Rockenhausen is a town in the

Donnersbergkreis The Donnersbergkreis is a district (''Kreis'') in the middle of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Neighboring districts are Bad Kreuznach, Alzey-Worms, Bad Dürkheim, Kaiserslautern, Kusel. History The district was created in 1969 by merging the dis ...

, 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 ...

. It is situated on the river Alsenz, approx. north of

Kaiserslautern Kaiserslautern (; Palatinate German: ''Lautre'') is a city in southwest Germany, located in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate at the edge of the Palatinate Forest. The historic centre dates to the 9th century. It is from Paris, from Frankfur ...

. Rockenhausen is the seat of the ''

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- ...

'' ("collective municipality")

Nordpfälzer Land Nordpfälzer Land is a ''Verbandsgemeinde'' ("collective municipality") in the Donnersbergkreis, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. The seat of the ''Verbandsgemeinde'' is in Rockenhausen. It was formed on 1 January 2020 by the merger of the former ''Ve ...

. The town consists the villages Marienthal, Dörnbach, and Rockenhausen itself.

History

Rockenhausen received its town charter in 1332. At that time subordinated to the Raugrafen, the town belonged to the Electoral Palatinate from 1457. During the Thirty Years' War, it was almost completely destroyed, as were almost all other villages in the region. After 1792 the region was occupied by French troops in the First Revolutionary War and annexed after the peace of Campo Formio (1797). From 1798 to 1814 Rockenhausen belonged to the French department Donnersberg and was the capital (chef-lieu) of the canton Rockenhausen. Due to the agreements made at the Congress of Vienna (1815) and an exchange contract with Austria, the region became part of the Kingdom of Bavaria in 1816. From 1818 Rockenhausen was assigned to the Landkommissariat Kirchheim in the Bavarian Rheinkreis, later to the Bezirksamt Kirchheimbolanden. On 1 December 1900 the district office Rockenhausen was formed from parts of the district offices Kirchheimbolanden and Kaiserslautern. On January 1, 1939, the district office was renamed into the district of Rockenhausen. After the Second World War, Rockenhausen became part of the newly formed state of

within the French occupation zone and belonged to the administrative district of Palatinate until 1968. On 7 June 1969, the district of Rockenhausen was united with the district of Kirchheimbolanden to form today's Donnersberg district. On 10 June 1979, the previously independent municipalities of Dörnbach with 550 inhabitants and Marienthal/Pfalz with 280 inhabitants were incorporated into the town.

Notable citizens

Uta Frith Dame Uta Frith (''née'' Aurnhammer; born 25 May 1941) is a German-British developmental psychologist at the Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience at University College London. She has pioneered much of the current research into autism and dysle ...

, (born 941) - developmental psychologist, now resident and professionally active in the United Kingdom.

References

Towns in Rhineland-Palatinate Donnersbergkreis {{Donnersbergkreis-geo-stub