Salm is an ''
Ortsgemeinde'' – a
municipality belonging to a ''
Verbandsgemeinde'', a kind of collective municipality – in the
Vulkaneifel district in
Rhineland-Palatinate,
Germany. It belongs to the
''Verbandsgemeinde'' of Gerolstein, whose seat is in the
like-named town.
Geography
The municipality lies in the
Vulkaneifel, a part of the
Eifel
The Eifel (; lb, Äifel, ) is a low mountain range in western Germany and eastern Belgium. It occupies parts of southwestern North Rhine-Westphalia, northwestern Rhineland-Palatinate and the southern area of the German-speaking Community of ...
known for its volcanic history, geographical and geological features, and even ongoing activity today, including gases that sometimes well up from the earth.
Near the village rises the river
Salm, which empties into the
Moselle
The Moselle ( , ; german: Mosel ; lb, Musel ) is a river that rises in the Vosges mountains and flows through north-eastern France and Luxembourg to western Germany. It is a bank (geography), left bank tributary of the Rhine, which it jo ...
near
Klüsserath
Klüsserath is a commune of the Verbandsgemeinde Schweich in the district Trier-Saarburg in Rhineland-Palatinate in Germany, on the river Moselle between Bernkastel-Kues and Trier.
Geography
Location
Located in a wide, natural amphitheater of th ...
.
History
In 1225, Salm had its first documentary mention in an agreement between Gerhard von Blankenheim and Abbot Heinrich von Himmerod dealing with the donation of an estate to
Himmerod Abbey, which was reached on the cobbled road between the abandoned village of Hundswinkel and Bremescheit (
Prümscheid). It is reasonable to conclude, therefore, that the village's beginnings reach back somewhat further, but an entry in
Prüm Abbey's directory of holdings, the ''Prümer Urbar'', that supposedly mentions Salm is at the very best doubtful. It would, however, make the village centuries older, since it dates from 803.
Salm's early history speaks of well-off townsmen, whose wealth, however, suffered later as the village's population grew. Throughout the ages, the leading sources of income were
agriculture and
forestry. In the case of the latter, the broad forests even afforded a livelihood in
logging
Logging is the process of cutting, processing, and moving trees to a location for transport. It may include skidding, on-site processing, and loading of trees or logs onto trucks or skeleton cars.
Logging is the beginning of a supply chain ...
.
In the 13th century, the villages of Salm and Hilscheid and the estate of Muckenberg were held by the
Counts of Manderscheid.
In 1238, Salm had a church under the patronage of Heinrich, Lord of
Manderscheid-Kerpen. In 1608, Kyllburg townsman Petrus von Salm donated to the church the silver-gilt
monstrance
A monstrance, also known as an ostensorium (or an ostensory), is a vessel used in Roman Catholic, Old Catholic, High Church Lutheran and Anglican churches for the display on an altar of some object of piety, such as the consecrated Eucharistic Sa ...
. By 1687, patronage was being exercised by the nobles of Roben and the heirs of Melbaum. By 1743, it was the Countess of Manderscheid.
On 11 October 1803, during the time of
French
French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to France
** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents
** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...
rule, the Salm Mill (''Salmer Mühle''), which had belonged to the
Counts of Manderscheid, was sold for 186 ''
Thaler
A thaler (; also taler, from german: Taler) is one of the large silver coins minted in the states and territories of the Holy Roman Empire and the Habsburg monarchy during the Early Modern period. A ''thaler'' size silver coin has a diameter of ...
''. By 1815, Salm belonged to the Kingdom of
Prussia. Both before and after the Prussian takeover, extensive surveying and mapping were undertaken, first under Colonel Tranchot (1803-1813) and then under ''Generalmajor'' von Müffling (1816-1820).
The
Year Without a Summer – 1816 – struck the
Eifel
The Eifel (; lb, Äifel, ) is a low mountain range in western Germany and eastern Belgium. It occupies parts of southwestern North Rhine-Westphalia, northwestern Rhineland-Palatinate and the southern area of the German-speaking Community of ...
hard, bringing famine, floods and weather damage along with it. Snow was still lying on the ground into June. Hay was only harvested in September, and the grain only ripened in October. That same month came
frost
Frost is a thin layer of ice on a solid surface, which forms from water vapor in an above-freezing atmosphere coming in contact with a solid surface whose temperature is below freezing, and resulting in a phase change from water vapor (a gas) ...
, and by early November, snow was falling once again. The next year, 1817, the Eifel dwellers suffered under the lingering effects of the foregoing year's disastrous and unusual weather patterns. Common foodstuffs were not so common, and cost much more than usual. People were so hungry that they were eating livestock fodder and roots. The
Prussian government helped ease the crisis by making available two million ''
Thaler
A thaler (; also taler, from german: Taler) is one of the large silver coins minted in the states and territories of the Holy Roman Empire and the Habsburg monarchy during the Early Modern period. A ''thaler'' size silver coin has a diameter of ...
