Rohrbach, Rhein-Hunsrück
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Rohrbach () is an – a
municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...
belonging to a , a kind of collective municipality – in the
Rhein-Hunsrück-Kreis Rhein-Hunsrück-Kreis is a district () in the middle of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. The neighbouring districts are (from north clockwise) Mayen-Koblenz, Rhein-Lahn, Mainz-Bingen, Bad Kreuznach, Birkenfeld, Bernkastel-Wittlich, Cochem-Zell. His ...
(
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 county, counties, several municipality, municip ...
) in
Rhineland-Palatinate Rhineland-Palatinate ( , ; ; ; ) 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 sixteen states. Mainz is the capital and largest city. Other cities are ...
,
Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...
. It belongs to the ''Verbandsgemeinde'' of Kirchberg, whose seat is in the like-named town.


Geography


Location

The municipality lies on the
Lützelsoon The Lützelsoon (also called the Kleiner Soon) is a part of the Hunsrück hills, , in the county of Bad Kreuznach, in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate. Location The Lützelsoon is a hill ridge southwest of the Soonwald range and north of ...
, a plateau forming part of the
Hunsrück The Hunsrück () is a long, triangular, pronounced mountain range, upland in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is bounded by the valleys of the Moselle (river), Moselle-Saar (north-to-west), the Nahe (south), and the Rhine (east). It is continued ...
, roughly 6 km south of Kirchberg. Currently there are about 200 inhabitants. The municipal area measures 3.76 km², of which 86 ha is wooded. Its greatest elevation is 387 m above
sea level Mean sea level (MSL, often shortened to sea level) is an mean, average surface level of one or more among Earth's coastal Body of water, bodies of water from which heights such as elevation may be measured. The global MSL is a type of vertical ...
.


Name

The municipality's name comes from the
reed bed A reedbed or reed bed is a natural habitat found in floodplains, waterlogged depressions and estuaries. Reedbeds are part of a succession from young reeds colonising open water or wet ground through a gradation of increasingly dry ground. As ...
(''
Phragmites ''Phragmites'' () is a genus of four species of large perennial plant, perennial reed (plant), reed Poaceae, grasses found in wetlands throughout temperate and tropical regions of the world. Taxonomy The World Checklist of Selected Plant Famili ...
'', the Common Reed; called ''Schilfrohr'' in
German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...
) that once grew along the edge of the like-named brook (''Bach'' in German), the Rohrbach.


