Mörfelden-Walldorf
Encyclopedia
Mörfelden-Walldorf is a town in the Groß-Gerau
district, situated in the Frankfurt Rhein-Main Region in Hessen, Germany
.
and Wiesbaden
, near Frankfurt International Airport
.
(Offenbach
district), in the east on the town of Langen
and the community of Egelsbach
(both in Offenbach district), in the south on the community of Erzhausen
, the town of Weiterstadt
(both in Darmstadt-Dieburg
) and the community of Büttelborn
, and in the west on the town of Groß-Gerau
, the community of Nauheim
and the town of Rüsselsheim
.
, the surrounding forest
s belonged to the Dreieich Royal Hunting Woods (Wildbann Dreieich), which maintained one of its 30 woods in Mörfelden. In 1600, Mörfelden passed to Hesse-Darmstadt
.
In the 15th and 16th centuries, Mörfelden became a significant tradepost with a population of 500, but the Thirty Years War set back the development of the village. It was repeatedly plundered and ravaged, and the plague took its toll. In the 19th century, however, the village benefited anew from economic development, and from the arrival of a railway line. The village developed early on into a community of workers, who commuted towards nearby cities. The inhabitants specialised as construction workers, and Mörfelden became known as the "bricklayers village".http://www.moerfelden-walldorf.de/leben/geschichtem.asp
After the Second World War, many refugees and expellees from Germany's former Eastern territories settled here. Mörfelden was raised to town in 1972.
Walldorf was founded in 1699 as "Waldenserkolonie
am Gundhof", was given the name Walldorf in 1715 and was raised to town in 1962.
From about 1935 to 1944, there was a concentration camp in Walldorf into which were brought 1,700 Jewish girls and women from Hungary
to work at runway
and taxiway
expansion and repair at Frankfurt Airport. This chapter in the town's history had lain forgotten until 1972 when three interested youths rediscovered it. Since then, a film called Rollbahn has dealt with the theme.
The town of Mörfelden-Walldorf came into being on 1 January 1977 through the merger of the until then independent towns of Mörfelden and Walldorf in the face of pressure from Frankfurt to amalgamate with that city.
Guntheim is the third community in Mörfelden-Walldorf's history. It lay in Walldorf's northeast. It had its first documentary mention in 1307 under the name villa Guntheim. There was also a Gunthof nearby, but the Gunthof (always with the definite article) came to be part of Guntheim in the 15th century through division of inheritance. The village ceased to be a population centre in 1647.
Guntheim was established in Merovingian times (481 – 560) as a Frankish
military colony at the junction of some old Roman road
s in the forest.
. Before 1933, the "bricklayers village" Mörfelden had the first Communist mayor in the state of Hesse, and was nicknamed "Little Moscow". In the elections of March 13, 1932
, the communist candidate Ernst Thälmann received 1,737 votes in the town, against 850 for Hindenburg and just 264 for Hitler.
Once the Nazis
established itself in power, 70 KPD members in the village, which had just 5,000 inhabitants at the time, were deported to the concentration camp Osthofen.http://www.dkp-hessen.de/hessen/geschichte/kommunisten-in-moerfelden1b.htm
At the municipal elections held on 26 March 2006, the SPD remained the strongest party despite notable losses. The overall winner was the DKP
, which has been represented on town council here since the 1970s. The town is one of only a few remaining DKP strongholds in Germany, along with nearby Reinheim
, the towns of Bottrop
, Essen
-North and Gladbeck
in the Ruhr area, and Heidenheim and Püttlingen
.
Mörfelden-Walldorf's council is made up of 45 councillors, with seats apportioned thus, in accordance with municipal elections held on 26 March 2006:
Mayoral elections were held in 2007. In the first round, SPD candidate Heinz Peter Becker received 48,4% of the vote, CDU-candidate Bernd Körner received 29,2%, and the DKP candidate Gerhard Schulmeyer received 11,9%.
There were some notable differences between the two communities; in Walldorf, Körner received 33,2% and in Mörfelden just 24,8%, whereas in Mörfelden, Schulmeyer received 16,9%, and in Walldorf just 7,4%.http://www.moerfelden-walldorf.de/wahlen/wahlen07.asp
In the second round, Becker defeated Körner by 59,8% to 40,2%. As new mayor, he succeeded the SPD politician Bernhard Brehl.
might heraldically be described thus: In gules an oak tree with six leaves and three acorns argent, thereover per saltire two flails Or, entwined about which, ends downturned, a horseshoe sable.
