Leimersheim

coat of arms	Germany map
	Coordinates: 49 ° 7 '  N , 8 ° 21'  E
Basic data
State :	Rhineland-Palatinate
County :	Germersheim
Association municipality :	Rülzheim
Height :	105 m above sea level NHN
Area :	12.96 km 2
Residents:	2556 (Dec. 31, 2019)
Population density :	197 inhabitants per km 2
Postal code :	76774
Area code :	07272
License plate :	GER
Community key :	07 3 34 016
Association administration address:	At Deutschordensplatz 1 76761 Rülzheim
Website :	www.leimersheim.de
Local Mayor :	Matthias Schardt ( CDU )
Location of the local community Leimersheim in the district of Germersheim

Leimersheim , in Palatine "Lämersche", is a local community in the district of Germersheim in Rhineland-Palatinate . It belongs to the community of Rülzheim .

geography

location

Leimersheim is located in the middle Upper Rhine Graben in the area of ​​the lower terraces on the left side of the Rhine at 100  m height between the Rhine bridges of Germersheim and Karlsruhe . Since the straightening of the Rhine in the 19th century, the local area and the river Rhine have been separated by the alluvial forest , in which various oxbow lakes and a flood protection dam run. The residential area Rheinschenke 'Pfälzer Land' also belongs to the community . Neighboring communities are - clockwise - Hördt , Linkenheim-Hochstetten , Eggenstein-Leopoldshafen , Neupotz , Rheinzabern , Rülzheim and Kuhardt .

Waters

The Erlenbach flows into the Michelsbach

Within the village, Erlenbach and Otterbach merge to form Michelsbach , which flows into the Rhine from the left at Hördt. The best- known standing water is the Fischmal , which is locally referred to as Fischbl ; it is a small lake in the course of the Otterbach, which is a biotope for numerous water birds and plants. In addition, the Leimersheimer Altrhein is located on site .

history

Early history

The village of Leimersheim was first mentioned in 778 in a deed of donation from the Lorch monastery . However, graves that were found in 1884 already indicate settlement during the Bronze Age . In 960 a castle was built to protect the episcopal subjects. The first lord of the castle was noble Rudolf .

In 1270 the village and the castle were attached to the monastery in Hördt . Twelve years later the first Rhine ferry was set up at Leimersheim.

Early modern age

During a flood in 1534, the district “Werth” and the village of Potz sank in the floods of the Rhine.

In 1624, during the Thirty Years' War , the monastery villages of Leimersheim and Kuhardt were attacked and plundered by marauding troops. This was repeated several times during the Thirty Years' War. That is why only 58 families lived in Leimersheim in 1660.

A new parish church was built between 1729 and 1731, and Leimersheim Castle was demolished in 1772. In 1786 the construction work for the first Rhine breakthroughs was finished. On April 3, 1793, French revolutionary troops under General Custine and units of the Austrian army under Major General Karl Aloys zu Fürstenberg met in a battle . After another battle of the 21st French Infantry Regiment on August 5, 1793 against Austrian troops in the “Niederhorst” tank west of the village, dragoons withdrew destroyed the cross in front of the parish church.

Until the end of the 18th century, the place belonged to the Electoral Palatinate and was subordinate to the Oberamt Germersheim .

From 1798 to 1814, when the Palatinate was part of the French Republic (until 1804) and then part of the Napoleonic Empire , Leimersheim was incorporated into the canton of Germersheim until 1814 and then into the canton of Kandel until 1815 . In 1815 the place was closed to Austria and returned to the canton of Germersheim. Just one year later, Leimersheim, like the entire Palatinate, moved to the Kingdom of Bavaria . From 1818 to 1862 the community belonged to the Landkommissariat Germersheim ; from this the district office of Germersheim emerged.

In 1801 a customs post was set up at the ferry station. The building was later used as a restaurant. In the years 1827 and 1928, a further section of the Rhine near Leimersheim was straightened by new rivers cut through the "Karlskopf" and the "Haselforst" . From 1871 a new ferry crossed the Rhine on the longitudinal rope carried by barges . On New Year's Eve of 1883, the inhabitants had to flee from the floods of the Rhine to the higher village of Kuhardt , the entire district of Leimersheim was flooded.

20th century

In 1902 the new school building was inaugurated, in which three classrooms were available. As early as 1908 it had to be extended by a building with two school halls.

On December 2, 1918, French troops moved into Leimersheim as a garrison. 53 men never returned home from the First World War . In 1923 the village was connected to the electricity network, and in 1930 the pumping station for draining the Rhine lowlands was built. Since 1939 the place is part of the district of Germersheim . In 1940, during the Second World War , the ferry was hit by river mines and sank. The new ferry entered service in 1944. It was mainly used to transport German soldiers across the Rhine. In 1945, at the end of the war, the old customs house burned down.

Memorial for the crossing of the Rhine by French troops on April 2, 1945

On March 23, 1945, American troops occupied the village. Many houses were damaged, some burned down. On April 2nd, troops of the 1st French Army (especially the 21st Colonial Infantry Regiment of the 9th Colonial Infantry Division ) crossed the Rhine near Leimersheim.

After the war, Leimersheim became part of the then newly formed state of Rhineland-Palatinate within the French occupation zone . In 1952, the community had a chapel built in the cemetery to commemorate the 118 Leimersheim victims of World War II. In 1955 Leimersheim was connected to the water supply network and the local call system was installed. In 1956 the Rhine ferry was rebuilt, which from then on was guided by a base rope. In 1957 the new parish kindergarten was inaugurated.

In 1960 the Rhine dams were increased. In 1962 construction began on the sewage system and sewage treatment plant, and in 1963 the first municipal roads were paved. In 1964 the Bishop of Speyer consecrated the new church. In 1969, the community won the gold medal in the competition Our village should be beautiful . As part of the first administrative reform in Rhineland-Palatinate , Leimersheim was incorporated into the newly created community of Rülzheim in 1972. A fire station was built in 1974 and the new kindergarten was inaugurated in 1975. In 1978 the community celebrated its 1200th anniversary. In 1981 a rural property was bought, in which the local museum "Fischerhaus" found place. The sports and leisure hall was inaugurated in 1983, the construction of the tennis court began in 1985, and the town hall was renovated in 1987. In 1993 the thoroughfare was expanded and redesigned. In 1998 the Bundeswehr gave up the bridge on the Rhine. The accommodation building was demolished and trees were planted on the area that was vacated.

21st century

The main Rhine dike was rebuilt in 2001 for around 1.8 million euros, the costs are borne by the state. In 2003, Leimersheim celebrated its 1225th anniversary. In 2009 and 2010 extensive village renovation measures were carried out, including the renovation of the kindergarten, the fairground and the new village square in the center of the village by the church.

population

Population development

religion

On October 22, 1940, the Jews living in Leimersheim were deported as part of the Wagner-Bürckel campaign .

In February 2015, 63.6% of the population were Catholic and 15.0% Protestant. The rest belonged to another religion or were non-denominational. In 1871, out of a total of 1,333 inhabitants, 1,218 were Catholic (91%), 7 were Protestant (<1%) and 108 were Jewish (8%).

The Catholic parish church of St. Gertrud in the town center is adjacent to a parish center with the parish hall. The community belongs to the parish of St. Theodard Rülzheim and is in the Diocese of Speyer (Deanery Germersheim).

The Protestant parish of Rülzheim maintains a church hall in the Leimersheim elementary school. Church services take place here every third Sunday at 6:30 p.m.

politics

Municipal council

The municipal council in Leimersheim 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	total
2019	5	11	4th	20 seats
2014	4th	13	3	20 seats
2009	5	12	3	20 seats
2004	5	13	2	20 seats

mayor

Matthias Schardt (CDU) became the local mayor of Leimersheim in 2004. In the direct election on May 26, 2019, he was confirmed in his office for another five years with 79.30% of the votes.

coat of arms

Coat of arms from 1964

Court seal from 1701

The description of the coat of arms reads: "A black horseshoe with downward-pointing studs and nine nail holes, encircling a six-pointed red star, the whole thing topped by a black cord with tassels ."

Since August 31, 1841, the Leimersheim community has had its own coat of arms (black horseshoe on gold). The Lords of Fleckenstein had to 1720 the lordship over the village, but were this to the provost Hördt from. This should also be expressed in the new municipal coat of arms , so that in 1964 the heraldist Hauser from Karlsruhe was commissioned with a corresponding design. The redesign adheres closely to the old court seal from 1701. The star probably symbolizes the old court, the black cord probably the centuries ago that it belonged to the provost of Hördt.

Partnerships

For years there was a school partnership with the school in the village of Limersheim in Alsace , about 100 kilometers up the Rhine in the canton of Erstein . It was based primarily on the good relationship between the two school principals and led to several school class exchanges.

Culture and sights

Cultural monuments

Monument zone Untere Hauptstrasse in Leimersheim with the town house

→ Main article : List of cultural monuments in Leimersheim

The Untere Hauptstraße is designated as a monument zone .

There are also numerous individual objects that are under monument protection , including the Catholic Church of St. Gertrud ; it is located in the center of the village. While a small church was mentioned in a document as early as 960, a late Baroque church was built between 1729 and 1732, made of stones from the Hördt monastery church . Since the building was expanded in 1962, only the choir and the high altar with pictures of the Last Supper and the patroness Gertrud von Nivelles have survived . The new building from 1962, a nave in the shape of a tent, was designed by Erwin van Aaken (1904–2008). The bright house with the large windows and the "striding" gables refers to the content of the Second Vatican Council . The church also includes a small baptistery on the west side, an organ with 29 registers (1969) and a bells (F sharp, A, H, C sharp) from 1865, 1950 and 1963. A war memorial is also listed and has been in his since 1978 current form existing local history museum "Fischerhaus".

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  St. Gertrud Church

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  St. Gertrude

• 

  St. Gertrude

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  Baptistery

Sculptures

• Memorial with fountain (location) at the site of the former synagogue
• Monument to the Rhine fisherman (Lage) in front of the community center (2004), designed by the Lustadter sculptor Peter Brauchle
• Flag tree (location) in the form of a ship's mast next to the Catholic parish church
• Statue of Mary of La Salette (position) opposite the cemetery entrance
• Memorial for the crossing of the Rhine by French troops (Lage) near Leimersheim on April 2, 1945 in the form of an obelisk

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  Flagpole

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  Sculpture Rheinfischer, designed by Peter Brauchle

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  La Salette Marian Memorial

nature

The Hördter Rheinaue nature reserve extends partially over the municipal marker .

Regular events

• The Leimersheim corn maze is open every year from around July.
• The church fair ( Kerwe ) is celebrated on the last weekend in September .
• The Sunday after the feast of St. Charles Borromeo (November 4th) celebrates the Catholic Church as Book Sunday . On this day the book exhibition of the Catholic Public Library (see section Public Institutions ) takes place.

Economy and Infrastructure

traffic

Leimersheimer Rhine ferry

Leimersheim belongs to the Rhein-Neckar transport association and the Karlsruhe transport association and is connected to the cities of Landau and Germersheim by bus lines. The regional road network links the village with Neupotz in the form of the state road 549 and Kuhardt in the form of the state road 553 . The Leimersheim ferry connects Leimersheim with Leopoldshafen in Baden . In the past, ferries were “Loreley” and then “St. Nicholas"; currently the service is provided by the "Peter Pan". There is also a replacement crossing point in this area .

Institutions

The community belongs to the judicial district of the district court of Germersheim .

Public facilities

Catholic Public Library (KÖB)

Founded as early as 1924, the Catholic People's Library was revived in 1950 after the state-prescribed compulsory break during the Nazi era. In the 1950s, around 800 volumes were available for loan in a school hall under the direction of Sister Heriberta Vogelgesang. In the 1960 annual report, expenditures of 2500 DM for the construction of a library are noted. Presumably the Catholic library then moved to the stage of the barn that had been converted into a parish hall. Under the then local pastor Paul Steeg, the Catholic library received its own room for the first time in 1981 as an extension to the parish hall (next to the group room). The annual report puts the costs for this at DM 6,561.55.

A first cooperation agreement was concluded between the church foundation (as the library sponsor) and the local community as early as 2011. The aim was to build larger rooms by a private investor. The rooms should be rented long-term by the local community and left to the church foundation for library work. These plans could not be realized. Therefore, the contractual partners modified their agreement so that in 2016, after a minor renovation, the library was moved to the primary school.

primary school

The Cardinal Wendel School, a single-class primary school, is located in Leimersheim . The current building at Abraham-Weil-Straße 2a (until 2015 by post at Festplatz 4) was built in 1956 as an eight-class elementary school .

Sports and leisure facilities

Marina in Leimersheim

• Lawn pitches of the Leimersheim football club with 100 m running track, diving pit, basketball field , beach volleyball field
• Sports and leisure hall (Rheinstrasse)
• Kulturkreishalle (St.-Gertrudis-Straße)
• School gym
• Swimming at the quarry ponds
• Bürgerhaus Leimersheim (since 2003, inaugurated on the occasion of the 1225th anniversary of the community)
• Marina

tourism

The Südpfälzer Rheinauen refuge, operated by the Palatinate Forest Association , is located within the municipality .

Personalities

Honorary citizen and former honorary citizen

• Abraham Weil (born January 30, 1834 in Ellerstadt , † February 17, 1900 in Oppau ) was the founder and head of the first communal savings bank.
• Carl Josef Hodapp (* 1891; † October 15, 1976 in Römerberg ) was a local writer and wrote the first local chronicle (1960) of Leimersheim.
• Pastor Nikolaus Nagel (* 1897 - 19 July 1969 in Speyer )
• Pastor Paul Johannes Steeg (born September 22, 1913, † August 4, 1986) was a priest since 1939 and received honorary citizenship for his special efforts to help the sick and the weak in the community.
• Walter Kling (* 1914; † December 25, 2001 in Leimersheim) was rector of the Leimersheim school and mayor for many years.
• Sister M. Miguela (Luise Keller, * 1936) worked from 1963 to 2011 as a nurse in the mission station of the St. Dominic Institute in Akwatia ( Ghana ).
• Hugo Dörrler (born April 27, 1937; † May 29, 2020) was local mayor from 1972 to 2004.
• During the time of National Socialism, Adolf Hitler , Paul von Hindenburg and Gauleiter Josef Bürckel were made honorary citizens. After the Second World War, these awards were reversed.

Sons and daughters of the church

• Elisabeth Scheidel (1883–1987), educator and resistance fighter against National Socialism
• Hermann von Schöpf (1886–1950), officer and SA functionary
• Reinhard Liebel (1841–1905), entrepreneur and politician in Erie (Pennsylvania) , USA, was born in Leimersheim.

People who worked on site

• Florian Krebs (* 1988) sometimes played for the local soccer club.

literature

• Ernst Marthaler: Leimersheim. The story of a Palatinate village on the Rhine. 778-2003. Leimersheim parish, Leimersheim 2002.
• Anton Kuhn (ed.): The smuggler affair at Leimersheim 1811–1814. A regional historical study, developed on the basis of a typescript based on archive studies by André Raymond Weschler from Roeschwoog in Alsace. Local community Leimersheim, Leimersheim 2011, ISBN 978-3-9805623-3-1 .
• Pictures from yesterday. Leimersheim through the eyes of the chronicler Ernst Marthaler. Exhibition of the support group for folklore and tradition in Leimersheim. Local museum Fischerhaus Leimersheim, March 9-11, 2012. Leimersheim community, Leimersheim 2012.

Web links

Commons : Leimersheim  - Collection of Images

• Local community Leimersheim on the website of the association community Rülzheim
• Literature about Leimersheim 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 (ed.): Official directory of the municipalities and parts of the municipality. Status: January 2019 ^{[ Version 2020 is available. ]} . S. 148 (PDF; 3 MB).
3. ↑ See Rhine flood 1882/1883 .
4. ↑ Ewois , as of February 28, 2015.
5. ^ Results of the census in the Kingdom of Bavaria of December 1, 1871 by individual communities, 1873, p. 64.
6. ^ The Regional Returning Officer Rhineland-Palatinate: Local elections 2019, city and municipal council elections .
7. ↑ Ralf Wittenmeier: Matthias Schardt re-elected as local mayor. Die Rheinpfalz, May 27, 2019, accessed on April 25, 2020 . 
8. ↑ Website of the local museum "Fischerhaus" .
9. ↑ ^{a b c} Pictures, documents about honorary citizens in the district of Germersheim wanted! www.hekma-verlag.de, accessed on October 26, 2018 .