Osthofen
Encyclopedia
Osthofen is a Verband-free town – one belonging to no Verbandsgemeinde
, a kind of collective municipality – in the middle of the Wonnegau in the Alzey-Worms
district in Rhineland-Palatinate
, Germany
. Osthofen was raised to town on 24 October 1970.
finds have established that the Osthofen municipal area was already settled at least four thousand years ago. The town had its first documentary mention in the Lorsch codex
as Ostowa in a document dated to 784. It is believed that Osthofen was founded by people from either the now amalgamated village of Mühlheim or the Merovingian
royal palace
that once stood in Worms-Neuhausen.
On Osthofen’s Goldberg (mountain), a chapel to Saint Remigius
might have been built as early as the 6th century. This is where the first major estate was, which by 1195 had grown into an Imperial
castle. In Mühlheim, the Knights Templar
likewise built a castle in 1215.
The municipal election held on 7 June 2009 yielded the following results:
might be described thus: Sable a lion rampant Or armed, langued and crowned gules, issuant from dexter chief the sun and in an arc from dexter to middle base three mullets, all of the second.
The town’s earliest seals come from the 14th century, but they show a crane under a cross, a composition of unknown meaning. The current arms are first found on seals from the 16th century, and the composition has not changed since. The arms were officially granted the town in 1651, and once again in 1959. The sun and stars (or heraldically
, mullets) are canting
charge
s, as they are meant to suggest the direction “east”, which is the first part of the town’s name, the German
word being Ost(en). The lion is the Palatine Lion, recalling the town’s long history under Electoral Palatinate’s rule.
.
–Ludwigshafen line. Formerly there were connections to the Osthofen–Rheindürkheim–Guntersblum line (on which there is still goods traffic as far as Worms-Rheindürkheim), the Osthofen–Westhofen
line (locally known as the Gickelche) and the Osthofen–Gau-Odernheim line. The last two have since been torn up.
Nearby is also an Autobahn interchange
onto the A 61
, and towards the Rhine lies Bundesstraße
9.
. Within the town, 35 winegrowing businesses are active, and the planted vineyard area amounts to 465 ha. Some 68% of the wine made here is from white wine varieties (as at 2007). In 1979, there were still 116 such active businesses, but the planted vineyard area amounted to only 429 ha.
Verbandsgemeinde
A Verbandsgemeinde is an administrative unit in the German Bundesländer of Rhineland-Palatinate and Saxony-Anhalt.-Rhineland-Palatinate:...
, a kind of collective municipality – in the middle of the Wonnegau in the Alzey-Worms
Alzey-Worms
Alzey-Worms is a district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is bounded by the district Groß-Gerau , the city of Worms and the districts of Bad Dürkheim, Donnersbergkreis, Bad Kreuznach and Mainz-Bingen.- History :...
district in Rhineland-Palatinate
Rhineland-Palatinate
Rhineland-Palatinate is one of the 16 states of the Federal Republic of Germany. It has an area of and about four million inhabitants. The capital is Mainz. English speakers also commonly refer to the state by its German name, Rheinland-Pfalz ....
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
. Osthofen was raised to town on 24 October 1970.
Location
The town lies in Rhenish Hesse where the river Seebach, a very short river that rises in neighbouring Westhofen and flows for only 9 km, empties into the Rhine.History
ArchaeologicalArchaeology
Archaeology, or archeology , is the study of human society, primarily through the recovery and analysis of the material culture and environmental data that they have left behind, which includes artifacts, architecture, biofacts and cultural landscapes...
finds have established that the Osthofen municipal area was already settled at least four thousand years ago. The town had its first documentary mention in the Lorsch codex
Lorsch codex
The Lorsch Codex is an important historical document created between about 1175 to 1195 AD in the Monastery of Saint Nazarius in Lorsch, Germany. It consists of 460 pages in large format containing more than 3800 entries...
as Ostowa in a document dated to 784. It is believed that Osthofen was founded by people from either the now amalgamated village of Mühlheim or the Merovingian
Merovingian dynasty
The Merovingians were a Salian Frankish dynasty that came to rule the Franks in a region largely corresponding to ancient Gaul from the middle of the 5th century. Their politics involved frequent civil warfare among branches of the family...
royal palace
Kaiserpfalz
The term Kaiserpfalz or Königspfalz refers to a number of castles across the Holy Roman Empire which served as temporary, secondary seats of power for the Holy Roman Emperor in the Early and High Middle Ages...
that once stood in Worms-Neuhausen.
