Salm, Germany
Encyclopedia
Salm is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality
belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde
, a kind of collective municipality – in the Vulkaneifel district
in Rhineland-Palatinate
, Germany
. It belongs to the Verbandsgemeinde of Gerolstein
, whose seat is in the like-named town
.
, a part of the Eifel
known for its volcanic history, geographical and geological features, and even ongoing activity today, including gases that sometimes well up from the earth.
Near the village rises the river Salm, which empties into the Moselle near Klüsserath
.
, which was reached on the cobbled road between the abandoned village of Hundswinkel and Bremescheit (Prümscheid). It is reasonable to conclude, therefore, that the village’s beginnings reach back somewhat further, but an entry in Prüm Abbey
’s directory of holdings, the Prümer Urbar, that supposedly mentions Salm is at the very best doubtful. It would, however, make the village centuries older, since it dates from 803.
Salm’s early history speaks of well-off townsmen, whose wealth, however, suffered later as the village’s population grew. Throughout the ages, the leading sources of income were agriculture
and forestry
. In the case of the latter, the broad forests even afforded a livelihood in logging
.
In the 13th century, the villages of Salm and Hilscheid and the estate of Muckenberg were held by the Counts of Manderscheid.
In 1238, Salm had a church under the patronage of Heinrich, Lord of Manderscheid-Kerpen. In 1608, Kyllburg townsman Petrus von Salm donated to the church the silver-gilt monstrance
. By 1687, patronage was being exercised by the nobles of Roben and the heirs of Melbaum. By 1743, it was the Countess of Manderscheid.
On 11 October 1803, during the time of French
rule, the Salm Mill (Salmer Mühle), which had belonged to the Counts of Manderscheid, was sold for 186 Thaler
. By 1815, Salm belonged to the Kingdom of Prussia
. Both before and after the Prussian takeover, extensive surveying and mapping were undertaken, first under Colonel Tranchot (1803-1813) and then under Generalmajor von Müffling (1816-1820).
The Year Without a Summer
– 1816 – struck the Eifel
hard, bringing famine, floods and weather damage along with it. Snow was still lying on the ground into June. Hay was only harvested in September, and the grain only ripened in October. That same month came frost
, and by early November, snow was falling once again. The next year, 1817, the Eifel dwellers suffered under the lingering effects of the foregoing year’s disastrous and unusual weather patterns. Common foodstuffs were not so common, and cost much more than usual. People were so hungry that they were eating livestock fodder and roots. The Prussia
n government helped ease the crisis by making available two million Thaler
, and ensuring the poor their daily bread by buying up great quantities of grain from East Prussia
.
In 1856, the whole lower village was destroyed in a great fire. One man, who had fallen asleep on some hay
, was burnt alive.
Between 1869 and 1871, the Trier
-Cologne
railway line was built, putting the Ruhr area
within much easier reach. The Franco-Prussian War
(1870-1871) gave railway building the highest priority. This same time saw the decline of the Eifel’s iron
industry and an outflow of people to the new industrialized areas. In 1872, there were even advertisements in local newspaper
s exhorting people to emigrate
to the “New World
”.
In 1887, there was yet again hardship due to the weather. This time it was drought
and frost
. The latter wrought devastation to fruit crops mainly in the dales, while sparing those higher up. The potato
crop was very bad, and the price of potatoes soared that year as a result. Oats
likewise yielded a very poor harvest, and the hay
failed altogether. Six years later, in 1893, agriculture
suffered once more. Summer and autumn were very dry, resulting in a dearth of fodder. Many farmers felt forced to sell their livestock
off. Thin brushwood was being crushed and cut up for livestock fodder.
The year 1899, however, was in every respect a good year for farmers. The turn of the 20th century was an uneventful time until the First World War. A savings and loan institution was established in 1903 and a fire brigade in 1910.
On 30 June 1914, news of Archduke Franz Ferdinand’s
assassination
reached Salm, causing great unease. People began to hoard coffee
and salt
in expectation of the forthcoming war. The western border was militarized, and then on 1 August 1914 came the Mobilization
Order from the Emperor. Among other side-effects was a great upswing in prices for various foodstuffs. In 1916, heavy guns could be heard shooting in the Battle of Verdun
about 140 km away; the noise was loudest on 14 December.
In 1918, the war ended and Salm was occupied by United States
troops. Twenty-four soldiers from Salm fell in the Great War. The Americans were replaced by French
occupiers, who did not withdraw until 1930.
