Schwarzenholz is the second largest district of the municipality of Saarwellingen in

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 ...

, Germany.

History

left, Coat of arms of Schwarzenholtz Drawing of a 1737 map of the town of Schwarzenholz

From the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...

Schwarzenholz was owned by

Fraulautern Abbey Fraulautern Abbey (german: Abtei Fraulautern; la, Abbatia in Lutrea) was a community of Augustinian canonesses of the nobility, founded in the 12th century; it was suppressed in the 1790s during the French Revolution. Abbey buildings The a ...

, which had been granted

Imperial immediacy 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 pri ...

because its possessions in Schwarzenholz after a trial in the highest Imperial court, the ''

Reichskammergericht The ''Reichskammergericht'' (; ; la, Iudicium imperii) was one of the two highest judicial institutions in the Holy Roman Empire, the other one being the Aulic Council in Vienna. It was founded in 1495 by the Imperial Diet in Worms. All legal ...

''. The most famous daughter of the village is Katharine Weißgerber, called Schultze Kathrin, the Good Samaritan of the Battle of Spichern in early August 1870.

Etymology

The last part of the word -olc or -holc denotes a fenced gentleman while the first part names the owner from the time of the first settlement: Suarto. Suarcenholc was therefore the enclosed master of the Suartos. In various documents (gift and purchase certificates of the abbey Fraulautern ) from the period 1235-1279 is the name: Suarcenholf, Suarcenoth, Swarcenholc, Suarzenhoch, Suarzenholch.

Geography

Schwarzenholz has a healthy village structure and is an attractive residential area surrounded by forests, and has direct motorway access to the A 8, so that the larger cities in the area ( Saarbrücken, Neunkirchen, Saarlouis, Dillingen,

Merzig Merzig (, french: Mercy, ''Moselle Franconian:'' ''Meerzisch''/''Miërzësch'') is a town in Saarland, Germany. It is the capital of the district Merzig-Wadern, with about 30,000 inhabitants in 17 municipalities on 108 km². It is situated ...

Völklingen Völklingen (french: Vœlklange, Moselle Franconian: ''Välglinge'') is a town in the district of Saarbrücken, in Saarland, Germany. It is situated on the river Saar, approx. 10 km west of Saarbrücken, and directly borders France. The to ...

) and the neighbouring countries France and Luxembourg are all reachable in 30 minutes or less. Two general practitioners, a dentist, two banks, two

grocery store A grocery store ( AE), grocery shop ( BE) or simply grocery is a store that primarily retails a general range of food products, which may be fresh or packaged. In everyday U.S. usage, however, "grocery store" is a synonym for supermarket, a ...

s, two

hairdressing A hairdresser is a person whose occupation is to cut or style hair in order to change or maintain a person's image. This is achieved using a combination of hair coloring, haircutting, and hair texturing techniques. A Hairdresser may also be ref ...

salons, a

bakery A bakery is an establishment that produces and sells flour-based food baked in an oven such as bread, cookies, cakes, donuts, pastries, and pies. Some retail bakeries are also categorized as cafés, serving coffee and tea to customers who w ...

, a butchery, eight catering establishments, two driving schools, two florists, a stationery shop with

post office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letters and parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post offices may offer additional ser ...

, a car repair shop, a travel agency, a carpentry, an interior decorator and many other companies can be found in town. Next to the

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 ce ...

is the school building of the former elementary school, which closed its doors in 2008; since then, the children of Schwarzenholz have to take the bus to Reisbach, where the Astrid Lindgren Elementary School is located. The place has a multi-purpose hall, named after Schultze Kathrin, another sports hall and an artificial turf pitch, on which the football team FV 1929 Schwarzenholz e. V. play their matches. Other sports clubs are the gymnastics club, the table tennis club and the cycling club ''Spanische Bergziege'' ("Spanish mountain goats"). Cultural associations include the Musikverein Harmonie and the men's choral society "Deutsche Eintracht". The parish church of St. Bartholomew in the Bartholomäusstrasse is a protected monument and was built in 1914-1915 by Ludwig Becker and Anton Falkowski.

Politics

The mayor of Schwarzenholz has been Josef Werth (

SPD The Social Democratic Party of Germany (german: Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands, ; SPD, ) is a centre-left social democratic political party in Germany. It is one of the major parties of contemporary Germany. Saskia Esken has been t ...

) since the last local election, whose party holds six of the eleven seats in the local council and thus the absolute majority of the seats; his deputy is Rudi Schmitt (SPD). The CDU won three seats in the local elections in 2009; the FWG and the left have one each.

Parish Church

St. Bartholomew is the name of a parish and parish and the associated parish church in Saarwellingen district Schwarzenholz. The Parish and

church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a building for Christian religious activities * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian communal worship * C ...

belong to the

Diocese 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.Saarlouis (district)