Holzminden - History

History

Holzminden is first mentioned in the 9th century as Holtesmeni. However, the name did not at this time refer to the present city, but to the village of Altendorf, the "old village", which was incorporated into the city in 1922.

During the reign of Louis the Pious (814–840), monks from the Abbey of Corbie in France came to this part of Germany and founded a daughter house at Hethis in the Solling. As it became clear that this site was unviable (owing to lack of access to water) it was abandoned, and a new monastery, Corbeia nova (Corvey Abbey), opened close to the river. Old documents show that many pious donations were given to the Holtesmeni (monastery).

The settlement is believed to have come into being, along with other settlements in the vicinity, in the 6th-7th centuries. Other villages were subsequently abandoned as Holzminden was granted municipal liberties, allowing greater privileges to its inhabitants, and attracting new settlers from the surrounding hinterland.

In 1200 the town was brought under the protection of the prince’s castle of Everstein, and by 1245 it had received a charter. This was granted by the Count of Everstein. The town's coat of arms shows the Everstein lion rampant within the open town gate.

From 1408 the town belonged to the Welfen princes; and from the 16th century to the princes of Brunswick of the Wolfenbüttel line. From the 16th century until 1942, Holzminden therefore lay within Brunswick-Lüneburg.

In 1640, during the Thirty Years' War, the town was destroyed by the Imperial troops, a blow from which it only slowly recovered. Until the 20th century Holzminden remained a provincial town of small farmers and holdings.

During World War I, Holzminden was the site of a large civilian internment camp on the outskirts of the town, which held up to 10,000 Polish, Russian, Belgian and French nationals, including women and children (1914-18); and also of a smaller prisoner-of-war camp for captured British and British Empire officers (1917-18).