In 1920, heavy spring rains and frost in June ensured a poor harvest. On 20 February 1921, elections for the Prussian Landtag were held. In 1925, work began on the local waterworks. The following year, Salm was connected to the district electrical grid. In 1936, the local electricity supplier became the Rheinisch-Westfälische Elektrizitätswerke (RWE
).
The years between 1929 and 1931 were a time of great hardship brought on by the Great Depression
. As a make-work scheme
, men were put to work building a road linking Daun
, Bitburg
and Trier
.
Within a few years, the new Nazi
régime led by Adolf Hitler
brought along with it not only an upswing in the number of jobs, but also the foreboding of yet another war, especially after Anschluss
and Kristallnacht
in 1938. The Organisation Todt
quartered itself in the Eifel
and the second Siegfried Line
sprang up. So did a great munitions and fuel dump, in the Salmwald, the local forest. Soldiers from East Prussia
were posted as guards.
In 1940, early in the Second World War, Salm and the surrounding region became a deployment area in the runup to the Battle of France
, which began on 10 May of that year and ended on 21 June with an armistice. French
prisoners of war
came to Salm. They were put to work in agriculture
to offset the dearth of labour due to the war, and were fed by local families whom they were detailed to help.
In 1944, after the war’s fortunes had swung against Germany, the area once again became a military staging area, this time for the Battle of the Bulge
, which began on 16 December. Technical problems with the much-vaunted V‑1s due to errors in the guidance system and sabotage
at the assembly plants by the political prisoner
s who were forced to work there led 21 of these devices to unintentionally rain down on Salm and the surrounding area. They claimed one life.
Two fliers are known to have crashed in the municipality in 1944. One was German – he was killed after his parachute
caught on his falling aircraft – and the other American. He was taken to Daun
in custody after a successful parachute jump.
In 1945, the Allied
attack on Germany continued in earnest, and this was brought home locally by an airstrike on Rom, a hamlet
between Salm and neighbouring Birresborn
. Six civilians (including one whole family) and ten soldiers were killed in the attack, and two houses were destroyed. In unrelated action, another American aircraft crashed near Rom in 1945; the pilot managed to save himself.
On 5 March 1945, General George S. Patton
’s 4th Armored Division overran the area and Salm surrendered without a fight. German forces had already pulled out of the village.
After Germany’s capitulation, the American troops, as had been the case after the last war, were replaced by French ones as the whole region found itself in the French Zone of Occupation.
After the war, there followed a time of great neediness. During the 1950s, there was much in the way of cottage industry, including quilting
. Many worked as lumberjack
s. A lack of apprenticeship
s in the municipality led many young people to migrate to the Ruhr area
.
By 1960, the new road to Gerolstein
had been finished. Between 1960 and 1962, Flurbereinigung
took place. Mechanized farming began.
In the course of administrative restructuring in Rhineland-Palatinate
in 1970, Salm was grouped into the Verbandsgemeinde of Gerolstein
in the Daun district, which has since been given the name Vulkaneifel.
In the course of building works for the new sewerage
in 1994, remnants of an old wall were unearthed. Nothing is known of its history, except that it is believed to be older than the street under which it runs crosswise.
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: Azure in chief a salmon argent and in base a bugle-horn Or.
The upper charge
is canting
for the municipality’s name, Salm, which is also a German
word for salmon
(although the usual one is Lachse). The salmon also refers to the local river’s name, also Salm. The horn is Saint Hubert’s attribute, thus representing the municipality’s and the church’s patron saint.
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 Vulkaneifel 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 Gerolstein
Gerolstein (Verbandsgemeinde)
Gerolstein is a Verbandsgemeinde in the district Vulkaneifel, in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. The seat of the Verbandsgemeinde is in Gerolstein....
, whose seat is in the like-named town
Gerolstein
Gerolstein is a town in the Vulkaneifel district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is the seat of the like-named Verbandsgemeinde. Gerolstein is headquarters to a large mineral water firm, Gerolsteiner Brunnen...
.
Location
The municipality lies in the VulkaneifelVulkan Eifel
The Vulkan Eifel is a region in the Eifel Mountains in Germany, that is defined to a large extent by its volcanic geological history. Characteristic of the Vulkan Eifel are its typical explosion crater lakes or maars, and numerous other signs of volcanic activity such as volcanic tuffs, lava...
