Mörfelden-Walldorf
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Mörfelden-Walldorf () is a town in the Groß-Gerau district, situated in the
Frankfurt Rhine-Main The Rhine-Main Metropolitan Region, often simply referred to as Frankfurt Rhine-Main, Frankfurt Rhine-Main area or Rhine-Main area (German: ''Rhein-Main-Gebiet'', ''Frankfurt/Rhein-Main'' or ''FrankfurtRheinMain'', abbreviated FRM), is the third-l ...
region in the federal state (Bundesland)
Hesse Hesse or Hessen ( ), officially the State of Hesse (), is a States of Germany, state in Germany. Its capital city is Wiesbaden, and the largest urban area is Frankfurt, which is also the country's principal financial centre. Two other major hist ...
,
Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...
.


Geography


Location

Mörfelden-Walldorf is situated within a triangle formed by the South Hessian cities of
Frankfurt am Main Frankfurt am Main () is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 773,068 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the List of cities in Germany by population, fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located in the forela ...
,
Darmstadt Darmstadt () is a city in the States of Germany, state of Hesse in Germany, located in the southern part of the Frankfurt Rhine Main Area, Rhine-Main-Area (Frankfurt Metropolitan Region). Darmstadt has around 160,000 inhabitants, making it the ...
and
Wiesbaden Wiesbaden (; ) is the capital of the German state of Hesse, and the second-largest Hessian city after Frankfurt am Main. With around 283,000 inhabitants, it is List of cities in Germany by population, Germany's 24th-largest city. Wiesbaden form ...
, near Frankfurt International Airport.


Neighbouring communities

Mörfelden-Walldorf borders in the north on the district-free city of
Frankfurt am Main Frankfurt am Main () is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 773,068 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the List of cities in Germany by population, fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located in the forela ...
and the town of
Neu-Isenburg Neu-Isenburg (, ) is a town in Germany, located in the Offenbach (district), Offenbach district of Hesse. It is part of the Frankfurt Rhein-Main Regional Authority, Frankfurt Rhein-Main urban area and has a population of 38,204 (2020). The town i ...
( Offenbach district), in the east on the town of Langen and the community of Egelsbach (both in Offenbach district), in the south on the community of Erzhausen, the town of Weiterstadt (both in Darmstadt-Dieburg) and the community of Büttelborn, and in the west on the town of Groß-Gerau, the community of Nauheim and the town of Rüsselsheim.


Constituent communities

As its name suggests, Mörfelden-Walldorf consists of two constituent communities, named Mörfelden and Walldorf. There was a third one, called Guntheim, which once lay within the current municipal area of Mörfelden-Walldorf, but it was abandoned in 1647.


History

Mörfelden was first mentioned in the ''"Lorscher Reichsurbar"'' of 830 to 850 under the name "Mersenualt". The church was mentioned as early as 1304 as being the "Parish Church with branch at the Gundhof". During the
Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...
, the surrounding
forest A forest is an ecosystem characterized by a dense ecological community, community of trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, ...
s belonged to the Dreieich Royal Hunting Woods (''Wildbann Dreieich''), which maintained one of its 30 woods in Mörfelden. In 1600, Mörfelden passed to Hesse-Darmstadt. In the 15th and 16th centuries, Mörfelden became a significant tradepost with a population of 500, but the
Thirty Years' War The Thirty Years' War, fought primarily in Central Europe between 1618 and 1648, was one of the most destructive conflicts in History of Europe, European history. An estimated 4.5 to 8 million soldiers and civilians died from battle, famine ...
set back the development of the village. It was repeatedly plundered and ravaged, and the plague took its toll. In the 19th century, however, the village benefited anew from economic development, and from the arrival of a railway line. The village developed early on into a community of workers, who commuted towards nearby cities. The inhabitants specialised as construction workers, and Mörfelden became known as the "bricklayers village

