Waldbröl

Waldbröl

Town hall in Waldbröl

Coat of arms
Waldbröl

Coordinates: 50°52′44″N 7°36′54″E / 50.87889°N 7.61500°ECoordinates: 50°52′44″N 7°36′54″E / 50.87889°N 7.61500°E
Country Germany
State North Rhine-Westphalia
Admin. region Cologne
District Oberbergischer Kreis
Government
 • Mayor Peter Köster (CDU)
Area
 • Total 63.02 km2 (24.33 sq mi)
Population (2013-12-31)[1]
 • Total 18,872
 • Density 300/km2 (780/sq mi)
Time zone CET/CEST (UTC+1/+2)
Postal codes 51545
Dialling codes 02291
Vehicle registration GM
Website www.waldbroel.de

Waldbröl is a town is in the southern part of the Oberbergischer Kreis (district), in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.

Geography

Geographical location

The city lies on the slopes of the Nutscheid and is part of the Naturpark Bergisches Land. The city of Cologne lies about 50 kilometers west of Waldbröl.

The localities of the municipality Waldbröl

Waldbröl is much larger than all its surrounding municipalities and is thus the main shopping and service centre. Clockwise, from the north, starting from the Reichshof, are the areas of Morsbach, Windeck, Ruppichteroth and Nümbrecht.

Town arrangement

Besides the town centre with its 11,000 inhabitants, there are 64 separate districts:

AAlfenzingen - Altehufen
BBaumen - Bech - Bettenhagen - Bettingen - Biebelshof – Bladersbach – Bohlenhagen - Brenzingen - Bröl - Brölerhütte - Bruchhausen
DDahl - Dickhausen - Diepenthal - Diezenkausen - Drinhausen
EEscherhof
EFahrenseifen
GGeilenkausen - Geiningen - Großenseifen - Grünenbach - Grunewald
HHahn – Happach - Heide - Helten - Helzen - Herfen - Hermesdorf – Hillesmühle - Hochwald - Hoff - Hufen
KKrahwinkel
LLuetzingen
MMühlenbach
NNeuenhähnen - Niederhausen - Niederhof
O
PPropach - Puhl – Pulvermühle
RRölefeld - Romberg - Rossenbach – Rottland - Ruh
SSchnörringen - Schönenbach - Seifen - Spurkenbach
TThierseifen
VVierbuchen - Vierbuchermühle
W{{{2}}} - Wies - Wilkenroth - Wippenkausen
ZZiegenhardt


History of the community Waldbröl

View from the market place - left the Cath. church, right the Ev. church

The first attestation of Waldbröl was in 1131 when the town's name was mentioned in "the Papal possession confirmation for the inhabitant of Bonner St. Cassiusstift".

Originally the town's name appeared as Waltprugele.

In 1131 the place was mentioned as Waltprugele in a Papal possession confirmation for the pencil Saint Cassius in Bonn. Pope Innozenz II confirmed the possession of the church and the tenth in Waldbröl in the document. The settlement belonged to this time to the county mountain. In 1131 it was begun with the construction of a new church whose steeple stands even today (Protestant church).

In 1174 Waldbröl came to the rule Homburg them the counts of Sayn belonged. However, the possession relations between the counts of mountain and from Sayn were always argumentative. The first citizen of Waldbröl was mentioned in 1212 when the priest Wolradu resident here in a document made to donations to the abbey Michael's mountain. In 1261 the knight's genders were called by Isengarten, in 1300 from Diezenkausen and in 1323 by Beuinghausen the first time. They were long time ministerial of the counts of Sayn and from mountain and had received from the counts in the area of the today's town fief possession.

In 1314 experienced Waldbröl a plague epidemic and a big famine. The first today's districts of Waldbröl were mentioned in 1316. Till 1575 almost all today's districts on a map are mentioned by Arnoldus Mercator. By the Siegburger comparison Waldbröl falls to the dukedom mountain and is slammed to the office Windeck. When Johann Wilhelm, the last duke died of Jülich Kleve mountain, in 1609, the Wittelsbacher dukedom received Pfalz-Neuburg in the contract from Xanten mountain and with it also Waldbröl ascribed. The town was a head of the district authority seat of the Prussian administrative district existing from 1816 to 1932 Waldbröl.

