| Type: | Stadt |
| Witzenhausen | |
| Image Coa: | Wappen Witzenhausen.png |
| Coordinates: | 51.3422°N 9.8578°W |
| Image Plan: | Witzenhausen ESW.svg |
| State: | Hessen |
| Region: | Kassel |
| District: | Werra-Meißner-Kreis |
| Elevation: | 141 |
| Area: | 126.69 |
| Postal Code: | 37213–37218 |
| Area Code: | 05542 |
| Licence: | ESW, WIZ |
| Gemeindeschlüssel: | 06 6 36 016 |
| Website: | www.witzenhausen.de |
| Mayor: | Daniel Herz[1] |
| Leader Term: | 2017 - 23 |
| Party: | independent |
Witzenhausen is a small town in the Werra-Meißner-Kreis in northeastern Hesse, Germany.
It was granted town rights in 1225, and until 1974 was a district seat.
The University of Kassel maintains a satellite campus in Witzenhausen, which offers an ecological agricultural sciences programme, putting Witzenhausen among Germany's smallest university towns. There is also a teaching institute (DEULA) for environment and technology, agriculture, horticulture and landscaping. The town is nationally known for the invention of the Biotonne biological refuse container, and is an important cherry-growing area, with a yearly Kesperkirmes or “Cherry Fair” (Kesper is a regional name for the cherry), at which a Cherry Queen (Kirschenkönigin) is chosen.
Witzenhausen lies on the northeast slope of the Kaufunger Wald, which is surrounded by the Meißner-Kaufunger Wald Nature Park. The town is found at the mouth of the Gelster, where it empties into the Werra some 30 km east of Kassel, 16 km east-southeast of Hann. Münden, 25 km south of Göttingen and 23 km northwest of Eschwege.
Witzenhausen borders in the north on the town of Hann. Münden, the communities of Rosdorf and Friedland (all three in Lower Saxony's Göttingen district), in the east on the communities of Neu-Eichenberg (in the Werra-Meißner-Kreis), Bornhagen and Lindewerra (both in Thuringia’s Eichsfeld district), in the south on the towns of Bad Sooden-Allendorf and Großalmerode and the unincorporated area of Gutsbezirk Kaufunger Wald (all three in the Werra-Meißner-Kreis) and in the west on the community of Staufenberg in Lower Saxony’s Göttingen district.
Witzenhausen’s 16 Stadtteile, besides the main town, also called Witzenhausen, are, on the Werra’s left bank:
On the river’s right bank:
In 1898, the Deutsche Kolonialschule für Landwirtschaft, Handel und Gewerbe (“German Colonial School for Agriculture, Trade and Industry”, also called the Tropenschule, or “Tropical School”) was founded to train people in agriculture for resettlement in Germany's colonies. The successor institution forms today a satellite campus of the University of Kassel, and includes a greenhouse complex dedicated to tropical crops (the Gewächshaus für tropische Nutzpflanzen).
The municipal election held on 14 March 2021 yielded the following results:[2]
| Parties and voter communities | % 2021 | Seats 2021 | % 2011 | Seats 2011 | % 2006 | Seats 2006 | |||
| CDU | Christian Democratic Union of Germany | 26.4 | 10 | 28.5 | 11 | 34.3 | 13 | ||
| SPD | Social Democratic Party of Germany | 28.2 | 11 | 40.4 | 15 | 42.1 | 16 | ||
| GREENS | Bündnis 90/Die Grünen | 18.4 | 7 | 20.2 | 7 | 11.9 | 4 | ||
| FDP | Free Democratic Party | 6.2 | 2 | 2.4 | 1 | 3.7 | 1 | ||
| THE LEFT | Die Linke | 3.7 | 1 | 3.4 | 1 | align="right" | - | align="right" | - |
| FWG | Free Voting community | 9.0 | 3 | 5.2 | 2 | 8.0 | 3 | ||
| AFW | Alternative free Voting community | 6.0 | 2 | - | - | - | - | ||
| DIE PARTEI | The Party | 2.3 | 1 | - | - | - | - | ||
| Total | 100.0 | 37 | 100.0 | 37 | 100.0 | 37 | |||
| Voter turnout in % | 56.1 | 54.0 | 53.2 | ||||||
At first, the council of 2011 was ruled by a CDU-Green-FWG coalition, but this was dissolved in September 2007.
Witzenhausen suffers – like the whole Werra-Meißner-Kreis and a great part of North Hesse – from extremely high unemployment and its attendant loss of younger people to migration.
In Witzenhausen-Unterrieden, the last producer of chewing tobacco in Germany is still in business. An important employer in Witzenhausen is, with 430 employees all together, the corporation Svenska Cellulosa Aktiebolaget (SCA). In Witzenhausen the SCA produces raw paper for corrugated cardboard for manufacturing packagings (SCA Packaging Containerboard) and hygiene products such as toilet paper (SCA Hygiene Products). Another important employer is the district and town hospital in Witzenhausen.
Witzenhausen is domicile of Gesellschaft zur Erhaltung alter und gefährdeter Haustierrassen (GEH, the society for the conservation of old and endangered livestock breeds).[3]
Over Bundesstraßen 27 (Göttingen–Eschwege), 80 (Hann. Münden–Heiligenstadt) and 451 (Helsa–Witzenhausen), the town is linked to the greater road network. In Hedemünden, some 10 km away, is an interchange on the Autobahn A 7 (Flensburg–Füssen). Near Friedland is an interchange on the A 38 towards Halle. Moreover, Witzenhausen is on the two tourist routes: the German Timber-Frame Road (Deutsche Fachwerkstraße) and the German Fairy Tale Route (Deutsche Märchenstraße).
Witzenhausen has a railway station, Witzenhausen Nord, on the Eichenberg–Kassel section of the Halle-Kassel Railway. It is located above the town on the north slope of the Werra valley and is served by trains to Kassel, Göttingen, Erfurt and Halle. The former Witzenhausen Süd station stood southeast of the inner town and has been closed, like the whole of the Gelster Valley Railway between Eichenberg and –Großalmerode.
The outlying centre of Gertenbach has a further stop on the Halle-Kassel railway
Witzenhausen is twinned with:
Since 1979, Filton, St. Vallier and Witzenhausen have had a three-way partnership.
Between Witzenhausen and Filton, and between Witzenhausen and St. Vallier, there are regular student exchanges with the local comprehensive school. The partnership between Witzenhausen and St. Vallier came about by accident. St. Vallier's mayor's last name at the time was Witzenhausen, and when, on a visit to Germany, he spotted this name on a road sign, he drove to the town. Out of his visit sprang the partnership, which has lasted to this day.
Furthermore, there have been school exchanges between Witzenhausen and these two places since 2002: