Eßweiler | |
|---|---|
 Coat of arms | |
Location of Eßweiler within Kusel district  | |
  Eßweiler  Eßweiler | |
| Coordinates:49°33′32″N7°33′53″E / 49.55889°N 7.56472°E /49.55889; 7.56472 | |
| Country | Germany |
| State | Rhineland-Palatinate |
| District | Kusel |
| Municipal assoc. | Lauterecken-Wolfstein |
| Government | |
| • Mayor(2019–24) | Peter Gilcher[1] |
| Area | |
• Total | 8.10 km2 (3.13 sq mi) |
| Elevation | 272 m (892 ft) |
| Population (2022-12-31)[2] | |
• Total | 370 |
| • Density | 46/km2 (120/sq mi) |
| Time zone | UTC+01:00 (CET) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC+02:00 (CEST) |
| Postal codes | 67754 |
| Dialling codes | 06304 |
| Vehicle registration | KUS |
| Website | www.essweiler.de |
Eßweiler (German pronunciation:[ˈɛsvaɪlɐ], with a short E; alsoEssweiler) is anOrtsgemeinde – amunicipality belonging to aVerbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in theKuseldistrict inRhineland-Palatinate,Germany. It belongs to theVerbandsgemeinde Lauterecken-Wolfstein.
The municipality lies roughly 25 km north ofKaiserslautern, 15 km east ofKusel and 4 km west ofWolfstein at the foot of the Königsberg, a mountain in theNorth Palatine Uplands. Eßweiler sits at an elevation of 260 to 280 m abovesea level, and has also given the dale in which it lies its name, theEßweiler Tal.
In the village itself, the two streams, the Breitenbach and the Jettenbach, flow together to form the Talbach, which is fed by the Steinbach about 100 m beyond the municipal limit, thereafter flowing down toOffenbach-Hundheim, where it empties into theGlan.
Found around Eßweiler are some of the district's highest mountains: the Königsberg (568 m), the Selberg (546 m), the Potschberg (498 m), the Bornberg (520 m) and theHerrmannsberg (536 m).
Eßweiler has 431 inhabitants and an area of 8.1 km2. Land underagricultural use amounts to 39.5%, while 13.9% is used for residential and transport purposes. Another 46.1% of the municipal area is wooded, and 0.5% is open water.[3][4]
Eßweiler borders in the north on the municipality ofOberweiler im Tal, in the northeast on the municipality ofAschbach, in the east on the municipality ofRutsweiler an der Lauter, in the southeast on the municipality ofRothselberg, in the south on the municipality ofJettenbach, in the southwest on the municipality ofBosenbach, in the west on the municipality ofElzweiler and in the northwest on the municipality ofHorschbach. Eßweiler also meets the town ofWolfstein at a single point in the northeast.
Eßweiler has only one outlying centre, called the Schneeweiderhof (Hof means “estate” inGerman, and the name takes thedefinite article), lying some 3 km from the village at an elevation of about 500 m abovesea level on the Bornberg. Its history is tightly bound with the stonequarries that were established there beginning in the 1870s. Between 1922 and 1924, the then owners of the quarries, Basalt-Actien-Gesellschaft (a company that is still in business today, based then, as now, inLinz am Rhein and known as BasaltAG for short), built a workers’ settlement for quarry employees, theKolonie, out ofbasalt stones. The complex is still fairly well preserved.
Owing to the great number of schoolchildren (all together 25 of them in seven grades in 1952), aschool was set up at theKolonie in 1952 in a purpose-built building, thus sparing the children the daily walk to the village and back. The school was, however, dissolved in 1965 owing to school reform.[5] Since the quarries were closed in 1970, the population figure on the Schneeweiderhof has been steadily shrinking; more and more flats are now unoccupied. On the other hand, the Schneeweiderhof is popular amonghikers and daytrippers from the local area, if only to make a stop at the localinn.
Eßweiler owes its current shape mainly to the time that followed theThirty Years' War. It was built as a linear village (by some definitions, a “thorpe”) stretching along Hauptstraße (also known today asLandesstraße 372). In the village core, where the Breitenbach and Jettenbach meet to form the Talbach, another road, Krämelstraße, branches off asLandesstraße 369 toJettenbach and on towardsLandstuhl. Also in the village core stands theProtestantchurch, built in 1865. Next to it were the old school building and the old village hall, which was renovated and expanded in the 1960s. As early as 1935, the formeralte Schul (“old school”) was supplemented with a new school building on the road leading out of the village towardsOberweiler im Tal. The village core was given a makeover in the 1980s when a new village square was laid out. Eventually, in the years 1994–1997, a village community centre was built right on this square. Leading out of both the former and current village core is the street “Im Läppchen”, the part of which on the Talbach's right bank is known even today as theJudengasse (“Jews’ Lane”), a reference to the once important Jewish sector of the population in Eßweiler. Since the 1950s, the bridges leading across the brooks have been turned intoculverts so that the crossing between the two highways – still known locally as a “bridge” – now bears little sign of its former shape. Branching off from Krämelstraße is aKreisstraße that leads to the outlying centre of the Schneeweiderhof some 3 km away on the summit of the Bornberg. This road was expanded asKreisstraße 31 in 1959 and renovated in 1994 and 1995. Until 1970,diorite was quarried at the Schneeweiderhof. The formerquarry lands together with theKolonie, a workers’ settlement for those who worked the quarries, built in 1923, may be described as an industrial monument. In 1988, the Kusel district began using the old quarries as the districtdump. Just beyond the junction where the road branches off to the Schneeweiderhof, a new building development sprang up along Krämelstraße in the 1950s, which pushed the village's built-up area outwards towards Jettenbach. Work on a further building development, “Auf Herrmannsmauer”, began in 1980 on the road leading out of the village towards Oberweiler im Tal, aboveLandesstraße 372. Currently, the municipality is putting its efforts into yet another new building development in the field known as “Rödwies” on Rothenweg. According to the 1987census, Eßweiler has 161 residential buildings with 195 dwellings. Somewhat more than one third of these buildings date from before 1900. On Eßweiler's outskirts, twoAussiedlerhöfe (outlying farming settlements), the Königsbergerhof (below the Königsberg) and the Lindenhof (on the road leading out of the village towards Jettenbach). Near the Lindenhof, in the part of the municipal area called “Altbach”, the municipality wants to open a commercial area.
