Offenbach-Hundheim is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in the Kusel district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It belongs to the Verbandsgemeinde Lauterecken-Wolfstein.
Geography
Location The municipality lies in the broad valley of the river Glan in the Western Palatinate. The municipal area measures 971 ha, of which 78 ha is settled (roughly 42 ha in Offenbach and roughly 36 ha in Hundheim) and 45 ha is wooded.Location
Offenbach Within this merged municipality's limits, the Ortsteil of Offenbach lies in the north on both sides of the Glan, although the village core nonetheless lies on the left bank. Here, the small stream known as the Gölschbach empties into the Glan. Within Offenbach, the Glan has a downstream drop of some 10 m from 174 m above sea level at the municipal limit with Glanbrücken to 164 m above sea level at the municipal limit with Wiesweiler. Above the village, the Kesselberg's broad slope on the river's left bank formed even after the Second World War an extensive vineyard area. There is now forest planted there. On the Glan's right bank, the mountains reach heights of almost 300 m above sea level (Feistenberg, 292 m) and on the left bank almost 350 m above sea level (Trimschenberg, 344 m).Location – Offenbach
Hundheim Within Offenbach-Hundheim's limits, the Ortsteil of Hundheim lies south of the Glan in the valley of the Talbach, which here empties into the millrace feeding Offenbach's Klostermühle ("Monastery Mill"). The Glan riverbed near the bridge between Offenbach and Hundheim has been measured at 171.3 m above sea level. The Talbach has a downstream drop of some 10 m from the municipal limit with Nerzweiler to its mouth. To the east, the mountains reach heights of almost 300 m above sea level at the Feistenberg (see above) and in the west almost 250 m above sea level at the Dumpf (244.9 m).Location – Hundheim
Neighbouring municipalities Offenbach-Hundheim borders in the north on the municipality of Wiesweiler, in the east on the municipality of Lohnweiler, in the southeast on the municipality of Aschbach, in the south on the municipality of Nerzweiler, in the southwest on the municipality of Glanbrücken, in the west on the municipality of Deimberg and in the northwest on the municipality of Buborn. Offenbach-Hundheim also meets the town of Wolfstein at a single point in the east.
Constituent communities Offenbach-Hundheim's Ortsteile are Offenbach am Glan and Hundheim.
Municipality's layout
Offenbach Offenbach was originally a linear village (by some definitions, a "thorpe") on the Glan's left bank, near which a monastery had arisen in the Gölschbach valley. The village spread out to the west towards the monastery and also towards the east across to the Glan's right bank, where the monastery's mill, the Klostermühle, stood. In 1906, the railway line began running between Dorfstraße ("Village Street") and the Glan, and in 1938, parallel to this, the approach road to what is today Bundesstraße 420. Between the road and the railway stands the former railway station, now used as a house, and on a linking street between the old village street and Bundesstraße 420 stands the former Evangelical schoolhouse. A former Catholic schoolhouse, built in 1844, stood on Klosterstraße ("Monastery Street"). North of the old monastery church stands the Catholic parish church, which was built in 1888 in the Gothic Revival style. A mediaeval timber-frame house on Hauptstraße ("Main Street") with a lovely oriel window has been preserved, and underneath the window is a grotesque face that was once part of the local pranger. New building zones arose on the Glan's right bank on gently sloping land and on the left bank, where the slope was somewhat steeper. There was also new building in the Gölschbach valley. Of the old monastery, all that was left by the 19th century was a shell, but was restored about 1894. Additions were made to the structure to strengthen it, and it now serves as the Evangelical parish church. Only sometime in the 15th century was this church ready for use. The remnant of the old monastery church is also a building that is important to art history, showing as it does the transition from Romanesque (in the quire) to Gothic architecture (on the west side), for the church was built in several stages and thus exhibits features of both periods. Just across the street from the monastery church stands the old Schaffneihaus ("Stewardship House") from which the monastery estate was administered by officials of the County Palatine of Zweibrücken in post-Reformation times. Today this building serves as a convent. An imposing new building across from the church's main portal is the new Evangelical parish hall. In the new building zone on the Glan's right bank, a new schoolhouse was built in 1967, originally intended as a central school for several villages, but it has since been given up as a school and is now used as a medical centre. Offenbach's graveyard lies in the Gölschbach valley on the road that leads to the villages on the heights. Two Jewish graveyards have also been preserved, the old graveyard outside the village on the Trimschenberg, and the "new" one, laid out in 1887, beside the former Hauptschule. Offenbach's sporting ground lies at the end of the new building zone on the Glan's right bank.Municipality's layout – Offenbach
