Wolfach ( gsw, label= Low Alemannic, Wolfä) is a town in the

Black Forest The Black Forest (german: Schwarzwald ) is a large forested mountain range in the state of Baden-Württemberg in southwest Germany, bounded by the Rhine Valley to the west and south and close to the borders with France and Switzerland. I ...

and part of the

Ortenaukreis Ortenaukreis ( gsw, label= Low Alemannic, Ortenaukrais; french: Arrondissement de l'Ortenau) is a ''Landkreis'' (district) in the west of Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Neighboring districts are (clockwise from north) Rastatt, Freudenstadt, Rottwe ...

Baden-Württemberg Baden-Württemberg (; ), commonly shortened to BW or BaWü, is a German state () in Southwest Germany, east of the Rhine, which forms the southern part of Germany's western border with France. With more than 11.07 million inhabitants across a ...

( Germany). It is a well-known spa town.

Geography

Geographical Position

Wolfach lies where the two rivers

Wolf The wolf (''Canis lupus''; : wolves), also known as the gray wolf or grey wolf, is a large canine native to Eurasia and North America. More than thirty subspecies of ''Canis lupus'' have been recognized, and gray wolves, as popularly ...

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

Villages within the borough of Wolfach include Kirnbach and Kinzigtal.

History

The exact foundation year of Wolfach is not known. The history of the town Wolfach can be traced back to the year 1084, although some finding even point back to the Roman times. On April 21, 1945, before fleeing the city, the

Gestapo The (), abbreviated Gestapo (; ), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of Prussia into one or ...

took the French

resistants The Resistants, also known as Mutant Force, are a supervillain group appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. They were originally the second incarnation of the Brotherhood of Mutants, but have become completely independen ...

and political prisoners held in the prison of Wolfach to a forest outside of the town, forced them to dig their own graves, and shot them on the spot, just three hours before the arrival of the French 2nd Armored Division commanded by General Leclerc. Floesser wolfach

Tourism

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

Government

City Council

In the past years the city council consisted of:

Mayors

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

Coat of Arms

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

International relations

Wolfach is twinned with: *

Cavalaire-sur-Mer Cavalaire-sur-Mer (, literally ''Cavalaire on Sea''; oc, Cavalaira de Mar, label= Provençal or simply ''Cavalaira'') is a commune in the Var department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region, southeastern France. History Cavalaire-sur-Mer ...

, France * Richfield,

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The s ...

Kreuzlingen Kreuzlingen is a municipality in the district of Kreuzlingen in the canton of Thurgau in north-eastern Switzerland. It is the seat of the district and is the second-largest city of the canton, after Frauenfeld, with a population of about 22,00 ...

, Switzerland

Culture and Sights

Swabian-Alemannic Carnival

Wolfach is said to be one of the towns rich in tradition of the

Swabian-Alemannic Fastnacht The Swabian-Alemannic Fastnacht, Fasnacht (in Switzerland) or Fasnat/Faschnat (in Vorarlberg) is the pre-Lenten carnival in Alemannic folklore in Switzerland, southern Germany, Alsace and Vorarlberg. Etymology Popular etymology often link ...

Buildings

* ''Fürstenberg'' castle * Fortress ruin ''Alt-Wolfach'' * Town Hall * Catholic church ''St. Laurentius''

Parks

* ''Kurgarten'' * ''Flößerpark'' * ''Kinziganlagen''

Regular Events

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

Notable people

Sons and daughters of the town

* Hans Klumbach (1904–1992), archaeologist and scholar of classical and provincial Roman studies * Sylvia Wetzel (born 1949), Buddhist feminist * Marco Horácio (born 1974), popular comedian on Portuguese television * Thomas Dold (born 1984), athlete * Markus Steuerwald (born 1989), volleyball player

People who are connected to the town

* Gustav Trunk (1871–1936), politician, member of the German Centre Party; lived in Wolfach from 1897 to 1900 as beadle *

Otmar Freiherr von Verschuer Otmar Freiherr von Verschuer (16 July 1896 – 8 August 1969) was a German human biologist and geneticist, who was the Professor of Human Genetics at the University of Münster until he retired in 1965. A member of the Dutch noble Verschuer fa ...

(1896–1969), racial hygienist in the Third Reich; lived in Wolfach between 1898 and 1909, where he visited school

References

Notes

Book References

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

External links

Administration and Authorities

City of Wolfach

District Oberwolfach

Associations

Historic Association Wolfach

Carnival club Wolfach

Bike-Park Wolfach

Places of Interest, Sights

Vogtbauernhöfe

Mineral and mathematics museum Oberwolfach
*
Information about and images
{{Authority control Towns in Baden-Württemberg Ortenaukreis Baden