- Hadamar
Infobox German Location
Art = Stadt
Wappen = Wappen Hadamar.png
lat_deg = 50 |lat_min = 27
lon_deg = 8 |lon_min = 3
Lageplan = Limburg-Weilburg Hadamar.png
Bundesland = Hesse
Regierungsbezirk = Gießen
Landkreis = Limburg-Weilburg
Höhe = 191
Fläche = 40.99
Einwohner = 12305
Stand = 2006-12-31
PLZ = 65589
Vorwahl = 06433
Kfz = LM
Website = [http://www.hadamar.de/ www.hadamar.de]
Bürgermeister = Hans BereskoHadamar is a small town in
Limburg-Weilburg district inHesse ,Germany .Hadamar is known for its Clinic for Forensic
Psychiatry /Centre for Social Psychiatry, lying at the edge of town, in whose outlying buildings is also found the Hadamar Memorial. This memorializes the murder of people with handicaps andmental illness es during National Socialist times at the "NS-Tötungsanstalt Hadamar" [ http://www.graf-von-katzenelnbogen.de/ The History of the County of Katzenelnbogen and the First Riesling of the World] .Geography
Location
Hadamar lies 7 km north of Limburg between
Cologne andFrankfurt am Main on the southern edge of theWesterwald at elevations from 120 to 390 m abovesea level .Neighbouring communities
Hadamar borders in the north on the communities of Dornburg,
Elbtal and Waldbrunn, in the east on the community ofBeselich , in the south on the town of Limburg and the community of Elz (all in Limburg-Weilburg) and in the west on the communitiy ofHundsangen (in theWesterwaldkreis inRhineland-Palatinate ).Constituent communities
The town consists of eight formerly autonomous communities.
* These figures for Faulbach and Niederhadamar are included in those for the main town.History
One of the oldest witnesses to the Hadamar region’s settlement is the
cist (see alsoMegaliths ) stemming from theWartberg culture , and therefore some 5,000 years old, in Hadamar-Niederzeuzheim. A further grave was found in Oberzeuzheim, but it was taken apart and reassembled in the castle garden atHachenburg (Westerwaldkreis ).Out of all today’s constituent communities, Oberweyer and Niederweyer were the first to be mentioned in documents, in 772. The town’s name itself did not have its first documentary mention until 832 in a
Carolingian exchange document. It is believed that the name Hadamar springs from the Germanic words "hadu" and "mar", meaning “fought-over pool”. On the spot where now stands theRenaissance palace on the banks of the Elbbach,Cistercian monks from the RheingauMonastery atEberbach worked a model farm in the 13th century which Count Emich von Nassau-Hadamar bought in 1320 and converted into amoat edcastle . In 1324, Emperor Ludwig IV granted him Frankfurt town rights for his residence. A yearly fair is known to have existed in 1430. After a devastating fire in the 16th century, there were great changes to the town’s appearance in the 17th century. The town had Count, later Prince, Johann Ludwig von Nassau-Hadamar (1590–1653) to thank for the new building work. He had the old moated castle expanded as his residence into a Renaissance palace, and he laid out the Baroque new town’s streets in a grid pattern with broadmarketplace s and public fountains. The Prince called theFranciscan s to town, supported the building of the monastery with endowments and saw to the establishment of theSociety of Jesus in Hadamar in 1630.Johann Ludwig von Nassau-Hadamar managed to bring his lordly domain some importance when the Emperor named him Commissioner-General of the negotiations surrounding the
Peace of Westphalia , which eventually put an end to theThirty Years' War . He was the first to sign the document for the peace treaty. In 1650, he was made Prince, whereby Hadamar became a residence town. After several conversions, Johann Ludwig became Catholic again in 1629 and arranged for Jesuits to live in Hadamar who instituted a Gymnasium in 1652. Prince Johann Ludwig is the namesake of thecomprehensive school that has grown out of this Jesuit Gymnasium, and which still exists today in Hadamar.“Hadamar Baroque” earned importance in the field of
