page_title: Witzenhausen
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Witzenhausen / History
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: Dies ist ein Scan des historischen Dokuments: Titel: Witzenhausen - Auszug aus der Topographia Hassiae Sprache: Deutsch English: This is a scan of the historical document: Title: Witzenhausen - Topographia Hassiae language: german
context_page_description: Witzenhausen is a small town in the Werra-Meißner-Kreis in northeastern Hesse, Germany.
  It was granted town rights in 1225, and until 1974, it was a district seat.
  The University of Kassel maintains a satellite campus in Witzenhausen at which is offered the ecological agricultural sciences programme, which is unique in the country. This also puts Witzenhausen among Germany's smallest university towns. Furthermore, a teaching institute for environment and technology, agriculture, horticulture and landscaping. The town is also nationally known for the invention of the Biotonne – a biological refuse container – in 1983, and as an important cherry-growing area; it is said to be Europe's biggest self-contained cherry-growing area. Cherries are traditional in Witzenhausen, which has led to the yearly Kesperkirmes, or “Cherry Fair”, at which a Cherry Queen is chosen.
context_section_description: In 1898, the Deutsche Kolonialschule für Landwirtschaft, Handel und Gewerbe (“German Colonial School for Agriculture, Trade and Industry”, also called the Tropenschule, or “Tropical School”) was founded to train people in agriculture for resettlement in Germany's colonies. The successor institution forms today a satellite campus of the University of Kassel, and includes a greenhouse complex dedicated to tropical crops (the Gewächshaus für tropische Nutzpflanzen).
caption: Witzenhausen – extract from the Topographia Hassiae by Matthäus Merian 1655
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