Sontra
Encyclopedia
Sontra is a small town in the Werra-Meißner-Kreis
in northeastern Hesse
, Germany
.
The air spa of Sontra is known as Berg- und Hänselstadt, with Bergstadt referring to the time when there was bituminous shale mining (“mining” is Bergbau in German
) in town, and Hänselstadt to the town’s former membership in the Hanse. In the town, whose area covers 111.29 km², live 8,568 inhabitants.
(some 30 km to the southwest), Kassel
(some 45 km to the northwest) and Eisenach
(some 35 km to the east), east of the Stölzinger Gebirge, north of the Richelsdorfer Gebirge and west of the Ringgau (ranges), and also 16 km southwest of Eschwege
. Flowing through town are the river Sontra, which near Wehretal
empties into the Wehre, and the river Ulfe, which empties into the Sontra near the outlying centre of Wichmannshausen.
and the community of Wehretal
, in the east on the communities of Ringgau
and Herleshausen
(all in the Werra-Meißner-Kreis), in the southeast on the community of Gerstungen
(in Thuringia
’s Wartburgkreis
), in the south on the communities of Wildeck
and Nentershausen
and in the southwest on the community of Cornberg
(all three in Hersfeld-Rotenburg
).
In 775, Sontra’s outlying centre of Ulfen had its first documentary mention. In the 8th century, Sontra itself was also mentioned for the first time. In 1232, a Kunigunde de Suntraha was named, who on a visit to Saint Elizabeth’s
grave in Marburg experienced healing. Town rights were granted Sontra in 1368.
There was bituminous shale mining in Sontra beginning no later than 1499, and it continued right through to the 1950s.
In the centre of Donnershag, which is part of Sontra, the settlement society known as Freiland-Freigeld was resident in the 1920s.
might be described thus: Or a rose azure sepalled vert surmounted by a lion rampant barry of eight argent and gules armed of the first.
This description is based on the arms shown in this article. However, the German blazon specifies that the lion (which is the Lion of Hesse, the main charge
in Hesse’s state coat of arms) should be a neun Mal von Silber und Rot geteilter Löwe, or “barry of nine”, that is, with nine horizontal stripes.
) with its giant waterslide, a miniature golf
course and a skittles
centre.
There are two shooting
clubs in town, the Schützengilde Sontra and the Sportschützenverein 1958 Sontra e. V. On the Dornberg near Sontra, the Mittelhessischer Verein für Flugsport e.V. Sontra/Bebra (aerial sports) runs the Dornberg-Sontra gliding
airfield.
SG Sontra 1919 e.V. is the resident football club and currently plays in the Kreisliga
A.
n 27 and 7. The Autobahn A 44
(Kassel
–Eisenach
), which will lead around the outlying centres, is either in planning or under construction.
There is a link to the A 4 (Aachen
–Görlitz
) at the Wommen/Sontra interchange
.
A railway connection is to be had at Sontra railway station on the Bebra–Göttingen line.
-Schule (comprehensive school
), two primary schools and the Barbaraschule (school for help with learning).
Werra-Meißner-Kreis
Werra-Meißner is a Kreis in the north of Hesse, Germany. Neighboring districts are Göttingen, Eichsfeld, Unstrut-Hainich, Wartburgkreis, district-free Eisenach, Hersfeld-Rotenburg, Schwalm-Eder, Kassel.-History:...
in northeastern Hesse
Hesse
Hesse or Hessia is both a cultural region of Germany and the name of an individual German state.* The cultural region of Hesse includes both the State of Hesse and the area known as Rhenish Hesse in the neighbouring Rhineland-Palatinate state...
, 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...
.
The air spa of Sontra is known as Berg- und Hänselstadt, with Bergstadt referring to the time when there was bituminous shale mining (“mining” is Bergbau in 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....
) in town, and Hänselstadt to the town’s former membership in the Hanse. In the town, whose area covers 111.29 km², live 8,568 inhabitants.
Location
Sontra lies between Bad HersfeldBad Hersfeld
The festival and spa town of Bad Hersfeld is the district seat of Hersfeld-Rotenburg district in northeastern Hesse, Germany, roughly 50 km southeast of Kassel....
(some 30 km to the southwest), Kassel
Kassel
Kassel is a town located on the Fulda River in northern Hesse, Germany. It is the administrative seat of the Kassel Regierungsbezirk and the Kreis of the same name and has approximately 195,000 inhabitants.- History :...
(some 45 km to the northwest) and Eisenach
Eisenach
Eisenach is a city in Thuringia, Germany. It is situated between the northern foothills of the Thuringian Forest and the Hainich National Park. Its population in 2006 was 43,626.-History:...
