Korbach
Encyclopedia
Korbach is the district seat of Waldeck-Frankenberg
in northern Hesse, Germany. It is over a thousand years old and a former Hanseatic
town. It is located on the German Framework Road
.
proper name, not the English word "upland"). Neighbouring towns and communities are, clockwise from the northwest, Willingen
, Diemelsee
, Twistetal
, Waldeck
, Vöhl
, Lichtenfels
(likewise all in Waldeck-Frankenberg
) and Medebach
(Hochsauerlandkreis in North Rhine-Westphalia
).
The town lies on an unwooded tableland called the Waldecker Tafel that once harboured a great many wild chicken
s, leading to the townsfolk's nickname as "Feldhühnerchen" ( ≈ "little field chickens"). Not only the main town, but also outlying centres such as Lelbach (615 inhabitants), Lengefeld (512 inhabitants), Nordenbeck (195 inhabitants), Ober-Ense (228 inhabitants) and Nieder-Ense (272 inhabitants) lie on the Waldecker Tafel or at its edge. In the eastern part of the municipal area, where the outlying centres of Helmscheid (202 inhabitants), Strothe (250 inhabitants) and Meineringhausen (947 inhabitants) lie, begins the North Hesse Hills (nordhessisches Hügelland), which stretch from the Rhenish Slate Mountains to the Habichtswald range west of Kassel
. In the west lie the constituent communities of Alleringhausen (91 inhabitants), Eppe (686 inhabitants), Nieder-Schleidern (193 inhabitants) and Hillershausen (334 inhabitants) in the foothills of the Sauerland
. The highest peaks in the Korbach municipal area are the Widdehagen (635 m) near Rhena (584 inhabitants) and the Eisenberg (562 m), which despite its name – meaning "Iron Mountain" – is well known for gold
-bearing ore found there. Perhaps more fittingly, the outlying community lying on the Eisenberg is called Goldhausen (329 inhabitants).
Through the main town runs the Kuhbach, a tributary to the Itter, itself a tributary to the Eder
. In a grammatical
quirk, the name "Kuhbach", which most German speakers would regard as masculine, is often locally inflected as though it were feminine – die Kuhbach instead of der Kuhbach.
The Korbacher Spalte, a 20 m-deep, up to 350 cm-broad and roughly 1 km-long cleft in the Earth's surface near Korbach, discovered in 1964, has yielded important fossil
finds, indeed the only finds of Procynosuchus
in the Northern Hemisphere
.
Worth seeing is the Korbach Village Church, which stands in the middle of the town. Likewise worth visiting is the old castle
inside the "Hühnenkeller" ringwall near Lengefeld.
Panorama of Korbach from Eisenberg hill
's Church was later built, a Carolingian
Imperial court already stood by 800. The name Korbach (earlier "Corbach") comes from the Old High German
Curbechi ("choosing place on the brook"). Curbechi had its first documentary mention in 980 when Otto II, Holy Roman Emperor
yielded Korbach, Lelbach and Rhena to Corvey Abbey
. Also in other parts of the municipal area, clues can be found about settlement in early times, as for instance on the Wipperberg near Lengefeld
.
-Leipzig
and Frankfurt
-Bremen commercial roads, handicraft
s and trade quickly developed and Korbach blossomed. The Old Town was soon no longer big enough to house all the townsfolk. The merchants therefore settled in two new towns, the Upper and Lower New Town, outside town limits, although these towns did eventually merge into one. In the 14th century, Saint Kilian
's Church (Kilianskirche) was built in the Old Town and St. Nicholas's Church (Nikolaikirche) in the New Town. In 1377, the Old Town and the New Town were at last united, and at the former townline arose the united town's town hall, which still stands today. In 1349, Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor
– although at the time he was still only King of the Romans
– came to town for a visit. Korbach joined the Hanse and was first mentioned as a member town of the Hanseatic League in 1469, making Korbach the only town in the Bundesland
of Hesse to have been a member of the Hanseatic League. In 1414, a double ring of walls surrounding the whole town was finished. Five town gates kept watch over the town's approaches: the Tränketor, the Dalwigker Tor, the Enser Tor, the Lengefelder Tor and the Berndorfer Tor. Only the Enser Tor still stands today.
With the coming of the Reformation
, the town, and indeed the whole County of Waldeck
, became Protestant. Even nowadays, Korbach is still mostly Protestant, even though beginning in the 19th century, a great number of Catholic
s moved into the town. On the other hand, the outlying communities to the west on the boundary with North Rhine-Westphalia are almost wholly (Hillershausen) or mostly (Nieder-Schleidern, Eppe) Catholic.
In the Thirty Years' War
, Korbach had to make ever greater contributions to the troops who were passing through. By the time the war ended, only half the town's houses were still fit to live in, and the town's population had fallen from 2600 to 1100. In 1664, a great town fire burnt almost all the residential houses down. There is only one half-timbered house in town today that was built before the fire. The Gothic
stone churches and the stone warehouse
s from that time, on the other hand, are still well preserved.
on 10 July 1760 between the French under the command of St. Germain and the Hanoverian, British and Hessian allies under Karl Wilhelm Ferdinand, the Hereditary Prince.
It was only towards the end of the 18th century that a modest prosperity was restored to Korbach. The town first achieved a new economic boom late in the 19th century. Contributing to this in no small measure was the new railway to Kassel
that opened in 1893. Moreover, the industrialist Louis Peter established a rubber
and tire factory in Korbach. The town was mostly spared any great damage in further wars, particularly the two world wars. After the Second World War, the population rose sharply as those driven out of formerly German territories to the east flooded into town.
