Wehretal

Wehretal is a municipality in the Werra-Meißner-Kreis in northeastern Hesse, Germany.

Wehretal
Municipality
Coat of arms
Location of Wehretal within Werra-Meißner-Kreis district <imagemap>File: Wehretal ESW.svg | 240x240px poly 598 1430 1076 1271 1180 1370 1110 1424 1260 1620 1155 1795 1040 1758 1094 1650 874 1566 717 1552 714 1509 Sontra poly 597 1428 941 1292 991 1211 969 1147 675 992 472 1172 463 1409 Waldkappel poly 469 1169 668 991 700 926 678 813 650 803 628 879 489 822 468 879 350 771 228 762 60 964 92 1000 235 997 247 1065 388 1162 Hessisch Lichtenau poly 112 575 166 503 374 555 471 496 480 443 620 523 558 608 642 616 597 703 471 665 431 702 240 676 Gutsbezirk Kaufunger Wald poly 346 772 473 664 593 708 633 650 717 689 693 838 654 812 629 870 496 828 471 879 Großalmerode poly 690 855 1007 850 1044 817 962 746 892 765 882 736 796 719 752 805 757 833 696 815 Berkatal poly 698 850 666 987 739 1025 861 1079 921 1024 961 1046 1079 957 1052 847 Meißner poly 695 68 859 59 932 191 899 328 851 349 750 235 Neu-Eichenberg poly 273 263 564 179 549 93 666 99 751 240 841 347 899 333 941 485 822 494 712 681 565 599 619 505 486 441 481 366 392 443 Witzenhausen poly 1227 1572 1512 1548 1689 1682 1594 1795 1186 1729 Herleshausen poly 1073 1263 1097 1232 1276 1242 1282 1294 1361 1310 1396 1293 1474 1309 1426 1346 1547 1391 1503 1575 1210 1571 1121 1416 1200 1344 1142 1350 Ringgau poly 848 1077 914 1026 1349 1251 1280 1302 1273 1244 1088 1228 1065 1277 940 1293 1001 1204 976 1147 Wehretal poly 1300 1276 1442 1207 1581 1303 1547 1387 1429 1346 1479 1309 1384 1292 1366 1316 Weißenborn poly 970 1047 1348 1239 1458 1185 1411 1020 1111 898 1136 818 1010 794 990 840 1063 853 1078 965 Eschwege poly 1404 1027 1487 1006 1522 934 1753 1034 1668 1319 1575 1164 1459 1183 Wanfried poly 1095 885 1234 728 1526 924 1480 1017 1404 1019 Meinhard poly 690 908 715 775 716 675 824 493 938 494 1263 654 1237 731 1129 822 800 725 751 825 713 826 Bad Sooden-Allendorf poly 469 380 469 509 349 550 150 492 3 406 6 120 125 47 111 4 1191 5 937 177 863 54 706 63 742 231 697 235 652 100 576 80 546 102 553 183 286 261 379 454 Lower Saxony poly 1813 13 1328 5 1196 11 919 191 962 465 954 536 1033 552 1048 623 1266 652 1302 794 1308 856 1748 1031 1733 1081 1667 1169 1680 1210 1690 1294 1641 1315 1572 1161 1437 1207 1528 1296 1580 1302 1587 1339 1551 1359 1505 1429 1514 1557 1695 1679 1608 1788 1406 1737 1183 1735 1165 1834 1834 1837 Thuringia poly 1166 1836 1144 1795 1045 1760 1094 1659 881 1553 861 1579 715 1552 722 1510 604 1468 587 1413 475 1422 394 1481 252 1431 52 1545 55 1622 1 1648 1 1834 Hersfeld-Rotenburg poly 5 1641 60 1627 58 1534 254 1428 398 1488 468 1424 465 1148 361 1167 243 1065 245 1025 227 991 43 1012 15 1055 2 1057 Schwalm-Eder-Kreis poly 4 1044 21 1046 50 1012 77 991 63 957 242 764 406 751 435 692 234 679 115 563 162 501 3 413 Kassel (district) desc bottom-right </imagemap>
Wehretal Wehretal
Coordinates: 51°09′N 10°00′E
Country	Germany
State	Hesse
Admin. region	Kassel
District	Werra-Meißner-Kreis
Subdivisions	5 districts
Government
• Mayor (2018–24)	Timo Friedrich
Area
• Total	39.20 km2 (15.14 sq mi)
Elevation	179 m (587 ft)
Population  (2022-12-31)
• Total	4,999
• Density	130/km2 (330/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+01:00 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+02:00 (CEST)
Postal codes	37287
Dialling codes	05658, 05651
Vehicle registration	ESW
Website	www.wehretal.de

Geography

Location

Wehretal lies roughly 50 km southeast of the North Hesse city of Kassel. It is found between Eschwege in the north and Sontra in the south.

