Many villages lost their independence when the administrative reform in southern Breisgau began 50 years ago. There were debates before the mergers. And not everyone got all of their dream partners.
How did Münstertal become the large community it is today? How did Upper and Lower Valleys come together? And what happened 50 years ago in connection with the major administrative reform in southern Breisgau as a whole? BZ pursues these questions in a series in loose succession. Today: who merged with whom?
For weeks, even months, the question was discussed hard and controversially in southern Breisgau: who can maintain their independence, who has to merge, and if so – with whom? Ultimately, it was about the residents of around two dozen previously independent smaller communities along Neumagen, Möhlin and Sulzbach, several thousand residents between Belchen and Rhine – or on the threshold from Breisgau (more Catholic) to the (more Protestant) Markgräflerland.
Initial talks across the district border
The merger talks were by no means facilitated because some communities were on this side, others on the other side of the previous (old) district border of Müllheim and Freiburg. The law submitted by the Ministry of the Interior in 1968 to strengthen the administrative power of smaller municipalities provided for only 13 and then 18 “administrative areas” for the Freiburg district. At the same time, the communities in the (old) district of Müllheim had to deal with the analogous specification of 18 administrative rooms.
The municipalities of Kirchhofen / Ehrenstetten and Hartheim am Rhein soon emerged as future, larger administrative areas in the Staufen Bay on the soil of the (old) district of Freiburg.
In the northern area of the (old) district of Müllheim, Bad Krozingen and Staufen, the two largest communities in terms of population, were practically set – even if the imagination of some center fanatics was fired for a short time by a large joint sports and cultural center in the middle of the two communities for one future “Bad Staufental”.
A dozen small villages
The main problem was, and remained until the final conclusion of the reform, the question of what happens to the smaller municipal partners. There were around a dozen previously independent villages in the Staufen Bay between Möhlin and Sulzbach.
That ranged in the south from Ballrechte and Dottingen, which were the first to join forces voluntarily on January 1, 1971 (topic in later episodes), to Scherzingen in the north, which was incorporated into Ehrenkirchen on April 1, 1974, and from Hausen in the west, the came to Bad Krozingen on September 1, 1973, to Obermünstertal-Stohren, which merged on December 1, 1971 to form the unitary community of Münstertal (topic in later episodes).
Krozingen grew the most in southern Breisgau
Kirchhofen and Ehrenstetten merged on April 1, 1973 to form Ehrenkirchen (topic in later episodes). Hartheim experienced communal reinforcement on the old district boundary through Bremgarten (on January 1, 1973) and Feldkirch (on January 1, 1974).
Bad Krozingen, which was already the most populous municipality in southern Breisgau, experienced the strongest growth. In the course of three years there were four incorporations: Biengen (with Dottighofen) on December 1, 1971, Schlatt on January 1, 1973, Hausen on September 1, 1973 and Tunsel (including Schmidhofen) on January 1, 1974. Previously Tunsel with Eschbach in merger talks, which however did not lead to a positive result.
The ministerial planning model already provided for a collaboration with Grunern and Wettelbrunn for the old Faust and former official town of Staufen. This finally happened, with Wettelbrunn as early as July 1, 1971, with Grunern, on the other hand, only after a long period of “scanning” on January 1, 1974 (topic in later episodes). Before that, there had been serious exploratory talks between Grunern and Münstertal, which had arisen as early as December 1, 1971 from the two valley communities of Untermünstertal and Obermünstertal (topic in later episodes).
Müllheim grew the most in the Markgräflerland
At the same time, the old Maltese town of Heitersheim, located in the south, conducted exploratory talks under Mayor Adolf Späth with Eschbach, Grißheim, Gallenweiler, Wettelbrunn and with Ballrechte and Dottingen. The latter two, however, had quickly recognized the trend of the times and very early joined together to form the unified municipality of Ballrechte-Dottingen. Gallenweiler was also connected to Heitersheim on January 1, 1971.
The Maltese city also focused on its neighbor Eschbach, but the old Rappoltsteiner and Johanniterordenssitz managed to maintain its independence – in contrast to the Hardt community of Grißheim, which on January 1, 1974, spoke out in favor of merging with the city of Neuchâtel.
There were several alternative ministerial requirements for the old mining town of Sulzburg, which ultimately resulted in independence with the incorporation of Laufen (with the district of St. Ilgen). As a previous and new administrative area, Buggingen was also able to maintain its independence within the framework of the regional reform, namely with the accession of Seefelden, but not with the then planned accession of Hügelheim and Britzingen, since these two municipalities were ultimately assigned to the previous district town of Müllheim.
In fact, between 1970 and 1974, this area recorded the greatest increase in area and population in the entire Markgräflerland (perhaps as a small compensation for the loss of the district seat), namely through the connection of the previously independent surrounding communities: Britzingen (with Dattingen and Muggardt in 1974), Feldberg (with Rheintal and Gennenbach, 1972), Hügelheim (1974), Niederweiler (1972), Vögisheim (first entry on January 1, 1970) and Zunzingen (1972).
The entry of the smaller villages mostly took place through local constitutions up to “bogus local elections”, which in the course of the years and decades were in many cases abolished. At the beginning of 1975 – in the meantime a CDU sole government was working in Stuttgart – the subject of territorial and administrative reform at district and municipal level was practically complete not only in the local area, but nationwide.
–