The rubber factory continues to dominate the development of the city. It is one of the production sites of Continental AG
, one of the major companies in its sector.
might heraldically be described thus: Party per fess, above, in azure a bishop argent with shawl and mitre trimmed Or, in his hand dexter upraised a book Or, in his hand sinister a crozier Or dexter, below, in Or a halved eight-pointed star sable.
The arms come from the town's oldest known seal, from 1236. The human figure in the chief is the Bishop of Paderborn, who granted Korbach town rights in 1188, although it could be his successor Bishop Wilbrand, who had the townsfolk swear him in as their overlord in 1227. The aforesaid seal was made not long after this. There is an erroneous belief that the human figure is Saint Kilian, the town's patron saint, but this is believed to be rather unlikely, as the figure looks like a bishop.
The eight-pointed star – only half of which appears in these arms – is quite a common charge in civic heraldry in Waldeck, the region in which Korbach lies, for the simple reason that it was the arms borne by the Counts of Schwalenberg-Waldeck, who were the town's rulers as the bishops' vassals beginning in 1227. The star shown on the original seal, however, was six-pointed (and again, halved). This was eventually changed to the eight-pointed version still seen now, to match the star in the counts' arms.
The objects that the bishop holds changed in the early days, with some old seals showing him without the book. Also, the original 1236 seal shows him with the two objects transposed, holding the staff in his right hand, not the book. Since 1377, however, the composition still seen today seems to have been settled on. The colours were chosen in 1947.http://www.ngw.nl/int/dld/k/korbach.htm
, département of Manche
, France
, since 1963 Waltershausen
, Thuringia
, Germany
since 1990 Pyrzyce
, Poland
Vysoké Mýto
, Czech Republic
-Brilon
) and 252 (Marburg
-Paderborn
), which both conveniently connect to the Korbach bypass (road)
. There is no direct connection to the Autobahn network anywhere in the municipal area, the nearest interchanges being on the A 44
near Diemelstadt
and Zierenberg
, either way about 30 km away. The town is also connected by state highways (Landesstraßen) to Medebach
and Diemelsee
.
Korbach is a railway hub where once four railway lines met, one through Brilon-Wald to the Ruhr area
(the Uplandbahn), one southwards through Frankenberg
to Marburg
(the Untere Edertalbahn and Burgwaldbahn), one northeastwards through Volkmarsen
to Kassel
and one southeastwards through Waldeck
to Wabern (the Ederseebahn). The Ederseebahn from Bad Wildungen
to Korbach is out of service. The stretch running to Kassel was reopened on 4 October 1998 (then one of the first examples in Germany of a railway line being reactivated). The Untere Edertalbahn is supposed to be reopened in 2006, to connect with the Kellerwald
-Edersee National Park. The stretch as far as Korbach Süd was reopened on 29 September 1999.
Korbach is somewhat remarkable for a town its size in having two railway stations on the same line that are also both in service. Since the original one ("Hauptbahnhof" – Main Station) lay too far from the Old Town, a further station ("Korbach-Süd") was built 1.5 km farther south. Even if the line to Kassel is being modernized, people will still notice today the effect of taking one station out of service. Furthermore, the railway alignment through Bad Arolsen
and Volkmarsen
is quite circuitous, meaning that even today, taking the train to these places can take twice, or almost three times, as long as going by car.
In 1997, a bus
service was instituted in Korbach with two looping routes that partly intersect. These buses run at 40-minute intervals, thereby meet each other at the main railway station every 20 minutes. The system also connects important places within the town, such as the inner town, the town hospital
or the school centre to both routes.
There are two airfields in Korbach, used only for sport flying and gliding
.
Waldeck-Frankenberg
Waldeck-Frankenberg is a Kreis in the north of Hesse, Germany. Neighbouring districts are Höxter, Kassel, Schwalm-Eder, Marburg-Biedenkopf, Siegen-Wittgenstein, Hochsauerland.-History:...
in northern Hesse, Germany. It is over a thousand years old and a former Hanseatic
Hanseatic League
The Hanseatic League was an economic alliance of trading cities and their merchant guilds that dominated trade along the coast of Northern Europe...
town. It is located on the German Framework Road
German Framework Road
The German Timber-Frame Road is a German tourist route leading from the river Elbe in the north to Lake Constance in the south. Along the road you can find nearly 100 cities and towns with remarkable timber-framed houses...
.
Geography and geology
Korbach lies at the northeast edge of the Rhenish Slate Mountains (here known as the Waldeck'sches Upland, the second word being a GermanGerman language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
proper name, not the English word "upland"). Neighbouring towns and communities are, clockwise from the northwest, Willingen
Willingen
Willingen is a community in Waldeck-Frankenberg in northern Hesse, Germany, some 80 km west of Kassel.Willingen is regularly advertised as Willingen Hochsauerland and Willingen .-Location:...
, Diemelsee
Diemelsee
Diemelsee is a community in Waldeck-Frankenberg in northwest Hesse, Germany, and is part of the Upland region.-Location:Diemelsee lies in the River Diemel in the Diemelsee Nature Park just upstream from and southwest of the Diemelsee reservoir...
, Twistetal
Twistetal
Twistetal is a community in Waldeck-Frankenberg in northwest Hesse, Germany, southwest of Bad Arolsen.-Location:The community lies on the river Twiste, a tributary to the Diemel, itself a tributary to the Weser...
