Wunsiedel

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Wunsiedel


Country	Germany
State	Bavaria
Administrative region	Oberfranken
District	Wunsiedel im Fichtelgebirge
Population	10,295 source (2005)
Area	54.91 km²
Population density	187 /km²
Elevation	525 m
Coordinates	50°1′ N 12°1′ E
Postal code	95632
Area code	09232
Licence plate code	WUN
Mayor	Karl-Willi Beck (CSU)
Website	www.wunsiedel.de

Wunsiedel is a town in the German free state of Bavaria. It is located in the Fichtelgebirge mountains, at the bottom of the Kösseine Plateau. Wunsiedel is the seat of the district bearing the same name.

1 History
- 1.1 Wunsiedel and Rudolf Hess
2 Law and government
- 2.1 Boroughs
3 Twinnings
4 Notable natives

[edit] History

The place Wunsiedel was first mentioned in 1163. In 1285 Burgrave Frederick III of Nuremberg received fiefdom over the town by Emperor Rudolph I of Germany. In 1326 Wunsiedel was incorporated as a city by Burgrave Frederick IV.

In the Middle Ages Wunsiedel played an important role in tin mining and the production of tin plates. In 1613 it became capital of the Sechsämterland—an area comparable in size to the modern district Wunsiedel im Fichtelgebirge.

Wunsiedel was a part of the Margravate of Ansbach-Bayreuth until 1791 when the last margrave abdicated and the region was placed under Prussian administration. In 1810 it finally came to Bavaria.

Wunsiedel received its current appearance in a neoclassic style after a conflagration in 1834, destroying two-thirds of the city.

[edit] Wunsiedel and Rudolf Hess

In the late 1980s the cemetery of Wunsiedel became rather infamous for bearing the grave of Hitler's personal assistant Rudolf Hess, who had died in a Berlin prison on August 17, 1987. In the following years neonazi groups organized memorial marches on each August 17. The number of participants rose from 120 in 1988 to more than 1,100 in 1990. The gatherings faced strong protests both from the civil population and from the antifascist movement. In fear of open violence between the two groups, the marches were eventually banned in 1991.

Under the impression of the situation having "cooled down", the Bavarian Administrative Court permitted the gatherings again in 2001. The result was unexpected though: Neonazi groups managed to amass more and more people, the peak being reached in 2004, when over 4,500 Nazi-Skinheads from all over Europe assembled in Wunsiedel. 2004 the local initiative "Wunsiedel ist bunt, nicht braun" ("Wunsiedel is colourful, not brown") managed a noteworthy counter-demonstration with about 800 participants, decorating the city with rainbow flags and spraying the neonazis with confetti. The initiative later received the Bündnispreis for engagement and bravery by the German federal ministers Otto Schily and Brigitte Zypries.

In 2005 the memorial march was for the first time banned on the basis of art. 130 of the German crime code, outlawing incitement of the people. A complaint against the banning was rejected by the Federal Constitutional Court. Nevertheless, more than 2,500 people met on August 20, 2005 to celebrate a Day of Democracy in Wunsiedel.

[edit] Law and government

Wunsiedel is governed by its mayor and a city council with 24 seats. Both are elected every four years. In the council, the CSU currently holds 13 seats, the SPD holds 7 seats, and the Greens 1 seat. The remaining 3 seats went to a free voters' association.

[edit] Boroughs

The year of incorporation to Wunsiedel is in brackets.

Schönbrunn (1975)
Hildenbach (1978)
Holenbrunn (1978)
Bernstein (1978)

[edit] Twinnings

	Mende (Lozère), France since 1980
	Schwarzenberg/Erzgeb., Germany since 1990
	Volterra, Italy since 2006

[edit] Notable natives

Jean Paul (1763-1825), author, born on March 21, 1763 in Wunsiedel
Dr. August Tuppert, (1883)
Friedrich Meinel (1894)
Hannsheinz Bauer (1909-2005), one of the "fathers" of the Basic Law, born on March 28, 1909 in Wunsiedel
Dr. Heinrich Hohenner, professor of geodesy (1946)