Diez, Germany

Diez, Germany

Castle

Coat of arms
Diez, Germany

Coordinates: 50°22′15″N 8°0′57″E / 50.37083°N 8.01583°E / 50.37083; 8.01583Coordinates: 50°22′15″N 8°0′57″E / 50.37083°N 8.01583°E / 50.37083; 8.01583
Country Germany
State Rhineland-Palatinate
District Rhein-Lahn-Kreis
Municipal assoc. Diez
Government
 • Stadtbürgermeister Frank Dobra
Area
 • Total 12.41 km2 (4.79 sq mi)
Elevation 110 m (360 ft)
Population (2015-12-31)[1]
 • Total 12,073
 • Density 970/km2 (2,500/sq mi)
Time zone CET/CEST (UTC+1/+2)
Postal codes 65582
Dialling codes 06432
Vehicle registration EMS, DIZ, GOH
Website www.stadt-diez.de

Diez an der Lahn is a picturesque small historically significant town in Germany's Rhein-Lahn district in Rhineland-Palatinate, on the borders of Hesse. Diez is the administrative seat of the municipality of Diez. Sitting on the confluence of the Lahn and Aar rivers, the old town is dominated by an eleventh century castle, now a youth hostel and museum. The town and the area have been inhabited by humans since the Stone Age.

Geography

Geographical Location

Historic city center with old (front) and new Lahn Bridge and Lock (upper left)

The center of Diez is located four miles southwest of Limburg an der Lahn and 31 miles east of Koblenz. Diez, which is in Rheinland-Pfalz and the adjoining city of Limburg in the state of Hessen are so close that in modern times they have increasingly merged into a single urban area, although they remain historically and politically distinct. The low rolling hills around Diez form part of the Rhenish Slate Mountains. The Lahn Valley serves as the boundary between the highlands north of the Westerwald with the forest of Taunus rising to the south. This valley, the Diezer gate begins in the Limburg Lahn basin and rises towards Fachingen in the Lower Lahntal. The city of Diez itself lies at the confluence of the Aar and the Lahn.

Geology

The soils in the region Diez mainly belong to the brown or Luvisols.[2][3] Diez itself is in a low area and traditionally has less snow than the surrounding uplands.

Pre-History

Coat of arms of the House of Diez

The first evidence of human settlement in the Diez area dates from the Stone Age (v. 20000-12000 BC), as demonstrated by discoveries in the caves of Wildweiberlei (between Diez and Altendiez).[4][5] Other prehistoric evidence includes burial mounds and pottery finds of Latène which would seem to indicate primitive cultures present during the Celtic period. The fertility of the Diez valley and its location at the confluence of the Lahn and the Aar clearly made it a natural place for primitive peoples to settle.

Medieval Times

The name "Diez" itself seems to be a corruption of the Frankish Theodissa Thidesse/Diedisse which mutated over time to Dietz and finally to today's spelling of Diez. The settlement was known as Theodissa by the year 790 A.D. according to the charter of Charlemagne where it is listed as property of the Abbey of Prüm. Other early mentions In the post-Carolingian period include a reference to one Diez in the area of Niederlahngau, ruled by the Conradines. It was in 1073 that the Count of Diez was mentioned for the first time in a deed of sale for goods in Bodenheim. Early references show that Heinrich II von Diez (1145–1189) accompanied Frederick Barbarossa on his Italian campaign where he was involved in diplomatic negotiations.[6] His son Henry III was part of the regency council and circle of tutors of for Henry VII, a fact which seems to indicate growing influence for this town. The Graf Gerhard IV (1276–1308) founded in 1289 a collegiate at the foot of the castle hill. The founding community came from the Abbey of Salz. The monastery was named Saint Mary's after the patron saint of the church. The town continued to prosper. By 1329, Ludwig of Bavaria bestowed the right of municipal law to Diez, and at that time the town was fortified with a wall with five entry gates.

The dynasty of the Counts of Diez ended in 1386, and naturally their rule died with them, and a secession of other rulers followed. From 1453, following the death of his son, Philip the Elder named himself Count of Katzenelnbogen-Diez. Among his properties by 1446 was a vineyard across the bridge (presumably over the Lahn River). In 1479 the male line of the Counts of Katzenelnbogen died out and Landgraf Heinrich III inherited the county of Hesse, and with it Diez. The title of Count of Diez (Dietz) from that time on became an integral part of the family name in the house of Hesse.