After
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, many refugees and expellees from Germany's former Eastern territories settled here. Mörfelden was raised to town status in 1972. Walldorf was founded in 1699 as " Waldenserkolonie am Gundhof", was given the name Walldorf in 1715 and was raised to town status in 1962. From about 23 August to 24 November 1944, there was a
concentration camp A concentration camp is a prison or other facility used for the internment of political prisoners or politically targeted demographics, such as members of national or ethnic minority groups, on the grounds of national security, or for exploitati ...
in Walldorf into which were brought 1,700
Jew Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, religion, and community are highly inte ...
ish girls and women from
Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...
to work at
runway In aviation, a runway is an elongated, rectangular surface designed for the landing and takeoff of an aircraft. Runways may be a human-made surface (often asphalt concrete, asphalt, concrete, or a mixture of both) or a natural surface (sod, ...
and
taxiway A taxiway is a path for aircraft at an airport connecting runways with Airport apron, aprons, hangars, Airport terminal, terminals and other facilities. They mostly have a hard surface such as Asphalt concrete, asphalt or concrete, although sma ...
expansion and repair at Frankfurt Airport. This chapter in the town's history had been forgotten until 1972 when three interested youths rediscovered it. Since then, a film called ''Rollbahn'' has dealt with the theme. The town of Mörfelden-Walldorf came into being on 1 January 1977 through the merger of the until then independent towns of Mörfelden and Walldorf in the face of pressure from Frankfurt to amalgamate with that city. Guntheim is the third community in Mörfelden-Walldorf's history. It lay in Walldorf's northeast. It had its first documentary mention in 1307 under the name ''villa Guntheim''. There was also a Gunthof nearby, but the Gunthof (always with the definite article) came to be part of Guntheim in the 15th century through division of inheritance. The village ceased to be a population centre in 1647. Guntheim was established in
Merovingian The Merovingian dynasty () was the ruling family of the Franks from around the middle of the 5th century until Pepin the Short in 751. They first appear as "Kings of the Franks" in the Roman army of northern Gaul. By 509 they had united all the ...
times (481 – 560) as a Frankish military colony at the junction of some old
Roman road Roman roads ( ; singular: ; meaning "Roman way") were physical infrastructure vital to the maintenance and development of the Roman state, built from about 300 BC through the expansion and consolidation of the Roman Republic and the Roman Em ...
s in the forest.


Politics

The so-called workers' parties have traditionally been strong in Mörfelden-Walldorf. Both communities, then independent local authorities, were strongholds of the KPD. Before 1933, the "bricklayers village" Mörfelden had the first Communist mayor in the state of Hesse, and was nicknamed " Little Moscow". In the elections of March 13, 1932, the Communist candidate Ernst Thälmann received 1,737 votes in the town, against 850 for Hindenburg and just 264 for
Hitler Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was the dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his suicide in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the lea ...
. Once the
Nazis Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...
established itself in power, 70 KPD members in the village, which had just 5,000 inhabitants at the time, were deported to the concentration camp Osthofenbr>
At the municipal elections held on 26 March 2006, the SPD remained the strongest party despite notable losses. The overall winner was the German Communist Party, DKP, which has been represented on town council here since the 1970s. The town is one of only a few remaining DKP strongholds in Germany, along with nearby Reinheim, the towns of
Bottrop Bottrop () is a city in west-central Germany, on the Rhine–Herne Canal, in North Rhine-Westphalia. Located in the Ruhr area, Ruhr industrial area, Bottrop adjoins Essen, Oberhausen, Gladbeck, and Dorsten. The city had been a coal-mining and ...
,
Essen Essen () is the central and, after Dortmund, second-largest city of the Ruhr, the largest urban area in Germany. Its population of makes it the fourth-largest city of North Rhine-Westphalia after Cologne, Düsseldorf and Dortmund, as well as ...
-North and
Gladbeck Gladbeck () is a town in the district of Recklinghausen (district), Recklinghausen in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Gladbeck is quite a young town, first recognised 21 July 1919 when it was given town rights. The town established itself aroun ...
in the Ruhr area, and Heidenheim and Püttlingen. Mörfelden-Walldorf's council is made up of 45 councillors, with seats apportioned thus, in accordance with municipal elections held on 26 March 2006: Mayoral elections were held in 2019, so there is a new town mayor Thomas Winkler (Alliance 90/The Greens) since 20 July 2019. He was the winner in second round with 57%. Mayoral elections were also held in 2007. In the first round, SPD candidate Heinz Peter Becker received 48.4% of the vote, CDU candidate Bernd Körner received 29,2%, and the DKP candidate Gerhard Schulmeyer received 11.9%. There were some notable differences between the two communities; in Walldorf, Körner received 33.2% and in Mörfelden just 24.8%, whereas in Mörfelden, Schulmeyer received 16.9%, and in Walldorf just 7.4

In the second round, Becker defeated Körner by 59.8% to 40.2%. As new mayor, he succeeded the SPD politician Bernhard Brehl.


