Kölleda, Thuringia, Germany

🇩🇪 Kölleda (until 1927 Cölleda) is a small rural town in Thuringia. The municipality belongs to the district of Sömmerda and is located about ten km east of the district town of Sömmerda on the edge of the Thuringian Basin. It is the third largest municipality in the district. Kölleda is the seat of the Kölleda administrative community, although it does not belong to it. The inhabitants are called "Kölledaer".

Kölleda is a sub-centre for the region. The town is characterised by a former traditionally large cultivation of medicinal and aromatic herbs, especially peppermint. This led to the nickname "peppermint town" and "peppermint railway" for the Straußfurt-Großheringen railway line that runs past.

Kölleda has an eventful 1200-year old history. Significant for the town's development during the National Socialist era were the construction of an air base and an aircraft office for the Luftwaffe and later, during the GDR era, the VEB Funkwerk Kölleda (today Funkwerk AG). After the Second World War, this was founded as a "Neutrowerk" by committed returned and immigrant experts - after the most difficult negotiations with the Soviet military administration - in the "old building" of the air base, which was therefore not blown up. There are many small and medium-sized companies in Kölleda. Above all, electrical engineering and metal processing have become increasingly important as economic factors for the town.

The "Jahnstadt" Kölleda is also known as the place of exile for the "gymnastics father" Friedrich Ludwig Jahn (memorial plaque east of the Roßplatz intersection; around 1960 also with "Jahnsportspiele" and today again with the Jahnplatz). It is also the birthplace of the chemist Fritz Hofmann, inventor of artificial methyl rubber (Buna rubber). The house where he was born (memorial plaque) is situated in the former Auenstraße, which was renamed after him.

History Kölleda was first mentioned in a document as the village Collide in 786 in the property register of the Hersfeld Abby, the Breviarium Sancti Lulli. The ending of the place name is a connection between the Old High German -idi and the Old Saxon -ithi. The interpretation of the place name is difficult. The generally accepted opinion is that Collide means something like "in swampy terrain". This interpretation of the name is probably correct due to the location of the village in the geological region of the Thuringian Basin. The root word can hardly be traced back to the Latin word Caulis for cabbage, as was previously assumed, since the vowel in the place name Collide before the double l was probably short. Short vowels, on the other hand, are found in the Old and Middle High German words kolo and kol for coal/charcoal and Alemannic cholle(n) for glow/glow. Other opinions therefore assume that Collide meant a place where charcoal was produced, i.e. a charcoal pile. Since Kölleda was not in a forest area, there are other interpretations in research, e.g. a place of cultivation for pepper cabbage (Kölle), i.e. peppermint, which is still cultivated here today.

Over the centuries, the place name changed to "Cölleda", which is still in use today. Since 1927 the town name has been officially spelt with a "K", i.e. "Kölleda" instead of "Cölleda".

The vernacular also uses the nickname "Kuhkölln". This place name appears in an old record in 1487, which according to a legend written down by the chronicler Friedrich Heinrich Grüning in 1833 is said to have the following origin: A distinguished gentleman once wanted to travel through the city, and when he came through the gate, he met a very large number of cattle, which were driven to the beautiful pastures belonging to the city. As he had to wait for some time in front of the gate to let the cattle coming towards him in a long line pass, he asked what the place was called. He was told it was called Cölln. Well,' says the foreign gentleman, 'it might be called Kuhcölln, in contrast to other towns, because the inhabitants can keep such a large herd of cattle.'

Another credible interpretation is that it is derived from the bonnets of the nuns of the local convent, the Kukelen. Even today, the population still uses the nickname, especially during the annual carnival procession with "Kuhkölln - Helau".

History: Middle Ages The feudal lord of the town was the Hersfeld Abbey, which enfeoffed the Counts of Beichlingen with income from the town. When the Peter-Paul-Church in the village slowly became too small for the growing population, the St. Johannes Monastery Church was built in its place in 1266. The church was part of the Convent, founded on 8 September at the instigation of Abbot Lullus of Hersfeld Monastery, by the convent of nuns of the grey St. Benedict Order. In 1303, numerous Jews were murdered in Cölleda and the surrounding area because of their religion. At the intersection of two trade routes, Cölleda developed as a market and trading centre to become the most important town in the surrounding area, which led to Friedrich VI Count of Beichlingen Cölleda was granted town charter in 1392. Despite the town charter, however, the supreme feudal sovereignty remained with Hersfeld Monastery. At the beginning of the 16th century, the Lords of Werthern took the place of the Counts of Beichlingen. Their family coat of arms was incorporated into the town coat of arms of Cölleda.

Modern times and industrialisation A plague-like epidemic killed 500 people in Cölleda in 1518. In 1519, the counts of Werthern received the county of Beichlingen and the rights for the municipality of Cölleda. With the upswing of agriculture and cattle breeding in the area, a distinct market system developed, which led to the construction of a market well in 1528. After the Schmalkaldic War, Cölleda belonged to the Electorate of Saxony. In 1553, the Backleber Tor (Backleber Gate) was built and three years later the bridge gate. With the dissolution of the Hersfeld monastery, the town acquired the associated lands. In 1577 and 1578, 448 people fell victim to the plague. During the Thirty Years' War (1618-1648), military activity, looting and epidemics occurred repeatedly in the town. During the plague in 1626, 1000 people died in Kölleda. In 1634, troops from the Electorate of Saxony were quartered in Cölleda for 22 weeks. Cölleda had to pay a monthly tribute of 800 Thaler. To commemorate the peace after the war, a memorial stone was erected on 19 April 1649 along the boundary between Cölleda and Großneuhausen.

In addition to the two existing town halls, the third town hall was built in 1702. In 1724 the Electoral Saxon Post Office was built and in 1744 the new school at the market. Prussia received some Albertine lands after the Congress of Vienna in 1815, including Cölleda. With the transfer of the district administration from Wiehe to Cölleda in 1824, Cölleda was elevated by royal cabinet order to the status of district town of the newly established District of Eckartsberga in the Merseburg administrative district of the Province of Saxony. The year 1824 also marked the beginning of the cultivation of medicinal herbs, especially peppermint, which gave Cölleda the nickname Peppermint Town in 1830. In 1848, during the March Revolution, civil defence units stood up to the Prussian military and forced the soldiers to withdraw from the town. On 22 September of that year, a popular assembly took place in Cölleda, in which 15,000 people from Cölleda, Sömmerda and the surrounding villages are said to have participated. This assembly was an expression of a popular movement that had forced the expropriation of the large estates in two neighbouring communities of Sömmerda and their division among the peasants and day labourers. However, the movement was put down and one of its leaders and 70 other people from the region were sentenced to 25 years in prison each. In 1857, the district savings bank was established. The Saal-Unstrut-Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft (SUE), founded in Cölleda in 1870, opened the Straußfurt-Großheringen railway line in 1874. (peppermint railway); with it, Cölleda also received a telegraph station. Seven years after the railway line was put into operation, the stagecoach service was discontinued in 1881. In 1884, the district administration office was built. The well was connected to the newly built water supply from the Backleber spring in 1890.

At the turn of the century in 1900, a gasworks was built in Cölleda, the new school in Hundtgasse street was handed over and the first telephone connection went into operation. In 1908, a hospital was built. The children's home, which had been built with funds from the Karl and Fritz Feistkorn Foundation, was handed over in 1911. On 12 March 1912, the construction contracts for the Laucha-Kölleda railway line (Finnebahn) were awarded. In 1913, the public baths were handed over by the Feistkorn Foundation.

On 1 May 1914, the Cölleda-Lossa section of the Finnebahn was opened. The construction of the Finnebahn made Cölleda a railway junction. At the end of the First World War (1914-1918), Cölleda counted more than 100 casualties.

The electrification Due to the morphological more appropriate initial sound, the spelling was changed to Kölleda in 1927.

From National Socialism to the founding of the GDR On 1 January 1934, the Prussian Municipal Constitution Act of 15 December 1933 was introduced, and the municipality of Kölleda was renamed the town of Kölleda. During the National Socialist era, Kölleda experienced strong population growth, justified by the rearmament policy of the 1930s. In 1935, an air base and an aviation office were established in Kölleda, which represented a turning point in the town's development, because within a few years the number of inhabitants had almost doubled in connection with the air base and the necessary aviation personnel. In 1936, the Schillingstedter district and the Bahner district were built, the barracks on Kiebitzhöhe were erected and Kiebitzhöhe was given a railway stop. At the same time, the airfield was developed into one of the largest air force bases in Germany. On 1 November 1941, Auenstraße was renamed Prof.-Hofmann street on the occasion of the 75th birthday of Fritz Hofmann.

Shortly after the seizure of power by the National Socialists, severe persecution of Jews, Social Democrats, Communists and members of the bekennende Kirche began, and several citizens of Kölleda were deported to concentration camps. Another citizen was sentenced in 1943 for "insidious statement to prison imprisonment, which he served in the Erfurt penitentiary. A woman protected until then by her non-Jewish husband was deported to the Theresienstadt concentration camp in 1944, where she died two days after her arrival. During the Second World War, a large number of prisoners of wars, as well as women and men from Belgium, France, the Netherlandss and the Soviet Union forced labour: at the air base and at the Angora farm. On the instructions of the SED regional leadership, the war memorial on the Rossplatz was converted into a memorial for the victims of fascism in 1946/47.

Despite an air raid in 1944 on the airfield in Kölleda, the city centre was spared during the Second World War and was handed over to the US without a fight on 11 April 1945. On 1 July, the American occupation was replaced by the Soviet occupation.

