Birkenfeld | |
|---|---|
 View of the town from the Burgberg | |
_COA.svg) Coat of arms | |
Location of Birkenfeld within Birkenfeld district
| |
 Location of Birkenfeld | |
  Birkenfeld  Birkenfeld | |
| Coordinates:49°39′N7°11′E / 49.650°N 7.183°E /49.650; 7.183 | |
| Country | Germany |
| State | Rhineland-Palatinate |
| District | Birkenfeld |
| Municipal assoc. | Birkenfeld |
| Government | |
| • Mayor(2019–24) | Miroslaw Kowalski[1] (CDU) |
| Area | |
• Total | 13.64 km2 (5.27 sq mi) |
| Elevation | 410 m (1,350 ft) |
| Population (2023-12-31)[2] | |
• Total | 7,236 |
| • Density | 530.5/km2 (1,374/sq mi) |
| Time zone | UTC+01:00 (CET) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC+02:00 (CEST) |
| Postal codes | 55765 |
| Dialling codes | 06782 |
| Vehicle registration | BIR |
| Website | www.stadt-birkenfeld.de |
Birkenfeld (German pronunciation:[ˈbɪʁkŋ̍fɛlt]) is a town and the district seat of theBirkenfelddistrict in southwestRhineland-Palatinate,Germany. It is also the seat of thelike-namedVerbandsgemeinde. The town itself has approximately 7,000 inhabitants.
The town lies in theNahegebiet (Nahe area), to the north of the namesake river, on the edge of theNaturpark Saar-Hunsrück. Birkenfeld lies roughly 13 km southwest ofIdar-Oberstein and 12 km northwest ofBaumholder.
Clockwise from the north, these areGollenberg,Elchweiler,Schmißberg,Rimsberg,Dienstweiler,Ellweiler,Dambach,Brücken,Buhlenberg andEllenberg.
The name Birkenfeld has its origin in an old German dialect,Old Frankish. It means something rather like "at the field with the birches" (it is directlycognate with theEnglish words "birch field"). From the name's Frankish roots it can be inferred that today's town arose on a spot where there was quite a noticeable stand ofbirch trees sometime about the year AD 500, and that it was founded byFrankish-German farmers. To this day, there are a great number of birch trees in the bird conservation area at the clay quarries.
The first attestation of the name is spelledBikenuelt (about 700) orBirkinvelt at the time when it had a documentary mention from Archbishop ofTrierEgbert in 981. From this document comes knowledge that SaintLeudwinus (Archbishop of Trier 695-713) had donated to theSt. Paulinus' Abbey in Trier the churches at Birkenfeld and Brombach.
Archaeological finds from theIron Age, however, bear witness to quite heavy settlement even in the 8th century BC. In the 1st century BC,Roman legions overran the area, and for 400 years, it lay under Roman rule. This is known mainly from finds made in the town's immediate vicinity. The town that is now Birkenfeld lies right on aRoman road that served as a crosslink between two important military roads, namely theMetz-Mainz road to the south and the Trier-Bingen-Mainz road to the north, which was mentioned by Roman poetAusonius in hisMosella in AD 350, and which also corresponds along some stretches with theHunsrückhöhenstraße ("Hunsrück Heights Road", a scenic road across theHunsrück built originally as a military road onHermann Göring's orders). This crosslink, also known as theBronzestraße ("Bronze Road"), linked theGlan,Nohen and theMoselle with each other. TheBronzestraße crossed the Nahe in Nohen (villa Aldena) and ran farther on, right through theWasserschieder Wald, a state forest that still stands today on the town's outskirts, by way ofGollenberg, byBörfink and on towards Trier.
The Frankish settlement ofBirkinvelt was held in the 13th century by theCounts of Sponheim. In 1223, the county was split into the "Front" and "Rear" Counties of Sponheim, and Birkenfeld passed to the latter, and was then held by the counts whose seat was at the Starkenburg (castle, now a ruin) nearTrarbach. In 1293, Castle Birkenfeld had its first documentary mention. In 1332, Birkenfeld was granted town rights by EmperorLouis the Bavarian.
After the last Count of Sponheim died in 1437, the "Rear" County was inherited by theMargraves ofBaden and theCounts of Veldenz. In 1584, aHouse of Wittelsbach sideline, in the person ofCharles I, Count Palatine of Zweibrücken-Birkenfeld, resided in town. In this same year, expansion work also began on the castle to turn it into a princely residence in theRenaissance style. Exactly 140 years later, the last remnants of the Princely holding of court at Schloss Birkenfeld, as it had come to be known, were swept away. During theThirty Years' War (1618–1648), the town itself became in 1635 a theatre of war. Also that year, thePlague broke out in Birkenfeld and claimed 416 lives.
In 1776, under MargraveKarl Friedrich, Birkenfeld became seat of the BadishOberamt. In this time, Birkenfeld blossomed. The town experienced an economic and cultural upswing. In 1779, for instance, the first "Higher School" was founded.