On Osthofen’s Goldberg (mountain), a chapel to Saint Remigius
Saint Remigius
Saint Remigius, Remy or Remi, , was Bishop of Reims and Apostle of the Franks, . On 24 December 496 he baptised Clovis I, King of the Franks...
might have been built as early as the 6th century. This is where the first major estate was, which by 1195 had grown into an Imperial
Holy Roman Empire
The Holy Roman Empire was a realm that existed from 962 to 1806 in Central Europe.It was ruled by the Holy Roman Emperor. Its character changed during the Middle Ages and the Early Modern period, when the power of the emperor gradually weakened in favour of the princes...
castle. In Mühlheim, the Knights Templar
Knights Templar
The Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon , commonly known as the Knights Templar, the Order of the Temple or simply as Templars, were among the most famous of the Western Christian military orders...
likewise built a castle in 1215.
Town council
The council is made up of 24 honorary council members, who were elected at the municipal election held on 7 June 2009, and the mayor as chairman.The municipal election held on 7 June 2009 yielded the following results:
| SPD Social Democratic Party of Germany The Social Democratic Party of Germany is a social-democratic political party in Germany... |
CDU | ödp Ecological Democratic Party The Ecological Democratic Party is an environmentalist political party in Germany. It was founded in 1982 by former members of the German Green Party. The ÖDP combines issues which are not often found together: a focus on state financial support for families and childrearing, and a belief in the... |
FWG | Total | |
| 2009 | 11 | 7 | 1 | 5 | 24 seats |
| 2004 | 11 | 8 | - | 5 | 24 seats |
Mayors
- Wendelin Best (1822–1831)
- Johann Weißheimer II. (1831–1843)
- Georg Friedrich Knierim I. (1843-1850)
- Peter Berger (1851-1853)
- Friedrich Knierim I. (1853-1862)
- Nikolaus Nagel (1862-1864)
- Georg Friedrich Best II. (1864-1867)
- Jakob Beckenbach (1867-1870)
- Johann Rißler III. (1870-1883)
- Simon Friedrich Schill (1883-1892)
- Johann Rißler III. (1892-1897)
- Georg Jakob Konrad (1897-1912)
- Wilhelm Schmitt (1912-1923)
- Carl Brenner (1924-1933)
- Dr.Wilhelm Fuhrländer (1933-1935)
- Dr.Kurt Mildner (1935-1944)
- Heinrich Hundsdorf (1944-1945) (provisional)
- Heinrich Rhein (1945-1946)
- Ludwig Knobloch (1946-1948)
- Walter Aßmann (1948-1956)
- Albert Fischer (1956-1972)
- Günter Metzler (1973–1987)
- Klaus Hagemann (1987–1994)
- Bernd Müller (1994–present)
Coat of arms
The town’s armsCoat of arms
A coat of arms is a unique heraldic design on a shield or escutcheon or on a surcoat or tabard used to cover and protect armour and to identify the wearer. Thus the term is often stated as "coat-armour", because it was anciently displayed on the front of a coat of cloth...
might be described thus: Sable a lion rampant Or armed, langued and crowned gules, issuant from dexter chief the sun and in an arc from dexter to middle base three mullets, all of the second.
The town’s earliest seals come from the 14th century, but they show a crane under a cross, a composition of unknown meaning. The current arms are first found on seals from the 16th century, and the composition has not changed since. The arms were officially granted the town in 1651, and once again in 1959. The sun and stars (or heraldically
Heraldry
Heraldry is the profession, study, or art of creating, granting, and blazoning arms and ruling on questions of rank or protocol, as exercised by an officer of arms. Heraldry comes from Anglo-Norman herald, from the Germanic compound harja-waldaz, "army commander"...
, mullets) are canting
Canting arms
Canting arms are heraldic bearings that represent the bearer's name in a visual pun or rebus. The term cant came into the English language from Anglo-Norman cant, meaning song or singing, from Latin cantāre, and English cognates include canticle, chant, accent, incantation and recant.Canting arms –...
charge
Charge (heraldry)
In heraldry, a charge is any emblem or device occupying the field of an escutcheon . This may be a geometric design or a symbolic representation of a person, animal, plant, object or other device...
s, as they are meant to suggest the direction “east”, which is the first part of the town’s name, the German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
word being Ost(en). The lion is the Palatine Lion, recalling the town’s long history under Electoral Palatinate’s rule.
