Irmenach

coat of arms	Germany map
	Coordinates: 49 ° 55 '  N , 7 ° 11'  E
Basic data
State :	Rhineland-Palatinate
County :	Bernkastel-Wittlich
Association municipality :	Traben-Trarbach
Height :	445 m above sea level NHN
Area :	16.38 km 2
Residents:	652 (Dec. 31, 2019)
Population density :	40 inhabitants per km 2
Postal code :	56843
Area code :	06541
License plate :	WIL, BKS
Community key :	07 2 31 501
Community structure:	2 districts
Association administration address:	Am Markt 3 56841 Traben-Trarbach
Website :	www. Firmenach.de
Local Mayor :	Martin Kirst (SPD)
Location of the local community Irmenach in the district of Bernkastel-Wittlich

Irmenach im Hunsrück is a municipality in the Bernkastel-Wittlich district in Rhineland-Palatinate . It belongs to the Traben-Trarbach community and consists of the two districts of Irmenach and Beuren , which are only about one kilometer apart.

history

The origins of the two places Irmenach and Beuren lie in the dark. Settlement of the area has been documented as early as Roman times. Following an old local tradition, the name Irmenach has often been traced back to Saint Irmina, but this is hardly likely. Possibly the name derives from "Herminiachus" (= "Hofgut des Herminius"), whereby Herminius would be a noble Celt who had Latinized his name.

For centuries Irmenach formed with Beuren and today Kleinich belonging Thalkleinich a unit, the so-called. "Greater community Irmenach". It was not until 1828 that the relationship between Irmenach / Beuren and Thalkleinich was finally dissolved.

Irmenach belonged to the Hinteren Grafschaft Sponheim and thus shared its history. In particular from the 17th century, the proximity to Grevenburg often resulted in occupation by enemy armies, from which the population suffered greatly.

When the rear county of Sponheim was divided up in 1776, Irmenach came to Pfalz-Zweibrücken-Birkenfeld like the entire Trarbach Oberamt until the county finally ceased to exist with the French conquest in 1794. From 1815 Irmenach then belonged to Prussia and came to the Sohren mayor's office (renamed Amt Sohren in 1927, renamed Amt Büchenbeuren in 1939) in the newly formed Zell district . After its dissolution in 1969, Irmenach belonged to the Rhein-Hunsrück district for a short time . When in 1970 the Büchenbeuren community was also dissolved and merged into the Kirchberg community , the two municipal councils of Irmenach and Beuren were able to ensure that they were incorporated into the newly formed community of Traben-Trarbach in the Bernkastel-Wittlich district with effect from November 7, 1970 .

By order of the Trier district government on October 30, 1974, the previously independent municipalities of Irmenach and Beuren were dissolved on December 1, 1974 and merged to form the new municipality of Irmenach. However, it did not succeed in enforcing the double name "Irmenach-Beuren" used by almost all local associations as a community name.

church

Evangelical Church in Irmenach

Market square with Gasthaus Fuchss (woodcut by Friedrich Karl Ströher )

Since the 14th century at the latest, but probably earlier, there was a church in Irmenach and a chapel in Beuren - the residents of Thalkleinich also had to contribute to maintaining it, even if they catered for their church needs in Kleinicher, only a few hundred meters away breastfed. A priest is attested for Irmenach at the latest for the year 1351 and a pastor in 1413.

In 1557, the Reformation was introduced in Irmenach as in the entire county . Since then Irmenach has been evangelical (Lutheran). Nonetheless, there have always been some families who were electoral serfs and thus remained Catholic , even if - unlike in other parishes - a simultaneum was never enforced in the church. Only recently has the proportion of the Catholic population increased considerably as a result of immigration.

The Irmenach Church was probably originally a St. Peter's Church, although an earlier village tradition said that the church was consecrated to "Saint Irmel" or that there was at least one altar dedicated to Saint Irmina . In any case, pilgrimages seem to have taken place to the Irmenach church. Of the older church buildings, only the lowest part of the tower has been preserved, which probably dates from around 1200, while the tower and nave are more recent. The old bells ( sound sample ^{? / I} ) from the years 1423, 1514 (cast by Hans von Breisig) and 1555 (cast by Johann von Trier) have been preserved to this day.

Over the centuries, the Irmenach Church has been rebuilt and rebuilt in various ways. The nave was rebuilt at the beginning of the 18th century (inauguration on November 20, 1701). However, this building had to be replaced by a new one in 1871/72, as the previous church had become too small for the community and was structurally in a very poor structural condition. This was preceded by a bitter dispute: The people of Beuren were of the opinion that a new church should be built in their village; but also in Irmenach itself there were numerous opponents of a new building. When the old church was demolished, the undoubtedly large numbers of paintings and paintings that can still be found today in Lötzbeuren or Raversbeuren were lost. However, the historic silent organ from 1776 has been preserved.

The Beuren chapel was consecrated to Saint Anthony , it will go back to the 13th century at the earliest. In the pre-Reformation period there was a picture of the saint in the chapel, to which pilgrimages are also attested. Only the tower of the chapel remains, as the ship was demolished around 1950 due to alleged dilapidation.

From 1979 to 2011 the parishes of Irmenach, Lötzbeuren and Raversbeuren were parishally connected , in 2012 they merged to form the parish of Irmenach-Lötzbeuren-Raversbeuren. The seat of the parish office was in Lötzbeuren. Currently, the parish with the parish's Enkirch - Starkenburg parish officially connected, the seat of the parish office Enkirch is. The parish belongs to the Simmern-Trarbach parish .

Municipal council

The municipal council in Irmenach consists of twelve 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	total
2019	8th	4th	12 seats
2014	8th	4th	12 seats
2009	8th	4th	12 seats
2004	7th	5	12 seats

economy

Agriculture has been the main line of business since ancient times. Irmenach and Beuren have long been considered the richest farming villages in the Hunsrück. After there were numerous small agricultural part-time farms up until the 1980s, the number of farms today - following the general trend - has shrunk to a handful.

In addition to agriculture, slate mining was carried out for a long time . In the Irmenach area there are numerous slate mines, some of which already existed in the 17th century. Johann Hofmann wrote in 1669: "At first there was a lot of slate quarrying in the same mountains / from which the inhabitants of the country have almost as much income / as perhaps others might not receive from their fertile fields". According to local tradition, Irmenacher slate u. a. used in the construction of the Berlin Reichstag and on the Brussels Cathedral . At the end of the 1960s, the last slate quarry closed because mining was no longer profitable.

The largest employer in the post-war period was the Irmenach-based company Hans Kirst, which today manufactures horse stables.

Hahn Airport is still an important economic factor for the entire region .

societies

There is a lively club life in Irmenach. In addition to the volunteer fire brigade and many local clubs, there is the gymnastics and sports club Irmenach-Beuren eV (founded in 1913), which, together with TuS Kleinich and TuS Horbruch, forms the very successful handball community Irmenach-Kleinich-Horbuch and has been in the regional league for several years played.

Personalities

Born in Irmenach

• Friedrich Karl Ströher , painter, graphic artist and sculptor, important artist in the Hunsrück
• Karl Georg Marhoffer , pastor and consistorial president of the Protestant Reformed Church of Luxembourg

Connected with Irmenach

• Heinrich Rodewald , Lic. Theol., Pastor, provincial church archivist, author of numerous writings on the history of Irmenach and the Hinteren Grafschaft Sponheim
• Clärenore Stinnes , the first woman to drive a car around the world
• Jakob Kneip , poet, wrote his novel Hampit the hunter in Irmenach
• Chuck Yeager , the first person to break the sound barrier

Attractions

• Evangelical church in Irmenach with a Stumm organ
• Tower of the Evangelical Chapel in Beuren
• Roman villa and Roman tomb

See also : List of cultural monuments in Irmenach

literature

• Heinrich Rodewald: Writings on the history of Irmenach. (= Works. 1). Books on Demand, Norderstedt 2018, ISBN 978-3-7460-1563-7 .
• Documentation of the Traben-Trarbach community on the occasion of its 20th anniversary from 1970–1990 . Traben-Trarbach, 1990.

Web links

Commons : Irmenach  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Homepage of the local church
• Homepage of the Association of Traben-Trarbach with local information
• To search for cultural assets of the local community Irmenach in the database of cultural assets in the Trier region .
• Irmenach in the SWR television program Hierzuland
• Link catalog on the subject of Irmenach at curlie.org (formerly DMOZ )

Individual evidence

1. ↑ State Statistical Office of Rhineland-Palatinate - population status 2019, districts, communities, association communities ( help on this ).
2. ↑ Official municipality directory 2006 ( Memento from December 22, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) (= State Statistical Office Rhineland-Palatinate [Hrsg.]: Statistical volumes . Volume 393 ). Bad Ems March 2006, p. 181 (PDF; 2.6 MB). Info: An up-to-date directory ( 2016 ) is available, but in the section "Territorial changes - Territorial administrative reform" it does not give any population figures.  
3. ^ The Regional Returning Officer Rhineland-Palatinate: Local elections 2019, city and municipal council elections
4. ↑ Johann Hofmann: Trorbachische honorary SAEUL . Facs.-repr. the edition Stuttgart 1669. Caesar, Traben-Trarbach 1968, p. 769f.