Birch heather

This article deals with the local community Birkenheide in Rhineland-Palatinate.
For the mountain of the same name in the Thuringian Forest, see Birkenheide (Thuringian Forest) and for the hamlet see Birkenheide (Saalfeld) .

coat of arms	Germany map
	Coordinates: 49 ° 29 '  N , 8 ° 16'  E
Basic data
State :	Rhineland-Palatinate
County :	Rhine-Palatinate District
Association municipality :	Maxdorf
Height :	101 m above sea level NHN
Area :	2.93 km 2
Residents:	3192 (Dec. 31, 2019)
Population density :	1089 inhabitants per km 2
Postal code :	67134
Area code :	06237
License plate :	RP
Community key :	07 3 38 003
Association administration address:	Hauptstrasse 79 67133 Maxdorf
Website :	www.birkenheide.de
Local Mayor :	Rainer Reiss ( CDU )
Location of the local community Birkenheide in the Rhine-Palatinate district

Village community center

Birkenheide is a municipality in the Rhein-Pfalz-Kreis in Rhineland-Palatinate . It belongs to the Maxdorf Association .

geography

Birkenheide is located about 10 kilometers west of Ludwigshafen in the Palatinate . Neighboring communities - clockwise from the north - are Weisenheim am Sand , Lambsheim , Maxdorf , Fußgönheim , Ellerstadt , Bad Dürkheim and Erpolzheim .

history

In 1936, the large settlement Hundertmorgen was built on a stretch of land that had been controversial for centuries between Lambsheim and Weisenheim am Sand . It once belonged to the lost village of Eyersheim . The German Labor Front created a settlement for 528 people, which was initially administered from Weisenheim. The first houses were located east of the cemetery laid out in 1952 in the north of the current municipality. In 1939, the settlement was expanded through the development of what is now the town center with larger one and two-family houses. In 1946 the population had grown to around 1200, mainly due to immigrants and refugees who were housed in makeshift dormitories in the northeast of the town. However, there was still a lack of any public facilities, and the settlement was called the “forgotten village”.

On October 1, 1952, the settlement became the independent municipality of Birkenheide in the district of Neustadt an der Weinstrasse . It was composed of parts of the districts Weisenheim am Sand, Bad Dürkheim , Lambsheim and Ellerstadt . Albertine Scherer was the first mayor. A primary school, kindergartens, fire station and other communal facilities were soon built. The makeshift dormitories were replaced by apartment blocks and row houses from 1964 to 1970. On June 7, 1969, the community moved to the Ludwigshafen district, today's Rhein-Pfalz-Kreis.

In 1970 Birkenheide signed an incorporation agreement with Ludwigshafen , which was rejected by Maxdorf and the Rhineland-Palatinate state government. One lawsuit was unsuccessful. In 1983 the village community center was built.

religion

The Protestant parish church , built in 1951, came from an emergency church program of the post-war period by Otto Bartning . As one of the few of the around 50 built churches, it has remained relatively unchanged and is therefore a listed building. The atmosphere of the church space is shaped by the wooden construction and the gable designed as a window front. The altar is in a lockable wall cabinet, so the church can also be used for profane purposes.

The first Catholic church was built from wood in 1968, but had to be replaced in 1995 by the new parish church St. Josef der Arbeiter in Birkenheide due to its dilapidation. The brick building contains meeting and youth rooms.

On October 31, 2014, 36.079 percent of the population were Protestant and 28.321 percent were Catholic. The rest belonged to another religion or were non-denominational.

politics

Municipal council

The municipal council in Birkenheide consists of 20 council members, who were elected in a personalized proportional representation in the local elections on May 26, 2019 , and the honorary local mayor as chairman.

The distribution of seats in the municipal council:

choice	SPD	CDU	FDP	FWG	total
2019	5	11	-	4th	20th
2014	8th	9	-	3	20th
2009	9	11	-	-	20th
2004	7th	12	1	-	20th

mayor

The current honorary local mayor of Birkenheide is Rainer Reiss (CDU).

• 1999-2014: Rainer Reiss (CDU)
• 2014–2019: Siegmund Hein (SPD)
• since 2019: Rainer Reiss (CDU)

coat of arms

	Blazon : "Divided by black and gold, three silver birch trees above, a red mill wheel below." It was approved by the Neustadt district government in 1979 .
	Justification for the coat of arms: The birches refer to the place name and the mill wheel is reminiscent of the Eyersheimer Mühle or the formerly associated village of Eyersheim, on whose land mark Birkenheide arose. The colors black and gold refer to the Electoral Palatinate , gold and red to Weisenheim am Sand.

