Hemer
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Hemer is a town in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located at the north end of the Sauerland near the Ruhr river, at Template:Coor dm. Population: 38,206 (2002). Area: 67.55 km². The highest elevation with 546 m is in the Balver Wald in the south of the city, the lowest elevation with 160 m is at the Edelburg in the northeast. The city belongs to the district Märkischer Kreis.
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History
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Hemer was first mentioned in 1072 with its old name Hademare in a document from the bishop Anno II. of Cologne. Among the lands given to the newly founded Benedictine monastery Grafschaft were the St.Vitus church and two farms (the later Haus Hemer and the Hedhof). In 1124 the parish of St.Vitus was split from parish Menden.
Hemer stayed an unimportant settlement without market rights, also when count of the Mark liberated themselves from the bishopric state of Cologne in the 13th century and Hemer was at the boundary of both states. But despite the political insignificance of the Kirchspiel Hemer, it was already quite densely settled at that times, thanks to its location on the old road from the Rhineland to Middle Germany (now the German Bundesstrasse 7), as well as the iron mining and smelting. The boundary to Cologne, formed by the valley of the Hönne river southeast of Hemer, was protected by the Castle Klusenstein, built in 1353. The jurisdiction in the Kirchspiel Hemer was performed by the Amt Iserlohn until 1647, when it was transferred to the family of Wachtendonk, who owned Haus Hemer at that time.
The Reformation reached Hemer in the 2nd half of the 16th century, making the St.Vitus church protestantic. In 1818 the church was demolished, and the new church Ebbergkirche nearby was build 1819/20. 1697-1700 Jobst Edmund von Brabeck, the bishop of Hildesheim and relative of the new owners of Haus Hemer, built the St.Peter and Paul in baroque style as the new church for the roman catholics.
In the Napoleonic times Hemer was a mairie in the arrondissement Hagen in the département Ruhr.
Creation of Amt Hemer
On October 31 1841 the Amt Hemer was created by 14 municipalities previously administrated by the Landbezirk Iserlohn. It originally consisted of the municipalities Becke, Brockhausen, Calle, Deilinghofen, Evingsen, Frönsberg, Ihmert, Kesbern, Landhausen, Lössel, Niederhemer, Oberhemer, Sundwig and Westig, as well as manors (Rittergut) Edelburg, Haus Hemer and Klusenstein. The Amt was part of the Kreis Iserlohn. 1910 Niederhemer and Oberhemer were merged into Hemer. In 1920 Lössel changed to became part of the Amt Oestrich.
Communal reform of 1929
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The three industrial municipalities Hemer, Sundwig and Westig had grown into a single urban area before World War I already. The first ideas about merging the three municipalities grew before the war, but due to the war it took till 1920 until they were first proposed. However both Sundwig as well as Westig were at first reserved and later opposing the merger - mostly due to the industrialists who worried the tax rates would raise to the higher rates of Hemer. At the same time the city Iserlohn unsuccessfully tried to grow into a regional center by incorporating several municipalities - Letmathe and Oestrich to the west, and also the industrial municipalities of the Amt Hemer. Due to the opposition the merger of the three municipalities was delayed until 1929, when it was done by order of the Prussian ministry of the interior. At the same time the municipality Calle was split into four parts - the northern Griesenbrauck was added to Landhausen, Bilveringsen came to Hemer, the middle part around Wermingsen was incorporated into Iserlohn, and the southern parts came to Westig. Becoming effective on August 1, 1929, Hemer, Sundwig and Westig, as well as Landhausen and the remains of Calle were merged together, covering an area of 26.82 km² and a population of 13,809.
Also becoming effective on August 1, 1929, the municipality Brockhausen was incorporated into Deilinghofen. The rural Brockhausen had only 588 citizen, and due to its low income wasn't considered to be healthy to stay independent.
On January 30, 1936 the municipality Hemer received the right to call itself a city (Stadt).
