Freiensteinau () is a municipality in the Vogelsbergkreis in Hesse, Germany.
Geography
Location Freiensteinau lies on the southern slopes of the Vogelsberg Mountains.
Neighbouring municipalities Freiensteinau borders in the north on the municipality of Grebenhain, in the northeast on the municipality of Hosenfeld (Fulda district), in the east on the municipality of Neuhof (Fulda district), in the south on the town of Steinau an der Straße (Main-Kinzig-Kreis) and in the west on the municipality of Birstein (Main-Kinzig-Kreis).
Constituent municipalities The municipality consists of the twelve centres of Freiensteinau (administrative seat), Holzmühl, Fleschenbach, Salz, Ober-Moos, Nieder-Moos, Gunzenau, Reichlos, Weidenau, Reinhards, Hessisch Radmühl and Preußisch Radmühl.
Politics
Municipal council The municipal elections on 26 March 2006 yielded the following results: Parties and voter coalitions Share in % SeatsCDUChristian Democratic Union25.15SPDSocial Democratic Party of Germany33.96 FW Freie Wähler41.08total10019 Elections in March 2016 CDU = 2 seats SPD = 3 seats FW = 8 seats UBL = 4 seats Bündnis = 2 seats
Mayors In July 2014 Sascha Spielberger was elected the new mayor, he started in office in December 2014, and was re-elected in 2020.
Former mayors: 1971–1991: Johannes Karl 1991–2014: Friedel Kopp
Partnerships Tourouvre, Normandy, France since 1977
Culture and sightseeing
Music The organ at the Evangelical Church in Nieder-Moos was built in 1790-1791 by Johann-Markus Oestreich from Oberbimbach near Fulda. Every year, the Nieder-Mooser Sommerkonzerte (Nieder-Moos Summer Concerts) take place around the organ.
Sundry A curious fact about the municipality's political history is that before Hesse's municipal reforms in the 1970s, the 12 constituent municipalities nowadays within Freiensteinau not only were not united, but even belonged to four different districts: Fulda, Gelnhausen, Lauterbach and Schlüchtern.
References