Culture and sights

Silbergrasflur natural monument

Catholic Church

school

Natural and cultural monuments

The 1987 designated natural monument silver grass corridor is a south facing the local situation sand lean lawns, the habitat for specialized insect and plant species such as the gyroscope wasp and the dunes ant lion is.

See also : List of natural monuments in Birkenheide  and List of cultural monuments in Birkenheide

zoo

The Birkenheide zoo was opened in 1964 and has around 50 species.

Regular events

• At the beginning of each year the carnival club “Die Kraniche” organizes two ceremonial meetings in the village community center in Birkenheide.
• Every year on April 30th there is a "Dance in May" in the village community center.
• Every two years the village festival is held on the newly designed village square in summer. The catering and the design of the supporting program are supported by the many Birkenheiden associations. In alternation, the event "Birkenheide musiziert" takes place every two years. a. the folk choir Birkenheide, the jolly cranes and the music parade Birkenheide take part.
• Every year in August there is a celebration in the municipality of Kerwe.
• On the weekend before the 1st Advent, the Heimat- und Kulturverein organizes a Christmas market with many exhibitors from the area.
• At the beginning of the summer holidays, the Birkenheide music train organizes a music festival with associations from the area.

Economy and Infrastructure

traffic

The federal motorway 650 (Bad Dürkheim – Ludwigshafen) runs south of Birkenheide . There are bus connections to the surrounding towns. In Maxdorf, Fußgönheim and Ellerstadt there are stops on the Bad Dürkheim – Ludwigshafen tram line (formerly Rhein-Haardtbahn ). Birkenheide belongs to the tariff area of ​​the Rhein-Neckar transport association .

education

In Birkenheide there are two kindergartens or day-care centers and a primary school with a library.

Web links

Commons : Birkenheide  - Collection of Images

• Local community Birkenheide
• Birkenheide in the SWR program "Hierzuland"
• Literature on birch heather in the Rhineland-Palatinate state bibliography

Individual evidence

1. ↑ State Statistical Office of Rhineland-Palatinate - population status 2019, districts, communities, association communities ( help on this ).
2. ↑ Results of the mayoral elections 2019 at the regional returning officer
3. ↑ State law on the formation of a community Birkenheide (Neustadt ad Weinstrasse district), GVBl Rhineland-Palatinate 1952, p. 139
4. ↑ City Archives of the City of Ludwigshafen am Rhein (ed.): History of the City of Ludwigshafen am Rhein: Vol. 2. From the end of the First World War to the present . Ludwigshafen am Rhein 2003, ISBN 3-924667-35-7 , p. 770
5. ^ History of Birkenheide , website of the Maxdorf Association
6. ↑ Prot. Parish Birkenheide - historical , website of the Lukaskirchengemeinde Birkenheide
7. ^ Directory of cultural monuments - Rhein-Pfalz-Kreis (PDF, 6.6MB), General Directorate for Cultural Heritage Rhineland-Palatinate
8. ↑ Parish of St. Antonius of Padua Maxdorf - Birkenheide , website of the parish of St. Antonius of Padua Maxdorf
9. ↑ Municipal statistics . In: KommWis. October 31, 2014, accessed November 30, 2014 . 
10. ↑ The Regional Returning Officer: Local elections 2019, city and municipal council elections
11. ↑ Local election 2014, city and municipal council elections , regional election officer Rhineland-Palatinate
12. ↑ Local elections 2009, city and municipal council elections , regional election officer Rhineland-Palatinate
13. ↑ Local elections 2004, city and municipal council elections , regional election officer Rhineland-Palatinate
14. ↑ Mayor and alderman on the website of the Verbandsgemeinde Maxdorf; Results of the local elections 2019 on the website of the Verbandsgemeinde Maxdorf
15. ↑ https://www.rheinpfalz.de/lokal/ludwigshafen/artikel/der-sieg-des-siegmund-hein/
16. ↑ https://www.vg-maxdorf.de/cms2017/wahlen2019/Bgm/bi/index.html
17. ^ Karl Heinz Debus: The great book of arms of the Palatinate. Neustadt an der Weinstrasse 1988, ISBN 3-9801574-2-3 .
18. ↑ Natural monuments | District administration Rhein-Pfalz-Kreis , website of the Rhein-Pfalz-Kreis
19. ↑ http://www.zoo-infos.de/set.html?/zoos/47.html
20. ↑ https://www.mamilade.de/rheinland-pfalz/rhein-pfalz-kreis/ausflugstipps/tiergarten/tierpark-birkenheide
21. ↑ Kindergartens & Day Care Centers VG Maxdorf , website of the Maxdorf Association
22. ^ Regional data - Birkenheide , State Statistical Office Rhineland-Palatinate