Coat of arms

Mörfelden-Walldorf's civic
coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldry, heraldic communication design, visual design on an escutcheon (heraldry), escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the last two being outer garments), originating in Europe. The coat of arms on an escutcheon f ...
might heraldically be described thus: In gules an oak tree with six leaves and three acorns argent, thereover per saltire two flails Or, entwined about which, ends downturned, a horseshoe sable. The town's current arms are a composite of Mörfelden's and Walldorf's old arms from the time before they were unite

Both Mörfelden's and Walldorf's arms had an
oak An oak is a hardwood tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' of the beech family. They have spirally arranged leaves, often with lobed edges, and a nut called an acorn, borne within a cup. The genus is widely distributed in the Northern Hemisp ...
tree as one of the charges, the former having a red oak on a silver shield and the latter the reverse. Furthermore, Mörfelden's arms had the black
horseshoe A horseshoe is a product designed to protect a horse hoof from wear. Shoes are attached on the palmar surface (ground side) of the hooves, usually nailed through the insensitive hoof wall that is anatomically akin to the human toenail, altho ...
over the oak whereas Walldorf's had the crossed golden flails. Walldorf only began using arms in the early 19th century, at which time the mayor's chain of office bore a shield with the oak, the flails and the letter W. Much the same composition was officially adopted as the village's arms in 1927, but without the W. The oak is said to stand for the forests, especially the Dreieich Hunting Woods, and the flails are said to symbolize agricultur

Mörfelden's armorial history is somewhat longer. A seal from 1612 (but dating from the previous century) has more or less the same composition, with the oak and the horseshoe. Likewise, the oak stands for the Dreieich Hunting Woods. The horseshoe is apparently an older village symbol. The arms were adopted in 1900, although this was not made official until 192

There also seems to have been a compromise as to the number of leaves borne by the oak. Mörfelden's arms had five and Walldorf's had eight, whereas Mörfelden-Walldorf's have six.


Economy

Martinair Martinair (legally ''Martinair Holland N.V.'') is a Dutch cargo and former passenger airline headquartered and based at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol. The airline was founded in 1958 by Martin Schröder (aviator), Martin Schröder, and is currently ...
operates its German office in Mörfelden-Walldorf.


Sights

Mörfelden Brunnen und Fachwerkhäuser.jpg, Mörfelden ev. Kirche.jpg, Mörfelden Gasthof Goldener Apfel.jpg, * Walldorf: Gundhof * Mörfelden: Dalles * Mörfelden: Watertower


Culture


Festivals

* Anglerfest Walldorf * Altstadtfest (Old Town Festival – not regular) * Faschingsdisco "Rummel im Busch" * Gickelfest Walldorf * Gottesdienste in der Hüttenkirche * Grillfest am Dalles des Kegelclubs Olympia Mörfelden * Hinkelfest Mörfelden * Historienfest am Gundhof (history fair) * Hüttenfest der Angler Mörfelden * Jazzfest * Latwejefest * Merfeller Kerb (church fair on St. Gallus's Day – 16 October) *„Rund um die Kersch" (Kirche) (Evangelical parish festival) * Skulpturen im Park-Festival (every summer) * Vatertagsfeste * Walldorfer Kerb (church fair) * Weinfest (wine festival)


Museums

*Mörfelder Heimatmuseum *Walldorfer Heimatmuseum (both local history museums)


Twin towns – sister cities

Mörfelden-Walldorf is twinned with: *
Torre Pellice Torre Pellice ( Vivaro-Alpine: ''La Torre de Pèlis'') is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Turin in the Italian region Piedmont, located about southwest of Turin Turin ( , ; ; , then ) is a city and an important bu ...
, Italy * Vitrolles, France *
Wageningen Wageningen () is a Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality and a historic city in the central Netherlands, in the province of Gelderland. It is famous for Wageningen University, which specialises in life sciences. The municipality had a ...
, Netherlands


See also

*
Waldensians The Waldensians, also known as Waldenses (), Vallenses, Valdesi, or Vaudois, are adherents of a church tradition that began as an ascetic movement within Western Christianity before the Reformation. Originally known as the Poor of Lyon in the l ...


References


External links

*
Walldorf concentration camp


{{DEFAULTSORT:Morfelden-Walldorf Groß-Gerau (district)