In the late 1980s, theChristliches Jugenddorfwerk Deutschlands (CJD) acquired a sizeable property in the village core. After the original idea of running a training centre forecological farming fell through, the two buildings served as a way station forAussiedler from East European countries. The CJD has also meanwhile housed trainees.[6]
Within both Eßweiler's andRothselberg’s municipal limits, severalStone Age finds have been brought to light. Later,Celts settled here. They were forced out byGermanic tribes, who were in turn pushed out, over to theRhine’s right bank, by theRomans. By the time theGallic Wars ended locally, in 51 BC, the whole of the Rhine’s left bank was part ofRoman Gaul. Unearthed in 1904, and bearing witness to Roman-Gaulish times, was a silver spoon decorated with doves, grapes and grapeleaves and inscribed“Lucilianae vivas”. Its origin is Roman, from about the 4th century.[7] The spoon is now to be found at the Historical Museum of the Palatinate (Historisches Museum der Pfalz) inSpeyer, and is also early evidence ofChristianity in thePalatinate (seeReligion below). On the Trautmannsberg in 2002 and 2003, workers with the Office for Archaeological Monument Care (Amt für archäologische Denkmalpflege) undertook diggings to observe and preserve a Roman estate. Right next to the site, they unearthedceramics and storage pits from pre-Celtic times (about 800 BC).[8] Moreover, in the early 20th century on the Potschberg, the building remnants of a Roman mountain sanctuary were found. The Romans withdrew from the region about AD 400, and theAlemanni who settled after them were eventually driven out by theFranks under KingClovis I (466-511). The whole region was part of theReichsland, which was at the king’s own disposal, giving rise to the nameKönigsland, still used today.[9]
Eßweiler most likely arose sometime between 600 and 800, which was the time when villages with names ending in—weiler came into being. In 1250 and 1296, Eßweiler had its first documentary mentions asEsewilre. Originally, the village lay not in the dale, but rather at the foot of the Königsberg, in what is now the field known as Kirchwiese. In earlier days, wall remnants were found. In theMiddle Ages and Early Modern times, Eßweiler belonged to theEßweiler Tal complex (Tal means “dale” or “valley”), a territorial unit comprising not only Eßweiler but alsoOberweiler im Tal,Hinzweiler,Nerzweiler,Hundheim,Aschbach,Horschbach,Elzweiler andHachenbach, all of which today lie within the Kusel district. A cleared area that included the greater part of theEßweiler Tal was donated toPrüm Abbey inPrüm in theEifel between 868 and 870.[10] The lordly seat was Hirsau, whose ancient church bears witness to this time. Later, the whole Dale was ruled by theCounts of Veldenz, who had split away from theWaldgraves. Their administrative seat was at first Nerzweiler; sometime between 1443 and 1477, it was moved to Hundheim.[11] The Offenbach Monastery and the oldHirsau Church (Hirsauer Kirche, the ancient church mentioned above) give a clue that theEßweiler Tal was originally a monasticVogtei region. The record shows that in 1150, the estates in Aschbach, Hachenbach and Hirsau were donated to the Offenbach Monastery by Reinfried von Rüdesheim as a provost’s realm of Saint Vincent’s Abbey inMetz; theArchbishop of Mainz confirmed this donation in 1289. Hirsau was until the 16th century a parish covering the whole Dale. In the 12th century, theEßweiler Tal passed to Count Emich von Schmidtburg, who is said to be the one who endowed the comital line ofVeldenz. In 1393, the Dale passed as aWittum (widow’s estate) to Margarete von Nassau, Count of Veldenz Friedrich III’s wife.
Between Eßweiler and Oberweiler im Tal, the Sprengelburg (or Springeburg – acastle) was built about 1300. It was not standing very long before it was destroyed. The castle lords at the time were the Knights of Mülenstein (or Mühlenstein), vassals of the Waldgraves,[12] although little else is known about the castle’s history. Only in a 1595 description of theEßweiler Tal written by state scrivener and geometer Johannes Hofmann on behalf ofJohn I, Count Palatine of Zweibrücken, can anything be read about the Sprengelburg and its eventual destruction by merchants fromStrasbourg. Today, only a ruin is left standing. It was restored by the municipality of Eßweiler in the 1980s after anAmerican academic, Professor Thomas Higel from theUniversity of Maryland, had unearthed some remnants in the 1970s that had lain under a heap of rubble. The castle lies onLandesstraße 372; the Eßweiler-Oberweiler municipal limit passes right through the castle grounds. It is still known today as theAltes Schloss, or “Old Castle”. It stands on a spur that juts out of the Königsberg, and the land drops off sharply to the brook that flows by through the dale. The lordly builders built their castle at the dale’s narrowest spot, which may have been done so that they could control the road that once ran through the dale.archaeological digs brought to light a rectangular arrangement of outer walls (roughly 15 × 20 m) with a round tower standing in the middle with a diameter of 8 m. This suggests that the complex was not a castle as such, but rather a well-developed watchtower. No special finds were unearthed in the course of digs. Only at the foot of the hill were potsherds found, although in the summer of 1978, Professor Higel’s team stumbled on a young woman’sskeleton; she might have died in the castle’s destruction. This find aroused much greater interest in the castle’s history. Perhaps, it was thought, the answer might lie in Johannes Hofmann’s old description, which contains, among other things, a detailed report about the castle’s destruction. The “Springeburg”, as Hofmann called it, met its fate in neither theThirty Years' War nor theNine Years' War (known in Germany as thePfälzischer Erbfolgekrieg, or War of the Palatine Succession), but rather it was destroyed, supposedly sometime between 1350 and 1400, in the course of retaliatory measures – the Mülensteins were notorious as robber knights – undertaken by some Strasbourg merchants. Hofmann specifically mentioned a death in the incident, although it was a man, aJunker of Mühlenstein; presumably, though, others might have died with him.[13] Over the years, the political unity of theEßweiler Tal broke ever further down, until in the 16th century, 14 vassals held sway in the villages. The highest landlords and vassals at this time were the Junkers of Scharfenstein. They, too, were vassals of the Waldgraves and they maintained a common administration and jurisdiction.[14]
In 1595, the wholeEßweiler Tal passed to theDuchy of Palatinate-Zweibrücken, to which Eßweiler belonged until 1797, when the lands on theRhine’s left bank were overrun andconquered byNapoleon’s forces, while a few villages passed back to the Waldgraves in 1755.[15]
The wars of the 17th and 18th centuries wrought great destruction and losses to the population. In theThirty Years' War, there was no great amount of fighting, but many times various armies marched through the area, plundering and destroying; onemill in Eßweiler fell victim to their destructive ways (it was restored in 1661).[16] Between 1635 and 1638, the villagers also had thePlague to deal with, which had cropped up sporadically before this.