, Waldeck
Waldeck, Hesse
Waldeck is a small town in Waldeck-Frankenberg district in northwestern Hesse, Germany.-Location:Waldeck lies on the Edersee, a man-made lake...
, Vöhl
Vöhl
Vöhl is a community in Waldeck-Frankenberg in Hesse, Germany not far southwest of Kassel.-Location:Vöhl lies in the northern part of the Kellerwald-Edersee Nature Park on the Edersee, a man-made lake.-Neighbouring communities:...
, Lichtenfels
Lichtenfels, Hesse
Lichtenfels is a small town in Waldeck-Frankenberg district in northwest Hesse, Germany.- Location :Lichtenfels lies at the northeast foot of the Rothaargebirge, some southwest of Kassel. It is not far from the western end of the Edersee in the southwest of the Waldecker Land...
(likewise all in Waldeck-Frankenberg
Waldeck-Frankenberg
Waldeck-Frankenberg is a Kreis in the north of Hesse, Germany. Neighbouring districts are Höxter, Kassel, Schwalm-Eder, Marburg-Biedenkopf, Siegen-Wittgenstein, Hochsauerland.-History:...
) and Medebach
Medebach
Medebach is a town in the Hochsauerland district, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.-Geography:Medebach is situated approx. 15 km east of Winterberg, 17 km south-west of Korbach and 45 km north of Marburg.- Neighbouring municipalities:...
(Hochsauerlandkreis in North Rhine-Westphalia
North Rhine-Westphalia
North Rhine-Westphalia is the most populous state of Germany, with four of the country's ten largest cities. The state was formed in 1946 as a merger of the northern Rhineland and Westphalia, both formerly part of Prussia. Its capital is Düsseldorf. The state is currently run by a coalition of the...
).
The town lies on an unwooded tableland called the Waldecker Tafel that once harboured a great many wild chicken
Chicken
The chicken is a domesticated fowl, a subspecies of the Red Junglefowl. As one of the most common and widespread domestic animals, and with a population of more than 24 billion in 2003, there are more chickens in the world than any other species of bird...
s, leading to the townsfolk's nickname as "Feldhühnerchen" ( ≈ "little field chickens"). Not only the main town, but also outlying centres such as Lelbach (615 inhabitants), Lengefeld (512 inhabitants), Nordenbeck (195 inhabitants), Ober-Ense (228 inhabitants) and Nieder-Ense (272 inhabitants) lie on the Waldecker Tafel or at its edge. In the eastern part of the municipal area, where the outlying centres of Helmscheid (202 inhabitants), Strothe (250 inhabitants) and Meineringhausen (947 inhabitants) lie, begins the North Hesse Hills (nordhessisches Hügelland), which stretch from the Rhenish Slate Mountains to the Habichtswald range west of Kassel
Kassel
Kassel is a town located on the Fulda River in northern Hesse, Germany. It is the administrative seat of the Kassel Regierungsbezirk and the Kreis of the same name and has approximately 195,000 inhabitants.- History :...
. In the west lie the constituent communities of Alleringhausen (91 inhabitants), Eppe (686 inhabitants), Nieder-Schleidern (193 inhabitants) and Hillershausen (334 inhabitants) in the foothills of the Sauerland
Sauerland
The Sauerland is a rural, hilly area spreading across most of the south-eastern part of North Rhine-Westphalia, in parts heavily forested and, apart from the major valleys, sparsely inhabited...
. The highest peaks in the Korbach municipal area are the Widdehagen (635 m) near Rhena (584 inhabitants) and the Eisenberg (562 m), which despite its name – meaning "Iron Mountain" – is well known for gold
Gold
Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au and an atomic number of 79. Gold is a dense, soft, shiny, malleable and ductile metal. Pure gold has a bright yellow color and luster traditionally considered attractive, which it maintains without oxidizing in air or water. Chemically, gold is a...
-bearing ore found there. Perhaps more fittingly, the outlying community lying on the Eisenberg is called Goldhausen (329 inhabitants).
Through the main town runs the Kuhbach, a tributary to the Itter, itself a tributary to the Eder
Eder
The Eder is a 177 km long river in Germany, and a tributary of the Fulda River. It was first mentioned by the Roman historian Tacitus as the Adrana in the territory of the Chatti....
. In a grammatical
German grammar
This page outlines the grammar of the German language.-Nouns:A German noun has one of three specific grammatical genders . Nouns are declined for case and grammatical number. All nouns are capitalized.-Genders:...
quirk, the name "Kuhbach", which most German speakers would regard as masculine, is often locally inflected as though it were feminine – die Kuhbach instead of der Kuhbach.
The Korbacher Spalte, a 20 m-deep, up to 350 cm-broad and roughly 1 km-long cleft in the Earth's surface near Korbach, discovered in 1964, has yielded important fossil
Fossil
Fossils are the preserved remains or traces of animals , plants, and other organisms from the remote past...
finds, indeed the only finds of Procynosuchus
Procynosuchus
Procynosuchus was a cynodont from the Late Permian. It is considered to be one of the earliest and most basal cynodonts. Remains of Procynosuchus have been found in Germany, Zambia and South Africa...
in the Northern Hemisphere
Northern Hemisphere
The Northern Hemisphere is the half of a planet that is north of its equator—the word hemisphere literally means “half sphere”. It is also that half of the celestial sphere north of the celestial equator...
.
Worth seeing is the Korbach Village Church, which stands in the middle of the town. Likewise worth visiting is the old castle
Castle
A castle is a type of fortified structure built in Europe and the Middle East during the Middle Ages by European nobility. Scholars debate the scope of the word castle, but usually consider it to be the private fortified residence of a lord or noble...
inside the "Hühnenkeller" ringwall near Lengefeld.