History

It is believed that Rohrbach was founded in the early 11th century. Its first documentary mention dates from 27 September 1304 and is found in the compilations of the archives kept by the Counts of Sponheim. The report of a session in
Dill Dill (''Anethum graveolens'') is an annual herb in the celery family Apiaceae. It is native to North Africa, Iran, and the Arabian Peninsula; it is grown widely in Eurasia, where its leaves and seeds are used as a herb or spice for flavouring ...
reads thus:
Walram Count of
Zweibrücken Zweibrücken (; ; , ; literally translated as "Two Bridges") is a town in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, on the Schwarzbach (Blies), Schwarzbach River. Name The name ''Zweibrücken'' means 'two bridges'; older forms of the name include Middl ...
and Ruprecht Count of Virneburg decide as chosen arbiters between Johann Adviser of the Knights of Heinrich Lord of
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 Steph ...
, Johann von Braunshorn, on the following point of dispute: because of the forbidden wine (Order of Avoidance of Wine) at Rohrbach, Wannenweiler and
Dickenschied Dickenschied is an – a municipality belonging to a , a kind of collective municipality – in the Rhein-Hunsrück-Kreis (district) in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It belongs to the ''Verbandsgemeinde'' of Kirchberg, whose seat is in the like ...
, the
Seneschal The word ''seneschal'' () can have several different meanings, all of which reflect certain types of supervising or administering in a historic context. Most commonly, a seneschal was a senior position filled by a court appointment within a royal, ...
Gottfried of Enkirch and Konrad of Maitzborn shall hold a hearing of the subjects and officials.
Sealed by: Simon and Johann, Counts of Sponheim, Ulrich Lord of Hanau and Ludwig Count of Rieneck.
Two further documentary mentions came in 1317 and 1340. In the former document, Count Emich of Sponheim, Archdeacon of the
Diocese of Liège In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associated ...
and titular parish priest at Kirchberg, endowed benefices in ten villages to maintain chaplains. In the latter document, Johann of Dhaun transferred to the Knight of Sötern a waldgravial fief, the so-called Torsengut (a circular or elliptical shape) of Rohrbach. Rohrbach may have belonged to the
County of Sponheim The County of Sponheim (, former spelling: Spanheim, Spanheym) was an independent territory in the Holy Roman Empire that lasted from the 11th century until the early 19th century. The name comes from the municipality of Sponheim, where the cou ...
from the time of its founding. Nonetheless, this ended when the House of Sponheim died out in 1437 and the village passed to the
Counts of Veldenz The County Palatine of Veldenz was a principality in the contemporary Land Rhineland-Palatinate with full voting rights to the Reichstag. The county was located partially between Kaiserslautern, Sponheim and Zweibrücken, partially on the Mosel ...
and the Margraves of
Baden Baden (; ) is a historical territory in southern Germany. In earlier times it was considered to be on both sides of the Upper Rhine, but since the Napoleonic Wars, it has been considered only East of the Rhine. History The margraves of Ba ...
. Through marriage, the Veldenz inheritance passed to the Counts Palatine of Simmern-Zweibrücken. About 1600, the southern part of Rohrbach belonged, along with six ''Hintersassen'' (roughly, “dependent peasants”) to the “Further” County of Sponheim and, locally, to the ''
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 Dill, while the northern part belonged to the Badish ''Oberamt'' of Kirchberg; the boundary between these two territories was the village's namesake brook itself, the Rohrbach. Until 1707, the Counts Palatine and the Margraves ruled the county together. Then, the Margraves became the sole rulers of the ''Oberamt'' of Kirchberg and thereby Rohrbach's landholders. In October 1794, the village, along with all German lands on the
Rhine The Rhine ( ) is one of the List of rivers of Europe, major rivers in Europe. The river begins in the Swiss canton of Graubünden in the southeastern Swiss Alps. It forms part of the Swiss-Liechtenstein border, then part of the Austria–Swit ...
’s left bank, passed to
France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...
. Administration then no longer came from Kirchberg, but rather from the ''Mairie'' (“Mayoralty”) of Gemünden. After
Napoleonic Napoleon Bonaparte (born Napoleone di Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French general and statesman who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led a series of mi ...
times, the village was assigned in 1815 to
Prussia Prussia (; ; Old Prussian: ''Prūsija'') was a Germans, German state centred on the North European Plain that originated from the 1525 secularization of the Prussia (region), Prussian part of the State of the Teutonic Order. For centuries, ...
, and more locally to the
Rhine Province The Rhine Province (), also known as Rhenish Prussia () or synonymous with the Rhineland (), was the westernmost Provinces of Prussia, province of the Kingdom of Prussia and the Free State of Prussia, within the German Reich, from 1822 to 1946. ...
. Since 1946, Rohrbach has been part of the then newly founded
state State most commonly refers to: * State (polity), a centralized political organization that regulates law and society within a territory **Sovereign state, a sovereign polity in international law, commonly referred to as a country **Nation state, a ...
of
Rhineland-Palatinate Rhineland-Palatinate ( , ; ; ; ) 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 sixteen states. Mainz is the capital and largest city. Other cities are ...
. In the course of administrative restructuring in
Rhineland-Palatinate Rhineland-Palatinate ( , ; ; ; ) 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 sixteen states. Mainz is the capital and largest city. Other cities are ...
, various former ''Ämter'' were merged in 1971, and Rohrbach, along with the ''Amt'' of Gemünden, was assigned to the ''Verbandsgemeinde'' of Kirchberg. The greatest rise in Rohrbach's population came about the turn of the 19th century. From 59 villagers in 12 families in 1781, the number of inhabitants grew to 99 in 20 families by 1798, and 207 people by 1840.