Subsequent wars, too, brought their own miseries as the region once again became a military route. In both theFranco-Dutch War and theNine Years' War (known in Germany as thePfälzischer Erbfolgekrieg, or War of the Palatine Succession), the region was occupied byFrench forces. There was repeated plundering and destroying.[17] By 1768, only 141 families lived in theEßweiler Tal. In the years that followed, many inhabitants emigrated toNorth andSouth America orEastern Europe.
Building work on a church began in Eßweiler in 1733. By 1745, there were once again two mills in the village (both of which still stand, and one of which was even still being run until the 1970s). In 1750, a fire wrought great damage to the village.[18]
Of the many settlements that arose in the expansions between 600 and 1200, more than half have not survived. As early as shortly after 1400, a few villages in theEßweiler Tal were destroyed by “Armagnacs”. The inhabitants furthermore had to suffer under the greatepidemics of the time. In 1564, thePlague supposedly claimed 200 victims of the 800 people then living in theEßweiler Tal. In 1575, Eßweiler itself apparently had only 24 inhabitants left. In 1622, another wave of the Plague swept across the land during theThirty Years' War leaving most villages all but depopulated. Time and again, as arranged by the lords who held the land, newcomers were brought in to settle the land again; fromFrance,Switzerland and even theTyrol they came, but the 1648Peace of Westphalia failed to bring any calm to the land asFrenchKing Louis XIV waged his wars of conquest, turning the Palatinate into a battleground. Although the end of the politically and religiously motivated wars after 1700 soothed tensions somewhat, the land itself remained poor.Famines drove a great deal of the inhabitants to migrate toHabsburg-ruled Eastern Europe,Prussian Brandenburg,Pomerania and eventually overseas toNorth America. Many families from Eßweiler were among theemigrants.[19]
The outbreak of theFrench Revolution brought yet more war along with it. After Napoleon had conquered the area, Eßweiler belonged to France beginning in 1797, finding itself in the Department ofMont-Tonnerre (or Donnersberg inGerman), or more locally, Eßweiler was the seat of amairie (“mayoralty”) in theCanton of Wolfstein and theArrondissement of Kaiserslautern.
From 1816, after theCongress of Vienna, until theFirst World War ended, Eßweiler belonged to theKingdom of Bavaria. Thereafter and until thestate ofRhineland-Palatinate was founded in 1947, it belonged to the Free State of Bavaria.
In the early 19th century, the inhabitants fed themselves mainly byagriculture, but the population was rising markedly, which madepoverty in Eßweiler all the more acute as there was a dearth of employment opportunities in the region. In 1803 there were 464 inhabitants, but by 1836 that number had risen to 614 (28Catholics, 525Protestants and 61Jews), and by 1867 to 716 (14 Catholics, 617 Protestants and 85 Jews). Economic need and repeated famines, though, led in both the 18th and 19th centuries to several waves ofemigration, which lasted into the 1920s. From Eßweiler, several branches of the family Gilcher (the current mayor’s surname), among others, emigrated toBrazil and theUnited States.[20]
It was in the 1830s that theWestpfälzer Wandermusikantentum, a musical movement that saw localMusikanten – literally “minstrels” – travel all over the world, began. Its heyday fell between 1850 and the First World War. Eßweiler was one of the main centres of what is now known as theMusikantenland, seemingly contributing a disproportionate share of these musicians. Some 300 musicians spread out from here in the 19th century and went throughout the world, mostly toNorth andSouth America, but also toAustralia,China andAfrica. Unlike the more permanent emigrants, most of these “wandering minstrels” eventually came back, even though for some, the journey could last several years. Well known musicians from Eßweiler include:
Another income source came into play when hard rock deposits were discovered at the Schneeweiderhof. About 1840, a few villagers began making paving stones on the Kiefernkopf. Thediorite out of which these were being made was distinguished by its ability to bear up against stresses, which led to the local paving stones becoming a sought-after product, much favoured by many cities and towns.[21]
In the beginning, the stone deposit was worked by many small quarrying businesses, until 1914, when they were all taken over by BasaltAG fromLinz am Rhein, who proceeded to further expand the quarrying operations. In 1919, aropeway conveyor toAltenglan was built to ensure efficient transport of the product. In 1923, theKolonie was built, a workers’ settlement with roughly 50 dwelling units. In 1928, the operation had 567 employees. By the time of the outbreak of theSecond World War, the workforce had shrunk to 320. By the early 1950s, there were still 190 workers employed at the quarries, but by the late 1960s, this had dwindled to only 68, althoughproductivity had nevertheless grown considerably as a result ofrationalization. Nevertheless, the operation was shut down for good in 1970, not least of all because of the unfavourable transport conditions. TheWandermusikantentum and hard-stone quarrying were crucial for development in the early 20th century.[22]
In 1907, the first watermain was laid, bringing water from aspring at the Trautmannsberg. This remained in service until the 1980s. Eßweiler, along with the Schneeweiderhof, was then hooked up to the long-distance water supply system. Eßweiler was connected to theelectrical grid beginning in 1924.
In both world wars, Eßweiler lost many people. The inscription on the Eßweiler war memorial names 13 fallen and 2missing soldiers from theFirst World War, but nothing is known about any destruction or civilian losses in the village itself. From the end of the Great War until 1946, Eßweiler belonged to the Free State of Bavaria (as opposed to the now defunct Kingdom).
OnKristallnacht (9–10 November 1938), the two last Eßweiler Jewish families’ houses were both invaded and thoroughlyvandalized. Shortly thereafter, the village’s three remaining Jewish residents were taken away tothe camps[15] (see alsobelow). The village came through theSecond World War more or less unscathed; only one building was damaged by an Americantank. Nevertheless, according to memorial inscriptions, 51 soldiers from Eßweiler fell in the war. Particularly tragic was an accident that happened in February 1945, when some children and youths found aPanzerfaust left behind by retreating German soldiers and began playing with it. It exploded, killing five children. Several others were wounded, some seriously.
Since 1946, Eßweiler has been part of the then newly foundedstate ofRhineland-Palatinate. With the establishment of theVerbandsgemeinde of Wolfstein on 1 January 1972, theBürgermeisterei (“Mayoralty”) of Eßweiler, which was also responsible for the neighbouring municipality of Oberweiler im Tal, was dissolved.
Today, Eßweiler is purely a residential community. The greater part of the roughly 450 inhabitants work in the surrounding towns.
Eßweiler's population figures rose during the 19th century and reached 614 by 1838. Despiteemigration and people moving away, the figures kept rising, reaching 683 by 1939. After theSecond World War, in 1950, the population even reached as high as 724, not least of all because of refugees from central Germany andethnic Germans driven out of Germany's former eastern territories. In the time that followed, the population figures steadily dropped. While Eßweiler still had 687 inhabitants in 1961, this had fallen to 582 by 30 June 1997. The population is now well under 500.[23]
At 31 May 2009, 431 persons in Eßweiler had their main residence in the municipality, 207 (48.03%) of whom were male and 224 (51.97%) of whom were female. Foreigners were 1.62% of the population, and 46 had their secondary residence in Eßweiler.[24]
The following table shows population development over the centuries for Eßweiler, with some figures broken down by religious denomination:
| Year | 1609[18] | 1803[25] | 1825[26] | 1835[26] | 1836[25] | 1867[25] | 1871[26] | 1893[27] | 1905[26] | 1938 | 1939[26] | 1961[26] | 1969[28] | 1974[28] | 1977[28] | 1980[28] | 1997[26] | 2007[24] | 2009[24] | 2009[26] |
| Total | 144 | 464 | 584 | 614 | 614 | 716 | 673 | 682 | 644 | 672 | 684 | 687 | 666 | 612 | 599 | 602 | 582 | 453 | 446 | 431 |
| Catholic | 37 | 19 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Evangelical | 501 | 665 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Jewish | 46 | – |
The following age breakdown can be deduced from Eßweiler's 31 May 2009 population figures:[24]
| Age | 2009 share (%) |
|---|---|
| 0-9 | 4.87 |
| 10-19 | 13.92 |
| 20-29 | 7.89 |
| 30-39 | 9.75 |
| 40-49 | 19.26 |
| 50-59 | 16.47 |
| 60-69 | 11.37 |
| 70-79 | 10.91 |
| 80+ | 5.57 |
At 31 May 2009, the 431 people whose primary residence was in Eßweiler adhered to the following faiths:[24]
| Denomination | Number | Percentage |
|---|---|---|
| Evangelical | 330 | 76.57 |
| Catholic | 38 | 8.82 |
| Free religious state community of the Palatinate | 2 | 0.46 |
| other | 3 | 0.70 |
| none | 48 | 11.14 |
| no answer | 10 | 2.32 |
The village's name, Eßweiler, has the commonGerman placename ending—weiler, which as a standalone word means “hamlet” (originally “homestead”), to which is prefixed a syllable believed by writerErnst Christmann to have arisen from an old German man's name,Ezzo (orEzo,Azzo orAzzio), and thus the name would originally have meant “Ezzo’s Homestead”,[29] meaning that Eßweiler owes its modern name to one of its oldest settlers. Given the other forms of Ezzo's name, Eßweiler may have been named Aßweiler at one time, but there is no historical record to confirm this.[30] In the beginning, the village lay on the cadastral area now called “Kirchwiese”, where once wall remnants were also found. In 1296, Eßweiler had its thus far earliest known documentary mention in a document from theCounts of Zweibrücken, which mentions the village ofEsewilr.[31] The area had been, however, settled earlier than that, as theStone Age to Roman times section, above, details.
TheRoman silver spoon found in 1904, mentioned above, is reckoned to bear witness to earlyChristianization, for the doves pecking at grapes with which the spoon is decorated were described in the literature about the find as a typicallyChristian emblem.[7] It shows at least there was contact with Christianity at that time.
