Waltershausen, TH, DE (former) - City and Town Halls on Waymarking.com

Historic Town Hall (1441), second oldest half-timbered town hall in Central Germany, after 1990 completely restored. Vaulted cellar with impressive cross burr and barrel vaults. The first floor served as a banquet hall and market hall. On the second floor are the offices of the mayor's office.

Waltershausen is the second largest city in the district of Gotha in the Free State of Thuringia (Germany). It lies between the Thuringian Basin in the northeast and the Thuringian Forest in the southwest.

The place developed at the crossing of the old salt road from Salzungen to Erfurt and from Eisenach to Saalfeld. In addition, the 1176 for the first time mentioned castle Tenneberg (see buildings) offered protection for the city dwellers. Another advantage for the location was the bottleneck between the castle hill and the goat mountain, which had to pass through the entire traffic, as the forest was very impassable.

The city itself was first mentioned in 1209 under the name "Ulricus, villicius de Waltherißhusin". The city belongs to the county Mühlburg (mentioned in a document of 1293) and was under the feudal authority of the archdiocese of Mainz. At that time she was already in possession of city rights. 1392 Waltershausen and the castle Tenneberg were determined to Leibgedinge for the future daughter-in-law of the Thuringian Landgrave. In the following period Waltershausen belongs to the Wettinisch-Ernestinischen office Tenneberg, which belonged from 1640 to the Duchy of Saxe-Gotha.

Waltershausen has a tradition founded in 1815 as a doll's town. It was in the 19th century a variety of toy and doll factories. The first doll and toy factory was founded in 1816 by Johann Daniel Kestner. The Thuringian Forest Railway was extended to Waltershausen in 1929 and has since connected the city with Bad Tabarz in the southwest and Gotha in the northeast.

At the beginning of the 1930s, Walterhausen was home to nine Jewish families, all deprived of their homeland by emigration and deportation. A single woman survived the concentration camp Theresienstadt and lived from 1945 in Eisenach. During the Second World War, about 600 prisoners of war and forced laborers from numerous German-occupied countries had to do forced labor at technical companies, in the Ade plant, in the Thuringian tube weaving mill and other companies. In the cemetery of Waltershausen many graves remind of prisoners of war and forced laborers.

On May 9, 2008, a stumbling block was laid by Gunter Demnig for the deported Jew Klara Felstyner at the corner of Bremerstrasse and Quergasse. She died in 1940 in the Warsaw Ghetto. This stumbling block was followed by 5 more.

The city of Waltershausen had, like all German cities, a large number of fallen soldiers of the two world wars to complain.

On February 6, 1945 Waltershausen experienced - as on the same day several cities in the region - an American bombing raid. 12 "Flying Fortresses" B-17G threw 30 tons (120 pieces) of bombs at 8,000 meters high at noon. 21 buildings were destroyed and 20 dead counted.

The industrial production of dolls ended in 1990. Until recently, the Waltershäuser Puppenmanufaktur occasionally produced dolls. These were collectible dolls that met high aesthetic standards. The doll city only exists as a souvenir in the museum of the city. In 2003, Waltershausen commune settled in the building complex of the listed doll factory.

Name: Altes Rathaus Address: Markt 1 Waltershausen, Germany 99880 Date of Construction: 1441 Web Site for City/Town/Municipality: [Web Link] Architect: Not listed Memorials/Commemorations/Dedications: Not listed

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Date Logged Log User Rating   08/06/2018 jotheonly visited it