Hauenstein (Palatinate)

coat of arms	Germany map
	Coordinates: 49 ° 11 '  N , 7 ° 52'  E
Basic data
State :	Rhineland-Palatinate
County :	Southwest Palatinate
Association municipality :	Hauenstein
Height :	348 m above sea level NHN
Area :	13.91 km 2
Residents:	4016 (Dec. 31, 2019)
Population density :	289 inhabitants per km 2
Postal code :	76846
Area code :	06392
License plate :	PS , ZW
Community key :	07 3 40 014
Association administration address:	Schulstrasse 4 76846 Hauenstein
Website :	www.hauenstein.de
Local Mayor :	Michael Zimmermann ( CDU )
Location of the local community Hauenstein in the district of Südwestpfalz

View of Hauenstein

Hauenstein , called "Hääschde" in the local dialect , is the fifth largest municipality in the Rhineland-Palatinate district of Südwestpfalz in terms of population . In the climatic health resort known as “Schuhdorf” , the municipality of the same name also has its administrative headquarters. According to state planning, Hauenstein is designated as a basic center.

geography

location

The community is located in the southern Palatinate Forest , the German part of the Wasgau on its northern edge. It is located in the east of the district of Südwestpfalz. Neighboring communities are - clockwise -  Wilgartswiesen , Spirkelbach , Schwanheim , Erfweiler , Dahn , Hinterweidenthal and an exclave belonging to Spirkelbach.

Surveys

Immediately northeast of the settlement area on the border with Wilgartswiesen extends the 336.3 meter high Neding and west of it - also on the municipality border - the 324 meter high Mischberg . To the south of the buildings rise the Weimersberg ( 376.1  m ), the soldiers head , the Benz , the Hohe Kopf ( 442.6  m ), on the border with Erfweiler the Winterberg ( 460.8  m ), on the border with Dahn der 433  m high Mittel-Schachen and on the border to Schwanheim the 455.7 m high Hühnerstein .

Waters

Source of the Queich in the district of Hauenstein

The Queich , which rises in the southern forest area of ​​Hauenstein, develops further downwards to one of the main drainage systems of the Palatinate and flows into the Rhine, flows through the place from south to north . Shortly before reaching the development, it flows through the paddle pond . In the middle of the settlement area of ​​the local community the Gillenbach flows into it from the right , further northeast the Mischbach follows from the left . In the far east of the district it takes on the Steinbach from the right , which for the most part forms the boundary to Spirkelbach and in its upper reaches the border to Schwanheim.

The watershed to the Lauter runs through the west of the municipal marker . The Mühlenbach rises in this area and forms the border to Dahn after about a hundred meters before it crosses over to the municipality of Hinterweidenthal. A little further north is the Hirtenbach , which takes in the Hauensteinerbach and the floodwater from the right ; the latter is only located in its immediate mouth area on the municipality marker. In the south-west of the district, the Langenbach forms the border to Erfweiler for the first 200 meters of its course , which also drains via the Lauter.

climate

In view of the somewhat higher altitude, the climate does not have the mildness of the Rhine plain , but is characterized by very moderate winters thanks to the mountains of the Frankenweide in the north . The surrounding forest ensures sufficient rainfall, which makes the summers evenly and leads to high yields of chestnuts and edible mushrooms in autumn .

history

Hauenstein was first mentioned in 1345 in a document on the Palatinate church history. From 1798 to 1814, when the Palatinate was part of the French Republic (until 1804) and then part of the Napoleonic Empire , Hauenstein was incorporated into the canton of Dahn . In 1815 the place Austria was added. Just one year later, Hinterweidenthal moved to the Kingdom of Bavaria . From 1818 the place was part of the Landkommissariat Pirmasens , which was converted into a district office in 1862.

The village became famous for its shoe production , which determined the life of the people in Hauenstein from the end of the 19th century. Based on the example of Pirmasens 20 km away (1857), the first shoe factory was opened in 1886; The founders were the brothers Carl-August and Anton Seibel. As early as 1890, Anton Seibel set up a second factory for himself. Numerous other entrepreneurs followed. 14 shoe factories had been set up by 1914, employing 1,140 people at the time. In 1961 there were a peak of 36 factories. Then the boom came to an end. Only one shoe factory has survived to the present.