In an ecclesiastical sense as well as a political one, theEßweiler Tal was a unit. Until theReformation, theCatholic faith predominated. The ecclesiastical hub was Hirsau. The parish church was theHirsauer Kirche, a 12th-century church near Hundheim, and the wholeEßweiler Tal was its parish. This unity was lost in the Reformation, for in 1544, the villages of Eßweiler,Hinzweiler andOberweiler im Tal were split away from the old parish and made into a new parish of their own based at Hinzweiler; the church in that village became the parish church, and that was also where the parish priest lived. This separation came along with the spread ofProtestantism once the Waldgravesconverted toLutheranism.[32] In 1595, the Dale passed to theDuchy of Palatinate-Zweibrücken, which required, under the principle ofcuius regio, eius religio, that everyone convert to theReformed faith. It was in this time that the parish of Hinzweiler, which was also responsible for Eßweiler, was headed by a pastor from Austria named Pantaleon Weiß (he called himself Candidus). He had studied inWittenberg underPhilipp Melanchthon and harboured Reformed ideas. Originally, the wholeEßweiler Tal had only one graveyard, in Hirsau. Eßweiler, however, had its own graveyard by 1590. It can be assumed that Protestantism was quite widespread at the time, as it was the lords’ belief. In 1601, Eßweiler passed to the parish ofBosenbach, which after theThirty Years' War was united with the parish of Hinzweiler. Thereafter, the local ecclesiastical seat was once again Hinzweiler. According to the 1697Treaty of Ryswick, all villages in theEßweiler Tal were parochially merged with Eßweiler. The Lutheran faith had not vanished utterly: In 1709, when the Duchy of Palatinate-Zweibrücken lay underSwedish rule, the Lutheran Church established its own parish for theEßweiler Tal villages[33] to which, in fact, more than twenty villages belonged. The small Lutheran communities inWolfstein and Roßbach were for a while tended by Eßweiler. In 1746, Eßweiler passed back to the parish of Bosenbach. This was not changed again until 1971, when Eßweiler passed to the parish of Rothselberg, to which it still belongs now, along with Rothselberg andKreimbach-Kaulbach.
From 1758 to 1763, Johann Julius Printz was the pastor in Eßweiler, and from 1810 to 1817 it was Johann Heinrich Bauer. The Catholics’ share of the population was quite small in Eßweiler. In 1836 and 1837, Eßweiler had 614 inhabitants, of whom 28 were Catholic, 525 were Protestant and 61 wereJewish. As early as 1821, the Eßweiler parish church became a branch of Bosenbach. One of the best known pastors was Christian Böhmer (1823-1877). Born in Kusel, he came to Bosenbach in 1872 and earned himself some measure of fame through his literary endeavours. The Catholics were at this time tended by Wolfstein, while the few Catholics in theEßweiler Tal before then belonged to Lauterecken, where there was asimultaneous church as early as 1725.[34]
Important in Eßweiler at one time was the rather great share of the population represented byJews. Jewish families are known to have lived in Eßweiler in 1680, 1698, 1746, 1776 and 1780. In 1688, there were four Jewish families living in Eßweiler. Their numbers grew steadily over the years until in the 1860s, Eßweiler had one of the biggest Jewish communities in the Kusel district. In 1789, asynagogue in the village was mentioned. The synagogue, locally known as theJudenschule, stood on theJudengasse (“Jews’ Lane”); the building is still standing. In 1867, the Jewish population numbered 85.[25] The number fell steadily over the years that followed as many inhabitants moved to the cities. On 24 January 1906, the EßweilerJewish worship community was dissolved. The remaining Jewish inhabitants, the two families of Isidor and his brother Sigmund (or Siegmund) Rothschild, joined the Kusel worship community.[35]
OnKristallnacht (9–10 November 1938),Brownshirts fromAltenglan andTheisbergstegen, reinforced by a fewNSDAP followers fromJettenbach and Brownshirts fromKusel who happened to be going about in the district destroying Jewish property, thronged into these two men's houses and laid them waste.[35] Shortly thereafter, the village's three remaining Jewish residents, the widower Isidor Rothschild, his brother Sigmund and Sigmund's wife Blondine were taken away tothe camps.[15] The last two named are believed to have died atTheresienstadt.[36] Two of their four daughters, too, were murdered in the camps.[37] The other two, and also Isidor's son, survivedthe Holocaust and later lived in the United States.
There was asynagogue in the village, known popularly as theJudenschule. It was mentioned as early as 1789.[38] The street on which it stood is to this day popularly known as theJudengasse (“Jews’ Lane”). The synagogue was let out as a dwelling in 1902 and thenauctioned in 1907.[39] The building is still standing, but it is now a house, and bears no sign of its original function. In the neighbouring building, renovation work in the 1960s unearthed the remains of amikveh.
Jewish family names represented in the village were, among others, Rothschild, Loeb, Hermann, Wolf, Dreifuß, Lazarus, Herz and Ehrlich.
The Jews had their own graveyard in Hinzweiler, which was transferred to the Eßweiler community's ownership in 1904, but later, they also buried their dead inKaiserslautern.[39][40]
Eßweiler has belonged since 1 January 1972 to the then newly formedVerbandsgemeinde of Wolfstein.
The council is made up of 8 council members, who were elected bymajority vote at the municipal election held on 7 June 2009, and the honorary mayor as chairman.[41]
Eßweiler's mayor is Christina Bermes, elected in 2024.[1]
The German blazon reads:In Gold ein blauer Schräglinkswellenbalken, oben rechts eine rote schwebende Zinnenburg mit rotem Zinnenturm, links unten zwei gekreuzte schwarze Steinabbauhämmer.
The municipality'sarms might in Englishheraldic language be described thus: Or a bend sinister wavy azure between a castle and a tower both embattled gules masoned sable and a hammer and pick per saltire of the last.
The threecharges in the arms are acastle, which represents the Sprengelburg or Springeburg, a “bend sinister wavy”, which represents the Talbach, which begins in the village with the merging of two other streams, and a crossedhammer and pick, which represent the old quarries in the outlying centre of the Schneeweiderhof.
