Niederwörresbach
Encyclopedia
Niederwörresbach is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality
belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde
, a kind of collective municipality – in the Birkenfeld
district
in Rhineland-Palatinate
, Germany
. It belongs to the Verbandsgemeinde of Herrstein
, whose seat is in the like-named municipality
.
Niederwörresbach was shaped by the agate
grinders’ trade and the quarrying business. The local sport club’s artistic gymnastics
squad has earned international recognition.
and the mountain range of volcanic
origin on the upper Nahe. It is part of the Fischbach valley, and on the municipal outskirts, the namesake river, the Wörresbach (also called the Hinterbach) empties into the Fischbach.
. Somewhat farther west is the slate
ridge known as the Wirschheck, which leads on into the neighbouring municipality of Oberwörresbach
. On Landesstraße (State Road) 160, Bundesstraße
41 can be reached, as can Fischbach
some 7 km to the south, and indeed Idar-Oberstein
’s outlying centre of Weierbach. Also following this stretch of road is the Deutsche Edelsteinstraße (“German Gem Road”), which in Niederwörresbach’s west follows Landesstraße 175 towards Herborn
and Vollmersbach
.
from the Upper Rotliegend
. This is permeated with igneous rock
s such as porphyry
and melaphyre. Going eastwards, the material changes over into the Devonian
slate
that characterizes the Rhenish Massif. Also worth mentioning here are the limonite
stones on the “Wart” and a sandstone
quarry on the “Klink”. To this day, the firm F. L. Juchem & Söhne maintains, among other construction-related operations, a quarry along the road to Fischbach.
that once lay between Niederwörresbach and Oberwörresbach is now no longer under cultivation.
Yearly precipitation
in Niederwörresbach amounts to 718 mm, which falls into the middle third of the precipitation chart for all Germany. At 44% of the German Weather Service’s weather station
s lower figures are recorded. The driest month is April. The most rainfall comes in November. In that month, precipitation is 1.4 times what it is in April. Precipitation varies only slightly, and is quite evenly spread throughout the year. Only at 1% of the weather stations are lower seasonal swings recorded.
, it had its first documentary mention as a holding of the Counts of Sponheim
. It was then that Count Eberhard von Sponheim endowed two farmsteads at Werngisbach. These were owned by the Sponheims until 1427, although from time to time they were pledged or redefined. Thereafter, the joint rulers were the Electorate of Trier, Baden
and Palatinate-Simmern, until 1559. Baden then became the sole ruler, although for a time it was also jointly ruled along with the Princes of Zweibrücken
, until in 1792, the French
annexed the Rhine’s left bank to their country. During this time, the village belonged to the Department of Sarre and the Canton
and Mairie (“Mayoralty”) of Herrstein. When German troops marched into France in 1814 and put an end to Napoleon’s rule, Duke Peter Friedrich Ludwig of Oldenburg acquired the two exclaves of Lübeck
and the Birkenfelder Land. The latter, in which Niederwörresbach lay, persisted right through Imperial
times until the First World War, and although it then ceased to be the Principality of Birkenfeld within the Grand Duchy of Oldenburg, it nonetheless persisted as a “Free State” in the Weimar Republic
. This came to an end on 1 April 1937 when the Nazis merged the exclave with Prussia
within the framework of the Greater Hamburg Act in exchange for Wilhelmshaven
.
-Lutheran
. The church that stands today was consecrated on 26 January 1833 by the Reverend Karl Phillip Daniel Koch. However, it turned out that masonry work on the tower had been botched by the builders, and in 1865, the tower had to be torn down. In its stead, a somewhat funny-looking cupola was built. This was, however, replaced with a new tower, which can still be seen today. The church is equipped with a Stumm organ
.
s were set up, wood was given away for free and potato
es were sold below the usual price.
On 16 October 1846, the Reverend Friedrich Adolf Koch, a clergyman at Herrstein, originally from Niederwörresbach, established an educational home at his parents’ house, a small farmhouse on the way towards Herrstein. He himself organized the financing for the home’s necessary basic facilities by raffling donations in kind. Under the motto “Der Herr ist des Armen Schutz” (from Psalm 9
:9, although this German
translation literally means “The Lord is the poor man’s shelter”), the first group of residents at the home were 18 girls. Maintenance costs were partly covered by the girls’ handicrafts, which were raffled off, and collections, but there was always a debt
of several hundred Thaler
.