, a part of the Eifel
Eifel
The Eifel is a low mountain range in western Germany and eastern Belgium. It occupies parts of southwestern North Rhine-Westphalia, northwestern Rhineland-Palatinate and the south of the German-speaking Community of Belgium....
known for its volcanic history, geographical and geological features, and even ongoing activity today, including gases that sometimes well up from the earth.
Near the village rises the river Salm, which empties into the Moselle near Klüsserath
Klüsserath
Klüsserath on the Moselle River is a commune of the Verbandsgemeinde Schweich in the district Trier-Saarburg in Rhineland-Palatinate in Germany, between Bernkastel-Kues and Trier.-Location:...
.
History
In 1225, Salm had its first documentary mention in an agreement between Gerhard von Blankenheim and Abbot Heinrich von Himmerod dealing with the donation of an estate to Himmerod AbbeyHimmerod Abbey
Himmerod Abbey is a Cistercian monastery in the community of Großlittgen in the Verbandsgemeinde of Manderscheid in the district of Bernkastel-Wittlich, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, located in the Eifel, in the valley of the Salm.-First foundation:Himmerod Abbey was founded in 1134 by Saint...
, which was reached on the cobbled road between the abandoned village of Hundswinkel and Bremescheit (Prümscheid). It is reasonable to conclude, therefore, that the village’s beginnings reach back somewhat further, but an entry in Prüm Abbey
Prüm Abbey
Prüm Abbey is a former Benedictine abbey in Prüm/Lorraine, now in the diocese of Trier , founded by a Frankish widow Bertrada, and her son Charibert, count of Laon, on 23 June 720. The first abbot was Angloardus....
’s directory of holdings, the Prümer Urbar, that supposedly mentions Salm is at the very best doubtful. It would, however, make the village centuries older, since it dates from 803.
Salm’s early history speaks of well-off townsmen, whose wealth, however, suffered later as the village’s population grew. Throughout the ages, the leading sources of income were agriculture
Agriculture
Agriculture is the cultivation of animals, plants, fungi and other life forms for food, fiber, and other products used to sustain life. Agriculture was the key implement in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that nurtured the...
and forestry
Forestry
Forestry is the interdisciplinary profession embracing the science, art, and craft of creating, managing, using, and conserving forests and associated resources in a sustainable manner to meet desired goals, needs, and values for human benefit. Forestry is practiced in plantations and natural stands...
. In the case of the latter, the broad forests even afforded a livelihood in logging
Logging
Logging is the cutting, skidding, on-site processing, and loading of trees or logs onto trucks.In forestry, the term logging is sometimes used in a narrow sense concerning the logistics of moving wood from the stump to somewhere outside the forest, usually a sawmill or a lumber yard...
.
In the 13th century, the villages of Salm and Hilscheid and the estate of Muckenberg were held by the Counts of Manderscheid.
In 1238, Salm had a church under the patronage of Heinrich, Lord of Manderscheid-Kerpen. In 1608, Kyllburg townsman Petrus von Salm donated to the church the silver-gilt monstrance
Monstrance
A monstrance is the vessel used in the Roman Catholic, Old Catholic, and Anglican churches to display the consecrated Eucharistic host, during Eucharistic adoration or Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament. Created in the medieval period for the public display of relics, the monstrance today is...
. By 1687, patronage was being exercised by the nobles of Roben and the heirs of Melbaum. By 1743, it was the Countess of Manderscheid.
On 11 October 1803, during the time of 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, the Salm Mill (Salmer Mühle), which had belonged to the Counts of Manderscheid, was sold for 186 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...
. By 1815, Salm belonged 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...
. Both before and after the Prussian takeover, extensive surveying and mapping were undertaken, first under Colonel Tranchot (1803-1813) and then under Generalmajor von Müffling (1816-1820).
The Year Without a Summer
Year Without a Summer
The Year Without a Summer was 1816, in which severe summer climate abnormalities caused average global temperatures to decrease by about 0.4–0.7 °C , resulting in major food shortages across the Northern Hemisphere...
– 1816 – struck the Eifel
Eifel
The Eifel is a low mountain range in western Germany and eastern Belgium. It occupies parts of southwestern North Rhine-Westphalia, northwestern Rhineland-Palatinate and the south of the German-speaking Community of Belgium....
hard, bringing famine, floods and weather damage along with it. Snow was still lying on the ground into June. Hay was only harvested in September, and the grain only ripened in October. That same month came frost
Frost
Frost is the solid deposition of water vapor from saturated air. It is formed when solid surfaces are cooled to below the dew point of the adjacent air as well as below the freezing point of water. Frost crystals' size differ depending on time and water vapour available. Frost is also usually...
, and by early November, snow was falling once again. The next year, 1817, the Eifel dwellers suffered under the lingering effects of the foregoing year’s disastrous and unusual weather patterns. Common foodstuffs were not so common, and cost much more than usual. People were so hungry that they were eating livestock fodder and roots. The 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...
n government helped ease the crisis by making available two million 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...
, and ensuring the poor their daily bread by buying up great quantities of grain from East Prussia
East Prussia
East Prussia is the main part of the region of Prussia along the southeastern Baltic Coast from the 13th century to the end of World War II in May 1945. From 1772–1829 and 1878–1945, the Province of East Prussia was part of the German state of Prussia. The capital city was Königsberg.East Prussia...
.
In 1856, the whole lower village was destroyed in a great fire. One man, who had fallen asleep on some hay
Hay
Hay is grass, legumes or other herbaceous plants that have been cut, dried, and stored for use as animal fodder, particularly for grazing livestock such as cattle, horses, goats, and sheep. Hay is also fed to pets such as rabbits and guinea pigs...
, was burnt alive.
Between 1869 and 1871, the 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....
-Cologne
Cologne
Cologne is Germany's fourth-largest city , and is the largest city both in the Germany Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia and within the Rhine-Ruhr Metropolitan Area, one of the major European metropolitan areas with more than ten million inhabitants.Cologne is located on both sides of the...
railway line was built, putting the Ruhr area
Ruhr Area
The Ruhr, by German-speaking geographers and historians more accurately called Ruhr district or Ruhr region , is an urban area in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. With 4435 km² and a population of some 5.2 million , it is the largest urban agglomeration in Germany...
within much easier reach. The Franco-Prussian War
Franco-Prussian War
The Franco-Prussian War or Franco-German War, often referred to in France as the 1870 War was a conflict between the Second French Empire and the Kingdom of Prussia. Prussia was aided by the North German Confederation, of which it was a member, and the South German states of Baden, Württemberg and...
(1870-1871) gave railway building the highest priority. This same time saw the decline of the Eifel’s iron
Iron
Iron is a chemical element with the symbol Fe and atomic number 26. It is a metal in the first transition series. It is the most common element forming the planet Earth as a whole, forming much of Earth's outer and inner core. It is the fourth most common element in the Earth's crust...
industry and an outflow of people to the new industrialized areas. In 1872, there were even advertisements in local newspaper
Newspaper
A newspaper is a scheduled publication containing news of current events, informative articles, diverse features and advertising. It usually is printed on relatively inexpensive, low-grade paper such as newsprint. By 2007, there were 6580 daily newspapers in the world selling 395 million copies a...
s exhorting people to emigrate
Emigration
Emigration is the act of leaving one's country or region to settle in another. It is the same as immigration but from the perspective of the country of origin. Human movement before the establishment of political boundaries or within one state is termed migration. There are many reasons why people...
to the “New World
New World
The New World is one of the names used for the Western Hemisphere, specifically America and sometimes Oceania . The term originated in the late 15th century, when America had been recently discovered by European explorers, expanding the geographical horizon of the people of the European middle...
”.
In 1887, there was yet again hardship due to the weather. This time it was drought
Drought
A drought is an extended period of months or years when a region notes a deficiency in its water supply. Generally, this occurs when a region receives consistently below average precipitation. It can have a substantial impact on the ecosystem and agriculture of the affected region...
and frost
Frost
Frost is the solid deposition of water vapor from saturated air. It is formed when solid surfaces are cooled to below the dew point of the adjacent air as well as below the freezing point of water. Frost crystals' size differ depending on time and water vapour available. Frost is also usually...
