Wegeleben

Wegeleben
Town
Saint Nicholas Church in Adersleben
Coat of arms
Location of Wegeleben within Harz district
Wegeleben Show map of Germany Wegeleben Show map of Saxony-Anhalt
Coordinates: 51°52′N 11°10′E
Country	Germany
State	Saxony-Anhalt
District	Harz
Municipal assoc.	Vorharz
Subdivisions	4
Government
• Mayor (2021–28)	René Kerl[1] (CDU)
Area
• Total	51.76 km^2 (19.98 sq mi)
Elevation	103 m (338 ft)
Population  (2022-12-31)[2]
• Total	2,446
• Density	47/km^2 (120/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+01:00 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+02:00 (CEST)
Postal codes	38828
Dialling codes	039423
Vehicle registration	HZ
Website	www.bode-holtemme.de

Wegeleben (German pronunciation: [ˈveːɡəˌleːbm̩] ^ⓘ) is a town in the Harz district, in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. It is the administrative seat of the Verbandsgemeinde ("collective municipality") Vorharz.

Geography

It is situated at the confluence of the Goldbach and Bode rivers, east of Halberstadt. The municipal area comprises the villages of Adersleben, Deesdorf, and Rodersdorf. Wegeleben station is a stop on the Halberstadt–Vienenburg and Magdeburg–Thale railway lines.

History

Wegeleben in the Saxon Harzgau was the site of a fortress possibly erected at the behest of King Henry the Fowler during the Hungarian invasions in the 10th century. The castle later served as a residence of the Prince-Bishops of Halberstadt. The adjacent settlement was mentioned as a town (civitas) in the 13th century, when it had been fortified with defensive walls and city gates. The ruling Ascanian counts ceded their fief in pawn to the Bishop of Halberstadt in 1288 and finally sold it in 1318.

Ravaged by the Thirty Years' War, Wegeleben with the Bishopric of Halberstadt passed to Brandenburg-Prussia in 1648. It was finally seized as a reverted fief by the Hohenzollern king Frederick I in 1704. From 1815 it was incorporated into the Prussian Province of Saxony. The town received railway access in 1862.

Until 2010 Wegeleben was part of the disbanded Verbandsgemeinde Bode-Holtemme.

Politics

Seats in the municipal assembly (Stadtrat) as of 2014 local elections:

• Christian Democratic Union: 10
• Free Democratic Party: 1
• Independents: 3

Notable people

• Wilhelm Schmidt (1858–1924), engineer and inventor
• Martin Bormann (1900–1945), Nazi official
• John Bura (1944–2023), bishop
• Jürgen Pommerenke (born 1953), footballer

References

1. "Neue Bürgermeister von Wegeleben und Gemeinde Huy gewählt" (in German). MDR. 17 October 2021.
2. "Bevölkerung der Gemeinden – Stand: 31. Dezember 2022" (PDF) (in German). Statistisches Landesamt Sachsen-Anhalt. June 2023.