Wolfach
Town
Coat of arms of Wolfach
Coat of arms
Location of Wolfach within Ortenaukreis district
Wolfach is located in Germany
Wolfach
Wolfach
Wolfach is located in Baden-Württemberg
Wolfach
Wolfach
Coordinates: 48°18′N 8°13′E / 48.300°N 8.217°E / 48.300; 8.217
CountryGermany
StateBaden-Württemberg
Admin. regionFreiburg
DistrictOrtenaukreis
Government
 • Mayor (2022–30) Thomas Geppert[1]
Area
 • Total67.99 km2 (26.25 sq mi)
Elevation
262 m (860 ft)
Population
 (2021-12-31)[2]
 • Total5,690
 • Density84/km2 (220/sq mi)
Time zoneUTC+01:00 (CET)
 • Summer (DST)UTC+02:00 (CEST)
Postal codes
77709
Dialling codes07834
Vehicle registrationOG, BH, KEL, LR, WOL
Websitewolfach.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

Geographical position

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

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

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

Government

City council

In the past years the city council consisted of:

Party 1994 1999 2004 2009 2014
CDU8 seats10 seats8 seats6 seats5 seats
SPD5 seats3 seats3 seats4 seats5 seats
FW6 seats8 seats7 seats7 seats6 seats
Grüne———1 seat2 seats

Mayors

  • 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

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

Wolfach is twinned with:

Culture and sights

Schloss Wolfach

Swabian-Alemannic Carnival

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

Buildings

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

Parks

  • Kurgarten
  • Flößerpark
  • Kinziganlagen

Regular events

  • 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

Glass blowing

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

Natives

  • 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

  • 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

Notes

  1. ↑ Bürgermeisterwahl Wolfach 2022, Staatsanzeiger.
  2. ↑ "Bevölkerung nach Nationalität und Geschlecht am 31. Dezember 2021" [Population by nationality and sex as of December 31, 2021] (CSV) (in German). Statistisches Landesamt Baden-Württemberg. June 2022.
  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.

Book references

  • 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.

Administration and authorities

Associations

Places of interest, sights

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