The town's current arms are a composite of Mörfelden's and Walldorf's old arms from the time before they were united.http://www.ngw.nl/int/dld/m/morfwald.htm
Both Mörfelden's and Walldorf's arms had an oak
tree as one of the charges, the former having a red oak on a silver shield and the latter the reverse. Furthermore, Mörfelden's arms had the black horseshoe
over the oak whereas Walldorf's had the crossed golden flail
s.
Walldorf only began using arms in the early 19th century, at which time the mayor's chain of office bore a shield with the oak, the flails and the letter W. Much the same composition was officially adopted as the village's arms in 1927, but without the W. The oak is said to stand for the forests, especially the Dreieich Hunting Woods, and the flails are said to symbolize agriculture.http://www.ngw.nl/int/dld/w/walldor2.htm
Mörfelden's armorial history is somewhat longer. A seal from 1612 (but dating from the previous century) has more or less the same composition, with the oak and the horseshoe. Likewise, the oak stands for the Dreieich Hunting Woods. The horseshoe is apparently an older village symbol. The arms were adopted in 1900, although this was not made official until 1926.http://www.ngw.nl/int/dld/m/morfelde.htm
There also seems to have been a compromise as to the number of leaves borne by the oak. Mörfelden's arms had five and Walldorf's had eight, whereas Mörfelden-Walldorf's have six.
operates its Germany office in Mörfelden-Walldorf.
Gottesdienste in der Hüttenkirche
Groß-Gerau (district)
Groß-Gerau is a Kreis in the south of Hesse , Germany. Neighboring districts are Main-Taunus, district-free Frankfurt, Darmstadt-Dieburg, Bergstraße, Alzey-Worms, Mainz-Bingen, and the district-free cities Mainz and Wiesbaden....
district, situated in the Frankfurt Rhein-Main Region in Hessen, 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...
.
Location
Mörfelden-Walldorf is situated within a triangle formed by the South Hessian cities of Frankfurt am Main, DarmstadtDarmstadt
Darmstadt is a city in the Bundesland of Hesse in Germany, located in the southern part of the Rhine Main Area.The sandy soils in the Darmstadt area, ill-suited for agriculture in times before industrial fertilisation, prevented any larger settlement from developing, until the city became the seat...
and Wiesbaden
Wiesbaden
Wiesbaden is a city in southwest Germany and the capital of the federal state of Hesse. It has about 275,400 inhabitants, plus approximately 10,000 United States citizens...
, near Frankfurt International Airport
Frankfurt International Airport
Frankfurt am Main Airport , or simply Frankfurt Airport, known in German as Flughafen Frankfurt am Main or Rhein-Main-Flughafen, is a major international airport located in Frankfurt, Germany, southwest of the city centre....
.
Neighbouring communities
Mörfelden-Walldorf borders in the north on the district-free city of Frankfurt am Main and the town of Neu-IsenburgNeu-Isenburg
The “Huguenot Town” of Neu-Isenburg with its outlying centres of Gravenbruch and Zeppelinheim is found in the Offenbach district in the Regierungsbezirk of Darmstadt in Hesse, Germany, right near Frankfurt am Main...
(Offenbach
Offenbach (district)
Offenbach is a Kreis in the south of Hesse, Germany and is part of the Frankfurt/Rhine-Main Metropolitan Region. Neighbourhood districts are Main-Kinzig, Aschaffenburg, Darmstadt-Dieburg, Groß-Gerau and the cities of Darmstadt, Frankfurt and Offenbach.-History:The district Offenbach was first...
district), in the east on the town of Langen
Langen, Hesse
Langen is a town of roughly 36,000 in the Offenbach district in the Regierungsbezirk of Darmstadt in Hesse, Germany, between Darmstadt and Frankfurt am Main...
and the community of Egelsbach
Egelsbach
Egelsbach is a community of 10,000 in the Offenbach district in the Regierungsbezirk of Darmstadt in Hesse, Germany.- Location :Egelsbach is one of 13 communities in the Offenbach district...
(both in Offenbach district), in the south on the community of Erzhausen
Erzhausen
Erzhausen is a village in southern Hesse, Germany. It is part of the district of Darmstadt-Dieburg. It has about 7.000 inhabitants.- History :...
, the town of Weiterstadt
Weiterstadt
Weiterstadt is a town in the Darmstadt-Dieburg district, in Hesse, Germany. It is situated approx. 6 km northwest of Darmstadt.....
(both in Darmstadt-Dieburg
Darmstadt-Dieburg
Darmstadt-Dieburg is a Kreis in the south of Hesse, Germany. Neighboring districts are Offenbach, Aschaffenburg, Miltenberg, Odenwaldkreis, Bergstraße, Groß-Gerau, and the district-free city of Darmstadt, which it surrounds.-History:...
