Wolfach

Wolfach
Wolfach
Town
	Coat of arms
	Location of Wolfach within Ortenaukreis district
	Wolfach Wolfach
	Coordinates: 48°18′N 8°13′E / 48.300°N 8.217°E
Country	Germany
State	Baden-Württemberg
Admin. region	Freiburg
District	Ortenaukreis
Government
• Mayor (2022–30)	Thomas Geppert
Area
• Total	67.99 km2 (26.25 sq mi)
Elevation	262 m (860 ft)
Population (2022-12-31)
• Total	5,688
• Density	84/km2 (220/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+01:00 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+02:00 (CEST)
Postal codes	77709
Dialling codes	07834
Vehicle registration	OG, BH, KEL, LR, WOL
Website	wolfach.de

Wolfach (Low Alemannic: Wolfä) is a town in the Black Forest and part of the Ortenaukreis in Baden-Württemberg (Germany). It is a well-known spa town.

Geography edit

Geographical position edit

Wolfach lies where the two rivers Wolf and Kinzig meet in the Kinzig valley. The mixture of valleys and mountains is a characteristic of the town, which stretches between 250 and 880 m above sea level.

City Hall in Wolfach

District villages within the borough of Wolfach include Kirnbach, Halbmeil, Kinzigtal, and St. Roman.

History edit

The exact foundation year of Wolfach is not known. The history of the town Wolfach can be traced back to the year 1084, although some finding even point back to the Roman times.

On April 21, 1945, before fleeing the city, the Gestapo took the French resistants and political prisoners held in the prison of Wolfach to a forest outside of the town, forced them to dig their own graves, and shot them on the spot, just three hours before the arrival of the French 2nd Armored Division commanded by General Leclerc.^[3]

Kinzig in Wolfach

Tourism edit

Wolfach hotels and bed & breakfast places have an occupancy rate of 128,000 nights each year (year 2000).

Government edit

City council edit

In the past years the city council consisted of:

Party	1994	1999	2004	2009	2014
CDU	8 seats	10 seats	8 seats	6 seats	5 seats
SPD	5 seats	3 seats	3 seats	4 seats	5 seats
FW	6 seats	8 seats	7 seats	7 seats	6 seats
Grüne	—	—	—	1 seat	2 seats

Mayors edit

1811–1820: Johann Georg Neef
1820–1829: Xavery Duppele
1829–1834: Dr. Duttlinger
1834–1839: Johann Baptist Baur
1839–1861: Joseph Bührer
1861–1874: Johann Georg Armbruster
1874–1880: Hermann Vogt
1880–1900: Friedrich Armbruster, (son of J. G. Armbruster)
1900–1909: Bruno Burger
1909–1918: Karl Friedrich Armbruster, (son of F. Armbruster)
1918–1925: Gustav Bulacher
1925–1936: August Hämmerle, (from 1933 NSDAP)
1937–1941: Adolf Oehler (NSDAP), Oehler was since 1929 NSDAP-member, joined in 1940 the Waffen-SS and died in 1941 as a soldier
1941–1945: Alfred Albanus
1945: Max Vivell, (gave the town to the commander of the marching in French troops)
1945–1946: Johannes Faißt (temporarily)
1946–1951: Hans Allgeier (1891–1951)
1951–1978: Arthur Martin (1911–1999)
1978–1991: Hans-Peter Züfle
1992–2014: Gottfried Moser
since 2015: Thomas Geppert

Coat of arms edit

The coat of arms of the town of Wolfach displays a golden wolf's hook rod on a blue background and is based on the "Wolfsangel" banner from the "Herren von Wolfach" (Lords of Wolfach) who established their control on the town in 1260. It is believed that they adopted the wolf trap sign as their banner having cleared the area of wolves to establish the town.^[4]

International relations edit

Wolfach is twinned with:

Culture and sights edit

Schloss Wolfach

Swabian-Alemannic Carnival edit

Wolfach is said to be one of the towns rich in tradition of the Swabian-Alemannic Fastnacht.