The Modern Era

Diez - Extract from the Topographia Hassiae by Matthäus Merian 1655

The city later became the seat of the Counts of Nassau-Diez in the 17th and 18th centuries as governor in the Netherlands. The county of Nassau-Diez in 1806 was annexed by the Duchy of Nassau on 16–17 September 1796 as a consequence of the 2nd Coalition war between Austrians and French in the area between Diez and Limburg.

By the end of the 18th century the entire west bank of the Rhein went to France and the Principality of Orange was formed. In 1866 Nassau lands, including Diez were annexed by Prussia. As a result of the Prussian Administrative Reforms of 1867 the Lahn district was created with the county seat of Diez. It Initially belonged to the lower Lahn Limburg circle. The episcopal city became, however, in 1886 the seat of the newly established district of Limburg. In the course of municipal reform in 1969 Loreley circle the lower Lahn (located in St. Goarshausen) Rhein-Lahn-Kreis merged with the spa town of Bad Ems, which became the country seat. Diez was no longer even a regional administrative capital.

In World War II, 16 young Luxembourgers were executed in 1944[7] The execution is remembered by a memorial park with a memorial stone for the victims of Nazi tyranny.

A catastrophic flood which crested on 7 February 1984 led to millions of euros in losses in Diez.

Religions

Weathercock on the chapel
Collegiate Church - Diez

Christianity

Roman Catholic Church

The city of Diez, the Roman Catholic parish of the Sacred Heart in Diez and is associated with her to the Pastoral Area Diez, which in turn the district in the diocese of Limburg Limburg is incorporated.[8]

Evangelical Church (EKHN)

On the Protestant side, the main town of Diez collegiate church community and the district of the parish of St. Freiendiez James, each of the dean's office of the provost Diez South Nassau in the Evangelical Church in Hessen and Nassau (ECHN), belong.

Judaism

Almost nothing remains of the Jewish presence in Diez despite the nearly-seven-hundred year span of continuous Jewish survival in this town, a history virtually obliterated during the Holocaust. The Jewish population of Diez in the Middle Ages can be traced back to around 1286 and 1303. Already, by 1337 and then again in 1348-49, the Jewish population suffered pogroms, giving early evidence of antisemitism in Diez. Nonetheless, a small Jewish population persisted throughout the centuries, although the maximum number of Jewish residents was likely reached in 1895, when 130 Jews resided in the city. Diez was also the seat of the district rabbinate at the end of the 18th century, then the seat of the Rabbi of Nassau-Orange. From 1860, it would be the Jewish community in Diez Rabbinatsbezirk Ems.[9]

Diez hosted a German-Israelite children's home until its closure in 1935. A plaque on the Schlossberg (Castle Hill above the stairs) remembers the expulsion and deportation of Jewish children and their caregiver (s) on 20 August 1935.[10]

Diez's synagogue was desecrated in the November 1938 pogroms, when the interior was destroyed. The building was demolished after the war, in 1951. The Nazis also destroyed Diez's Jewish cemetery (built early 17th century). On this site now sits the tax office. A more recent Jewish Cemetery from the late 19th century survives and continues to overlook Diez from a hill above the town, all that remains of the Jewish history there.[11]

Politics

City council

Seats in the local council:[12]

Year SPD CDU FDP FWG BfD WGR Total
2014 8 9 2 6 3 – 28 Seats
2009 7 7 3 6 5 – 28 Seats
2004 7 9 2 3 6 1 28 Seats

Sister City

Twinned with Diez is the Saxon spa town of Bad Düben.

Arts and Culture

Structures

The dominant feature of the townscape is the high medieval Castle of Diez. The oldest parts of the structure date from the eleventh century. The castle was abandoned as a residence from the mid-1700s, and from 1743 to 1784, the count's castle was used as a Nassau office building. Subsequently, it served as a prisonuntil 1927. In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the castle was the site of the largest processing center of Lahn marble. Since June 2006 it has served as a youth hostel and, since 2007, also contains a museum.

Underneath is the medieval castle of the Count's Collegiate Church, built by Count Gerhard in 1289. It was dedicated to Mary, seat of a Monastery. Inside there are several tombs of nobles and the Nassau Diez, among which stands out the intricately crafted tomb of Princess Amalie of Nassau-Diez. Another striking piece is the Roman grave stone. It is older than the church and its origin is unknown.