) and the community of Büttelborn
Büttelborn
Büttelborn is a community in Groß-Gerau district in Hesse, Germany.-Location:Büttelborn lies on the edge of the northern Hessisches Ried, the northeastern section of the Rhine rift, and even today is still partly rural...
, and in the west on the town of Groß-Gerau
Groß-Gerau
Groß-Gerau is the district seat of the Groß-Gerau district, lying in the southern Frankfurt Rhein-Main Region in Hesse, Germany, and serving as a hub for the surrounding area.-Location:...
, the community of Nauheim
Nauheim
Nauheim is a community in Groß-Gerau district in Hesse, Germany.- Location :Nauheim lies 3 km northwest of the district seat of Groß-Gerau 16 km northwest of Darmstadt and 6 km southeast of Rüsselsheim. After the Second World War, many instrument makers from the Sudetenland such as W...
and the town of Rüsselsheim
Rüsselsheim
Rüsselsheim is the largest town in the Groß-Gerau district in the Rhein-Main region of Germany. It is one of seven special status towns in Hesse and is located on the Main, only a few kilometres from its mouth in Mainz. The suburbs of Bauschheim and Königstädten are included in Rüsselsheim...
.
Constituent communities
As its name suggests, Mörfelden-Walldorf consists of two constituent communities, named Mörfelden and Walldorf. There was a third one, called Guntheim, which once lay within the current municipal area of Mörfelden-Walldorf, but it was abandoned in 1647.History
Mörfelden was first mentioned in the "Lorscher Reichsurbar" of 830 to 850 under the name "Mersenualt". The church was mentioned as early as 1304 as being the "Parish Church with branch at the Gundhof". During the Middle AgesMiddle Ages
The 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...
, the surrounding forest
Forest
A forest, also referred to as a wood or the woods, is an area with a high density of trees. As with cities, depending where you are in the world, what is considered a forest may vary significantly in size and have various classification according to how and what of the forest is composed...
s belonged to the Dreieich Royal Hunting Woods (Wildbann Dreieich), which maintained one of its 30 woods in Mörfelden. In 1600, Mörfelden passed to Hesse-Darmstadt
Landgraviate of Hesse-Darmstadt
The Landgraviate of Hesse-Darmstadt was a member state of the Holy Roman Empire. It was formed in 1567 following the division of the Landgraviate of Hesse between the four sons of Philip I, the last Landgrave of Hesse....
.
In the 15th and 16th centuries, Mörfelden became a significant tradepost with a population of 500, but the Thirty Years War set back the development of the village. It was repeatedly plundered and ravaged, and the plague took its toll. In the 19th century, however, the village benefited anew from economic development, and from the arrival of a railway line. The village developed early on into a community of workers, who commuted towards nearby cities. The inhabitants specialised as construction workers, and Mörfelden became known as the "bricklayers village".http://www.moerfelden-walldorf.de/leben/geschichtem.asp
After the Second World War, many refugees and expellees from Germany's former Eastern territories settled here. Mörfelden was raised to town in 1972.
Walldorf was founded in 1699 as "Waldenserkolonie
Waldensians
Waldensians, Waldenses or Vaudois are names for a Christian movement of the later Middle Ages, descendants of which still exist in various regions, primarily in North-Western Italy. There is considerable uncertainty about the earlier history of the Waldenses because of a lack of extant source...
am Gundhof", was given the name Walldorf in 1715 and was raised to town in 1962.
From about 1935 to 1944, there was a concentration camp in Walldorf into which were brought 1,700 Jewish girls and women from Hungary
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...
to work at runway
Runway
According to ICAO a runway is a "defined rectangular area on a land aerodrome prepared for the landing and take-off of aircraft." Runways may be a man-made surface or a natural surface .- Orientation and dimensions :Runways are named by a number between 01 and 36, which is generally one tenth...
and taxiway
Taxiway
A taxiway is a path on an airport connecting runways with ramps, hangars, terminals and other facilities. They mostly have hard surface such as asphalt or concrete, although smaller airports sometimes use gravel or grass....
expansion and repair at Frankfurt Airport. This chapter in the town's history had lain forgotten until 1972 when three interested youths rediscovered it. Since then, a film called Rollbahn has dealt with the theme.
The town of Mörfelden-Walldorf came into being on 1 January 1977 through the merger of the until then independent towns of Mörfelden and Walldorf in the face of pressure from Frankfurt to amalgamate with that city.