The arms have been borne since 13 October 1982 when they were approved by the now defunctRegierungsbezirk administration inNeustadt an der Weinstraße.[42]
The following are listed buildings or sites inRhineland-Palatinate’s Directory of Cultural Monuments:[43]
Between Eßweiler and Oberweiler im Tal on an outlying hill of the Königsberg, right onLandesstraße (State Road) 372, stands the Sprengelburg (or Springeburg). Judging from the remnants, it was built about 1300 and was soon thereafter destroyed in afeud against the Knights of Mülenstein, who were the castle lords, occasioned by their activities as robber knights. Right up until the 1970s, the site was known simply asam alten Schloss (“at the Old Castle”) and the whole ruin was buried under an earthen hill, quite hidden from sight, and with trees growing on it. The ruin's current appearance is the result ofrestoration measures undertaken from 1976 to the mid-1980s initiated by the State Office for Monument Care (Landesamt für Denkmalpflege) inSpeyer.[12] Since 1983, the ruin has been listed as an architectural monument.
In the quarries on the Schneeweiderhof, sometimes up to 500 people were employed until the mid 20th century. They came from their homes in the surrounding villages to the mountain, and went back again each day, on foot, some of them walking five or six kilometres. Between 1922 and 1924, the quarry owners, Basalt AG, Linz am Rhein, built a workers’ settlement on the Schneeweiderhof out ofbasalt stones quarried on site. It is known locally asdie Kolonie. The complex is made up of a three-floor main building and two wing buildings, which stand somewhat nearer the road. Through driveways with round arches, one reached the farms behind the complex, where there weregoat pens andchicken coops. The complex's outer appearance has been largely preserved from how it originally looked.[18] Many of the flats, however, are now empty.
In the village centre stands theEvangelical church. Thenave, work on which began in 1733, is still standing. Theridge turret, which was falling into disrepair, was replaced with a tower in 1865. Inside is anorgan byE.F. Walcker & Cie. Ludwigsburg from 1869. It has been preserved unchanged from its original state.[18]
Cultural life in Eßweiler was in days of yore characterized by the schools, not least of all by theLatin school. From old documents come accounts even of theatrical productions in Eßweiler. Moreover, Eßweiler's cultural life reached a high point in the 19th century with the emergence of the travelling musician industry (Wandermusikantentum). Musicians from Eßweiler went throughout the world. Among the 19th century's best known orchestra leaders were Hubertus Kilian and Michel Gilcher. In the 20th century there was Jakob Meisenheimer, who travelled to almost every part of the globe. Also enjoying fame were Jakob Hager who, among other things, played at theMetropolitan Opera inNew York, and Rudolph Schmitt, who worked for many years as a clarinettist for the world-famousorchestras inChicago andSan Francisco.[44]
Given that there was a strong “musical industry” in the village at the time, it was no accident that there was a music club in Eßweiler as early as the 19th century. The treasurer's book from theMackenbach music club lists for the year of the Eßweiler club's founding, 1883, an entry according to which an emissary was sent to Eßweiler to fetch the club's bylaws. The music club continued to exist up until the time of theWeimar Republic, but then, by and by, it broke up. In 1990, the oldMusikanten tradition in Eßweiler was revived by the founding of the “Talbachmusikanten” music club. The youth orchestra,Jugendorchester Eßweiler/Jettenbach, also belongs to this. Eßweiler's oldest club is theGesangverein 1888 Eßweilere. V., a singing club. According to a 1942 record kept by theDeutscher Sängerbund (German Singers’ Association), it was founded as a men's singing club in 1888. In its early days, the conductor was usually the local schoolteacher. In 1925, another singing club was founded, theArbeiter Gesang- und Unterstützungsverein (“Workers’ Singing and Support Club”), whereupon the original singing club became known as thebürgerlicher Gesangverein (“civic singing club”). AfterAdolf Hitler’s 1933seizure of power, the two clubs were actually forced into a merger under the terms ofGleichschaltung. The new, merged club was active until 1942. In 1946 came the refounding of the original club, which did not come off altogether well, as theFrench occupational authorities demanded, among other things, aFrench translation of the club’s charter. Beginning in the mid-1960s, it was becoming ever harder to find new blood for the singing club. Thus, in 1967, a women’s choir was founded and the men’s singing club became a mixed singing club. This served only to stave the problem off for a while, but by the 1990s, the singing club decided that it would be a good idea to form an association with theGesangverein Horschbach. A major figure in the singing club was Oswald Henn, who from 1925 (then as part of the Workers Singing Club) to 1981 was the conductor.[15] From 1902 until the late 1960s, the singing club also staged theatrical productions. When a theatre group was founded in 1998, this tradition was once again continued.
In 1924, thebürgerlicher Sportverein Eßweiler (“Eßweiler Civic Sport Club”) was founded. In 1928, agymnastic department and a girls’ squad were added, and thus arose today's name,Turn- und Sportverein Eßweiler (“Eßweiler Gymnastic and Sport Club”). After theSecond World War, the club was newly founded as afootball club, although at first, owing to a lack of players, an association had to be formed withRothselberg andKreimbach-Kaulbach. Beginning in 1949, there were enough players for Eßweiler to field its own team. In 1957, the team rose to the Kusel B Class. In the 1960s, the lack of new blood became noticeable. The team rallied, however, and since 1968, there has been a playing association with Rothselberg. Since 1988, the association, SG Eßweiler-Rothselberg, has been playing once again in the Kusel B Class orKreisliga.