Military
In 1934 Hemer became a garrison. In January 1934 the building of three barracks in neighboring Iserlohn was decided, however Iserlohn could not provide enough free land for a training area. In a meeting in June the land around the village of Apricke was chosen, and 3 km² was bought by the state in autumn of the same year. Also the hospital was inspected to be later acquired as a military hospital. This was very welcome to Hemer, as the hospital had turned out to be oversized and much more expensive for the Amt, thus thereafter a new smaller hospital could be built.
In December 1934 temporary barracks for one battalion were also built in Hemer. On October 30, 1936 an official garrison contract between Hemer and the state was signed, which included the building of permanent barracks. The construction wasn't finished when World War II started in 1939, but was then hurried and the buildings were reassigned as a prisoner of war camp, the Stalag VI-A.
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The first Polish POW arrived in October 1939, and had to sleep on the floor as the beds weren't finished yet. The bad equipment stayed a problem during the whole war, both because the material was needed at the front, as well as because the camp was always overpopulated. At first the inmates were mostly from Poland and France, however after the begin of the war with the Soviet Union in 1941 Soviet POWs quickly became the majority of the inmates.
It is estimated that more than 200,000 inmates have been in the camp during the 6 years. Those inmates who were capable of forced labor usually lived near their working place, so the main camp was kind of a "dying camp" for those who got sick due to the bad living conditions and the hard labor. As of a unconfirmed estimate about 24,000 POW were buried in Hemer.
After the war the barracks of the Stalag were used by the Belgian army. Renamed to Casernes Ardennes the Belgians used them till 1955. After the establishment of the German Bundeswehr the barracks became home of a tank battalion in 1957. Originally simply named after its location at the hill Jüberg, it received the final name Blücher-Kaserne in 1964.
In 1953 Canadian troops moved into newly built barracks in Deilinghofen. In 1970 the Canadians left and were replaced by British forces. 1992 the British left and the barracks were converted to civil use.
On November 2 2004 the closure of the Bundeswehr barracks was announced, as due to the changing duties of the Bundeswehr tanks aren't needed as much as they were during the cold war. The closure is currently scheduled to happen in 2007, which would have marked the 50th anniversary of the Bundeswehr presence in Hemer.
Communal reform of 1975
With the reorganization of the districts and municipalities in 1974 the Amt was dissolved. Evingsen became part of Altena in 1969 already, in 1974 Kesbern became part of Iserlohn, while the other municipalities Becke, Deilinghofen, Frönsberg and Ihmert were added to the city Hemer.
Municipalities as of 1904
- Becke - consisting of the settlements (Wohnplätze) Brelen, Edelburg, Höcklingsen, Mesterscheid, Oese, Urbecke. Area 5.50 km², population 501.
- Brockhausen - Apricke, Bäingsen, Brockhausen, Grevenborn, im Hagen, Hönnetal, Klusenstein, Riemke. Area 9.29 km², population 526.
- Calle - Bilveringsen, Bredenbruch, zur Calle, Düingsen, Franzberg, Griesenbrauck, Magney, Schleddenhof, Wermingsen. Area 8.59 km², population 900.
- Deilinghofen - Bautenheide, Deilinghofen, Habichtseil, Hembecke, Hohenstein, Langenbruch, Nierungsen. Area 9.68 km², population 1124.
- Evingsen - Evingsen, Giebel, Heide, Heidermühle, Heidersiepen, Hüingsen, auf der Hütte, Kohlberg, Löttringsen, Löttringserhahn, Nettenscheid, Rüssenberg, Schwarzpaul, Springen, Stodt, Tüssenberg. Area 6.97 km², population 1049.
- Frönsberg - Beckmerhagen, Drubbelhelle, Ebberg, Frönsberg (or Frönspert), Heppingsen, Heppingserbach, Hestern, Hültershagen, Ispei, Rohland, Stephanopel, Wachmecke, Winterhof (or Winterhoff). Area 6.03 km², population 323.
