Morbach
Encyclopedia
Morbach is a municipality
that belongs to no Verbandsgemeinde
– a kind of collective municipality – in the Bernkastel-Wittlich
district
in Rhineland-Palatinate
, Germany
. It is also a state-recognized climatic resort (Luftkurort).
in the low mountain range of the Hunsrück
on the boundary with the Birkenfeld
district, roughly 25 km southeast of Wittlich
and 35 km east of Trier
. Its population is 11,051. The nearest town is Bernkastel-Kues
.
The terrain is rolling hills, superbly organized and maintained stretches of forest interspersed with manicured farmland. Some of the highest (cleanest) air readings in all of Northern Europe have been measured near this area.
in 1969, the municipality belonged to the Bernkastel district, with its seat at Bernkastel-Kues
. The municipality as it is today arose on 31 December 1974 when the new municipality of Morbach was formed out of Morbach itself and the 18 until then self-administering municipalities of Bischofsdhron, Elzerath, Gonzerath, Gutenthal, Haag, Heinzerath, Hinzerath, Hoxel, Hundheim, Hunolstein, Merscheid, Morscheid-Riedenburg, Odert, Rapperath, Wederath, Weiperath, Wenigerath and Wolzburg.
Within what is now the outlying centre of Wenigerath lay the US Air Force’s
Wenigerath Munitions Depot until 1995. Beginning in the 1950s, several hundred United States Air Force Munitions Systems personnel, otherwise known as “ammo troops”, worked at the so-called Wenigerath Non-Nuclear Munitions Storage Area and lived in Morbach and neighbouring villages in support of NATO operations launched from nearby Hahn Air base. The former “bomb dump”, which ceased operations after the collapse of the Soviet Union
and the end of the Cold War
, is now dotted with wind turbines, photovoltaic cells and various technologies which serve as an “Energy Farm”.
The municipal election held on 7 June 2009 yielded the following results:
Other points of interest in the Morbach area are:
on the Koblenz-Trier railway line. Bus route 343 from Omnibusverkehr Rhein-Nahe runs a service on weekdays to the Idar-Oberstein
railway station on the Saarbrücken
-Mainz
railway line.
Through Morbach run Bundesstraße
n 269 and 327, as does the Hunsrückquerbahn (“Cross-Hunsrück Railway”), a railway line between Langenlonsheim
and Hermeskeil
, which at the moment lies idle, although it is to be reactivated, at least from Morbach as far as Bingen
, for its usefulness as a link to Frankfurt-Hahn Airport
.
The municipality of Morbach is the location of a great wind farm
with fourteen wind turbine
s, a big photovoltaic complex
, a biogas complex
and a wood pellet works. The rent on the wind farm earns the municipality €280,000 each year.
The municipality of Morbach fulfils the criteria of a “1a” shopping town and was awarded the certificate in May 2008.
Municipalities of Germany
Municipalities are the lowest level of territorial division in Germany. This may be the fourth level of territorial division in Germany, apart from those states which include Regierungsbezirke , where municipalities then become the fifth level.-Overview:With more than 3,400,000 inhabitants, the...
that belongs to no Verbandsgemeinde
Verbandsgemeinde
A Verbandsgemeinde is an administrative unit in the German Bundesländer of Rhineland-Palatinate and Saxony-Anhalt.-Rhineland-Palatinate:...
– a kind of collective municipality – in the Bernkastel-Wittlich
Bernkastel-Wittlich
Bernkastel-Wittlich is a district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is bounded by the districts of Vulkaneifel, Cochem-Zell, Rhein-Hunsrück, Birkenfeld, Trier-Saarburg and Bitburg-Prüm.- History :...
district
Districts of Germany
The districts of Germany are known as , except in the states of North Rhine-Westphalia and Schleswig-Holstein where they are known simply as ....
in 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 ....
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
. It is also a state-recognized climatic resort (Luftkurort).