. The latter wrought devastation to fruit crops mainly in the dales, while sparing those higher up. The 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...
crop was very bad, and the price of potatoes soared that year as a result. Oats
OATS
OATS - Open Source Assistive Technology Software - is a source code repository or "forge" for assistive technology software. It was launched in 2006 with the goal to provide a one-stop “shop” for end users, clinicians and open-source developers to promote and develop open source assistive...
likewise yielded a very poor harvest, and the hay
Hay
Hay is grass, legumes or other herbaceous plants that have been cut, dried, and stored for use as animal fodder, particularly for grazing livestock such as cattle, horses, goats, and sheep. Hay is also fed to pets such as rabbits and guinea pigs...
failed altogether. Six years later, in 1893, agriculture
Agriculture
Agriculture is the cultivation of animals, plants, fungi and other life forms for food, fiber, and other products used to sustain life. Agriculture was the key implement in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that nurtured the...
suffered once more. Summer and autumn were very dry, resulting in a dearth of fodder. Many farmers felt forced to sell their livestock
Livestock
Livestock refers to one or more domesticated animals raised in an agricultural setting to produce commodities such as food, fiber and labor. The term "livestock" as used in this article does not include poultry or farmed fish; however the inclusion of these, especially poultry, within the meaning...
off. Thin brushwood was being crushed and cut up for livestock fodder.
The year 1899, however, was in every respect a good year for farmers. The turn of the 20th century was an uneventful time until the First World War. A savings and loan institution was established in 1903 and a fire brigade in 1910.
On 30 June 1914, news of Archduke Franz Ferdinand’s
Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria
Franz Ferdinand was an Archduke of Austria-Este, Austro-Hungarian and Royal Prince of Hungary and of Bohemia, and from 1889 until his death, heir presumptive to the Austro-Hungarian throne. His assassination in Sarajevo precipitated Austria-Hungary's declaration of war against Serbia...
assassination
Assassination
To carry out an assassination is "to murder by a sudden and/or secret attack, often for political reasons." Alternatively, assassination may be defined as "the act of deliberately killing someone, especially a public figure, usually for hire or for political reasons."An assassination may be...
reached Salm, causing great unease. People began to hoard coffee
Coffee
Coffee is a brewed beverage with a dark,init brooo acidic flavor prepared from the roasted seeds of the coffee plant, colloquially called coffee beans. The beans are found in coffee cherries, which grow on trees cultivated in over 70 countries, primarily in equatorial Latin America, Southeast Asia,...
and salt
Salt
In chemistry, salts are ionic compounds that result from the neutralization reaction of an acid and a base. They are composed of cations and anions so that the product is electrically neutral...
in expectation of the forthcoming war. The western border was militarized, and then on 1 August 1914 came the Mobilization
Mobilization
Mobilization is the act of assembling and making both troops and supplies ready for war. The word mobilization was first used, in a military context, in order to describe the preparation of the Prussian army during the 1850s and 1860s. Mobilization theories and techniques have continuously changed...
Order from the Emperor. Among other side-effects was a great upswing in prices for various foodstuffs. In 1916, heavy guns could be heard shooting in the Battle of Verdun
Battle of Verdun
The Battle of Verdun was one of the major battles during the First World War on the Western Front. It was fought between the German and French armies, from 21 February – 18 December 1916, on hilly terrain north of the city of Verdun-sur-Meuse in north-eastern France...
about 140 km away; the noise was loudest on 14 December.
In 1918, the war ended and Salm was occupied by United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
troops. Twenty-four soldiers from Salm fell in the Great War. The Americans were replaced by 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...
occupiers, who did not withdraw until 1930.
In 1920, heavy spring rains and frost in June ensured a poor harvest. On 20 February 1921, elections for the Prussian Landtag were held. In 1925, work began on the local waterworks. The following year, Salm was connected to the district electrical grid. In 1936, the local electricity supplier became the Rheinisch-Westfälische Elektrizitätswerke (RWE
RWE
RWE AG , is a German electric power and natural gas public utility company based in Essen. Through its various subsidiaries, the energy company contributes electricity and gas to more than 20 million electricity customers and 10 million gas customers, principally in Europe...
).
The years between 1929 and 1931 were a time of great hardship brought on by the Great Depression
Great Depression in Central Europe
The Great Depression severely affected central Europe. The unemployment rate in Germany, Austria and Poland rose to 20% while output fell by 40%. By November 1932 every European country had increased tariffs or introduced import quotas....
. As a make-work scheme
Job creation program
Job Creation Programs are programs or projects undertaken by a government of a nation to assist unemployed members of the population in securing employment. A cornerstone of Keynesian economics, they are especially common during time of high unemployment...
, men were put to work building a road linking Daun
Daun, Germany
Daun is a town in the Vulkaneifel district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is the district seat and also the seat of the Verbandsgemeinde of Daun.- Location :...
