Kaiserslautern American
Page 6
November 11, 2022
TALK OF THE TOWN: Union Community Winnweiler by Gina Hutchins-Inman 86th Airlift Wing Public Affairs Many members of the Kaiserslautern Military Community have found temporary or even permanent homes in one of the many villages and towns surrounding Kaiserslautern or in the heart of the Palatinate Forest. Talk of the Town is a series highlighting the union communities within the County of Kaiserslautern, the City of Kaiserslautern and the Union Community of Winnweiler. The series aims to inform American service members and their families about the communities they’re joining during their time in the KMC. A Union Community is an administrative territorial community composed of a group of individual towns or villages. Each month we will feature a different community and provide facts about its history, heritage, and the local experiences it offers. Our next stop will lead us to the Union Community of Winnweiler, located within Donnersberg County, the northern neighbor to Kaiserslautern County. The county seat is in Kirchheimbolanden and Winnweiler lies just south on the foot of Donnersberg mountain. We invite you to discover interesting and maybe not-so-well-known facts about your home away from home. The current Union Community of Winnweiler consists of the individual towns and villages of Börrstadt, Breunigweiler, Kreuzkapelle
Falkenstein, Gonbach, Höringen, Imsbach, Lohnsfeld, Münchweiler an der Alsenz, Schweisweiler, Sippersfeld, Steinbach am Donnersberg, Wartenberg-Rohrbach and Winnweiler as the administrative seat with its town sections Hochstein, Alsenbrück-Langmeil and Potzbach. The total union community has about 13,800 inhabitants and an additional 900 Kaiserslautern Military Community members also call it their home. Mayor Rudolf Jacob has been the Mayor of the Union Community since 2008 and would like to extend a warm welcome (see Page 7). Prisoners of war and a new settlement Most likely Winnweiler was founded in the second half of the 8th century. It was first officially mentioned on Feb. 10, 891 as the village “Winidowilan,” which can be translated to mean “the settlement of the Wenden.” The Wenden, a Slavik population group, was settled as prisoners of war by Charlemagne within his territory. In the 18th century Winnweiler was first seat of a Lorraine and later a Habsburg-Lorraine upper office for the County of Falkenstein. The castle was built in 1604 and demolished 200 years later, but the Chapel of the Cross, which can be seen from afar, is a reminiscence of the time and is a popular church for weddings. Additional information about the
castle is available at the museum in Winnweiler. A strategic military installation The Union Community of Winnweiler plays an important role in U.S. military history as well. After World War II, when Germany was divided into four occupational zones and Rheinland-Pfalz was in the French zone, the French began constructing an airfield. Upon heavy protest by local farmers, a compromise was agreed upon and one section of the newly constructed Sembach airfield was located in the County of Kaiserslautern. About one mile north the administrative area was developed on Heuberg, a sandy area of little agricultural value, however, located within Donnersberg County. Up until 1995 both sections were known as “Sembach Air Base,” home to the 86th Fighter Wing and 17th Air Force. The installation is now used by various U.S. Army units, such as a Military Police Brigade, a Medical Brigade, the United States Army Corrections Facility Europe, a small Navy intelligence unit and a recently activated Air Defense Artillery Brigade Headquarters. The post is now commonly referred to as “Sembach Kaserne.” Celts and Romans Celts and Romans were also fond of the valley surrounding the mountain and left numerous traces that can be seen and experienced. Over 2,000 years ago, Celtic ancestors
erected an impressive central city on the plateau of the mountain, referred to as an Oppidum. This Oppidum was the central hub in the Rhine River valley and is one of the largest Celtic settlements north of the Alps. Romans, on the other hand, built settlements and created clay products in neighboring Eisenberg and near the village of Katzenbach. Take a journey into history and experience the mystic and exciting world of the Donnersberg Celts and Romans! Keltendorf A visit to the Celtic village in Steinbach is like a fascinating journey into the mystical world of early inhabitants at Donnersberg. The small, reconstructed village is more than a museum, you can actually experience the culture of the Celts. Venture into a journey of the people who inhabited Donnersberg more than 2,000 years ago. Dwellings with wooden posts and semi-timbered structures, wooden shingles and facades made of clay, give realistic insight to the lives and times of the Celts. Visitors can try Celtic handcraft techniques such as felting, building arrows or creating beads out of clay. For more info, visit https:// www.donnersberg-touristik.de/de Falkenstein Castle Falkenstein Castle is first recorded in 1135 as the castle of the Lords of Falkenstein and is located just northwest of the
village of Imsbach. Around 1500 Uhland I acquired the castle rights and expanded it. His descendants then purchased a castle in Austria and settled there, leaving the structure to decompose. In 1674 it was besieged by French troops and eventually remained a ruin until it was partially restored after 1979 and is now used for medieval festivals and other festivities throughout the year, including a romantic Christmas market scheduled for Nov. 26 and 27 this year. The tiny town of Falkenstein with 220 inhabitants boasts two restaurants and a nostalgic, “timeless” café that offers homemade cake. Mining and Minerals The Pfälzische Bergbaumuseum (mining museum) in Imsbach invites you to experience over 2,000 years of mining in the area. You can learn all about ores, rocks, and fossil fuels of the region in the former schoolhouse in Imsbach, which now houses a museum. The occurrence, extraction and processing of iron, manganese, copper, cobalt, gold, silver, and mercury are explained as well as the use of current stones and raw materials. The mineral display “Terra Crystallum” is new. You can experience historical mining in the “Weiße Grube” and “Grube Maria” (mine pits). English tours are also available. For more info, visit www.bew-imsbach.de A synagoge and a Rococo church Winnweiler has a history of Jewish culture, a former synagogue
Retzbergweiher
Photo by Florian Trykowski
Photo by Donnersberg-Touristik-Verband