Population
(each time at 31 December)- 1998 - 24,510
- 1999 - 24,552
- 2000 - 24,515
- 2001 - 24,490
- 2002 - 24,537
- 2003 - 24,503
- 2004 - 24,540
Protohistory
On the hill upon which Saint KilianSaint Kilian
Saint Kilian, also spelled Killian , was an Irish missionary bishop and the apostle of Franconia , where he began his labours towards the end of the 7th century.-Background:...
's Church was later built, a Carolingian
Carolingian
The Carolingian dynasty was a Frankish noble family with origins in the Arnulfing and Pippinid clans of the 7th century AD. The name "Carolingian", Medieval Latin karolingi, an altered form of an unattested Old High German *karling, kerling The Carolingian dynasty (known variously as the...
Imperial court already stood by 800. The name Korbach (earlier "Corbach") comes from the Old High German
Old High German
The term Old High German refers to the earliest stage of the German language and it conventionally covers the period from around 500 to 1050. Coherent written texts do not appear until the second half of the 8th century, and some treat the period before 750 as 'prehistoric' and date the start of...
Curbechi ("choosing place on the brook"). Curbechi had its first documentary mention in 980 when Otto II, Holy Roman Emperor
Otto II, Holy Roman Emperor
Otto II , called the Red, was the third ruler of the Saxon or Ottonian dynasty, the son of Otto the Great and Adelaide of Italy.-Early years and co-ruler with Otto I:...
yielded Korbach, Lelbach and Rhena to Corvey Abbey
Corvey Abbey
The Imperial Abbey of Corvey was a Benedictine monastery on the River Weser, 2 km northeast of Höxter, now in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany....
. Also in other parts of the municipal area, clues can be found about settlement in early times, as for instance on the Wipperberg near Lengefeld
Lengefeld
Lengefeld is a town in the district Erzgebirgskreis, in the Free State of Saxony, Germany. It is situated in the Ore Mountains, 23 km southeast of Chemnitz....
.
Middle Ages and Early Modern Times
In 1188, the Bishop of Paderborn granted town rights under Soest law. Owing to Korbach's location at the crossroads of the CologneCologne
Cologne is Germany's fourth-largest city , and is the largest city both in the Germany Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia and within the Rhine-Ruhr Metropolitan Area, one of the major European metropolitan areas with more than ten million inhabitants.Cologne is located on both sides of the...
-Leipzig
Leipzig
Leipzig Leipzig has always been a trade city, situated during the time of the Holy Roman Empire at the intersection of the Via Regia and Via Imperii, two important trade routes. At one time, Leipzig was one of the major European centres of learning and culture in fields such as music and publishing...
and Frankfurt
Frankfurt
Frankfurt am Main , commonly known simply as Frankfurt, is the largest city in the German state of Hesse and the fifth-largest city in Germany, with a 2010 population of 688,249. The urban area had an estimated population of 2,300,000 in 2010...
-Bremen commercial roads, handicraft
Handicraft
Handicraft, more precisely expressed as artisanic handicraft, sometimes also called artisanry, is a type of work where useful and decorative devices are made completely by hand or by using only simple tools. It is a traditional main sector of craft. Usually the term is applied to traditional means...
s and trade quickly developed and Korbach blossomed. The Old Town was soon no longer big enough to house all the townsfolk. The merchants therefore settled in two new towns, the Upper and Lower New Town, outside town limits, although these towns did eventually merge into one. In the 14th century, Saint Kilian
Saint Kilian
Saint Kilian, also spelled Killian , was an Irish missionary bishop and the apostle of Franconia , where he began his labours towards the end of the 7th century.-Background:...
's Church (Kilianskirche) was built in the Old Town and St. Nicholas's Church (Nikolaikirche) in the New Town. In 1377, the Old Town and the New Town were at last united, and at the former townline arose the united town's town hall, which still stands today. In 1349, Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor
Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor
Charles IV , born Wenceslaus , was the second king of Bohemia from the House of Luxembourg, and the first king of Bohemia to also become Holy Roman Emperor....
– although at the time he was still only King of the Romans
King of the Romans
King of the Romans was the title used by the ruler of the Holy Roman Empire following his election to the office by the princes of the Kingdom of Germany...
– came to town for a visit. Korbach joined the Hanse and was first mentioned as a member town of the Hanseatic League in 1469, making Korbach the only town in the Bundesland
States of Germany
Germany is made up of sixteen which are partly sovereign constituent states of the Federal Republic of Germany. Land literally translates as "country", and constitutionally speaking, they are constituent countries...
of Hesse to have been a member of the Hanseatic League. In 1414, a double ring of walls surrounding the whole town was finished. Five town gates kept watch over the town's approaches: the Tränketor, the Dalwigker Tor, the Enser Tor, the Lengefelder Tor and the Berndorfer Tor. Only the Enser Tor still stands today.
With the coming of the Reformation
Protestant Reformation
The Protestant Reformation was a 16th-century split within Western Christianity initiated by Martin Luther, John Calvin and other early Protestants. The efforts of the self-described "reformers", who objected to the doctrines, rituals and ecclesiastical structure of the Roman Catholic Church, led...
, the town, and indeed the whole County of Waldeck
Waldeck (state)
Waldeck was a sovereign principality in the German Empire and German Confederation and, until 1929, a constituent state of the Weimar Republic. It comprised territories in present-day Hesse and Lower Saxony, ....
