Breitenthal (Hunsrück) ( Hunsrückisch: ''Bränel'') is an ''

Ortsgemeinde A Verbandsgemeinde (; plural Verbandsgemeinden) is a low-level administrative division, administrative unit in the Germany, German States of Germany, federal states of Rhineland-Palatinate and Saxony-Anhalt. A Verbandsgemeinde is typically compose ...

'' – a

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

belonging to a ''

Verbandsgemeinde A Verbandsgemeinde (; plural Verbandsgemeinden) is a low-level administrative unit in the German federal states of Rhineland-Palatinate and Saxony-Anhalt. A Verbandsgemeinde is typically composed of a small group of villages or towns. Rhineland- ...

'', a kind of collective municipality – in the

Birkenfeld Birkenfeld () is a town and the district seat of the Birkenfeld district in southwest Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is also the seat of the like-named ''Verbandsgemeinde''. The town itself has approximately 7,000 inhabitants. Geography ...

district A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivisions o ...

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 ...

. It belongs to the ''Verbandsgemeinde'' of Herrstein-Rhaunen, whose seat is in

Herrstein Herrstein is an ''Ortsgemeinde'' – a municipality belonging to a ''Verbandsgemeinde'', a kind of collective municipality – in the Birkenfeld district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is the seat of the ''Verbandsgemeinde'' Herrstein-Rhau ...

Geography

Location

The municipality lies on the slope down from the

Hunsrück The Hunsrück () is a long, triangular, pronounced upland in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is bounded by the valleys of the Moselle-Saar (north-to-west), the Nahe (south), and the Rhine (east). It is continued by the Taunus mountains, past ...

into the Nahe valley south of the

Idar Forest The Idar Forest (German: ''Idarwald'', Celtic: ''"id ar"'' - hill forest above the land) is part of the Hunsrück low mountain range in the German federal state of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Geography The Idar Forest lies in the districts ...

in an area facing east inside a bend in the river Hosenbach. In the southwest, the land slopes off steeply near the municipal limits into the Fischbach valley. Breitenthal's range of elevations is 187 m, from its lowest point of 330 m above

sea level Mean sea level (MSL, often shortened to sea level) is an average surface level of one or more among Earth's coastal bodies of water from which heights such as elevation may be measured. The global MSL is a type of vertical datuma standardised g ...

at the foot of the Schielenbach (), to its highest of 517 m above sea level in the Sangwald/Jungenwald (forest; ).

Land use

Breitenthal's total area measures 368 ha (3.68 km²), which breaks down thus: * Woodlands – 44.9% * Farmland – 43.3% * Residential and transport – 11.1% * Open water – 0.3% * Other – 0.4%

Neighbouring municipalities

Breitenthal borders on Oberhosenbach, Wickenrodt,

Niederhosenbach Niederhosenbach is an ''Ortsgemeinde'' – a municipality belonging to a ''Verbandsgemeinde'', a kind of collective municipality – in the Birkenfeld district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It belongs to the ''Verbandsgemeinde'' Herrstein-Rhaun ...

Mörschied Mörschied is an '' Ortsgemeinde'' – a municipality belonging to a ''Verbandsgemeinde'', a kind of collective municipality – in the Birkenfeld district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It belongs to the ''Verbandsgemeinde'' Herrstein-Rhaunen, ...

and Weiden. The nearest major town is

Idar-Oberstein Idar-Oberstein () is a town in the Birkenfeld district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. As a ''Große kreisangehörige Stadt'' (large city belonging to a district), it assumes some of the responsibilities that for smaller municipalities in ...

on the ''Deutsche Edelsteinstraße'' (“German Gem Road”).

Geology

Geologically Geology () is a branch of natural science concerned with Earth and other astronomical objects, the features or rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which they change over time. Modern geology significantly overlaps all other Eart ...

, the Breitenthal area is characterized by

slate Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade regional metamorphism. It is the finest grained foliated metamorphic rock. ...

(

stratigraphy Stratigraphy is a branch of geology concerned with the study of rock (geology), rock layers (Stratum, strata) and layering (stratification). It is primarily used in the study of sedimentary rock, sedimentary and layered volcanic rocks. Stratigrap ...

: Hunsrück slate;

petrography Petrography is a branch of petrology that focuses on detailed descriptions of rocks. Someone who studies petrography is called a petrographer. The mineral content and the textural relationships within the rock are described in detail. The classi ...

claystone Mudrocks are a class of fine-grained siliciclastic sedimentary rocks. The varying types of mudrocks include siltstone, claystone, mudstone, slate, and shale. Most of the particles of which the stone is composed are less than and are too sm ...

and

siltstone Siltstone, also known as aleurolite, is a clastic sedimentary rock that is composed mostly of silt. It is a form of mudrock with a low clay mineral content, which can be distinguished from shale by its lack of fissility.Blatt ''et al.'' 1980, p ...

with traces of

sandstone Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates) ...

). This arose from clayey/sandy depositions from great rivers on the Old Red Continent that were submerged in a deep sea, sinking to the sea floor in the Upper

Devonian The Devonian ( ) is a geologic period and system of the Paleozoic era, spanning 60.3 million years from the end of the Silurian, million years ago (Mya), to the beginning of the Carboniferous, Mya. It is named after Devon, England, whe ...

and the Lower

Carboniferous The Carboniferous ( ) is a geologic period and system of the Paleozoic that spans 60 million years from the end of the Devonian Period million years ago ( Mya), to the beginning of the Permian Period, million years ago. The name ''Carbonifero ...

. These deposits were later folded and, as part of the

Variscan orogeny The Variscan or Hercynian orogeny was a geologic mountain-building event caused by Late Paleozoic continental collision between Euramerica (Laurussia) and Gondwana to form the supercontinent of Pangaea. Nomenclature The name ''Variscan'', comes f ...

, once more lifted up. The tectonic forces along a southeast–northwest axis during this folding were what gave rise to the almost upright-standing slate areas, which were also thereby given the

fissility In nuclear engineering, fissile material is material capable of sustaining a nuclear fission Nuclear chain reaction#Fission chain reaction, chain reaction. By definition, fissile material can sustain a chain reaction with neutrons of thermal ene ...

that allowed them to be split into thin sheets that would be so important much later on to the local economy. The

fossil A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserved ...

s in Breitenthal slate are either encrusted with a thin layer of

pyrite The mineral pyrite (), or iron pyrite, also known as fool's gold, is an iron sulfide with the chemical formula Iron, FeSulfur, S2 (iron (II) disulfide). Pyrite is the most abundant sulfide mineral. Pyrite's metallic Luster (mineralogy), lust ...

or formed of fine

crystal A crystal or crystalline solid is a solid material whose constituents (such as atoms, molecules, or ions) are arranged in a highly ordered microscopic structure, forming a crystal lattice that extends in all directions. In addition, macros ...

s (<20 µm).D. E. G. Briggs, Peter R. Crowther: ''Palaeobiology II: A Synthesis''; Blackwell Publishing, 2001; , ; Seite 347 The municipal area's northwesternmost corner in the Rhaunen State Forest (Sangwald and Jungenwald) is part of a

Taunus The Taunus is a mountain range in Hesse, Germany, located north of Frankfurt. The tallest peak in the range is ''Großer Feldberg'' at 878 m; other notable peaks are ''Kleiner Feldberg'' (825 m) and ''Altkönig'' (798 m). The Taunus range spans ...

quartzite Quartzite is a hard, non- foliated metamorphic rock which was originally pure quartz sandstone.Essentials of Geology, 3rd Edition, Stephen Marshak, p 182 Sandstone is converted into quartzite through heating and pressure usually related to tect ...

block, whose continuation can also be seen in the higher elevations to the west, namely the Sandkopf, the Wildenburger Kopf and the Mörschieder Burr (stratigraphy: Taunus quartzite; petrography: quartz sandstone and quartzitic sandstone with traces of claystone and siltstone). Geological risks arise from abandoned mines in the Schielenbach. Not only are their shafts in the ground formerly affording access to underground slatemines, but also the dangers inherent in old slate heaps at the mines.