(some 35 km to the east), east of the Stölzinger Gebirge, north of the Richelsdorfer Gebirge and west of the Ringgau (ranges), and also 16 km southwest of Eschwege
Eschwege
Eschwege , the district seat of the Werra-Meißner-Kreis, is a town in northeastern Hesse, Germany.- Location :The town lies on a broad plain tract of the river Werra at the foot of the Leuchtberg northwest of the Schlierbachswald and east of the Hoher Meißner...
. Flowing through town are the river Sontra, which near Wehretal
Wehretal
Wehretal is a community in the Werra-Meißner-Kreis in northeastern Hesse, Germany.-Location:Wehretal lies roughly 50 km southeast of the North Hesse city of Kassel...
empties into the Wehre, and the river Ulfe, which empties into the Sontra near the outlying centre of Wichmannshausen.
Neighbouring communities
Sontra borders in the north on the town of WaldkappelWaldkappel
Waldkappel is a small town in the Werra-Meißner-Kreis in northern Hesse, Germany.-Location:Waldkappel lies between Hessisch Lichtenau in the west and Eschwege in the east, where the town is found in the North Hesse Upland between the Meißner-Kaufunger Wald Nature Park neighbouring it to the north...
and the community of Wehretal
Wehretal
Wehretal is a community in the Werra-Meißner-Kreis in northeastern Hesse, Germany.-Location:Wehretal lies roughly 50 km southeast of the North Hesse city of Kassel...
, in the east on the communities of Ringgau
Ringgau
- Location :The community of Ringgau lies in the like-named low mountain range some 11 km south of Eschwege between the Hoher Meißner and the Thuringian Forest.- Neighbouring communities :...
and Herleshausen
Herleshausen
-Location:Herleshausen lies north of a section of the boundary with Thuringia in the thickly wooded area between the Ringgau and the Thuringian Forest with the Thuringian Forest Nature Park in the southeast...
(all in the Werra-Meißner-Kreis), in the southeast on the community of Gerstungen
Gerstungen
Gerstungen is a municipality in the Wartburgkreis district of Thuringia, Germany.-History:Between 1945 and 1990 Gerstungen served as East German inner German border crossing on the Thuringian Railway...
(in Thuringia
Thuringia
The Free State of Thuringia is a state of Germany, located in the central part of the country.It has an area of and 2.29 million inhabitants, making it the sixth smallest by area and the fifth smallest by population of Germany's sixteen states....
’s Wartburgkreis
Wartburgkreis
Wartburgkreis is a Kreis in the west of Thuringia, Germany. Neighboring districts are the districts Unstrut-Hainich, Gotha, Schmalkalden-Meiningen, and the districts Fulda, Hersfeld-Rotenburg and Werra-Meißner in Hesse...
), in the south on the communities of Wildeck
Wildeck
Wildeck is a community in Hersfeld-Rotenburg district in northeastern Hesse, Germany lying right at the boundary with Thuringia, 54 km southeast of Kassel.- Location :...
and Nentershausen
Nentershausen
Nentershausen is a community in Hersfeld-Rotenburg district in northeastern Hesse, Germany.- Location :The community lies in the mountains in eastern Hesse, where it finds itself in the centre of the Richelsdorfer Gebirge between the Fulda to the west and the Werra to the east...
and in the southwest on the community of Cornberg
Cornberg
Cornberg is a community in Hersfeld-Rotenburg district in northeastern Hesse, Germany. It is the district’s smallest municipality.- Location :The community lies between the towns of Bad Hersfeld to the south and Eschwege to the north, each 27 km away...
(all three in Hersfeld-Rotenburg
Hersfeld-Rotenburg
Hersfeld-Rotenburg is a Kreis in the east of Hesse, Germany. Neighboring districts are Werra-Meißner, Wartburgkreis, Fulda, Vogelsbergkreis, Schwalm-Eder.-History:...
).
Constituent communities
Sontra’s 15 Ortsteile, besides the main town, also called Sontra, are Berneburg, Blankenbach, Breitau, Diemerode, Heyerode, Hornel, Krauthausen, Lindenau, Mitterode, Stadthosbach, [Thurnhosbach] :de:Thurnhosbach, Ulfen, Weißenborn, Wichmannshausen and Wölfterode.History
Elisabeth of Hungary
Elizabeth of Hungary, T.O.S.F., was a princess of the Kingdom of Hungary, Countess of Thuringia, Germany and a greatly-venerated Catholic saint. Elizabeth was married at the age of 14, and widowed at 20. She then became one of the first members of the newly-founded Third Order of St. Francis,...
grave in Marburg experienced healing. Town rights were granted Sontra in 1368.
