Mücke is a municipality in the

Vogelsbergkreis The Vogelsbergkreis is a ''Kreis'' (district) in the middle of Hesse, Germany. Neighbouring districts are Schwalm-Eder, Hersfeld-Rotenburg, Fulda, Main-Kinzig, Wetteraukreis, Gießen and Marburg-Biedenkopf. History The district was created in ...

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

Mücke lies from 200 to 350 m above

sea level Mean sea level (MSL, often shortened to sea level) is an mean, average surface level of one or more among Earth's coastal Body of water, bodies of water from which heights such as elevation may be measured. The global MSL is a type of vertical ...

in the northwest foothills of the

Vogelsberg Mountains The Vogelsberg () is a large volcanic mountain range in the German Central Uplands in the state of Hesse, separated from the Rhön Mountains by the Fulda river valley. Emerging approximately 19 million years ago, the Vogelsberg is Central Eu ...

on the upper reaches of the river

Ohm Ohm (symbol Ω) is a unit of electrical resistance named after Georg Ohm. Ohm or OHM may also refer to: People * Georg Ohm (1789–1854), German physicist and namesake of the term ''ohm'' * Germán Ohm (born 1936), Mexican boxer * Jörg Ohm (1 ...

, a tributary to the

Lahn The Lahn () is a , right (or eastern) tributary of the Rhine in Germany. Its course passes through the States of Germany, federal states of North Rhine-Westphalia (23.0 km), Hesse (165.6 km), and Rhineland-Palatinate (57.0 km). ...

Neighbouring communities

Mücke borders in the north on the town of Homberg, in the northeast on the community of Gemünden, in the east on the community of Feldatal and the town of Ulrichstein, in the south on the town of

Laubach Laubach () is a town of approximately 10,000 people in the Gießen (region), Gießen region of Hesse, Germany. Laubach is known as a ', a climatic health resort. It is situated east of Gießen. Surrounding Laubach are the towns of Hungen, Grünbe ...

(

Gießen Giessen, spelled in German (), is a town in the German state () of Hesse, capital of both the district of Giessen and the administrative region of Giessen. The population is approximately 90,000, with roughly 37,000 university students. Th ...

district), and in the west on the town of Ulrichstein and the community of Grünberg (Gießen district).

Constituent communities

The community came into being, like many other communities through Hesse's municipal reforms, with the amalgamation of twelve formerly independent communities. These are listed here:

*Atzenhain *Bernsfeld *Flensungen *Groß-Eichen *Höckersdorf *Ilsdorf *Merlau (including Kirschgarten) *Nieder-Ohmen (including Windhain) *Ober-Ohmen *Ruppertenrod *Sellnrod (including Schmitten) *Wettsaasen Among these, Nieder-Ohmen with its 2,800 inhabitants is by far the biggest. The centre of Ilsdorf bears a certain peculiarity. Until the municipal reforms, one part of Ilsdorf lay in the old district of Alsfeld, whereas the other parts were called Solms-Ilsdorf and lay in the Gießen district. This owed itself to the village's history. Ilsdorf had formerly been a part of the Province of Upper Hesse in the

Landgraviate of Hesse-Darmstadt The Landgraviate of Hesse-Darmstadt () was a Imperial State, State of the Holy Roman Empire, ruled by a younger branch of the House of Hesse. It was formed in 1567 following the division of the Landgraviate of Hesse among the four sons of Landgr ...

, while Solms-Ilsdorf was ruled by the Counts of Solms. Even today, this former split can still be seen in Ilsdorf, as the village has two

cemeteries A cemetery, burial ground, gravesite, graveyard, or a green space called a memorial park or memorial garden, is a place where the remains of many dead people are buried or otherwise entombed. The word ''cemetery'' (from Greek ) implies th ...

at its disposal. Before the municipal reforms, there was no place with the name "Mücke", but there was a Mücke

railway station Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...

on the

Fulda Fulda () (historically in English called Fuld) is a city in Hesse, Germany; it is located on the river Fulda and is the administrative seat of the Fulda district (''Kreis''). In 1990, the city hosted the 30th Hessentag state festival. Histor ...

line (the ''Vogelsbergbahn'') and a postal designation "Mücke". Despite what may seem obvious – ''Mücke'' is

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

for "

gnat GNAT is a free-software compiler for the Ada programming language which forms part of the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC). It supports all versions of the language, i.e. Ada 2012, Ada 2005, Ada 95 and Ada 83. Originally its ...

" – the community's name is of Celtic origin. It comes from ''much'' or ''mack'', meaning something like "moist","boggy" or "mucky". The name Mücke was mentioned in connection with this region in a Merlau parish taxation roll in 1482. In the constituent community of Flensungen lies Hesse's geographical centre point.

Politics

Municipal council

As of municipal elections held on 26 March 2006 the seats are apportioned thus: * SPD 15 seats * CDU 11 seats *FWG (citizens' coalition) 8 seats * Greens 3 seats A political peculiarity is the ''Jugendparlament Mücke'' ("Mücke Youth Parliament"), which stands up for children's and youth's interests. Its 35 members aged between 14 and 21 are elected every two years. The ''Jugendparlament'' has the right to speak and make motions on the municipal council's youth, sport and cultural committee.