- Ihmert - Bredenbruch, Dieckgraben, Elfenfohren, Hasberg, Holmecke, Ihmert, Ihmerterbach, Ihmerterort, Johannistal, Rottmecke, Stemmessiepen, Stümpen, Sülberg, Tüttebelle, Westendorf. Area 9.00 km², population 987.
- Kesbern - Attern, Bräke, Oberdahlsen, Niederdahlsen, Eichholz, Eileringsen, Gunzenheide, im Hagen, Hardorn, Hegenscheid, vorm Hey, Kesbern, Lohsiepen, Lennenstück, Meerbrauck, Osthelle, im Schlaa, Siepen, Voswinkel, Wixberg. Area 13.40 km², population 552.
- Landhausen - Krebsbach (Tannenburg), Landhausen, Stübecken. Area 5.12 km², population 338.
- Lössel - Bühle, Dümpel, Düsternsiepen, Emberg, Großenstück, Häken, Heide, Hilkenhohl, Langenstück, Liehard, Lieth, Lössel, Lüsecken, Mooskamp, Pillingsen, Pillingserbach, Roden, Roland, Saat, Schmidthacke, Schorhelle, Selberg, Sieschotte, Silbering, Stümpen, Stübke, am Ühler. Area 6.86 km², population 1214.
- Niederhemer - Haus Hemer, Niederhemer, Rosenhoff. Area 315, population 2477.
- Oberhemer - area 3.43 km², population 2524.
- Sundwig - Dieken, Eichenufer (Eickenufer), Grüntal (Grünental), Siegeloh, Sundwig, Sundwigerbach, Wenhagen. Area 6.23 km², population 1383.
- Westig - Westig, Westigerbach, Westigerkreuz. Area 4.11 km², population 1756.
List of mayors
Until 1995 the mayor was a honorary post with only representative duties, while the actual head of administration was a Stadtdirektor. This system was introduced in 1946 by the British military government, and was abolished in 1999. However when Reiner Hermann was forced to resign in 1994, shortly after the new system was adopted, Hemer became the first commune of North Rhine-Westphalia to get a professional mayor in 1995.
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Points of interest
The Heinrichshöhle is a Devonian limestone cave in Hemer, officially found in 1812, but probably known by locals long before. 470m of the cave system are accessible to visitors, with some stalactites and one skeleton of a cave bear being on display.
Nearby the Felsenmeer is a small Karst area, partially created by medieval mining, now located in a beech forest.
Shared with Menden and Balve is the Hönnetal, a narrow valley with some beautiful cliffs carved into the same limestone bedrock by the river Hönne.
Coat of arms
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Coat of arms of the city, former coat of arms of the Amt
The three golden wolf-hooks are derived from the arms of the Brabeck family, the owners of the manor Haus Hemer. The red-white bordure on the left side derived from the sign of the Counts of the Mark. The current coat of arms of the city was originally used by the Amt, however when the Amt was dissolved into the city in 1975 the city adopted it. It was chosen because it was heraldically and esthetically more satisfying, but also because the adoption of the coat of arms of the Amt symbolized the fact that the enlarged city continues the tradition of the Amt. The coat of arms was officially granted on March 16, 1976.
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Former coat of arms of the city
The former coat of arms of the city used the same heraldic elements, but in a different alignment. The red-white bordure was around the whole shield, which was completely black with the three yellow wolf-hooks in the middle. The coat of arms were granted by the president of the province Westphalia on January 14 (Amt) and January 15 (city) 1936.
Already in 1926 the municipality Hemer planned the creation of a coat of arms. A draft using industrial symbols was made by Treude, however the director of the Prussian state archive in Münster, professor Schmitz-Kallenberg, advised against it. Instead he suggested two designs using the heraldic elements of the Mark and the Brabeck family. Hemer created new drafts using heraldic elements of previous owners of Haus Hemer - the families Overlacker and Wachtendonck, but in 1928 the topic was discontinued. When it was restarted in the 1930s the original suggestion of professor Johannes Bauermann of the Prussian state archive was followed, with the final artwork made by the heraldic Waldemar Mallek.
