Finnentrop is a ''Gemeinde'' (

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...

) in Olpe district in

North Rhine-Westphalia North Rhine-Westphalia or North-Rhine/Westphalia, commonly shortened to NRW, is a States of Germany, state () in Old states of Germany, Western Germany. With more than 18 million inhabitants, it is the List of German states by population, most ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

Geography

Finnentrop is situated in the

Sauerland The Sauerland () is a rural, hilly area spreading across most of the south-eastern part of the States of Germany, German federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia, in parts heavily forested and, apart from the major valleys, sparsely inhabited. ...

, near the forks of the rivers Bigge and

Lenne The Lenne () is a tributary of the river Ruhr in the Sauerland hills, western Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north a ...

. Finnentrop shares borders with Sundern and Eslohe (both part of Hochsauerland district), Lennestadt and Attendorn (both in Olpe district), as well as with Plettenberg ( Märkischer Kreis district). Finnentrop is divided into the following constituent communities:

History

While the municipality of Finnentrop didn't come into being before 1 July 1969, the history of the constituting villages dates back from the Middle Ages. In 1162 Lenhausen and Rönkhausen were mentioned for the first time. Until 13 July 1908, the place now known as Finnentrop had three names: ''Habbecke'', ''Neubrücke'' (“Newbridge”) and, once the Ruhr-Sieg railway was built, ''Bahnhof Finnentrop'' (“Finnentrop Railway Station”). Neubrücke consisted of only one building at the forks of Bigge and Lenne (''Reuters Haus'', first mentioned in 1847). The “new bridge” seems to have already been built by 1847, as the “Reuter” had to charge tolls. The new municipality was cobbled together in 1969 from parts of the old Amt of Serkenrode (

Meschede Meschede () is a town in the Hochsauerland district, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is the capital of the district Hochsauerlandkreis. Education One of the five branches of South Westphalia University of Applied Sciences (also: Fachhoc ...

district), the communities of Schliprüthen and Oedingen and parts of Attendorn-Land and Helden. This restructuring also saw the municipality pass from

district (which was abolished in 1974) to Olpe district. The municipality's name is drawn from the original centre of Finnentrop situated a few hundred metres up the Bigge river, now known as ''Altfinnentrop'' (“alt” is German for “old”). The ending ''—trop'' comes from ''trop'' or ''torp'', meaning “village”. The

High German The High German languages (, i.e. ''High German dialects''), or simply High German ( ) – not to be confused with Standard High German which is commonly also called "High German" – comprise the varieties of German spoken south of the Ben ...

word ''Dorf'' is a cognate, as is the English word ''thorpe''. The municipal

arms Arms or ARMS may refer to: *Arm or arms, the upper limbs of the body Arm, Arms, or ARMS may also refer to: People * Ida A. T. Arms (1856–1931), American missionary-educator, temperance leader Coat of arms or weapons *Armaments or weapons **Fi ...

shows a rose under a wavy chevron. The rose stands for the Lords of Finnentrop (''von Vinnentrop'') and dates back to the year 1358. The chevron stands for the two rivers, the Bigge and the Lenne, which merge in the municipality. The colour green refers to the great swathes of greenery in the municipal area. Finnentrop maintains partnership arrangements with: * Diksmuide,

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

(since 1979); * Helbra,

Saxony-Anhalt Saxony-Anhalt ( ; ) is a States of Germany, state of Germany, bordering the states of Brandenburg, Saxony, Thuringia and Lower Saxony. It covers an area of and has a population of 2.17 million inhabitants, making it the List of German states ...

(since 1990).

Mayors

The mayor between 1997 and 2020 was the jurist Dietmar Heß (* 1955) (CDU). In September 2020 Achim Henkel (CDU) has been elected. The 53 year old first chief police officer used to be in charge of the policestation in Olpe for many years.

Culture and sightseeing

Theatres & Museums

* Schützenhof Lichtspiele, 1954-vintage

movie theater A movie theater (American English) or cinema (English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English), also known as a movie house, cinema hall, picture house, picture theater, the movies, the pictures, or simply theater, is a business ...

renovated in 2006 with 170 seats * Heimatstube Schönholthausen (museum)

Buildings

File:Kirche Schliprüthen-2.jpg, St. Georg in Schliprüthen File:Pfarrkirche Mariä Himmelfaht, Schönholthausen, Südostansicht.jpg, Mariä Himmelfahrt in Schönholthausen File:Matthiaskapelle im Winter.jpg, Matthiaskapelle in Altfinnentrop File:Haus Bamenohl-Haupthaus.jpg, Haus Bamenohl File:Schloss Ahausen-4.jpg, Schloss Ahausen File:Wasserschloss Lenhausen (7648999282).jpg, Schloss Lenhausen * ''St. Georg'' hall church in (Schliprüthen), dating from before the 12th century * Romanesque

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

parish church ''Mariä Himmelfahrt'' in Schönholthausen, dating in parts from the 13th century * Matthiaskapelle chapel in Altfinnentrop from 1383 * Haus Bamenohl castle in Bamenohl (14th century) * Schloss Ahausen castle close to Heggen * Schloss Lenhausen castle in Lenhausen (13th century) * Reiterstellwerk ( historic signal box)