Climate

Breitenthal lies in a zone characterized mainly by an

oceanic climate An oceanic climate, also known as a marine climate, is the humid temperate climate sub-type in Köppen classification ''Cfb'', typical of west coasts in higher middle latitudes of continents, generally featuring cool summers and mild winters ( ...

with a prevailing wind direction from southwest to northwest. The topographically favourable location of the municipality's main centre in a hollow sloping gently towards the east confers a somewhat more favourable climate than that which prevails in nearby places. Very seldom is there hot and

humid Humidity is the concentration of water vapor present in the air. Water vapor, the gaseous state of water, is generally invisible to the human eye. Humidity indicates the likelihood for precipitation, dew, or fog to be present. Humidity depen ...

weather here. Because Breitenthal lies alee of the Wildenburg mountain ridge to the west and the Idar Forest to the north, showers and storms, as well as mean and absolute wind speed, are significantly less intense than would be expected given the synoptic structure. In the odd case when Breitenthal finds itself on the windward side of the Idar Forest, there can be prolonged rainfall and low cloud

ceilings A ceiling is an overhead interior surface that covers the upper limits of a room. It is not generally considered a structural element, but a finished surface concealing the underside of the roof structure or the floor of a story above. Ceilings ...

ahead of

warm front A warm front is a density discontinuity located at the leading edge of a homogeneous warm air mass, and is typically located on the equator-facing edge of an isotherm gradient. Warm fronts lie within broader troughs of low pressure than cold fro ...

s as long as the wind is out of the south (between 150° and 210°) and the

dew point The dew point is the temperature to which air must be cooled to become saturated with water vapor, assuming constant air pressure and water content. When cooled below the dew point, moisture capacity is reduced and airborne water vapor will cond ...

spread is only slight. The village is practically

fog Fog is a visible aerosol consisting of tiny water droplets or ice crystals suspended in the air at or near the Earth's surface. Reprint from Fog can be considered a type of low-lying cloud usually resembling stratus, and is heavily influ ...

-free; only

radiation fog Fog is a visible aerosol consisting of tiny water drop (liquid), droplets or ice crystals suspended in the air at or near the Earth, Earth's land, surface. Reprint from Fog can be considered a type of low-lying cloud usually resembling str ...

is seen now and then, as well as the odd

advection fog In the field of physics, engineering, and earth sciences, advection is the transport of a substance or quantity by bulk motion of a fluid. The properties of that substance are carried with it. Generally the majority of the advected substance is al ...

inflow from the Hosenbach valley within the framework of a local atmospheric circulation that forms with low-gradient

anticyclonic An anticyclone is a weather phenomenon defined as a large-scale circulation of winds around a central region of high atmospheric pressure, clockwise in the Northern Hemisphere and counterclockwise in the Southern Hemisphere as viewed from abov ...

weather systems. When there is a slight westerly wind, it can sometimes bring about an advection-induced hill fog on the saddle south of the village (in the training ground area) if moist air flowing from the Schielenbach condenses once it is lifted up. The village itself is not usually affected by this. Extreme weather in the form of summertime hot-weather

thunderstorm A thunderstorm, also known as an electrical storm or a lightning storm, is a storm characterized by the presence of lightning and its acoustic effect on the Earth's atmosphere, known as thunder. Relatively weak thunderstorms are someti ...

s arising in the Nahe valley can in times of overlying southeasterly upper air flows be swept over the Hosenbach valley to Breitenthal. These storms are made all the more intense by lifting processes with orographically induced increased strength, leading to unusually great amounts of

precipitation In meteorology, precipitation is any product of the condensation of atmospheric water vapor that falls under gravitational pull from clouds. The main forms of precipitation include drizzle, rain, sleet, snow, ice pellets, graupel and hail. ...

within a short time. It was on the occasion of one such event that the lower-lying sections of the village's new development area experienced flooded basements, prompting improvements in surface-water removal systems through changes to the drainage ditches.

History

This timeline shows the holders of the territory in which Breitenthal has lain over the centuries, from the time of its first documentary mention: ImageSize = width:1000 height:80 PlotArea = width:700 height:50 left:50 bottom:25 DateFormat = yyyy Period = from:1250 till:2050 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:50 start:1250 Define $dx = 25 # shift text to right side of bar PlotData= bar:Leadors color:red width:15 mark: (line,white) align:left fontsize:S color:red from:1282 till:1794 shift:(-30,15) text:Waldgraviate/Rhinegraviate in HRE color:blue from:1794 till:1814 shift:(-30,30) text:France color:black from:1814 till:1817 shift:(-20,15) text:Prussia color:yellow from:1817 till:1937 shift:(-30,30) text:Oldenburg color:black from:1937 till:1945 shift:(-30,15) text:Prussia color:green from:1946 till:2015 shift:(-20,30) text:Rhineland-Palatinate The village, which had its first documentary mention in 1282 as ''Breydendale'', sprang from an estate established to supply the lordly family, and together with the neighbouring village of Oberhosenbach formed a Rhinegravial and Waldgravial high court in the Rhinegravial-Waldgravial ''

Amt Amt is a type of administrative division governing a group of municipalities, today only in Germany, but formerly also common in other countries of Northern Europe. Its size and functions differ by country and the term is roughly equivalent to ...

'' of Wildenburg. Once the French had

auction An auction is usually a process of buying and selling goods or services by offering them up for bids, taking bids, and then selling the item to the highest bidder or buying the item from the lowest bidder. Some exceptions to this definition ex ...

ed off the lordly holdings to private owners as national property (''bien national''), Breitenthal could develop itself as a free village.Hugo Klar: ''Ortsnamen und Siedlungsgeschichte an der Oberen Nahe''; in: Aufsätze zur Heimatkunde des Landkreises Birkenfeld, Band 2

Archaeological Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscap ...

finds from the

Bronze Age The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second pri ...

have led to the assumption that there was human settlement then within what are now the municipality's limits. In the cadastral area known as Hirtenbösch and in the Hardtwald (forest), traces of settlement and gravesites from early Hallstatt times and La Tène times have been unearthed. Furthermore, in the area of the now vanished village of Battenhofen, clear signs of a

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a letter ...

presence have been found in several spots right near the

Roman road Roman roads ( la, viae Romanae ; singular: ; meaning "Roman way") were physical infrastructure vital to the maintenance and development of the Roman state, and were built from about 300 BC through the expansion and consolidation of the Roman Re ...

. The estate of Breitenthal (''Breidendale'') was mentioned in a 1282 document with which Konrad von

Schmidtburg The Schmidtburg is a ruined hill castle next to Schneppenbach ( Hunsrück) in Germany. The castle was built up in 926, and was destroyed during the War of the Grand Alliance The Nine Years' War (1688–1697), often called the War of the Gran ...

transferred the estate to his brother Gottfried von Kyrburg. In 1318, the ''Dinghof'' (lordly estate with lower jurisdiction) of ''Breidindeil'' was transferred by the

Waldgrave The noble family of the Waldgraves or Wildgraves (Latin: ''comites silvestres'') descended of a division of the House of the Counts of Nahegau in the year 1113. When the (a countship named after the river Nahe) split into two parts in 1113 ...

Friedrich zu Kyrburg to

Archbishop of Trier The Diocese of Trier, in English historically also known as ''Treves'' (IPA "tɾivz") from French ''Trèves'', is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Catholic church in Germany.Baldwin, who at once enfeoffed the Waldgrave with his own former holding as an Electoral-Trier

fief A fief (; la, feudum) was a central element in medieval contracts based on feudal law. It consisted of a form of property holding or other rights granted by an Lord, overlord to a vassal, who held it in fealty or "in fee" in return for a for ...

. Beginning in 1409, Breitenthal belonged to the ''Amt'' of Wildenburg with which it passed in 1515 to the Rhinegrave and Waldgrave of Kyrburg. After the Old Kyrburg line had died out, it passed to the Old Dhaun line of the Rhinegraves and Waldgraves. After this line split, a three-fourths share of the ownership went to the Waldgraves and Rhinegraves of Grumbach, while each of the Salm-Salms and the Salm-Kyrburgs got a one-eighth share. The Waldgraviate and Rhinegraviate of Salm-Kyrburg – as of 1743 the Principality of Salm-Kyrburg – stood as an

Imperially immediate Imperial immediacy (german: Reichsfreiheit or ') was a privileged constitutional and political status rooted in German feudal law under which the Imperial estates of the Holy Roman Empire such as Imperial cities, prince-bishoprics and secular prin ...

territory from 1499 until the

Treaty of Lunéville The Treaty of Lunéville (or Peace of Lunéville) was signed in the Treaty House of Lunéville on 9 February 1801. The signatory parties were the French Republic and Emperor Francis II, who signed on his own behalf as ruler of the hereditary doma ...

in 1801. The capital was

Kirn Kirn is a town in the Bad Kreuznach district in Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany. It is the seat of the ''Verbandsgemeinde'' Kirner Land. Kirn is a middle centre serving an area on the Nahe and in the Hunsrück. Geography Location Kirn lies in a la ...

. After the Principality of Salm-Kyrburg was conquered in 1794 and 1795 by

French Revolutionary The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are consider ...

troops and

annexed Annexation (Latin ''ad'', to, and ''nexus'', joining), in international law, is the forcible acquisition of one state's territory by another state, usually following military occupation of the territory. It is generally held to be an illegal act ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

in 1798, the

Holy Roman Empire The Holy Roman Empire was a Polity, political entity in Western Europe, Western, Central Europe, Central, and Southern Europe that developed during the Early Middle Ages and continued until its Dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire, dissolution i ...

ceded The act of cession is the assignment of property to another entity. In international law it commonly refers to land transferred by treaty. Ballentine's Law Dictionary defines cession as "a surrender; a giving up; a relinquishment of jurisdictio ...

the country to France in the Treaty of Lunéville. The Princes lived mainly in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

, where Prince Friedrich III of Salm-Kyburg was put to death by

guillotine A guillotine is an apparatus designed for efficiently carrying out executions by beheading. The device consists of a tall, upright frame with a weighted and angled blade suspended at the top. The condemned person is secured with stocks at th ...

in the

Reign of Terror The Reign of Terror (french: link=no, la Terreur) was a period of the French Revolution when, following the creation of the First Republic, a series of massacres and numerous public executions took place in response to revolutionary fervour, ...

in 1794.

In the

Thirty Years' War The Thirty Years' War was one of the longest and most destructive conflicts in European history The history of Europe is traditionally divided into four time periods: prehistoric Europe (prior to about 800 BC), classical antiquity (80 ...

, the region was occupied by

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Cana ...

troops after the Catholic League’s victory over the

Protestant Union The Protestant Union (german: Protestantische Union), also known as the Evangelical Union, Union of Auhausen, German Union or the Protestant Action Party, was a coalition of Protestant German states. It was formed on 14 May 1608 by Frederick IV ...

at the Battles of

Wimpfen Bad Wimpfen () is a historic spa town in the district of Heilbronn in the Baden-Württemberg region of southern Germany. It lies north of the city of Heilbronn, on the river Neckar. Geography Bad Wimpfen is located on the west bank of the Riv ...

and Höchst in 1620, whereafter it bore a heavy burden as Spain’s unwilling host. No documents about Breitenthal from this time are known, but according to oral history, a number of people from both Breitenthal and Niederhosenbach who had tried to flee were surrounded by Spanish ( Brabantish) soldiers in the area of the ''Jammerseiche'' (“Moaning Oak”) on the boundary between these two municipalities and horribly killed.Beispielsweise: G. Bergen: An der Jammerseiche, in: Blätter für Mosel, Hochwald und Hunsrück, Ausgabe Oktober 1911 (2. Jahrgang, No. 1), Seite 6 After the Thirty Years' War came Lorrainian invasions and French king Louis XIV's

War of the Reunions The War of the Reunions (1683–84) was a conflict between France, Spain and the Holy Roman Empire, with limited involvement by Genoa. It can be seen as a continuation of the 1667–1668 War of Devolution and the 1672–1678 Franco–Dutch War, ...

with the

Nine Years' War The Nine Years' War (1688–1697), often called the War of the Grand Alliance or the War of the League of Augsburg, was a conflict between France and a European coalition which mainly included the Holy Roman Empire (led by the Habsburg monarch ...

(known in Germany as the ''Pfälzischer Erbfolgekrieg'', or War of the Palatine Succession). In the face of the Lorrainian troops, the local lords (the Rhinegraves, the Duke of Palatinate-Zweibrücken and the Lords of Oberstein) joined forces in 1651 and, for their small population, fielded quite a large army of 1,700

infantry Infantry is a military specialization which engages in ground combat on foot. Infantry generally consists of light infantry, mountain infantry, motorized infantry & mechanized infantry, airborne infantry, air assault infantry, and marine i ...

men and 300

cavalry Historically, cavalry (from the French word ''cavalerie'', itself derived from "cheval" meaning "horse") are soldiers or warriors who fight mounted on horseback. Cavalry were the most mobile of the combat arms, operating as light cavalry ...

men, who were stationed at the Wildenburg (

castle A castle is a type of fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by military orders. Scholars debate the scope of the word ''castle'', but usually consider it to be the private fortified r ...

) and in Herrstein, and who were under Rhinegrave Johann Ludwig's overall command. Already in December 1651, and again in 1652, there were two battles between Herrstein and the Wildenburg, which was destroyed as a result of the encounters. The Lorrainians were, however, defeated in both battles, and driven away. A focal point in the struggle was the ridge between the Fischbach and Oberwörresbach, which is visible across the Schielenbach from Breitenthal. Only in 1713, though, with the

Treaty of Utrecht The Peace of Utrecht was a series of peace treaties signed by the belligerents in the War of the Spanish Succession, in the Dutch city of Utrecht between April 1713 and February 1715. The war involved three contenders for the vacant throne o ...

, did the area get a chance to regenerate after 93 years of fighting. With its splintered territory, the Rhinegravial-Waldgravial domain was rather backward, even for its time. Until the French Revolutionary occupation in 1795, the people were unfree

serfs Serfdom was the status of many peasants under feudalism, specifically relating to manorialism, and similar systems. It was a condition of debt bondage and indentured servitude with similarities to and differences from slavery, which developed ...

who were subject to their lord's ill codified justice system. The Hunsrück robber and outlaw Johannes Bückler, known as

Schinderhannes Johannes Bückler (c.1778 – 21 November 1803) was a German outlaw who orchestrated one of the most famous crime sprees in German history. He has been nicknamed Schinderhannes and Schinnerhannes in German and John the Scorcher, John the Flaye ...

, was suspected of having committed an offence in Breitenthal. During an interrogation that included 565 questions,Verhör des Johannes Bückler, Schinderhannes genannt
''Veröffentlicht bei genealog.de''
/ref> he was asked in Question 297 whether he “also

new New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created. New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz Albums and EPs * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator ...

nothing about the theft of beehives that happened to Philipp Dörr of Breitenthal, in the month of

Vendémiaire Vendémiaire () was the first month in the French Republican calendar. The month was named after the Occitan word ''vendemiaire'' (grape harvester). Vendémiaire was the first month of the autumn quarter (''mois d'automne''). It started on the ...

last in the garden abutting his house.” Schinderhannes denied any knowledge. Between 15 and 17 December 1795, there were clashes between French and Austrian troops on a line from

Hennweiler Hennweiler is an ''Ortsgemeinde'' – a municipality belonging to a ''Verbandsgemeinde'', a kind of collective municipality – in the Bad Kreuznach district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It belongs to the ''Verbandsgemeinde'' Kirner Land, who ...

through Wickenrodt to Asbach, and therefore in the Breitenthal area, too. The Austrians were overwhelmed and retreated. The neighbouring,

Sponheim Sponheim is a municipality in the district of Bad Kreuznach in Rhineland-Palatinate in western Germany. History Sponheim was the capital of the County of Sponheim. Sponheim Abbey There was a Benedictine abbey which was founded in 1101 by Step ...

village,

, was sternly punished by the French for supporting the Austrians. On 30 December 1795, a

ceasefire A ceasefire (also known as a truce or armistice), also spelled cease fire (the antonym of 'open fire'), is a temporary stoppage of a war in which each side agrees with the other to suspend aggressive actions. Ceasefires may be between state act ...

went into effect, after which Breitenthal, along with the rest of the region, came into French hands. Under

Napoleon Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...

ic administration after the conquest of the lands on the

Rhine ), Surselva, Graubünden, Switzerland , source1_coordinates= , source1_elevation = , source2 = Rein Posteriur/Hinterrhein , source2_location = Paradies Glacier, Graubünden, Switzerland , source2_coordinates= , so ...

’s left bank in 1795, Breitenthal was a

commune A commune is an alternative term for an intentional community. Commune or comună or comune or other derivations may also refer to: Administrative-territorial entities * Commune (administrative division), a municipality or township ** Communes of ...

in the ''Mairie'' (“Mayoralty”) of Hottenbach in the canton of Herrstein in the

arrondissement An arrondissement (, , ) is any of various administrative divisions of France, Belgium, Haiti, certain other Francophone countries, as well as the Netherlands. Europe France The 101 French departments are divided into 342 ''arrondissements' ...

of Birkenfeld in the

Department Department may refer to: * Departmentalization, division of a larger organization into parts with specific responsibility Government and military *Department (administrative division), a geographical and administrative division within a country, ...

of Sarre, established in 1798 as part of the

French First Republic In the history of France, the First Republic (french: Première République), sometimes referred to in historiography as Revolutionary France, and officially the French Republic (french: République française), was founded on 21 September 1792 ...

, becoming in 1804 the

First French Empire The First French Empire, officially the French Republic, then the French Empire (; Latin: ) after 1809, also known as Napoleonic France, was the empire ruled by Napoleon Bonaparte, who established French hegemony over much of continental Eu ...

. This, at least, spelt the end of serfdom for the local inhabitants; the Rhinegraves and Waldgraves lost their privileges over the peasants, who could now fish and hunt more or less unhindered. Tithes were abolished, and

equality before the law Equality before the law, also known as equality under the law, equality in the eyes of the law, legal equality, or legal egalitarianism, is the principle that all people must be equally protected by the law. The principle requires a systematic ru ...

and the freedom to settle were enacted. The local inhabitants became free French citizens, with all attendant rights and obligations, after the Treaty of Lunéville of 9 February 1801. The ''Code civil'' was introduced. Disadvantageous, though, were the taxes, which were quite high, and the compulsory military service. The French era ended in January 1814 with the occupation by Blücher's

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

n troops. The region first found itself under the ''Generalgouvernement Mittelrhein'', a provisory body run by the

Prussia Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an em ...

ns, but by 16 June 1814, it had been put under the joint Imperial and Royal Austrian and Royal Bavarian ''Landesadministrationskommission''. As of 2 June 1815, the area around Herrstein was awarded to Prussia, and administered as the Oberstein district, on the basis of the 25th article of the concluding act of the

Congress of Vienna The Congress of Vienna (, ) of 1814–1815 was a series of international diplomatic meetings to discuss and agree upon a possible new layout of the European political and constitutional order after the downfall of the French Emperor Napoleon B ...

. In the course of the implementation of the

Concert of Europe The Concert of Europe was a general consensus among the Great Powers of 19th-century Europe to maintain the European balance of power, political boundaries, and spheres of influence. Never a perfect unity and subject to disputes and jockeying f ...

after the Congress of Vienna in 1815, though, Prussia had to indemnify several lesser rulers with pieces of territory on the Rhine's left bank under Article 49 of the concluding act of the Congress of Vienna. Thus, in 1817, Breitenthal, along with the whole Birkenfeld region from Kirnsulzbach in the east to Selbach (nowadays an outlying centre of

Nohfelden Nohfelden is a municipality in the district of Sankt Wendel, in Saarland, Germany. It is situated approximately north of Sankt Wendel, and southwest of Idar-Oberstein. It was formed during administrative reform in January 1974 from the merger o ...

in the

Saarland The Saarland (, ; french: Sarre ) is a state of Germany in the south west of the country. With an area of and population of 990,509 in 2018, it is the smallest German state in area apart from the city-states of Berlin, Bremen, and Hamburg, and ...

) in the west, was ceded to the

Oldenburg Oldenburg may also refer to: Places *Mount Oldenburg, Ellsworth Land, Antarctica *Oldenburg (city), an independent city in Lower Saxony, Germany **Oldenburg (district), a district historically in Oldenburg Free State and now in Lower Saxony *Olde ...

-ruled Principality of Birkenfeld (as of 1919, this became the Birkenfeld section of Oldenburg). During this time, the village belonged to the ''Bürgermeisterei'' (“Mayoralty”) of Herrstein. As a result of this rather arbitrary border (the criterion for forming a territorial unit was a population figure of 20,000), Breitenthal wound up a

border town A border town is a town or city close to the boundary between two countries, states, or regions. Usually the term implies that the nearness to the border is one of the things the place is most famous for. With close proximities to a different coun ...

. While Oberhosenbach, Wickenrodt and Weiden were likewise Oldenburg territory, the neighbouring municipalities of Sulzbach and

Hottenbach Hottenbach is an '' Ortsgemeinde'' – a municipality belonging to a ''Verbandsgemeinde'', a kind of collective municipality – in the Birkenfeld district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It belongs to the ''Verbandsgemeinde'' Herrstein-Rhaunen, ...

were Prussian territory. This border persisted as a district boundary between the Birkenfeld and Bernkastel districts even after

German Unification The unification of Germany (, ) was the process of building the modern German nation state with federal features based on the concept of Lesser Germany (one without multinational Austria), which commenced on 18 August 1866 with adoption of t ...

and indeed as late as 1969, the time of administrative restructuring in

. In 1883, there was an

anthrax Anthrax is an infection caused by the bacterium ''Bacillus anthracis''. It can occur in four forms: skin, lungs, intestinal, and injection. Symptom onset occurs between one day and more than two months after the infection is contracted. The sk ...

outbreak in Breitenthal that claimed three lives. The epidemic began with the consumption of an infected animal.Emil R. Köhler: ''Lebenserinnerungen''; Seite 158 ff. Veröffentlicht als 26. Sonderheft zu den Mitteilungen des Vereins für Heimatkunde im Landkreis Birkenfeld. News of the outbreak appeared in newspapers all over Germany. Seventeen men from Breitenthal either fell or went missing in the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, all in fighting on the Western Front in

Flanders Flanders (, ; Dutch: ''Vlaanderen'' ) is the Flemish-speaking northern portion of Belgium and one of the communities, regions and language areas of Belgium. However, there are several overlapping definitions, including ones related to culture, ...

Picardy Picardy (; Picard and french: Picardie, , ) is a historical territory and a former administrative region of France. Since 1 January 2016, it has been part of the new region of Hauts-de-France. It is located in the northern part of France. Hi ...

Champagne Champagne (, ) is a sparkling wine originated and produced in the Champagne wine region of France under the rules of the appellation, that demand specific vineyard practices, sourcing of grapes exclusively from designated places within it, spe ...

, on the

Meuse The Meuse ( , , , ; wa, Moûze ) or Maas ( , ; li, Maos or ) is a major European river, rising in France and flowing through Belgium and the Netherlands before draining into the North Sea from the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta. It has a t ...

around

Verdun Verdun (, , , ; official name before 1970 ''Verdun-sur-Meuse'') is a large city in the Meuse department in Grand Est, northeastern France. It is an arrondissement of the department. Verdun is the biggest city in Meuse, although the capital ...

and in the

Vosges The Vosges ( , ; german: Vogesen ; Franconian and gsw, Vogese) are a range of low mountains in Eastern France, near its border with Germany. Together with the Palatine Forest to the north on the German side of the border, they form a single ...

. After the First World War, the region once again found itself under French administration. On 30 June 1930, the last French troops left the

Rhineland The Rhineland (german: Rheinland; french: Rhénanie; nl, Rijnland; ksh, Rhingland; Latinised name: ''Rhenania'') is a loosely defined area of Western Germany along the Rhine, chiefly its middle section. Term Historically, the Rhinelands ...

, ending the occupation. Under §8(1) of the

Greater Hamburg Act The Greater Hamburg Act (german: Groß-Hamburg-Gesetz), in full the Law Regarding Greater Hamburg and Other Territorial Readjustments (german: Gesetz über Groß-Hamburg und andere Gebietsbereinigungen), was passed by the government of Nazi Germa ...

enacted by the

Nazis Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Na ...

during the

Third Reich Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

on 1 April 1937, the Birkenfeld section of Oldenburg was ceded to Prussia – which was still a distinct entity within Germany even then – becoming a district within the

Rhine Province The Rhine Province (german: Rheinprovinz), also known as Rhenish Prussia () or synonymous with the Rhineland (), was the westernmost province of the Kingdom of Prussia and the Free State of Prussia, within the German Reich, from 1822 to 1946. It ...

. Thus, on 26 October 1937, Breitenthal became Prussian. Eight men from Breitenthal fell and six went missing in the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. There were other victims, too: five forced labourers from

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...

and

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

were used in Breitenthal during the war.Edgar Mais: ''Ende und Anfang 1945''; Seite 401. Veröffentlicht 1985 als 48. Sonderheft zu den Mitteilungen des Vereins für Heimatkunde im Landkreis Birkenfeld. Air raid victims, too, from

Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western States of Germany, state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 m ...

and

Koblenz Koblenz (; Moselle Franconian language, Moselle Franconian: ''Kowelenz''), spelled Coblenz before 1926, is a German city on the banks of the Rhine and the Moselle, a multi-nation tributary. Koblenz was established as a Roman Empire, Roman mili ...

, were temporarily housed in Breitenthal, particularly at the end of the war. There was little in the way of fighting in Breitenthal. In the winter of 1944–1945, a

fighter-bomber A fighter-bomber is a fighter aircraft that has been modified, or used primarily, as a light bomber or attack aircraft. It differs from bomber and attack aircraft primarily in its origins, as a fighter that has been adapted into other roles, wh ...

attack on a Breitenthal farmer's

horse-drawn vehicle A horse-drawn vehicle is a mechanized piece of equipment pulled by one horse or by a team of horses. These vehicles typically had two or four wheels and were used to carry passengers and/or a load. They were once common worldwide, but they have m ...

killed a horse. In sporadic skirmishes with advancing US forces, two German soldiers were killed near the village. The Second World War ended in Breitenthal on the afternoon of 18 March 1945 when the village was surrendered without a fight to US troops of either the 41st Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadron or the 492nd Armored Field Artillery Battalion of Combat Command B of the 11th Armored Division “Thunderbolt”. The latter had taken up a position near Oberhosenbach to lend the former some supporting fire, if needed. The fire was instead aimed at German infantry, columns of vehicles and

anti-aircraft Anti-aircraft warfare, counter-air or air defence forces is the battlespace response to aerial warfare, defined by NATO as "all measures designed to nullify or reduce the effectiveness of hostile air action".AAP-6 It includes surface based, ...

emplacements. Five German vehicles were destroyed, 15

prisoners A prisoner (also known as an inmate or detainee) is a person who is deprived of liberty against their will. This can be by confinement, captivity, or forcible restraint. The term applies particularly to serving a prison sentence in a prison. ...

were taken and one German soldier was killed.History of the 492nd Armored Field Artillery Battalion, Battalion After Action Reports, 18 March 1945 After the war, Breitenthal at first kept its rural,

agricultural Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating Plant, plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of Sedentism, sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of Domestication, domesticated species created food ...

structure. With the growth of

industrialization Industrialisation ( alternatively spelled industrialization) is the period of social and economic change that transforms a human group from an agrarian society into an industrial society. This involves an extensive re-organisation of an econo ...

, though, farming came to be done only as a sideline; by the turn of the 21st century, there were only two full-time operations left. Although the village has expanded, the population figures have not changed much, despite the doubling of the number of residential buildings, including three designed for several families.

Population development

Listed here are population figures for selected years – each time as at 31 December – since the

:Statistisches Landesamt Rheinland-Pfalz, unless otherwise noted

Politics

Municipal council

The council is made up of 8 council members, who were elected by

majority vote A majority, also called a simple majority or absolute majority to distinguish it from related terms, is more than half of the total.Dictionary definitions of ''majority'' aMerriam-Webster arms Arms or ARMS may refer to: *Arm or arms, the upper limbs of the body Arm, Arms, or ARMS may also refer to: People * Ida A. T. Arms (1856–1931), American missionary-educator, temperance leader Coat of arms or weapons *Armaments or weapons **Fi ...

might in English

heraldic Heraldry is a discipline relating to the design, display and study of armorial bearings (known as armory), as well as related disciplines, such as vexillology, together with the study of ceremony, rank and pedigree. Armory, the best-known branc ...

language be described thus: Per bend azure a base argent issuant from which two piles transposed of the same, the dexter standing no higher than the fess point and the sinister no higher than the nombril point, and Or a lion rampant gules armed and langued of the first. The

charge Charge or charged may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Charge, Zero Emissions/Maximum Speed'', a 2011 documentary Music * ''Charge'' (David Ford album) * ''Charge'' (Machel Montano album) * ''Charge!!'', an album by The Aqua ...

s on the escutcheon's dexter (armsbearer's right, viewer's left) side are

canting ' (IPA: , VOS Spelling: ''tjanting'', jv, ꦕꦤ꧀ꦛꦶꦁ, Tjanting) is a pen-like tool used to apply liquid hot wax ( jv, ) in the batik-making process in Indonesia, more precisely '' batik tulis'' (lit. "written batik"). Traditional ''T ...

for the municipality's name, Breitenthal, which comes from the

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

words ''breiten Tal'' (with the archaic spelling of the latter word, with an H). The base form of this expression, without an article, would be ''breites Tal'' in the

nominative case In grammar, the nominative case (abbreviated ), subjective case, straight case or upright case is one of the grammatical cases of a noun or other part of speech, which generally marks the subject of a verb or (in Latin and formal variants of Engl ...

since the noun ''Tal'' takes the

neuter gender In linguistics, grammatical gender system is a specific form of noun class system, where nouns are assigned with gender categories that are often not related to their real-world qualities. In languages with grammatical gender, most or all nouns ...

. The phrase is therefore presumably in the

dative case In grammar, the dative case (abbreviated , or sometimes when it is a core argument) is a grammatical case used in some languages to indicate the recipient or beneficiary of an action, as in "Maria Jacobo potum dedit", Latin for "Maria gave Jacob a ...

, in which an

adjective In linguistics, an adjective (list of glossing abbreviations, abbreviated ) is a word that generally grammatical modifier, modifies a noun or noun phrase or describes its referent. Its semantic role is to change information given by the noun. Tra ...

takes the ''—en'' ending in the neuter when there is an article. The grammatical niceties aside, the words together mean “broad dale” (and are even

cognate In historical linguistics, cognates or lexical cognates are sets of words in different languages that have been inherited in direct descent from an etymology, etymological ancestor in a proto-language, common parent language. Because language c ...

with their

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

counterparts). The two “piles transposed” (upward-pointing wedgelike charges) with a flat line between them are meant to illustrate a broad dale between two hills, and thereby recall the municipality's name. The lion on the sinister (armsbearer's left, viewer's right) side is a reference to the village's former allegiance to the Rhinegraves and Waldgraves. The arms have been borne since 18 May 1962.

Town partnerships

Breitenthal fosters unofficial but close contacts with the following places: * Breitenthal in Schwaben, Günzburg district,

Bavaria Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total lan ...

Culture and sightseeing

Customs

Characteristic for the region and the village are names for older buildings and members of long-established families. A custom is the ''Meie'' in which the village women meet once each month to exchange village news over drinks and snacks. The meeting place each time is a different participant's house.

Local speech

The Breitenthal

dialect The term dialect (from Latin , , from the Ancient Greek word , 'discourse', from , 'through' and , 'I speak') can refer to either of two distinctly different types of Linguistics, linguistic phenomena: One usage refers to a variety (linguisti ...

is a variant of what is otherwise known as the ''Moselländisch'' dialect, also known as Hunsrückisch. In this dialect, the municipality's name becomes ''Bränel''. In a map entry by French geographers in 1737, the village is named as ''Breneldal''.

Natural monuments

On a hill south of the village stands a grove of trees known as the ''Jammerseiche'' (“Moaning Oak”), said in the local oral history to have been the scene of ghastly incidents during the

. The coppice that once stood next to the grove was felled quite recently, leaving the grove standing alone as a prominent landmark.

Clubs

Typical of villages in the Hunsrück is a well developed club life. DSG Breitenthal ‘95 e.V. was the first of Rhineland-Palatinate’s now three independent women’s

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

clubs. DSG Breitenthal’s Team 1 plays in the ''Verbandsliga Südwest'' and its Team 1b plays in the ''Bezirksliga Nahe''. The gymnastic and sport club TuS Breitenthal / Oberhosenbach is a sport club with a broad offering of activities. The football department’s first team currently plays in the ''Kreisliga West I''. The ''Singgemeinschaft Breitenthal'' is a mixed

choir A choir ( ; also known as a chorale or chorus) is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform. Choirs may perform music from the classical music repertoire, which ...

integrated into the ''Nahe-Hunsrück-Chor'' (choir). The choir is a successor to the ''Männergesangverein Breitenthal'', a men’s choir established in 1892. This became a mixed choir after 1919. When the

ended, so did singing in Breitenthal choirs, at least for a few years. The first new choir to arise in the village was a women’s choir that sang mainly at burials. Only in late 1955 did the new choir, now known as the ''Singgemeinschaft'' (“Singing Association”), come into being. The ''Förderverein der Freiwilligen Feuerwehr Breitenthal'' (“Breitenthal

Fire Brigade A fire department (American English) or fire brigade (Commonwealth English), also known as a fire authority, fire district, fire and rescue, or fire service in some areas, is an organization that provides fire prevention and fire suppression se ...

Promotional Association”) set itself up after restructuring of the

firefighting Firefighting is the act of extinguishing or preventing the spread of unwanted fires from threatening human lives and destroying property and the environment. A person who engages in firefighting is known as a firefighter. Firefighters typically ...

establishment within the ''Verbandsgemeinde'' of Herrstein. In 2000, a new concept in firefighting came into force, one that took into account the demographic development and changes to commercial structures in the municipalities. The local fire brigades were gathered together in “launching” areas in such a way that each local brigade remained a standalone brigade. This was meant to ensure, especially during the daytime, that enough firefighting personnel were available to keep to the 8-minute response time set forth by law. The Promotional Association supports the Breitenthal local fire brigade with both personnel and materiel. The ''Schalke-Fanclub Bräneler Knappen'' was founded on 1 March 2008 and offers local fans of

FC Schalke 04 Fußballclub Gelsenkirchen-Schalke 04 e. V., commonly known as FC Schalke 04 (), Schalke 04 (), or abbreviated as S04 (), is a professional German football and multi-sports club originally from the Schalke district of Gelsenkirchen, North Rhi ...

a home base.

Buildings

The following are listed buildings or sites in

’s Directory of Cultural Monuments:Directory of Cultural Monuments in Birkenfeld district
/ref> * Oldenburger Straße 6 – estate complex; house marked 1856, exterior renovation in early 20th century * Oldenburger Straße 10 – scattered estate; house, partly

timber-frame Timber framing (german: Holzfachwerk) and "post-and-beam" construction are traditional methods of building with heavy timbers, creating structures using squared-off and carefully fitted and joined timbers with joints secured by large wooden ...

, marked 1832, essentially possibly older, timber-frame barn

Streetscape

Breitenthal is, if the new building developments are not counted, like many of the region’s municipalities in that it has a more or less irregular assemblage of (formerly) agricultural buildings along the main street (in this case, Oldenburger Straße) without an identifiable village centre. Predominating among these houses – even among the newer ones that were built in the 1950s in rustic style – is the typical Hunsrück ''Quereinhaus'' (a combination residential and commercial house divided for these two purposes down the middle, perpendicularly to the street) with the eaves facing the street. The noteworthy – and also interesting from a cultural history perspective – more lavish buildings in the village are built as scattered homesteads, expressing something of the size of the owner’s estate and his social standing. The new building developments are structured and laid out in contemporary fashion. In Breitenthal, little in the way of old building is still preserved. Of cultural-historical importance is the property at Oldenburger Straße 9, which has a freestanding house surrounded by a hook-shaped commercial wing marked “1856”; as such it is one of the most northerly examples of this building form, which is also rare in this region. Particularly noteworthy are the weightbearing

columns on the commercial wing where it faces the street. The village's oldest building is a scattered estate at Oldenburger Straße 10 (see above), marked “1832” above the door, which is, however, essentially from the 17th century. The succession of owners is known back to 1660. The

Classicist Classics or classical studies is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, classics traditionally refers to the study of Classical Greek and Roman literature and their related original languages, Ancient Greek and Latin. Classics ...

front door with a

leaded window Leadlights, leaded lights or leaded windows are decorative windows made of small sections of glass supported in lead cames. The technique of creating windows using glass and lead came to be known as came glasswork. The term 'leadlight' could b ...

, curved panes and old

lock Lock(s) may refer to: Common meanings *Lock and key, a mechanical device used to secure items of importance *Lock (water navigation), a device for boats to transit between different levels of water, as in a canal Arts and entertainment * ''Lock ...

s, was removed during renovation work in the 1990s. The old schoolhouse from 1840, on whose upper floor the classrooms were found, is in a very bad state and currently stands empty. New building developments were opened up on the village's northern outskirts in the 1950s and on its northwestern outskirts in the 1970s. As planned, the newer development was expanded a few years ago with the addition of the building plots west of Waldstraße and along the street “Im Forstgarten”. Very recently, there has been a greater amount of work aiming to fill in gaps in the streetscape in the old village to avoid “

urban decay Urban decay (also known as urban rot, urban death or urban blight) is the sociological process by which a previously functioning city, or part of a city, falls into disrepair and decrepitude. There is no single process that leads to urban deca ...

” in the municipality's original centre. Unlike many places in the region, Breitenthal has very few buildings that stand empty or are unfit for use.

Regular events

The local clubs hold a joint

Carnival Carnival is a Catholic Christian festive season that occurs before the liturgical season of Lent. The main events typically occur during February or early March, during the period historically known as Shrovetide (or Pre-Lent). Carnival typi ...

– locally ''Fastnacht'' – ball with presentations and lively contributions. Over the years, certain groups have managed to come out as the ball programme's headers. The gymnastic and sport club does the staging while the volunteer fire brigade does the men's ballet. Then there are the “well informed witches”. The ''Sportfest'' staged by the Breitenthal/Oberhosenbach gymnastic and sport club is held over four days each year in late May and early June. As one of the region's first great village festivals each year. Saturday evening, with its popular music bands filling the programme, is an especially strong draw. At irregular intervals, the ''Leckschmier-Kirb'' (“

Lekvar A fruit butter is a sweet spread made of fruit cooked to a paste, then lightly sweetened. It falls into the same category as jelly and jam. Apple butter and plum butter are common examples. Fruit pastes, such as quince cheese are popular in Lat ...

Fair”) is held, at which great kettles of homemade ''Leckschmier'', as it is locally known (''Latwerge'' in standard

High German The High German dialects (german: hochdeutsche Mundarten), or simply High German (); not to be confused with Standard High German which is commonly also called ''High German'', comprise the varieties of German spoken south of the Benrath and ...

), are cooked over open fires and marketed along with homemade

sourdough Sourdough or sourdough bread is a bread made by the fermentation of dough using wild lactobacillaceae and yeast. Lactic acid from fermentation imparts a sour taste and improves keeping qualities. History In the ''Encyclopedia of Food Microbio ...

bread. The ''Quetsche-Kirb'' was an event staged by the Braun Inn (''Gasthaus Braun''), at which freshly baked ''

zwetschge The prune plum (''Prunus domestica'' subsp. ''domestica'') is a fruit-bearing tree, or its fruit. It is a subspecies of the plum ''Prunus domestica''. The freestone fruit is similar to, but distinct from, the clingstone damson (''Prunus domesti ...

'' (a plum variety) cakes could be eaten in great numbers, mostly with ''Kirner'' beer, or singly with

coffee Coffee is a drink prepared from roasted coffee beans. Darkly colored, bitter, and slightly acidic, coffee has a stimulant, stimulating effect on humans, primarily due to its caffeine content. It is the most popular hot drink in the world. S ...

. The Singing Association's theatre group produces a folk play at irregular intervals, usually at

Easter Easter,Traditional names for the feast in English are "Easter Day", as in the '' Book of Common Prayer''; "Easter Sunday", used by James Ussher''The Whole Works of the Most Rev. James Ussher, Volume 4'') and Samuel Pepys''The Diary of Samuel ...

, whose contents and language are often adapted to traditional Breitenthal norms. This is presented at the hall with a stage at the Braun Inn.

Economy and infrastructure

Until the late 19th century, crudely worked

quarrystones were used as a building material. Given the low level of processing that this stone required, it was mined in pits on the surface rather than underground, despite the problematic geological structure of Hunsrück slate. In 1824, when the

government issued a ban on thatches, there was suddenly a great demand for a roofing material that did not burn. The thin sheets of slate used for this could only be mined underground because of the difficulty of processing the stone. Until the early 1960s, high-quality slate was still being mined and processed in the Schielenbach to the village's southwest. The mining rights were leased mostly to Breitenthal citizens by the municipality. Many Breitenthalers earned extra income – often as a secondary job – doing this, even though by today's standards the working conditions were very unfavourable. Local geological peculiarities meant that the slate could only be mined underground, not quarried at the surface: since the slate in the Breitenthal area stood steeply upright, and because only a small part of it was technically exploitable, mining had to proceed right into the mountain. (Around the Schielenbach, many old

borehole A borehole is a narrow shaft bored in the ground, either vertically or horizontally. A borehole may be constructed for many different purposes, including the extraction of water ( drilled water well and tube well), other liquids (such as petro ...

s can still be found; they all belong to the same mining complex.) Any meaningful processing of the material thus mined could then only be done as long as it was moist from

groundwater Groundwater is the water present beneath Earth's surface in rock and soil pore spaces and in the fractures of rock formations. About 30 percent of all readily available freshwater in the world is groundwater. A unit of rock or an unconsolidate ...

. This in turn meant that the processing had to be done on site, and this is still witnessed today by the great waste heaps in the Schielenbach former mining area. Today, the municipality's main economic function is as a residential community housing

commuters Commuting is periodically recurring travel between one's place of residence and place of work or study, where the traveler, referred to as a commuter, leaves the boundary of their home community. By extension, it can sometimes be any regul ...

Transport

Breitenthal is crossed by ''Landesstraße'' (State Road) 180, which is met by ''Kreisstraße'' (District Road) 23 from Wickenrodt and ''Kreisstraße'' 26 from

within the municipality. The southern stretch of the planned ''Hunsrückspange'' (“Hunsrück link”) is to come from the Fischbach valley and through the Schielenbach by way of the Breitenthal municipal area, thereby negotiating a change in elevation of 120 m over a distance of one kilometre. To keep the

gradient In vector calculus, the gradient of a scalar-valued differentiable function of several variables is the vector field (or vector-valued function) \nabla f whose value at a point p is the "direction and rate of fastest increase". If the gradi ...

to no more than 8%, extensive alignment measures will need to be undertaken. The municipality's residential and transport areas, at 11.2% of Breitenthal's municipal area, currently exceed the average for Rhineland-Palatinate ''Ortsgemeinden'' in the same size class (9.0%) by 27%.Statistisches Landesamt Rheinland-Pfalz
''Ortsdatenbank „Meine Heimat“ / „Mein Dorf, meine Stadt“''
/ref> The project's implementation will further worsen this situation, which is why this highway's planned alignment is the subject of much controversy. Bus route 346 (

- Herrstein - Wickenrodt) run by ''Omnibusverkehr Rhein-Nahe'' (ORN) links the municipality with the middle centre of Idar-Oberstein. Special buses are used to ferry children to and from school or

kindergarten Kindergarten is a preschool educational approach based on playing, singing, practical activities such as drawing, and social interaction as part of the transition from home to school. Such institutions were originally made in the late 18th cent ...

Niederwörresbach Niederwörresbach is an ''Ortsgemeinde'' – a municipality belonging to a ''Verbandsgemeinde'', a kind of collective municipality – in the Birkenfeld district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It belongs to the ''Verbandsgemeinde'' Herrstein-R ...

. The nearest

railway station Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...

s are at Idar-Oberstein and

, from which run hourly trains to

Mainz Mainz () is the capital and largest city of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Mainz is on the left bank of the Rhine, opposite to the place that the Main (river), Main joins the Rhine. Downstream of the confluence, the Rhine flows to the north-we ...

Frankfurt Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , "Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on its na ...

Saarbrücken Saarbrücken (; french: link=no, Sarrebruck ; Rhine Franconian: ''Saarbrigge'' ; lb, Saarbrécken ; lat, Saravipons, lit=The Bridge(s) across the Saar river) is the capital and largest city of the state of Saarland, Germany. Saarbrücken is S ...

on the

Nahe Valley Railway The Nahe Valley Railway (german: Nahetalbahn) is a two-track, partially electrified main line railway in the German states of Rhineland-Palatinate and Saarland, which runs for almost 100 kilometres along the Nahe (Rhine), Nahe. It was built by the ...

. Frankfurt-Hahn Airport lies 19 km to Breitenthal's north and can be reached in 20 minutes. Local, regional and long-distance cycle and

hiking Hiking is a long, vigorous walk, usually on trails or footpaths in the countryside. Walking for pleasure developed in Europe during the eighteenth century.AMATO, JOSEPH A. "Mind over Foot: Romantic Walking and Rambling." In ''On Foot: A Histor ...

paths, such as the ''Sirona-Weg'' and the ''Saar-Hunsrück-Steig'' (''Traumschleife Mittelalterpfad'') lead either through or right by the village.

Established businesses

Breitenthal has two full-time

operations. One specializes in hog raising and fattening. Six other businesses are located in Breitenthal.

Service sector

Some of the

tertiary sector of the economy The tertiary sector of the economy, generally known as the service sector, is the third of the three economic sectors in the three-sector model (also known as the economic cycle). The others are the primary sector (raw materials) and the second ...

is based on wheels. Baker's and butcher's services are mobile, and drive into Breitenthal regularly. Even the district savings bank sends a weekly mobile bank branch to the village. In the way of health services, there are two general practitioners and one

dentist A dentist, also known as a dental surgeon, is a health care professional who specializes in dentistry (the diagnosis, prevention, management, and treatment of diseases and conditions of the mouth, oral cavity and other aspects of the craniofaci ...

in neighbouring Herrstein. The nearest

hospital A hospital is a health care institution providing patient treatment with specialized health science and auxiliary healthcare staff and medical equipment. The best-known type of hospital is the general hospital, which typically has an emerge ...

is in Idar-Oberstein. Breitenthal's

Internet The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a '' network of networks'' that consists of private, pub ...

access comes by way of a

DSL Digital subscriber line (DSL; originally digital subscriber loop) is a family of technologies that are used to transmit digital data over telephone lines. In telecommunications marketing, the term DSL is widely understood to mean asymmetric dig ...

service provider A service provider (SP) is an organization that provides services, such as consulting, legal, real estate, communications, storage, and processing services, to other organizations. Although a service provider can be a sub-unit of the organization t ...

Public institutions

The village school building, dedicated on 19 October 1957, was converted into a community centre after the Herrstein Regional School opened. Besides a guestroom, the building also has a further small lodging room in the basement (the ''Jugoslawen-Raum'', so called after a group of Yugoslav lumberjacks were housed there for a while), which is mainly used as a youth centre and a meeting room for ''TuS Breitenthal'' (gymnastic and sport club), and shower and changing rooms. In the attic are both a gymnastic and exercise room and a church room, where the Wickenrodt

Evangelical Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide Interdenominationalism, interdenominational movement within Protestantism, Protestant Christianity that affirms the centrality of being "bor ...

parish holds its services. The municipal graveyard with its mortuary, built in 1966, lies on the village's southeastern outskirts on ''Kreisstraße'' 26 on the way to

. ''TuS Breitenthal/Oberhosenbach'' has at its disposal a grass-covered sporting ground on the way out of the village towards Oberhosenbach (and actually within Oberhosenbach's limits). Nearby are a small playground and a football pitch. South of the village, on the way to the ''Jammerseiche'', on a meadow, lies a

floodlit A floodlight is a broad-beamed, gas discharge lamp#High-intensity discharge lamps, high-intensity artificial light. They are often used to illuminate outdoor playing fields while an outdoor sports event is Night game, being held during low-li ...

drill ground, which serves the gymnastic and sport club's football teams as a training ground. DSG Breitenthal ’95 has no sporting ground at its disposal in Breitenthal. They play and train at ''TuS Tiefenstein’s'' sport facilities in

References

External links

Brief portrait of Breitenthal with film
at

SWR Fernsehen SWR Fernsehen is a German regional television channel targeting the states of Baden-Württemberg and Rhineland-Palatinate. It is produced by Südwestrundfunk (SWR) and is one of eight regional "third channels" broadcast by the ARD members. Hist ...

{{Authority control Birkenfeld (district)