altar building art. The terms “Hadamar Baroque” and “Hadamar school” ("Hadamarer Barock" and "Hadamarer Schule" in German) are indeed quite commonly used in the area of the former Principality of Nassau-Hadamar, though how it arose and spread, along with its meaning and connections to art history are largely unknown. Archival finds about 70 to 80 years ago yielded isolated clues. New findings are to a significant extent especially Ludwig Baron Döry’s work through his publications since the 1970s. The foursculptor s who were among the best of the “Hadamar school” were Martin Volk, Johann Valentin Neudecker the Elder, Johann Neudecker the Younger and Johann Theodor Thüringer. Not long ago, streets in the main town were named after them.The "Corrigendenanstalt", the forerunner of today’s Centre for Social Psychiatry, was built in 1883 beside the former Franciscan monastery on the Mönchberg. The architect was Building Councillor ("Baurat") Eduard Zais, who clearly laid the new facility out using one of his earlier works, the "Klinik für Psychiatrie und Psychotherapie Eichberg", designed about 30 years earlier, as a model. The institution served as a
workhouse for interning and reeducating vagrants in the "Regierungsbezirk " of Wiesbaden and had 236 places for men and 80 for women. In the neighbouring former monastery at the same time, an institution for rural paupers ("Landarme") from Hadamar and the outlying countryside was founded that was less strictly run and seldom had more than a dozen inmates. In 1906, the "Corrigendenanstalt" was converted into a care facility for the mentally ill.In National Socialist times, beginning in 1941 at the "NS-Tötungsanstalt Hadamar" as it is nowadays called in German (literally: “Hadamar Nazi Killing Facility”), the then state health and care facility on the Mönchberg, at least 14,494 handicapped or mentally ill people, along with those known as “Half-Jews” under the
Nuremberg Laws and "Ostarbeiter" (“Eastern workers”) weremurder ed. Today a memorial recalls these crimes. On the grounds today stands the Clinic for Forensic Psychiatry. Most of Hadamar’s Jews were murdered in camps that were farther away. In 1942 alone, 19 Jewish inhabitants were taken away and murdered.After the
Second World War , German-speaking refugee families from theSudetenland came to live here. They brought with them theirglass crafts and founded businesses, which in turn led to the founding of the now Germany-wide famous "Erwin-Stein-Glasfachschule", a vocational school in which glass craftsmen and -women, and alsostained glass makers from all over Germany are trained. The school enjoys an outstanding reputation far beyond Germany’s borders. There are plans to open a glass museum in the renovated princely dwelling at the Hadamar palace.In Hadamar is also found the “Musical Boarding School”, since 1969 the rehearsal seat of the
Limburger Domsingknaben and since 1998 of the department of church music of the Bishopric of Limburg.Throughout the town, one comes across witnesses to the past. Among these are the "Fürstenschloss" (princely residence) with its old stonebridge , the "Liebfrauenkirche" (church) with abell from the time of theThirty Years' War , the "Stadtkirche" (“Town Church”) with the old Franciscan monastery, the former Jesuit monastery on the Mönchberg , the renovated “Old Town Hall”, thesynagogue , the historicmarketplace s, and some old timber-frame houses. In many ways it can still be clearly seen that the town was a princely seat, a court seat, administrative seat and a market town for centuries for a broad outlying area.Politics
Town council
The municipal election held on 26 March 2006 yielded the following results:
Coat of arms
Hadamar’s arms have their roots in a seal image that was already being used in the town of Hadamar and in the outlying countryside by the late 15th century. The crosses in the arms stand for peace and the crossed swords for might.
Culture and sightseeing
Buildings
In the Old Town ("Altstadt"), many timber-frame buildings have been preserved, among them the Town Hall ("Rathaus") built in 1639 and the Jesuit
boarding school (early 17th century) at the Limburg Gate ("Limburger Pforte").Several
church es have been built in Hadamar.The Gothic "Liebfrauenkirche" on the Elbbach was built before 1376 and until 1818 served as the town church. The bell that rings in the churchtower comes from the time of the
Thirty Years' War , making it one of Germany’s oldest bells still in use.The Baroque Church of "St. Johannes Nepomuk", currently serving as the town church, is part of the Jesuit residence (built 1756-1758).
The "Ägidienkirche" (“Saint Giles’s Church”) on the Mönchberg was part of the Franciscan monastery from 1632 to 1816. Thirty-one members of the House of Nassau-Hadamar are buried here.
