Breitenbach (Palatinate)

Basic data
State :	Rhineland-Palatinate
County :	Kusel
Association municipality :	Upper Glantal
Height :	364 m above sea level NHN
Area :	8.89 km 2
Residents:	1778 (Dec. 31, 2019)
Population density :	200 inhabitants per km 2
Postal code :	66916
Area code :	06386
License plate :	KUS
Community key :	07 3 36 010
Association administration address:	Rathausstrasse 8 ; 66901 Schönenberg-Kübelberg
Website :	Breitenbachpfalz.de
Local Mayor :	Johannes Roth
Location of the local community Breitenbach in the district of Kusel

View of Breitenbach from the east

Breitenbach is a municipality in the Kusel district in Rhineland-Palatinate . It belongs to the community of Upper Glantal and is one of the eight largest communities in the Kusel district.

geography

The place is in the Kuseler Musikantenland on the border with Saarland . To the north is Frohnhofen , east Altenkirchen , in the south of Lautenbach (Ottweiler) , in the southeast Dunzweiler and west is Fürth Ostertal .

history

Breitenbach was first mentioned in a document in 1303. The place belonged to Pfalz-Zweibrücken .

politics

Municipal council

The local council in Breitenbach consists of 16 council members, who were elected in the local elections on May 26, 2019 in a personalized proportional representation, and the honorary local mayor as chairman.

The distribution of seats in the municipal council:

choice	SPD	CDU	WG Grünspecht	WG Roth	total
2019	5	-	3	8th	16 seats
2014	6th	3	3	4th	16 seats
2009	7th	3	3	3	16 seats
2004	9	5	2	-	16 seats

mayor

Johannes Roth became mayor of Breitenbach on June 26, 2019. In the direct election on May 26, 2019, he was elected for five years with 72.41% of the vote.

Predecessor Jürgen Knapp, great-grandson of the former mayor Daniel Knapp, succeeded Wolfgang Steigner-Wild in 2011, who had resigned prematurely. This resignation was followed by an election, which was remarkable because six candidates ran for the office, an unusually high number for the size of the town.

Previous community leaders:

1849–1855: Daniel Morgenstern
1855–1867: Jakob Morgenstern
1867–1882: Michael Hanauer
1882–1889: Christian Gabes
1889–1905: Jakob Staudt
1905–1910: Karl Schleppi
1910–1920: Daniel Knapp
1920–1928: Ludwig Göttel
1928–1933: Christian Schneider
1933–1936: Albert Hartmann
1936–1945: Richard Rech

1945–1946: Arnold Dresch
1946–1957: Alfred Hüther
1957–1969: Hermann Bäumchen
1969–1976: Gunther Trautmann
1976–1988: Willibald Weyrich
1988–1990: Hans Ambos
1990-1994: Hans Ellmer
1994-2004: Werner Rimkus
2004–2011: Wolfgang Steigner-Wild
2011–2019: Jürgen Knapp
since 2019: Johannes Roth

Culture and sights

There is a mining museum in Breitenbach. The way of working and living around the coal mines is shown. The museum was built up with the help of the Christian scouts, there in particular through the collecting passion of the elder Günter S. The museum is located in the former schoolhouse south, which served as a primary school until 1990, but was then rebuilt on the Wilcher. The former schoolhouse north, which had not been a school for a long time, was used for two purposes: The old building now serves as a community center, in which the mayor's office and the assembly room for the local council are housed, and the community kindergarten is located in the extension.

Clubs and youth

Breitenbach has a large number of clubs and leisure activities for young people. There is a gymnastics and sports club (TUS), a table tennis club, a youth club, a volunteer fire brigade with a development association and youth fire brigade, a rural women’s club, a local Red Cross club, the Eintracht singing club, the Bruderherz singing club, the Diana shooting club and the scout club. Tribe Albert Schweitzer of the Association of Christian Scouts and Boy Scouts ( VCP ), fruit and horticultural association, pensioners association.

A large cross-association group from Breitenbach took part in the 72-hour campaign, during which the so-called beautification path was renovated.

Economy and Infrastructure

The A 6 is to the southeast and the A 62 to the northeast . In Homburg there is a train station on the Mannheim – Saarbrücken railway . Breitenbach owns a supermarket, a pharmacy, two hairdressers, a bakery, a butcher's shop, two restaurants / bars, a carpenter's shop, a spare parts dealer for car parts, several auto mechanics, a physiotherapist with a fitness studio.

A village moderation has been taking place in Breitenbach since 2008 with the aim of making Breitenbach even more appealing in terms of appearance and offers.

In 2009 and 2010, the European farmers' market took place in Breitenbach, each with around 50,000 visitors. The market was the biggest event in the village to date.

media

Reporting on the local community of Breitenbach takes place in the Westricher Rundschau, a local edition of the Rheinpfalz .

The Grünspecht group of voters also published the so-called “village newspaper” at irregular intervals, in which they highlighted the work of the municipal council and other exclusively village-related topics.

The organ for public announcements and simplified reporting from the village is the “Südkreis” edition of the “Wochenblatt”, which is financed entirely by advertisements.

In 2005 a village chronicle was published, which was also published on the Internet.