, Bitburg
Bitburg
Bitburg It is situated approx. 25 km north-west of Trier, and 50 km north-east of Luxembourg . One American airbase, Spangdahlem Air Base, is located nearby.-History:...
and 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....
.
Within a few years, the new Nazi
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
régime led by Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
brought along with it not only an upswing in the number of jobs, but also the foreboding of yet another war, especially after Anschluss
Anschluss
The Anschluss , also known as the ', was the occupation and annexation of Austria into Nazi Germany in 1938....
and Kristallnacht
Kristallnacht
Kristallnacht, also referred to as the Night of Broken Glass, and also Reichskristallnacht, Pogromnacht, and Novemberpogrome, was a pogrom or series of attacks against Jews throughout Nazi Germany and parts of Austria on 9–10 November 1938.Jewish homes were ransacked, as were shops, towns and...
in 1938. The Organisation Todt
Organisation Todt
The Todt Organisation, was a Third Reich civil and military engineering group in Germany named after its founder, Fritz Todt, an engineer and senior Nazi figure...
quartered itself in the Eifel
Eifel
The Eifel is a low mountain range in western Germany and eastern Belgium. It occupies parts of southwestern North Rhine-Westphalia, northwestern Rhineland-Palatinate and the south of the German-speaking Community of Belgium....
and the second Siegfried Line
Siegfried Line
The original Siegfried line was a line of defensive forts and tank defences built by Germany as a section of the Hindenburg Line 1916–1917 in northern France during World War I...
sprang up. So did a great munitions and fuel dump, in the Salmwald, the local forest. Soldiers from East Prussia
East Prussia
East Prussia is the main part of the region of Prussia along the southeastern Baltic Coast from the 13th century to the end of World War II in May 1945. From 1772–1829 and 1878–1945, the Province of East Prussia was part of the German state of Prussia. The capital city was Königsberg.East Prussia...
were posted as guards.
In 1940, early in the Second World War, Salm and the surrounding region became a deployment area in the runup to the Battle of France
Battle of France
In the Second World War, the Battle of France was the German invasion of France and the Low Countries, beginning on 10 May 1940, which ended the Phoney War. The battle consisted of two main operations. In the first, Fall Gelb , German armoured units pushed through the Ardennes, to cut off and...
, which began on 10 May of that year and ended on 21 June with an armistice. 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...
prisoners of war
Prisoner of war
A prisoner of war or enemy prisoner of war is a person, whether civilian or combatant, who is held in custody by an enemy power during or immediately after an armed conflict...
came to Salm. They were put to work in agriculture
Agriculture
Agriculture is the cultivation of animals, plants, fungi and other life forms for food, fiber, and other products used to sustain life. Agriculture was the key implement in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that nurtured the...
to offset the dearth of labour due to the war, and were fed by local families whom they were detailed to help.
In 1944, after the war’s fortunes had swung against Germany, the area once again became a military staging area, this time for the Battle of the Bulge
Battle of the Bulge
The Battle of the Bulge was a major German offensive , launched toward the end of World War II through the densely forested Ardennes mountain region of Wallonia in Belgium, hence its French name , and France and...
, which began on 16 December. Technical problems with the much-vaunted V‑1s due to errors in the guidance system and sabotage
Sabotage
Sabotage is a deliberate action aimed at weakening another entity through subversion, obstruction, disruption, or destruction. In a workplace setting, sabotage is the conscious withdrawal of efficiency generally directed at causing some change in workplace conditions. One who engages in sabotage is...
at the assembly plants by the political prisoner
Political prisoner
According to the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, a political prisoner is ‘someone who is in prison because they have opposed or criticized the government of their own country’....
s who were forced to work there led 21 of these devices to unintentionally rain down on Salm and the surrounding area. They claimed one life.
Two fliers are known to have crashed in the municipality in 1944. One was German – he was killed after his parachute
Parachute
A parachute is a device used to slow the motion of an object through an atmosphere by creating drag, or in the case of ram-air parachutes, aerodynamic lift. Parachutes are usually made out of light, strong cloth, originally silk, now most commonly nylon...
caught on his falling aircraft – and the other American. He was taken to Daun
Daun, Germany
Daun is a town in the Vulkaneifel district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is the district seat and also the seat of the Verbandsgemeinde of Daun.- Location :...
in custody after a successful parachute jump.
