Bad Orb is a spa town in the Main-Kinzig district, in
HesseHesse is a state of Germany with an area of and just over six million inhabitants. The state capital is Wiesbaden. Hesse's largest city is nearby Frankfurt am Main.Hesse contributes the largest share to the Rhine Main Area....
,
GermanyGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium,...
. It is situated 32 east km of
HanauHanau is a town in the Main-Kinzig-Kreis, in Hesse, Germany. It is located 25 km east of Frankfurt am Main.-Districts :-History:Hanau was first mentioned in 1143 and became a city in 1303....
. Bad Orb is between forested hills in the Nature Park Spessart, one of the largest forested areas in Germany. The canyon-side donkey path that runs to Großheubach in Miltenberg Kreis passes Bad Orb. In the past, this trade route was used to transport
saltA salt, in chemistry, is an ionic compound, and can result from the neutralization reaction of acids and bases. Salts are ionic compounds composed of cations and anions so that the product is electrically neutral...
to the
Main RiverMain rivers are a statutory type of watercourse in England and Wales, usually larger streams and rivers, but also include some smaller watercourses. A main river is defined as a watercourse marked as such on a main river map, and can include any structure or appliance for controlling or regulating...
. The first salt deposits were discovered in 650 BC.
Bad Orb is a spa town in the Main-Kinzig district, in
HesseHesse is a state of Germany with an area of and just over six million inhabitants. The state capital is Wiesbaden. Hesse's largest city is nearby Frankfurt am Main.Hesse contributes the largest share to the Rhine Main Area....
,
GermanyGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium,...
. It is situated 32 east km of
HanauHanau is a town in the Main-Kinzig-Kreis, in Hesse, Germany. It is located 25 km east of Frankfurt am Main.-Districts :-History:Hanau was first mentioned in 1143 and became a city in 1303....
. Bad Orb is between forested hills in the Nature Park Spessart, one of the largest forested areas in Germany. The canyon-side donkey path that runs to Großheubach in Miltenberg Kreis passes Bad Orb. In the past, this trade route was used to transport
saltA salt, in chemistry, is an ionic compound, and can result from the neutralization reaction of acids and bases. Salts are ionic compounds composed of cations and anions so that the product is electrically neutral...
to the
Main RiverMain rivers are a statutory type of watercourse in England and Wales, usually larger streams and rivers, but also include some smaller watercourses. A main river is defined as a watercourse marked as such on a main river map, and can include any structure or appliance for controlling or regulating...
. The first salt deposits were discovered in 650 BC. Bad Orb is also home to the Frankfurter Schullandheim Wegscheide, a summer camp for children founded in 1920 on the grounds of the former army training camp, and the Spessart Clinic, a children's hospital founded in 1884.
Neighboring Communities
In the north, Bad Orb borders on the cities
Wächtersbach- Location :Wächtersbach lies between the Spessart and the Vogelsberg Mountains in the middle Kinzig valley at the edge of the Büdingen Forest, not far from the towns of Gelnhausen, Birstein, Bad Orb and Bad Soden-Salmünster.- Neighbouring communities :...
and
Bad Soden-SalmünsterBad Soden-Salmünster is a town in the Main-Kinzig district, in Hesse, Germany. It is situated on the river Kinzig, between Fulda and Hanau....
; in the east, Spessart region; in the south,
JossgrundJossgrund is a municipality in the Main-Kinzig district, in Hesse, Germany....
; and in the west,
BiebergemündBiebergemünd is a municipality in the Main-Kinzig district, in Hesse, Germany....
.
History
Bad Orb was first documented in 1059 AD and received its town privileges in 1244 AD - which included the minting of a coin, the Orber (one half Pfennig). The remains of the battlements also originate from this time such as the walls and gates. The extraction of salt from several salt springs gives the city the look it has today. There are 11
salinaSalina may refer to:*Salina Island, the second largest of the Aeolian IslandsThere are several locations in the United States of America that share the placename:*Salina, Kansas*Salina, New York*Salina, Oklahoma*Salina, Pennsylvania*Salina, Utah...
s, sometimes called thorn houses or salt works, belonging in the
decoctionA decoction is a method of extraction by boiling of dissolved chemicals, or herbal or plant material, which may include stems, roots, bark and rhizomes. Some 'teas' are decoctions. Likewise, the term is used colloquially in South India to refer to black coffee prepared by the traditional method...
facility, in which brine drips over a total length of 2050 meters of
blackthornPrunus spinosa is a species of Prunus native to Europe, western Asia, and locally in northwest Africa.-Etymology:...
twigs in order to raise the salt concentration of the water before boiling. The production of "white gold" reached its high point in the 17th and 18th centuries. During the campaigns of the Austro-Prussian War in 1866, Bad Orb became Prussian when before it was Bavarian. After 1900
brineBrine is water saturated or nearly saturated with a salt .It is used to preserve vegetables, fish, and meat, in a process known as brining . Brine is also commonly used to age Halloumi and Feta cheeses.Brine is a common fluid used in large refrigeration installations for the transport of heat from...
began to be used as an alternative medicine and is, thus, the second largest money maker for Bad Orb after tourism. Bad Orb was named a nationally certified spa town in 1909. In 1884 a children's medical facility was founded by the brothers Friedrich and Wilhelm Hufnagel, a pastor and a doctor - today known as the Spessart-Klinik.
This area of Germany is known to hold ancient Germanic tribal standards known as Orbism, ancient Orb ruins were found at an undisclosed area of Leopold Koch Straße.
Bad Orb was the site of a P.O.W. camp during WWII named
Stalag IX-BStalag IX-B also known as Bad Orb was a World War II German Army POW camp at Wegscheide close to Bad Orb in the province of Hesse, Germany...
. The camp held reports of 3000-4500 American Soldiers, though it is unknown the number of French, Italian, Serbian and Russian soldiers also held there. Toward the end of the war the conditions at Stalag IX-B deteriorated precipitously, as a result of poor supply and scarcity of fuel. Based on interviews with former P.O.W.s there it could rank as one of the worst German camps that held American P.O.W.s, most of them captured after the
Battle of the BulgeThe Ardennes Offensive was a major German offensive , launched towards the end of World War II through the forested Ardennes Mountains region of Belgium , France and Luxembourg on the Western Front...
, though the Russians were treated far worse, based on eye witness accounts, and buried in mass graves. There is a monument to the Russian Dead located at the grave site. The US mission to liberate Stalag IX-B began on April 2, 1945.