After the Reverend Koch’s death in 1867, the only way to stop the home’s closure in 1894 was by having the deaconess
’s Upper Rhine
motherhouse
take it over. The great, new main building was completed in 1905 and 1906, whereupon the original house was converted into a commercial building and communal dwellings. Moreover, in the 1980s a modern building with more dwellings and office space was built on the institute’s grounds. Today the Deaconry of Kreuznach cares for youths at the home; former facilities for babies and the elderly have been given up to other institutions.
The village’s appearance nowadays is predominantly characterized by the village square created in the 1980s and the new street, Ortsgemeindestraße, built in 1997 and 1998. This remodelling was made possible by the realignment of Landesstraße (State Road) 160, which now bypasses the village.
at the municipal election held on 7 June 2009, and the honorary mayor as chairman.
The municipality’s arms
might in English heraldic
language be described thus: Per bend sinister argent a chain of clicker stones open to dexter chief gules, and chequy gules and argent issuant from base a mount of three sable.
The chain of stones on the dexter (armsbearer’s right, viewer’s left) side refers to the local tradition of the “clicker grinders” (Klickerschleifer – see explanation under The tradition of “clickers”), while the “chequy” field on the sinister (armsbearer’s left, viewer’s right) side is a reference to the village’s former allegiance to the County of Sponheim
, and the mount of three – a charge
called a Dreiberg in German heraldry
– stands for the Amt within the County of Sponheim in which Niederwörresbach lay, namely Herrstein (whose name literally means “Lordstone”). Niederwörresbach even today lies in a Verbandsgemeinde of that same name.
’s Directory of Cultural Monuments:
). These are ball-shaped, polished agate
stones. Agate grinding was an arduous job. The raw stones had to be brought to the village from Idar on foot so that they could be processed the next morning in the grinder’s workshop. The so-called Schleiferkrankheit – “grinder’s illness” – caused by agate dust, lying before the grindstone, poor ventilation and schnapps
, which was drunk to suppress the affliction, saw to it that Klickerschliffer – “clicker grinders” – did not get older than 40 years. Bearing witness even today to their craft is a charge
in the municipal coat of arms depicting a chain of these clickers.
mixed with herbs and sugar, and eaten as a spread
or with jacket potatoes. Even today, people from Niederwörresbacher are still jokingly called Werzbacher Kässchmierlecker by those from neighbouring places. A statue of the personification of the Kässchmierlecker has immortalized this image of Niederwörresbachers. It stands on the village square, which was remodelled in the 1980s.
squad won many German championship titles in the 1970s and 1980s under coach Marianne Reimann. The highlight of the successes was the regional 1983 Sportswoman of the Year title earned by Niederwörresbach gymnast Heike Schwarm, along with her squad, which was recognized as Team of the Year. At the 1984 Summer Olympics
in Los Angeles
, SV Niederwörresbach – the sport club – furnished West Germany
with one third of its squad in the persons of Heike Schwarm and Angela Golz. As part of a ceremonial act in Marianne Reimann’s and her women gymnasts’ honour at the Artistic Gymnastics Centre in Frankfurt
on 20 January 1989, representatives of the Rhineland-Palatinate state government suggested building a “State Activity Centre for Artistic Gymnastics” in Niederwörresbach, whose great sport hall was finished in the early 1990s. The work was a joint effort with the Verbandsgemeinde. The successes continue: in 1997, Wladimir Klimenko became German Youth Champion in artistic gymnastics.
Among the club’s footballers, the “A-Youth” team is worthy of mention. This squad managed to reach the Bezirksliga level and eventually became 1977 Vice-Champions. A year later, Niederwörresbach’s Michael Dusek
moved to Bundesliga
team 1. FC Kaiserslautern
, with whom he stayed until the 1987/1988 season. Until 2006 he trained and coordinated the youth of “1. FCK.” Currently, the first team plays in the Bezirksliga Nahe.
) on the initiative of the first musical conductor, Emil Weiß. From 1911 until the end of the First World War, there was another music club in the village that called itself “Germania”. Over its more than century-long history, the music club has set itself the task of fostering wind-instrument
music and promoting culture in the municipality. In particular, its work with youth is worthy of mention.
was established, which is linked to the club.
Niederwörresbach also has a volunteer fire brigade, founded in 1933, a local chapter of the German Red Cross
, the marksmen’s club, founded in 1975, and an angling
club (since 1990). The Wanderfreunde e. V.