TheLandfrauenverein (“Countrywomen’s Club”) has been active in Eßweiler since 1962. In the early 1970s, theHeimat- und Verkehrsverein (“Local History and Transport Club”) was founded, which runs theLandscheidhütte and to which the theatre group also belongs. To support thefire brigade, theFeuerwehrförderverein „St. Florian“ Eßweiler (“EßweilerSaint Florian Fire Brigade Promotional Association”) was founded. Other clubs in the municipality are theAlten- und Krankenpflegeverein (club for care of the elderly and infirm), the localSPD association and theLuftsportverein Eßweiler (vorm. Landstuhl) e. V. (air sports).
The following clubs, with founding date and membership, are currently active in Eßweiler:
Also closely associated with Eßweiler's club scene is theLuftsportverein Landstuhl (Landstuhl Air Sports Club), which has been maintaining a glideerport at the cadastral area called “Striet” since 1964.[45]
Until the 20th century,agriculture was the mainstay of the local people's livelihood. In 1833, the following acreages were noted:
| Crop/Use | Area inMorgen | Area in hectares |
| Cropfields | 1365 | 433.5 |
| Potatoes | 210 | 66.7 |
| Gardens | 7 | 2.2 |
| Fodder crops | 133 | 42.2 |
| Vegetables | 314 | 99.7 |
How great the extent of themeadowlands was is, however, unknown.[25]
Handicrafts arose insofar as they were needed to support the main endeavour, farming. In the earlier half of the 20th century, Eßweiler still hadbakers,butchers,saddlers, cabinetmakers,tailors,shoemakers,painters andplasterers.
Beginning about 1830, theWandermusikantentum – the “minstrel” tradition for which the area is famous – was growing in importance in the West Palatinate, and Eßweiler was becoming one of the great centres of theMusikantenland (seeabove). Besides thisWandermusikantentum, though, another musical enterprise also arose in Eßweiler, albeit on a small scale. This was the craft of making musical instruments.
In the 18th and 19th centuries, many mines arose around Eßweiler. Of greatest importance to Eßweiler, however, were the hard-rock deposits on the Schneeweiderhof, where citizens from Eßweiler first established quarries beginning in 1870. The main product was paving stones. In 1914, Basalt AG, Linz am Rhein bought up the quarries. A transport problem lay in the stones’ having to be laboriously carted overland to therailway stations in Kreimbach orAltenglan, but this was solved in 1919 with the opening of a five-kilometre-longropeway conveyor to Altenglan. From time to time, up to 500 people from the surrounding villages were working at the quarries. Work permanently ceased there in 1970.[46][47]
The end of theWandermusikantentum after theFirst World War made itself felt in its effect on job opportunities. After theSecond World War, the formerly common livelihood of farming was shifted to a secondary position, or in some cases it vanished utterly as agriculture itself lost more and more of its importance, although twoAussiedlerhöfe (singular:Aussiedlerhof – outlying farming settlements) were established in the 1960s. By 2007 there were only eight agricultural operations covering an area of 84 ha (34.8% cropland and 65.2% meadow or grazing land).[3]
Another sector of the population worked at the K.O. Braunbandage factory in Wolfstein. To be sure, there were several small businesses in Eßweiler from the 1950s to the 1990s, but these did not truly weigh in the balance as far as job opportunities were concerned. Given this dearth of work, more and more workers becamecommuters. In the mid-1960s,Opel opened a plant in Kaiserslautern, which promised jobs for workers throughout the region. This would have been welcome in Eßweiler, especially after the quarries were shut down in 1970.[48]
Most of the inhabitants today work in nearby villages, towns or cities such asWolfstein,Kusel orKaiserslautern. Most drive, for despite considerable improvement to local public transport, it can still be problematic. Several small businesses have set up shop in Eßweiler, among others two bus operators, several craft businesses, the district dump on the Schneeweiderhof, which began operations in 1988, and theChristliche Jugenddorf Wolfstein (“Wolfstein Christian Youth Village”).
In earlier times, the village had all that it needed for basic food supplies. There were severalbutcher’s shops andbakeries. During the heyday of theWandermusikantentum, the musician Adolph Schwarz ran a music shop. Until the mid-1970s, there were still three grocery shops in Eßweiler, two butcher’s shops and a bakery. Nowadays there are only one food shop and one branch bakery.
Until the early 1970s, there were fourinns in Eßweiler, and another one on the Schneeweiderhof. There are now only two – one in the village itself and the one on the Schneeweiderhof – and the local history club’s stall, which is open afternoons.
Between 1967 and 1969, the town hall was built. Today it houses the municipal council chamber, a branch of the districtsavings and loan association (Kreissparkasse) and a bakery branch, and it is also used by local clubs for small-scale events. A youth meeting centre has also been set up in the basement. Right next door, afire station was built in 1988. After the municipality bought an agricultural property and tore the buildings down, it built a village square in the village centre in 1987.
On the lands occupied by the district dump on the Schneeweiderhof, there has been since 2005 the “Eßweiler”weather station, run byMeteomedia AG. As well, a four-hectare area was given over to asolar plant in November 2008; its output is 1.5 MW, and it is run by Neue Energie Pfälzer BerglandGmbH, ajoint venture by Pfalzwerke AG and the District of Kusel. Also standing on the Schneeweiderhof is the 151 m-tall Bornbergtransmission tower.
Since there was no longer any room for large-scale events in Eßweiler – the former dance halls in the old inns had over time all been converted into dwellings – planning began in the early 1990s to build a village community centre, theBürgerhaus Eßweiler. Originally it was to have been a new building on the way out of the village going towards Jettenbach, but while planning was still ongoing, an agricultural property in the village centre, complete with a house, a farm and a barn with stalls, was offered for sale. The municipality acquired the property and planning then took a new turn.
The foundation stone was laid on 2 June 1995. Mostly by Eßweiler citizens’ own volunteer work, the buildings were converted into a village community centre. The old building material was thereby preserved and integrated: the former house now houses the lavatory complex, several smaller event rooms and, in the vaulted cellar, the bar. The barn was gutted and now contains the actual event hall. Between the two, a new building went up. It contains the reception area, a vestibule and a commercial wing with a kitchen, a serving counter and storage rooms.
