Wolfach

For the river of the same name, see Wolfach (river).

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City in Baden-Württemberg, Germany

Wolfach

City

Coat of arms

Location of Wolfach within Ortenaukreis district

Wolfach

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Wolfach

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Coordinates: 48°18′N 8°13′E﻿ / ﻿48.300°N 8.217°E﻿ / 48.300; 8.217
Country| Germany
State| Baden-Württemberg
Admin. region| Freiburg
District| Ortenaukreis
Government

• Mayor (2022-30) | Thomas Geppert[1]
Area

• Total| 67.99 km2 (26.25 sq mi)
Elevation

| 262 m (860 ft)
Population

(2022-12-31)[2]

• Total| 5,688
• Density| 84/km2 (220/sq mi)
Time zone| UTC+01:00 (CET)
• Summer (DST)| UTC+02:00 (CEST)
Postal codes|

77709

Dialling codes| 07834
Vehicle registration| OG, BH, KEL, LR, WOL
Website| wolfach.de

Wolfach (Low Alemannic: Wolfä) is a city in the Black Forest and part of the Ortenaukreis in Baden-Württemberg (Germany). It is a well-known spa town.

## Geography[edit]

### Geographical position[edit]

Wolfach lies where the two rivers Wolf 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.

City Hall in Wolfach

District villages within the borough of Wolfach include Kirnbach, Halbmeil, Kinzigtal, and St. Roman.

## History[edit]

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 took the French resistants 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.[3]

Kinzig in Wolfach

## Tourism[edit]

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

## Government[edit]

### City council[edit]

In the past years the city council consisted of:

Party  | 1994  | 1999  | 2004  | 2009  | 2014

|
|
|
|
|

CDU | 8 seats | 10 seats | 8 seats | 6 seats | 5 seats
SPD | 5 seats | 3 seats | 3 seats | 4 seats | 5 seats
FW | 6 seats | 8 seats | 7 seats | 7 seats | 6 seats
Grüne | — | — | — | 1 seat | 2 seats

### Mayors[edit]

* 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[edit]

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.[4]

## International relations[edit]

See also: List of twin towns and sister cities in Germany

Wolfach is twinned with:

* Cavalaire-sur-Mer, France
* Richfield, Ohio
* Kreuzlingen, Switzerland

## Culture and sights[edit]

Schloss Wolfach

### Swabian-Alemannic Carnival[edit]

Wolfach is said to be one of the towns rich in tradition of the Swabian-Alemannic Fastnacht.

### Buildings[edit]

* Fürstenberg castle
* Fortress ruin Alt-Wolfach
* Town Hall
* St. Laurentius Roman Catholic Church

### Parks[edit]

* Kurgarten
* Flößerpark
* Kinziganlagen

### Regular events[edit]

* 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)

### Past events[edit]

* From 2 September 1968 to 12 September 1968, World Constitutional Convention sessions were held at Wolfach after six days of sessions at Interlaken.[5][6]

### Glass blowing[edit]

The Dorotheenhütte glass blowing workshop is the last active glassworks using traditional methods in the Black Forest. The glasses are manufactured, i.e. they are blown, cut and engraved, in front of the visitors.

## Notable people[edit]

### Natives[edit]

* Ernst Bassermann, (DE Wiki) (1854-1917), lawyer and politician, member of Reichstag
* Hans Klumbach (1904–1992), archaeologist and scholar of classical and provincial Roman studies
* Lothar Maier (born 1944), politician, (AfD)
* Sylvia Wetzel (born 1949), Buddhist feminist
* Thomas Dold (born 1984), track and field and extreme athlete and tower runner
* Markus Steuerwald (born 1989), volleyball player
* Felix Mildenberger (born 1990), a German conductor; principal conductor and artistic director of the Sinfonieorchester Crescendo Freiburg, which he helped found in 2014.

### People who are connected to the town[edit]

* Gustav Trunk (1871–1936), politician, member of the German Centre Party; lived in Wolfach from 1897 to 1900 as beadle
* Otmar Freiherr von Verschuer (1896–1969), racial hygienist in the Third Reich; went to school in Wolfach, 1898 and 1909

## References[edit]

### Notes[edit]

1. ^ Bürgermeisterwahl Wolfach 2022, Staatsanzeiger.
2. ^ "Bevölkerung nach Nationalität und Geschlecht am 31. Dezember 2022" [Population by nationality and sex as of December 31, 2022] (CSV) (in German). Statistisches Landesamt Baden-Württemberg. June 2023.
3. ^ CRDP d'Alsace. "La Deuxième Guerre mondiale en Alsace" (PDF) (in French). Retrieved 2009-11-07.
4. ^ Sadlier, Klemens (1971). German Coats-of-Arms. Federal Republic of Germany: Municipal Coats-of-Arms of the Federal State of Baden-Wurttemberg). Vol. 8\. Angelsachsen-Verlag. p. 115.
5. ^ "Als Interlaken die heimliche Welthauptstadt war". Berner Zeitung (in German). 2018-08-29. Retrieved 2023-07-11.
6. ^ Amerasinghe, Terence P. (2009). Emerging World Law, Volume 1. Institute for Economic Democracy. ISBN 978-1-933567-16-7.

### Book references[edit]

* 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[edit]

### Administration and authorities[edit]

* City of Wolfach
* District Oberwolfach

### Associations[edit]

* Historic Association Wolfach
* Carnival club Wolfach
* Bike-Park Wolfach

### Places of interest, sights[edit]

* Vogtbauernhöfe
* Mineral and mathematics museum Oberwolfach
* (in German) Information about and images

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Wolfach.

* v
* t
* e

Towns and municipalities in Ortenau (district)

* Achern
* Appenweier
* Bad Peterstal-Griesbach
* Berghaupten
* Biberach
* Durbach
* Ettenheim
* Fischerbach
* Friesenheim
* Gengenbach
* Gutach
* Haslach
* Hausach
* Hofstetten
* Hohberg
* Hornberg
* Kappel-Grafenhausen
* Kappelrodeck
* Kehl
* Kippenheim
* Lahr/Schwarzwald
* Lauf
* Lautenbach
* Mahlberg
* Meißenheim
* Mühlenbach
* Neuried
* Nordrach
* Oberharmersbach
* Oberkirch
* Oberwolfach
* Offenburg
* Ohlsbach
* Oppenau
* Ortenberg
* Ottenhöfen im Schwarzwald
* Renchen
* Rheinau
* Ringsheim
* Rust
* Sasbach
* Sasbachwalden
* Schuttertal
* Schutterwald
* Schwanau
* Seebach
* Seelbach
* Steinach
* Willstätt
* Wolfach
* Zell am Harmersbach

Coat of arms of Ortenau County

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