Niederwörresbach (hiking
club) split away from the sport club in 1992; it had formerly been a department of the sport club, founded in 1974.
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...
belonging to a 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 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
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 belongs to the Verbandsgemeinde of Herrstein
Herrstein (Verbandsgemeinde)
Herrstein is a Verbandsgemeinde in the district of Birkenfeld, in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. The seat of the Verbandsgemeinde is in Herrstein....
, whose seat is in the like-named municipality
Herrstein
Herrstein is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in the Birkenfeld district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany...
.
Niederwörresbach was shaped by the agate
Agate
Agate is a microcrystalline variety of silica, chiefly chalcedony, characterised by its fineness of grain and brightness of color. Although agates may be found in various kinds of rock, they are classically associated with volcanic rocks and can be common in certain metamorphic rocks.-Etymology...
grinders’ trade and the quarrying business. The local sport club’s artistic gymnastics
Artistic gymnastics
Artistic gymnastics is a discipline of gymnastics where gymnasts perform short routines on different apparatus, with less time for vaulting . The sport is governed by the Federation Internationale de Gymnastique , which designs the Code of Points and regulates all aspects of international elite...
squad has earned international recognition.
Location
The village of the “clicker grinders” (Klickerschleifer – see explanation under The tradition of “clickers”) lies between the southern edge of the HunsrückHunsrück
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...
and the mountain range of volcanic
Volcano
2. Bedrock3. Conduit 4. Base5. Sill6. Dike7. Layers of ash emitted by the volcano8. Flank| 9. Layers of lava emitted by the volcano10. Throat11. Parasitic cone12. Lava flow13. Vent14. Crater15...
origin on the upper Nahe. It is part of the Fischbach valley, and on the municipal outskirts, the namesake river, the Wörresbach (also called the Hinterbach) empties into the Fischbach.
Neighbouring municipalities
Niederwörresbach borders in the north on HerrsteinHerrstein
Herrstein is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in the Birkenfeld district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany...
. Somewhat farther west is the slate
Slate
Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade regional metamorphism. The result is a foliated rock in which the foliation may not correspond to the original sedimentary layering...
ridge known as the Wirschheck, which leads on into the neighbouring municipality of Oberwörresbach
Oberwörresbach
Oberwörresbach is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in the Birkenfeld district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany...
. On Landesstraße (State Road) 160, Bundesstraße
Bundesstraße
Bundesstraße , abbreviated B, is the denotation for German and Austrian national highways.-Germany:...
41 can be reached, as can Fischbach
Fischbach, Birkenfeld
Fischbach is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in the Birkenfeld district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany...
some 7 km to the south, and indeed 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...
’s outlying centre of Weierbach. Also following this stretch of road is the Deutsche Edelsteinstraße (“German Gem Road”), which in Niederwörresbach’s west follows Landesstraße 175 towards Herborn
Herborn, Rhineland-Palatinate
Herborn is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in the Birkenfeld district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It belongs to the Verbandsgemeinde of Herrstein, whose seat is in the like-named municipality.-Location:The municipality lies...
and Vollmersbach
Vollmersbach
Vollmersbach is a municipality in the district of Birkenfeld, in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany....
.
Constituent communities
Also belonging to Niederwörresbach are the outlying centres of Birfink and Hainbuch, and also the outlying homestead of “Auf Faustert”.Geology
Niederwörresbach is built on conglomeratesConglomerate (geology)
A conglomerate is a rock consisting of individual clasts within a finer-grained matrix that have become cemented together. Conglomerates are sedimentary rocks consisting of rounded fragments and are thus differentiated from breccias, which consist of angular clasts...
from the Upper Rotliegend
Rotliegend
The Rotliegend or Rotliegendes is a lithostratigraphic unit of Cisuralian age that is found in the subsurface of large areas in western and central Europe. The Rotliegend mainly consists of sandstone layers...
. This is permeated with igneous rock
Igneous rock
Igneous rock is one of the three main rock types, the others being sedimentary and metamorphic rock. Igneous rock is formed through the cooling and solidification of magma or lava...
s such as porphyry
Porphyry (geology)
Porphyry is a variety of igneous rock consisting of large-grained crystals, such as feldspar or quartz, dispersed in a fine-grained feldspathic matrix or groundmass. The larger crystals are called phenocrysts...
and melaphyre. Going eastwards, the material changes over into the Devonian
Devonian
The Devonian is a geologic period and system of the Paleozoic Era spanning from the end of the Silurian Period, about 416.0 ± 2.8 Mya , to the beginning of the Carboniferous Period, about 359.2 ± 2.5 Mya...
slate
Slate
Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade regional metamorphism. The result is a foliated rock in which the foliation may not correspond to the original sedimentary layering...
that characterizes the Rhenish Massif. Also worth mentioning here are the limonite
Limonite
Limonite is an ore consisting in a mixture of hydrated iron oxide-hydroxide of varying composition. The generic formula is frequently written as FeO·nH2O, although this is not entirely accurate as limonite often contains a varying amount of oxide compared to hydroxide.Together with hematite, it has...
stones on the “Wart” and a sandstone
Sandstone
Sandstone is a sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized minerals or rock grains.Most sandstone is composed of quartz and/or feldspar because these are the most common minerals in the Earth's crust. Like sand, sandstone may be any colour, but the most common colours are tan, brown, yellow,...
quarry on the “Klink”. To this day, the firm F. L. Juchem & Söhne maintains, among other construction-related operations, a quarry along the road to Fischbach.
Climate
Niederwörresbach, which is part of the greater Nahe valley, has a relatively mild climate that, in principle at least, would even allow winegrowing, although the vineyardVineyard
A vineyard is a plantation of grape-bearing vines, grown mainly for winemaking, but also raisins, table grapes and non-alcoholic grape juice...
that once lay between Niederwörresbach and Oberwörresbach is now no longer under cultivation.
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 Niederwörresbach amounts to 718 mm, which falls into the middle third of the precipitation chart for all Germany. At 44% 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 April. The most rainfall comes in November. In that month, precipitation is 1.4 times what it is in April. Precipitation varies only slightly, and is quite evenly spread throughout the year. Only at 1% of the weather stations are lower seasonal swings recorded.
History
In 1047, when Niederwörresbach belonged to the NahegauNahegau
The Nahegau was in the Middle Ages a county, which covered the environs of the Nahe and large parts of present-day Rhenish Hesse, after a successful expansion of the narrow territory, which did not reach the Rhine, to the disadvantage of the Wormsgau...
, it had its first documentary mention as a holding of the Counts 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...
. It was then that Count Eberhard von Sponheim endowed two farmsteads at Werngisbach. These were owned by the Sponheims until 1427, although from time to time they were pledged or redefined. Thereafter, the joint rulers were the Electorate of Trier, Baden
Baden
Baden is a historical state on the east bank of the Rhine in the southwest of Germany, now the western part of the Baden-Württemberg of Germany....
and Palatinate-Simmern, until 1559. Baden then became the sole ruler, although for a time it was also jointly ruled along with the Princes of Zweibrücken
Palatinate-Zweibrücken
Palatinate-Zweibrücken is a former state of the Holy Roman Empire. Its capital was Zweibrücken.-Overview:→ History before 1394 see main article County of Zweibrücken→ History before 1444 see main article County of Veldenz...
, until in 1792, the 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...
annexed the Rhine’s left bank to their country. During this time, the village belonged to the Department of Sarre and the Canton
Cantons of France
The cantons of France are territorial subdivisions of the French Republic's 342 arrondissements and 101 departments.Apart from their role as organizational units in certain aspects of the administration of public services and justice, the chief purpose of the cantons today is to serve as...
and Mairie (“Mayoralty”) of Herrstein. When German troops marched into France in 1814 and put an end to Napoleon’s rule, Duke Peter Friedrich Ludwig of Oldenburg acquired the two exclaves of Lübeck
Lübeck
The Hanseatic City of Lübeck is the second-largest city in Schleswig-Holstein, in northern Germany, and one of the major ports of Germany. It was for several centuries the "capital" of the Hanseatic League and, because of its Brick Gothic architectural heritage, is listed by UNESCO as a World...
and the Birkenfelder Land. The latter, in which Niederwörresbach lay, persisted right through Imperial
German Empire
The German Empire refers to Germany during the "Second Reich" period from the unification of Germany and proclamation of Wilhelm I as German Emperor on 18 January 1871, to 1918, when it became a federal republic after defeat in World War I and the abdication of the Emperor, Wilhelm II.The German...
times until the First World War, and although it then ceased to be the Principality of Birkenfeld within the Grand Duchy of Oldenburg, it nonetheless persisted as a “Free State” in the Weimar Republic
Weimar Republic
The Weimar Republic is the name given by historians to the parliamentary republic established in 1919 in Germany to replace the imperial form of government...