Guntheim is the third community in Mörfelden-Walldorf's history. It lay in Walldorf's northeast. It had its first documentary mention in 1307 under the name villa Guntheim. There was also a Gunthof nearby, but the Gunthof (always with the definite article) came to be part of Guntheim in the 15th century through division of inheritance. The village ceased to be a population centre in 1647.
Guntheim was established in Merovingian times (481 – 560) as a Frankish
Franks
The Franks were a confederation of Germanic tribes first attested in the third century AD as living north and east of the Lower Rhine River. From the third to fifth centuries some Franks raided Roman territory while other Franks joined the Roman troops in Gaul. Only the Salian Franks formed a...
military colony at the junction of some old Roman road
Roman road
The Roman roads were a vital part of the development of the Roman state, from about 500 BC through the expansion during the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire. Roman roads enabled the Romans to move armies and trade goods and to communicate. The Roman road system spanned more than 400,000 km...
s in the forest.
Politics
The so-called workers' parties have traditionally been strong in Mörfelden-Walldorf. Both communities, then independent local authorities, were strongholds of the KPDCommunist Party of Germany
The Communist Party of Germany was a major political party in Germany between 1918 and 1933, and a minor party in West Germany in the postwar period until it was banned in 1956...
. Before 1933, the "bricklayers village" Mörfelden had the first Communist mayor in the state of Hesse, and was nicknamed "Little Moscow". In the elections of March 13, 1932
German presidential election, 1932
The presidential election of 1932 was the second and final direct election to the office of President of the Reich , Germany's head of state during the 1919-1934 Weimar Republic. The incumbent President, Paul von Hindenburg, had been elected in 1925 but his seven year term expired in May...
, the communist candidate Ernst Thälmann received 1,737 votes in the town, against 850 for Hindenburg and just 264 for Hitler.
Once the Nazis
National Socialist German Workers Party
The National Socialist German Workers' Party , commonly known in English as the Nazi Party, was a political party in Germany between 1920 and 1945. Its predecessor, the German Workers' Party , existed from 1919 to 1920...
established itself in power, 70 KPD members in the village, which had just 5,000 inhabitants at the time, were deported to the concentration camp Osthofen.http://www.dkp-hessen.de/hessen/geschichte/kommunisten-in-moerfelden1b.htm
At the municipal elections held on 26 March 2006, the SPD remained the strongest party despite notable losses. The overall winner was the DKP
German Communist Party
The German Communist Party is a Marxist-Leninist party in Germany.-History:The DKP was formed in West Germany in 1968, in order to fill the place of the Communist Party of Germany , which had been banned by the Federal Constitutional Court in 1956...
, which has been represented on town council here since the 1970s. The town is one of only a few remaining DKP strongholds in Germany, along with nearby Reinheim
Reinheim
Reinheim is a town in the Darmstadt-Dieburg district, in Hesse, Germany. It is situated 14 km southeast of Darmstadt.-Twin towns - Sister cities:...
, the towns of Bottrop
Bottrop
Bottrop is a city in west central Germany, on the Rhine-Herne Canal, in North Rhine-Westphalia. Located in the Ruhr industrial area, Bottrop adjoins Essen, Oberhausen, Gladbeck and Dorsten. The city had been a coal-mining and rail center and contains factories producing coal-tar derivatives,...
, Essen
Essen
- Origin of the name :In German-speaking countries, the name of the city Essen often causes confusion as to its origins, because it is commonly known as the German infinitive of the verb for the act of eating, and/or the German noun for food. Although scholars still dispute the interpretation of...
-North and Gladbeck
Gladbeck
Gladbeck is a city in the district of Recklinghausen in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.The name ´Gladbeck´ evolves from Low German, originally spoken in the area around Gladbeck. ´Glad´ means something like gleamy and ´beck´ means about brook. However, the brook Gladbeck flows under the ground...
in the Ruhr area, and Heidenheim and Püttlingen
Püttlingen
Püttlingen is a town and a municipality in the district of Saarbrücken, in Saarland, Germany. It is situated approx. 10 km northwest of Saarbrücken....
.
