Memmelsdorf

Until 1953, the community of Memmelsdorf consisted only of the centre named Memmelsdorf and the nearby Schloss Seehof (castle).

Great changes came to the community through administrative reform. Since the voluntary merger with five formerly autonomous communities in 1972, the community of Memmelsdorf has consisted of the following centres, each given here with its own population figure:

• Drosendorf 1,374
• Kremmeldorf 253
• Laubend 144
• Lichteneiche 2,171
  This centre was founded after the Second World War to house those driven out of formerly German lands east of the Oder and Neiße. The first dwellers moved into their new homes in 1954. Lichteneiche quickly developed into a typical suburban neighbourhood. Important institutions are the home for the elderly, the gliderport and the Sport-Club Lichteneiche (founded in 1955).
• Meedensdorf 228
• Memmelsdorf 3,159
• Merkendorf 840
• Schloss Seehof 8
• Schmerldorf 175
• Weichendorf 613

(as of 31 May 2005)

• Drosendorf: Hl. Dreifaltigkeit
• Kremmeldorf: Heiliges Herz Jesu
• Laubend: Kapelle Mariä Empfängnis
• Lichteneiche: Heilig Geist
• Meedensdorf: Kapelle Schmerzhafte Mutter Gottes
• Memmelsdorf: Pfarrkirche Mariä Himmelfahrt
• Merkendorf: Kreuzerhöhung
• Schloss Seehof: Kapelle
• Weichendorf: Kapelle Heilige Anna

Lichteneiche: Christi Himmelfahrt

If Memmelsdorf had its own seal at the time when it belonged to the High Monastery at Bamberg, nothing is now known of it. Only in the time of the Kingdom of Bavaria did the municipal administration bear the then customary service seal. On 5 December 1963, the Bavarian State Ministry of the Interior gave its approval for the community to bear a coat of arms. At the same time, the Ministry also gave its approval for the community to bear a flag. It shows three stripes coloured black, yellow and green, and may be borne with the arms. The Upper Franconian government approved on 1 July 1973 the community council's decision on 30 January 1973 to make the coat of arms valid for the whole, newly expanded community.

Memmelsdorf's arms might heraldically be described thus: Party per pale Or and argent, Or a Zentrichter (roughly “lower court judge”) with cloak and hat sable holding in the hand dexter a staff argent and in the sinister a book Or, vert emerging from a three knolled hill vert an oaktree with acorns Or.

Parish church's interior

Stone figure of St. Wendelin on the parish church

• Pfarrkirche Mariä Himmelfahrt
• Schloss Seehof was the Bamberg Prince-Bishops’ former summer residence and hunting lodge

• 
  former railway station
• 
  St. Martin

The club Sportverein 1923 e. V. offers many departments. From football to bowling, chess and baseball, every sportsman and sportswoman can follow his or her interests. Over the last few years, various teams from one department or another have made their way into the national leagues, with the first team from the baseball department even reaching the Second Bundesliga.

A yearly sporting high point is the Quattroball-Turnier staged by SC Memmelsdorf 1997 e. V. To this meet come up to 400 players in about 100 teams from all over Germany to play the champions in the four different disciplines, volleyball, basketball, handball and soccer fussball. The crush of competitors at this tournament is so great that for some years now, participants have had to have their names drawn by lottery to make it onto the contest list. The winner of Quattroball-Turnier 2008 is named Funky Fresh Crew. In the finals of the tournament they lost only one point in soccer against Hamsteraggregat. As the most valuable Player of the tournament was named Helmut Weiss.

Memmelsdorf is also well known for its successful carnival club Memmelsdorfer Carnevals Club (MCC). The yearly Prunksitzungen (“revues”) in the Seehofhalle Memmelsdorf are known and loved Bavaria-wide. The MCC is the main participant in the Shrovetide (Fasching) parades in Memmelsdorf and in the city of Bamberg.

Most working people are employed at large firms in Bamberg (Bosch, Wieland Electric) or at Michelin in Hallstadt (5 km). Business life in Memmelsdorf is based on many small businesses, which keep the local community supplied with its needs.

Major firms in the community are found mainly in the building industry. The biggest employer, with roughly 150 workers, is Firma Fösel.

Beers at the Höhn brewery.

There are 5 breweries:

• Drei Kronen (Forster) in Memmelsdorf
• Höhn (zum Mondschein) in Memmelsdorf
• Göller in Drosendorf
• Hummel (Drei Kronen) in Merkendorf
• Wagner in Merkendorf

In Memmelsdorf there was once the Brauerei zum (rotten) Ochsen (Nüßlein), whose building now houses a branch of the Sparkasse Bamberg (savings bank). Also, until the 1990s there was the Brauerei Leicht (the so-called Ottn Wirt, recalling the landlord's [“Wirt” in German] endowment of the figure of Saint Otto on the church wall; nowadays only run as an inn).

In Drosendorf until the 1970s there was the Brauerei zur Krone (Nüßlein).

In Kremmeldorf there was the Brauerei Zeiß (formerly Einwich), which is nowadays only run as an inn, as is the former Brauerei Dillig in Laubend.

The community of Memmelsdorf lies six kilometres east of the city of Bamberg on Staatsstraße 2190. The community can be reached by the Autobahnen A 70 (Maintalautobahn Schweinfurt-Bayreuth) and A 73 (Frankenschnellweg Nürnberg–Bamberg). East of the A 70/A 73 cloverleaf interchange (Bamberger Kreuz) is the Bamberg-Memmelsdorf exit, right at which lies the centre of Lichteneiche. From there it is two kilometres to Memmelsdorf.

All the community's centres are linked by the Bamberg city bus network.

In the community is found a home for the elderly offering roughly 50 senior citizens a place. In the 1980s, the Seehofhalle, a multipurpose hall in which sporting and cultural events take place, was built.

The Memmelsdorf municipal library has for many years been borne by the Catholic parish church foundation and the municipality, and been in the care of the Sankt Michaelsbund (a Bavarian Catholic media outlet), Landesverband Bayern e. V. (one of the two organizations between which it is divided). In 2005, about 1,000 users had access to more than 12,000 books, from among which there were roughly 32,000 loans. Another likewise successful library is found in Lichteneiche. Both libraries logged all together about 15,000 visits in 2005.

• Ferdinand-Dietz-Volksschule Memmelsdorf (primary school and Hauptschule), Pödeldorfer Straße 13
• Grund- und Teilhauptschule Drosendorf-Merkendorf (primary school and part of Hauptschule) Stuhlbrüderweg 31, Drosendorf; Am Sportplatz 10, Merkendorf
• Grundschule Lichteneiche (primary school), Kapellenstr. 38

Lothar Güthlein, priest, recognized on 15 November 2005