Religion

The church built in 1791 belongs to the
Evangelical Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide, interdenominational movement within Protestantism, Protestant Christianity that emphasizes evangelism, or the preaching and spreading of th ...
parish, which counts 126 parishioners. The parish, which belongs to the Simmern-Trarbach Church District, was from the
Reformation The Reformation, also known as the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation, was a time of major Theology, theological movement in Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the p ...
in 1557 until 1766 parochially tied to the Evangelical parish of
Dickenschied Dickenschied is an – a municipality belonging to a , a kind of collective municipality – in the Rhein-Hunsrück-Kreis (district) in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It belongs to the ''Verbandsgemeinde'' of Kirchberg, whose seat is in the like ...
, and has been once again since 1963. This means that although Rohrbach is a parish in its own right, the minister at Dickenschied is also responsible for the parish of Rohrbach.
Catholics The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...
, who make up about one fifth of the population, have the right to celebrate Mass at the Evangelical church, which they do especially when there is a
funeral A funeral is a ceremony connected with the final disposition of a corpse, such as a burial or cremation, with the attendant observances. Funerary customs comprise the complex of beliefs and practices used by a culture to remember and respect th ...
or
wedding A wedding is a ceremony in which two people are united in marriage. Wedding traditions and customs vary greatly between cultures, ethnicity, ethnicities, Race (human categorization), races, religions, Religious denomination, denominations, Cou ...
ceremony to be performed. The church building measures 12.85 m × 7.55 m. The furnishings inside – pews, gallery, altar – are still the ones from the time of building. The pulpit, on the other hand, is older than the church itself, having been made in 1701 in nearby
Mengerschied Mengerschied is an ''Ortsgemeinde'' – a municipality belonging to a ''Verbandsgemeinde'', a kind of collective municipality – in the Rhein-Hunsrück-Kreis (district) in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It belongs to the ''Verbandsgemeinde'' Simme ...
. In keeping with the
Reformed Reform is beneficial change. Reform, reformed or reforming may also refer to: Media * ''Reform'' (album), a 2011 album by Jane Zhang * Reform (band), a Swedish jazz fusion group * ''Reform'' (magazine), a Christian magazine Places * Reform, Al ...
tradition, the presbyters’ seating is found opposite the congregation and the pulpit in the apse. The Baptismal basin and the chalice come from about 1800. Two bronze bells had to be surrendered in the
First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
; today two steel bells, poured in 1923, can be found in the ridge turret. These were given a bronze inside lining in 2002.


Politics


Municipal council

The council is made up of 6 council members, who were elected by
majority vote A majority is more than half of a total; however, the term is commonly used with other meanings, as explained in the "#Related terms, Related terms" section below. It is a subset of a Set (mathematics), set consisting of more than half of the se ...
at the municipal election held on 7 June 2009, and the honorary mayor as chairman.


Mayor

Rohrbach's mayor is Jutta Heck-Bähren.


Coat of arms

The municipality's
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 pale Or a bend gules and azure a bend sinister wavy abased argent issuant from which two reeds each leafed of three and fructed of the first. The composition on the dexter (armsbearer's right, viewer's left) side is the arms formerly borne by the Margraviate of Baden, a former landholder in Rohrbach. The composition on the sinister (armsbearer's left, viewer's right) side is
canting ' (International Phonetic Alphabet, IPA: , Van Ophuijsen Spelling System, VOS Spelling: , ) is a pen-like tool used to apply liquid hot wax () in the batik-making process in Indonesia, more precisely (). Traditional consists of copper wax-con ...
for the municipality's name, “Rohrbach”, which literally means “Reedbrook”.


Culture and sightseeing


Buildings

The following are listed buildings or sites in
Rhineland-Palatinate Rhineland-Palatinate ( , ; ; ; ) 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 sixteen states. Mainz is the capital and largest city. Other cities are ...
’s Directory of Cultural Monuments:Directory of Cultural Monuments in Rhein-Hunsrück district
/ref> *
Evangelical Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide, interdenominational movement within Protestantism, Protestant Christianity that emphasizes evangelism, or the preaching and spreading of th ...
church, Hauptstraße 10 – Early Classicist
aisleless church An aisleless church () is a single-nave church building that consists of a single hall-like room. While similar to the hall church, the aisleless church lacks aisles or passageways on either side of the nave and separated from the nave by col ...
, 1791; whole complex of buildings with surrounding field * Gartenfeld 3 –
timber-frame Timber framing () 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 pegs. If the struc ...
''Quereinhaus'' (a combination residential and commercial house divided for these two purposes down the middle, perpendicularly to the street), partly slated, 19th century * Hallgarten 2 – timber-frame house, first third of the 19th century * Hauptstraße 1 – building with hipped
mansard roof A mansard or mansard roof (also called French roof or curb roof) is a multi-sided gambrel-style hip roof characterised by two slopes on each of its sides, with the lower slope at a steeper angle than the upper, and often punctured by dormer wi ...
, timber framing slated, earlier half of the 19th century; whole complex of buildings with barn * Hauptstraße 15 – bakehouse; timber-frame building, partly solid or slated, 1840 * Hohlweg 1 – timber-frame ''Quereinhaus'' with knee wall, 19th century


Clubs

Four clubs involve themselves in village life: the Evangelical Women's Aid (''Evangelische Frauenhilfe in Deutschland''), a music club, the Countrywomen's Association (''Deutscher Landfrauenverband'') and the
fire brigade A fire department (North American English) or fire brigade (Commonwealth English), also known as a fire company, fire authority, fire district, fire and rescue, or fire service in some areas, is an organization that provides fire prevention and ...
.