In contrast to Darstein , a few kilometers away , which was the first German community to show 100 percent of the votes for the NSDAP in a Reichstag election in 1930, only an exceptionally small portion of the predominantly Catholic population of Hauenstein voted for the National Socialists at that time. In the Reichstag election on March 5, 1933 , the NSDAP in Hauenstein only achieved 4.8 percent, while the joint list from the Center and the Bavarian People's Party came to 92.6 percent. This was the best result anywhere in the Reich for a non-National Socialist party in communities with over 1,000 inhabitants.

In 1939 Hauenstein was incorporated into the district of Pirmasens (since 1997 district of Südwestpfalz ) . After the Second World War , the municipality within the French occupation zone became part of the then newly formed state of Rhineland-Palatinate. In the course of the first Rhineland-Palatinate administrative reform , Hauenstein became the seat of the newly created association of the same name .

population

Population development

In the course of industrialization, Hauenstein's population rose sharply from the 19th century. In 1886 the place had 683 inhabitants and in 1913 as early as 1900. In 1961, 4406 people lived in Hauenstein. From the end of the 1960s, a decline in the number of inhabitants was observed. It has stagnated at around 4,000 since the turn of the millennium.

religion

Chapel of St. Catherine

In 2012, 72.9 percent of the population were Catholic and 13.5 percent Protestant. The rest belonged to another religion or were non-denominational. The Catholics belong to the Diocese of Speyer , the Protestants to the Evangelical Church of the Palatinate (Protestant Church) .

In view of the distribution of the two major Christian denominations, the Catholic sacred buildings predominate. The chapel of St. Catherine in late Gothic style dates from 1512. The church of St. Bartholomew was built in 1787 and 1788 and preserves pictures and figures of saints that date back to the Middle Ages . The parish church of Christ-König was built in 1933 under the architect Albert Boßlet . The Discalced Carmelite Monastery was opened in 1958. The Church of Peace Maria - Queen of Peace was consecrated in 1972. The only Protestant church is the Holy Trinity Church.

politics

Municipal council

The local council in Hauenstein 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	GREEN	FDP	WGS	total
2019	2	6th	3	-	9	20 seats
2014	3	11	4th	2	-	20 seats
2009	2	11	3	4th	-	20 seats
2004	2	11	4th	3	-	20 seats

• WGS = Schöffel voter group

mayor

Michael Zimmermann (CDU) became local mayor of Hauenstein on August 15, 2019. In the direct election on May 26, 2019, he was elected for five years with 53.16% of the vote. Zimmermann's predecessor, Bernhard Rödig (FDP), did not run again after 15 years in office.

coat of arms

	Blazon : "In a divided shield above in red a silver-armored and tongued silver eagle, below in blue, in it a floating isosceles silver cross, and gold divided."
	Reasons for the coat of arms: The silver eagle in red is the symbol of Dahn's rule . Below are the colors of the knight Schenk von Waldenburg (blue-yellow). The silver diocese cross in blue represents the Hochstift Speyer .

Community partnerships

The municipality has maintained official partnerships with Chauffailles ( Canton Chauffailles , Burgundy, France) since 1965 and with Csenger ( Csenger small area , Hungary). There are unofficial connections with Steinegg ( South Tyrol , Italy), Saint-André-de-la-Marche (Maine-et-Loire, France) - part of the municipality of Sèvremoine since 2016 -, La Walck (Lower Rhine, France) and San Marco di Pascoli (Italy).

Culture and sights

Buildings

Cultural monuments

German Shoe Museum

The ruins of Backelstein Castle are designated as a monument zone ; remains of medieval fortifications have survived on it. In addition, there are a total of eleven individual objects that are listed , including the Catholic Parish Church of Christ the King and the German Shoe Museum . The latter opened in 1996. It also deals with the topic of shoes in general and shows, among other things, the "largest leather shoes in the world" with size 248 and the "largest shoe in the world" with size 1041.

Other structures

The shoemaker's monument points to the shoemaker's trade as the basis of the Hauensteiner shoe factories. A show production takes place in the Gläserne Schuhfabrik , in which visitors have the opportunity to take part.

nature

Burghalder

The municipality is located in the Palatinate Forest Nature Park , which in turn belongs to the Palatinate Forest-Vosges du Nord Biosphere Reserve . There are eight natural monuments in the Hauenstein district , including the Neding with Felsentor and Nedingfelsen as well as the Burghalder , the Backelstein and the Kreuzfelsen with a lookout point.

There is also the rock that forms the northern entrance to the town through the large rock opening. Hauenstein is also part of the Palatinate Forest climbing area .

German shoe queen

Since 2002, the initiative of the Association of the German Shoe Industry in Rhineland-Palatinate , which is based in Pirmasens , aims to elect the German Shoe Queen every four years , who is supported by a shoe princess. In deviation from the requirement, the duo elected in 2006 was in office until 2011, which was then advertised nationwide. On September 11, 2011, the new so-called “shoe sovereignties” were chosen; In addition to the German Shoe Queen, there have been two shoe princesses since then.

Regular events

The Franco-German artisan Christmas market has been held since 1980.

Knight stones

Ritterstein 214 Queich origin

There are four knight stones in the south of the district . Ritterstein 214 Queich-Ursprung marks the source of the Queich. 218 Ruins of the Carolingian homestead, 750–850, now in the pond, refers to a former Carolingian settlement that has sunk in the paddle pond . 219 Burghalder Fels marks the rock reef of the same name. 220 Backelstein - early medieval wooden castle indicates the existence of the Backelstein Castle.

societies

The most famous sports club from Hauenstein is the SC Hauenstein . There are also the Boulefreunde Hauenstein , who were promoted to the Pétanque Bundesliga in 2008 . In addition, Hauenstein has a local branch of the Palatinate Forest Association , which was awarded the Eichendorff plaque in 2014.

Economy and Infrastructure

economy

Shoe mile in the northwest of the municipality

The last still producing shoe factory in Hauenstein is the Josef Seibel shoe factory , which is now run in the fourth and fifth generations by the great-grandson and great-great-granddaughter of the company founder. Other shoe factories had to cease production due to the recession. Many switched to the shoe trade. On the approximately 40 Sundays from March to October, around a dozen shops with more than half a million pairs of shoes invite those interested to try them on. Hauenstein was also the headquarters of Wasgau Packaging GmbH , which was founded in 1934 , before it was taken over by Schumacher Packaging in 2009 . In the autumn, the local gastronomy also advertises with Palatine chestnut and game dishes .

traffic

Hauenstein is accessed by the Bundesstraße 10 , which passes just north of the town and connects the town with Pirmasens and Landau . Originally it grazed the northwestern edge of the settlement before the route was moved north as part of the construction of bypasses. The state road 495 points from this and leads through the middle of the village to Völkersweiler . The circuit road 38 establishes a connection to Wilgartswiesen.

The Landau – Rohrbach railway line of the DB , which was opened in this area in 1875, runs parallel to the B 10 . The Hauenstein train station is located on the north-western edge of the settlement and has been operationally downgraded to a stop. The Hauenstein Mitte stop , which was put into operation in 2010 and which serves to improve the development of Hauenstein, is located within the boundaries of the neighboring community of Wilgartswiesen; For this reason the latter had long resisted its construction, fearing for the continued existence of their own station .

media

In addition, the community belongs to the broadcasting area of ​​the television program OKTV Südwestpfalz .

tourism

Towards the end of the 20th century, tourism began to replace the shoe industry as the municipality's main industry. In this way, the climatic health resort of Hauenstein has meanwhile become a classic leisure region, which has a wide range of offers for both active vacationers and vacationers looking for relaxation. In addition to nature in the Palatinate Forest, the town and its surroundings offer a dense network of recreational opportunities with private and hotel rooms, holiday apartments and regional gastronomy.

Big oak hiking home

Hauenstein is located on the Deutsche Schuhstrasse , on the Pfälzer Waldpfad prädikatswanderweg , which runs from Schweigen-Rechtenbach to Kaiserslautern , as well as a side route of the Palatinate Keschdeweg and the Höcherbergweg , which runs from Niederwürzbach to Böchingen and which is marked with a red and white bar . In addition, the community is on the route of a hiking trail, which is marked with a blue-yellow bar and creates a connection with Lauterecken and Sankt Germanshof , among other things . Another is marked with a red dot and leads from Hertlingshausen to south of Bobenthal directly to the border with France and one that is marked with a yellow-red bar that connects to the Wellbachtal and Rülzheim . There is also one that is marked with a yellow dot and runs through the forest area; it establishes a connection with Fischbach bei Dahn and with the Kettrichhof .

There are also a total of five Hauensteiner shoe hiking trails from the village to the surrounding forests and numerous other hiking trails to the huts in the Palatinate Forest, especially the Hauensteiner Schusterpfad and the Zwicktritschenweg . In addition, the community is the starting point of the Queichtal cycle path , which leads to Germersheim , and the local community is located on the Pirminius cycle path , which runs from Wilgartswiesen to Hornbach . In the past, Hauenstein was also on the West Palatinate hiking trail . In the extreme south of the district is the hiking home "Dicke Eiche" ; The Paddelweiher hut is closer to the settlement area .

education

The Marienschule as a primary school and the Wasgau school as a Realschule plus , which offers a secondary or secondary school leaving certificate, cover the basic needs. The next high schools are in Annweiler and Dahn . Hauenstein is also the location of two day-care centers, namely St. Elisabeth , which has been under municipal sponsorship since 2018, and St. Hedwig , which is under Catholic sponsorship. The latter acts as a movement kindergarten and claims to enable pre-school education.

