Editing Wernigerode (section)

== History ==
[[File:Wernigerode ca 1820.jpg|thumb|right|[[Friedrich August Schmidt]]: Stadt Wernigerode vom Eisenberg, {{circa|1820}}{{snd}}Wernigerode around 1820, ]]
[[File:Fotothek df roe-neg 0006140 011 Blick aus der Altstadt zum Schloss.jpg|thumb|right|Wernigerode in 1951]]
Wernigerode was the capital of the medieval [[County of Wernigerode]] and [[Stolberg-Wernigerode]]. In 1815, after the [[Napoleonic Wars]], it became part of the [[Prussia]]n [[Province of Saxony]]. The [[Hasseröder]] brewery was founded in Wernigerode in 1872.

After [[World War II]], Wernigerode was included in the new state [[Saxony-Anhalt]] within the [[Soviet occupation zone]] (relaunched in October 1949 as the [[East Germany|German Democratic Republic/East Germany]]). During the Communist years, the town was very close to the [[inner German border]]. Wernigerode became part of the restored state of Saxony-Anhalt in 1990 after [[German reunification]].

=== Emergence of the town ===
There are no written sources confirming exactly when the town was established. According to the latest research{{snd}}for example, by Eduard Jacobs and Walther Grosse{{snd}}there were no early relations with the Abbey at [[Corvey]] ([[Weser]]) and the abbot there, [[Warin I of Corvey|Warin]], instead the town name suggests it was a protected clearance settlement.

The first area to be settle was the {{lang|de|Klint}}, where there was a [[lowland castle]], the so-called {{lang|de|Schnakenburg}}. In 1805 the ruins of this castle site were demolished. The only part remaining is {{lang|de|Haus Gadenstedt}} at {{lang|de|Oberpfarrkirchhof}} 12 which dates to the year 1582. At the time of the first settlelement there was still ancient forest, typical of the Harz, on the heights of the {{lang|de|Klint}}, which had first to be cleared, hence the suffix {{lang|de|rode}} in the town name which means 'clearing'.

The town was first mentioned in the records in 1121 in connection with Count Adalbert of [[Haimar]] who had moved here from the region near [[Hildesheim]] and henceforth was titled the Count of Wernigerode. On 17 April 1229 the settlement was granted [[town rights]] along the lines of that for [[Goslar]]. In 2004 Wernigerode celebrated the 775th anniversary of that occasion.

As a result of the immigration of new townsfolk from the surrounding villages a new settlement, later called {{lang|de|Neustadt}}, grew up on the northeastern edge of the old town. It was a farming settlement that lay outside the walls of the old town. [[St. John's Church, Wernigerode|St. John's Church]] was built as the parish church of Wernigerode's {{langr|de|Neustadt}} in the last third of the 13th century in the [[Romanesque architecture|Romanesque]] style.

===Early rulers===
The [[graf|counts]] of Wernigerode, who can be traced back to the early 12th century, were successively [[vassal]]s of the [[List of rulers of Brandenburg#Margraves and Electors of Brandenburg|margraves of Brandenburg]] (1268), and the [[Archbishopric of Magdeburg|archbishops of Magdeburg]] (1381). On the extinction of the family in 1429 the county fell to the [[County of Stolberg|counts of Stolberg]], who founded the Stolberg-Wernigerode branch in 1645. The latter surrendered its military and fiscal independence to [[Prussia]] in 1714, but retained some of its sovereign rights till 1876. The counts were raised to [[Fürst|princely]] rank in 1890.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}}

=== Mayors ===
* Runden, {{circa|1640}}<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.myheritage.dk/person-1000257_176701832_176701832/ukendt-runden|title=Ukendt Runden´s profil|website=MyHeritage.com|access-date=14 April 2018}}</ref>
* Ludwig Gepel, 7 January 1921 to 6 January 1933
* Ulrich von Fresenius (1 September 1888; died 12 November 1962), 10 January 1933 to 20 April 1945
* Max Otto (1889–1969), [[SPD]]/[[Socialist Unity Party of Germany|SED]], 20 April 1945 to 1951
* Gustav Strahl, 1951 to 1962
* [[Martin Kilian]], [[Socialist Unity Party of Germany|SED]], 24 October 1962 to 1990
* Herbert Teubner, [[Christian Democratic Union (Germany)|CDU]], 1990 to 1991
* Horst-Dieter Weyrauch, [[Christian Democratic Union (Germany)|CDU]], 1991 to 1994
* Ludwig Hoffmann, [[SPD]], 1994 to 31 July 2008
* Peter Gaffert, independent, since 1 August 2008
* Tobias Kascha, SPD, since 1 August 2022
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=== Eingemeindete Orte ===
* [[Benzingerode]] (Eingemeindung: 1. April 1993)<ref name=Metzler-Poeschel>{{Literatur | Herausgeber=Statistisches Bundesamt | Titel = Gemeinden 1994 und ihre Veränderungen seit 01.01.1948 in den neuen Ländern | Jahr = 1995 | Verlag = Metzler-Poeschel | Ort = Stuttgart | ISBN = 3-8246-0321-7 }}</ref>
* [[Hasserode]] (Eingemeindung: 1907)
* [[Minsleben]] (Eingemeindung: 1. April 1993)<ref name=Metzler-Poeschel/>
* [[Nöschenrode]] (Eingemeindung: 1929)
* [[Reddeber]] (Eingemeindung: 1. Januar 2010)<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.destatis.de/jetspeed/portal/cms/Sites/destatis/Internet/DE/Content/Statistiken/Regionales/Gemeindeverzeichnis/NamensGrenzAenderung/NamensGrenzAenderung,templateId=renderPrint.psml|title=StBA: Änderungen bei den Gemeinden Deutschlands, siehe 2010|website=destatis.de|access-date=14 April 2018}}</ref>
* [[Silstedt]] (Eingemeindung: 1. April 1993)<ref name=Metzler-Poeschel/>
* [[Schierke]] (Eingemeindung: 1. Juli 2009)<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.destatis.de/jetspeed/portal/cms/Sites/destatis/Internet/DE/Content/Statistiken/Regionales/Gemeindeverzeichnis/NamensGrenzAenderung/NamensGrenzAenderung,templateId=renderPrint.psml|title=StBA: Änderungen bei den Gemeinden Deutschlands, siehe 2009, 2. Liste|website=destatis.de|access-date=14 April 2018}}</ref>
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===Population statistics===
{{div col|colwidth=16em}}
* 1595: 2,500
* 1806: 3,700
* 1845: 5,000
* 1869: 7,000
* 1886: 9,000
* 1895: 10,662
* 1904: 12,000
* 1914: 18,000
* 1957: 33,353
* 1990: 37,000
* 2006: 33,871
* 2007: 34,413
* 2008: 35,041
* 2009: 34,673
{{div col end}}