One night in February 1797, Johannes Bückler, known asSchinderhannes,burgled a cloth factory owned by the Brothers Stumm, who would later becomecoal andsteel entrepreneurs on the Saar. A large part of the cloth stolen during this break-in Schinderhannes sold to afence in Hundheim.[3]
In 1798, during theFrench Revolutionary Wars, theLeft Bank of the Rhine wasceded toFrance, whereafter Birkenfeld belonged to theDepartment ofSarre.
After theCongress of Vienna (1814-1815) which ended theNapoleonic Wars, most of the Left Bank became part ofPrussianGrand Duchy of the Lower Rhine (Rhine Province after 1822), theBavarianCircle of the Rhine or theHessianRhenish Hesse. However, a small area between the Prussian and Bavarian parts was given asexclaves to three other states: thePrincipality of Lichtenberg went toSaxe-Coburg-Saalfeld (Saxe-Coburg and Gotha after 1826), Meisenheim went toHesse-Hanau and thePrincipality of Birkenfeld was awarded to theGrand Duchy of Oldenburg for the contribution ofPeter I, then regent of Oldenburg, to the military effort againstNapoleon. By 1866 Birknefeld had become entirelyenclaved within the Prussian Rhine Province, as Lichtenberg had been sold to Prussia in 1834 and Meisenheim had been annexed following theAustro-Prussian War.
Under Oldenburg rule, the new palatial castle, which is now the district administration's seat, was built in 1821. Not only was this built, but so were further buildings in the Governmental Quarter (Regierungsviertel), such as the infantry barracks (until 1963, aGymnasium building, now the local office for the regulation of expenditures caused by stationed forces), which to this day characterize the town's appearance with theirClassicist style from Oldenburg times.
On 1 April 1937, during theNazi period, the Birkenfeld region was transferred to thePrussian Rhine Province; it was merged with theRestkreis (roughly "remnant district") of St. Wendel-Baumholder to form the Birkenfeld District. (TheKreis of St. Wendel-Baumholder was what had been the Principality of Lichtenberg until 1834, with the designation as aRestkreis having arisen after part of its territory, including St. Wendel itself, had been detached to form part of theTerritory of the Saar Basin established under the terms of theTreaty of Versailles). After theSecond World War, Birkenfeld belonged to theFrench Occupation Zone, and since 1946, it has been a district seat inRhineland-Palatinate.
In 2008, 50% of the town's inhabitants wereEvangelical and 31% wereCatholic.[4] Besides these two biggest groups, there are an Evangelical Free Church congregation (Baptists), theMennonite Brethren Church, aNew Apostolic church and theJehovah's Witnesses.
Birkenfeld has been a district seat since 1947 and forms together with 30 other municipalities aVerbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality, called theVerbandsgemeinde of Birkenfeld.
The council is made up of 22 council members, who were elected byproportional representation at the municipal election held on 25 May 2014, and the honorary mayor as chairman.
The municipal election held on 25 May 2014 yielded the following results:[5]
| Year | SPD | CDU | BfB | BFL | FDP | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | 9 | 9 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 22 seats |
| 2009 | 8 | 8 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 22 seats |
| 2004 | 8 | 11 | - | 2 | 1 | 22 seats |
BFL isBirkenfelder Freie Liste (“Birkenfeld Free List”).BfB isBürger für Birkenfeld (“Citizens for Birkenfeld”).
Birkenfeld's mayor is Miroslaw Kowalski (CDU), re-elected in 2019.[1] His predecessor was Peter Nauert (CDU).[6] Peter Nauert was the first mayor ever to be elected by direct vote by the people of Birkenfeld. Both his predecessors, Manfred Dreier and Erich Mörsdorf, headed both the town and theVerbandsgemeinde of Birkenfeld at once.
Werner Käufer was the last professional mayor of the town of Birkenfeld. Indeed, he was acclaimed in the office in 1968 with a great majority for another 12 years, but by 1970, he had to give up his professional office when, under administrative restructuring inRhineland-Palatinate, towns with fewer than 7,500 inhabitants were merged intoVerbandsgemeinden.
The following have served as mayor of Birkenfeld:
The town'sarms might be described thus: Azure on a mount vert a birch tree with roots proper surmounted by an inescutcheon chequy gules and argent.
The maincharge, thebirch tree, iscanting for the town's name (“birch” isBirke inGerman). Theinescutcheon with the red and silver “chequy” pattern is the coat of arms formerly borne by the “Hinder”County of Sponheim, thus bearing witness to that time in the town's history. This composition is based on an old court seal from 1577.
The arms have been borne since 29 October 1923, when they were approved by the Ministry of the Interior atOldenburg.
Birkenfeld fosters partnerships with the following places:
In bygone days, the local Birkenfeld dialect was marked by the peculiarity of often replacing the sounds /d/ and /t/ – and sometimes /r/ as well – with /l/, ashift known aslambdacism. For example, a Birkenfelder in those days would have saidFulerlale where Standard High German would haveFutterladen (“fodder shop”). A full-sentence example can be seen in a remark made by the Birkenfeld sexton “Fuchs Karl” to the church councillor and parish priest Haag:Jo, jo, Herr Kirjerot, pririje kann e jela, awa noch lang net loule!, or in Standard High German,Ja, ja, Herr Kirchenrat, predigen kann ein jeder, aber noch lange nicht läuten! (“Yes, yes, Mr. Church Councillor, preaching is something anyone can do, but bellringing, not for long”).