Regular events

* Schützenfest (marksmen's festival) in the larger villages * Prunksitzung by the Lenhausen Carnival Club (LCC) (revue, Saturday before ''Altweibertag'' – Old Women's Day) * Prunksitzung by the Festkommitee Finnentroper Karneval (revue) * Waldfest “Im Schee” Finnentrop (“forest festival”, weekend before Whitsun) * Spritzenfest of the fire station Bamenohl (second weekend in August) * Open-air concert at Haus Bamenohl (third weekend in August) * Bürger frühschoppen of the fire brigade on German Unity Day *

Christmas market A Christmas market is a street market associated with the celebration of Christmas during the four weeks of Advent. These markets originated in Germany, but are now held in many countries. Some in the U.S. have Phono-semantic matching, adapted ...

at the town hall (second weekend in Advent)

Economy and infrastructure

Among the nationally known companies in Finnentrop are Eibach (automotive springs), Metten Fleischwaren (meat processing) and a plant of ThyssenKrupp Steel Europe AG.

Transport

Finnentrop station is situated at the Ruhr–Sieg railway, from where the Bigge Valley Railway connects to Olpe. The Attendorn-Finnentrop aerodrome is situated close to the village of Heggen.

Public institutions

* Rathaus Finnentrop (town hall) * Erlebnisbad Finto ( natatorium) * Jugendherberge Bamenohl (Germany's first private youth hostel after the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

) * Jugendherberge Heggen ( hostel * Finnentrop volunteer fire brigade with eleven fire stations

Education

There are six

primary school A primary school (in Ireland, India, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, South Africa, and Singapore), elementary school, or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary ...

s, one

Hauptschule A ''Hauptschule'' (, "general school") is a secondary school in Germany, starting after four years of elementary schooling (''Grundschule''), which offers Lower Secondary Education (Level 2) according to the International Standard Classification ...

, one

Realschule Real school (, ) is a type of secondary school in Germany, Switzerland and Liechtenstein. It has also existed in Croatia (''realna gimnazija''), the Austrian Empire, the German Empire, Denmark and Norway (''realskole''), Sweden (''realskola''), F ...

and one

Gesamtschule A comprehensive school is a secondary school for pupils aged 11–16 or 11–18, that does not select its intake on the basis of academic achievement or aptitude, in contrast to a selective school system where admission is restricted on the basis ...

Famous people

Honorary citizens

* Erwin Oberkalkofen, former mayor * Ernst Vollmer, former municipality director

Sons and daughters of the municipality

* Gertrud von Plettenberg († 1608), Mistress of Ernest of Bavaria,

Prince-elector The prince-electors ( pl. , , ) were the members of the Electoral College of the Holy Roman Empire, which elected the Holy Roman Emperor. Usually, half of the electors were archbishops. From the 13th century onwards, a small group of prince- ...

archbishop In Christian denominations, an archbishop is a bishop of higher rank or office. In most cases, such as the Catholic Church, there are many archbishops who either have jurisdiction over an ecclesiastical province in addition to their own archdi ...

of the Archbishopric of Cologne * Friedrich Georg Pape (1763−1816), one of the first German democrats * Johann Joseph Freidhoff (1768−1818), engraver * Alexander Haindorf (1784–1862), doctor, Jewish reformer, psychologist, university lecturer * Eduard Bartling (1845−1927), entrepreneur and politician * Lawrence Becker (1869–1947), lawyer and judge who served as Solicitor of the United States Treasury * Henry M. Arens (1873−1963), original name ''Heinrich Martin Arens'', politician who served in many offices in

Minnesota Minnesota ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Upper Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Ontario to the north and east and by the U.S. states of Wisconsin to the east, Iowa to the so ...

, including the U.S. House of Representatives * Josef Baumhoff (1887−1962), German official, newspaper publisher and politician * Kilian Kirchhoff (1892–1944), priest, translator and dissident * Erich Feldmann (1929−1998), Priester, Kirchenhistoriker und Augustinusforscher * Klaus-Dieter Uelhoff (born 1936), politician, member of the

Bundestag The Bundestag (, "Federal Diet (assembly), Diet") is the lower house of the Germany, German Federalism in Germany, federal parliament. It is the only constitutional body of the federation directly elected by the German people. The Bundestag wa ...

* Reinhard Wilhelm (born 1946), scientist * Paul Scheermann (born 1949), soccer player * Hilde Mattheis (born 1954), politician, member of the

Famous people who have worked in the municipality

* John A. Roebling (1806−1869), original name ''Johann August Röbling'', civil engineer, designer of the Brooklyn Bridge * Johannes Dornseiffer (1837−1914), priest, co-founder of many savings and loan companies connected with Friedrich Wilhelm Raiffeisen * Hermann Hagedorn, (1884–1951), German writer, lyric poet and teacher * Angela Maria Autsch (1900−1944), nun of the Trinitarian Order, was murdered in the

Auschwitz concentration camp Auschwitz, or Oświęcim, was a complex of over 40 Nazi concentration camps, concentration and extermination camps operated by Nazi Germany in Polish areas annexed by Nazi Germany, occupied Poland (in a portion annexed into Germany in 1939) d ...

Artists

* Andreas Schmidt, film actor and theatre director based out of

Kreuzberg Kreuzberg () is a district of Berlin, Germany. It is part of the Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg borough located south of Berlin-Mitte, Mitte. During the Cold War era, it was one of the poorest areas of West Berlin, but since German reunification in ...

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

References

External links

* {{Authority control Olpe (district)