Location
The municipality lies at elevation of between 430 and 770 m above sea levelSea level
Mean sea level is a measure of the average height of the ocean's surface ; used as a standard in reckoning land elevation...
in the low mountain range of the Hunsrück
Hunsrück
The Hunsrück is a low mountain range in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is bounded by the river valleys of the Moselle , the Nahe , and the Rhine . The Hunsrück is continued by the Taunus mountains on the eastern side of the Rhine. In the north behind the Moselle it is continued by the Eifel...
on the boundary with the Birkenfeld
Birkenfeld (district)
Birkenfeld is a district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is bounded by the districts of Sankt Wendel , Trier-Saarburg, Bernkastel-Wittlich, Rhein-Hunsrück, Bad Kreuznach and Kusel.- History :...
district, roughly 25 km southeast of Wittlich
Wittlich
The town of Wittlich is the seat of the Bernkastel-Wittlich district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, and thereby the middle centre for a feeder area of 56 municipalities in the Eifel and Moselle area with its population of roughly 64,000...
and 35 km east of Trier
Trier
Trier, historically called in English Treves is a city in Germany on the banks of the Moselle. It is the oldest city in Germany, founded in or before 16 BC....
. Its population is 11,051. The nearest town is Bernkastel-Kues
Bernkastel-Kues
Bernkastel-Kues is a well-known winegrowing centre on the Middle Moselle in the Bernkastel-Wittlich district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany...
.
The terrain is rolling hills, superbly organized and maintained stretches of forest interspersed with manicured farmland. Some of the highest (cleanest) air readings in all of Northern Europe have been measured near this area.
Climate
| Yearly precipitation Precipitation (meteorology) In meteorology, precipitation In meteorology, precipitation In meteorology, precipitation (also known as one of the classes of hydrometeors, which are atmospheric water phenomena is any product of the condensation of atmospheric water vapor that falls under gravity. The main forms of precipitation... in Morbach amounts to 1175 mm (46.3 in), which is very high, falling into the highest tenth of the precipitation chart for all Germany. At 92% of the German Weather Service’s weather station Weather station A weather station is a facility, either on land or sea, with instruments and equipment for observing atmospheric conditions to provide information for weather forecasts and to study the weather and climate. The measurements taken include temperature, barometric pressure, humidity, wind speed, wind... s, lower figures are recorded. The driest month is May. The most rainfall comes in December. In that month, precipitation is 1.8 times what it is in May. Precipitation varies greatly. At more than 85% of the weather stations, lower seasonal swings are recorded. |
Constituent communities
The municipality of Morbach is subdivided into the following Ortsteile:
|
|
History
Until municipal administrative reform 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 ....
in 1969, the municipality belonged to the Bernkastel district, with its seat at Bernkastel-Kues
Bernkastel-Kues
Bernkastel-Kues is a well-known winegrowing centre on the Middle Moselle in the Bernkastel-Wittlich district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany...
. The municipality as it is today arose on 31 December 1974 when the new municipality of Morbach was formed out of Morbach itself and the 18 until then self-administering municipalities of Bischofsdhron, Elzerath, Gonzerath, Gutenthal, Haag, Heinzerath, Hinzerath, Hoxel, Hundheim, Hunolstein, Merscheid, Morscheid-Riedenburg, Odert, Rapperath, Wederath, Weiperath, Wenigerath and Wolzburg.
Within what is now the outlying centre of Wenigerath lay the US Air Force’s
United States Air Force
The United States Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the American uniformed services. Initially part of the United States Army, the USAF was formed as a separate branch of the military on September 18, 1947 under the National Security Act of...
Wenigerath Munitions Depot until 1995. Beginning in the 1950s, several hundred United States Air Force Munitions Systems personnel, otherwise known as “ammo troops”, worked at the so-called Wenigerath Non-Nuclear Munitions Storage Area and lived in Morbach and neighbouring villages in support of NATO operations launched from nearby Hahn Air base. The former “bomb dump”, which ceased operations after the collapse of the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
and the end of the Cold War
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
, is now dotted with wind turbines, photovoltaic cells and various technologies which serve as an “Energy Farm”.