, became Protestant. Even nowadays, Korbach is still mostly Protestant, even though beginning in the 19th century, a great number of Catholic
Catholic
The word catholic comes from the Greek phrase , meaning "on the whole," "according to the whole" or "in general", and is a combination of the Greek words meaning "about" and meaning "whole"...
s moved into the town. On the other hand, the outlying communities to the west on the boundary with North Rhine-Westphalia are almost wholly (Hillershausen) or mostly (Nieder-Schleidern, Eppe) Catholic.
In the Thirty Years' War
Thirty Years' War
The Thirty Years' War was fought primarily in what is now Germany, and at various points involved most countries in Europe. It was one of the most destructive conflicts in European history....
, Korbach had to make ever greater contributions to the troops who were passing through. By the time the war ended, only half the town's houses were still fit to live in, and the town's population had fallen from 2600 to 1100. In 1664, a great town fire burnt almost all the residential houses down. There is only one half-timbered house in town today that was built before the fire. The Gothic
Gothic architecture
Gothic architecture is a style of architecture that flourished during the high and late medieval period. It evolved from Romanesque architecture and was succeeded by Renaissance architecture....
stone churches and the stone warehouse
Warehouse
A warehouse is a commercial building for storage of goods. Warehouses are used by manufacturers, importers, exporters, wholesalers, transport businesses, customs, etc. They are usually large plain buildings in industrial areas of cities and towns. They usually have loading docks to load and unload...
s from that time, on the other hand, are still well preserved.
Nieder-Ense
The constituent community of Nieder-Ense had its first documentary mention about 1010.Modern Times
During the Seven Year's War the town was the site of the Battle of KorbachBattle of Corbach
The Battle of Corbach, or Korbach, a Hanseatic town of Waldeck-Frankenberg in northern Hesse, Germany, was fought on 10 July 1760 during the Seven Years' War...
on 10 July 1760 between the French under the command of St. Germain and the Hanoverian, British and Hessian allies under Karl Wilhelm Ferdinand, the Hereditary Prince.
It was only towards the end of the 18th century that a modest prosperity was restored to Korbach. The town first achieved a new economic boom late in the 19th century. Contributing to this in no small measure was the new railway to Kassel
Kassel
Kassel is a town located on the Fulda River in northern Hesse, Germany. It is the administrative seat of the Kassel Regierungsbezirk and the Kreis of the same name and has approximately 195,000 inhabitants.- History :...
that opened in 1893. Moreover, the industrialist Louis Peter established a rubber
Rubber
Natural rubber, also called India rubber or caoutchouc, is an elastomer that was originally derived from latex, a milky colloid produced by some plants. The plants would be ‘tapped’, that is, an incision made into the bark of the tree and the sticky, milk colored latex sap collected and refined...
and tire factory in Korbach. The town was mostly spared any great damage in further wars, particularly the two world wars. After the Second World War, the population rose sharply as those driven out of formerly German territories to the east flooded into town.
The rubber factory continues to dominate the development of the city. It is one of the production sites of Continental AG
Continental AG
Continental AG, internally often called Conti for short, is a worldwide leading German manufacturer of tires, brake systems, vehicle stability control systems, engine injection systems, tachographs and other parts for the automotive and transport industries. The company is based in Hanover, Germany...
, one of the major companies in its sector.
Town council
The town council's 37 seats are apportioned thus, in accordance with municipal elections held on 26 March 2006:| SPD Social Democratic Party of Germany The Social Democratic Party of Germany is a social-democratic political party in Germany... |
13 seats |
| CDU Christian Democratic Union (Germany) The Christian Democratic Union of Germany is a Christian democratic and conservative political party in Germany. It is regarded as on the centre-right of the German political spectrum... |
12 seats |
| FWG | 5 seats |
| Greens Alliance '90/The Greens Alliance '90/The Greens is a green political party in Germany, formed from the merger of the German Green Party and Alliance 90 in 1993. Its leaders are Claudia Roth and Cem Özdemir... |
3 seats |
| FDP Free Democratic Party (Germany) The Free Democratic Party , abbreviated to FDP, is a centre-right classical liberal political party in Germany. It is led by Philipp Rösler and currently serves as the junior coalition partner to the Union in the German federal government... |
3 seats |
| REP Republicans (Germany) The Republicans is a national conservative political party in Germany. The primary plank of the program is opposition to immigration. The party tends to attract protest voters who think that the Christian Democratic Union and the Christian Social Union of Bavaria are not sufficiently conservative... |
1 seat |
Coat of arms
Korbach's civic coat of armsCoat of arms
A coat of arms is a unique heraldic design on a shield or escutcheon or on a surcoat or tabard used to cover and protect armour and to identify the wearer. Thus the term is often stated as "coat-armour", because it was anciently displayed on the front of a coat of cloth...
might heraldically be described thus: Party per fess, above, in azure a bishop argent with shawl and mitre trimmed Or, in his hand dexter upraised a book Or, in his hand sinister a crozier Or dexter, below, in Or a halved eight-pointed star sable.
The arms come from the town's oldest known seal, from 1236. The human figure in the chief is the Bishop of Paderborn, who granted Korbach town rights in 1188, although it could be his successor Bishop Wilbrand, who had the townsfolk swear him in as their overlord in 1227. The aforesaid seal was made not long after this. There is an erroneous belief that the human figure is Saint Kilian, the town's patron saint, but this is believed to be rather unlikely, as the figure looks like a bishop.
