Witzenhausen


Witzenhausen is a small town in the Werra-Meißner-Kreis in northeastern Hesse, Germany.
It was granted town rights in 1225, and until 1974 was a district seat.
The University of Kassel maintains a satellite campus in Witzenhausen, which offers an ecological agricultural sciences programme, putting Witzenhausen among Germany's smallest university towns. There is also a teaching institute for environment and technology, agriculture, horticulture and landscaping. The town is nationally known for the invention of the Biotonne biological refuse container, and is an important cherry-growing area, with a yearly Kesperkirmes or “Cherry Fair”, at which a Cherry Queen is chosen.

Geography

Location

Witzenhausen lies on the northeast slope of the Kaufunger Wald, which is surrounded by the Meißner-Kaufunger Wald Nature Park. The town is found at the mouth of the Gelster, where it empties into the Werra some 30 km east of Kassel, 16 km east-southeast of Hann. Münden, 25 km south of Göttingen and 23 km northwest of Eschwege.

Neighbouring communities

Witzenhausen borders in the north on the town of Hann. Münden, the communities of Rosdorf and Friedland, in the east on the communities of Neu-Eichenberg, Bornhagen and Lindewerra, in the south on the towns of Bad Sooden-Allendorf and Großalmerode and the unincorporated area of Gutsbezirk Kaufunger Wald and in the west on the community of Staufenberg in Lower Saxony’s Göttingen district.

Constituent communities

Witzenhausen’s 16 Stadtteile, besides the main town, also called Witzenhausen, are, on the Werra’s left bank:
  • Blickershausen,
  • Dohrenbach,
  • Ellingerode,
  • Ermschwerd,
  • Hubenrode,
  • Hundelshausen,
  • Kleinalmerode,
  • Roßbach,
  • Wendershausen
  • Ziegenhagen,
On the river’s right bank:
  • Albshausen,
  • Berlepsch-Ellerode-Hübenthal,
  • Gertenbach,
  • Neuseesen,
  • Unterrieden
  • Werleshausen.

    History

In 1898, the Deutsche Kolonialschule für Landwirtschaft, Handel und Gewerbe was founded to train people in agriculture for resettlement in Germany's colonies. The successor institution forms today a satellite campus of the University of Kassel, and includes a greenhouse complex dedicated to tropical crops.

Main sights

Buildings

  • Historic town centre with various important timber-frame houses:
  • * Grau’sches Haus
  • * Rotes Haus
  • * Steinernes Haus
  • * Sommermann’sches Haus
  • * Meinhard-Wedekind’sches Haus
  • * Persch’sches Haus
  • Liebfrauenkirche
  • Historic Town Hall
  • Erlöserkirche
  • Diebesturm, Eulenturm and parts of the old town wall
  • Former Williamite monastery, part of the Colonial School and today part of the University of Kassel
  • Gelsterhof Estate, the former Colonial School's farm
  • Burg Ludwigstein

    Museums

  • Völkerkundliches Museum
  • Greenhouse for domesticated tropical plants

    Parks

  • Town park with swan pond

    Politics

Town council

The municipal election held on 14 March 2021 yielded the following results:
At first, the council of 2011 was ruled by a CDU-Green-FWG coalition, but this was dissolved in September 2007.

Mayors

  • 1945-1948: Eduard Platner
  • 1987-2005: Günter Engel
  • 2005-2018: Angela Fischer
  • 2018- : Daniel Herz

    Events

  • Witzenhäuser Woche, partly in conjunction with German Queens’ Day, every 3 years.
  • Kesperkirmes, the “cherry fair” in the Old Town with election of the Cherry Queen and German cherry pip spitting championship.
  • Cherry Man
  • Erntedank- und Heimatfest, 20–25 August 2008, this year with Jürgen Drews as the star guest on Sunday in the festival tent at Joseph Pott Platz
  • In 2006 Witzenhausen was the starting point for the third stage of the Deutschland Tour
  • Christmas market

    Economy and infrastructure

Witzenhausen suffers – like the whole Werra-Meißner-Kreis and a great part of North Hesse – from extremely high unemployment and its attendant loss of younger people to migration.
In Witzenhausen-Unterrieden, the last producer of chewing tobacco in Germany is still in business. An important employer in Witzenhausen is, with 430 employees all together, the corporation Svenska Cellulosa Aktiebolaget. In Witzenhausen the SCA produces raw paper for corrugated cardboard for manufacturing packagings and hygiene products such as toilet paper. Another important employer is the district and town hospital in Witzenhausen.
Witzenhausen is domicile of Gesellschaft zur Erhaltung alter und gefährdeter Haustierrassen.

Media

Print

  • Witzenhäuser Allgemeine
  • Markt Spiegel
  • Witzenhüsser
  • ''Extra Tipp''

    Wireless

  • RundFunk Meißner

    Transport

Over Bundesstraßen 27, 80 and 451, the town is linked to the greater road network. In Hedemünden, some 10 km away, is an interchange on the Autobahn A 7. Near Friedland is an interchange on the A 38 towards Halle. Moreover, Witzenhausen is on the two tourist routes: the German Timber-Frame Road and the German Fairy Tale Route.
Witzenhausen has a railway station, Witzenhausen Nord, on the Eichenberg–Kassel section of the Halle-Kassel Railway. It is located above the town on the north slope of the Werra valley and is served by trains to Kassel, Göttingen, Erfurt and Halle. The former Witzenhausen Süd station stood southeast of the inner town and has been closed, like the whole of the Gelster Valley Railway between Eichenberg and –Großalmerode.
The outlying centre of Gertenbach has a further stop on the Halle-Kassel railway

Education

Witzenhausen is twinned with:
Since 1979, Filton, St. Vallier and Witzenhausen have had a three-way partnership.
Between Witzenhausen and Filton, and between Witzenhausen and St. Vallier, there are regular student exchanges with the local comprehensive school. The partnership between Witzenhausen and St. Vallier came about by accident. St. Vallier's mayor's last name at the time was Witzenhausen, and when, on a visit to Germany, he spotted this name on a road sign, he drove to the town. Out of his visit sprang the partnership, which has lasted to this day.
Furthermore, there have been school exchanges between Witzenhausen and these two places since 2002: