Alzey
Encyclopedia
Alzey (ˈaltsaɪ) is a Verband-free town – one belonging to no Verbandsgemeinde
– in the Alzey-Worms
district in Rhineland-Palatinate
, Germany
. It is the fourth-largest town in Rhenish Hesse, after Mainz
, Worms
, and Bingen
.
Alzey is one of the Nibelungenstädte – towns associated with the Nibelungenlied
– because it is represented in this work by the character Volker von Alzey. Hence, Alzey is also known as Volkerstadt.
. It is surrounded by the northern part of the Alzeyer Hügelland (Alzey Hills), which meets the Rheinhessisches Hügelland (Rhenish-Hessian Upland) towards the south and the North Palatine Highland
towards the east. The town is found some 30 km southwest of Mainz
and some 22 km (as the crow flies
, in each case) northwest of Worms
. Through Alzey, in places underground, flows the river Selz
, a left-bank tributary to the Rhine.
in Alzey amounts to 586 mm, which is rather low, falling into the lowest fourth of the precipitation chart for all Germany. At 18% of the German Weather Service’s weather stations, even lower figures are recorded. The driest month is February. The most rainfall comes in June. In that month, precipitation is 1.9 times what it is in February. Precipitation varies moderately. At 41% of the weather stations, lower seasonal swings are recorded.
The earliest traces of settlement in the Alzey area go back as far as the Neolithic
. Alzey was founded as a vicus
(village) in the Roman
province of Germania Superior
in the lands surrounding Mogontiacum (Mainz
).
On a Nymphenstein (“nymph stone” – a kind of Roman altar stone). Alzey had its first documentary mention in 223 as Vicani Altiaienses (“Villagers of Alzey”). The name Altiaia could well come from as far back as an old, pre-Roman Celtic settlement’s name used about 400 BC, although its exact origins have not been passed down to the present day. Over the ruins of the Roman vicus, which was destroyed about 350, a castrum
was built about 390. In 406 and 407, the Burgundians
, together with the Vandals
, crossed the Rhine and settled in Mainz, Alzey and Worms as Roman confederates. The area was secured for them by treaty. In 436, the Burgundian kingdom was destroyed by the West Roman
magister militum
Flavius Aëtius
with help from Hunnish
troops. These events were worked into the Nibelungenlied, and form the origin of the legendary figure Volker von Alzey, the gleeman in the Nibelungenlied. After 450, Alzey passed to the Alamanni
and the Franks
when they took over the land. After Clovis I
’s death in 511, the Frankish Empire fell apart into separate smaller kingdoms, and Alzey became part of Austrasia
, whose capital was at Metz
. After unification of the Frankish kingdoms in the mid 8th century, Alzey passed in the 843 Treaty of Verdun
to the Kingdom of the East Franks, a forerunner of the German Empire. In 897, Alzey was first mentioned as an Imperial fief.
. In 1620, Count Spinola sided with the Catholic Emperor in the Thirty Years' War
against the Protestant
Electoral Palatinate and also conquered Alzey. In 1689, the town and the castle, under the French
troops’ scorched-earth policy, were burnt down in the Nine Years' War, when Louis XIV’s
armies had to leave areas conquered earlier. In 1798, areas west of the Rhine, among them those that until this time had been parts of Electoral Palatinate, were annexed to France
. Alzey belonged until 1814 to the Department of Mont-Tonnerre
(or Donnersberg in German
). In 1816, Alzey was attached to the Grand Duchy of Hesse
. In 1909, the winemaking school (now the Landesanstalt für Rebenzüchtung) was founded. Its first head was Georg Scheu, after whom the grape variety Scheurebe
is named.
(9 November 1938), the Alzey synagogue
was destroyed and the fittings were burnt in front of the building. The ruin was torn down in the 1950s. A rescued Torah
scroll can nowadays be found in the museum. On 8 January 1945, in the Second World War, the town narrowly missed being destroyed when 36 Boeing B-17 bombers had been sent to take out a railway bridge in Alzey. Owing to bad weather and a landmark misinterpretation – the crew mistook the top of the old watchtower for the church steeple – the bombers ended up dropping their load on the Wartberg, a nearby hill, giving rise to the legend of the Wartbergturm – the old tower – as Alzey’s saviour.
.
Since the merger of the old Alzey and Worms Districts in 1969, Alzey has been the seat of the new Alzey-Worms
District and the seat of the Verbandsgemeinde of Alzey-Land
, although as a Verband-free town, it does not actually belong to the Verbandsgemeinde.
.
might be described thus: Per fess sable a demi-lion rampant Or armed, langued and crowned gules, and argent a vielle bendwise of the third.
The lion recalls the town’s former overlord, Electoral Palatinate. The vielle
, a kind of fiddle
, stands for the noble families by the name of Truchseß, or Truchsess (Volker von Alzey), Winter and Wilch, who were formerly resident in the town.
, Hertfordshire
, England
, United Kingdom
since 1963 Josselin
, Morbihan
, France
since 1973 Lembeye
, Pyrénées-Atlantiques
, France, with the outlying centre of Weinheim, since 1980 Rechnitz
, Burgenland
, Austria
since 1981 Kościan
, Greater Poland Voivodeship
, Poland
since 1990 Kamenz
, Saxony
since 1990
houses, restaurants, cafés and shops, surrounded by ruins of the mediaeval
town wall. The town’s midpoint is the Rossmarkt (“Horse Market”) with the bronze horse by artist Gernot Rumpf. A sculpture of an ondine
by Karlheinz Oswald stands at the Fischmarkt (“Fish Market”) in front of the old town hall.