Municipal council
The council is made up of 28 honorary council members, who were elected at the municipal election held on 7 June 2009, and the fulltime mayor as chairman.The municipal election held on 7 June 2009 yielded the following results:
| Party | Share of the vote | Swing | Seats | Swing | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | CDU | |
(-8.2) | 12 seats | (-3) |
| 2. | FWM Free Voters Free Voters is a German concept in which an association of persons participates in an election without having the status of a registered political party. Usually it is a locally organized group of voters in the form of a registered association . In most cases, Free Voters are active only at the... |
|
(+1.3) | 6 seats | (-1) |
| 3. | SPD Social Democratic Party of Germany The Social Democratic Party of Germany is a social-democratic political party in Germany... |
|
(+3.6) | 5 seats | (+1) |
| 4. | FDP Free Democratic Party (Germany) The Free Democratic Party , abbreviated to FDP, is a centre-right classical liberal political party in Germany. It is led by Philipp Rösler and currently serves as the junior coalition partner to the Union in the German federal government... |
|
(+3.3) | 2 seats | (+1) |
| 5. | Alliance '90/The Greens Alliance '90/The Greens Alliance '90/The Greens is a green political party in Germany, formed from the merger of the German Green Party and Alliance 90 in 1993. Its leaders are Claudia Roth and Cem Özdemir... |
|
(=) | 2 seats | (+1) |
| 6. | The Left The Left (Germany) The Left , also commonly referred to as the Left Party , is a democratic socialist political party in Germany. The Left is the most left-wing party of the five represented in the Bundestag.... |
|
(+3.3) | 1 seat | (+1) |
Culture and sightseeing
Particularly worth seeing is the railway viaduct in the outlying centre of Hoxel, which is one of the highest single-level stone railway bridges in Germany.Other points of interest in the Morbach area are:
- Castle Baldenau
- the Archäologiepark Belginum, which informs the visitor about the historical settlement of Belginum on the Hunsrückhöhenstraße (“Hunsrück Heights Road”, a scenic road across the Hunsrück built originally as a military road on Hermann GöringHermann GöringHermann Wilhelm Göring, was a German politician, military leader, and a leading member of the Nazi Party. He was a veteran of World War I as an ace fighter pilot, and a recipient of the coveted Pour le Mérite, also known as "The Blue Max"...
’s orders) near Hinzerath - the wood museum in the outlying centre of Weiperath
- the telephone museum in Morbach.
Established businesses
Morbach is headquarters to Papier-Mettler, a German manufacturer of paper and plastic packaging.Transport
Public transport is integrated into the Verkehrsverbund Region Trier (VRT), whose fares therefore apply. Bus route 300 of the Rhein-Mosel-Verkehrsgesellschaft links the municipality every two hours with the main railway station in WittlichWittlich
The town of Wittlich is the seat of the Bernkastel-Wittlich district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, and thereby the middle centre for a feeder area of 56 municipalities in the Eifel and Moselle area with its population of roughly 64,000...
on the Koblenz-Trier railway line. Bus route 343 from Omnibusverkehr Rhein-Nahe runs a service on weekdays to the Idar-Oberstein
Idar-Oberstein
Idar-Oberstein is a town in the Birkenfeld district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. As a Große kreisangehörige Stadt , it assumes some of the responsibilities that for smaller municipalities in the district are assumed by the district administration...
railway station on the Saarbrücken
Saarbrücken
Saarbrücken is the capital of the state of Saarland in Germany. The city is situated at the heart of a metropolitan area that borders on the west on Dillingen and to the north-east on Neunkirchen, where most of the people of the Saarland live....
-Mainz
Mainz
Mainz under the Holy Roman Empire, and previously was a Roman fort city which commanded the west bank of the Rhine and formed part of the northernmost frontier of the Roman Empire...
railway line.
