Otterbach (West Palatinate)

Basic data
State :	Rhineland-Palatinate
County :	Kaiserslautern
Association municipality :	Otterbach-Otterberg
Height :	215 m above sea level NHN
Area :	6.2 km 2
Residents:	4092 (Dec. 31, 2019)
Population density :	660 inhabitants per km 2
Postal code :	67731
Area code :	06301
License plate :	KL
Community key :	07 3 35 034
Community structure:	2 districts
Association administration address:	Hauptstrasse 27 ; 67697 Otterberg
Website :	www.otterbach-otterberg.de
Local Mayor :	Stefan Kölbel ( SPD )
Location of the local community of Otterbach in the Kaiserslautern district

The eponymous Otterbach within the municipality of the same name

Otterbach is a municipality in the Kaiserslautern district in Rhineland-Palatinate . It belongs to the Verbandsgemeinde Otterbach-Otterberg , within which it is the second largest local community in terms of population. According to state planning, Otterbach is designated as the basic center.

geography

location

Otterbach is located northwest of Kaiserslautern in the so-called Kaiserslauter Senke . To the north that includes North Palatine Uplands and east of the Palatinate Forest belonging Otter Wald . The community consists of the two districts Otterbach and Sambach . The Falltal and Sambacher Ziegelhütte residential areas also belong to the Otterbach district .

Neighboring communities are the local community of Katzweiler in the northwest, the city of Otterberg in the northeast and the independent city of Kaiserslautern with the districts of Erlenbach , Morlautern , Wiesenthalerhof and Erfenbach in the south.

Elevations and waters

The Schlossberg rises to the south of the municipality and the Galgenberg to the north .

The core town is at the mouth of the Otterbach in the Lauter . The Ziegelbach flows into the Lauter from the right between the main town and the Sambach district . the latter also forms the western boundary to Kaiserslautern.

history

The disappeared Sterrenberg Castle was located on the Schlossberg to the south of the village . Until the end of the 18th century, the community belonged to the Otterbach rule , which belonged to the von der Leyen family. From November 28 to 30, 1793, the municipality was partially the scene of the battle of Kaiserslautern .

From 1798 to 1814, when the Palatinate was part of the French Republic (until 1804) and then part of the Napoleonic Empire , Otterbach was incorporated into the Canton of Otterberg . In 1815 the place first belonged to Austria . A year later he moved to the Kingdom of Bavaria . From 1818 to 1862 he was a member of the Land Commissioner in Kaiserslautern ; from this the district office of Kaiserslautern emerged.

From 1939 the place was part of the district of Kaiserslautern . After the Second World War , Otterbach became part of the then newly formed state of Rhineland-Palatinate within the French occupation zone . In the course of the first Rhineland-Palatinate administrative reform , the previously independent municipality of Sambach was incorporated into Otterbach on June 7, 1969. Two years later, the community became the seat of the newly formed association of the same name , to which six other local communities belonged. Since July 1, 2014 Otterbach has been part of the Otterbach-Otterberg Association .

politics

Municipal council

The municipal council in Otterbach 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	Green	FWG	total
2019	7th	6th	1	3	3	20 seats
2014	9	7th	1	-	3	20 seats
2009	8th	8th	1	-	3	20 seats
2004	8th	8th	1	-	3	20 seats

FWG = Free Voting Group Otterbach-Sambach e. V.

mayor

The local mayor of Otterbach is Stefan Kölbel (SPD). In the direct election on May 26, 2019, he was elected with a share of 53.28% of the vote and is the successor to Herbert Matz, who was no longer a candidate.

coat of arms

Blazon : “A blue shield divided by a silver wavy bar. Above is a silver otter with an equally colored fish in its mouth. Below is a golden squirrel holding a golden acorn in its front paws. "

Justification of the coat of arms: The coat of arms is a combination of the two old coats of arms of the communities of Sambach and Otterbach. The Otter is the namesake of the place Otterbach, more precisely for the brook "Otterbach". The squirrel is the heraldic animal of the abbey in neighboring Otterberg , which owned a mill in Sambach. The silver wavy band stands for the Otterbach. The colors blue and silver are reminiscent of the earlier rule of the Counts von der Leyen .

Community partnerships

There is a 1991 community partnership with the Thuringian community Mihla .

Culture and sights

Catholic Church of the Assumption

Buildings

Buildings worth seeing are the Catholic Church of the Assumption and the Protestant Church of Christ. The list of cultural monuments in Otterbach also lists other buildings worth seeing .

