Neuenstein, Hesse

Neuenstein is a community in Hersfeld-Rotenburg district in northeastern Hesse, Germany.

Neuenstein
Coat of arms
Location of Neuenstein within Hersfeld-Rotenburg district
NentershausenPhilippsthalFriedewaldNeuensteinKirchheim
Neuenstein
Neuenstein
Coordinates: 50°56′N 09°33′E
CountryGermany
StateHesse
Admin. regionKassel
DistrictHersfeld-Rotenburg
Subdivisions8 districts
Government
 • MayorWalter Glänzer (CDU)
Area
 • Total64.84 km2 (25.03 sq mi)
Elevation
307 m (1,007 ft)
Population
 (2019-12-31)[1]
 • Total3,009
 • Density46/km2 (120/sq mi)
Time zoneUTC+01:00 (CET)
 • Summer (DST)UTC+02:00 (CEST)
Postal codes
36286
Dialling codes06677
06621 (Untergeis/Gittersdorf)
Vehicle registrationHEF
Websitewww.neuenstein.net

Geography

Location

The community lies in the Knüllgebirge (range) in the drainage basin of the Geisbach, which rises here and only 10 km from here, in Bad Hersfeld, empties into the Fulda.

Neighbouring communities

Neuenstein borders in the north on the community of Knüllwald (in the Schwalm-Eder-Kreis), in the east on the community of Ludwigsau, in the south on the towns of Bad Hersfeld and Kirchheim (all in Hersfeld-Rotenburg), in the southwest on the community of Oberaula, and in the west on the town of Schwarzenborn (both in the Schwalm-Eder-Kreis).

Constituent communities

Neuenstein's Ortsteile are Aua, Gittersdorf, Mühlbach, Obergeis, Raboldshausen, Saasen, Salzberg and Untergeis.

History
Neuenstein Castle with keep

The first documentary mention of any of the constituent communities came in 852 when Aua (Owe) was named in one of the Hersfeld Abbey’s donation documents. The abbot at Hersfeld founded a monastery here in 1190, although this moved to Blankenheim, now an outlying centre of Bebra, in 1229.

The community of Salzesberg had its first documentary mention in 1190. There is however a document from 782 about this place, but its authenticity is in dispute. All other places had their first documentary mentions in the 12th and 13th centuries. Most constituent communities were long under the Hersfeld Abbey’s or were fiefs of the Lords of Wallenstein. Albert I of Wallenstein built a castle above Saasen that had its first documentary mention in 1267 as Neuwallenstein (the family’s ancestral seat was Wallenstein Castle – now a ruin – in Knüllwald-Wallenstein). On 24 July 1318, the castle, which had since become a den for robber barons, was destroyed by Hessian Landgrave Otto’s troops as well as the Hersfeld Abbot Simon I of Buchenau’s and Count Johann I of Ziegenhain’s men, and also Eberhard von Breuberg’s, who was the state justice of the peace and Imperial state Vogt. Only in 1357 was the castle restored by Simon von Wallenstein.[2]

Neuenstein Castle is nowadays used as a conference and event centre.

Amalgamations

The above-named constituent communities merged into the new greater community of Neuenstein with effect from 1 January 1972, with the exception of Obergeis, which was only merged, forcibly, in the course of municipal reform on 1 August 1972.

The new community’s namesake was the castle, whose mediaeval name was Neuwallenstein Castle (it is now called Neuenstein Castle, or Burg Neuenstein in German).

Politics

Community council

The municipal election held on 26 March 2006 yielded the following results:

Parties and voter communities %
2006		 Seats
2006		 %
2001		 Seats
2001
CDU Christian Democratic Union of Germany 53.6 12 59.6 14
SPD Social Democratic Party of Germany 28.8 7 40.4 9
FWN Freie Wähler Neuenstein 17.6 4 – –
Total 100.0 23 100.0 23
Voter turnout in % 66.8 72.6

Mayors

After the greater community's formation, Konrad Käberich took charge of the mayor's job from December 1972 to August 1973. The first elected mayor was Georg Ries from January 1974 to January 1980. After him came Walter Schmidt.

The current mayor, Walter Glänzer (CDU) was elected on 28 September 2003 with 59.7% of the vote.

Coat of arms

The community's arms might be described thus: Gules a mount of three vert upon which barrulets argent and issuant from which a tower of the last.

The tower belongs to Neuenstein Castle, and is the community's landmark.

Culture and sightseeing
Roughly 1,200-year-old linden in the constituent community of Aua
Eisenberg in winter

Buildings
  • Former monastery church in the constituent community of Aua from 1190
  • Neuenstein Castle in the constituent community of Saasen
  • Wall graves of the family von Wallenstein in the constituent community of Raboldshausen
  • Chapel from 1194 in the constituent community of Mühlbach

Natural monuments
  • Eisenberg (mountain)
  • Archaeological hiking path at the Eisenberg
  • Roughly 1,200-year-old linden in the constituent community of Aua

Economy and infrastructure

Transport

The community lies right at interchange 85, Bad Hersfeld-West on Autobahn A 7 (Flensburg–Füssen). Furthermore, Bundesstraße 324 runs through the municipal area.

Established businesses
  • General Logistics Systems GmbH & Co.OHG with roughly 800 employees
  • Der Kurier GmbH (courier) countrywide transport of rush deliveries overnight

References
  1. "Bevölkerungsstand am 31.12.2019". Hessisches Statistisches Landesamt (in German). July 2020.
  2. Martin Röhling, Die Geschichte der Grafen von Nidda und der Grafen von Ziegenhain, Niddaer Geschichtsblätter Nr. 9, Hg. Niddaer Heimatmuseum e.V., Nidda 2005 ISBN 3-9803915-9-0, S. 48
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