Through Morbach run Bundesstraße
Bundesstraße
Bundesstraße , abbreviated B, is the denotation for German and Austrian national highways.-Germany:...
n 269 and 327, as does the Hunsrückquerbahn (“Cross-Hunsrück Railway”), a railway line between Langenlonsheim
Langenlonsheim
Langenlonsheim is a municipality in the district of Bad Kreuznach, in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is situated on the river Nahe, approx. 6 km north-east of Bad Kreuznach and 9 km south of Bingen am Rhein...
and Hermeskeil
Hermeskeil
Hermeskeil is a town in the Trier-Saarburg district, in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is situated in the Hunsrück, approx. 25 km southeast of Trier...
, which at the moment lies idle, although it is to be reactivated, at least from Morbach as far as Bingen
Bingen am Rhein
Bingen am Rhein is a town in the Mainz-Bingen district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany.The settlement’s original name was Bingium, a Celtic word that may have meant “hole in the rock”, a description of the shoal behind the Mäuseturm, known as the Binger Loch. Bingen was the starting point for the...
, for its usefulness as a link to Frankfurt-Hahn Airport
Frankfurt-Hahn Airport
-Cargo airlines:-Other facilities:AirIT Services AG, a subsidiary of Fraport, has its head office in Building 663 at Hahn Airport.-References:*Active Air Force Bases Within the United States of America on 17 September 1982 USAF Reference Series, Office of Air Force History, United States Air Force,...
.
The municipality of Morbach is the location of a great wind farm
Wind farm
A wind farm is a group of wind turbines in the same location used to produce electric power. A large wind farm may consist of several hundred individual wind turbines, and cover an extended area of hundreds of square miles, but the land between the turbines may be used for agricultural or other...
with fourteen wind turbine
Wind turbine
A wind turbine is a device that converts kinetic energy from the wind into mechanical energy. If the mechanical energy is used to produce electricity, the device may be called a wind generator or wind charger. If the mechanical energy is used to drive machinery, such as for grinding grain or...
s, a big photovoltaic complex
Photovoltaic power station
The following page lists photovoltaic power stations that are larger than 25 MW in current net capacity. Solar photovoltaic cells convert sunlight into electricity and many solar photovoltaic power stations have been built, mainly in Europe...
, a biogas complex
Anaerobic digestion
Anaerobic digestion is a series of processes in which microorganisms break down biodegradable material in the absence of oxygen. It is used for industrial or domestic purposes to manage waste and/or to release energy....
and a wood pellet works. The rent on the wind farm earns the municipality €280,000 each year.
The municipality of Morbach fulfils the criteria of a “1a” shopping town and was awarded the certificate in May 2008.
Famous people
- Johannes Greber (1874–1944), Catholic priest and spiritualist
- Edgar ReitzEdgar ReitzEdgar Reitz is a German filmmaker and Professor of Film at the Staatliche Hochschule für Gestaltung in Karlsruhe.- Early life and education :...
(b. 1 November 1932), author, filmmaker, professor of film science - Jakob Maria MierscheidJakob Maria MierscheidJakob Maria Mierscheid MdB has been a fictitious politician in the German Bundestag since 11 December 1979. He was then the alleged deputy chairman of the Mittelstandsausschuss of the Bundestag in 1981 and 1982...
(b. 1 March 1933), fictitious politician - Gabriele Andretta (b. 1961), German politician (SPD), Member of the Lower SaxonyLower SaxonyLower Saxony is a German state situated in north-western Germany and is second in area and fourth in population among the sixteen states of Germany...
Landtag since 1998 - Stefan Gemmel (b. 1970), author of books for children and youth
- Mathias Jacobs (b. 9 September 1885 in Hunolstein, d. 5 May 1935 in Gladbeck, Social DemocraticSocial Democratic Party of GermanyThe Social Democratic Party of Germany is a social-democratic political party in Germany...
politician and Member of the Prussian Landtag.