In 1945, the Allied
Allies of World War II
The Allies of World War II were the countries that opposed the Axis powers during the Second World War . Former Axis states contributing to the Allied victory are not considered Allied states...
attack on Germany continued in earnest, and this was brought home locally by an airstrike on Rom, a hamlet
Hamlet (place)
A hamlet is usually a rural settlement which is too small to be considered a village, though sometimes the word is used for a different sort of community. Historically, when a hamlet became large enough to justify building a church, it was then classified as a village...
between Salm and neighbouring Birresborn
Birresborn
Birresborn is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in the Vulkaneifel district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany...
. Six civilians (including one whole family) and ten soldiers were killed in the attack, and two houses were destroyed. In unrelated action, another American aircraft crashed near Rom in 1945; the pilot managed to save himself.
On 5 March 1945, General George S. Patton
George S. Patton
George Smith Patton, Jr. was a United States Army officer best known for his leadership while commanding corps and armies as a general during World War II. He was also well known for his eccentricity and controversial outspokenness.Patton was commissioned in the U.S. Army after his graduation from...
’s 4th Armored Division overran the area and Salm surrendered without a fight. German forces had already pulled out of the village.
After Germany’s capitulation, the American troops, as had been the case after the last war, were replaced by French ones as the whole region found itself in the French Zone of Occupation.
After the war, there followed a time of great neediness. During the 1950s, there was much in the way of cottage industry, including quilting
Quilting
Quilting is a sewing method done to join two or more layers of material together to make a thicker padded material. A quilter is the name given to someone who works at quilting. Quilting can be done by hand, by sewing machine, or by a specialist longarm quilting system.The process of quilting uses...
. Many worked as lumberjack
Lumberjack
A lumberjack is a worker in the logging industry who performs the initial harvesting and transport of trees for ultimate processing into forest products. The term usually refers to a bygone era when hand tools were used in harvesting trees principally from virgin forest...
s. A lack of apprenticeship
Apprenticeship
Apprenticeship is a system of training a new generation of practitioners of a skill. Apprentices or protégés build their careers from apprenticeships...
s in the municipality led many young people to migrate to the Ruhr area
Ruhr Area
The Ruhr, by German-speaking geographers and historians more accurately called Ruhr district or Ruhr region , is an urban area in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. With 4435 km² and a population of some 5.2 million , it is the largest urban agglomeration in Germany...
.
By 1960, the new road to Gerolstein
Gerolstein
Gerolstein is a town in the Vulkaneifel district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is the seat of the like-named Verbandsgemeinde. Gerolstein is headquarters to a large mineral water firm, Gerolsteiner Brunnen...
had been finished. Between 1960 and 1962, Flurbereinigung
Flurbereinigung
Flurbereinigung is the German word used to describe land reforms in various countries, especially Germany and Austria. The term can best be translated as land consolidation. Another European country where those land reforms have been carried out is France...
took place. Mechanized farming began.
In the course of administrative restructuring 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 ....
in 1970, Salm was grouped into the Verbandsgemeinde of Gerolstein
Gerolstein (Verbandsgemeinde)
Gerolstein is a Verbandsgemeinde in the district Vulkaneifel, in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. The seat of the Verbandsgemeinde is in Gerolstein....
in the Daun district, which has since been given the name Vulkaneifel.
In the course of building works for the new sewerage
Sewerage
Sewerage refers to the infrastructure that conveys sewage. It encompasses receiving drains, manholes, pumping stations, storm overflows, screening chambers, etc. of the sanitary sewer...
in 1994, remnants of an old wall were unearthed. Nothing is known of its history, except that it is believed to be older than the street under which it runs crosswise.
Municipal council
The council is made up of 8 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: In blauem Schild oben ein rechtsgewendeter silberner Salm, unten ein goldenes Jagdhorn.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: Azure in chief a salmon argent and in base a bugle-horn Or.
The upper 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...
is 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 –...
for the municipality’s name, Salm, which is also a 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....
word for salmon
Salmon
Salmon is the common name for several species of fish in the family Salmonidae. Several other fish in the same family are called trout; the difference is often said to be that salmon migrate and trout are resident, but this distinction does not strictly hold true...
(although the usual one is Lachse). The salmon also refers to the local river’s name, also Salm. The horn is Saint Hubert’s attribute, thus representing the municipality’s and the church’s patron saint.
Buildings
- Saint Hubert’s Catholic Parish Church (Pfarrkirche St. Hubertus) Kirchweg 1 – 1830.
- Hauptstraße 38 – former rectory (?), representative 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...
plastered building, from 1863.