There was bituminous shale mining in Sontra beginning no later than 1499, and it continued right through to the 1950s.
In the centre of Donnershag, which is part of Sontra, the settlement society known as Freiland-Freigeld was resident in the 1920s.
Town council
The municipal election held on 26 March 2006 yielded the following results:| Parties and voter communities | % 2006 |
Seats 2006 |
% 2001 |
Seats 2001 |
|
| CDU | Christian Democratic Union of Germany | 35.8 | 11 | 29.0 | 9 |
| SPD | Social Democratic Party of Germany Social Democratic Party of Germany The Social Democratic Party of Germany is a social-democratic political party in Germany... |
45.2 | 14 | 54.6 | 17 |
| GREENS | Bündnis 90/Die Grünen | 2.1 | 1 | 2.9 | 1 |
| FDP | Free Democratic Party Free Democratic Party (Germany) The Free Democratic Party , abbreviated to FDP, is a centre-right classical liberal political party in Germany. It is led by Philipp Rösler and currently serves as the junior coalition partner to the Union in the German federal government... |
6.0 | 2 | 4.9 | 1 |
| FWG | Freie Wählergemeinschaft Sontra | 10.9 | 3 | 8.5 | 3 |
| Total | 100.0 | 31 | 100.0 | 31 | |
| Voter turnout in % | 55.4 | 58.4 | |||
Executive
The town’s executive (Magistrat) is made up of nine councillors, with four seats allotted to the SPD, three to the CDU and one each to the FWG and the FDP.Mayors
Gerhard Büchling (independent) was elected mayor on 6 March 1994 with 52.9% of the vote, and reëlected on 7 November 1999 with 66.8% of the vote. The office was taken over by Karl-Heinz Schäfer (SPD), who was elected on 22 September 2002 with 67.5% of the vote, and reëlected on 1 June 2008 with 56.1% of the vote.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: Or a rose azure sepalled vert surmounted by a lion rampant barry of eight argent and gules armed of the first.
This description is based on the arms shown in this article. However, the German blazon specifies that the lion (which is the Lion of Hesse, the main 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...
in Hesse’s state coat of arms) should be a neun Mal von Silber und Rot geteilter Löwe, or “barry of nine”, that is, with nine horizontal stripes.
Town partnerships
- VimoutiersVimoutiersVimoutiers is a commune in the Orne department in north-western France.The finish line of the Paris–Camembert bicycle race is Vimoutiers.-History:On 14 June 1944, during the Battle of Normandy, Vimoutiers was bombarded by Allied forces...
, OrneOrneOrne is a department in the northwest of France, named after the river Orne.- History :Orne is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution, on March 4, 1790. It was created from parts of the former provinces of Normandy and Perche.- Geography :Orne is in the region of...
, France since 1971 - Tambach-DietharzTambach-DietharzTambach-Dietharz is a town in the district of Gotha, in Thuringia, Germany. It is situated in the Thuringian Forest, 19 km south of Gotha.- Places of interest :...
, ThuringiaThuringiaThe Free State of Thuringia is a state of Germany, located in the central part of the country.It has an area of and 2.29 million inhabitants, making it the sixth smallest by area and the fifth smallest by population of Germany's sixteen states....
since 1999
Buildings
- Historic town core with Town Hall from 1668
- Boyneburg ruins owned by the family von Boyneburg near Wichmannshausen in the Ringgau range
- 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...
town church from 1488
Museums
- Museum at the old Boyneburg Palace in the outlying centre of Wichmannshausen
- Kleines Bergbau-Museum (bituminous shale mining) of Sontra
- Steinmühlen-Museum in Sontra
Sport
Popular sports are practised in town by TV Sontra 1861 e.V. in several departments. Further sports can be played at the leisure and adventure pool (outdoor swimming poolSwimming pool
A swimming pool, swimming bath, wading pool, or simply a pool, is a container filled with water intended for swimming or water-based recreation. There are many standard sizes; the largest is the Olympic-size swimming pool...
) with its giant waterslide, a miniature golf
Miniature golf
Miniature golf, or minigolf, is a miniature version of the sport of golf. While the international sports organization World Minigolf Sport Federation prefers to use the name "minigolf", the general public in different countries has also many other names for the game: miniature golf, mini-golf,...
course and a skittles
Skittles (sport)
Skittles is an old European lawn game, a variety of bowling, from which ten-pin bowling, duckpin bowling, and candlepin bowling in the United States, and five-pin bowling in Canada are descended. In the United Kingdom, the game remains a popular pub game in England and Wales, though it tends to be...
centre.
