Wolfach

City in Baden-Württemberg, Germany

Coat of arms

Location of Wolfach within Ortenaukreis district

(2022–30) Thomas Geppert^[1]Area

• Total67.99 km² (26.25 sq mi)Elevation

262 m (860 ft)Population

(2022-12-31)^[2]

• Total5,688 • Density84/km² (220/sq mi)Time zoneUTC+01:00 (CET) • Summer (DST)UTC+02:00 (CEST)Postal codes

77709

Dialling codes07834Vehicle registrationOG, BH, KEL, LR, WOLWebsitewolfach.de

Wolfach (Low Alemannic: Wolfä) is a city in the Black Forest and part of the Ortenaukreis in Baden-Württemberg (Germany). It is a well-known spa town.

Geography

Geographical position

Wolfach lies where the two rivers Wolf and Kinzig meet in the Kinzig valley. The mixture of valleys and mountains is a characteristic of the town, which stretches between 250 and 880 m above sea level.

District villages within the borough of Wolfach include Kirnbach, Halbmeil, Kinzigtal, and St. Roman.

History

The exact foundation year of Wolfach is not known. The history of the town Wolfach can be traced back to the year 1084, although some finding even point back to the Roman times.

On April 21, 1945, before fleeing the city, the Gestapo took the French resistants and political prisoners held in the prison of Wolfach to a forest outside of the town, forced them to dig their own graves, and shot them on the spot, just three hours before the arrival of the French 2nd Armored Division commanded by General Leclerc.^[3]

Tourism

Wolfach hotels and bed & breakfast places have an occupancy rate of 128,000 nights each year (year 2000).

Government

City council

In the past years the city council consisted of:

Party	1994	1999	2004	2009	2014
CDU	8 seats	10 seats	8 seats	6 seats	5 seats
SPD	5 seats	3 seats	3 seats	4 seats	5 seats
FW	6 seats	8 seats	7 seats	7 seats	6 seats
Grüne	—	—	—	1 seat	2 seats

Mayors

1811–1820: Johann Georg Neef
1820–1829: Xavery Duppele
1829–1834: Dr. Duttlinger
1834–1839: Johann Baptist Baur
1839–1861: Joseph Bührer
1861–1874: Johann Georg Armbruster
1874–1880: Hermann Vogt
1880–1900: Friedrich Armbruster, (son of J. G. Armbruster)
1900–1909: Bruno Burger
1909–1918: Karl Friedrich Armbruster, (son of F. Armbruster)
1918–1925: Gustav Bulacher
1925–1936: August Hämmerle, (from 1933 NSDAP)
1937–1941: Adolf Oehler (NSDAP), Oehler was since 1929 NSDAP-member, joined in 1940 the Waffen-SS and died in 1941 as a soldier
1941–1945: Alfred Albanus
1945: Max Vivell, (gave the town to the commander of the marching in French troops)
1945–1946: Johannes Faißt (temporarily)
1946–1951: Hans Allgeier (1891–1951)
1951–1978: Arthur Martin (1911–1999)
1978–1991: Hans-Peter Züfle
1992–2014: Gottfried Moser
since 2015: Thomas Geppert

Coat of arms

The coat of arms of the town of Wolfach displays a golden wolf's hook rod on a blue background and is based on the "Wolfsangel" banner from the "Herren von Wolfach" (Lords of Wolfach) who established their control on the town in 1260. It is believed that they adopted the wolf trap sign as their banner having cleared the area of wolves to establish the town.^[4]

International relations

Wolfach is twinned with:

Culture and sights

Swabian-Alemannic Carnival

Wolfach is said to be one of the towns rich in tradition of the Swabian-Alemannic Fastnacht.

Buildings

Fürstenberg castle
Fortress ruin Alt-Wolfach
Town Hall
St. Laurentius Roman Catholic Church

Parks

Kurgarten
Flößerpark
Kinziganlagen

Regular events

Swabian-Alemannic Carnival (Fastnacht)
City Fountain Festival (Stadtbrunnenfest)
Biker-Weekend
Long Table (Lange Tafel)
Flößerfest
Open-Air Rockfest Moosenmättle
Butchers Festival of the Fire Department (Schlachtfest der Freiwilligen Feuerwehr)
Wolfach Autumn (Wolfacher Herbst)

Past events

From 2 September 1968 to 12 September 1968, World Constitutional Convention sessions were held at Wolfach after six days of sessions at Interlaken.^[5]^[6]

Glass blowing

The Dorotheenhütte glass blowing workshop is the last active glassworks using traditional methods in the Black Forest. The glasses are manufactured, i.e. they are blown, cut and engraved, in front of the visitors.

Notable people

Natives

Ernst Bassermann, (DE Wiki) (1854-1917), lawyer and politician, member of Reichstag
Hans Klumbach (1904–1992), archaeologist and scholar of classical and provincial Roman studies
Lothar Maier (born 1944), politician, (AfD)
Sylvia Wetzel (born 1949), Buddhist feminist
Thomas Dold (born 1984), track and field and extreme athlete and tower runner
Markus Steuerwald (born 1989), volleyball player
Felix Mildenberger (born 1990), a German conductor; principal conductor and artistic director of the Sinfonieorchester Crescendo Freiburg, which he helped found in 2014.

People who are connected to the town

Gustav Trunk (1871–1936), politician, member of the German Centre Party; lived in Wolfach from 1897 to 1900 as beadle
Otmar Freiherr von Verschuer (1896–1969), racial hygienist in the Third Reich; went to school in Wolfach, 1898 and 1909

References

Notes

^ Bürgermeisterwahl Wolfach 2022, Staatsanzeiger.
^ "Bevölkerung nach Nationalität und Geschlecht am 31. Dezember 2022" [Population by nationality and sex as of December 31, 2022] (CSV) (in German). Statistisches Landesamt Baden-Württemberg. June 2023.
^ CRDP d'Alsace. "La Deuxième Guerre mondiale en Alsace" (PDF) (in French). Retrieved 2009-11-07.
^ Sadlier, Klemens (1971). German Coats-of-Arms. Federal Republic of Germany: Municipal Coats-of-Arms of the Federal State of Baden-Wurttemberg). Vol. 8. Angelsachsen-Verlag. p. 115.
^ "Als Interlaken die heimliche Welthauptstadt war". Berner Zeitung (in German). 2018-08-29. Retrieved 2023-07-11.
^ Amerasinghe, Terence P. (2009). Emerging World Law, Volume 1. Institute for Economic Democracy. ISBN 978-1-933567-16-7.

Book references

Disch Franz: Chronik der Stadt Wolfach. Wolfach, Karlsruhe 1920.
Harter Hans: Adel und Burgen im oberen Kinziggebiet. Studien zur Besiedelung und hochmittelalterlichen Herrschaftsbildung im mittleren Schwarzwald. München 1992.
Krausbeck Josef, Knauss Frieder: Masken unserer Stadt. Stuttgart 1974.
Stadt Wolfach (Hrsg.): Schwarzwaldstadt mit Tradition. Wolfach, Kirnbach, Kinzigtal. Freiburg 1988.