Hasselbach, Rhein-Hunsrück
Encyclopedia
History
In 1310, Hasselbach had its first documentary mention in the Sponheimisches Gefälleregister, a taxation register kept by the County of SponheimCounty of Sponheim
The County of Sponheim was an independent territory in the Holy Roman Empire which lasted from the 11th century until the early 19th century...
.
Beginning in 1794, Hasselbach lay under French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
rule. In 1815 it was assigned to the Kingdom of Prussia
Prussia
Prussia was a German kingdom and historic state originating out of the Duchy of Prussia and the Margraviate of Brandenburg. For centuries, the House of Hohenzollern ruled Prussia, successfully expanding its size by way of an unusually well-organized and effective army. Prussia shaped the history...
at the Congress of Vienna
Congress of Vienna
The Congress of Vienna was a conference of ambassadors of European states chaired by Klemens Wenzel von Metternich, and held in Vienna from September, 1814 to June, 1815. The objective of the Congress was to settle the many issues arising from the French Revolutionary Wars, the Napoleonic Wars,...
. Since 1946, it has been part of the then newly founded state
States of Germany
Germany is made up of sixteen which are partly sovereign constituent states of the Federal Republic of Germany. Land literally translates as "country", and constitutionally speaking, they are constituent countries...
of Rhineland-Palatinate
Rhineland-Palatinate
Rhineland-Palatinate is one of the 16 states of the Federal Republic of Germany. It has an area of and about four million inhabitants. The capital is Mainz. English speakers also commonly refer to the state by its German name, Rheinland-Pfalz ....
.
Hasselbach became well known in the years from 1983 to 1989 for the peace movement
Peace movement
A peace movement is a social movement that seeks to achieve ideals such as the ending of a particular war , minimize inter-human violence in a particular place or type of situation, often linked to the goal of achieving world peace...
’s Easter Marches (Ostermärsche), inspired by the Aldermaston Marches
Aldermaston Marches
The Aldermaston marches were protest demonstrations organised by the British anti-war Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament in the 1950s and 1960s. They took place on Easter weekend between the Atomic Weapons Research Establishment at Aldermaston in Berkshire, England, and London, over a distance of...
in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, which were always held at Easter
Easter
Easter is the central feast in the Christian liturgical year. According to the Canonical gospels, Jesus rose from the dead on the third day after his crucifixion. His resurrection is celebrated on Easter Day or Easter Sunday...
. Marchers were protesting the stationing of cruise missile
Cruise missile
A cruise missile is a guided missile that carries an explosive payload and is propelled, usually by a jet engine, towards a land-based or sea-based target. Cruise missiles are designed to deliver a large warhead over long distances with high accuracy...
s proposed within the framework of the NATO Double-Track Decision
NATO Double-Track Decision
The NATO Double-Track Decision is the decision of NATO from December 12, 1979 to offer the Warsaw Pact a mutual limitation of Medium-range ballistic missiles and Intermediate-range ballistic missiles combined with the threat that in case of disagreement NATO would deploy more middle range nuclear...
for the nearby Pydna Missile Base.
Hasselbach’s former town hall, built in 1750, was dismantled in 1977 when it became unusable. It was then reassembled in 1978 and 1979 at the Rheinland-Pfälzisches Freilichtmuseum Bad Sobernheim (“Rhineland-Palatinate Open-Air Museum at Bad Sobernheim
Bad Sobernheim
Bad Sobernheim is a municipality in the district of Bad Kreuznach, in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is situated on the river Nahe, approx. 20 km south-west of Bad Kreuznach....
”). The upper floor houses a small room that was once the council chamber, and the lower floor has been restored to its original use – a bakehouse. In earlier days, when the town hall was still in Hasselbach, a system was established laying out how the order of the bakehouse users was to be determined. Lots were also drawn to determine who had to fire the ovens up and who had to clean the bakehouse up.
In 1954, a lot was acquired for the new municipal administration building, but only in 1964 could work on it begin. On 4 May 1968, the new building was dedicated. Sweeping renovations and conversions were undertaken in 1987 and 1988.
Municipal council
The council is made up of 6 council members, who were elected by majority votePlurality voting system
The plurality voting system is a single-winner voting system often used to elect executive officers or to elect members of a legislative assembly which is based on single-member constituencies...
at the municipal election held on 7 June 2009, and the honorary mayor as chairman.
