Winterbach (Palatinate)

coat of arms	Germany map
	Coordinates: 49 ° 18 '  N , 7 ° 28'  E
Basic data
State :	Rhineland-Palatinate
County :	Southwest Palatinate
Association municipality :	Thaleischweiler-Wallhalben
Height :	250 m above sea level NHN
Area :	7.03 km 2
Residents:	506 (Dec. 31, 2019)
Population density :	72 inhabitants per km 2
Postal code :	66484
Area code :	06337
License plate :	PS , ZW
Community key :	07 3 40 228
Community structure:	2 districts
Association administration address:	Hauptstrasse 52 66987 Thaleischweiler-Fröschen
Website :	www.vgtw.de
Local Mayor :	Andreas Weizel
Location of the local community Winterbach (Pfalz) in the district of Südwestpfalz

Winterbach (Palatinate) is the most westerly local community of the Thaleischweiler-Wallhalben community in the district of Südwestpfalz in Rhineland-Palatinate .

geography

Winterbach is located on the Sickinger Höhe in the Wiesbachtal at the point where the Wiesbach, called Auerbach a little later, bends to the southwest and the Winterbach joins from the northeast on the left. It forms the western end of the Thaleischweiler-Wallhalben community. Above the village, on two ridges between the converging brooks in the north, the Herrenwalderhof is roughly in the direction of Wiesbach and closer to the northeast, the Klosterbergerhof in the direction of Biedershausen . Winterbach is divided into the districts of Winterbach and Niederhausen . Neighboring communities are - clockwise - Krähenberg , Biedershausen, Schmitshausen , Reifenberg , Battweiler , Großbundenbach and Kleinbundenbach .

history

The place, first mentioned in 1180, always followed Pfalz-Zweibrücken in its affiliation . A knight family is known from Winterbach from the twelfth to the 15th century. The place had a certain importance in the Middle Ages and was the place of judgment for the Wiesbachtal until it was deserted during the Thirty Years' War . From 1715 the resettlement took place and in 1727 Winterbach became part of the district of the desolate, fallen village of Weiler.

Niederhausen, one kilometer down the valley, was first mentioned in 1479. The Klosterbergerhof has existed north of the village since 1704.

From 1798 to 1814, when the Palatinate was part of the French Republic (until 1804) and then part of the Napoleonic Empire , Winterbach was incorporated into the canton of Zweibrücken and was the seat of a Mairie , which was also responsible for Battweiler, Knopp and Niederhausen. In 1815 the place had 240 inhabitants. Then the place changed to the Kingdom of Bavaria . From 1818 to 1862 the place was part of the Landkommissariat Zweibrücken , which was then converted into a district office.

From 1939 the place was part of the district of Zweibrücken . After the Second World War , Oberhausen 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 neighboring town of Niederhausen was incorporated into Winterbach on June 7, 1969. Three years later she moved to the district of Pirmasens (from 1997 district of Südwestpfalz ) ; in the same year assigned to the newly created Verbandsgemeinde Thaleischweiler-Fröschen . Since 2014 it has been part of the Thaleischweiler-Wallhalben community .

population

Population development

The development of the population shown in the following table relates to today's municipal area; the values ​​from 1871 to 1987 are based on censuses:

year Residents 1815 420 1835 414 1871 417 1905 390 1939 373 1950 437

year Residents 1961 426 1970 448 1987 438 1997 469 2005 554 2019 506

religion

The Catholics belong to the Diocese of Speyer and are subordinate to the Deanery Pirmasrens , the Protestants to the Protestant Church of the Palatinate . The Protestant parish of Winterbach exists on site . In 1818 the previously independent parish in Battweiler was assigned to that of Winterbach.

politics

Municipal council

The municipal council in Winterbach consists of twelve council members who were elected by a majority vote in the local elections on May 26, 2019 , and the honorary local mayor as chairman. In the 2009 election, the council members were elected in a personalized proportional representation.

mayor

Andreas Weizel became mayor of Winterbach on August 20, 2019. In the direct election on May 26, 2019, he was elected for five years with 83.39% of the vote. Weizel's predecessors were Willi Schwarz (local mayor 1992-2019) and Willi Hamm.

coat of arms

	Blazon : "In silver, a blue-armored and tongued red lion , covered with a blue wavy bar."
	Justification of the coat of arms: The lion indicates that it once belonged to Pfalz-Zweibrücken

Culture and sights

Cultural monuments

War memorial 1914–18 and 1939–45

There are a total of ten objects on site that are listed , including the Protestant parish church of St. Matthew with a herb garden; it was first mentioned in 1489. The tower dates from the Romanesque period around 1200. The baroque nave was restored around 1720. In the village square there is a memorial to the fallen and missing of the two world wars .

nature

There is a herb garden on site with around 60 known and lesser-known medicinal plants from the Middle Ages to modern times, as well as some old rose varieties. Inspired by Hortulus, a poem by the botanist Walahfried Strabo, who lived in the ninth century, about his monastery garden on the island of Reichenau and based on the St. Gallen monastery plan , the herb garden was laid out. Additional suggestions were given by descriptions of the Palatinate-Zweibrücken botanist Hieronymus Bock , who wrote the New Kreütterbuch in Hornbach in 1545 .

Regular events

On the third weekend in August, the village festival or church festival alternates annually. The Kerwe takes place on the third weekend in September.

Economy and Infrastructure

traffic

Winterbach is a classic street village that stretches along state road 469 from Zweibrücken in the direction of Wallhalben . The district road 66 creates a connection to Wiesbach and the district road 68 to the Herrenwalderhof. The next airport is at Zweibrücken (15 kilometers). The next long-distance traffic stop is in Homburg Central Station, 20 kilometers away . The nearest regional train station is 15 kilometers away in Zweibrücken on the Landau – Rohrbach railway line .

Public facilities

The Winterbach daycare center, the village community center and the Johannes-Zwick-Haus, which functions as a community center, exist on site.

tourism

Winterbach has been the starting point of the meteorite hiking trail that leads to Zweibrücken since 2009 . The Saar-Rhein-Main long-distance hiking trail marked with a yellow bar also runs through the center of the community .

Personalities: honorary citizens

• January 30, 2020: Willi Schwarz (* 1950), named the first honorary citizen of the local community due to his special services to Winterbach. Elected to the local council for the first time in 1984, he was local mayor of the community from 1992 to 2019 and was active in various ways for the community.

Web links

Commons : Winterbach  - Collection of Images

• Local community Winterbach on the website of the Verbandsgemeinde Thaleischweiler-Wallhalben
• In this country
• Literature about Winterbach in the Rhineland-Palatinate State Bibliography

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} State Statistical Office of Rhineland-Palatinate - population status 2019, districts, municipalities, 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. 201 (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. ↑ State Statistical Office Rhineland-Palatinate - regional data
4. ^ The Regional Returning Officer Rhineland-Palatinate: Local elections 2019, city and municipal council elections
5. ↑ Norbert Schwarz: Change at the top of the village perfect. Pfälzischer Merkur, August 21, 2019, accessed on March 29, 2020 . 
6. ^ The Regional Returning Officer Rhineland-Palatinate: direct elections 2019. see Thaleischweiler-Fröschen-Wallhalben, Verbandsgemeinde, last line of results. Retrieved March 29, 2020 . 
7. ↑ Mayor: Willi Schwarz is leaving office in 2019. Die Rheinpfalz, August 11, 2018, accessed on March 29, 2020 . 
8. ↑ Norbert Schwarz: New honorary citizen: "All-purpose weapon" and "Mankind". Pfälzischer Merkur, January 31, 2020, accessed on March 29, 2020 .