Berus

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Berus
Community Überherrn
Former Berus municipal coat of arms
Coordinates: 49 ° 15 ′ 50 "  N , 6 ° 41 ′ 39"  E
Height : 316 m above sea level NHN
Area : 11.8 km²
Residents : 2053  (Dec. 31, 2010)
Population density : 174 inhabitants / km²
Incorporation : 1st January 1974
Postal code : 66802
Area code : 06836
Berus (Saarland)
Berus

Location of Berus in Saarland
Berus
Berus

Berus is a part of the municipality of Überherrn in the Saarlouis district ( Saarland ). Until the end of 1973 Berus was an independent municipality.

geography

location

The old town center lies on a mountain spur of the Saargau above the wide lowlands of the Saar , directly on the border with Lorraine ( France ). The highest base point is 377 m above sea level (Sauberg / Sender Felsberg-Berus )

climate

Climate diagram from Berus

The annual precipitation is 876 mm. The precipitation is in the upper third of the measuring points of the German Weather Service . Above 75% indicate lower values. The driest month is April; it rains most in November. In the wettest month there is around 1.5 times more rain than in the driest month. The seasonal fluctuations in precipitation are in the lower third. In only 6% of all places, the monthly precipitation fluctuates less.

In May 2009 nowhere in Germany did it rain less than in Berus. Only 19.2 liters of precipitation per square meter were measured in the entire month, as the German Weather Service announced on June 2, 2009. This corresponds to only a quarter of the long-term mean.

history

Stylized illustration by Berus, Sebastian Münster: Excerpt from the three-part, west-bound Rhine route map (1544)

Traces of Stone Age, Celtic and Roman settlement can be found in Berus. Several stone axes found in Berus are exhibited in the Ceramic Museum in Mettlach . The limestone portrait of a Gaulish Roman character found in Berus can be seen in the Museum of Prehistory and Early History in Trier . Parts of a giant column of Jupiter (originally 11 to 13 meters high) were found in 1878 and are now in the museum in Metz . In the Middle Ages , Berus was a strategically important fortified city, the nucleus of which was the Berus Castle of the Lorraine dukes. Parts of the castle and the city walls have been preserved. The first documentary mention is in 1235 under the Latin name "Bellus Ramus" (beautiful branch, beautiful mountain nose). The current name "Berus" developed from this designation. Other traditional names are e.g. B. Belrain, Beaurain, Berris and many more. During the Thirty Years War , Berus was besieged and destroyed by Swedish troops (1635). After that, the mining town lost its importance, especially since Saarlouis, a new center for the region, was established in 1680 .

Until 1815 Berus was assigned to the canton of Saarlouis in the Moselle department.

As part of the regional and administrative reform in Saarland , the previously independent municipality of Berus was assigned to the municipality of Überherrn on January 1, 1974 .

politics

Local council

The local council with eleven seats is composed as follows after the local elections on June 7, 2009:

The local council elected Karla Thieser-Aulenbacher ( SPD ) as mayor.

View of the high-altitude Berus from Bisttal from
Torhaus Scharfeneck

Former municipal coat of arms

In 1964 the municipality of Berus received a coat of arms: "In blue over a black grooved silver city wall, in whose open gate there is a double-tailed gold-crowned and gold-armored lion, two double-tailed gold-crowned and gold-armored silver lions". (Announcement of January 9, 1964 in the Saarland Official Gazette .)

The three lions, so the reasoning, already appeared in the seal of the former Lorraine office of Berus. The city wall refers to the former city rights of the place. However, the choice of the three lions seems to be based on a mistake: it was not the Berus office that had this in its coat of arms, but the Luxembourg noble family de Beaurain , which had its seat in the Belgian city ​​of Beauraing .

Myths and legends

Of course, there are numerous sagas and legends about such an old place that was important in the past. The founder of Berus Fortress is said to have been an illegitimate son of the House of Lorraine, who was so distinguished by his beauty, nobility and deeds that he was nicknamed Bellus Ramus , which then passed on to his city.

Another legend reports that Attila , the king of the Huns, who died of a hemorrhage after his marriage to a Germanic princess, is buried in Berus. There is historical evidence that Metz was pillaged by Attila's troops in 451.

Another legend is about the siege during the Thirty Years' War. The Berusers are said to have slaughtered their last donkey, wrapped their last sack of grain in its skin and catapulted it into the besiegers. These are said to have given up the siege because they suspected that there were still plenty of supplies in the fortress. The real story, however, was different (see above). In any case, this legend seems to be the reason why the Beruser people in the surrounding villages were called Beruser donkeys for a long time . The real reason for the nickname is probably due to the donkeys, which for centuries served as pack animals for the supply of the city and Berus Castle. Because around 1920 Kaplan Dingels wrote in the Berus parish chronicle about a cow's stomach that was catapulted into the camp of the besiegers filled with wheat.

Last but not least, the legends about Saint Oranna and her companion Cyrilla should be mentioned.

