Gemünden presents his mysterious archive: discoveries from 1527!

Gemünden presents his mysterious archive: discoveries from 1527!

A true archive miracle is in Gemünden, a small town in the picturesque Vogelsberg district! Here the tireless Karl Pitzer has preserved the community's memory in an impressive way. With a passion that is second to none, he has built up a systematically ordered archive under the term "home archive". What many communities miss is a reality here! Thanks to his commitment and the support of other citizens such as Roland Albert from the "Funding Community 750 Years Burg-Gemünden", Gemünden is proud to carry an archive into the world.

Pitzer is not only a political activist, but also the guardian of history. About eleven years ago, he began to bring the unsorted documents of the municipal administration into a format accessible to everyone. And all of this on a voluntary basis - with an impressive amount of time of around ten hours a week! The archive currently has 8,300 units. If you line up these documents, you could fill a distance of over 50 meters. Five out of seven districts are now completely archived, whereby the preparation of the documents for Lower-Guard is particularly noteworthy, which were sorted in an exemplary manner before the municipal reform in 1972.

A look at the year 1527

The archive's treasure chest has an oldest document from 1527, which comes from Landgrave Philipp I! It deals with important instructions on border regulations and agricultural use. Pitzer has even transcribed this historical piece to enable others to immerse themselves in the past. The documents can be viewed online via the Hessen archive system, but the original remains difficult to read due to the age, digitization is being planned. For all interested parties there will be an open day in the community archive on Sunday, October 27, from 11 a.m. - an excellent opportunity to look behind the scenes of this unique memory of the community!