Towards the north, the community's area falls in the river Where's course – after which river the community is named – down to its mouth on the river Werra near Eschwege. In the east lies the Schlierbachswald and in the southeast lies the Ringgau (ranges). To the southwest, another range, the Stölzinger Gebirge, is to be found. To the west stands the Hoher Meißner.

Neighbouring communities

Wehretal borders in the north on the town of Eschwege, in the east on the community of Weißenborn, in the south on the community of Ringgau and the town of Sontra, in the west on the town of Waldkappel and in the far northwest on the community of Meißner (all in the Werra-Meißner-Kreis).

Constituent communities

Wehretal's five Ortsteile are Reichensachsen, Langenhain, Hoheneiche, Oetmannshausen and Vierbach.

History

In 1577, a deformed child who became widely known was born in Hoheneiche. The Renaissance artist Dietmar Merluan carved a wooden figurine of the child.

The community of Wehretal, containing 3 920 ha, came into being in 1971 and 1972 through the merger of the communities of Hoheneiche, Langenhain, Vierbach and Oetmannshausen into the administrative centre, the community of Reichensachsen. In the course of this municipal reform, the new, greater community adopted the name Wehretal. Unlike many other communities in the Werra-Meißner-Kreis, Wehretal's population is rising.

Politics

Community 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	20.2	6	17.3	5
SPD	Social Democratic Party of Germany	49.4	16	45.2	14
FDP	Free Democratic Party	6.8	2	6.2	2
FWG	Freie Wählergemeinschaft Wehretal	23.5	7	31.2	10
Total		100.0	31	100.0	31
Voter turnout in %		57.2		61.2

Mayor

Mayoral elections are held every six years. The most recent mayors were:

• 2018–incumbent: Timo Friedrich
• 2006–2018: Jochen Kistner (SPD)
• 1994–2006: Horst Dietzel (SPD)

Town partnerships

• Bellou-en-Houlme, Orne, France
• La Ferrière-aux-Étangs, Orne, France
• La Coulonche, Orne, France
• Saires-la-Verrerie, Orne, France
• Gánt, Fejér County, Hungary

The four French communities have been part of an intensely cultivated partnership arrangement with Wehretal on various levels, starting with Bellou-en-Houlme in 1992 with the other three joining in 1995. They are all in the same department in Normandy. The partnership with Gánt began in 2007.

Festivals

For more than 50 years now, the Heimat- und Wichtelfest (roughly, “Homeland and Hobgoblin Festival”) has been held, usually on the third weekend in June. The high point of the five-day festivities, besides the dancing evening on Saturday evening in the festival tent at the sport ground, is the great festival parade on the Sunday. This has been made up for generations now by school classes and local clubs. Moreover, the festival parade is accompanied by several musical bands from Reichensachsen and surrounding places. All these bands keep playing after the parade in the festival tent before countless onlookers.

From Monday morning until late into the night, the traditional Frühschoppen is held in the tent. This word can mean “brunch” or “morning pint”, but in this case, it is a celebration in which the locals have breakfast and celebrate together.

Transport

This place in the Werra-Meißner-Kreis can be reached over Bundesstraßen 7 (Kassel-Eisenach), 27 (Göttingen-Bad Hersfeld) and 452 (Eschwege-Wehretal). Furthermore, there is a stop on the Hanover–Göttingen–Bebra–Frankfurt railway mainline.

Notable citizens

• Rainer Cadenbach, musicologist and professor at the Berlin University of the Arts, born in 1944 in Reichensachsen
• Timo Hartmann, radio moderator (currently at Hit Radio FFH)
• Imelda Landgrebe, first honorary citizen of the community of Wehretal, for many years chairwoman of community council, winner of the Bundesverdienstkreuz, first class, and the community's Golden Pin of Honour
• Bernd Schleicher, directly elected member of the Hesse Landtag from 1986 to 1999 and mayor's deputy from 1981 to 1987
• Markus Zimmer, was a German musician and singer of The Bates.