Mörfelden-Walldorf's council is made up of 45 councillors, with seats apportioned thus, in accordance with municipal elections held on 26 March 2006:
| Party | Share 2006 | Share 2001 | Change | Seats 2006 | Seats 2001 | Change |
| SPD Social Democratic Party of Germany The Social Democratic Party of Germany is a social-democratic political party in Germany... |
38.6% | 43.7% | -5.1% | 18 | 20 | -2 |
| 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... |
28.4% | 26.8% | +1.6% | 13 | 12 | +1 |
| 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... |
16.3% | 16.4% | -0.1% | 7 | 7 | 0 |
| DKP German Communist Party The German Communist Party is a Marxist-Leninist party in Germany.-History:The DKP was formed in West Germany in 1968, in order to fill the place of the Communist Party of Germany , which had been banned by the Federal Constitutional Court in 1956... /LL |
11.6% | 8.3% | +3.3% | 5 | 4 | +1 |
| 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... |
5.0% | 4.8% | +0.2% | 2 | 2 | 0 |
Mayoral elections were held in 2007. In the first round, SPD candidate Heinz Peter Becker received 48,4% of the vote, CDU-candidate Bernd Körner received 29,2%, and the DKP candidate Gerhard Schulmeyer received 11,9%.
There were some notable differences between the two communities; in Walldorf, Körner received 33,2% and in Mörfelden just 24,8%, whereas in Mörfelden, Schulmeyer received 16,9%, and in Walldorf just 7,4%.http://www.moerfelden-walldorf.de/wahlen/wahlen07.asp
In the second round, Becker defeated Körner by 59,8% to 40,2%. As new mayor, he succeeded the SPD politician Bernhard Brehl.
Coat of arms
Mörfelden-Walldorf'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: In gules an oak tree with six leaves and three acorns argent, thereover per saltire two flails Or, entwined about which, ends downturned, a horseshoe sable.
The town's current arms are a composite of Mörfelden's and Walldorf's old arms from the time before they were united.http://www.ngw.nl/int/dld/m/morfwald.htm
Both Mörfelden's and Walldorf's arms had an oak
Oak
An oak is a tree or shrub in the genus Quercus , of which about 600 species exist. "Oak" may also appear in the names of species in related genera, notably Lithocarpus...
tree as one of the charges, the former having a red oak on a silver shield and the latter the reverse. Furthermore, Mörfelden's arms had the black horseshoe
Horseshoe
A horseshoe, is a fabricated product, normally made of metal, although sometimes made partially or wholly of modern synthetic materials, designed to protect a horse's hoof from wear and tear. Shoes are attached on the palmar surface of the hooves, usually nailed through the insensitive hoof wall...
over the oak whereas Walldorf's had the crossed golden flail
Flail (agriculture)
A flail is an agricultural tool used for threshing to separate grains from their husks.It is usually made from two or more large sticks attached by a short chain; one stick is held and swung, causing the other to strike a pile of grain, loosening the husks...
s.
Walldorf only began using arms in the early 19th century, at which time the mayor's chain of office bore a shield with the oak, the flails and the letter W. Much the same composition was officially adopted as the village's arms in 1927, but without the W. The oak is said to stand for the forests, especially the Dreieich Hunting Woods, and the flails are said to symbolize agriculture.http://www.ngw.nl/int/dld/w/walldor2.htm
Mörfelden's armorial history is somewhat longer. A seal from 1612 (but dating from the previous century) has more or less the same composition, with the oak and the horseshoe. Likewise, the oak stands for the Dreieich Hunting Woods. The horseshoe is apparently an older village symbol. The arms were adopted in 1900, although this was not made official until 1926.http://www.ngw.nl/int/dld/m/morfelde.htm
There also seems to have been a compromise as to the number of leaves borne by the oak. Mörfelden's arms had five and Walldorf's had eight, whereas Mörfelden-Walldorf's have six.
Economy
XL Airways Germany is headquartered in Mörfelden-Walldorf, while MartinairMartinair
For the American cargo airline, see Martinaire.Martinair Holland N.V., operating as Martinair, is an airline headquartered in the TransPort Building on the grounds of Amsterdam Airport Schiphol in Haarlemmermeer, Netherlands. It operates cargo services to over 50 destinations worldwide. Services...
operates its Germany office in Mörfelden-Walldorf.
Festivals
- Merfeller Kerb (church fair on St. Gallus's Day – 16 October)
- Walldorfer Kerb (church fair)
- Historienfest am Gundhof (history fair)
- Latwejefest
- Jazzfest
- Faschingsdisco "Rummel im Dschungel"
- Altstadtfest (Old Town Festival – not regular)
- „Rund um die Kersch“ (Kirche) (Evangelical parish festival)
- Vatertag im Dreiklang (Stadium festival of Mörfelden SKV sport and cultural association)
- Grillfest am Dalles des Kegelclubs Olympia Mörfelden
- Anglerfest Walldorf
- Hüttenfest der Angler Mörfelden
- Gickelfest Walldorf
- Hinkelfest Mörfelden
- Weinfest (wine festival)
Gottesdienste in der Hüttenkirche