D.H Lawrence in Waldbröl

The big English novelist D H Lawrence, at that time, admittedly, still almost absolutely unknown, came in May, 1912 with the Brölbähnchen in Waldbröl. He visited his cousin Hannah Krenkow who lived as a woman of the justice secretary at the Waldbröler district court, Karl Krenkow, in the today's house Hartmann in the high street and had invited him. He took part here in a rainy Ascension procession, observed sluggish ox's teams and wrote numerous letters to Frieda von Richthofen who had left because of him just her man, and worked on the novel "Sons and Lovers" („sons and lovers“) which appeared next year and founded the worldwide fame of his author. After two-week-long stay Lawrence travelled on to Munich. In his last letter from Waldbröl from the 23rd of May, 1912 he wrote: „I will come back later to Waldbröl. It is simply excellent here.“ A year later visited emperors Wilhelm II. Waldbröl, and from the high street became Kaiserstrasse.

In the Third Reich

Waldbröl was the native country of Robert Ley. This wanted to make from Waldbröl the „biggest town between Cologne and Kassel“., Among the rest, so-called "national tractor works", an „Adolf of Hitler's school“ and a hotel of the KdF which was almost finished as only were planned. The number of inhabitants should rise on up to 300,000. Moreover, an underground, barracks, a theatre, a cinema as well as a highway binding should originate. The plannings ran up to the autumn, 1944, nevertheless, got stuck on account of the war development and Leys to dwindling sphere of influence in the main features. Merely the topographic investigations of the garden and scenery creator Wilhelm Heintz who was involved before already in the development of the town plans of the "town of the Hermann's Göring works" (Salzgitter) and the "town of the KdF carriage" (Wolfsburg) were concluded to a great extent. From few established constructions remained up to some construction ruins only the KdF hotel which served after the war as a hospital, then of the armed forces and since in 2006 stands empty.

After the second war

In 1957 Waldbröl received the town right. Since 1990 it became an aim of strong immigration of (Late) emigrants from the Soviet Union or the CIS. Till 2000 the international alliance offered lessons in German in Waldbröl, Denklingen and Eckenhagen; at least 3,000 immigrants became only new citizens from Waldbröl. This process was supported among other things by the fact that Horst Waffenschmidt resident in Waldbröl of 1988-98 emigrant's representatives of the Federal Government was.

The coat of arms of Waldbröl

The town coat of arms which is entitled to lead Waldbröl since 1952 is described in §2 Paragraph 2 of the main statute of the city: The coat of arms points in golden field on green ground by which a silver brook flows, a black oak tree with green page turning and fruit. On the right beside the tree a silver scutellum with a brought down blue plowshare, on the left a silver scutellum with a red twice skipped is blue reinforced and crowned lion. The plowshare symbolizes the historical meaning of the agriculture in this only late industrialized region. The lion was the heraldic animal of the Grafen zu Berg and is widespread as such still today in whole complete Bergischen country. The brook symbolizes the brook Waldbröl arising with Escherhof which changes its name to Brölbach in the other course and when such flows into the Sieg. One supposes that Bröl signifies so much like "marsh" and could call "Waldbröl, hence, " marsh in the wood ".

Facilities

Twin towns

Places of interest and buildings

Memorials and monuments

Monument in front of the Ev. church

1863 the monument was established (for Prussia king Friedrich Wilhelm III in the Protestant church. The monument donated circle Waldbröl on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the elevation of the Prussian state.

The inscription is: Dem Könige Friedrich Wilhelm III. der Kreis Waldbröl - 17.3.1863

Population of Waldbröl

Year Inhabitant number
1953 11.266
1957 11.601
1999 18.634
2003 19.351


Schools of the town

Personalities

Born in Waldbröl

Occasionally lived in Waldbröl

Lives in Waldbröl at the moment

Regular Events

Cattle and Stuffmarket, Stadtfest (Big Fair), Autumn fair, Martin Market, Christmas Market and many other events

Churches

Religious community

Associations and facilities

Literature

References

  1. ↑ "Amtliche Bevölkerungszahlen". Landesbetrieb Information und Technik NRW (in German). 4 September 2014.
  2. ↑ http://www.eiab.eu