Baunatal

Baunatal
Baunatal
Town
	Coat of arms
	Location of Baunatal within Kassel district
Country	Germany
State	Hesse
Admin. region	Kassel
District	Kassel
Government
• Mayor	Manfred Schaub (SPD)
Area
• Total	38.27 km2 (14.78 sq mi)
Elevation	210 m (690 ft)
Population (2022-12-31)
• Total	28,339
• Density	740/km2 (1,900/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+01:00 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+02:00 (CEST)
Postal codes	34225
Dialling codes	0561, 05601, 05665
Vehicle registration	KS
Website	www.baunatal.de

Baunatal is a town in the district of Kassel, in Hesse, Germany.

Geography

Geographic location

Baunatal directly borders on the south of Kassel and is located to the west of the valley of the Fulda river. West and northwest the town borders on the Habichtswald with the Baunsberg (413,4 m above sea level) in the north. Baunatal got its name from the Bauna river, which traverses the town from the northwest to the southeast until it flows into the Fulda near Guntershausen.

Neighbouring communities

Baunatal borders in the north on the municipality of Schauenburg and the urban district of Kassel, in the east on the municipality of Fuldabrück, in the southeast on the municipality of Guxhagen, in the south on the municipality of Edermünde and in the west on the town of Niedenstein.

History

Baunatal arose from fusion of the formerly independent municipalities Altenbauna, Altenritte, Großenritte, Guntershausen, Hertingshausen, Kirchbauna and Rengershausen.^[2]

The Volkswagenwerk Kassel was build in 1957 on the former premises of the Henschel & Son company in Altenbauna.^[3] In 1960, just one year after start of production, the number of employees exceeded 6,000. Due to this rapid development the residential area and housing demands were rising. As a consequence of this the three municipalities Altenbauna, Altenritte and Kirchbauna fused into Baunatal on 1 January 1964.

On 1 July 1966 with incorporation of Großenritte, Baunatal received town privileges by the Government of Hesse. First mayor of the new founded town was Horst Werner. At this time the number of inhabitants was 11,705 and the number of employees of the Volkswagen factory was about 13,400.

On 1 October 1971 the municipality of Hertingshausen joined Baunatal. On 1 August 1972 finally the municipality of Buchenhagen, which was a fusion of Guntershausen and Rengershausen, joined Baunatal. The population of Baunatal was about 19,300 in 1972. Currently (2010) the number of inhabitants is 27,642.

Transportation

Baunatal is connected to the city of Kassel by trams and buses.^[4] The town also has its own bus network called StadtBus Baunatal which is operated by the Regionalverkehr Kurhessen GmbH (RKH).^[5] In addition the quarters Rengershausen and Gunterhausen are connected to the national rail network and provide connection to the Main–Weser Railway and the Frederick William Northern Railway by means of the RegioTram Kassel.

Baunatal is connected to the motorways A 7, A 44 and A 49.

Politics

Town council

The local election held on 27 March 2011 yielded the following results:^[6]

Parties and voter communities		% 2011	Seats 2011	% 2006	Seats 2006
SPD	Social Democratic Party of Germany	63.2	28	64.2	29
CDU	Christian Democratic Union of Germany	21.2	10	28.6	13
GREENS	Alliance '90/The Greens	13.6	6	3.0	1
FDP	Free Democratic Party	2.1	1	4.2	2
Total		100	45	100	45
Voter turnout in %		49.8		42.9

Mayors

Mayors of Baunatal since 1 July 1966:

Horst Werner
Martin Hesse
Hans Joachim Pioch
Heinz Grenacher
Manfred Schaub (since 1 June 2005)

Culture

Stadtmuseum

The Stadtmuseum is a museum of local history located in Baunatal-Altenritte. The main focus of the museum is the history of the 20th century particularly with regard to the following topics: first railway contruction, history of the Henschel & Son arms factory, everyday life during nazism, history of the Volkswagen factory since 1957, urban development of Baunatal since 1966.

Heimatmuseum Hessenstube

The Heimatmusesum is a museum of local history located in Baunatal-Altenritte. The museum delivers insight into living and working environment of people in the ancient villages of Baunatal from the late 19th century to the early 20th century. The museum presents rural housing conditions, a historical smithy and historical work shops of joiners, shoemakers and woodturners.

Dorothea Viehmann

Baunatal is the birthplace of the famous storyteller Dorothea Viehmann. She was one of the most important sources of the fairy tale collection of the Brothers Grimm. Dorothea Viehmann was born as Katharina Dorothea Pierson on 8 November 1755 in Rengershausen.

Hünstein

The Hünstein is a cultural monument located in Baunatal-Großenritte. The menhir consisting of quartzite was a site of ritual meetings during the 4th and 3rd century BC. A legend says that a giant threw the menhir from the nearby Hirzstein with intent to destroy the steeple of Kirchbauna.^[7]

Industry

Baunatal is known for the Volkswagen factory, which is the second largest of the brand with 14,500 employees. The factory suffered from damage by a magnesium fire on May 14, 2006.