Wölfis is a village and 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 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 ...
,
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 ...
,
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 ...
. Since 1 January 2019, it is part of the town
Ohrdruf
Ohrdruf () is a small town in the district of Gotha in the German state of Thuringia. It lies some 30 km southwest of Erfurt at the foot of the northern slope of the Thuringian Forest. The former municipalities Crawinkel, Gräfenhain an ...
.
Geography
The village lies in the valley of the stream Schill (formerly Reed Bach) that joins at the northwestern edge of the village with the stream Hopbach (formerly Rotenbach) and forms the border with a military training area in the north. From there, it flows to north of Ohrdruf to the river
Ohra. The biggest part of its territory is occupied by the military training area, immediately adjacent to the northern outskirts of the village. In the south of the village lies the northern edge of the
Thuringian Forest
The Thuringian Forest (''Thüringer Wald'' in German), is a mountain range in the southern parts of the German state of Thuringia, running northwest to southeast. Skirting from its southerly source in foothills to a gorge on its north-west side i ...
. The road
L 2148 passes through the community, northwest to Ohrdruf, and south to
Crawinkel.
History
At the beginning of the 9th Century, the location is mentioned as ''Wolfduze'' in a directory of the Patrimony of
Lullus
Saint Lullus (Lull or Lul) (born about 710 AD in Wessex, died 16 October 786 in Hersfeld) was the first permanent archbishop of Mainz, succeeding Saint Boniface, and first abbot of the Benedictine Hersfeld Abbey. He is historiographically consid ...
,
Archbishop of Mainz.
On 20 January 1735 a fire left over 199 buildings in ruins, including the church parsonage, and both school buildings. Church records were destroyed by fire, creating a scarcity of information on the early history of the village. Using donations, a new church was built, and consecrated on 16 October 1736. By 1780, the village had largely recovered and counted 294 homes, and had 1100 inhabitants.
[Galletti: ''Geschichte und Beschreibung des Herzogthums Gotha'', Gotha 1780, S. 331]
Population
:
Data Source: Thuringian State Office for Statistics
Culture
There has been a tradition of brass music in the village since 1878. Today, there are two town orchestras, the Children and Youth Concert Band (''Kinder und Jugendblasorchester''), as well as Concert Wölfis (''Blasorchester Wölfis''). Both orchestras have 40 members, and are actively appearing at events in Thuringia and other states.
Notable people
*
Wolfgang Heider (1558–1626), professor of ethics and politics (1587) and university librarian (1617–1620) at the University of Jena
*
Hermann Kirchner (1861–1929), musician, composer of the folk song ''Der Holderstrauch''
*
Alexander Freiherr von Wangenheim (1872–1959), Politician (NSDAP)
*
Veronika Fischer (b 1951), singer
* Johann Leon (1530 in Ohrdruf - ca. 1597 in Wölfis), Lutheran pastor and hymn writer
*
Peter Makolies (b. 1936 in
Königsberg
Königsberg (, ) was the historic Prussian city that is now Kaliningrad, Russia. Königsberg was founded in 1255 on the site of the ancient Old Prussian settlement ''Twangste'' by the Teutonic Knights during the Northern Crusades, and was name ...
), German sculptor, grew up in Wölfis
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wolfis
Former municipalities in Thuringia
Gotha (district)
Saxe-Coburg and Gotha