The city wall, as well as remains of one of the city gates from the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries have also partially survived.

At the northern edge of Orange is the baroque castle stone, the 1684 Princess Albertine Agnes (1634–1696) Ruins of the Benedictine Monastery Dierstein remain below. Princess Albertine Agnes' niece Henriette Amalie of Nassau-Diez, born a Princess of Anhalt-Dessau designed the castle in 1696 as a baroque castle. In 1705 the building was completed.

Museums

The Museum of Nassau-Orange in Orange, stone castle offers guided tours of the baroque castle rooms for periodic and shows the covers of Diez, of the noble family of Orange, the present Dutch royal house.

The Regional Museum in the Castle of Diez Diez - aspects of the permanent exhibition: Pre-and Early History, History of the Count's castle, town history Diez (from the Middle Ages to the present), Prince gallery.

Museum in the Castle of Diez

The grove

The "grove", known as "the Hain" is Diez's urban forest. The forty hectare site was originally part of the park of Schloss Oranienstein. William V (1748-1806) gave the area to the citizens of the city of Diez. Today, the Hain serves as a recreation area with playgrounds, zipline recreation areas, jogging trails, tennis, and mini golf courses.

Music and Concerts

Eberhard house in the Pfaffengasse

Visual Arts

Performing Arts

Cultural centers and venues

Festivals, entertainment, traditions

Other facilities

Economy and Infrastructure

Diez Bundeswehr site (see above) and has several small industries. Of significance was the limestone and marble industry, but most of the quarries were closed in the seventies.

Authorities, institutions, bodies

Urban Development and City Marketing

Downtown Alliance Diez (BID)

Following the example of the North American concept of "Business Improvement District"s Diez in 2006 combined force to revive and redevelop the town's urban core. This process is on-going.

Orange Table

The initiative group "Orange Table", by Diezer citizens, is a non-industrial concentration to develop the environment of the city and region Diez. This work will take place in six existing working groups that choose to work within their subject area priorities and projects and process.

Traffic

Diez station (Architect: Heinrich Velde) with Vectus Verkehrsgesellschaft service

The Federal Highway 3 to the exit 41 Diez and highways 54 and 417 are the main arteries serving Diez.

Diez is on the line between Koblenz-Gießen (the Lahn Valley Railway) on the Deutsche Bahn network and is served by both Vectus Verkehrsgesellschaft mbH and Deutsche Bahn. The Upper Westerwald Railway and the Lower Westerwald Railway run through Diez-Ost station on the city limits to provide a connection between Limburg rail and the Westerwald. The closed Aar Valley Railway ran towards Wiesbaden and is expected to be reactivated to Zollhaus (south of Hahnstätten) in 2015.

Numerous bus routes in the Rhein-Mosel (VRM) Diez provide public transport links with the surrounding area.

The town is a stop on the German-Dutch holiday road the Orange Route, the Lahn Holiday Route and the Rhine Legends Route.

Education, education, schools

Kindergartens and nurseries

Schools

Educational institutions and adult education

Youth Center and Youth Services

Health and social work

Hospital and Clinic

Rescue and emergency services

Sport and Recreation

Personalities

Sons and daughters of the city

Personalities who have worked on site

Sophia Hedwig of Brunswick-Lüneburg
Adrian Diel

Sources

  1. ↑ "Gemeinden in Deutschland mit Bevölkerung am 31. Dezember 2015" (PDF). Statistisches Bundesamt (in German). 2016.
  2. ↑ Geological Overview of Hesse
  3. ↑ soil map of Hesse.
  4. ↑ caving Rhein-Lahn-Kreis
  5. ↑ history of Rhein-Lahn-Kreis
  6. ↑ To Count Henry II of Diez see: Italia et Germania. Liber amicorum Arnold Esch, ed. H. Keller and W. Paravicini / W. Schieder (Tübingen 2001) p. 425-438
  7. ↑ Text of Adolf Morland
  8. ↑ website of the Catholic parish of the Sacred Heart in Diez
  9. ↑ information on the Jewish community and synagogue Diez
  10. ↑ information on the sides of the Rhein-Lahn-Kreis
  11. ↑ information on the Jewish cemeteries in Diez
  12. ↑ Der Landeswahlleiter Rheinland-Pfalz: Kommunalwahl 2014, Stadt- und Gemeinderatswahlen
  13. ↑ Website of the City Library Diez
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