Current affairs

Table of content magazine 1 / 2025
Johannes Burkardt	Behördenzeichen: Ausdruck lokaler Identität – Stein des Anstoßes. Das Wappen des Kreises Siegen-Wittgenstein und die kommunale Neugliederung (1975–1999)
Bernd Homrighausen	Am Kreuz – Ein steinernes Wegekreuz auf dem Wunderthäuser Sohl?
Wolfram Martin	Unscheinbarer Falter – attraktive Raupe: der Buchen-Streckfuß.
Dieter Bald	Tragische Rückfahrt vor 100 Jahren – Der Tod des Fürsten Richard
Marianne Seelbach	In der Breidenbach. Aus der Geschichte einer alten Erndtebrücker Straße.
Wolfram Martin	Die Feldlerche in Wittgenstein
Paul Riedesel	Familien und Fruchtbarkeit im früheren Wittgenstein.
Holger Weber	Museum neu interpretiert: Vom Papier zum digitalen Archiv
	Vereinsnachrichten

memorial stone near the church of Raumland

Mannus Riedesel

To this day, Mannus Riedesel (1662-1726) is revered in Wittgenstein as a master craftsman and builder of his era. Ten of his structures are still known to exist in Wittgenstein. There were once many more.
In April 2024, a memorial stone was dedicated to him at the centuries-old church in Raumland where he was baptized and buried. My colleague Joachim Völkel has shared the following pictures.

The memorial inscription

June 6, 1662-November 4, 1726
The most important master builder in Wittgenstein.
He was known for the artistic decorations of his half-timbered (Fachwerk) structures. Mannus Riedesel lived in the Melbach (now a part of the village of Balde associated with the town of Erndtebrück), and was buried on November 5, 1726 in the Raumland churchyard.

Typical are his representations of wine vines and unidentifiable fantasy fruits. They make his structures easily identifiable and serve as landmarks of the region.

Mannus Riedesel – A few important structures

A few important structures:

The school-chapel in Sassenhausen
Stoltz’sches house in Bad Laasphe
Ludwigsburg in Bad Berleburg
Hof Dambach near Girkhausen
Fuchs’sches house in Wunderthausen
The balcony of the Raumland church
(his signature)

The Master Builder, Mannus Riedesel

Relatively little is known about the life of the renowned builder, Hermann (Mannus) Riedesel. He was born in 1662 in the house known as “Herjes” in the hamlet of Melbach in Wittgenstein. His baptismal record gives his name as “Johann Mannus”, but it was customary to be known by one’s middle name, and Mannus is understood as a nickname for Hermann. He was married twice and had five known children. Riedesel died in 1726 and is buried in the churchyard at Raumland, though gravestones were not used in those days.

How he learned his craft as a carpenter and builder, or where he might have apprenticed is simply not known. There was no guild system in Wittgenstein, and skilled builders were usually brought in from the outside. It appears that he learned a great deal more during his training than basic carpentry. The carved figures and other decorations which feature in his work are something of a mystery yet today. How many projects he worked on is unknown and many are probably lost to time. Only a dozen or so are known to us today. His most impressive structures in Wittgenstein were built between 1691-1726, including the following:

The Ludwigsburg in Bad Berleburg (built for a side line of the ruling family)
The decorated balcony of the ancient church in Raumland
The “School Chapel” in Sassenhausen — built as a church, but to which space for a school was later added
“Stoltz’sche” house in Bad Laasphe, built for a wealthy brewer
Hof Dambach, built to house a forester in employ of the Count, now a popular Pension

Known literature about „Mannus Riedesel” here.

Hope for a better life

(in German)

The emigration from Wittgenstein to America in the 18th and 19th century

by Mr. Heinrich Imhof

560 pages and more than 5400 emigrants

Price 38,- Euro (plus shipping if necessary)

For further information please contact the author Mr. H. Imhof

E-Mail: H.Imhof@gmx.de

Table of contents

Emigration to America and other destinations
Why did they try their luck abroad?
The first provable emigration
The mass emigration from Wittgenstein in 1724/25
America the promised country
How emigration proceeded
Obtaining a permission to emigrate
Coming into conflicts with the law
Sneaking away; secret emigration via Hessen
Farewell at home and travelling to the embarkation/harbour
The crossing
Arrival in America and choosing a place to settle
Living in the New World
What happened to their dreams?
Gifts, inheritances and support from America
Letters that tell about life in America
Visitors and people who returned home
List of about 5400 emigrants (sorted by year of emigration)

Dr. Paul Riedesel in Bad Berleburg, Germany

For more than 30 years, Dr. Paul Riedesel from Minneapolis/USA has been a member of the Wittgenstein Heimatverein. His ancestors left their home village of Wunderthausen in the 19th century. In 1992 he wrote his first article for our periodical on the “Wittgensteiner Riedesels in Amerika”, and it was followed by numerous subsequent publications.

In September 2021, his article “Der Tod ist Gast im Haus: Sterblichkeit im Altkreis Wittgenstein” (Death is a Guest in the House: Mortality in the Old District of Wittgenstein) appeared in our association magazine. Normally, Paul Riedesel’s copy would have been sent by mail to the United States. But the author took advantage of his stay in Germany this time to pick it up in person. On Saturday, October 16, 2021, he and his wife Joyce came from Berlin to Bad Berleburg, where Dieter Bald paid tribute to Dr. Riedesel’s many years of collaboration as an author and presented him with the current issue “Wittgenstein” while drinking coffee at the Bald home. Heinrich Imhof and his wife also joined the gathering. They presented the American guests with a rare old book (“Der Perner von Arfeld”) and a hand-sewn bag for Joyce’s knitting.

The Master Builder, Mannus Riedesel

Hope for a better life

Dr. Paul Riedesel in Bad Berleburg, Germany

The Genealogical Wittgenstein Family Database

How to write and publish articles in our magazine

Wittgenstein Heritage Society, Germany