'', and ensuring the poor their daily bread by buying up great quantities of grain from
East Prussia
East Prussia ; german: Ostpreißen, label=Low Prussian; pl, Prusy Wschodnie; lt, Rytų Prūsija was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia from 1773 to 1829 and again from 1878 (with the Kingdom itself being part of the German Empire from 187 ...
.
In 1856, the whole lower village was destroyed in a great fire. One man, who had fallen asleep on some
hay, was burnt alive.
Between 1869 and 1871, the
Trier-
Cologne railway line was built, putting the
Ruhr area within much easier reach. The
Franco-Prussian War (1870-1871) gave railway building the highest priority. This same time saw the decline of the Eifel's
iron industry and an outflow of people to the new industrialized areas. In 1872, there were even
advertisement
Advertising is the practice and techniques employed to bring attention to a product or service. Advertising aims to put a product or service in the spotlight in hopes of drawing it attention from consumers. It is typically used to promote a ...
s in local
newspapers exhorting people to
emigrate to the "
New World".
In 1887, there was yet again hardship due to the weather. This time it was
drought and
frost
Frost is a thin layer of ice on a solid surface, which forms from water vapor in an above-freezing atmosphere coming in contact with a solid surface whose temperature is below freezing, and resulting in a phase change from water vapor (a gas) ...
. The latter wrought devastation to fruit crops mainly in the dales, while sparing those higher up. The
potato crop was very bad, and the price of potatoes soared that year as a result.
Oats likewise yielded a very poor harvest, and the
hay failed altogether. Six years later, in 1893,
agriculture suffered once more. Summer and autumn were very dry, resulting in a dearth of fodder. Many farmers felt forced to sell their
livestock off. Thin brushwood was being crushed and cut up for livestock fodder.
The year 1899, however, was in every respect a good year for farmers. The turn of the 20th century was an uneventful time until the
First World War. A savings and loan institution was established in 1903 and a
fire brigade in 1910.
On 30 June 1914, news of
Archduke Franz Ferdinand's assassination
Assassination is the murder of a prominent or important person, such as a head of state, head of government, politician, world leader, member of a royal family or CEO. The murder of a celebrity, activist, or artist, though they may not have ...
reached Salm, causing great unease. People began to hoard
coffee and
salt in expectation of the forthcoming war. The western border was militarized, and then on 1 August 1914 came the
Mobilization Order from
the Emperor
''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in E ...
. Among other side-effects was a great upswing in prices for various foodstuffs. In 1916, heavy guns could be heard shooting in the
Battle of Verdun about 140 km away; the noise was loudest on 14 December.
In 1918, the war ended and Salm was occupied by
United States troops. Twenty-four soldiers from Salm fell in the Great War. The Americans were replaced by
French
French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to France
** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents
** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...
occupiers, who did not withdraw until 1930.
In 1920, heavy spring rains and frost in June ensured a poor harvest. On 20 February 1921, elections for the Prussian ''Landtag'' were held. In 1925, work began on the local waterworks. The following year, Salm was connected to the district electrical grid. In 1936, the local electricity supplier became the ''Rheinisch-Westfälische Elektrizitätswerke'' (
RWE).
The years between 1929 and 1931 were a time of great hardship brought on by the Great Depression. As a
make-work scheme, men were put to work building a road linking
Daun,
Bitburg
Bitburg (; french: Bitbourg; lb, Béibreg) is a city in Germany, in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate approximately 25 km (16 mi.) northwest of Trier and 50 km (31 mi.) northeast of Luxembourg city. The American Spangdahlem ...
and
Trier.
Within a few years, the new
Nazi régime led by
Adolf Hitler brought along with it not only an upswing in the number of jobs, but also the foreboding of yet another war, especially after
Anschluss and
Kristallnacht in 1938. The ''
Organisation Todt'' quartered itself in the
Eifel
The Eifel (; lb, Äifel, ) is a low mountain range in western Germany and eastern Belgium. It occupies parts of southwestern North Rhine-Westphalia, northwestern Rhineland-Palatinate and the southern area of the German-speaking Community of ...
and the second
Siegfried Line
The Siegfried Line, known in German as the ''Westwall'', was a German defensive line built during the 1930s (started 1936) opposite the French Maginot Line. It stretched more than ; from Kleve on the border with the Netherlands, along the west ...
sprang up. So did a great munitions and fuel dump, in the Salmwald, the local forest. Soldiers from
East Prussia
East Prussia ; german: Ostpreißen, label=Low Prussian; pl, Prusy Wschodnie; lt, Rytų Prūsija was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia from 1773 to 1829 and again from 1878 (with the Kingdom itself being part of the German Empire from 187 ...
were posted as guards.
In 1940, early in the
Second World War, Salm and the surrounding region became a deployment area in the runup to the
Battle of France
The Battle of France (french: bataille de France) (10 May – 25 June 1940), also known as the Western Campaign ('), the French Campaign (german: Frankreichfeldzug, ) and the Fall of France, was the Nazi Germany, German invasion of French Third Rep ...
