Sehlem is an ''Ortsgemeinde'' – 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 ''

Verbandsgemeinde A (; plural ) is a low-level administrative division, administrative unit in the Germany, German States of Germany, federal states of Brandenburg, Rhineland-Palatinate and Saxony-Anhalt. A is typically composed of a small group of Municipalitie ...

'', a kind of collective municipality – in the

Bernkastel-Wittlich Bernkastel-Wittlich (German language, German: ''Landkreis Bernkastel-Wittlich'') is a district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is bounded by (from the north and clockwise) the districts of Vulkaneifel, Cochem-Zell, Rhein-Hunsrück, Birkenfeld ...

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 ...

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 ...

Geography

Location

The municipality lies in the

Eifel The Eifel (; , ) is a low mountain range in western Germany, eastern Belgium and northern Luxembourg. It occupies parts of southwestern North Rhine-Westphalia, northwestern Rhineland-Palatinate and the southern area of the German-speaking Com ...

and belongs to the ''Verbandsgemeinde'' of Wittlich-Land, whose seat is in

Wittlich Wittlich (; Moselle Franconian language, Moselle Franconian: ''Wittlech'') is a town in Rhineland-Palatinate, in western Germany, the seat of the Bernkastel-Wittlich Districts of Germany, district. Its historic town centre and the beauty of the sur ...

, although that town is itself not in the ''Verbandsgemeinde''.

History

Sehlem was part of the

Electorate of Trier The Electorate of Trier ( or '; ) was an Hochstift, ecclesiastical principality of the Holy Roman Empire that existed from the end of the 9th to the early 19th century. It was the temporal possession of the prince-archbishop of Trier (') wh ...

. Beginning in 1794, Sehlem lay under

French French may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France ** French people, a nation and ethnic group ** French cuisine, cooking traditions and practices Arts and media * The French (band), ...

rule. In 1814 it was assigned to the Kingdom of

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, ...

at 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, Napol ...

. Since 1947, it 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 ...

Politics

Municipal council

The council is made up of 12 council members, who were elected by

proportional representation Proportional representation (PR) refers to any electoral system under which subgroups of an electorate are reflected proportionately in the elected body. The concept applies mainly to political divisions (Political party, political parties) amon ...

at the municipal election held on 7 June 2009, and the honorary mayor as chairman. The municipal election held on 7 June 2009 yielded the following results:Kommunalwahl Rheinland-Pfalz 2009, Gemeinderat
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Mayors

The mayor of Sehlem is Gregor Zehe.

Coat of arms

The German blazon reads: ''Über grünem Schildfuß, darin zwei silberne Leisten, in Silber ein rotes Balkenkreuz, belegt mit grünem sechsspeichigem Rad.'' 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: Argent a cross gules, surmounting the whole a wheel spoked of six vert, in a base of the third two bars of the first.

Economy and infrastructure

Transport

Sehlem lies on the

Autobahn The (; German , ) is the federal controlled-access highway system in Germany. The official term is (abbreviated ''BAB''), which translates as 'federal motorway'. The literal meaning of the word is 'Federal Auto(mobile) Track'. Much of t ...

A 1 and has at its disposal a railway station on the Koblenz-Trier line.

References

Bernkastel-Wittlich {{BernkastelWittlich-geo-stub