destroyed the Old Town in 1478 along with the newly built Schloss. Between 1627 and 1834, Rotenburg was a residence town of the landgrave family of Hesse-Rotenburg, the so-called Rotenburger Quart. In 1615, 57 houses burnt down in Braach, and in the Thirty Years' War, in 1637, the town and the town hall burnt. The fire was set by soldiers from the Isolani Regiment. In March 1882, the volunteer fire brigade was started as a club. In 1900 it acquired an equipment shed with a drying tower near the Fulda. During the Second World War, the town was the location of a prisoner of war camp for officers (Oflag). Rotenburg has belonged since 1972 to Hersfeld-Rotenburg district, before which it was the old Rotenburg district's seat. In 2003, the town earned unwanted fame through Armin Meiwes. In 2004, the town earned a silver medal in the national contest Unsere Stadt blüht auf (“Our Town is Blossoming”), and in 2005 it earned a gold medal with a special prize for the landscaping design of the Fulda floodplain. In August 2007, the volunteer fire brigade staged the 20th Hessian Fire Brigade Day with an extensive programme of events on the occasion of its 125 anniversary of founding. Religion There are ten Evangelical churches in town, two Catholic churches and one New Apostolic. Amalgamations Through municipal reform in 1972, the above-named formerly self-administering communities were integrated into the town of Rotenburg an der Fulda. Politics Town council The municipal election held on 26 March 2006 yielded the following results: The town's executive (Magistrat) is made up of six councillors, including the mayor, with four seats allotted to the SPD and two to the CDU. Mayor The mayor is Christian Grunwald, elected in 2011 and re-elected in 2017. Coat of arms The town's arms might be described thus: Argent at the nombril point a mount of three gules surmounted by a bough vert in fess arising from the bottom of which and growing in pale a sprig of three linden leaves vert. The German blazon describes the “mount” as a Dreiberg, even though in the artistic rendering seen here, it does not have the same shape that this charge usually has in German civic coats of arms. See, for instance, Nentershausen's, Neuenstein's or Philippsthal's coat of arms. The arms come from the early 17th century. The mound stands for the Rotenberg, a mountain on