In 1939 the other municipalities of the Amt also received coat of arms. All six had the three wolf-hooks as their common symbol, showing their membership in the Amt. Becke, Deilinghofen and Frönsberg combined them with coat of arms of former noble families of the municipality, while Evingsen, Ihmert and Kesbern combined them with symbols representing their main industries - shoe making for Evingsen, wire production for Ihmert and agriculture for Kesbern.
See also: Coat of arms in the Amt Hemer
Economics
Like most of the northern part of todays Märkischer Kreis, Hemer has a long industrial history. The most important industries in the beginning of the 20th century were wire production and wire manufacturing industries, but also rolling mills, foundries and machine production. Paper production was already declining at that time. In 1927 Hemer and Ihmert together had 27 wire factories - 23.7% of all wire factories in Germany at that time. However as the factories were rather small the percentage is much less impressive when comparing by number of employees.
During the Great Depression as well as in the final part of World War II many companies went into bankruptcy, but even today the industrial sector is above average in Hemer. The world-wide known fittings producers Grohe and Keuco are based in Hemer.
Traffic
Hemer is located at the highway A46, which since 1976 ends in Bilveringsen just at the border of the city. The connection with another section of the A46 at Arnsberg has been delayed ever since, as the original route was supposed to go through a nature preserve in Menden.
Hemer was connected to the railway system on September 1 1882, when the track from Menden to Hemer was inaugurated. In 1885 the extension to Iserlohn was opened. In 1891 a short track till Sundwig was built, which was originally planned to be extended till Neuenrade but never built. Hemer had two railway stations - one in Oberhemer and one in Westig. As both the passenger numbers decreased significantly, as well as the good traffic, on May 27 1989 the last regular train went through Hemer. The track to Iserlohn was removed, while the track to Menden was thereafter only used by the Bundeswehr for transporting their tanks. As the barracks are scheduled to be closed by 2007 these tracks will then fall into disuse as well.
Additionally to the regular railway, a narrow gauge railway using 1 m gauge first reached a municipality of the Amt Hemer in 1909, when Buchenwäldchen (Calle) was connected with Iserlohn. It was quickly extended - in 1913 almost all municipality of Hemer were connected to the net of the Westfälische Kleinbahnen AG. The railway was both used for a tram as well as for goods transport, with the railway station Westing serving as the interface between the narrow-gauge and the regular gauge railway.
Renamed to Iserlohner Kreisbahn AG in 1942, operation was only shortly interrupted after World War II. However in the 1950s more and more sections of the narrow-gauge railway had to be closed because they were no longer profit-making. The trams were replaced by buses, and trucks made the goods transport obsolete. In 1964 the goods transfer in Westig was closed, the trams already closed in 1959.
Twin towns and city friendships
The city Hemer inherited two twinnings with French cities from the former municipalities of the Amt Hemer. Ihmert started a twinning with Beuvry in 1968, and Becke with Steenwerck in 1966/67. Long-running city friendships exist with the German city Bretten and the Austrian Obervellach. On June 8, 1991 a friendship with the city Doberlug-Kirchhain in Brandenburg was started. On January 25, 1992 a friendship with the Russian city Shelkovo became official.
Famous people from Hemer
- Willibrord Benzler (1853-1921), bishop of Metz
- Hans Prinzhorn (1886-1933), psychiatrist
Literature
- Hans-Hermann Stopsack: Vom Amt zur Stadt. Zur Geschichte von Amt und Stadt Hemer von 1900 bis zur Gegenwart. Hemer 2000, ISBN 3-00-006685-3
External links
- Official Homepage (http://www.hemer.de)de:Hemer