Ohmbach is a municipality in the district of Kusel

Kusel (district)

Kusel is a district in the south of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Neighboring districts are Birkenfeld, Bad Kreuznach, Donnersbergkreis, Kaiserslautern, Saarpfalz and Sankt Wendel .-History:The district of Kusel was created at the beginning of the 19th century...

, 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 ....

, western 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...

.

Geography

The town of Ohmbach is in the Ohmbachtal (literally "Ohm Creek Valley" in the Western Palatinate (Westpfalz). Adjacent to the north lies Herschweiler-Pettersheim

Herschweiler-Pettersheim

Herschweiler-Pettersheim is a municipality in the district of Kusel, in Rhineland-Palatinate, western Germany....

, in the east Steinbach am Glan

Steinbach am Glan

Steinbach am Glan is a municipality in the district of Kusel, in Rhineland-Palatinate, western Germany. The collective municipality is Glan-Münchweiler. Steinbach am Glan is about 35 km west of Kaiserslautern and about 400 km east of Paris in a valley near the Glan river...

, in the south Brücken

Brücken, Kusel

Brücken is a municipality in the district of Kusel, in Rhineland-Palatinate, western Germany....

 and in the west Altenkirchen

Altenkirchen, Kusel

Altenkirchen is a municipality in the district of Kusel, in Rhineland-Palatinate, western Germany....

.

History

Ohmbach evolved out of the originally independent municipalities of Oberohmbach and Niederohmbach (formerly Weitersbach). Ohmbach was first mentioned in a written document in the year 977

977

Year 977 was a common year starting on Monday of the Julian calendar.- Europe :* Saint Æthelwold of Winchester, Bishop of Winchester, rebuilds the western end of the Old Minster, Winchester, with twin towers and no apses.* German emperor Otto II grants Lower Lorraine, where modern-day Brussels is...

 as Ovenbach . In 1410 Ovinbach joined Pfalz-Zweibrücken while Weitersbach became part of the Kurpfalz in 1437. The separate history of the two places stood firm until the French Revolution

French Revolution

The French Revolution , sometimes distinguished as the 'Great French Revolution' , was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France and Europe. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years...

. Around 1600, the town name changed from Weitersbach to Ohmbach In 1793 the French revolutionary army conquered the area. In the newly formed Department Mont-Tonnerre

Mont-Tonnerre

Mont-Tonnerre is the name of a département of the First French Empire in present Germany. It is named after the highest point in the Rhenish Palatinate, the Donnersberg. It was the southernmost of four départements formed in 1798, when the west bank of the Rhine was annexed by France...

 the two places were merged for the first time as Commune d'Ohmbach . From 1816, Ohmbach was Bavarian

Kingdom of Bavaria

The Kingdom of Bavaria was a German state that existed from 1806 to 1918. The Bavarian Elector Maximilian IV Joseph of the House of Wittelsbach became the first King of Bavaria in 1806 as Maximilian I Joseph. The monarchy would remain held by the Wittelsbachs until the kingdom's dissolution in 1918...

. In 1840, the community broke up into Oberohmbach and Niederohmbach until it was merged again in 1936. After the Second World War it became part of the then newly formed federal state (Bundesland) of Rheinland-Pfalz (Rhineland-Palatinate).

Municipal Council

The municipal council

Municipal council

A municipal council is the local government of a municipality. Specifically the term can refer to the institutions of various countries that can be translated by this term...

 consists of twelve council members who were voted into office on the 7th of June, 2009. The honorary Ortsbürgermeister (town mayor) is the chairman.
Seats in the elected council:

	SPD Social Democratic Party of Germany The Social Democratic Party of Germany is a social-democratic political party in Germany...	CDU Christian Democratic Union (Germany) The Christian Democratic Union of Germany is a Christian democratic and conservative political party in Germany. It is regarded as on the centre-right of the German political spectrum...	FWG FWG FWG may stand for:*Federal World Government, a concept of a democratic global government.*Forschungsanstalt der Bundeswehr für Wasserschall und Geophysik , in Germany....	Total
2009	4	7	1	12 seats
2004	3	7	2	12 seats

Culture and sights

The Ohmbach Watchtower (Ohmbacher Wartturm) was built in 2005 slightly below the 375m high Wartenstein hill and serves as a lookout point. The tower is part of the "Begehbares Geschichtsbuch" (literally "Walkable History Book") that describes many places of interest and three country walking tours in and through the Verbandsgemeinde Schönenberg-Kübelberg.

Economy and Infrastructure

The Autobahn A 6

Bundesautobahn 6

, also known as Via Carolina is a 477 km long German autobahn. It starts at the French border near Saarbrücken in the west and end at the Czech border near Waidhaus in the east....

 is located in the southeast, and in the northeast there is the A 62

Bundesautobahn 62

is an autobahn in southwestern Germany, connecting the A 1 with the A 6. It also connects numerous communities throughout the central Hunsrück mountains...

. In Glan-Münchweiler

Glan-Münchweiler

Glan-Münchweiler is a municipality in the district of Kusel, in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is situated on the river Glan, approx. 8 km south-east of Kusel, and 25 km west of Kaiserslautern....

, there is a rail station of Glantalbahn.