Fortress Ziegenhain

From 1537 to 1546, under Landgrave Philipp the Magnanimous of Hesse, the medieval castle and town were expanded into a strategic water fortress according to plans by the fortress master builder Hans Jakob von Ettlingen and the master builder Balthasar von Germersheim. A six-meter-high earthen rampart with raised rondels at the four corners now surrounded the castle and town. These were separated by the 65-meter-wide, gently sloping glacis. This created the possibility of flooding the surrounding area with the water of the Schwalm. The fortress had only a single access point via a wooden drawbridge. In addition to the casemates in the rampart, the armory, two granaries, a brewery, the archive, barracks, and a horse mill were built within the fortress. In 1537, Heinz von Lüder became the first commandant of the fortress.

In 1539, the "Ziegenhain Church Discipline Order" was decided in Ziegenhain Castle. At the invitation of Landgrave Philipp the Magnanimous, Hessian theologians and the reformers Adam Krafft and Martin Butzer, under the influence of Philipp Melanchthon, decided that church elders should take co-responsibility, young people should be admitted to the Christian community in Christian doctrine with a final confirmation, and dissenters should not be persecuted. Hospitality and civic services were available to both Jewish and non-denominational citizens. This laid the foundation of the Evangelical-Lutheran Church in Hesse. This revolutionary ordinance spread very quickly to other places via Waldeck, Wittgenstein, Frankfurt, and Göttingen.

In 1542, Landgrave Philipp issued the castle peace for the Ziegenhain fortress. In his newly drafted will of October 6, 1545, he then determined that his sons ... should leave Heinzen von Luther (Heinz von Lüder) as a captain in Ziegenhain .... In the Schmalkaldic War 1546-1547 and during the five-year captivity of the Landgrave 1547-1552, Heinz von Lüder commanded the fortress, which was the only one of the four landgravial fortresses that did not have to be razed by order of Emperor Charles V. (Kassel, Giessen, and Rüsselsheim, however, were razed.)

Therefore, a beautiful legend was later woven. Lüder is said to have told Count Reinhard zu Solms, who wanted to take possession of the fortress: "The free Landgrave handed the fortress over to me. And I will hand the fortress back to a free Landgrave." Thereupon, Emperor Charles demanded from Landgrave Philipp that Lüder be hanged in chains. The Landgrave then, after his release and return, rewarded Lüder by a short, symbolic hanging on a gold chain at today's "Lüdertor" and gave him the gold chain.

From 1622 to 1623, the fortress was additionally reinforced by the construction of four ravelins. In addition, the suburb of Weichaus was walled. During the Thirty Years' War, the fortress was not captured, but in the first week of October 1631, Bavarian and Tilly's troops invaded Weichaus, which they plundered and partially burned down. In 1633, the Swedish Chancellor Axel Oxenstierna visited the fortress.

On November 15, 1640, the imperial general Johann Rudolf von Breda was shot dead by the captain of the Ziegenhain citizen militia, Velten (Valentin) Muhly, in the battle on the Riebelsdorfer Berg near the nearby village of Riebelsdorf. Historical evidence is the "Bredaschwert" (Breda Sword) kept in the town hall ever since. In 1843, the Velten-Muhly Monument was donated by the city of Ziegenhain near Riebelsdorf: a column stands at the shooter's position, and an obelisk was erected at the position of the fallen General Breda.

The sheep farm was built in 1669 as a military-logistical supply base and was used as a depot.

In the Seven Years' War, the now outdated fortress was surrendered to French troops without a fight in 1758; this avoided major destruction. In 1761, however, the fortress was shelled and damaged by Hessian artillery. The shelling severely damaged 47 houses and the cloth manufactory.

In 1769, the parade ground and the "Neue Wache" (New Guardhouse) were built. From 1776 to 1783, the parade ground was an assembly point for the Hessian auxiliary troops who fought on the British side in the American Revolutionary War from 1775 to 1783. During this time, the fortress served as a recruit depot by order of Landgrave Friedrich II of Hesse-Kassel. The Landgrave transferred a total of 12,000 Hessians to the English for their war in North America in exchange for subsidies.

This is processed literarily in Johann Gottfried Seume's "Spaziergang nach Syrakus 1802" (Walk to Syracuse 1802). The theology student was forced into military service by Hessian recruiters, recruited in Ziegenhain, and shipped to America. In 1813, his memories of his forced enlistment appeared in his posthumously published biography "Mein Leben" (My Life).

From 1776 to 1783, a new fortress entrance with a bridge was built. In November 1806, the fortress was surrendered without a fight to the Napoleonic army by order of the Hessian Elector Wilhelm I and finally razed in 1807 by order of Napoleon. The casemates were blown up and the gates demolished. The fortress had lost its importance due to the development of modern artillery. In 1819, at the insistence of the population, the new South Gate was built. In 1832, Elector Wilhelm II dissolved the garrison of the Electoral Hessian army. The last fortress commandant, Colonel von Harras, died in Ziegenhain in 1836.

In Ziegenhain Castle, a forced labor prison with space for 400 prisoners was established in 1842. The Hessian State Archives were moved to Marburg in 1857. In 1882, a prison for female prisoners was established. In 1905, the German Reichstag permanently withdrew the military command for guarding the royal county of Ziegenhain.

Today, the Ziegenhain Water Fortress is an essential part of the Schwalmstadt-Ziegenhain Correctional Facility (JVA). In 1989, the Lebanese Hezbollah terrorist Mohammed Ali Hamadi was imprisoned in the Schwalmstadt JVA. After open prison was outsourced in 2003, only closed prison remains in the Schwalmstadt JVA.