Simmern im Hunsrück | |
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 Coat of arms | |
Location of Simmern im Hunsrück within Rhein-Hunsrück-Kreis district  | |
  Simmern im Hunsrück  Simmern im Hunsrück | |
| Coordinates:49°59′N7°31′E / 49.983°N 7.517°E /49.983; 7.517 | |
| Country | Germany |
| State | Rhineland-Palatinate |
| District | Rhein-Hunsrück-Kreis |
| Municipal assoc. | Simmern-Rheinböllen |
| Government | |
| • Mayor(2019–24) | Dr. Andreas Nikolay[1] (CDU) |
| Area | |
• Total | 11.96 km2 (4.62 sq mi) |
| Elevation | 400 m (1,300 ft) |
| Population (2022-12-31)[2] | |
• Total | 8,035 |
| • Density | 670/km2 (1,700/sq mi) |
| Time zone | UTC+01:00 (CET) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC+02:00 (CEST) |
| Postal codes | 55469 |
| Dialling codes | 06761 |
| Vehicle registration | SIM, GOA |
| Website | www |
Simmern (German pronunciation:[ˈzɪmən]; officiallySimmern/Hunsrück) is a town of roughly 8,155 inhabitants (Dec. 2023) inRhineland-Palatinate,Germany, thedistrict seat of theRhein-Hunsrück-Kreis, and the seat of theVerbandsgemeindeSimmern-Rheinböllen. In the Rhineland-Palatinate state development plan, it is set out as amiddle centre.
Simmern, through whose municipal area the 50th parallel of northlatitude runs, lies in theHunsrück in the so-calledSimmerner Mulde (“Simmern Hollow”). The old town centre is found in the valley of the Simmerbach, while the newer neighbourhoods are spread over the surrounding heights. The Külzbach empties into the Simmerbach on the town's western outskirts. East of the town is a recreational area with a manmade lake, the Simmersee. South of the town is the town forest, which forms the edge of theSoonwald, a heavily wooded section of the west-central Hunsrück.
The municipal area measures 1 196 ha. Of interest to visitors are Simmern's value as a nature and leisure site, and its central location right near three rivers, theMoselle, theRhine and theNahe, each about 25 km away, allowing easy day trips to other nearby places.
Simmern lies 630 km fromBerlin and 55 km west ofMainz.
Yearlyprecipitation in Simmern amounts to 690 mm, which falls into the middle third of the precipitation chart for all Germany. Only at 38% of theGerman Weather Service'sweather stations are lower figures recorded. The driest month is January. The most rainfall comes in August. In that month, precipitation is 2.1 times what it is in January. Precipitation varies greatly. Only at 25% of the weather stations are higher seasonal swings recorded. TheKöppen Climate Classification subtype for this climate is "Cfb" (Marine West Coast Climate/Oceanic climate).[3]
| Climate data for Simmern-Rheinböllen | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Mean daily maximum °C (°F) | 1 (34) | 2 (36) | 7 (44) | 11 (52) | 15 (59) | 18 (65) | 20 (68) | 19 (66) | 17 (63) | 12 (53) | 6 (42) | 2 (36) | 11 (52) |
| Mean daily minimum °C (°F) | −3 (26) | −3 (26) | 0 (32) | 3 (38) | 7 (44) | 10 (50) | 12 (53) | 11 (52) | 9 (49) | 6 (42) | 2 (35) | −2 (29) | 4 (40) |
| Averageprecipitation mm (inches) | 64 (2.5) | 58 (2.3) | 48 (1.9) | 43 (1.7) | 69 (2.7) | 69 (2.7) | 76 (3) | 86 (3.4) | 51 (2) | 53 (2.1) | 56 (2.2) | 66 (2.6) | 740 (29.2) |
| Source: Weatherbase[4] | |||||||||||||
In 1072, Simmern had its first documentary mention. The place where the town now stands, however, was already settled inRoman times. There are seemingly mentions before the 11th century, but these cannot be definitively linked to the town, or most likely refer to the Simmerbach, the local river. Simmern lay on the important Bingen-to-Trier army road. It belonged at first to the Counts of theNahegau, later passing to theRaugraves, who were enfeoffed with Simmern by theElectorate of Trier sometime between 1323 and 1330. Presumably with ArchbishopBaldwin's help, Simmern was granted town rights in 1330 byEmperor Louis the Bavarian. The weekly and yearly markets were soon drawing dealers throughout the Hunsrück to town, leading to flourishing trade and business. Along with town rights came the town's right to fortify itself, and this it did with a formidable double wall, complete with a series of towers and gates. Before the 14th century was over, Simmern passed to the Counts Palatine of theHouse of Wittelsbach.
The Palatine Wittelsbachs were, beginning in 1356, Electors, and after Elector Palatine andKing of the Romans (German King)Ruprecht III's death, they split into several lines, among which was thePalatinate-Simmern line, which kept its residence in the town. Worthy of mention are the DukesStefan ofPalatinate-Simmern-Zweibrücken,Friedrich I ofPalatinate-Simmern,Johann I and, above all,Johann II. He ruled in Simmern from 1509 to 1557, was humanistically and artistically trained, had the first printshop in the town built and promoted the arts, particularly sculpture. He also introduced theReformation into his duchy, which led to tension with the neighbouring Archbishoprics of Trier andMainz. He was followed byFriedrich III, called “the Pious”, who converted toCalvinism in 1563 and played a leading role inImperial politics. In 1559, the Palatinate-Simmern line succeeded the now extinct main line of the Palatinate in the Elector's capacity inHeidelberg. Friedrich III's brothers Georg and Reichard formed the short-lived line of the counts palatine ofSimmern-Sponheim, whose holdings passed back to the Electorate underFriedrich IV on Reichard's death in 1598.
Friedrich IV's son,Friedrich V was elected King of Bohemia –Bohemia was anelective monarchy – but soon ran afoul of the forces arrayed against him, notably theCatholic League and theHoly Roman Emperor himself, and not only was he forced to flee Bohemia in the face of these forces after only a year on the Bohemian throne (earning himself the derisive nickname “Winter King”), but he also saw to it that theElectorate of the Palatinate, too, was gripped in the throes of theThirty Years' War. The Emperor also declared all Friedrich's holdings within theHoly Roman Emperor forfeit. His holdings in the Rhenish Palatinate were meanwhile once again partitioned with the founding of the younger line ofPalatinate-Simmern by his brother Ludwig Philipp in 1611, though even this passed with Ludwig Philipp's son, Ludwig Heinrich's death in 1673 back to the main line underKarl I Ludwig, who won back the Electoral title in thePeace of Westphalia. Thanks to his fortifying the town, it came through the wars relatively unscathed. When Karl's son,Karl II died in 1685, though, there was further upheaval, for with him the Palatine line of the Wittelsbachs had died out, andFrance was now declaring rights of possession.Elizabeth Charlotte, Princess Palatine (known as Liselotte of the Palatinate), Karl II's sister, and in France's eyes the rightful heir, was married to DukePhilippe I, Duke of Orleans, KingLouis XIV's brother. Since thePalatinate-Neuburg line of the Wittelsbachs also maintained a claim to the Simmern inheritance, theNine Years' War (known in Germany as thePfälzischer Erbfolgekrieg, or War of the Palatine Succession) broke out in 1688, during which the French laid waste to broad swathes of the Palatinate.
By 1685, the Duchy of Simmern had passed to the Palatinate-Neuburg line. This noble house reintroduced theCatholic faith and called on theBoppardCarmelites to minister to the Catholics in the town of Simmern and the like-namedOberamt. With the family Schenk von Schmidtburg's help, the Carmelites founded a presence in town, and together with theKreuznachCapuchins, took over pastoral duties in theOberamt. They builtSaint Joseph’s Church. Not long before this, the town of Simmern itself had been flooded with a great manyHuguenots who had fledreligious persecution inFrance. On 17 September 1689, French troops overwhelmed the town, leaving almost all of it in rubble. The palatial residence was razed, just like the one in Heidelberg. All that was left standing after this catastrophe wasSaint Stephen’s Church, thePulverturm (“Powder Tower”, later to be known as the “Schinderhannes Tower”) and a handful of houses. Nevertheless, the Wittelsbachs won out and remained the Palatinate's rulers under the terms of theTreaty of Ryswick. In the 18th century, however, Simmern was nothing more than the seat of a PalatineOberamt, as the electors chose to keep their residence atMannheim.