Coat of arms
The German blazon reads: Schild gespalten durch blaue Wellenleiste, vorn rot-silber geschachtet, hinten grüner Haselnusszweig in Gold.The municipality’s arms
Coat of arms
A coat of arms is a unique heraldic design on a shield or escutcheon or on a surcoat or tabard used to cover and protect armour and to identify the wearer. Thus the term is often stated as "coat-armour", because it was anciently displayed on the front of a coat of cloth...
might in English heraldic
Heraldry
Heraldry is the profession, study, or art of creating, granting, and blazoning arms and ruling on questions of rank or protocol, as exercised by an officer of arms. Heraldry comes from Anglo-Norman herald, from the Germanic compound harja-waldaz, "army commander"...
language be described thus: An endorse wavy azure between chequy of twenty-one argent and gules and Or a hazel twig bendwise slipped, leafed of three and fructed of two, all proper.
Earlier forms of the placename Hasselbach, such as Hasilbach and Haselbach, derived from Hasala, an old word for “hazel
Hazel
The hazels are a genus of deciduous trees and large shrubs native to the temperate northern hemisphere. The genus is usually placed in the birch family Betulaceae, though some botanists split the hazels into a separate family Corylaceae.They have simple, rounded leaves with double-serrate margins...
shrub” (“hazel” is Hasel in Modern High German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
). The charge
Charge (heraldry)
In heraldry, a charge is any emblem or device occupying the field of an escutcheon . This may be a geometric design or a symbolic representation of a person, animal, plant, object or other device...
on the sinister (armsbearer’s left, viewer’s right) side, a hazel twig with leaves and nuts
Hazelnut
A hazelnut is the nut of the hazel and is also known as a cob nut or filbert nut according to species. A cob is roughly spherical to oval, about 15–25 mm long and 10–15 mm in diameter, with an outer fibrous husk surrounding a smooth shell. A filbert is more elongated, being about twice...
, is thus canting
Canting arms
Canting arms are heraldic bearings that represent the bearer's name in a visual pun or rebus. The term cant came into the English language from Anglo-Norman cant, meaning song or singing, from Latin cantāre, and English cognates include canticle, chant, accent, incantation and recant.Canting arms –...
. The silver and red “chequy” pattern on the dexter (armsbearer’s right, viewer’s left) side refers to Hasselbach’s former allegiance to the County of Sponheim
County of Sponheim
The County of Sponheim was an independent territory in the Holy Roman Empire which lasted from the 11th century until the early 19th century...
, and more specifically to its former inclusion in that county’s Amt of Kastellaun. Between the two sides is a wavy “endorse” (a much slimmer version of a pale) standing for a brook, or Bach in German, thus referring to the last syllable in the placename Hasselbach.
The arms have been borne since 27 October 2009.
Buildings
The following are listed buildings or sites in Rhineland-PalatinateRhineland-Palatinate
Rhineland-Palatinate is one of the 16 states of the Federal Republic of Germany. It has an area of and about four million inhabitants. The capital is Mainz. English speakers also commonly refer to the state by its German name, Rheinland-Pfalz ....
’s Directory of Cultural Monuments:
- Dorfstraße 11 – timber-frameTimber framingTimber framing , or half-timbering, also called in North America "post-and-beam" construction, is the method of creating structures using heavy squared off and carefully fitted and joined timbers with joints secured by large wooden pegs . It is commonplace in large barns...
building house, half-hipped roof, early 19th century - Dorfstraße 16 – timber-frame house, partly solid and slated, half-hipped roof, earlier half of the 19th century; timber-frame stable, partly brick, about 1900
- At Dorfstraße 33 – Late ClassicistClassicismClassicism, in the arts, refers generally to a high regard for classical antiquity, as setting standards for taste which the classicists seek to emulate. The art of classicism typically seeks to be formal and restrained: of the Discobolus Sir Kenneth Clark observed, "if we object to his restraint...
door with skylight, mid 18th century
Sport and leisure
Ever since 1996, a great tent city has arisen around Hasselbach each year in August to lodge those attending the open-air electronic musicElectronic music
Electronic music is music that employs electronic musical instruments and electronic music technology in its production. In general a distinction can be made between sound produced using electromechanical means and that produced using electronic technology. Examples of electromechanical sound...
festival Nature One
Nature One
Nature One is one of the largest European open air Electronic music festivals, featuring many renowned DJs from Germany and all over the world. In significance it is not as big as Mayday nor as old, having started 3 years later than the Mayday festival...
.
On the Gartenroute Hunsrück-Mittelrhein, a vast garden belonging to Hasselbach’s old schoolhouse can be visited. The schoolhouse itself today houses a museum displaying toys from the last 150 years.
Just beyond the village’s outskirts runs the “Schinderhannes
Schinderhannes
Johannes Bückler , nicknamed Schinderhannes, was a German outlaw who orchestrated one of the most fascinating crime sprees in German history. He was born at Miehlen, the son of Johann and Anna Maria Bückler. He began an apprenticeship to a tanner, but turned to petty theft. At 16 he was arrested...
Cycle Path”.
Further reading
- Hasselbach im Hunsrück, Spurensuche von Doris Wesner; Herausgeber: Ortsgemeinde Hasselbach.