. This came to an end on 1 April 1937 when the Nazis merged the exclave with 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...
within the framework of the Greater Hamburg Act in exchange for Wilhelmshaven
Wilhelmshaven
Wilhelmshaven is a coastal town in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated on the western side of the Jade Bight, a bay of the North Sea.-History:...
.
Church
As early as 1560, the village had a parish seat with a branch in Fischbach. Later, Niederwörresbach became, like the whole surrounding area, EvangelicalEvangelical Church in Germany
The Evangelical Church in Germany is a federation of 22 Lutheran, Unified and Reformed Protestant regional church bodies in Germany. The EKD is not a church in a theological understanding because of the denominational differences. However, the member churches share full pulpit and altar...
-Lutheran
Lutheranism
Lutheranism is a major branch of Western Christianity that identifies with the theology of Martin Luther, a German reformer. Luther's efforts to reform the theology and practice of the church launched the Protestant Reformation...
. The church that stands today was consecrated on 26 January 1833 by the Reverend Karl Phillip Daniel Koch. However, it turned out that masonry work on the tower had been botched by the builders, and in 1865, the tower had to be torn down. In its stead, a somewhat funny-looking cupola was built. This was, however, replaced with a new tower, which can still be seen today. The church is equipped with a Stumm organ
Organ (music)
The organ , is a keyboard instrument of one or more divisions, each played with its own keyboard operated either with the hands or with the feet. The organ is a relatively old musical instrument in the Western musical tradition, dating from the time of Ctesibius of Alexandria who is credited with...
.
The child and youth home
The 1830s and 1840s in the Birkenfelder Land were characterized by livestock plagues and bad harvests, leading to rising food prices and hunger. The Principality of Birkenfeld had to enact a law in 1842 dealing with public care of the poor to supply the poorest with their most basic needs. Soup kitchenSoup kitchen
A soup kitchen, a bread line, or a meal center is a place where food is offered to the hungry for free or at a reasonably low price. Frequently located in lower-income neighborhoods, they are often staffed by volunteer organizations, such as church groups or community groups...
s were set up, wood was given away for free and potato
Potato
The potato is a starchy, tuberous crop from the perennial Solanum tuberosum of the Solanaceae family . The word potato may refer to the plant itself as well as the edible tuber. In the region of the Andes, there are some other closely related cultivated potato species...
es were sold below the usual price.
On 16 October 1846, the Reverend Friedrich Adolf Koch, a clergyman at Herrstein, originally from Niederwörresbach, established an educational home at his parents’ house, a small farmhouse on the way towards Herrstein. He himself organized the financing for the home’s necessary basic facilities by raffling donations in kind. Under the motto “Der Herr ist des Armen Schutz” (from Psalm 9
Psalm 9
Psalm 9 is the debut album by the American doom metal band Trouble, released in 1984. The album was originally released eponymously and was renamed to Psalm 9 after the release of their fourth album, which was their 1990 self-titled release...
:9, although this 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....
translation literally means “The Lord is the poor man’s shelter”), the first group of residents at the home were 18 girls. Maintenance costs were partly covered by the girls’ handicrafts, which were raffled off, and collections, but there was always a debt
Debt
A debt is an obligation owed by one party to a second party, the creditor; usually this refers to assets granted by the creditor to the debtor, but the term can also be used metaphorically to cover moral obligations and other interactions not based on economic value.A debt is created when a...
of several hundred Thaler
Thaler
The Thaler was a silver coin used throughout Europe for almost four hundred years. Its name lives on in various currencies as the dollar or tolar. Etymologically, "Thaler" is an abbreviation of "Joachimsthaler", a coin type from the city of Joachimsthal in Bohemia, where some of the first such...
.
After the Reverend Koch’s death in 1867, the only way to stop the home’s closure in 1894 was by having the deaconess
Deaconess
Deaconess is a non-clerical order in some Christian denominations which sees to the care of women in the community. That word comes from a Greek word diakonos as well as deacon, which means a servant or helper and occurs frequently in the Christian New Testament of the Bible. Deaconesses trace...
