Schalkenmehren | |
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 Coat of arms | |
Location of Schalkenmehren within Vulkaneifel district
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 Location of Schalkenmehren | |
  Schalkenmehren  Schalkenmehren | |
| Coordinates:50°10′04″N06°51′39″E / 50.16778°N 6.86083°E /50.16778; 6.86083 | |
| Country | Germany |
| State | Rhineland-Palatinate |
| District | Vulkaneifel |
| Municipal assoc. | Daun |
| Government | |
| • Mayor(2019–24) | Peter Hartogh[1] |
| Area | |
• Total | 10.40 km2 (4.02 sq mi) |
| Elevation | 425 m (1,394 ft) |
| Population (2023-12-31)[2] | |
• Total | 635 |
| • Density | 61.1/km2 (158/sq mi) |
| Time zone | UTC+01:00 (CET) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC+02:00 (CEST) |
| Postal codes | 54552 |
| Dialling codes | 06592 |
| Vehicle registration | DAU |
| Website | www.schalkenmehren.de |
Schalkenmehren is anOrtsgemeinde – amunicipality belonging to aVerbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in theVulkaneifeldistrict inRhineland-Palatinate,Germany. It belongs to theVerbandsgemeinde of Daun, whose seat is in thelike-named town.
The municipality of Schalkenmehren lies in theVulkaneifel, a part of theEifel known for its volcanic history, geographical and geological features, and even ongoing activity today, including gases that sometimes well up from the earth. It is roughly 4 km south-southeast ofDaunas the crow flies, at the northeast foot of the Hoher List, astratovolcano which is home to a formerobservatory. Severalvolcanic lakes, like theSchalkenmehrener Maar, theWeinfelder Maar and theGemündener Maar, lie within the municipality’s limits.
The Schalkenmehrener Maar has a popular bathing area.
On 25 November 1287, Schalkenmehren had its first documentary mention in a document fromHimmerod Abbey.
Some mention of the now vanished village of Weinfeld must be made, for it is linked historically with Schalkenmehren. The only building from this forsaken village that still stands today is a small church which even now appears as acharge in Schalkenmehren’scoat of arms. It is consecrated toSaint Martin. Weinfeld lay east of this church, where a cross-country path toMehren now leads. It had been aRoman settlement thatconverted early on toChristianity, perhaps as early asConstantine’s time, but certainly afterSaint Boniface’s works in Germany.
The village’s name is variously interpreted as being derived fromWeihefeld (roughly "Hallowed Field") or fromWinefeld, meaning "Friend’s Field" (this root also shows up inEnglish, in names such as "Baldwin").
Weinfeld was a parish quite early on. The Altburg (castle), built in 731, belonged to the parish of Weinfeld. The parish included Weinfeld, Schalkenmehren with the Altburg,Saxler,Udler and three houses from Gemünden. The chapel in Schalkenmehren was considered a branch of the one in Weinfeld. Today, the Weinfeld chapel is apilgrimage site. In the yard around the chapel, the dead of Schalkenmehren are still buried, as they have been for centuries.
By 1562, though, Weinfeld had been forsaken. It was in this year that the last pastor left the now dead village and moved to Schalkenmehren. In 1522, thePlague had broken out in the German Emperor’s army. A chronicle from the Saarland reports: "At that time, warring peoples had brought a plaguelike sickness in, which in the Rhinelands wrought great devastation. The people died en masse and suddenly." Weinfeld was one of quite a fewEifel villages that were wiped out in theepidemic. The statues of the "Plague Saints",Saint Sebastian andSaint Roch, recall this time. The survivors migrated away or moved to Schalkenmehren. However, Weinfeld remained a parish until 1803 – the onset ofNapoleonic times – and the pastors still bore the title Parish Priest of Weinfeld, even though they lived in Schalkenmehren.[3]
In 1920, the young schoolteacher Anna Droste-Lehnert came to Schalkenmehren. It struck her that the Eifel farmers were very poor, and also that they could weave very pretty cloths, the so-calledMaartuch ("maar cloth"). With friends from theWandervogel movement, she convinced the villagers to found, together with her, a coöperative. In 1926, nineteen Schalkenmehren citizens joined together to form theHeimweberei-Genossenschaft Schalkenmehren e.G. The farmers wove, the farmers’ wives did the cutting and sewing, and the coöperative marketed the products. Mrs. Droste-Lehnert also designed new patterns for the weavers. In the 1930s, the coöperative was very successful, and even in the difficult time just after theSecond World War, it managed to keep itself going. In the 1970s, one episode of the Germanchildren’s television programmeDie Sendung mit der Maus featured the coöperative.
When the village’s structure moved away fromfarming and the numbers of active weavers declined, the coöperative was dissolved in 1983.
Some active women citizens of the municipality of Schalkenmehren later founded theHeimweberei-Museum Schalkenmehren ("Schalkenmehren Home Weaving Museum"), which exhibits the history of theHeimweberei-Genossenschaft Schalkenmehren e.G. They run it as a volunteer operation.
The council is made up of 12 council members, who were elected bymajority vote at the municipal election held on 7 June 2009, and the honorary mayor as chairman.[4]
Schalkenmehren’s mayor is Peter Hartogh, and his deputies are Lothar Kaspers and Elfriede Geibel.[5]
The municipality’sarms might be described thus: Per fess wavy, azure a chapel argent with roof sable and argent three fish of the first.
Thechapel shown in the upper part of the arms is the only building still standing from what was once the village of Weinfeld. The parish of Weinfeld was mentioned as early as the 14th century. The wavy line of partition, and the fish as well, are meant to refer to themaars that characterize the area and the municipality itself. Furthermore, the fish are supposed to represent the wealth of fish in these bodies of water.[6]
Schalkenmehren has amuseum dedicated to theweaving industry that was once an important livelihood to many in the municipality.
Schalkenmehren also has a small airfield for both motorized aircraft and gliders.
The municipality was also home to anastronomicalobservatory which belonged to theUniversity of Bonn, theHoher List Observatory. It stands on the mountain of the same name.
On 1 December 1909, Schalkenmehren was linked to therailway network with the opening of theMaare-Mosel-Bahn, but since 29 May 1988, it has no longer been possible to reach Schalkenmehren by rail. Today, the former railway track is a cycle path, theMaare-Mosel-Radweg.
Media related toSchalkenmehren at Wikimedia Commons| International | |
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| Geographic | |