After theFrench Revolution, the French once again conquered the Palatinate, which they annexed to their country along with the rest of the Rhine's left bank. Simmern became acanton in theDepartment ofRhin-et-Moselle. It was by the regular patrols of the newly founded National Gendarmerie that Johannes Bückler, later a well known robber and often called “Schinderhannes”, was caught, although at this time he was nothing more than a small-time livestock thief in the Hunsrück and the northern Palatinate. In 1799 he spent half a year locked up in the tower that now bears his nickname, theSchinderhannesturm, in Simmern, from which he managed to escape. In 1804, EmperorNapoleon I spent some time in the town, which in the meantime had acquired a municipal administration run according to French law. In 1815 Simmern was assigned to theKingdom of Prussia at theCongress of Vienna.
The town's situation in the 19th century, outside the centres ofindustrialization, was not easy, and much the less so as of 1845 with thepotato blight outbreak and the attendant bad harvests, which drove many inhabitants to seek a better life in theNew World.
In theFirst World War, Simmern was an important support base for troops marching to theWestern Front. InWeimar times, when the town was also occupied once again by the French, Simmern suffered under thedire economic situation of the time. In theSecond World War, there was yet more destruction. In March 1945, Simmern was occupied byAmerican troops, but was later assigned along with the rest of the Palatinate to the French zone of occupation. Since 1946, Simmern has been part of the then newly foundedstate ofRhineland-Palatinate.
The town has borne the name element “Hunsrück” since 1 June 1980. On 15 April 1999, Simmern concluded a territorial swap with the municipality ofMutterschied, whereby several inhabitants found themselves living in a different municipality.
The council is made up of 24 council members, who were elected byproportional representation at the municipal election held on 7 June 2009, and the honorary mayor as chairman.
The municipal election held on 7 June 2009 yielded the following results:[5]
| SPD | CDU | FDP | GREENS | aSL | other | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | 6 | 10 | 2 | 2 | 4 | - | 24 seats |
| 2004 | 6 | 12 | 1 | 1 | - | 4 | 24 seats |
Simmern's mayor is Dr. Andreas Nikolay, and his deputies are Peter Mumbauer, Karl-Heinz Augustin and Michael Becker.[6]
The town'sarms might be described thus: Per fess sable a lion passant Or armed, langued and crowned gules, and bendy lozengy argent and azure.
Simmern was held by theRaugraves until 1358, when it passed to the Counts Palatine of theHouse of Wittelsbach. Simmern was granted town rights in 1555. The arms are based on the town's oldest known seal, which dates from the late 14th century. Thecharge above the line of partition is thePalatine Lion, and the “bendy lozengy” pattern (that is, slanted diamonds) is the Wittelsbachs’ armorial bearing.Otto Hupp’s version of the town’s arms, as seen in theCoffee Hag albums in the 1920s, was presented in a somewhat different style (but these differences are common among heraldic artists), and with one heraldic difference: the lion is missing his crown. Thetinctures, however, are the same.
The arms have been borne since 1901.[7]
Simmern fosters partnerships with the following places:
Migennes,Yonne,France[8]
Igrejinha,Rio Grande do Sul,Brazil[9]
Mänttä-Vilppula,Pirkanmaa,Finland[10]
Roeser,Canton of Esch-sur-Alzette,Luxembourg[11]
The following are listed buildings or sites inRhineland-Palatinate’s Directory of Cultural Monuments:[12]
Saint Joseph's Catholic Church, built in the 18th century, has ceiling frescoes worth seeing. For its part, Saint Stephen's Evangelical Church, built between 1486 and 1510, has tombs of the dukes ofPalatinate-Simmern and an historicalorgan from 1776 built by the Hunsrück organ-building family Stumm.
The cultural centre atSchloss Simmern has itsHunsrückmuseum with an exhibit by Friedrich Karl Ströher (Hunsrück painter) and the town library. The new palace was built in 1708 as theOberamtmann’s administration building. It was here that the mediaevalcastle once stood. This was expanded into a palatial residence in the latter half of the 15th century, but destroyed together with the rest of the town in 1689.
The so-calledSchinderhannesturm, formerly the “Powder Tower”, was used as a prison, and at different times held both Schinderhannes, the infamous robber, andJohann Peter Petri, his henchman, better known asSchwarzer Peter (“Black Peter”). Each eventually escaped.