’s Upper Rhine
Upper Rhine
The Upper Rhine is the section of the Rhine in the Upper Rhine Plain between Basel, Switzerland and Bingen, Germany. The river is marked by Rhine-kilometers 170 to 529 ....
motherhouse
Motherhouse
The term motherhouse is used by religious Orders and religious congregations to designate the principal house or community for that group. It can be either for the entire institute or for a region....
take it over. The great, new main building was completed in 1905 and 1906, whereupon the original house was converted into a commercial building and communal dwellings. Moreover, in the 1980s a modern building with more dwellings and office space was built on the institute’s grounds. Today the Deaconry of Kreuznach cares for youths at the home; former facilities for babies and the elderly have been given up to other institutions.
The village’s appearance nowadays is predominantly characterized by the village square created in the 1980s and the new street, Ortsgemeindestraße, built in 1997 and 1998. This remodelling was made possible by the realignment of Landesstraße (State Road) 160, which now bypasses the village.
Municipal council
The council is made up of 12 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.
Mayor
Niederwörresbach’s mayor is Arnold Weinz, and his deputies are Werner Dalheimer and Rudolf Peter Juchem.Coat of arms
The German blazon reads: Schild schräglinks geteilt, linke Seite in Silber und eine nach oben geöffnete Kette mit roten Klickersteinen, rechte Seite rot-silbern geschacht, belegt mit einem schwarzen Dreiberg.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: Per bend sinister argent a chain of clicker stones open to dexter chief gules, and chequy gules and argent issuant from base a mount of three sable.
The chain of stones on the dexter (armsbearer’s right, viewer’s left) side refers to the local tradition of the “clicker grinders” (Klickerschleifer – see explanation under The tradition of “clickers”), while the “chequy” field on the sinister (armsbearer’s left, viewer’s right) side is a reference to the village’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 the mount of three – a 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...
called a Dreiberg in German heraldry
German heraldry
German heraldry refers to the cultural tradition and style of heraldic achievements in modern and historic Germany and the Holy Roman Empire, including national and civic arms, noble and burgher arms, ecclesiastical heraldry, heraldic displays and heraldic descriptions...
– stands for the Amt within the County of Sponheim in which Niederwörresbach lay, namely Herrstein (whose name literally means “Lordstone”). Niederwörresbach even today lies in a Verbandsgemeinde of that same name.
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:
- EvangelicalEvangelical Church in GermanyThe Evangelical Church in Germany is a federation of 22 Lutheran, Unified and Reformed Protestant regional church bodies in Germany. The EKD is not a church in a theological understanding because of the denominational differences. However, the member churches share full pulpit and altar...
church, Hauptstraße 6 – 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...
aisleless churchAisleless churchAn Aisleless church is a single-nave church building that consists of a single hall-like room. While similar to the hall church, the aisleless church lacks aisles or passageways either side of the nave separated from the nave by colonnades or arcades, a row of pillars or columns...
, 1830-1833, architect Kondukteur Odernheimer; ridge turretRidge turretA ridge turret is a turret build on the peak of a roof....
1907; Stumm organ 1850 - Near Hauptstraße 28 – former bakehouse, open roof frame, possibly from the latter half of the 19th century
- Hauptstraße 55, 57 – children’s home of the Rhenish Deaconry; no. 55 gatekeeper’s house, partly 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...
, possibly from the latter half of the 18th century, conversion marked 1845, gateway with bell turret 1905; no. 57 children’s home, quarrystone building, 1904/1905, architect August Senz, DüsseldorfDüsseldorfDüsseldorf is the capital city of the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and centre of the Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan region.Düsseldorf is an important international business and financial centre and renowned for its fashion and trade fairs. Located centrally within the European Megalopolis, the... - Hohlstraße 37 – day labourer’s house, one-floor house with stable underneath, possibly from about 1850/1860
- Mühlenweg 4 – so-called Litzenbergersche Mühle (mill); sandstoneSandstoneSandstone is a sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized minerals or rock grains.Most sandstone is composed of quartz and/or feldspar because these are the most common minerals in the Earth's crust. Like sand, sandstone may be any colour, but the most common colours are tan, brown, yellow,...
barn, 1877; three-floor brick mill building, 1910; stately house, 1914
The tradition of “clickers”
Niederwörresbach has a long tradition in the craft of “clickers” (called Klicker in GermanGerman 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....