The eight-pointed star – only half of which appears in these arms – is quite a common charge in civic heraldry in Waldeck, the region in which Korbach lies, for the simple reason that it was the arms borne by the Counts of Schwalenberg-Waldeck, who were the town's rulers as the bishops' vassals beginning in 1227. The star shown on the original seal, however, was six-pointed (and again, halved). This was eventually changed to the eight-pointed version still seen now, to match the star in the counts' arms.
The objects that the bishop holds changed in the early days, with some old seals showing him without the book. Also, the original 1236 seal shows him with the two objects transposed, holding the staff in his right hand, not the book. Since 1377, however, the composition still seen today seems to have been settled on. The colours were chosen in 1947.http://www.ngw.nl/int/dld/k/korbach.htm
Town partnerships
AvranchesAvranches
Avranches is a commune in the Manche department in the Basse-Normandie region in north-western France. It is a sub-prefecture of the department. The inhabitants are called Avranchinais.-History:...
, département of Manche
Manche
Manche is a French department in Normandy named after La Manche , which is the French name for the English Channel.- History :Manche is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on March 4, 1790...
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, since 1963 Waltershausen
Waltershausen
Waltershausen is a city in the district of Gotha, Thuringia, Germany.The town has a population of 11475 .-Sister cities: Bruay-sur-l'Escaut, France Korbach, Germany Wolbrom, Poland Hanau, Germany -External links:*...
, Thuringia
Thuringia
The Free State of Thuringia is a state of Germany, located in the central part of the country.It has an area of and 2.29 million inhabitants, making it the sixth smallest by area and the fifth smallest by population of Germany's sixteen states....
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
since 1990 Pyrzyce
Pyrzyce
Pyrzyce , is a town in Pomerania, north-western Poland, with 13,331 inhabitants Capital of the Pyrzyce County in West Pomeranian Voivodeship , previously in Szczecin Voivodeship .-History:...
, Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
Vysoké Mýto
Vysoké Mýto
Vysoké Mýto is a town in the Pardubice Region, Czech Republic. Founded in 1262 by the Bohemian king, Přemysl Otakar II, it is situated near its original location, called Vraclav. Vysoké Mýto is a centre of tourism, due to its architectural monuments and the nature that surrounds it. Industrial...
, Czech Republic
Czech Republic
The Czech Republic is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Poland to the northeast, Slovakia to the east, Austria to the south, and Germany to the west and northwest....
Transport
Korbach lies on Federal Highways (Bundesstraßen) 251 (KasselKassel
Kassel is a town located on the Fulda River in northern Hesse, Germany. It is the administrative seat of the Kassel Regierungsbezirk and the Kreis of the same name and has approximately 195,000 inhabitants.- History :...
-Brilon
Brilon
Brilon is a town in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, that belongs to the Hochsauerlandkreis.- Geography :Brilon is situated on the Brilon Heights at an altitude of about 450 m on the upper reaches of the river Möhne...
) and 252 (Marburg
Marburg
Marburg is a city in the state of Hesse, Germany, on the River Lahn. It is the main town of the Marburg-Biedenkopf district and its population, as of March 2010, was 79,911.- Founding and early history :...
-Paderborn
Paderborn
Paderborn is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, capital of the Paderborn district. The name of the city derives from the river Pader, which originates in more than 200 springs near Paderborn Cathedral, where St. Liborius is buried.-History:...
), which both conveniently connect to the Korbach bypass (road)
Bypass (road)
A bypass is a road or highway that avoids or "bypasses" a built-up area, town, or village, to let through traffic flow without interference from local traffic, to reduce congestion in the built-up area, and to improve road safety....
. There is no direct connection to the Autobahn network anywhere in the municipal area, the nearest interchanges being on the A 44
Bundesautobahn 44
is a German Autobahn. It consists of three main-parts and a few smaller parts. It begins in Aachen at the German-Belgian border and ends near Kassel. Before the German unification it was an unimportant provincial-motorway but after this event it became an integral part of the German highway-system...
near Diemelstadt
Diemelstadt
-Location:Diemelstadt lies in a small "bay" of Hesse that thrusts into, and is surrounded on three sides by, North Rhine-Westphalia. The River Diemel, the town's namesake, does not cross through the municipal area, forming only parts of the town limits, and at the same time parts of the boundary...
and Zierenberg
Zierenberg
Zierenberg is a town in the district of Kassel, in Hesse, Germany. It is located 19 km east of Bad Arolsen, and 15 km northwest of Kassel on the German Framework Road.-External links:*...
, either way about 30 km away. The town is also connected by state highways (Landesstraßen) to Medebach
Medebach
Medebach is a town in the Hochsauerland district, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.-Geography:Medebach is situated approx. 15 km east of Winterberg, 17 km south-west of Korbach and 45 km north of Marburg.- Neighbouring municipalities:...
and Diemelsee
Diemelsee
Diemelsee is a community in Waldeck-Frankenberg in northwest Hesse, Germany, and is part of the Upland region.-Location:Diemelsee lies in the River Diemel in the Diemelsee Nature Park just upstream from and southwest of the Diemelsee reservoir...
.
Korbach is a railway hub where once four railway lines met, one through Brilon-Wald to the Ruhr area
Ruhr Area
The Ruhr, by German-speaking geographers and historians more accurately called Ruhr district or Ruhr region , is an urban area in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. With 4435 km² and a population of some 5.2 million , it is the largest urban agglomeration in Germany...
(the Uplandbahn), one southwards through Frankenberg
Frankenberg
Frankenberg may refer to:* Frankenberg, Hesse, a town in Hesse, Germany* Frankenberg, Saxony, a town in Saxony, Germany* Waldeck-Frankenberg, a district in Hesse, Germany* Joannes-Henricus Cardinal de Franckenberg, 18th century archbishop of Mechelen...
to Marburg
Marburg
Marburg is a city in the state of Hesse, Germany, on the River Lahn. It is the main town of the Marburg-Biedenkopf district and its population, as of March 2010, was 79,911.- Founding and early history :...
(the Untere Edertalbahn and Burgwaldbahn), one northeastwards through Volkmarsen
Volkmarsen
Volkmarsen is a small town in Waldeck-Frankenberg district in northern Hesse, Germany.-Location:Volkmarsen lies on the northern edge of the Waldecker Tafel where it flattens out into the Diemel Valley, some 28 km northwest of Kassel and 7 km northeast of Bad Arolsen.-Neighbouring...
to Kassel
Kassel
Kassel is a town located on the Fulda River in northern Hesse, Germany. It is the administrative seat of the Kassel Regierungsbezirk and the Kreis of the same name and has approximately 195,000 inhabitants.- History :...
and one southeastwards through Waldeck
Waldeck
-Places:* Waldeck Castle, a medieval fortress/castle in Germany* Waldeck, Hesse, a town in Hesse* Waldeck or Waldeck-Pyrmont, a principality in the German Empire and German Confederation, and a state in the Weimar Republic, named after the above castle and town* Waldeck, Bavaria, a village in the...
to Wabern (the Ederseebahn). The Ederseebahn from Bad Wildungen
Bad Wildungen
Bad Wildungen is a state-run spa and a small town in Waldeck-Frankenberg district in Hesse, Germany. It is located on the German Framework Road.-Geography:-Location:...
to Korbach is out of service. The stretch running to Kassel was reopened on 4 October 1998 (then one of the first examples in Germany of a railway line being reactivated). The Untere Edertalbahn is supposed to be reopened in 2006, to connect with the Kellerwald
Kellerwald
The Kellerwald is a low mountain range reaching heights of up to 675 m in the western part of northern Hesse, Germany.Its assets include Germany's largest contiguous beech woodland and it contains Hesse's only national park, the Kellerwald-Edersee National Park.- Geography :The Kellerwald lies in...
-Edersee National Park. The stretch as far as Korbach Süd was reopened on 29 September 1999.
Korbach is somewhat remarkable for a town its size in having two railway stations on the same line that are also both in service. Since the original one ("Hauptbahnhof" – Main Station) lay too far from the Old Town, a further station ("Korbach-Süd") was built 1.5 km farther south. Even if the line to Kassel is being modernized, people will still notice today the effect of taking one station out of service. Furthermore, the railway alignment through Bad Arolsen
Bad Arolsen
Bad Arolsen is a small town in northern Hesse, Germany, in Waldeck-Frankenberg district. From 1655 until 1918 it served as the residence town of the Princes of Waldeck-Pyrmont and then until 1929 as the capital of the Waldeck Free State...
and Volkmarsen
Volkmarsen
Volkmarsen is a small town in Waldeck-Frankenberg district in northern Hesse, Germany.-Location:Volkmarsen lies on the northern edge of the Waldecker Tafel where it flattens out into the Diemel Valley, some 28 km northwest of Kassel and 7 km northeast of Bad Arolsen.-Neighbouring...
is quite circuitous, meaning that even today, taking the train to these places can take twice, or almost three times, as long as going by car.
In 1997, a bus
Bus
A bus is a road vehicle designed to carry passengers. Buses can have a capacity as high as 300 passengers. The most common type of bus is the single-decker bus, with larger loads carried by double-decker buses and articulated buses, and smaller loads carried by midibuses and minibuses; coaches are...
service was instituted in Korbach with two looping routes that partly intersect. These buses run at 40-minute intervals, thereby meet each other at the main railway station every 20 minutes. The system also connects important places within the town, such as the inner town, the town hospital
Hospital
A hospital is a health care institution providing patient treatment by specialized staff and equipment. Hospitals often, but not always, provide for inpatient care or longer-term patient stays....
or the school centre to both routes.
There are two airfields in Korbach, used only for sport flying and gliding
Gliding
Gliding is a recreational activity and competitive air sport in which pilots fly unpowered aircraft known as gliders or sailplanes using naturally occurring currents of rising air in the atmosphere to remain airborne. The word soaring is also used for the sport.Gliding as a sport began in the 1920s...
.
Sightseeing
- Kilianskirche (1450) and Nikolaikirche (1460)
- Old State School (Alte Landesschule) (1579)
- A mediaeval pilloryPilloryThe pillory was a device made of a wooden or metal framework erected on a post, with holes for securing the head and hands, formerly used for punishment by public humiliation and often further physical abuse, sometimes lethal...
- Well preserved town wall and a lovingly restored Old Town
- Several mediaeval stone buildings (warehouses)
- The bronze Night Watchman ("Nachtwächter") in the pedestrian precinct
- The Gold Trail (Goldspur), going by interesting goldmining sites and explaining the history of gold at the Eisenberg.
- Nieder-Ense Church, built between 1130 and 1140, with BaroqueBaroqueThe Baroque is a period and the style that used exaggerated motion and clear, easily interpreted detail to produce drama, tension, exuberance, and grandeur in sculpture, painting, literature, dance, and music...
altarAltarAn altar is any structure upon which offerings such as sacrifices are made for religious purposes. Altars are usually found at shrines, and they can be located in temples, churches and other places of worship...
by Josias Wolrad Brützel about 1700. - Visitors' Mine, located at Germany's most important goldmining site, illustrating a goldminer's situation in the Middle AgesMiddle AgesThe Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...
and his everyday work. - Georg-Viktor-Turm (tower), 24 m high, affords a panoramic view into the Upland as far as the Ederbergland, and of Eisenberg castle ruins.
Festivals
- Kiliansmarkt
- Viehmarkt (cattleCattleCattle are the most common type of large domesticated ungulates. They are a prominent modern member of the subfamily Bovinae, are the most widespread species of the genus Bos, and are most commonly classified collectively as Bos primigenius...
market) - Altstadt-Kulturfest (Old Town Cultural Festival)
- Mittelalterlicher Markt (Mediaeval Market)
- Weihnachtsmarkt (ChristmasChristmasChristmas or Christmas Day is an annual holiday generally celebrated on December 25 by billions of people around the world. It is a Christian feast that commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ, liturgically closing the Advent season and initiating the season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days...
Market)
Sundry
- Feldhühnerchen
- Song of the Feldhühnerchen, Korbacher Lied (Korbach Song)
- Korbach sagas and legends
People associated with the town
- Eduard & Maria Fischer & family, well known residents from the 1920s through the early 1980s
- August BierAugust BierAugust Karl Gustav Bier was a German surgeon and a pioneer of spinal anaesthesia. After professorships in Greifswald and Bonn, Bier became a professor at the Charité in Berlin.-Spinal anesthesia:...
, surgeonSurgeonIn medicine, a surgeon is a specialist in surgery. Surgery is a broad category of invasive medical treatment that involves the cutting of a body, whether human or animal, for a specific reason such as the removal of diseased tissue or to repair a tear or breakage... - Christian Karl Josias, Freiherr von BunsenChristian Charles Josias BunsenChristian Charles Josias, Baron von Bunsen was a German diplomat and scholar.-Early life and education:Bunsen was born at Korbach, an old town in the little German principality of Waldeck....
, diplomatDiplomatA diplomat is a person appointed by a state to conduct diplomacy with another state or international organization. The main functions of diplomats revolve around the representation and protection of the interests and nationals of the sending state, as well as the promotion of information and...
and scholar - Wilhelmine Halberstadt, educator and writer
- Elke HeidenreichElke HeidenreichElke Heidenreich is a German author, TV presenter and journalist.- Life :Heidenreich studied German studies in Munich, Hamburg and Berlin. Heidenreich works as German author and wrote several books...
, writer and television star - Horst Bingel, writer
- Wilhelm Hellwig, late town archivist, teacher
- Hermann KümmellHermann KümmellHermann Kümmell was a German surgeon.In 1875 he received his medical doctorate at Berlin, later working as an assistant physician to Max Schede at the municipal hospital in Friedrichshain...
, surgeon - Dr. Thomas Niedballa, theologian, natural scientist, author and salaried religion and mathematics teacher
- Eric Wolzak, surgeon
- Daniel Angelocrater, theologian
- Matthias ReimMatthias ReimMatthias Reim is a German singer-songwriter. His 1990 single "Verdammt, ich lieb' dich" was a hit in several European countries, and spent sixteen consecutive weeks at the No.1 spot in the German charts.-Early life:Reim was born on 26 November 1957 in Korbach, Hesse. He grew up in Homberg...
, singer - Gerhard Schmidt, veterinarianVeterinarianA veterinary physician, colloquially called a vet, shortened from veterinarian or veterinary surgeon , is a professional who treats disease, disorder and injury in animals....
and microbiologistMicrobiologistA microbiologist is a scientist who works in the field of microbiology. Microbiologists study organisms called microbes. Microbes can take the form of bacteria, viruses, fungi, and protists... - Konrad Samuel Schurzfleisch, historianHistorianA historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the study of all history in time. If the individual is...
, polymathPolymathA polymath is a person whose expertise spans a significant number of different subject areas. In less formal terms, a polymath may simply be someone who is very knowledgeable...
and librarian - Rainer SchüttlerRainer SchüttlerRainer Schüttler is a German professional tennis player, ranked World No. 113 in the ATP rankings. He is the last German player who reached a final in a grand slam tournament....
, professional tennisTennisTennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all...
player - Adolph VarnhagenVarnhagenThe Varnhagen family was a German noble family from Westphalia. Its most notable members were Rosa Maria Varnhagen, Karl August Varnhagen von Ense and Rahel Varnhagen....
, clergyman and history writer - Ernst Welteke, former President of the Deutsche BundesbankDeutsche BundesbankThe Deutsche Bundesbank is the central bank of the Federal Republic of Germany and as such part of the European System of Central Banks . Due to its strength and former size, the Bundesbank is the most influential member of the ESCB. Both the Deutsche Bundesbank and the European Central Bank are...
- Jochen BehleJochen BehleJochen Behle is a former German cross-country skier who competed from 1982 to 1998.Competing in five Winter Olympics, he earned his best career finish of fourth in the 4 x 10 km relay at Lillehammer in 1994 and his best individual finish of 11th in the 10 km event at those same games.Behle's best...
, cross-country skiingCross-country skiingCross-country skiing is a winter sport in which participants propel themselves across snow-covered terrain using skis and poles...
trainer
Literature
- Stöcker, Hilmar G.: Niederense. Korbach : Stadtarchiv, 1978. 229 S. Waldecksche Ortssippenbücher ; 16
External links
- http://www.spas-demenskrussia.com (A site dedicated to Eduard Fischer, 1922–1942, born and raised in Korbach, Hagen Str.)