The Restaurant Schwarzer Adler is notable as one of the few houses in town that was spared the razing that the rest of the town underwent at French hands in 1689. It stands with Saint Stephen's Church and theSchinderhannesturm as one of the town's oldest buildings.
Simmern has an indoorswimming pool and an outdoor “nature” pool, theDschungeldorf (“Jungle Village”) indoor children's adventure playground, a youth café, a skating park and a cinema.
Beginning on the town's western outskirts is theSchinderhannes-Radweg (cycle path), running from there through the Külztal (Külzbach valley) by way ofKastellaun toEmmelshausen. To the south runs theSchinderhannes-Soonwald-Radweg (another cycle path), which links Simmern with the Soonwald.
In 2007 and 2008, the town staged theSchinderhannesfestspiele (theatrical plays) for the first time. The first production wasDer Ausbruch (“The Breakout”), a play about Schinderhannes's daring escape from the town's “Powder Tower” (now called the “Schinderhannes Tower”) in August 1799. The Powder Tower had been said to be escape-proof. In 2010, theSchinderhannesfestspiele were staged for the third time. This time, the production was themusicalJulchen.
Simmern's sport clubs are VfR Simmern and BGV Simmern. VfR Simmern is well known for itsfootball team, SG Soonwald/Simmern (a coöperative effort with clubs in the surrounding area),table tennis (regional league) and itshandball team, HSG Kastellaun/Simmern (a coöperative effort with TV Kastellaun 09). Furthermore, VfR also offersbasketball,swimming,badminton and other sports.[13] TC Sportpark Simmern is the town'stennis club.
The four-laneBundesstraße 50 runs by south of town. Simmern has arailway station, which currently serves only as a bus station. The station was once a transfer station along theHunsrückquerbahn betweenBingen andHermeskeil. The railway is currently in disuse, but plans are being made to reactivate a portion of it (including the section in Simmern) in order to connectFrankfurt-Hahn Airport with theFrankfurt Rhine Main Region. A former spur between Simmern and Kastellaun has been re-purposed as a dedicatedbicycle path, theSchinderhannes-Radweg.
The reopening of Frankfurt-Hahn Airport (20 km away) for commercial aviation and the widening of Bundesstrasse B-50 to four lanes have given the district and the town even greater economic potential for the future. Future plans include a possible extension of theAutobahnA 60 to facilitate traffic from the Frankfurt metropolitan area to Simmern and theBenelux countries. The town is roughly 10 kilometres from the AutobahnA 61.
Slate mining and agriculture have been the traditional industries of the district, but recent growth in the optical, pharmaceutical and biochemical industries has transformed the local economy.
Among the town's biggest employers are the following: ZF Boge Elastmetall (roughly 600 employees),CompAir (compressed air and gas systems, roughly 500 employees), the firm Pfefferkorn (Sekt stopper maker), Deutsche Fertighaus Holding (prefabricated buildings), SchwörerHaus KG (works for finishing “Kastell”-brand solid-construction houses, basements, ceilings and prefabricated concrete articles), Zischka Textilpflege (laundry service), theHunsrück-Klinik andDHL, with a logistical centre. Besides these, there are severaldiscount stores and many smallerservice-sector businesses. Over the last few years, Simmern has grown into a regional hub for the automotive trade. Simmern has grown tremendously in the last twenty years as more people and new industries have relocated to the area.
There is also acinema, the “Pro-Winz-Kino”. The business association,Simmern attraktiv e. V., is a union of the town's business owners, who have, for instance, set themselves the goal of strengthening the town as aretail centre and making it more attractive to citizens, shoppers and visitors.
Simmern has twoprimary schools, theKurt-Schöllhammer-Grundschule and theRottmannschule. It also has a regional school forHauptschule andRealschule certificates, the state mathematical-natural sciencesHerzog-Johann-Gymnasium, the professional training school with an economics Gymnasium, severalvocational schools and upper vocational schools and theHunsrückschule für Lernbehinderte (for learners with learning difficulties). Thefolk high school is charged with providing adult education.
Besides the town and district administrations, a number of other public entities can be found in Simmern (Amtsgericht, financial, forestry, health and cadastral office,police, branch office of theKoblenzchamber of commerce, district craftsmen's association). The town is also the location of a “technology and founders’ centre” (Technologie- und Gründerzentrum, the “founders” being entrepreneurs who found businesses).
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