). These are ball-shaped, polished agate
Agate
Agate is a microcrystalline variety of silica, chiefly chalcedony, characterised by its fineness of grain and brightness of color. Although agates may be found in various kinds of rock, they are classically associated with volcanic rocks and can be common in certain metamorphic rocks.-Etymology...
stones. Agate grinding was an arduous job. The raw stones had to be brought to the village from Idar on foot so that they could be processed the next morning in the grinder’s workshop. The so-called Schleiferkrankheit – “grinder’s illness” – caused by agate dust, lying before the grindstone, poor ventilation and schnapps
Schnapps
Schnapps is a type of distilled alcoholic beverage. The English word schnapps is derived from the German Schnaps , which can refer to any strong alcoholic drink but particularly those containing at least 32% ABV...
, which was drunk to suppress the affliction, saw to it that Klickerschliffer – “clicker grinders” – did not get older than 40 years. Bearing witness even today to their craft is a 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...
in the municipal coat of arms depicting a chain of these clickers.
Kässchmier
In bygone, harsher times, Kässchmier (roughly, “cheese smear”) was a tasty and cheap food that anyone could afford. It was a kind of quarkQuark (cheese)
Quark is a type of fresh cheese, also known as tvorog , topfen , biezpiens , and varškė . It is made by warming soured milk until the desired degree of denaturation of milk proteins is met, and then strained...
mixed with herbs and sugar, and eaten as a spread
Spread (food)
A spread is a food that is spread with a knife onto bread, crackers, or other bread products. Spreads are added to bread products to provide flavor and texture, and are an integral part of the dish, i.e. they should be distinguished from condiments, which are optional additions...
or with jacket potatoes. Even today, people from Niederwörresbacher are still jokingly called Werzbacher Kässchmierlecker by those from neighbouring places. A statue of the personification of the Kässchmierlecker has immortalized this image of Niederwörresbachers. It stands on the village square, which was remodelled in the 1980s.
Sport club
The sport club, founded in 1888, has already managed to make a mark at national and international levels. The artistic gymnasticsArtistic gymnastics
Artistic gymnastics is a discipline of gymnastics where gymnasts perform short routines on different apparatus, with less time for vaulting . The sport is governed by the Federation Internationale de Gymnastique , which designs the Code of Points and regulates all aspects of international elite...
squad won many German championship titles in the 1970s and 1980s under coach Marianne Reimann. The highlight of the successes was the regional 1983 Sportswoman of the Year title earned by Niederwörresbach gymnast Heike Schwarm, along with her squad, which was recognized as Team of the Year. At the 1984 Summer Olympics
1984 Summer Olympics
The 1984 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXIII Olympiad, was an international multi-sport event held in Los Angeles, California, United States in 1984...
in Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
, SV Niederwörresbach – the sport club – furnished West Germany
West Germany
West Germany is the common English, but not official, name for the Federal Republic of Germany or FRG in the period between its creation in May 1949 to German reunification on 3 October 1990....
with one third of its squad in the persons of Heike Schwarm and Angela Golz. As part of a ceremonial act in Marianne Reimann’s and her women gymnasts’ honour at the Artistic Gymnastics Centre in Frankfurt
Frankfurt
Frankfurt am Main , commonly known simply as Frankfurt, is the largest city in the German state of Hesse and the fifth-largest city in Germany, with a 2010 population of 688,249. The urban area had an estimated population of 2,300,000 in 2010...
on 20 January 1989, representatives of the Rhineland-Palatinate state government suggested building a “State Activity Centre for Artistic Gymnastics” in Niederwörresbach, whose great sport hall was finished in the early 1990s. The work was a joint effort with the Verbandsgemeinde. The successes continue: in 1997, Wladimir Klimenko became German Youth Champion in artistic gymnastics.
Among the club’s footballers, the “A-Youth” team is worthy of mention. This squad managed to reach the Bezirksliga level and eventually became 1977 Vice-Champions. A year later, Niederwörresbach’s Michael Dusek
Michael Dusek
Michael Dusek is a German football coach and a former player. As a player, he spent nine seasons in the Bundesliga with 1. FC Kaiserslautern.-External links:...
moved to Bundesliga
Fußball-Bundesliga
The Fußball-Bundesliga is a professional association football league in Germany. At the top of Germany's football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. It is contested by 18 teams and operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the 2. Bundesliga...
team 1. FC Kaiserslautern
1. FC Kaiserslautern
1. Fußball-Club Kaiserslautern, also known as 1. FCK, FCK or simply Kaiserslautern, is a German association football club based in Kaiserslautern, Rhineland-Palatinate. On 2 June 1900, Germania 1896 and FG Kaiserslautern merged to create FC 1900...
