Heldra

51.12757777777810.196313888889174Koordinaten: 51 ° 7 ' 39 " N, 10 ° 11' 47" O

Heldra is a village district of the city Wanfried in the Werra -Meißner -Kreis in Hesse. To Heldra heard the settlement Großburschla station, which has evolved over the years to the nearby train station in the district of Thuringia Heldra neighboring village.

Geographical location

Heldra located on the eastern edge of North Hessen, at the mouth of Heldrabachs into the Werra. The village is surrounded on three sides by Thuringian territory. On the northern outskirts of the village to the main road and the 3244 county road 6 meeting; both lead to the nearby state road 250 south rises, beyond the Werra on Thuringian side, the 503.8 m high mountain Heldrastein, for the Heldra was eponymous; a Werrabrücke A hiking trail leads to the summit. Neighboring towns are Treffurt, Großburschla and Mount St. Catherine, all in Thuringia.

History

The village was first, later called Heller Bach in 874 as Heldron mentioned. In the northern corridor of the place, the so-called " field mill " marks the site of a deserted village. You should have been Vorgängerort of Heldra by local tradition. In the 15th century it was moved to the location near the castle Heller.

1902 Heldra connection received on the railway line Schwebda - Warta, which was interrupted in 1945 by the division of Germany between Heldra and Treffurt 1970 and decommissioned.

Heldra was enclosed from 1949 to 1990 to the west, south and east of the territory of the GDR and thus accessible only from the north. The place has been allocated after the Second World War the American sector, as in Heldra the Steuben House is located, which did not want to leave the Russians, the Americans. In the 1960s and 1970s it was a popular excursion point from which you could look around in the GDR. To this end were as many places along the inner-German border special information pavilion furnished.

The particular boundary line was officially " Heldraer tip " called. In fact, you could only view their own place ( Heldra ) and the connecting road of Großburschla after Schnellmannshausen well as a piece of Treffurt from the top " in the West" attainable lookout, because of the 500 m high Heldrastein blocked the view to Thuringia. This body, as indeed the place Heldra, was for years during the Cold War a popular motif for Western camera crews to report directly from the Iron Curtain. Compared to the lookout behind the border fences and across the street a medium-sized observation tower (BT 11) of the GDR border troops. He should discourage potential refugees from overcoming the barrier that existed here because of the extremely steep slope of only two expanded metal fences at a distance of only 10 m and because of the dogs running track without minefield. The population of Großburschla who drove past every day by bus or car to the fence, it was strictly forbidden to respond within a stone 's throw away people at the lookout " in the West" by gestures such as waving or nodding. Was also set absolute strict no-stopping, because a small part of the road was not visible from the tower, just where the border ran for about 150 meters right next to the road and the fences were due to the steep terrain at one point even half below street level, so you could this spot could only be monitored with regular patrols.

Right there succeeded the early morning of March 3, 1989 a truck driver who knew the route well, the " flight from the republic ". He stopped, put a home-made out of a long tube design (which successfully the bleary-eyed checkpoints Schnellmannshausen one belonging to the vehicle crane faked ) horizontally from the back of. However, the only enough over the first fence, he decided nevertheless to crawl about, but now had to jump into the space. He said despite the excitement of the dog friendly at which remained peaceful, to his astonishment and stood firm until now that he was trapped, because the second fence was to climb over a little too high. Then he helped an incredible coincidence, he saw that the roof on the kennel only loosely rested, he used it as a climbing aid and was able to climb over the fence. In the steeply sloping terrain he made it fast about the actual border and disappeared into the dense forest on the Hessian side. Like all attempts to escape even this was extremely dangerous - less than nine months before the turn.

On April 1, 1972 Heldra was incorporated into the city Wanfried.

Heldra was 2003 national winner of the competition " Our village " and won a silver medal in 2004 in the national competition "Our village is beautiful - our village has a future ."

Attractions

The town has many half-timbered houses and homesteads, including the homes of the ancestors of August Hermann Francke and Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben. Other attractions include the Heldrastein, the Francke good and the neighboring Steuben House in the town center and the local museum.

Others

• In the village is a village hall.
• In Heldra there is a boat dock.
• Furthermore, there are children's play areas, a tennis court and a sports court.
• In Heldra a notorious robber, was born in the Werra valley in the 18th century Florian Henning, he lived in the cave at Henning Heldrastein.