Immediately after the takeover, the Soviet Army set up a prison in the villa on the corner of Bahnhofstraße and Hopfendamm. The prison was run by the Soviet secret service. There were many reasons for imprisonment, such as mistreatment of Eastern workers, activity in National Socialist organisations, possession of weapons and activity as a Werwolf. Some of the prisoners were also mistreated during interrogations and some were subsequently sentenced to 10 or 25 years' penal servitude by the military tribunal in Naumburg Prison. There were also sentences to death, the executions taking place in the Red Ox in Halle. The other convicts were sent via Halle to the Special Camp Torgau (Fort Zinna) or to Bautzen Prison. At the end of 1947, the prisoners were transferred to the Soviet Special Camp Sachsenhausen. A prime example is the story of the Greußen Boys.

At the beginning of 1948, the Finnebahn was shut down in favour of reparations for the Soviet Union.

GDR period On 7 October 1949 Kölleda became part of the newly founded German Democratic Republic. In 1950, the government of Saxony-Anhalt decided to rename the district of Eckartsberga to the district of Kölleda. Battgendorf was incorporated on 1 July 1950. Due to the territorial reform in 1952, Kölleda lost its district town status and has since belonged to the district of Sömmerda (until 1990 Erfurt district, since then Thuringia). In 1957, the municipal swimming pool Streitsee was handed over. Kiebitzhöhe was built as a new district in the east of the town in 1958. A bus station was built at Rossplatz in 1968. In 1978, the municipal association was founded. The 1200-year celebration took place in 1986. In 1990 Kölleda was a venue for matches in the European Under-16 Football Championship 1990.

Post-reunification In 1992, the Feistkornstraße residential area with 212 flats was handed over. In the same year, the citizens of Kölleda and their guests celebrated the 600th anniversary of the granting of the town and market rights by Count Friedrich VI of Beichlingen. One year later, the town library and the town archive were inaugurated in the former Wannebad. The Kölleda administrative community was founded in 1994. The administrative community now included the municipalities of Beichlingen, Großmonra, Großneuhausen, Kleinneuhausen, Ostramondra and Schillingstedt. In the same year, the local history museum on Rossplatz was reopened after reconstruction. Dermsdorf was incorporated on 22 January by the Thuringian Reorganisation Act of 27 August 1993. In 1997, the topping-out ceremony was held for the school extension at the Prof. Hofmann School. The herb mill was inaugurated in 1998. In a record attempt in 1999, Kölleda was able to enter the Guinness Book of Records with the largest tea bag in the world.

In 1999, the town sought to terminate its membership in the Kölleda administrative community, which had existed since 1994, because it felt that this violated its right to local self-government. Since this was not possible according to §§ 25 and 48 sentence 1 of the Thuringian Law on the Reorganisation of Municipalities, it filed a constitutional complaint with the Thuringian Constitutional Court. However, the Constitutional Court rejected the constitutional complaint in a ruling of 30 July 1999.

At the turn of the millennium in 2000, the Kölleda Funkwerk museum was handed over. In 2001, the exhibition Against Forgetting - Central Germany's Air War History was opened in the Backleber Tor.

When a location was sought for the MDC Power GmbH engine plant, Kölleda was chosen from 49 possible sites. As a result, major investments were made in the infrastructure of the industrial estate. The industrial track to the Kiebitzhöhe industrial estate was laid anew and a roundabout was created between Frohndorf and Kölleda to direct heavy goods traffic from the Bundesstraße 176 via the new cross road to the industrial estate. In 2002, construction of the engine plant began and the topping-out ceremony was held on 2 August. On 11 December of that year, a new substation for the industrial estate was commissioned, and five days later, on 16 December, the new connection from the roundabout to the Gewerbegebiet Kiebitzhöhe and the section of the Federal Motorway 71 from Sömmerda to Erfurt were inaugurated. Construction was completed in December 2003 and production started on 4 December. In 2006, after more than a year of consideration, the Thuringian Ministry of the Interior made the decision to admit the town of Rastenberg to the Kölleda administrative community. With effect from 1 January 2007, the town of Rastenberg joined the Kölleda administrative community. On 31 December 2012, the municipality of Großmonra with its districts Backleben and Burgwenden was incorporated into Kölleda. On 1 January 2019, the municipality of Beichlingen with its local parts Beichlingen and Altenbeichlingen was incorporated.

On 1 January 2021, Kölleda left the Kölleda administrative community.

Religions Protestants predominate among the town's religious residents. The Protestant regional parish of Kölleda is served jointly by the pastor couple Gerlinde and Joachim Justus Breithaupt. They are responsible for the villages of Kölleda, Ostramondra, Großmonra, Backleben, Burgwenden, Battgendorf, Backleben, Dermsdorf, Bachra/Schafau and Ostramondra. Christian teaching and confirmation classes are held regularly. In Kölleda, a community centre was ceremoniously opened in 2014. The gospel choir "Coloured Unit" rehearses here.