Moreover, Alzey has at its disposal a newly built artificial-turf playing field, which is used mainly by the hockey
and football clubs. There is also a multipurpose sporting ground and at schools several more hard courts.
.
distribution centre, a Plus
distribution centre, an administrative seat of the hypermarket chain real,-
and Lufthansa
daughter companies Lufthansa Technik AERO Alzey
and LSG Sky Food
. Moreover, Alzey is the region’s service provision centre with a very broad array, for the town’s size, of shopping, which is concentrated mainly in the industrial area.
, and after Worms
(1 490 ha) and Nierstein
(783 ha), it is the third biggest winegrowing centre in Rhenish Hesse
.
at which cross the two Autobahnen A 61
(Venlo
, Koblenz
, Bingen
, Alzey, Ludwigshafen, Hockenheim
) and A 63
(Mainz
, Alzey, Kaiserslautern
).
There are direct connections to Mainz
by Regional-Express and Regionalbahn
on the Alzey–Mainz railway, and on the Rheinhessenbahn (railway) to Bingen
and Worms
. The Donnersbergbahn has since 1999 once more connected Alzey with Kirchheimbolanden
. On weekends and holidays, trips on the Elsass-Express (“Alsace Express”) to Wissembourg
are possible.
The town belongs to the VRN
. This tariff can also be used for trips to and from the Rhein-Nahe-Nahverkehrsverbund (RNN) area as far as Alzey.
Verbandsgemeinde
A Verbandsgemeinde is an administrative unit in the German Bundesländer of Rhineland-Palatinate and Saxony-Anhalt.-Rhineland-Palatinate:...
– 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...
. It is the fourth-largest town in Rhenish Hesse, after Mainz
Mainz
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...
, Worms
Worms, Germany
Worms 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...
, and Bingen
Bingen am Rhein
Bingen am Rhein is a town in the Mainz-Bingen district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany.The settlement’s original name was Bingium, a Celtic word that may have meant “hole in the rock”, a description of the shoal behind the Mäuseturm, known as the Binger Loch. Bingen was the starting point for the...
.
Alzey is one of the Nibelungenstädte – towns associated with the Nibelungenlied
Nibelungenlied
The Nibelungenlied, translated as The Song of the Nibelungs, is an epic poem in Middle High German. The story tells of dragon-slayer Siegfried at the court of the Burgundians, how he was murdered, and of his wife Kriemhild's revenge....
– because it is represented in this work by the character Volker von Alzey. Hence, Alzey is also known as Volkerstadt.
Location
Alzey lies in Rhenish Hesse on the western edge of the northern part of the Upper Rhine PlainUpper Rhine Plain
The Upper Rhine Plain, Rhine Rift Valley or Upper Rhine Graben is a major rift, straddling the border between France and Germany. It forms part of the European Cenozoic Rift System, which extends across central Europe...
. It is surrounded by the northern part of the Alzeyer Hügelland (Alzey Hills), which meets the Rheinhessisches Hügelland (Rhenish-Hessian Upland) towards the south and the North Palatine Highland
North Palatine Highland
The North Palatine Uplands , sometimes incorrectly shortened to Palatine Uplands , is a landscape unit in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate and belongs largely to the Palatinate region.- Location and name :...
towards the east. The town is found some 30 km southwest of Mainz
Mainz
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...
and some 22 km (as the crow flies
As the crow flies
"As the crow flies" or beelining is an idiom for the shortest route between two points; the geodesic distance.An example is the great-circle distance between Key West and Pensacola, at either end of the U.S...
, in each case) northwest of Worms
Worms, Germany
Worms 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...
. Through Alzey, in places underground, flows the river Selz
Selz
The Selz is a river in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, a left tributary to the Rhine. It flows through the biggest German wine region, which is called Rheinhessen....
, a left-bank tributary to the Rhine.
Climate
Yearly precipitationPrecipitation (meteorology)
In meteorology, precipitation In meteorology, precipitation In meteorology, precipitation (also known as one of the classes of hydrometeors, which are atmospheric water phenomena is any product of the condensation of atmospheric water vapor that falls under gravity. The main forms of precipitation...
in Alzey amounts to 586 mm, which is rather low, falling into the lowest fourth of the precipitation chart for all Germany. At 18% of the German Weather Service’s weather stations, even lower figures are recorded. The driest month is February. The most rainfall comes in June. In that month, precipitation is 1.9 times what it is in February. Precipitation varies moderately. At 41% of the weather stations, lower seasonal swings are recorded.
From the Neolithic to the early first millennium
Neolithic
The Neolithic Age, Era, or Period, or New Stone Age, was a period in the development of human technology, beginning about 9500 BC in some parts of the Middle East, and later in other parts of the world. It is traditionally considered as the last part of the Stone Age...
. Alzey was founded as a vicus
Vicus (Rome)
In ancient Rome, the vicus was a neighborhood. During the Republican era, the four regiones of the city of Rome were subdivided into vici. In the 1st century BC, Augustus reorganized the city for administrative purposes into 14 regions, comprising 265 vici. Each vicus had its own board of...
(village) in the Roman
Ancient Rome
Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....
province of Germania Superior
Germania Superior
Germania Superior , so called for the reason that it lay upstream of Germania Inferior, was a province of the Roman Empire. It comprised an area of western Switzerland, the French Jura and Alsace regions, and southwestern Germany...
in the lands surrounding Mogontiacum (Mainz
Mainz
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...
).
On a Nymphenstein (“nymph stone” – a kind of Roman altar stone). Alzey had its first documentary mention in 223 as Vicani Altiaienses (“Villagers of Alzey”). The name Altiaia could well come from as far back as an old, pre-Roman Celtic settlement’s name used about 400 BC, although its exact origins have not been passed down to the present day. Over the ruins of the Roman vicus, which was destroyed about 350, a castrum
Castra
The Latin word castra, with its singular castrum, was used by the ancient Romans to mean buildings or plots of land reserved to or constructed for use as a military defensive position. The word appears in both Oscan and Umbrian as well as in Latin. It may have descended from Indo-European to Italic...
was built about 390. In 406 and 407, the Burgundians
Burgundians
The Burgundians were an East Germanic tribe which may have emigrated from mainland Scandinavia to the island of Bornholm, whose old form in Old Norse still was Burgundarholmr , and from there to mainland Europe...
, together with the Vandals
Vandals
The Vandals were an East Germanic tribe that entered the late Roman Empire during the 5th century. The Vandals under king Genseric entered Africa in 429 and by 439 established a kingdom which included the Roman Africa province, besides the islands of Sicily, Corsica, Sardinia and the Balearics....
, crossed the Rhine and settled in Mainz, Alzey and Worms as Roman confederates. The area was secured for them by treaty. In 436, the Burgundian kingdom was destroyed by the West Roman
Western Roman Empire
The Western Roman Empire was the western half of the Roman Empire after its division by Diocletian in 285; the other half of the Roman Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire, commonly referred to today as the Byzantine Empire....
magister militum
Magister militum
Magister militum was a top-level military command used in the later Roman Empire, dating from the reign of Constantine. Used alone, the term referred to the senior military officer of the Empire...
Flavius Aëtius
Flavius Aëtius
Flavius Aëtius , dux et patricius, was a Roman general of the closing period of the Western Roman Empire. He was an able military commander and the most influential man in the Western Roman Empire for two decades . He managed policy in regard to the attacks of barbarian peoples pressing on the Empire...
with help from Hunnish
Huns
The Huns were a group of nomadic people who, appearing from east of the Volga River, migrated into Europe c. AD 370 and established the vast Hunnic Empire there. Since de Guignes linked them with the Xiongnu, who had been northern neighbours of China 300 years prior to the emergence of the Huns,...
troops. These events were worked into the Nibelungenlied, and form the origin of the legendary figure Volker von Alzey, the gleeman in the Nibelungenlied. After 450, Alzey passed to the Alamanni
Alamanni
The Alamanni, Allemanni, or Alemanni were originally an alliance of Germanic tribes located around the upper Rhine river . One of the earliest references to them is the cognomen Alamannicus assumed by Roman Emperor Caracalla, who ruled the Roman Empire from 211 to 217 and claimed thereby to be...
and the Franks
Franks
The Franks were a confederation of Germanic tribes first attested in the third century AD as living north and east of the Lower Rhine River. From the third to fifth centuries some Franks raided Roman territory while other Franks joined the Roman troops in Gaul. Only the Salian Franks formed a...
when they took over the land. After Clovis I
Clovis I
Clovis Leuthwig was the first King of the Franks to unite all the Frankish tribes under one ruler, changing the leadership from a group of royal chieftains, to rule by kings, ensuring that the kingship was held by his heirs. He was also the first Catholic King to rule over Gaul . He was the son...
’s death in 511, the Frankish Empire fell apart into separate smaller kingdoms, and Alzey became part of Austrasia
Austrasia
Austrasia formed the northeastern portion of the Kingdom of the Merovingian Franks, comprising parts of the territory of present-day eastern France, western Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands. Metz served as its capital, although some Austrasian kings ruled from Rheims, Trier, and...
, whose capital was at Metz
Metz
Metz is a city in the northeast of France located at the confluence of the Moselle and the Seille rivers.Metz is the capital of the Lorraine region and prefecture of the Moselle department. Located near the tripoint along the junction of France, Germany, and Luxembourg, Metz forms a central place...
. After unification of the Frankish kingdoms in the mid 8th century, Alzey passed in the 843 Treaty of Verdun
Treaty of Verdun
The Treaty of Verdun was a treaty between the three surviving sons of Louis the Pious, the son and successor of Charlemagne, which divided the Carolingian Empire into three kingdoms...
to the Kingdom of the East Franks, a forerunner of the German Empire. In 897, Alzey was first mentioned as an Imperial fief.
12th century to early 20th century
In 1156, Alzey belonged to Electoral Palatinate, and Konrad von Staufen attained the rank of Count Palatine in the Imperial castle, which had been completed in 1118. In 1277, Alzey attained the rank of town from Rudolf von HabsburgRudolph I of Germany
Rudolph I was King of the Romans from 1273 until his death. He played a vital role in raising the Habsburg dynasty to a leading position among the Imperial feudal dynasties...
. In 1620, Count Spinola sided with the Catholic Emperor in the Thirty Years' War
Thirty Years' War
The Thirty Years' War was fought primarily in what is now Germany, and at various points involved most countries in Europe. It was one of the most destructive conflicts in European history....
against the Protestant
Protestantism
Protestantism 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...
Electoral Palatinate and also conquered Alzey. In 1689, the town and the castle, under the French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
troops’ scorched-earth policy, were burnt down in the Nine Years' War, when Louis XIV’s
Louis XIV of France
Louis XIV , known as Louis the Great or the Sun King , was a Bourbon monarch who ruled as King of France and Navarre. His reign, from 1643 to his death in 1715, began at the age of four and lasted seventy-two years, three months, and eighteen days...
armies had to leave areas conquered earlier. In 1798, areas west of the Rhine, among them those that until this time had been parts of Electoral Palatinate, were annexed to France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
. Alzey belonged until 1814 to the Department of Mont-Tonnerre
Mont-Tonnerre
Mont-Tonnerre is the name of a département of the First French Empire in present Germany. It is named after the highest point in the Rhenish Palatinate, the Donnersberg. It was the southernmost of four départements formed in 1798, when the west bank of the Rhine was annexed by France...
(or Donnersberg 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 1816, Alzey was attached to the Grand Duchy of Hesse
Grand Duchy of Hesse
The Grand Duchy of Hesse and by Rhine , or, between 1806 and 1816, Grand Duchy of Hesse —as it was also known after 1816—was a member state of the German Confederation from 1806, when the Landgraviate of Hesse-Darmstadt was elevated to a Grand Duchy, until 1918, when all the German...
. In 1909, the winemaking school (now the Landesanstalt für Rebenzüchtung) was founded. Its first head was Georg Scheu, after whom the grape variety Scheurebe
Scheurebe
Scheurebe or Sämling 88 is a white wine grape variety. It is primarily grown in Germany and Austria, where it often is called Sämling 88 , and some parts of the New World...
is named.
Third Reich
On KristallnachtKristallnacht
Kristallnacht, also referred to as the Night of Broken Glass, and also Reichskristallnacht, Pogromnacht, and Novemberpogrome, was a pogrom or series of attacks against Jews throughout Nazi Germany and parts of Austria on 9–10 November 1938.Jewish homes were ransacked, as were shops, towns and...
(9 November 1938), the Alzey synagogue
Synagogue
A synagogue is a Jewish house of prayer. This use of the Greek term synagogue originates in the Septuagint where it sometimes translates the Hebrew word for assembly, kahal...
was destroyed and the fittings were burnt in front of the building. The ruin was torn down in the 1950s. A rescued Torah
Torah
Torah- A scroll containing the first five books of the BibleThe Torah , is name given by Jews to the first five books of the bible—Genesis , Exodus , Leviticus , Numbers and Deuteronomy Torah- A scroll containing the first five books of the BibleThe Torah , is name given by Jews to the first five...
scroll can nowadays be found in the museum. On 8 January 1945, in the Second World War, the town narrowly missed being destroyed when 36 Boeing B-17 bombers had been sent to take out a railway bridge in Alzey. Owing to bad weather and a landmark misinterpretation – the crew mistook the top of the old watchtower for the church steeple – the bombers ended up dropping their load on the Wartberg, a nearby hill, giving rise to the legend of the Wartbergturm – the old tower – as Alzey’s saviour.
Since 1945
Since 1947, Alzey has no longer been Hessian, but rather it became the seat of Alzey District in the newly formed state of Rhineland-PalatinateRhineland-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 ....
.
Since the merger of the old Alzey and Worms Districts in 1969, Alzey has been the seat of the new 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 and the seat of the Verbandsgemeinde of Alzey-Land
Alzey-Land
Alzey-Land is a Verbandsgemeinde in the district Alzey-Worms, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is located around the town Alzey, which is the seat of Alzey-Land, but not part of the Verbandsgemeinde....
, although as a Verband-free town, it does not actually belong to the Verbandsgemeinde.
Amalgamations
On 22 April 1972, the formerly autonomous centres of Weinheim, Heimersheim and Dautenheim were amalgamated with Alzey. The outlying centre of Schafhausen had already been a Stadtteil (constituent community) of Alzey since the Middle AgesMiddle Ages
The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...
.
Religion
On 31 January 2008, the townsfolk’s religious affiliations broke down thus:- 8,927 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...
- 3,684 Catholic
- 2,996 none or no affiliation established in public law
- 1,322 other affiliations established in public law
- 6,809 other
- 988 no data
- sundry
- 50 Alzey Free Religious-HumanistReligious humanismReligious humanism is an integration of humanist ethical philosophy with religious rituals and beliefs that center on human needs, interests, and abilities.-Origins:...
Association - 4 Old CatholicOld Catholic ChurchThe term Old Catholic Church is commonly used to describe a number of Ultrajectine Christian churches that originated with groups that split from the Roman Catholic Church over certain doctrines, most importantly that of Papal Infallibility...
- 2 JewishJudaismJudaism ) is the "religion, philosophy, and way of life" of the Jewish people...
- 1 Mainz Free Religious-Humanist Association
Town council
The council is made up of 32 parttime council members who were elected at the municipal election held on 7 June 2009, and the fulltime mayor as chairman. The seats are apportioned thus:| SPD Social Democratic Party of Germany The Social Democratic Party of Germany is a social-democratic political party in Germany... |
CDU | FDP 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... |
Greens Alliance '90/The Greens Alliance '90/The Greens is a green political party in Germany, formed from the merger of the German Green Party and Alliance 90 in 1993. Its leaders are Claudia Roth and Cem Özdemir... |
LINKE The Left (Germany) The Left , also commonly referred to as the Left Party , is a democratic socialist political party in Germany. The Left is the most left-wing party of the five represented in the Bundestag.... |
FWG Free Voters Free Voters is a German concept in which an association of persons participates in an election without having the status of a registered political party. Usually it is a locally organized group of voters in the form of a registered association . In most cases, Free Voters are active only at the... |
Total | |
| 2009 | 11 | 9 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 7 | 32 seats |
| 2004 | 12 | 11 | 1 | 2 | - | 6 | 32 seats |
Mayors
- (1982–1990) Walter Zuber (SPD)
- (1990–2006) Knut Benkert (SPD)
- (2006–present) Christoph Burkhard (independent CDU candidate)
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: Per fess sable a demi-lion rampant Or armed, langued and crowned gules, and argent a vielle bendwise of the third.
The lion recalls the town’s former overlord, Electoral Palatinate. The vielle
Vielle
The vielle is a European bowed stringed instrument used in the Medieval period, similar to a modern violin but with a somewhat longer and deeper body, five gut strings, and a leaf-shaped pegbox with frontal tuning pegs. The instrument was also known as a fidel or a viuola, although the French...
, a kind of fiddle
Fiddle
The term fiddle may refer to any bowed string musical instrument, most often the violin. It is also a colloquial term for the instrument used by players in all genres, including classical music...
, stands for the noble families by the name of Truchseß, or Truchsess (Volker von Alzey), Winter and Wilch, who were formerly resident in the town.
Town partnerships
HarpendenHarpenden
Harpenden is a town in Hertfordshire, England.The town's total population is just under 30,000.-Geography and administration:There are two civil parishes: Harpenden and Harpenden Rural....
, Hertfordshire
Hertfordshire
Hertfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England. The county town is Hertford.The county is one of the Home Counties and lies inland, bordered by Greater London , Buckinghamshire , Bedfordshire , Cambridgeshire and...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
since 1963 Josselin
Josselin
Josselin is a commune in the Morbihan department in Brittany in north-western France.-History:St Meriadek is said to have founded a chapel there during the 4th century...
, Morbihan
Morbihan
Morbihan is a department in Brittany, situated in the northwest of France. It is named after the Morbihan , the enclosed sea that is the principal feature of the coastline.-History:...
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
since 1973 Lembeye
Lembeye
Lembeye is a commune in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department in south-western France.-References:*...
, Pyrénées-Atlantiques
Pyrénées-Atlantiques
Pyrénées-Atlantiques is a department in the southwest of France which takes its name from the Pyrenees mountains and the Atlantic Ocean.- History :...
, France, with the outlying centre of Weinheim, since 1980 Rechnitz
Rechnitz
Rechnitz is a municipality in Burgenland in the Oberwart district in Austria with a population of 3,133.- Geography :The municipality is located in southern Burgenland, on the border with Hungary, near Bozsok and Szombathely...
, Burgenland
Burgenland
Burgenland is the easternmost and least populous state or Land of Austria. It consists of two Statutarstädte and seven districts with in total 171 municipalities. It is 166 km long from north to south but much narrower from west to east...
, Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
since 1981 Kościan
Koscian
Kościan is a town on the Obra canal in west-central Poland, with a population of 24 059 inhabitants in June 2009. Situated in the Greater Poland Voivodeship , previously in Leszno Voivodeship , it is the capital of Kościan County...
, Greater Poland Voivodeship
Greater Poland Voivodeship
Wielkopolska Voivodeship , or Greater Poland Voivodeship, is a voivodeship, or province, in west-central Poland. It was created on 1 January 1999 out of the former Poznań, Kalisz, Konin, Piła and Leszno Voivodeships, pursuant to the Polish local government reforms adopted in 1998...
, Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
since 1990 Kamenz
Kamenz
Kamenz is a Lusatian town in eastern Saxony, Germany, with a population of 18,243, and is part of the Bautzen district. The town is located about northeast of Dresden and about northwest of Bautzen....
, Saxony
Saxony
The Free State of Saxony is a landlocked state of Germany, contingent with Brandenburg, Saxony Anhalt, Thuringia, Bavaria, the Czech Republic and Poland. It is the tenth-largest German state in area, with of Germany's sixteen states....
since 1990
Awards and prizes
The town of Alzey regularly bestows the following awards and prizes:- Elisabeth-Langgässer-Literaturpreis (since 1988 every three years)
- Georg-Scheu-Plakette (yearly at the winemakers’ festival)
Music
The town’s links with wine are even shown in the Alser Lied, a town song, which is always sung on the Friday of the opening of the winemakers’ festival. One version sung by former mayor Walter Zuber could be found on the jukebox at the Alzey traditional pub, Zur Gretel for a decade.The Old Town
Alzey has a well-kept old town with many timber-frameTimber framing
Timber framing , or half-timbering, also called in North America "post-and-beam" construction, is the method of creating structures using heavy squared off and carefully fitted and joined timbers with joints secured by large wooden pegs . It is commonplace in large barns...
houses, restaurants, cafés and shops, surrounded by ruins of the mediaeval
Middle Ages
The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...
town wall. The town’s midpoint is the Rossmarkt (“Horse Market”) with the bronze horse by artist Gernot Rumpf. A sculpture of an ondine
Ondine (mythology)
Undines , also called ondines, are elementals, enumerated as the water elementals in works of alchemy by Paracelsus. They also appear in European folklore as fairy-like creatures; the name may be used interchangeably with those of other water spirits. Undines are said to be able to gain a soul by...
by Karlheinz Oswald stands at the Fischmarkt (“Fish Market”) in front of the old town hall.
Sport
The Wartbergstadion is the town’s biggest sporting facility. It has a type-B competition running track with a large grass playing field, a 400 m loop track, track and field areas (plastic) and stands. Here can also be found the leisure swimming pool Wartbergbad. Nearby is a riding club with stalls, paddocks and a riding hall.Moreover, Alzey has at its disposal a newly built artificial-turf playing field, which is used mainly by the hockey
Field hockey
Field Hockey, or Hockey, is a team sport in which a team of players attempts to score goals by hitting, pushing or flicking a ball into an opposing team's goal using sticks...
and football clubs. There is also a multipurpose sporting ground and at schools several more hard courts.
Weinbergshäuschen Wanderung
The so-called Weinbergshäuschen Wanderung (“Vineyard Cottage Hike”), or Wingertshaisje Wanderung in the local speech, is a hike through the hilly Rhenish-Hessian countryside between Alzey and the outlying centres of Weinheim and Heimersheim. It is held each September on the first Sunday in that month. Along the network of paths, vineyard cottages are operated between 11:00 and 18:00 by winemaking estates and clubs. On offer at these times are both cold and warm foods and drinks, including the Rhenish-Hessian wine typical of the region.Winemakers’ festival
The Winzerfest is held each year on the third weekend in September and lasts from Friday to the following Tuesday. It is the biggest event of its kind in Alzey. On the wine and sekt terrace are presented selected regional wines. Parallel with this is a yearly market with rides and games of all kinds.Culinary specialities
Being the centre of a winegrowing region, the specialities are first and foremost wines and dishes that are made with wine, such as the Backesgrumbeere, a seasoned potato casserole with bacon, wine and sour cream, which is found throughout Rhenish Hesse. The winegrowing engineer Georg Scheu named a variety of grapevine after his workplace, the Perle von AlzeyPerle (grape)
Perle is a white German wine grape planted primarily in Franconia. The grape is a crossing of Gewürztraminer and Müller-Thurgau. As a varietal, Perle produces highly aromatic wines....
.
Economy and infrastructure
The town’s main branches of industry are winegrowing, the resident specialized clinic, the building firm Wilhelm Faber GmbH & Co. KG, a SchleckerAnton Schlecker
Anton Schlecker is a German businessman, founder and owner of the Schlecker drug store chain in Germany.He is married to Christa Schlecker and has two children, Lars Schlecker and Meike Schlecker, both active in the management of the Schlecker company.At 21 he acquired the degree "Meister" butcher...
distribution centre, a Plus
Plus (supermarket)
Plus was a German supermarket chain founded in 1972. It operated 2,840 stores in Germany with an approximate 27,000 employees and about 1,200 stores in several other European countries...
distribution centre, an administrative seat of the hypermarket chain real,-
Real (hypermarket)
Real is a European hypermarket, member of the German trade and retail giant Metro AG.In 2006 Metro acquired Wal-Mart's 85 stores in Germany and in Poland, bought 26 hypermarkets Géant from the French retail group Groupe Casino...
and Lufthansa
Lufthansa
Deutsche Lufthansa AG is the flag carrier of Germany and the largest airline in Europe in terms of overall passengers carried. The name of the company is derived from Luft , and Hansa .The airline is the world's fourth-largest airline in terms of overall passengers carried, operating...
daughter companies Lufthansa Technik AERO Alzey
Lufthansa Technik
Lufthansa Technik AG is the leading manufacturer-independent provider of maintenance, repair and overhaul services for aircraft, engines and components. The Lufthansa Technik Group consists of 32 companies with more than 25.500 employees...
and LSG Sky Food
LSG Sky Chefs
LSG Sky Chefs is the brand name of LSG Lufthansa Service Holding AG, which is the world's largest provider of airline catering and in-flight services. It is a subsidiary of Deutsche Lufthansa AG. A part of the company was formerly owned by AMR Corporation, parent company of American Airlines...
. Moreover, Alzey is the region’s service provision centre with a very broad array, for the town’s size, of shopping, which is concentrated mainly in the industrial area.
Agriculture
Alzey is characterized by winegrowing and with 769 ha of vineyards currently worked, 69% with white wine varieties and 31% with red, it ranks sixth in size among winegrowing centres in Rhineland-PalatinateRhineland-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 ....
, and after Worms
Worms, Germany
Worms 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...
(1 490 ha) and Nierstein
Nierstein
Nierstein is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in the Mainz-Bingen district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany.- Location :...
(783 ha), it is the third biggest winegrowing centre in Rhenish Hesse
Rheinhessen (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...
.
Transport
Alzey is found near the Autobahnkreuz Alzey, an Autobahn interchangeInterchange (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...
at which cross the two Autobahnen 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....
(Venlo
Venlo
Venlo is a municipality and a city in the southeastern Netherlands, next to the German border. It is situated in the province of Limburg.In 2001, the municipalities of Belfeld and Tegelen were merged into the municipality of Venlo. Tegelen was originally part of the Duchy of Jülich centuries ago,...
, Koblenz
Koblenz
Koblenz is a German city situated on both banks of the Rhine at its confluence with the Moselle, where the Deutsches Eck and its monument are situated.As Koblenz was one of the military posts established by Drusus about 8 BC, the...
, Bingen
Bingen am Rhein
Bingen am Rhein is a town in the Mainz-Bingen district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany.The settlement’s original name was Bingium, a Celtic word that may have meant “hole in the rock”, a description of the shoal behind the Mäuseturm, known as the Binger Loch. Bingen was the starting point for the...
, Alzey, Ludwigshafen, Hockenheim
Hockenheim
Hockenheim is a German town in northwest Baden-Württemberg, about 20 km south of Mannheim. It is located in the Upper Rhine valley on the touristical theme routes Baden Asparagus Route and Bertha Benz Memorial Route...
) and A 63
Bundesautobahn 63
is an autobahn in southwestern Germany. It connects the Mainz area to Kaiserslautern and the A 6 and is therefore an important connection between the Rhine/Main and the Saar areas...
(Mainz
Mainz
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...
, Alzey, Kaiserslautern
Kaiserslautern
Kaiserslautern is a city in southwest Germany, located in the Bundesland of Rhineland-Palatinate at the edge of the Palatinate forest . The historic centre dates to the 9th century. It is from Paris, from Frankfurt am Main, and from Luxembourg.Kaiserslautern is home to 99,469 people...
).
There are direct connections to Mainz
Mainz
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...
by Regional-Express and Regionalbahn
RegionalBahn
The Regionalbahn is a type of local passenger train in Germany.-Service:Regionalbahn trains usually call at all stations on a given line, with the exception of RB trains within S-Bahn networks, these may only call at selected stations...
on the Alzey–Mainz railway, and on the Rheinhessenbahn (railway) to Bingen
Bingen am Rhein
Bingen am Rhein is a town in the Mainz-Bingen district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany.The settlement’s original name was Bingium, a Celtic word that may have meant “hole in the rock”, a description of the shoal behind the Mäuseturm, known as the Binger Loch. Bingen was the starting point for the...
and Worms
Worms, Germany
Worms 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 Donnersbergbahn has since 1999 once more connected Alzey with Kirchheimbolanden
Kirchheimbolanden
Kirchheimbolanden, the capital of Donnersbergkreis, is a town in Rhineland-Palatinate, south-western Germany. It is situated approx. 25 km west of Worms, and 30 km north-east of Kaiserslautern. The first part of the name, Kirchheim, dates back to 774. It became a town in 1368, and the...
. On weekends and holidays, trips on the Elsass-Express (“Alsace Express”) to Wissembourg
Wissembourg
Wissembourg is a commune in the Bas-Rhin department in Alsace in northeastern France.It is situated on the little River Lauter close to the border between France and Germany approximately north of Strasbourg and west of Karlsruhe. Wissembourg is a sub-prefecture of the department...
are possible.
The town belongs to the VRN
Verkehrsverbund Rhein-Neckar
Verkehrsverbund Rhein-Neckar is a public transport network covering parts of the German states of Baden-Württemberg, Rhineland-Palatinate and Hesse in south-west Germany...
. This tariff can also be used for trips to and from the Rhein-Nahe-Nahverkehrsverbund (RNN) area as far as Alzey.
Public institutions
- DRK Krankenhaus Alzey (hospital)
- Rheinhessen-Fachklinik Alzey (specialized clinic)
- Seat of Alzey-Worms district councilAlzey-WormsAlzey-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 :...
- Seat of the Verbandsgemeinde of Alzey-LandAlzey-LandAlzey-Land is a Verbandsgemeinde in the district Alzey-Worms, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is located around the town Alzey, which is the seat of Alzey-Land, but not part of the Verbandsgemeinde....
- Seat of the branch office of the Bingen-Alzey finance office
Education
- Primary schools:
- Albert-Schweitzer-Schule
- Nibelungenschule
- St. Marienschule
- Secondary schoolSecondary schoolSecondary school is a term used to describe an educational institution where the final stage of schooling, known as secondary education and usually compulsory up to a specified age, takes place...
:- Gustav-Heinemann-Schulzentrum with:
- HauptschuleHauptschuleA Hauptschule is a secondary school in Germany and Austria, starting after 4 years of elementary schooling, which offers Lower Secondary Education according to the International Standard Classification of Education...
- RealschuleRealschuleThe Realschule is a type of secondary school in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and Liechtenstein. It has also existed in Croatia , Denmark , Sweden , Hungary and in the Russian Empire .-History:The Realschule was an outgrowth of the rationalism and empiricism of the seventeenth and...
- Hauptschule
- Elisabeth LanggässerElisabeth LanggässerElisabeth Langgässer was a German author and teacher. She is known for lyrical poetry and novels...
GymnasiumGymnasium (school)A gymnasium is a type of school providing secondary education in some parts of Europe, comparable to English grammar schools or sixth form colleges and U.S. college preparatory high schools. The word γυμνάσιον was used in Ancient Greece, meaning a locality for both physical and intellectual... - Gymnasium am Römerkastell
- Staatliches Aufbaugymnasium (state training Gymnasium)
- Gustav-Heinemann-Schulzentrum with:
- Other:
- two special schools (Volkerschule and Schule im Rotental)
- District music school
- Berufsbildende Schule Alzey (vocational schoolVocational schoolA vocational school , providing vocational education, is a school in which students are taught the skills needed to perform a particular job...
) - Rheinhessen Fachklinik nursing school
Honorary citizens
- Georg Scheu
- Willi Bechtolsheimer
- Kurt Neumann
- Walter Zuber
- Karl-Heinz KippKarl-Heinz KippKarl-Heinz Kipp is the billionaire founder of the Massa chain of German department stores and, having since sold the business whilst keeping the property, has a large property portfolio. ...
Sons and daughters of the town
- Felix Adler (1851–1933), philosopher and son of Rabbi Samuel AdlerSamuel Adler (rabbi)Samuel Adler was a leading German-American Reform rabbi, Talmudist, and author...
- Samuel AdlerSamuel Adler (rabbi)Samuel Adler was a leading German-American Reform rabbi, Talmudist, and author...
, a noted rabbi in the United States, had been chief rabbi here - Volker von Alzey, knight and gleeman in the NibelungenliedNibelungenliedThe Nibelungenlied, translated as The Song of the Nibelungs, is an epic poem in Middle High German. The story tells of dragon-slayer Siegfried at the court of the Burgundians, how he was murdered, and of his wife Kriemhild's revenge....
- August BelmontAugust BelmontAugust Belmont, Sr. was an American politician.-Early life:August Belmont was born in Alzey, Hesse, on December 8, 1813--some sources say 1816--to Simon and Frederika Elsass Schönberg, a Jewish family. After his mother's death, when he was seven, he lived with his uncle and grandmother in Frankfurt...
(b. 8 December 1816 in Alzey; d. 24 November 1890 in New York) was a German-American banker and politician. He was from the well known Jewish family Belmont in Alzey as a son of Simon Isaac, who had taken the name Belmont under Napoleon’s name law. - Heinrich Claß (b. 29 February 1868 in Alzey; d. 16 April 1953 in Jena) was from 1908 to 1939 chairman of the Alldeutscher Verband, the influential nationalistic club in Imperial Germany. Claß was known for, among other things, works published under the pseudonymPseudonymA pseudonym is a name that a person assumes for a particular purpose and that differs from his or her original orthonym...
s Daniel Frymann and Einhart, in which he propagated his extreme nationalistic and expansionist politics. - Nikolaus Eseler the Elder, master builder
- Karl-Heinz KippKarl-Heinz KippKarl-Heinz Kipp is the billionaire founder of the Massa chain of German department stores and, having since sold the business whilst keeping the property, has a large property portfolio. ...
