Waldbrunn, Hesse

Infobox German Location
Art =
Name = Waldbrunn
Wappen = Wappen Waldbrunn (Westerwald).pnglat_deg = 50 |lat_min = 31
lon_deg = 08 |lon_min = 07
Lageplan = Limburg-Weilburg Waldbrunn.pngBundesland = Hessen
Regierungsbezirk = Gießen
Landkreis = Limburg-Weilburg
Höhe = 240 - 425
Fläche = 29.77
Einwohner = 5937
Stand = 2006-12-31
PLZ = 65620
Vorwahl = 06479,
06436 (Ellar, Hausen)
Kfz = LM
Gemeindeschlüssel = 06 5 33 016
Adresse = Hauser Kirchweg
65620 Waldbrunn
Website = [http://www.waldbrunn.de www.waldbrunn.de]
Bürgermeister = Lothar Blättel

Waldbrunn (Westerwald) is a community in Limburg-Weilburg district in Hesse, Germany.

Geography

Location

The community lies in the southern Westerwald. Within the municipal area rises the Kerkerbach, which flows through the centres of Fussingen and Lahr. The Lasterbach flows through the centres of Ellar and Hausen after rising on the nearby Knoten (mountain).

Neighbouring communities

Other communities bordering on Waldbrunn are, clockwise from the north, Mengerskirchen, Merenberg, Beselich, Hadamar, Elbtal, Dornburg and Neunkirchen.

Constituent communities

The community consists of five "Ortsteile". The numbering was arranged so that the centre with the community’s main postal station was given the number 1. The others were then numbered clockwise.

Coat of arms

Waldbrunn’s arms might heraldically be described thus: Party per pale, Or a lion rampant sinister gules armed and langued azure, azure a lion rampant dexter Or armed and langued gules strewn with billets Or.

It was borne by the community of Ellar from 1964 onwards, and under a resolution in 1977 was adopted as the greater community’s arms. The arms show on the sinister side (left from the armsbearer’s point of view; right from the viewer’s) the lion of the House of Nassau (gold on blue), and on the dexter side (right from the armsbearer’s point of view; left from the viewer’s) the lion of the County of Katzenelnbogen (red on gold). The charges symbolize the old "Amt’s" historical allegiances to Nassau and Katzenelnbogen.

Town partnerships

The community of Waldbrunn has no partner communities. However, the centre of Ellar maintains one with Oststeinbek near Hamburg.

Sightseeing

Waldbrunn has on offer some things worth seeing:

* Ellar
** Ellar Castle
** the old smithy (part of the "Heimatmuseum")
** Ludwig-Bös-Haus ("Heimatmuseum")
** St. Maximinus’s Catholic church (built 1843)
** town wall ruins with the "Hungerturm", or “Hunger Tower” (14th century)
** former Jewish graveyard

* Hausen:
** St. Laurentius Catholic church
* Fussingen
** St. Leonhard Catholic church
* Lahr
** Romanesque basilica Johannes Enthauptung, or “John’s Beheading” (13th century)
** new octagonal Johannes Enthauptung church
** historic graveyard
** historic parish house (16th century)
** bakehouse in the old town hall
* Hintermeilingen:
** Maria Verkündigung (Annunciation) Catholic church

Museums

Ellar has a "Heimatmuseum" (“homeland museum”). It houses the collection in the Ludwig-Bös-Haus: the still functional old smithy as well as remains of the town wall. In Hintermeilingen on 16 July 2006, the "Hintermeilinger Geschichts- und Museumsverein" (“History and Museum Club”) was founded. It has set itself the goal of turning the old town hall in Hintermeilingen into a “homeland museum”.

Music

One of the oldest Westerwald singing clubs has been in Lahr since 1839. In the other centres are more singing clubs. Furthermore, the "Musikverein Fussingen" has the Original Waldbrunner Blaskapelle (wind orchestra). There is another wind orchestra in Ellar run by the fire brigade; in 2007, it had its 75-year jubilee.

Economy and infrastructure

Transport

Waldbrunn is not directly linked to the long-distance road network. The nearest Bundesstraße interchanges are on Bundesstraße 49 in the communities of Merenberg and Beselich. The nearest interchanges on Bundesstraße 54 are in the community of Elbtal.

Since the Kerkerbachbahn (railway) stopped running in 1958, there has been no more rail service. The nearest long-distance railway station is to be found in Limburg. There, besides regional lines to Koblenz, Gießen, Frankfurt am Main and Au, can be found an InterCityExpress station on the Cologne-Frankfurt high-speed rail line. It is about 80 km from Waldbrunn to Frankfurt Airport.

Education

There are primary schools in the centres of Ellar, Hausen, Lahr and Hintermeilingen. Children from Fussingen go to the one in Hausen.

All Waldbrunn’s centres but Ellar belong to the feeder area for the Westerwaldschule Haupt- and Realschule. Ellar belongs to the feeder area for the St. Blasius "Mittelpunktschule" (roughly “comprehensive school”) in Frickhofen.

The nearest Gymnasium is in Hadamar, and other higher schools can be found in Limburg an der Lahn.

Famous people

Honorary citizens

Walter Rudersdorf (local historian)

Sons and daughters of the town

Paul Grimm (artist)

Other famous people connected with the community

* Anton Hoen (b. about 1540/41; d. 7 August 1587) was a "Landschreiber" (roughly “state secretary” – a high position), commander and "Amtsverweser" ("Amt" administrator) of the County of Diez. He is known to have been an "Amt" secretary by 1567.

* Rutger Hesselman, Jesuit priest S.J., d. 30 April 1637 (see above). A street in Lahr is named after him. He was buried in the "Pfarrkirche Liebfrauen" in Hadamar.

* Emil Bartoschek, b. 30 July 1899 in Czuchów, Upper Silesia; d. 26 February 1969 in Waldbrunn-Fussingen, was a German painter, student of Johannes Itten at the Weimar Bauhaus and master student of Karl Mueller and Oskar Moll at the "Staatliche Akademie für Kunst und Kunstgewerbe" in Breslau (now Wrocław).

External links

*dmoz|World/Deutsch/Regional/Europa/Deutschland/Hessen/Landkreise/Limburg-Weilburg/Städte_und_Gemeinden/Waldbrunn,_Westerwald|Waldbrunn