Birkenheide is a municipality in the
Rhein-Pfalz-Kreis
The Rhein-Pfalz-Kreis is a district (''Kreis'') in the east of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany.
Neighboring districts are (from north clockwise) the district-free city Worms, the district Bergstraße, district-free Mannheim, Frankenthal and Ludw ...
, in
Rhineland-Palatinate
Rhineland-Palatinate ( , ; german: link=no, Rheinland-Pfalz ; lb, Rheinland-Pfalz ; pfl, Rhoilond-Palz) is a western state of Germany. It covers and has about 4.05 million residents. It is the ninth largest and sixth most populous of the ...
,
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
and is part of the
Verbandsgemeinde Maxdorf.
Geography
Birkenheide is located about 10 kilometers west of Ludwigshafen in the
Palatinate. Adjacent communities - clockwise starting north - are
Weisenheim am Sand
Weisenheim am Sand ( Palatine German: Weisrem) is an ''Ortsgemeinde'' – a municipality belonging to a ''Verbandsgemeinde'', a kind of collective municipality – in the Bad Dürkheim district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany.
Geography
Locat ...
,
Lambsheim
Lambsheim is a municipality in the Rhein-Pfalz-Kreis, in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is the seat of the ''Verbandsgemeinde'' Lambsheim-Heßheim.
Geography
Lambsheim is situated approximately 6 km southwest of Frankenthal, and 11 ...
,
Maxdorf
Maxdorf is a municipality in the Rhein-Pfalz-Kreis, in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is situated approximately 11 km west of Ludwigshafen.
Maxdorf is also the seat of the ''Verbandsgemeinde
A Verbandsgemeinde (; plural Verbandsgemein ...
,
Fußgönheim,
Ellerstadt
Ellerstadt is an ''Ortsgemeinde'' – a municipality belonging to a ''Verbandsgemeinde'', a kind of collective municipality – in the Bad Dürkheim district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany.
Geography
Location
The municipality lies on the Up ...
,
Bad Dürkheim
Bad Dürkheim () is a spa town in the Rhine-Neckar urban agglomeration, and is the seat of the Bad Dürkheim district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany.
Geography
Location
Bad Dürkheim lies at the edge of Palatinate Forest on the German Wine ...
and
Erpolzheim.
History
In 1936, the ''Großsiedlung Hundertmorgen'' was built on a stretch of land by the
German Labor Front
The German Labour Front (german: Deutsche Arbeitsfront, ; DAF) was the labour organisation under the Nazi Party which replaced the various independent trade unions in Germany during Adolf Hitler's rise to power.
History
As early as March 1933, ...
, where
Eyersheim had been located before it was abandoned. The settlement had 528 people and was initially managed by Weisenheim am Sand. In 1939, the settlement was expanded by the development of today's town center with larger one- and two-family houses. In 1946, the population had grown to about 1200, mainly by immigrants and refugees who were housed in makeshift shelters in the northeast of the village.
On 1 October 1952 the settlement became the independent municipality Birkenheide. Its first mayor was Albertine Scherer. Soon a separate elementary school, kindergartens, a fire station and other communal facilities were built. The temporary housing facilities were replaced between 1964 and 1970 by blocks of flats and houses.
In 1970 Birkenheide made an incorporation agreement with
Ludwigshafen
Ludwigshafen, officially Ludwigshafen am Rhein (; meaning " Ludwig's Port upon Rhine"), is a city in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate, on the river Rhine, opposite Mannheim. With Mannheim, Heidelberg, and the surrounding region, it form ...
, however this was rejected by Maxdorf and the Rhineland-Palatinate government. A subsequent lawsuit was unsuccessful. In 1983, the village community house was built.
Religion
The Protestant church, the Lukaskirche, was built in 1951 due to a post-war emergency church program and was designed by
Otto Bartning
Otto Bartning (12 April 1883 in Karlsruhe – 20 February 1959 in Darmstadt) was a Modernist German architect, architectural theorist and teacher. In his early career he developed plans with Walter Gropius for the establishment of the Bauhaus. H ...
. As the church remained relatively unchanged, it has been listed as a
Kulturdenkmal
Kulturdenkmal is the official term to describe National Heritage Sites listed by lawAccording to international law, the English term is Cultural property, but can also be called ''Protected monument''. in German-speaking areas of Europe, to prote ...
.
The first Catholic church was built in 1968, but was replaced by the new church of St. Josef in 1995. The building includes meeting and youth rooms.
On October 31, 2014, 36.079% of the population was Protestant, 28.321% Catholic, 3.522% had other religions, and 32.088% undenominational or unspecified.
Politics
Municipal council
The
municipal council
A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, rural counci ...
of Birkenheide consists of 20 council members, who were elected in last election on 25 May 2014.
Mayor
The current
voluntary
Voluntary may refer to:
* Voluntary (music)
* Voluntary or volunteer, person participating via volunteering/volunteerism
* Voluntary muscle contraction
See also
* Voluntary action
* Voluntariness, in law and philosophy
* Voluntaryism
Volunt ...
mayor of Birkenheide is Rainer Reiß (CDU), elected in May 2019.
[
]
Coat of Arms
Blazon
In heraldry and heraldic vexillology, a blazon is a formal description of a coat of arms, flag or similar emblem, from which the reader can reconstruct the appropriate image. The verb ''to blazon'' means to create such a description. The vis ...
: "Divided in black and gold, on the top half three silver birch trees, on the botton half a red mill wheel."
It was approved in 1979 by the district government of Neustadt an der Weinstraße
Neustadt an der Weinstraße (, formerly known as ; lb, Neustadt op der Wäistrooss ; pfl, Naischdadt) is a town in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. With 53,300 inhabitants , it is the largest town called ''Neustadt''.
Geography
Location
T ...
.
Sights
Natural monuments
The ''Silbergrasflur'' (grey hair-grass
''Corynephorus canescens,'' common name grey hair-grass or gray clubawn grass, is a species of plants in the grass family, native to Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa but widely naturalized in North America. In the United Kingdom it is ...
land parcel) was declared a natural monument
A natural monument is a natural or natural/cultural feature of outstanding or unique value because of its inherent rarity, representative of aesthetic qualities or cultural significance.
Under World Commission on Protected Areas guidelines, nat ...
in 1987.
Infrastructure
Birkenheide is located north of Bundesautobahn 650
is an autobahn in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It runs from Bad Dürkheim-Bruch to Ludwigshafen.
Exit list
Exits are numbered from west to east.
, colspan="2" style="text-align:center;", , , ''to Kaiserslautern''
, -
, colspan="3", ...
. There are bus connections to the surrounding towns. In Maxdorf, Fußgönheim and Ellerstadt there are stops of the Stadtbahn Bad Dürkheim-Ludwigshafen (formerly Rhein-Haardtbahn). Birkenheide is part of the tariff area of the Verkehrsverbund Rhein-Neckar
The Verkehrsverbund Rhein-Neckar (VRN) is a transport association covering parts of the German states of Baden-Württemberg, Rhineland-Palatinate and Hesse in south-west Germany. Founded in 1989, it initially served the Rhein Neckar Area, but ha ...
.
Education
In Birkenheide there are two kindergartens and a primary school.Regionaldaten - Birkenheide
''Statistisches Landesamt Rheinland-Pfalz'' (in German)
References
{{Authority control
Rhein-Pfalz-Kreis