Films made in Rohrbach

In 1958, the film ''
Schinderhannes Johannes Bückler ( 177821 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 Flayer ...
'', in which, among others,
Curd Jürgens Curd Gustav Andreas Gottlieb Franz Jürgens (13 December 191518 June 1982) was a German-Austrian stage and film actor. He was usually billed in English-speaking films as Curt Jurgens. He was well known for playing Ernst Udet in ''Des Teufels Gener ...
,
Maria Schell Maria Margarethe Anna Schell (15 January 1926 – 26 April 2005) was an Austrian-Swiss actress. She was one of the leading stars of German cinema in the 1950s and 1960s. In 1954, she was awarded the Cannes Best Actress Award for her performance ...
,
Siegfried Lowitz Siegfried Lowitz (22 September 1914 – 27 June 1999) was a German actor. Born in Berlin, he played the Hauptkommissar ''Erwin Köster'' in the German television drama '' Der Alte''. Prior to his tenure as Hauptkommissar, he played a killer ...
and many Rohrbachers appeared, was made in Rohrbach under
Helmut Käutner Helmut Käutner (25 March 1908 – 20 April 1980) was a German film director active mainly in the 1940s and 1950s. He entered the film industry at the end of the Weimar Republic and released his first films as a director in Nazi Germany. Käu ...
’s direction. In 1981 and 1982, the indoor scenes of ''Haus Simon'' in the first part of the ''Heimat'' series were made in Rohrbach. The house where this was done, ''Sooste'', had already been chosen for the film ''Schinderhannes''.


Economy and infrastructure

Formerly, most of the inhabitants earned their living at
agriculture Agriculture encompasses crop and livestock production, aquaculture, and forestry for food and non-food products. Agriculture was a key factor in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created ...
or
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 ro ...
mining Mining is the Resource extraction, extraction of valuable geological materials and minerals from the surface of the Earth. Mining is required to obtain most materials that cannot be grown through agriculture, agricultural processes, or feasib ...
. There were several craft businesses: locksmith, smith, cobbler and wainwright. Also, there were a shepherd and a swineherd. However, young people were always having to move away, to places like the
Saar Saar or SAAR has several meanings: People Given name * Sarr Boubacar (born 1951), Senegalese professional football player * Saar Ganor, Israeli archaeologist * Saar Klein (born 1967), American film editor Surname * Ain Saar (born 1968), E ...
or the
Ruhr area The Ruhr ( ; , also ''Ruhrpott'' ), also referred to as the Ruhr Area, sometimes Ruhr District, Ruhr Region, or Ruhr Valley, is a polycentric urban area in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. With a population density of 1,160/km2 and a populati ...
to find work. As of 2006, there are only four full-time farmers, and two more who work the land as a sideline; there were still 10 full-time farming operations in 1966 and several operated as a sideline. As well as these concerns, there are a cattle trading business, a timber forwarder, a
pottery Pottery is the process and the products of forming vessels and other objects with clay and other raw materials, which are fired at high temperatures to give them a hard and durable form. The place where such wares are made by a ''potter'' is al ...
and wood workshop, a
pedicurist A pedicure is a cosmetic treatment of the Foot, feet and toenails, analogous to a manicure. During a pedicure, dead skin cells are rubbed off the bottom of the feet using a rough stone (often a pumice stone). Skincare is frequently provided u ...
, a
guide dog Guide dogs (colloquially known in the US as seeing-eye dogs) are assistance dogs trained to lead people who are blind or visually impaired around obstacles. Although dogs can be trained to navigate various obstacles, they are red–green c ...
trainer and a general service business. Nevertheless,
commuters Commuting is periodically recurring travel between a 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 regular o ...
are the majority, working in the surrounding area. There were once several bakehouses in Rohrbach, in which families baked their bread. One is still sometimes used as a bakehouse. The rest of the time, it serves, as in neighbouring villages, as a gathering place where the music club or the church choir can practise, or the village youth can meet.


Further reading

* Ortsgemeinde Rohrbach (Hg.): ''Rohrbach in Bildern. wie it frieher war – unn wie it hout is''; Rohrbach 2000 * Dieter Diether: ''Die Gotteshäuser im Evangelischen Kirchenkreis Simmern-Trarbach''; Kirchberg 1998; S. 32f


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rohrbach, Rhein-Hunsruck Municipalities in Rhineland-Palatinate Rhein-Hunsrück-Kreis