Buildings edit

Fürstenberg castle
Fortress ruin Alt-Wolfach
Town Hall
St. Laurentius Roman Catholic Church

Parks edit

Kurgarten
Flößerpark
Kinziganlagen

Regular events edit

Swabian-Alemannic Carnival (Fastnacht)
City Fountain Festival (Stadtbrunnenfest)
Biker-Weekend
Long Table (Lange Tafel)
Flößerfest
Open-Air Rockfest Moosenmättle
Butchers Festival of the Fire Department (Schlachtfest der Freiwilligen Feuerwehr)
Wolfach Autumn (Wolfacher Herbst)

Past events edit

From 2 September 1968 to 12 September 1968, World Constitutional Convention sessions were held at Wolfach after six days of sessions at Interlaken.^[5]^[6]

Glass blowing edit

The Dorotheenhütte glass blowing workshop is the last active glassworks using traditional methods in the Black Forest. The glasses are manufactured, i.e. they are blown, cut and engraved, in front of the visitors.

Notable people edit

Natives edit

Ernst Bassermann (1854-1917), lawyer and politician, member of Reichstag
Hans Klumbach (1904–1992), archaeologist and scholar of classical and provincial Roman studies
Sylvia Wetzel (born 1949), Buddhist feminist
Marco Horácio (born 1974), popular comedian on Portuguese television
Thomas Dold (born 1984), athlete
Markus Steuerwald (born 1989), volleyball player

People who are connected to the town edit

Gustav Trunk (1871–1936), politician, member of the German Centre Party; lived in Wolfach from 1897 to 1900 as beadle
Otmar Freiherr von Verschuer (1896–1969), racial hygienist in the Third Reich; lived in Wolfach between 1898 and 1909, where he visited school

References edit

Notes edit

^ Bürgermeisterwahl Wolfach 2022, Staatsanzeiger.
^ "Bevölkerung nach Nationalität und Geschlecht am 31. Dezember 2022" [Population by nationality and sex as of December 31, 2022] (CSV) (in German). Statistisches Landesamt Baden-Württemberg. June 2023.
^ CRDP d'Alsace. "La Deuxième Guerre mondiale en Alsace" (PDF) (in French). Retrieved 2009-11-07.
^ Sadlier, Klemens (1971). German Coats-of-Arms. Federal Republic of Germany: Municipal Coats-of-Arms of the Federal State of Baden-Wurttemberg). Vol. 8. Angelsachsen-Verlag. p. 115.
^ "Als Interlaken die heimliche Welthauptstadt war". Berner Zeitung (in German). 2018-08-29. Retrieved 2023-07-11.
^ Amerasinghe, Terence P. (2009). Emerging World Law, Volume 1. Institute for Economic Democracy. ISBN 978-1-933567-16-7.

Book references edit

Disch Franz: Chronik der Stadt Wolfach. Wolfach, Karlsruhe 1920.
Harter Hans: Adel und Burgen im oberen Kinziggebiet. Studien zur Besiedelung und hochmittelalterlichen Herrschaftsbildung im mittleren Schwarzwald. München 1992.
Krausbeck Josef, Knauss Frieder: Masken unserer Stadt. Stuttgart 1974.
Stadt Wolfach (Hrsg.): Schwarzwaldstadt mit Tradition. Wolfach, Kirnbach, Kinzigtal. Freiburg 1988.

External links edit

Administration and authorities edit

Associations edit

Places of interest, sights edit

Vogtbauernhöfe
Mineral and mathematics museum Oberwolfach
(in German) Information about and images

[1] Bürgermeisterwahl Wolfach 2022, Staatsanzeiger.

[2] "Bevölkerung nach Nationalität und Geschlecht am 31. Dezember 2022" [Population by nationality and sex as of December 31, 2022] (CSV) (in German). Statistisches Landesamt Baden-Württemberg. June 2023.

[3] CRDP d'Alsace. "La Deuxième Guerre mondiale en Alsace" (PDF) (in French). Retrieved 2009-11-07.

[4] Sadlier, Klemens (1971). German Coats-of-Arms. Federal Republic of Germany: Municipal Coats-of-Arms of the Federal State of Baden-Wurttemberg). Vol. 8. Angelsachsen-Verlag. p. 115.

[5] "Als Interlaken die heimliche Welthauptstadt war". Berner Zeitung (in German). 2018-08-29. Retrieved 2023-07-11.

[6] Amerasinghe, Terence P. (2009). Emerging World Law, Volume 1. Institute for Economic Democracy. ISBN 978-1-933567-16-7.

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