Attractions

  • Remains of the medieval fortifications: Torhaus Scharfeneck, Torhaus Schloss .
  • Phillips House (Bannhaus) from 1580
  • Orannakapelle (formerly Altforweiler)
  • Parish Church of St Martin
  • Transmitter system EUROPE I
  • European monument , dedicated to three great Europeans: Robert Schuman , Konrad Adenauer and Alcide De Gasperi ; The monument also honors two other co-founders of the European Communities : Joseph Bech and Paul-Henri Spaak .
  • Old border path - Chemin de la Frontière: A scenic, 7 km long hiking trail whose destination and starting point is the European monument. It leads through Sterres (the Beruser speaks it: "ste: res" so with a long "e"), the former Beruser limestone quarry, which is now in a nature reserve, to the place Berviller-en-Moselle in neighboring Lorraine, and from there from again across the German-French border, past the Orannakapelle , back to the European monument.
  • About 200 meters southeast of the location of the European monument next to the weather station stood the St. Oranna Tower, which was renamed the Hindenburgturm in 1935 after the referendum in favor of the connection of the Saar area to the German Empire. On September 23, 1939, it was blown up by the German Wehrmacht in order not to give the French artillery a point of reference.

tourism

Berus and the surrounding towns offer all sorts of options for a varied leisure time. The Überherrn municipal administration provides comprehensive information on its website about sights, excursion destinations and overnight accommodation in hotels, guest houses, inns and private rooms or holiday apartments

  • Oranna Chapel

  • Oranna Chapel

  • Statue of Saint Oranna in the chapel

  • European monument

  • Legend of the European monument

Beruser personalities

  • Saint Oranna and her companion Cyrilla worked in Berus in the 6th century.
  • Berus experienced its heyday under the rule of Countess Anna von Isenburg († 1572).
  • Countess Gutta (the first name Jutta, which is also used as a street name in Berus, is historically incorrect) von Hattstein (née Nassau , † after 1644) administered the Metternich property in Berus at the time of the Thirty Years' War .
  • The Berus Baroque is shaped by the sculptor brothers Peter (* 1725), Adam (* 1731; † 1810), Christian († before 1793) and Georg (* 1736; † 1808) Guldner, whose works are in the Berus parish church of St. Martin are admired.
  • The baroque crucifixion group in the Beruser church was created by Sebastian Öhlenschläger.
  • Berus has been the home of the writer Gerhard Tänzer since 1967 .
  • The draftsman , animator , graphic artist and author Bernd Kissel is a native Beruser and also lives here.
  • Hans Walter Lorang (* 1945 ), Saarland dialect poet , singer and songwriter, lives in Berus.

Berus Clinic

The AHG Klinik Berus was founded in 1986 as a center for psychosomatic and behavioral medicine . In addition to the treatment of depressive disorders and anxiety disorders , the clinic specializes in the treatment of psychosomatic disorders such as bullying and burnout , chronic tinnitus , trauma-related disorders , pathological gambling and eating disorders . Patients come from all over Germany and, thanks to an elaborated French-language treatment concept for all indications in psychosomatic medicine, also from the neighboring countries of France, Luxembourg and Belgium.

literature

  • About a saint and her village. Hermann Joseph Becker, 1928 (reprint Saarbrücker Zeitung, approx. 1980).
  • My Berus - a panorama. In: The whitewashed Sarotti-Mohr. Norbert Breuer. Juwelen-Verlag, Tönisvorst. ISBN 978-3-945822-80-7 .
  • Berus and St. Oranna. Herbert Labouvie, Ed. Kath. Pfarramt Berus, Saarländische Verlagsanstalt u. Printing works, Saarbrücken, 1948.
  • Berus - A little home story. Published by the Berus community, Mielke-Druck, Kirchheim-Bolanden, 1965 (with contributions from: Fritz Münzmay, Toni Frisch, Gerold Kratz, Herbert Labouvie, Hermann Maisant and Hermann Nenno).
  • The psychological profile of a village, shown in a community in the Saarland. Wilhelm P. Stark, in: Yearbook for Christian Social Sciences No. 1, University of Münster, 1960; Pp. 153-164.
  • Report on Berus. Peter C. Keller, ISBN 3-921646-42-1 , 1981.
  • Home register Überherrn-Altforweiler-Berus-Bisten. Josef Lafontaine, self-published, 4 volumes 1980–1988.
  • Torhaus Scharfeneck. Manfred Neutzling, ed. Förderverein Torhaus Scharfeneck Berus eV, 1986 (6-page leaflet).
  • Philipp's house the so-called Bannhaus. Martin Schmitting, ed. Förderverein Torhaus Scharfeneck Berus eV, around 1987 (6-page leaflet).
  • The medieval fortifications of the former Lorraine town of Berus (Berriß). Martin Schmitting, ed. Förderverein Torhaus Scharfeneck Berus eV, 1989 (6-page leaflet).
  • Gatehouse "Castle". (Manfred Neutzling), Ed. Förderverein Torhaus Scharfeneck Berus eV, 1990 (6-page leaflet).
  • Overriding in old views. Walter Oehling, Zaltbommel / Netherlands 1995, ISBN 90-288-5942-X .
  • The inhabitants of Berus before 1850. Walter Oehling, 1997.
  • Parish Church of Berus. Ed. Förderverein Torhaus Scharfeneck Berus eV, 2000 (8-page leaflet).
  • Overriding in old views. Volume 2. Walter Oehling, Zaltbommel / Netherlands 2002, ISBN 90-288-6711-2 (new edition 2009).
  • Literature about Berus in the Saarland Bibliography .

Web links

Commons : Berus  - Collection of Images

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Federal Statistical Office (ed.): Historical municipality directory for the Federal Republic of Germany. Name, border and key number changes in municipalities, counties and administrative districts from May 27, 1970 to December 31, 1982 . W. Kohlhammer, Stuttgart / Mainz 1983, ISBN 3-17-003263-1 , p. 808 .