Buildings
- The EvangelicalEvangelical Church in GermanyThe Evangelical Church in Germany is a federation of 22 Lutheran, Unified and Reformed Protestant regional church bodies in Germany. The EKD is not a church in a theological understanding because of the denominational differences. However, the member churches share full pulpit and altar...
Bergkirche (“Mountain Church”) is believed to have stemmed from a chapel to Saint RemigiusSaint RemigiusSaint Remigius, Remy or Remi, , was Bishop of Reims and Apostle of the Franks, . On 24 December 496 he baptised Clovis I, King of the Franks...
built in the 6th century beside which grew into an estate fortified with a castle over the course of the ages. Today’s church grew out of the castle and the chapel, with the churchtower, it is further believed, standing on the old keepKeepA keep is a type of fortified tower built within castles during the Middle Ages by European nobility. Scholars have debated the scope of the word keep, but usually consider it to refer to large towers in castles that were fortified residences, used as a refuge of last resort should the rest of the...
’s foundations. The castle was converted many times, acquiring its current shape after a fire in the 19th century. - Saint John’sJohn the BaptistJohn the Baptist was an itinerant preacher and a major religious figure mentioned in the Canonical gospels. He is described in the Gospel of Luke as a relative of Jesus, who led a movement of baptism at the Jordan River...
Catholic Church (Johanniskirche) had its beginnings in a temple of the Order of Saint John, and in 1713 it was transferred to the Catholic parish (the Order is ProtestantProtestantismProtestantism is one of the three major groupings within Christianity. It is a movement that began in Germany in the early 16th century as a reaction against medieval Roman Catholic doctrines and practices, especially in regards to salvation, justification, and ecclesiology.The doctrines of the...
), which radically converted the building in 1792. The church’s altarAltarAn altar is any structure upon which offerings such as sacrifices are made for religious purposes. Altars are usually found at shrines, and they can be located in temples, churches and other places of worship...
was originally to be found in the CarmeliteCarmelitesThe Order of the Brothers of Our Lady of Mount Carmel or Carmelites is a Catholic religious order perhaps founded in the 12th century on Mount Carmel, hence its name. However, historical records about its origin remain uncertain...
church in WormsWorms, GermanyWorms is a city in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, on the Rhine River. At the end of 2004, it had 85,829 inhabitants.Established by the Celts, who called it Borbetomagus, Worms today remains embattled with the cities Trier and Cologne over the title of "Oldest City in Germany." Worms is the only...
. - The Town Hall (Rathaus) was built in 1902 as a financial office.
- The Old Town Hall (Altes Rathaus) was built in 1739 as the town’s second town hall.
- Into the so-called “Little Church” (Kleine Kirche), which directly neighbours the Old Town Hall, parts of the first town hall from 1581 have been incorporated.
- The Waterworks (Wasserwerk) from 1906 has a striking façade with Art NouveauArt NouveauArt Nouveau is an international philosophy and style of art, architecture and applied art—especially the decorative arts—that were most popular during 1890–1910. The name "Art Nouveau" is French for "new art"...
and Baroque Revival elements. - The Jewish graveyard on Mettenheimer Chaussee was laid out in 1832 and is a memorial to the town’s JewishJudaismJudaism ) is the "religion, philosophy, and way of life" of the Jewish people...
community.
Regular events
Since 1949, the Wonnegauer Winzerfest (“Wonnegau Winemakers’ Festival”) has been held yearly in Osthofen. Among this days-long event’s highlights are a great parade, the crowning of the Wonnegau Wine Queen and the traditional Monday wine tasting.Economy and infrastructure
Osthofen is a state-recognized tourism centre, and under state planning also identified as a lower centreCentral Place Theory
Central place theory is a geographical theory that seeks to explain the number, size and location of human settlements in an urban system. The theory was created by the German geographer Walter Christaller, who asserted that settlements simply functioned as 'central places' providing services to...
.
Transport
Osthofen has at its disposal a railway station with a connection to the MainzMainz
Mainz under the Holy Roman Empire, and previously was a Roman fort city which commanded the west bank of the Rhine and formed part of the northernmost frontier of the Roman Empire...
