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Wankheim

Wankheim is the first town on the right hand side of Highway 28 coming from Tuebingen. Due to the close location to the city of Tuebingen the town have attracted a lot of new people. The core town is still dominated by larger farms.

The town of Wankheim is mentioned the first time in 1111. Hartmuot de Wachein did a testimony in Schaffhausen. In 1296 the Dukes Eberhard and Rudolf von Tuebingen have sold Wankheim to the Mayor of Reutlingen, Albrecht Becht. In 1482 the Obervogt Georg von Ehingen purchased Wankheim via the Monastery of Bebenhausen. In the 17th century half of the town was in the possession of Sophie Marie von Hohenfeld, who bought 1711 the Kreßbach castle. In 1749 she was succeeded by the family of Saint-André, who governed the town until 1885. They also allowed the Israelites to settle down in Wankheim. Johann Jacob Maz was the first, who emigrated in 1760 to America. In 1805 Wankheim became a part of Wuerttemberg.

The chord of the church in Wankheim called "Jakobuskirche" was built by Clas Binder. After a fire the main part of the church was rebuild in 1781. Larger renovations took place in 1899, 1958 and 1997.

In 1776 the Jewish people got settling rights. In 1807 the first Jewish school was built and in 1833 the synagogue. In 1882 the Jewish community was revealed, because all have moved to the larger cities around Stuttgart, giving them better trading possibilities. The Jewish cemetery, which is located between Wankheim and Kusterdingen can still be visited after announcement of the visit.

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Facts and Data:

Local representative:	Wolfgang Schneck
Administration:	Gemeindeverwaltung Kusterdingen
Population:	1461
Area size	555 ha

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Lutheran Parish in Wankheim

Pastor Held
Hauptstr. 60
72127 Wankheim

Tel. +49 7071 31962

Secretary: Monika Schmid

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The Lutheran parish records are available locally, but they may not be accessible to the public. Copies of the books and registers have been microfilmed by the Wuerttembergische Evangelische Kirche.

The parish does also host the data of Jettenburg.

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Last names of Emigrants

Alexander, Bauer, Beuter, Braun, Dessauer, Dirr , Entenmann, Fauser, Faußer, Frey, Früh, Gölz, Grauer, Haiber, Hirsch, Hoch, Hofmann, Hoß, Kaiser, Kaufmann, Kemmler, Koch, Kühbauch, Kuttler, Lang, Levi, Levisohn, Liebmann, Maz, Mazinger, Neher, Orthmann, Ott, Polak, Raiser, Rosenberger, Rosenstraus, Schäfer, Schall, Schettler, Schwarzkopf, Singer, Spiro, Trost, Walker, Welker

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Some pictures:

During 1680 to 1687 Andreas Kieser made portraits of most of the villages in order to make new maps and inventories of the major forest districts. He's order came from Duke Eberhard Ludwig of Wuerttemberg. With only a few assistance he completed this work in 7 years. The painting above was made in 1683.

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King Wilhelm I of Wuerttemberg started a campaign during 1818 and 1850 to create first city maps of all cities and towns in Wuerrtemberg. The map of the Haerten towns were made between 1823 and 1843. The maps were engraved into stones of "Solenhofer" slate of 60 cm x 60 cm (23,6 inch x 23,6 inch) and were printed by the technique of lithography in a special founded company in Stuttgart. The stones represent an immense value and have been the basis for all further city maps.

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This picture shows the former birth house of my father. It was about two hundred years old and was one of the last ones showing the former typically building style with the outside stair leading up to the first floor, where the living area was located. On the ground level originally the stable was located and on the roof there was the barn.
Today is only one house left with this building style.

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This old picture shows the Main Street at the city entrance coming from Tübingen. The big tree has gone and the bank was built there. On the left hand side is the inn called "Rose".

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Here's the picture of the only left house with the outside stair in Wankheim. It's just close to the church.

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This is the Wankheim church. From the inside you can admire the wonderful glass work for the windows.

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This is one of the oldest building parts in the church of Wankheim. In the vestry you have the face of Jesus Christ in the middle of the ceiling.

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This is one of three wonderful glass windows of the church in Wankheim.

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Here's a view on Wankheim from the South (Jettenburg).

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Here you can see my grandmother and her neighbor together on their way to the church. They are wearing the typical Sunday dressing (Tracht) for widows.

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Traditional women did wear their local dressing (Tracht) also for working.

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Here you get a first impression of the festival dressing (Tracht) of Wankheim. This dressings are today unique, because there are very limited resources of people, who are able to produce new ones. This dressings are inherited from one generation to the other one.

Actually the history of this dressing is not yet clear. It may be, that it's influenced by Romanian or Hungarian dressings. More information will follow on this dressing.

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Something to add ...

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The dress museum of Walter Bauer

A few years ago my cousin Walter Bauer has built up a small private museum for the local dresses (Tracht). His mother had already started to collect these dresses and she did wear them all day long. She was known in the whole county. The museum gives you a very good impression about the various dressings of the older days. If you are in Wankheim you should try to make an appointment with Willi to get a tour through his treasures.

The lady on the left shows how women have been balancing the bread gough in a straw basket on their head to the bakery. A small rectangle wood piece with the initials of the family was put on top of the gough for later identification of the bread in the bakery.

Here we have a special version of an arm chair. If you have a closer look, you can see, that the sitting part can be removed and there is a "Pot de chambre" included. So elderly or ill people didn't have to go to the restrooms.

At the occassion of a weeding in former days this wedding pictures have been made. This one was made at the occasion of the wedding of Sigmund Schettler and his wife Katharine Schettler born Bauer. They have married on October 26, 1911. In the middle is the wedding crown of the bride.

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Further pictures can be found on the website of the Historical Society of the Haerten on their calendar Pictures of the Haerten 2002