. It is southwest of the centre of Maubeuge, and has 14,500 residents. On August 3, 2008, a narrow but strong F4 tornado swept through the town, as well as Maubeuge, Neuf-Mesni ...

was signed. There has also been a city friendship with Pardess-Hanna in

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

since 1989.

Sons and daughters of the town

Eugen Schmalenbach Eugen Schmalenbach (20 August 1873 – 20 February 1955) was a German academic and economist. He was born in Halver, and attended the Leipzig College of Commerce starting in 1898. That college later became part of Leipzig University, only to e ...

(1873-1955), economist, the local commercial vocational school was named after him

References

External links

*http://www.halver.de {{Authority control Märkischer Kreis