–Ludwigshafen line. Formerly there were connections to the Osthofen–Rheindürkheim–Guntersblum line (on which there is still goods traffic as far as Worms-Rheindürkheim), the Osthofen–Westhofen
Westhofen
Westhofen is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in the Alzey-Worms district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany.- Location :...
line (locally known as the Gickelche) and the Osthofen–Gau-Odernheim line. The last two have since been torn up.
Nearby is also an Autobahn interchange
Interchange (road)
In the field of road transport, an interchange is a road junction that typically uses grade separation, and one or more ramps, to permit traffic on at least one highway to pass through the junction without directly crossing any other traffic stream. It differs from a standard intersection, at which...
onto the A 61
Bundesautobahn 61
is an autobahn in Germany that connects the border to the Netherlands near Venlo in the northwest to the interchange with A 6 near Hockenheim. In 1965, this required a re-design of the Hockenheimring....
, and towards the Rhine lies Bundesstraße
Bundesstraße
Bundesstraße , abbreviated B, is the denotation for German and Austrian national highways.-Germany:...
9.
Winegrowing
Osthofen belongs to the Wonnegau winegrowing zone in Rhenish HesseRheinhessen (wine region)
Rheinhessen is the largest of 13 German wine regions for quality wines with under cultivation in 2008. Named for the traditional region of Rhenish Hesse, it lies on the left bank of the River Rhine between Worms and Bingen in the federal state of Rhineland-Palatinate...
. Within the town, 35 winegrowing businesses are active, and the planted vineyard area amounts to 465 ha. Some 68% of the wine made here is from white wine varieties (as at 2007). In 1979, there were still 116 such active businesses, but the planted vineyard area amounted to only 429 ha.
Public institutions
The town is the location of the former Osthofen concentration camp, and a memorial site is found there today.Sons and daughters of the town
- Johann Georg Lehmann (b. 1744, d. 1817 in Frankenthal)
- Johann Weißheimer IIJohann Weißheimer IIJohann Weißheimer II was the father of the composer Wendelin Weißheimer and around the middle of the 19th Century, the most heavily taxed landowners in Rheinhessen...
. (b. 1797, d. 1883 in Osthofen) - Chief building director Friedrich August von Pauli (b. 1802, d. 1883 in Bad Kissingen)
- Wendelin WeißheimerWendelin WeißheimerWendelin Weißheimer was a 19th-century German composer, conductor, essayist, teacher and music writer. Wendelin Weißheimer studied with Franz Liszt and was in close contact with Richard Wagner, Hans von Bülow, Peter Cornelius, Louise Otto-Peters, Ferdinand Lassalle, August Bebel and of many other...
(b. 26 February 1838, d. 10 June 1910 in Nuremberg) - Dr. Georg Wander - Creator of Ovaltine (b. 1841, d. 1897 in Bern, Switzerland)
- Dietrich GrünDietrich GruenDietrich Gruen German born watchmaker who emigrated to the USA in the 1880s and founded the Gruen watch Company.-Early life and education:Attended both public and private schools. At age 15 began learning the watchmaking trade...
- Watch pioneer and founder of the “Gruen Watch Company” (b. 1847, d. 1910) - Prelate Adam Schreiber (b. 1849, d. 1929 in Worms)
- Karl Heinrich Berger (b. 1861, d. 1933 in Kandern, Baden)
- Conductor Friedrich Best (b. 1876, d. 1936 in Heidenau, Saxony)
- Heinrich Beckenbach (b. 5 February 1880, d. 31 March 1964)
- Christian Filips (b. 22 November 1981)
Famous people associated with the town
- Johannes Grun (b. 1646 in Alzey, d. 1718 in Osthofen)
- Church adviser Philip Gerhard Pauli (b. 1750 in Alzey, d. 1816 in Osthofen)
- Professor Friedrich Magnus Schwerd (b. 1792 in Alzey, d. 1871 in Speyer)
- Professor Dr. Peter Muth (b. 1860 at the Neumühle above Mühlheim, d. 1909 in Osthofen)
- Klaus Hagemann former mayor and since 1994 SPDSocial Democratic Party of GermanyThe Social Democratic Party of Germany is a social-democratic political party in Germany...
Member of the BundestagBundestagThe Bundestag is a federal legislative body in Germany. In practice Germany is governed by a bicameral legislature, of which the Bundestag serves as the lower house and the Bundesrat the upper house. The Bundestag is established by the German Basic Law of 1949, as the successor to the earlier...