There are two shooting
Shooting sports
A shooting sport is a competitive sport involving tests of proficiency using various types of guns such as firearms and airguns . Hunting is also a shooting sport, and indeed shooting live pigeons was an Olympic event...
clubs in town, the Schützengilde Sontra and the Sportschützenverein 1958 Sontra e. V. On the Dornberg near Sontra, the Mittelhessischer Verein für Flugsport e.V. Sontra/Bebra (aerial sports) runs the Dornberg-Sontra gliding
Gliding
Gliding is a recreational activity and competitive air sport in which pilots fly unpowered aircraft known as gliders or sailplanes using naturally occurring currents of rising air in the atmosphere to remain airborne. The word soaring is also used for the sport.Gliding as a sport began in the 1920s...
airfield.
SG Sontra 1919 e.V. is the resident football club and currently plays in the Kreisliga
Kreisliga
The Kreisliga is a low tier in league sports in Germany and the 9th tier of league soccer there.The Kreisligen usually rank right below the Bezirksligen, Bezirksklassen or Landesligen. Any teams finding themselves at the bottom of the Kreisligen would find themselves in one of the local...
A.
Transport
Through the town run BundesstraßeBundesstraße
Bundesstraße , abbreviated B, is the denotation for German and Austrian national highways.-Germany:...
n 27 and 7. The Autobahn A 44
Bundesautobahn 44
is a German Autobahn. It consists of three main-parts and a few smaller parts. It begins in Aachen at the German-Belgian border and ends near Kassel. Before the German unification it was an unimportant provincial-motorway but after this event it became an integral part of the German highway-system...
(Kassel
Kassel
Kassel is a town located on the Fulda River in northern Hesse, Germany. It is the administrative seat of the Kassel Regierungsbezirk and the Kreis of the same name and has approximately 195,000 inhabitants.- History :...
–Eisenach
Eisenach
Eisenach is a city in Thuringia, Germany. It is situated between the northern foothills of the Thuringian Forest and the Hainich National Park. Its population in 2006 was 43,626.-History:...
), which will lead around the outlying centres, is either in planning or under construction.
There is a link to the A 4 (Aachen
Aachen
Aachen has historically been a spa town in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Aachen was a favoured residence of Charlemagne, and the place of coronation of the Kings of Germany. Geographically, Aachen is the westernmost town of Germany, located along its borders with Belgium and the Netherlands, ...
–Görlitz
Görlitz
Görlitz is a town in Germany. It is the easternmost town in the country, located on the Lusatian Neisse River in the Bundesland of Saxony. It is opposite the Polish town of Zgorzelec, which was a part of Görlitz until 1945. Historically, Görlitz was in the region of Upper Lusatia...
) at the Wommen/Sontra 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...
.
A railway connection is to be had at Sontra railway station on the Bebra–Göttingen line.
State institutions
In 1962, the Husarenkaserne (“Hussars’ Barracks”) was built. Stationed here was the Panzeraufklärungsbataillon 5 (“armoured reconnaissance battalion”). The property, which once had 780 service posts, was dissolved with effect from 30 June 2008.Education
In Sontra there are the Adam von TrottAdam von Trott zu Solz
Adam von Trott zu Solz was a German lawyer and diplomat who was involved in the conservative opposition to the Nazi regime, and who played a central part in the 20 July Plot...
-Schule (comprehensive school
Comprehensive school
A comprehensive school is a state school that does not select its intake on the basis of academic achievement or aptitude. This is in contrast to the selective school system, where admission is restricted on the basis of a selection criteria. The term is commonly used in relation to the United...
), two primary schools and the Barbaraschule (school for help with learning).
Famous people
- Kurt Reuber (1906–1944) was an 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...
minister in the outlying centre of Wichmannshausen from 1933 to 1938. From him comes the famous Stalingrad MadonnaStalingrad MadonnaThe Stalingrad Madonna is an image of the Virgin Mary drawn by a German soldier, Kurt Reuber, in 1942 in Stalingrad , Russia, during the Battle of Stalingrad...
, which he completed at Christmas 1942.
Further reading
- Jürgen Raabe: Zwangsarbeit bei der Kurhessischen Kupferschieferbergbau Sontra 1940 - 1945 : Erkundungen, Studien u. Dokumente, ISBN 3-88122-340-1