Partnership

The community of Mücke maintains a partnership with: *

Sydfalster Until 1 January 2007 Sydfalster was a municipality ( Danish, '' kommune'') in the former Storstrøm County on the southern end of the island of Falster in south Denmark. Overview The municipality covered an area of 113 km², and had a total popu ...

Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...

, since 1993

Personalities

People with connections to the community

* Anne Chaplet, criminal author * Reinhard Schober, from 1945 to 1948 leader of the Nieder-Ohmen forestry office *

Harald Lesch Harald Lesch (born 28 July 1960) is a German physicist, astronomer, natural philosopher, author, television presenter, professor of physics at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (LMU) and professor of natural philosophy at the Munich Un ...

, physicist, astronomer, natural philosopher, author, television presenter and professor at the *

Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich The Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (simply University of Munich, LMU or LMU Munich; ) is a public university, public research university in Munich, Bavaria, Germany. Originally established as the University of Ingolstadt in 1472 by Duke ...

(LMU), grew up in Nieder-Ohmen

Infrastructure and leisure

The community of Mücke has at its disposal, through the

Homberg (Ohm) Homberg (Ohm) () is a town in the Vogelsbergkreis in Hesse, Germany. Geography Location The officially recognized climatic spa of Homberg lies from 203 to 350 m above sea level in the valley of the Ohm (river), Ohm, a tributary to the Lahn, some ...

Autobahn The (; German , ) is the federal controlled-access highway system in Germany. The official term is (abbreviated ''BAB''), which translates as 'federal motorway'. The literal meaning of the word is 'Federal Auto(mobile) Track'. Much of t ...

interchange ( A5) and Federal Highway (''Bundesstraße'') 49 that runs through the municipal area, very good transport connections. A few years ago, at the Autobahn interchange, the "Am Gottesrain" industrial park was established complete with an off-Autobahn service centre (''"Autohof"''). Mücke station and the station in the constituent community of Nieder-Ohmen are on the

Vogelsberg Railway The Vogelsberg () is a large volcanic mountain range in the German Central Uplands in the state of Hesse, separated from the Rhön Mountains by the Fulda river valley. Emerging approximately 19 million years ago, the Vogelsberg is Central Eu ...

(''Vogelsbergbahn'') between

and

via

Alsfeld Alsfeld () is a town in the center of Hesse, in Germany. Located about north of Frankfurt, Alsfeld is part of the densely populated Frankfurt Rhine-Main, Frankfurt Rhine-Main Metropolitan Region, with nearby Lauterbach, Hesse, Lauterbach (about ...

. The community has an indoor

swimming pool A swimming pool, swimming bath, wading pool, paddling pool, or simply pool, is a structure designed to hold water to enable Human swimming, swimming and associated activities. Pools can be built into the ground (in-ground pools) or built abo ...

with an adjoining

sauna A sauna (, ) is a room or building designed as a place to experience dry or wet heat sessions or an establishment with one or more of these facilities. The steam and high heat make the bathers perspire. A thermometer in a sauna is used to meas ...

, seven

kindergarten Kindergarten is a preschool educational approach based on playing, singing, practical activities such as drawing, and social interaction as part of the transition from home to school. Such institutions were originally made in the late 18th cen ...

s, two

primary school A primary school (in Ireland, India, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, South Africa, and Singapore), elementary school, or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary ...

s, and a

comprehensive school A comprehensive school is a secondary school for pupils aged 11–16 or 11–18, that does not select its intake on the basis of academic achievement or aptitude, in contrast to a selective school system where admission is restricted on the basis ...

without upper level in the constituent community of Nieder-Ohmen. Furthermore, there is a ''Sozialstation'' ( ≈ welfare station for the elderly and the sick) with trained personnel. In all constituent communities are found Village Community Houses that may be used for all kinds of events. Moreover, there are many clubs to choose from. Anyone can find something to suit his interests. There are plenty of

supermarket A supermarket is a self-service Retail#Types of outlets, shop offering a wide variety of food, Drink, beverages and Household goods, household products, organized into sections. Strictly speaking, a supermarket is larger and has a wider selecti ...

s and smaller

shop Shop or shopping may refer to: Business and commerce * A casual word for a commercial establishment or for a place of business * Machine shop, a workshop for machining *"In the shop", referring to a car being at an automotive repair shop * Reta ...

s in each constituent community to satisfy shopping needs. Atzenhain Holzwiesenteich

Among more particular leisure facilities is the ''Flensunger Hof'', run by a

missionary A missionary is a member of a Religious denomination, religious group who is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Thoma ...

body. It is a fully equipped sport and leisure centre. On the Kratzberg in the Nieder-Ohmen rural area, the ''Luftsportgruppe Mücke e. V.'' runs a model glider airfield. In Atzenhain is the ''Reit- und Fahrverein Mücke e. V.'' with riding hall and grounds.

References

External links

Gemeinde MückeNieder-Ohmen volunteer fire brigadeMücke German Red Cross Local AssociationMücke volunteer fire brigadeMücke CDU Local AssociationMücke Alliance '90/The Greens Local AssociationJugendparlament MückeFlensunger Hof
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mucke Vogelsbergkreis