, with whom he stayed until the 1987/1988 season. Until 2006 he trained and coordinated the youth of “1. FCK.” Currently, the first team plays in the Bezirksliga Nahe.
Music club
The music club was founded on 9 September 1891 at the Gasthaus Weiß (innINN
InterNetNews is a Usenet news server package, originally released by Rich Salz in 1991, and presented at the Summer 1992 USENIX conference in San Antonio, Texas...
) on the initiative of the first musical conductor, Emil Weiß. From 1911 until the end of the First World War, there was another music club in the village that called itself “Germania”. Over its more than century-long history, the music club has set itself the task of fostering wind-instrument
Wind instrument
A wind instrument is a musical instrument that contains some type of resonator , in which a column of air is set into vibration by the player blowing into a mouthpiece set at the end of the resonator. The pitch of the vibration is determined by the length of the tube and by manual modifications of...
music and promoting culture in the municipality. In particular, its work with youth is worthy of mention.
Other clubs
Niederwörresbach’s oldest club is the men’s singing club, which came into being as a result of a proposal by the teacher Christian Schmidt in 1860. He also directed it until his death in 1890. In 1928, a mixed choirChoir
A choir, chorale or chorus is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform.A body of singers who perform together as a group is called a choir or chorus...
was established, which is linked to the club.
Niederwörresbach also has a volunteer fire brigade, founded in 1933, a local chapter of the German Red Cross
German Red Cross
The German Red Cross , or the DRK, is the national Red Cross Society in Germany.With over 4.5 million members, it is the third largest Red Cross society in the world. The German Red Cross offers a wide range of services within and outside Germany...
, the marksmen’s club, founded in 1975, and an angling
Angling
Angling is a method of fishing by means of an "angle" . The hook is usually attached to a fishing line and the line is often attached to a fishing rod. Fishing rods are usually fitted with a fishing reel that functions as a mechanism for storing, retrieving and paying out the line. The hook itself...
club (since 1990). The Wanderfreunde e. V.
Eingetragener Verein
Eingetragener Verein is a legal status for a registered voluntary association in Germany and Austria. While any group may be called a Verein, registration as eingetragener Verein holds many legal benefits because a registered association may legally function as a corporate body rather than just...
Niederwörresbach (hiking
Hiking
Hiking is an outdoor activity which consists of walking in natural environments, often in mountainous or other scenic terrain. People often hike on hiking trails. It is such a popular activity that there are numerous hiking organizations worldwide. The health benefits of different types of hiking...
club) split away from the sport club in 1992; it had formerly been a department of the sport club, founded in 1974.
Sons and daughters of the town
- Walter Brusius, German painter
- Michael DusekMichael DusekMichael Dusek is a German football coach and a former player. As a player, he spent nine seasons in the Bundesliga with 1. FC Kaiserslautern.-External links:...
, footballer and football coach
Famous people associated with the municipality
- Wiktor Jakowlewitsch Klimenko, artistic gymnast, Olympic medallist
- Larissa PetrikLarissa PetrikLarisa Leonidovna Petrik is a former Soviet gymnast and Olympic champion.Petrik competed at the 1966 World Championships where she shared in the team silver medal and earned an individual bronze medal on the beam.She also competed at the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City, where she received a...
, artistic gymnast, Olympic medallist, coach, choreographer and trained actress
Sources
- Rudolf Becker, Beiträge zur Geschichte des Dorfes Niederwörresbach (Landkreis Birkenfeld) mit Illustrationen von Friedrich Heidrich, Niederwörresbach, Mitteilungen des Vereins für Heimatkunde im Landkreis Birkenfeld, Sonderheft 7, 1962, herausgegeben vom Verein für Heimatkunde im Landkreis Birkenfeld (Auszüge online)
- 950 Jahre Niederwörresbach, Festschrift zum 950-jährigen Jubiläum, herausgegeben von der Ortsgemeinde zur offiziellen Einweihung der Ortsgemeinderstraße und der Brücke über den Fischbach am 25., 26. und 27. Juni 1999 (Jubiläumsfeier wegen der umfassenden Umbauarbeiten um zwei Jahre verschoben)
- 100 Jahre SV Niederwörresbach 1888, Festwoche vom 24. Juni bis 2. Juli 1988, herausgegeben vom Verein.