Hutstein in Vilshofen

Hutstein in Vilshofen

Bernhard Hutstein finally settled in Pleckental, Alkofen, close to the city of Vilshofen, and founded a family there.

Alkofen arose from the efforts of the Bavarian Elector to “peupelier” his lands, that is, to create settler positions on public land, small farms that were supposed to support a family. Between these rural settlements four colonies were established after 1800: one of it was Pleckental to the east of Alkofen.

The Pleckental colony, was planned on 48 Tagwerk ( ~ 48 x 0.35 hectare), the Electoral Wood Ground in “Plaickenthal”,  which were to be parcelled out and sold to those willing to settle. At the auction, however, a Vilshofen brewer and the owner of the large Schweiklhof struck and each bought half. They paid between 20 and 60 guilders per hectare and in the following years sold the land in small plots, most of them only half a hectare in size, taking up to 200 guilders for the hectare. In 1829 59 families lived on 40 hectares of farmland. Thus Pleckental had a much higher population density than the nearby city of Vilshofen. A report by the government of the Lower Danube District from 1816 shows how difficult the social conditions were shortly after the colonies were founded: “Everything is teeming with people. Half begs, a quarter steals! ”This is where the negative consequences of the abolition of manorial rule became visible.

In 1873 Pleckental was given its own gendarmerie station, which was quite unusual for a rural gendarmerie. A school was built in Alkofen in 1835 for the purpose of elevating morality. Even if Pleckental attempted to trigger a socialist revolution in Vilshofen in 1918, the situation improved after the second world war. The problems have largely disappeared. On May 1, 1978, Alkofen was incorporated into the city of Vilshofen on the Danube.

But still today the legend about the violent past of the Pleckental is remembered as people still do have the saying that Pleckental is “home to long knives”. 

 

the Bernhard Hutstein branch

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