Museums

Motorbike Museum Heinz Luthringshauser Otterbach

The motorcycle museum has been housed in the old Protestant church in Otterbach, built in 1847, since around 1980. Before that, the church was not used for five years. At the level crossing in the direction of Erfenbach there is a signal box museum that shows historical railway technology on the first and third Sunday of the month.

societies

The Zen Bogyo Do e. V. operates the Jiu-Jitsu national performance center of the German Jiu Jitsu Federation and held the Jiu Jitsu championship in the community in 2002. The association with the largest number of members in the community is TuS Otterbach e. V. With F. C. Phönix Otterbach, the community is also home to the football champions of the Kaiserslautern district league in 2007. The SV Sambach 1961 e. V. is the soccer club in the district of Sambach, with the 1. LBC / Otterbach, a club for boules and pétanque, there is a team whose first team plays in the Bundesliga.

Hobby Singers e. V. are a male choir and a mixed choir ("Hobby Swingers") with around 700 members. With the Musikverein Otterbach there is a West Palatinate wind orchestra. Another association is the Reservistenkameradschaft Otterbach e. V.

regional customs

A church fair speech is held on site every year.

Economy and Infrastructure

economy

There is a branch of the Volksbank Lauterecken in Otterbach .

traffic

rail

Lampertsmühle-Otterbach station in 1887

The Lautertalbahn , which opened in 1883 and runs between Kaiserslautern and Lauterecken-Grumbach , stops at Lampertsmühle-Otterbach station . From 1891 to 1980 a branch line branched off from the station to Otterberg and from 1912 to 1996 the Bachbahn to Weilerbach or Reichenbach.

Street

Bundesstraße 270 , which at the time was identical to “Lauterstraße” in the local area of Otterbach, before a bypass was created in the western area of the municipality , ran parallel to the tracks of the Lautertalbahn . The state road 389 as well as the district roads 40 and K 62 run through Otterbach .

Authorities

Otterbach has its own town hall and a tourist center.

Educational institutions

Preschool educational institutions are the Protestant kindergarten with day care center and the Catholic day care center “Noah's Ark”. The only school on site is the Goetheschule, a pure elementary school.

AFN station

South of Sambach at 49 ° 29 ' N , 7 ° 43' E is the medium wave transmitter of the AFN for the greater Kaiserslautern area, which worked on the frequency 1107 kHz with 10 kW transmission power until August 31, 2014. As a transmitting antenna, it uses a 136-meter-high, guyed steel truss mast, which is insulated from the ground and which was erected in 1951. In 2014 the transmitter was switched off. 49.490833333333 7.7175

Personalities

Sons and daughters of the church

Anton Höfle (1882–1925), politician (center)

Robert Erbelding (1891–1965), painter and graphic artist

Theodor Nauerz (1909–2007), important clergyman, persecuted by the Nazi regime

Hans Marschall (1913–1986), nuclear physicist

Heinz Luthringshauser (1931–1997), motorcycle racing driver
Ludwig Schleifer (1931–2000), politician (SPD)

People who worked on site

Peter Reheis (1739–1804), master builder of the Otterbach schoolhouse
Heinrich Voit (1834–1914), organ builder, built the organ in the local Catholic church in 1893
Markus Merk (* 1962), soccer referee, lives on site
Stephan Müller (* 1971), painter and sculptor, designed the sculpture "The Good Shepherd" on site
Thomas Riedl (* 1976), soccer player, played for Phönix Otterbach in his youth
Miriam Welte (* 1986), Olympic champion in track cycling

Web links

Commons : Otterbach - Collection of Images

Ortgemeinde Otterbach on the website of the Verbandsgemeinde Otterbach-Otterberg
Literature about Otterbach in the Rhineland-Palatinate State Bibliography

Individual evidence

↑ State Statistical Office of Rhineland-Palatinate - population status 2019, districts, communities, association communities ( help on this ).
↑ State Statistical Office Rhineland-Palatinate - regional data
↑ State Statistical Office Rhineland-Palatinate (ed.): Official directory of the municipalities and parts of the municipality. Status: January 2018 ^{[ Version 2020 is available. ]} . S. 97 (PDF; 2.2 MB).
↑ Official municipality directory (= State Statistical Office of Rhineland-Palatinate [Hrsg.]: Statistical volumes . Volume 407 ). Bad Ems February 2016, p. 175 (PDF; 2.8 MB).
^ The Regional Returning Officer RLP: Local council election 2019 Otterbach. Retrieved October 26, 2019 .
^ The Regional Returning Officer Rhineland-Palatinate: Municipal elections 2014, city and municipal council elections
^ The Regional Returning Officer RLP: direct elections 2019. see Otterbach-Otterberg, Verbandsgemeinde, twelfth line of results. Retrieved October 26, 2019 .