Personalities

Honorary citizen

• Georg Sommer (1881–1968), Catholic pastor in Hauenstein from 1915 to 1957, opponent of National Socialism

Sons and daughters of the church

• Karl Anton Kreuter (1876–1965), teacher, local history researcher and author
• Hermann Seibel (1903–1964), politician (center, CDU), member of the state parliament and mayor of the community
• Wolfgang Seibel (* 1928), Jesuit and publicist
• Gerhard Jäger (1942–1992), musician and composer of the world hit Monja in the group The Cry'n Strings
• Markus Schächter (* 1949), journalist and ZDF director (March 2002 to March 2012)
• Michael Braun (* 1958), literary critic
• Manfred Seibel (* 1958), politician (Alliance 90 / The Greens)

People who worked on site

• Peter Arnold (* 1952), horn player and professor at a music college, 2017/2018 conductor of the local music association.
• Jakob Bisson (1888–1963), priest, was buried on site.
• Peter Hoffmann , doctor and long-time chairman of the Medical District Association, received the Federal Cross of Merit.
• Charlotte Hohendorf received the Federal Cross of Merit.
• Christof Reichert (* 1967), politician (CDU), attended the local elementary school from 1973 to 1977 and was chairman of the CDU community association in Hauenstein from 1995 to 2010.
• Carl-August Seibel (* 1958), shoe manufacturer from Hauenstein, received the Order of Merit of the State of Rhineland-Palatinate in 2006 .
• Albrecht Vogelsang, local history researcher, was a member of the jury at the Sickinger Höhe dialect poetry competition from 1991 to 2011 .
• Clemens Weber (1905–2008), architect, headed the reconstruction plan for the community after the Second World War.

literature

• Theo Schwarzmüller : Hauenstein against Hitler: The story of a denominational world . Ed .: District Association of the Palatinate . Institute for Palatinate History and Folklore , Kaiserslautern 2007, ISBN 978-3-927754-62-1 .

Web links

Commons : Hauenstein  - Collection of Images

• Literature about Hauenstein 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. ↑ State Statistical Office Rhineland-Palatinate - regional data.
3. ↑ ^{a b} Theo Schwarzmüller : 70 years ago: A place against Hitler . Institute for Palatinate History and Folklore , January 10, 2003, accessed on April 4, 2020 . 
4. ↑ ^{a b} Ulli Kulke: Two villages and the pride of Adolf Hitler . Welt online , November 5, 2007, accessed April 4, 2020 . 
5. ↑ KommWis, as of December 31, 2012.
6. ^ The Regional Returning Officer Rhineland-Palatinate: Local elections 2019, city and municipal council elections.
7. ↑ From the local council Hauenstein: Tension before the election of the councilors. Pfalz-Express, August 25, 2019, accessed on April 4, 2020 . 
8. ^ The State Returning Officer Rhineland-Palatinate: direct elections 2019. see Hauenstein, Verbandsgemeinde, third line of results. Retrieved April 4, 2020 . 
9. ^ Karl Heinz Debus: The great book of arms of the Palatinate . Neustadt an der Weinstrasse 1988, ISBN 3-9801574-2-3
10. ^ Website of the municipality of Hauenstein.
11. ↑ Attempt to describe the judicial district of Zweibrücken. Pp. 241-243.
12. ^ Hauensteiner Bote , November 13, 1964.
13. ↑ The largest shoe in the world. www.schuhmeile-hauenstein.de, accessed on May 21, 2011 . 
14. ↑ Transparent shoe factory. (No longer available online.) Www.schuhmeile-hauenstein.de, archived from the original on May 11, 2011 ; Retrieved May 21, 2011 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
15. ↑ Shoe queen Nadine I. German Shoe Museum Hauenstein, accessed on January 30, 2013 . 
16. ↑ Shoe sovereignty - Hauenstein shoe mile. www.schuhmeile-hauenstein.de, accessed on September 13, 2011 . 
17. ↑ Hauenstiner schustrepfad at the certifying German Hiking Institute