There was no school as such in theEßweiler Tal in the 16th century, but it is clear that children were being taught by clergymen. This was a job to which the clergymen were not strongly drawn, for their dwellings – where they would have had to hold lessons – were quite small and in the summertime they had to work the parish plot. In the late 16th century, though, the call to education was roused by the spread ofhumanistic and reform-minded ideas. A 1572 document hints at the existence of a school in Eßweiler. In 1604, the Eßweiler parishioners sent a petitionary letter to the lord who was responsible, namely Duke Johannes II (“the Young”), asking for aLatin school to be established. The Duke answered the request with a decree on 31 May 1604. The resulting Latin school was, however, lost in theThirty Years' War (1618-1648). Theodor Zink reports of aGreek inscription on the arch above the doorway of the former parish cellar; it was apparently still preserved as late as 1818. After the ravages of theGreat War, Eßweiler may have got a new school, but whatever the truth, teachers’ names are known from this time. During the 20th century, there was a two-streamprimary school in Eßweiler, which in the beginning was housed at the old schoolhouse on the street “Im Läppchen”.
In 1936, a new schoolhouse was built on the way out of the village going towards Oberweiler im Tal, while the old school was still used until the 1950s. Until then, schoolchildren had attended classes in a building in the village centre and also at the town hall. This new schoolhouse, which over the years underwent many conversions, was used until 2002. In 1956, an upper floor was added to the new schoolhouse.
Between 1952 and 1965, the Schneeweiderhof had its own school. It was opened on 2 November 1952, it had 43 pupils and it had one room. Hitherto, children had had to walk 3 km each day to the village (and of course 3 km back) every day to school. On 25 August 1965, this school was closed and schoolchildren in year levels 1 to 4 then went to the primary school in Eßweiler, while those in year levels 5 to 8 went to theMittelpunktschule (“midpoint school”, a central school, designed to eliminate smaller outlying schools) in Wolfstein.
ThisMittelpunktschule in Wolfstein was founded in 1965 after a trial year in 1962/1963. Since thensecondary-level students have been taught there. The primary school stayed in Eßweiler. With the founding of theVerbandsgemeinde of Wolfstein in 1971, schooling was also somewhat reorganized. Founded for the municipalities of Eßweiler,Oberweiler im Tal andHinzweiler was theGrundschule Eßweilertal with school locations in Eßweiler and Hinzweiler. Eventually, in the 1980s, theKönigsland-Grundschule was founded for the municipalities of Eßweiler, Hinzweiler,Jettenbach, Oberweiler im Tal andRothselberg with three initial locations at Eßweiler, Jettenbach and Rothselberg; the Jettenbach location was later closed. At the beginning of 1997, theKönigsland-Grundschule had 134 pupils in 8 classrooms. The various locations and, particularly, the lack of room, were grounds for planning a new school building. Thus, since the beginning of the 2002 school year, children from Eßweiler, Rothselberg,Jettenbach, Oberweiler im Tal and Hinzweiler formerly attendingprimary schools in Eßweiler, Jettenbach and Rothselberg have had a new, modern school building at their disposal, theGrundschule Königsland in Jettenbach.
Beginning in 1972, the municipality of Eßweiler ran, in the framework of a special-purpose association founded on 24 August of that year, akindergarten in Jettenbach in collaboration with the municipalities of Jettenbach, Rothselberg, Oberweiler im Tal and Hinzweiler. Since 1997, Eßweiler and the neighbouring village of Rothselberg have been jointly running akindergarten, calledSpatzennest (“Sparrow’s Nest”) in the latter village. The sponsor is the RothselbergEvangelical church community.[49]
Further schooling in the area is to be had at theRealschule plus Lauterecken-Wolfstein, the Realschule plus Kusel, theGymnasien in Kusel andLauterecken and the school centre in Kusel on the Roßberg with itsHauptschule,vocational school and Wirtschaftsgymnasium (business Gymnasium – seeEducation in Germany). The nearest colleges are theFachhochschule Kaiserslautern and theKaiserslautern University of Technology.
Running through Eßweiler isLandesstraße (State Road) 372, known locally as Hauptstraße (“Main Street”). It leads from Rothselberg to Offenbach-Hundheim. Joining to Hauptstraße in the village centre isLandesstraße 369, known locally as Krämelstraße. It leads to Jettenbach, andKreisstraße (District Road) 31 branches from it at the Schneeweiderhof. It was built in 1959. TheKaiserslautern Westinterchange onto theAutobahnA 6 (Saarbrücken–Mannheim) lies 25 km away. It is 20 km to theKusel interchange onto the AutobahnA 62 (Kaiserslautern–Trier), and likewise 20 km to theSembach interchange onto the AutobahnA 63 towardsMainz. Furthermore,Bundesstraßen 270 (nearKreimbach-Kaulbach, roughly 6 km), 420 and 423 (in Altenglan, roughly 10 km) are right nearby.
Eßweiler belongs to theVRN. It is served by bus routes 140, 272, 274 and 275. The nearestrailway station is found in Kreimbach-Kaulbach on theLauter Valley Railway (Lautertalbahn), some 7 km away. Trains from there run toKaiserslautern Central Station (Hauptbahnhof).
Above the village lies the EßweilerGliderport, run by the Eßweiler Air Sports Club. It was built in 1963, and is designed for gliders, motorgliders andultralights. Motorized aircraft may only use the field if their takeoff weight is two metric tons or less, and they have an aerotow coupler.
E-Mail von Wiliam Gicher mit Textauszug
Also based on personal oral communication between citizens of Eßweiler and the writer of the original German Wikipedia article from which this article is partly translated.
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