Above the Old Town is found the Baroque "Herzenbergkapelle" (a
chapel built about 1676) in which the Hadamar Princes’ hearts are buried.All the churches are decorated in the “Hadamar Baroque” style.
The
synagogue is likewise preserved. Today the building houses a permanent exhibit aboutJew ish life.At the edge of the Old Town, right on the Elbbach stands the former Nassau residence, Schloss Hadamar, in whose
stable is housed the townmuseum . Within the town, two oldbridge s have also been preserved, the "Steinerne Brücke" (“Stone Bridge”) and the "St. Wendelinbrücke".Parks
At the "Herzenbergkapelle", a
rose garden has been laid out. In an area of some 3 000 m², roughly 2,000 rose plants of over 160 varieties have been planted.Economy and infrastructure
Transport
The town of Hadamar lies on "
Bundesstraße " 54 fromSiegen to Limburg.Hadamar lies on the "Oberwesterwaldbahn" (
railway ) to Limburg and Au. From there, the cities ofCologne ,Koblenz ,Frankfurt am Main andWiesbaden may be reached directly.Education
There are five
primary school s in town, one each in Hadamar, Niederhadamar, Niederzeuzheim, Oberzeuzheim and Steinbach.Secondary school education is to be had at the "Fürst-Johann-Ludwig-Schule", acomprehensive school withHauptschule ,Realschule and Gymnasium branches. The school’s feeder area reaches far beyond the town’s limits.Moreover, Hadamar is a centre for
glazier training. The Federal vocational school of the glazier’s craft and the "Erwin-Stein-Schule" (state glass vocational school) are located here. The "Erwin-Stein-Schule" is named after Erwin Stein, one of the fathers of the Hessian state constitution.Hadamar is seat of the “Musical Boarding School”, where the
Limburger Domsingknaben are trained.Public institutions
* Marienfried Hadamar Catholic
kindergarten
* St. Ursula Niederhadamar Catholic kindergarten
* St. Petrus Niederzeuzheim Catholic kindergarten
* St. Antonius Oberzeuzheim Catholic kindergarten
* Maria Heimsuchung Steinbach Catholic kindergarten
* Theodor-Fliedner-Kindertagesstätte Evangelical kindergarten, Niederhadamar
* Kindertagesstätte St. Leonhard Oberweyer (daycare)
* Kinderkrippe Krabbelstube Bimsalasim Niederhadamar (daycare)
* Hadamar Volunteer Fire Brigade, founded 1869 (includes Youth Fire Brigade)
* Niederhadamar Volunteer Fire Brigade, founded 1902 (includes Youth Fire Brigade)
* Niederzeuzheim Volunteer Fire Brigade, founded 1921 (includes Youth Fire Brigade)
* Oberweyer Volunteer Fire Brigade, founded 1928 (includes Youth Fire Brigade)
* Oberzeuzheim Volunteer Fire Brigade, founded 1929 (includes Youth Fire Brigade)
* Steinbach Volunteer Fire Brigade, founded 1913 (includes Youth Fire Brigade)
* Sozialzentrum der Arbeiterwohlfahrt Hadamar (workers’ welfare centre)Famous people
Sons and daughters of the town
*Johann Wilhelm Bausch (b. 17 March 1774 in Hadamar-Steinbach; d. 9 April 1840) 1834-1840 Bishop of Limburg
*Karl Wilhelm Diefenbach (1851-1913), painter
*Christian Egenolff (1502-1555), Frankfurt’s first independent book printer
*Ernst Moritz Engert (1892–1986), silhouette artist and painter
*Karl Faust (1874-1952), German botanist
*Maria Mathi (1889-1961), writer
*Peter Melander von Holzappel (1589-1648), commander in theThirty Years' War
*Prince Johann Ludwig von Nassau-Hadamar (1590-1653), regent, Imperial commissioner and signer of the peace agreement for thePeace of Westphalia
*Gustav Ricker (1870-1948), physician and scientist
*Ruth Stock-Homburg (b. 1972), currently Germany’s youngest business studies professorNotes and references
External links
*
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