Lambdacism, though, long ago vanished from the Birkenfeld dialect, having given way to the other shift that is customary inHunsrückisch:rhotacism.
TheLandesmuseum des Vereins für Heimatkunde im Landkreis Birkenfeld (“State Museum of the Association for Local History in the Rural District of Birkenfeld”) offers an overview of 2,500 years of cultural history. The centrepiece is the interactively equipped Celtic experience exhibitKelten, Kunst und Kult erleben (“ExperienceCelts,Art andWorship”). Here, through reconstructions, archaeological finds and replicas, these people's life is presented. Further exhibits deal with regional and territorial history of theBirkenfelder Land. Historical highlights among these exhibits are theHigh Middle Ages (13th to 15th centuries) and Oldenburg times in the Principality of Birkenfeld beginning in the early 19th century. Regularly changing exhibits deal with both historical and current themes.
The following are listed buildings or sites inRhineland-Palatinate’s Directory of Cultural Monuments:[7]
Right next to the Birkenfeld State Museum is theMaler-Zang-Haus (“Painter Zang House”). The house, built in 1883 in the bourgeois Classicist style, is where the painter Hugo Zang (1858–1946) once lived. In 2006, restoration work began in an effort to bring the house up to a standard worthy of monumental protection. Since 2008, the building has housed not only the Birkenfeld districtfolk high school but also seven gallery rooms for changing exhibitions of works by local and national artists.
The town's economy is characterized mainly by small and midsize businesses. Owing to Birkenfeld's history as a noble residence town and an administrative seat, no great industrial development ever took place here. The biggest employers, besides the administrative bodies, are thus a foundation and theBundeswehr.
TheGerman Red Cross’s (DRK)Elisabeth-Stiftung, a medical rehabilitation foundation, with itshospital,Berufsförderungswerk Birkenfeld (an institute for retraining workers whose condition precludes their return to former occupations), private vocational schools, measures for youth and senior citizens’ home is with more than 600 employees the town's biggest employer. Following theElisabeth-Stiftung is the Bundeswehr (among other units, the 2ndLuftwaffe Division) with more than 500 military and civilian personnel. TheStefan-Morsch-Stiftung, a foundation for keeping data on potentialbone marrow andstem cell donors, has its seat in Birkenfeld.
On the lands of the formerrailway station, a centre forstarting up businesses (“BIG-Center”) was built in the 1990s.
Birkenfeld has good road links toBundesstraßen 41 (east-west, betweenMainz andSaarbrücken) and 269 (betweenBernkastel-Kues andSaarlouis), as well as toAutobahnA 62, which is the most important north–south link, running betweenTrier andKaiserslautern. Furthermore,Bundesstraße 269 links to theHunsrückhöhenstraße, and thereby toFrankfurt-Hahn Airport, which lies 50 km away by road. This journey is covered five times each day by a bus service.
Birkenfeld's rail link is 5 km away in nearbyNeubrücke, which has a station on theNahe Valley Railway (Bingen–Saarbrücken). Saarbrücken can be reached by train in 45 minutes, andFrankfurt in less than two hours. The formerspur line leading to Birkenfeld has been abandoned, and is now a cycle path.
Running outwards from Birkenfeld are five local loop trails forhiking with a total length through the region of more than 60 km. These are theGlockenweg (roughly 16 km), theEulenweg (roughly 9 km), theMausweg (roughly 12.5 km), theMühlenweg (roughly 12.5 km) and theRehweg (roughly 12.5 km). The long-distance Nahe-Höhenweg and the Sironaweg, which leads by manyCeltic-Romanarchaeological finds, likewise run by Birkenfeld.
The roughly 120 km-longNahe-Radweg and theRheinland-Pfalz-Route run right through the middle of town. They are supplemented by three local cycling circuits, R1, R2 and R3, with a total length of just under 80 km.
Since 1996, avocational school has been established on the grounds of a formerUS military hospital in the neighbouring municipality ofHoppstädten-Weiersbach. TheEnvironmental Campus Birkenfeld (Umwelt-Campus Birkenfeld) has, as a branch of theTrier University of Applied Sciences, made a significant contribution to the Birkenfeld region's economic development.
For school-age children there is a broad array of offerings.
Enjoying more than local importance is theElisabeth-Stiftung medical rehabilitation foundation, with its specific offers of qualifications to people with either physical or mental handicaps. Alumni come from all over Germany and even from neighbouring countries.
Among other academic offerings is theVolkshochschule Birkenfeld, afolk high school.
Birkenfeld is the location of a number of authorities:
Birkenfeld has, among other sport and leisure facilities, a heated outdoorswimming pool, theStadion am Berg (“Stadium at the Mountain”), several sport halls, azoo, two libraries, a vocational library and the youth centre. In 2000, askatepark was built at the youth centre, which in 2005 was expanded with afunbox, aquarter pipe, a ramp and an obstacle.
Many well known people went to school in Birkenfeld:
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