, entrepreneur, founder of the Massa-Märkte (now belonging to the Metro Group), ranked 154 on Forbes’s list of wealthiest people (2008) with an estimated fortune of US$6,300,000,000. - Elisabeth LanggässerElisabeth LanggässerElisabeth Langgässer was a German author and teacher. She is known for lyrical poetry and novels...
, (b. 23 February 1899, d. 25 July 1950 in Rheinzabern), writer - Gunther MetzGunther MetzGunther Metz is a German football coach and a former player who is currently managing the under-19 team of 1. FC Kaiserslautern.-External links:...
, former professional footballer, active in 1 FC Kaiserslautern and Karlsruher SC in the 1990s. Today cotrainer of the Lauterer Amateure. - Sybille Schloß, née Storck, (b. 15 October 1910 in Munich; d. 13 December 2007 in New York) was a German actress. She grew up in Alzey, where her father Karl Schloß, who had lived in Munich as a poet in the expressionist style, ran a cigarette factory. Among other things, she joined the KabarettKabarettKabarett is a form of cabaret which developed in Germany from 1901, with the creation of the Überbrettl venue, and that by the Weimar era in the mid 1920s was characterized by political satire and gallows humor...
Die Pfeffermühle, and became a heroine in Wolfgang Koeppen’s novel “Eine unglückliche Liebe”. Her parents were deported from Dutch exile to their deaths, but Sybille Schloß managed to emigrate to New York, where she died in 2007. - Tarkan Tevetoğlu, (b. 1972), today’s best known Turkish pop musician with more than 15 million CDs sold. In Germany he is particularly well known for the title “Şımarık”.
- Manfred Waffender, producer, author, journalist and publisher.
- Carl Wolfsohn, American pianist and teacher, was born here in 1834
- Walter Zuber, politician (SPDSocial Democratic Party of GermanyThe Social Democratic Party of Germany is a social-democratic political party in Germany...
), Member of the Landtag, from 21 May 1991 to 25 February 2005 Minister of the Interior and for Sport in the state of Rhineland-PalatinateRhineland-PalatinateRhineland-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 ....
.
Famous people associated with the town
- Dr. Samuel AdlerSamuel Adler (rabbi)Samuel Adler was a leading German-American Reform rabbi, Talmudist, and author...
(b. 3 December 1809 in Worms; d. 9 June 1891 in New YorkNew York CityNew York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
) was from 1842 to 1857 RabbiRabbiIn Judaism, a rabbi is a teacher of Torah. This title derives from the Hebrew word רבי , meaning "My Master" , which is the way a student would address a master of Torah...
of Alzey’s Jewish community. He was a supporter of the liberal movement in German Jewry and advocated, for example, the use of German in Jewish worship and a greater role for women. Dr. Adler went as a rabbi to the Temple Emanu-El in New York and became head of the USA’s leading Jewish Reform community. Services held by Samuel Adler continued to be in his preferred German. His library is as far as has been possible maintained at Hebrew Union College in Cincinnati. - Ludwig BambergerLudwig BambergerLudwig Bamberger was a German economist, politician and writer.-Early life:Bamberger was born in a Jewish family in Mainz.After studying at Gießen, Heidelberg and Göttingen, he entered law.-Career:...
(b. 22 July 1823 in Mainz, d. 14 March 1899 in Berlin), was a revolutionary, banker and politician. He belonged to the Democrats, who faced down Prussian troops at the Schlosspark in Kirchheimbolanden in 1848. Sentenced to death in absentia, Bamberger later became a banker (founding member of Deutsche BankDeutsche BankDeutsche Bank AG is a global financial service company with its headquarters in Frankfurt, Germany. It employs more than 100,000 people in over 70 countries, and has a large presence in Europe, the Americas, Asia Pacific and the emerging markets...
) and one of the leading liberal politicians after the German Empire was founded in 1871. He is described as the “Father” of the German Mark (founding of an independent issuing bank). He was for many years a Member of the Reichstag for the electoral district of Bingen-Alzey (from 1871 to 1893) and married Anna Belmont from Alzey. - Anton Spiehler was a Catholic chaplain, later bishop’s secretary, spiritual adviser and cathedral capitulary of the Diocese of Speyer, as well as the assistant head of the diocesan seminarySeminaryA seminary, theological college, or divinity school is an institution of secondary or post-secondary education for educating students in theology, generally to prepare them for ordination as clergy or for other ministry...
and supreme custodian of Speyer Cathedral. He belonged to the so-called Mainzer Kreis (“Mainz Circle”).
Alzey Wine Queens
- Bärbel Janssen, 1992/93 from Alzey
- Kerstin Stelzer 2004/06 from Alzey-Heimersheim
- Katharina Matheis 2007/2008 from Alzey-Weinheim
- current titleholder: Lisa Schuckmann, since September 2008 from Alzey-Schaffhausen
Further reading
Volker Gallé / Christine Hinkel / Manfred Hinkel / Gisela Kleinknecht / Wulf Kleinknecht: Alzeyer Köpfe. Sutton Verlag, Erfurt 2007, ISBN 978-3-86680-098-4External links
- Town’s official webpage
- Auswandererliste nach Südbrasilien zu dem Landkreis Alzey-Worms (German) Institut für Geschichtliche Landeskunde an der Universität Mainz.