, which began on 10 May of that year and ended on 21 June with an
armistice.
French
French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to France
** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents
** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...
prisoners of war
A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held Captivity, captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610.
Belligerents hold priso ...
came to Salm. They were put to work in
agriculture to offset the dearth of labour due to the war, and were fed by local families whom they were detailed to help.
In 1944, after the war's fortunes had swung against Germany, the area once again became a military staging area, this time for the
Battle of the Bulge, which began on 16 December. Technical problems with the much-vaunted
V-1s due to errors in the guidance system and
sabotage at the assembly plants by the
political prisoners who were forced to work there led 21 of these devices to unintentionally rain down on Salm and the surrounding area. They claimed one life.
Two fliers are known to have crashed in the municipality in 1944. One was German – he was killed after his
parachute
A parachute is a device used to slow the motion of an object through an atmosphere by creating drag or, in a ram-air parachute, aerodynamic lift. A major application is to support people, for recreation or as a safety device for aviators, who ...
caught on his falling aircraft – and the other American. He was taken to
Daun in custody after a successful parachute jump.
In 1945, the
Allied
An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...
attack on Germany continued in earnest, and this was brought home locally by an airstrike on Rom, a
hamlet between Salm and neighbouring
Birresborn
Birresborn is an ''Ortsgemeinde'' – a municipality belonging to a ''Verbandsgemeinde'', a kind of collective municipality – in the Vulkaneifel district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It belongs to the ''Verbandsgemeinde'' of Gerolstein, wh ...
. Six civilians (including one whole family) and ten soldiers were killed in the attack, and two houses were destroyed. In unrelated action, another American aircraft crashed near Rom in 1945; the pilot managed to save himself.
On 5 March 1945, General
George S. Patton's
4th Armored Division overran the area and Salm surrendered without a fight. German forces had already pulled out of the village.
After Germany's capitulation, the American troops, as had been the case after the last war, were replaced by French ones as the whole region found itself in the
French Zone of Occupation
Germany was already de facto occupied by the Allies from the real fall of Nazi Germany in World War II on 8 May 1945 to the establishment of the East Germany on 7 October 1949. The Allies (United States, United Kingdom, Soviet Union, and France ...
.
After the war, there followed a time of great neediness. During the 1950s, there was much in the way of
cottage industry
The putting-out system is a means of subcontracting work. Historically, it was also known as the workshop system and the domestic system. In putting-out, work is contracted by a central agent to subcontractors who complete the project via remote ...
, including
quilting. Many worked as
lumberjack
Lumberjacks are mostly North American workers in the logging industry who perform the initial harvesting and transport of trees for ultimate processing into forest products. The term usually refers to loggers in the era (before 1945 in the Unite ...
s. A lack of
apprenticeships in the municipality led many young people to migrate to the
Ruhr area.
By 1960, the new road to
Gerolstein had been finished. Between 1960 and 1962, ''
Flurbereinigung'' took place. Mechanized farming began.
In the course of administrative restructuring in
Rhineland-Palatinate in 1970, Salm was grouped into the
''Verbandsgemeinde'' of Gerolstein in the Daun district, which has since been given the name
Vulkaneifel.
In the course of building works for the new
sewerage
Sewerage (or sewage system) is the infrastructure that conveys sewage or surface runoff (stormwater, meltwater, rainwater) using sewers. It encompasses components such as receiving drainage, drains, manholes, pumping stations, storm overflows, a ...
in 1994, remnants of an old wall were unearthed. Nothing is known of its history, except that it is believed to be older than the street under which it runs crosswise.
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 language be described thus: Azure in chief a salmon argent and in base a bugle-horn Or.
The upper
charge is
canting for the municipality's name, Salm, which is also a
German word for
salmon (although the usual one is ''Lachse''); the canting might help clear the mysterious
toponymy of the town, which has been theorized to be from a
Pre-Indo-European root ''*Sal(m)-'' seen through much of Europe (see
Old European hydronymy
Old European (german: Alteuropäisch) is the term used by Hans Krahe (1964) for the language of the oldest reconstructed stratum of European hydronymy (river names) in Central and Western Europe.Hans Krahe, ''Unsere ältesten Flussnamen'', Wiesbad ...
). The salmon also refers to the local river's name, also Salm. The horn is
Saint Hubert's attribute, thus representing the municipality's and the church's patron saint.
Culture and sightseeing
Buildings:
*
Saint Hubert's
Catholic Parish Church (''Pfarrkirche St. Hubertus'') Kirchweg 1 – 1830.
* Hauptstraße 38 – former rectory (?), representative
Classicist plastered building, from 1863.
Directory of Cultural Monuments in Vulkaneifel district
/ref>
Economy and infrastructure
The municipality lies on '' Bundesstraße'' 257.
References
External links
Salm
Municipality's official webpage
{{Authority control
Municipalities in Rhineland-Palatinate
Vulkaneifel