Hundheim Hundheim lies in the Glan valley and on the lowest reaches of the Talbach. The village was originally a linear village (or "thorpe"), like Offenbach, lying on a road that swept round in a bow from the Glan valley (towards Hirsau Church, Hirsauer Kirche, an old country church, now no longer used, that still stands near Hundheim) to the Talbach. The village first spread to the southeastern mountain slope and to the Glan bridge, and then along the original road towards Nerzweiler. Last, it spread to the eastern mountain slope, where a new building zone sprang up. The most striking building is Hirsau Church mentioned above, standing in the west of the Glan valley in the middle of the old graveyard and built in the early 12th century. On the road that leads to the church stands the former schoolhouse with its Art Nouveau elements. It was built in 1907. Said to be a peculiarity is a farmhouse on Hirsauer Straße that was only built in 1926 and which deviates in composition and shape from other farmhouses found in the Westrich, an historic region that encompasses areas in both Germany and France. Hundheim has its own sporting ground, which lies near Hirsau Church.Municipality's layout – Hundheim
History
Antiquity
Offenbach Going by the many prehistoric archaeological finds in the broader Offenbach area, it is clear that the village area was settled in both the Bronze Age and the Iron Age, and perhaps even in the New Stone Age. Finds from Gallo-Roman times have been unearthed in Offenbach itself, a gravestone, a household altar and a quern. These finds were formerly on display at the former provostry church, but are now kept in a lapidarium near the church.Antiquity – Offenbach
Hundheim Prehistoric archaeological finds in Hundheim itself cannot be directly confirmed, but just beyond the eastern municipal limit lie the prehistoric graves and find sites in the municipal areas of Wolfstein and Lohnweiler. Nevertheless, found at the Hirsauer Kirche near Hundheim are many spolia from Roman times. Possibly the best known of these is a relief showing a sword fighter (42 × 39 cm) in the nave's south wall. At the church's southwest corner is a sandstone block with finials on it (1.22 × 0.35 m). A further spolium with an angular pattern can be found at the northwest corner (56 × 22 cm). Within the church stands a square stone that shows a kantharos with a lily, flanked by two dolphins. It is uncertain whether these Roman stones are remnants of grave monuments, or whether a Roman temple once stood nearby.Antiquity – Hundheim
Middle Ages
Offenbach It can no longer be ascertained when today's village of Offenbach was founded. Places with names ending in —bach ("brook" in German) were founded over rather a long time, and it therefore makes little sense to speculate about the village's exact time of founding. It is known for certain, however, that the village already existed in 1150 (according to another source, however, Offenbach is mentioned in documents from 1128). Nevertheless, it might already have been quite old, even by then. According to the record in which Offenbach had its first documentary mention, Archbishop Heinrich of Mainz (1142-1153) acknowledged that the edelfrei nobleman Reinfried had donated a plot of land to Saint Vincent's Benedictine Abbey in Metz. The donated land lay near the village of Offenbach am Glan, and soon thereafter a new monastery was to spring up, an affiliated monastery of Saint Vincent's consecrated to the Virgin Mary. Building work on the abbey began in 1200. Reinfried became the Vogt of this monastery that he had endowed, and he held jurisdiction over the markets in Offenbach. Held in the village each year at that time were four markets, on New Year's Day, Easter Wednesday, Whitsunday and the Nativity of Mary (8 September). According to a later inscription at the Offenbach Monastery, the endower was styled Reinfried von Rüdesheim. This is thought to mean the village of Rüdesheim an der Nahe near Bad Kreuznach rather than the town of Rüdesheim am Rhein. Whichever it means, though, there are doubts among historians as to whether Reinfried actually came from Rüdesheim. The story about him taking part in a Crusade and after successfully coming back from the campaign endowing the monastery to fulfil a vow is at least a fine legend. Reinfried's only known issue was a son who himself had entered Saint Vincent's Abbey in Metz, before his father's donation, and became a monk. Offenbach belonged in the Middle Ages to the Hochgericht auf der Heide ("High Court on the Heath"), at which the Waldgraves exercised jurisdiction. From what it says in a 1318 Rechtsweistum (a Weistum – cognate with English wisdom – was a legal pronouncement issued by men learned in law in the Middle Ages and early modern times; this one dealt with the law itself), however, the Offenbach Monastery must have acquired its own powers and even its own jurisdiction. Then functioning as Lord of the Court was Wenz von Moilenstein (Mühlenstein), a Waldgravial vassal. From 16th-century Weistümer, however, it is clear that Offenbacher Recht ("Offenbach Law") became ever more limited over the centuries. In 1330, Emperor Ludwig IV ("Louis the Bavarian"; 1314–1347) granted the village town privilege on the model of Kaiserslautern town rights. This was, however, made conditional on the townsmen's forgoing any great fortification structures. In the course of the Waldgravial house's development, Offenbach belonged to the Amt of Grumbach in the 15th century. The Waldgraves (later Rhinegraves) who resided there saw themselves as Reinfried's descendants and thus tried to exercise market rights. The provost would have none of it, and fought them. The Vogtei over the monastery passed in 1479 to the Counts Palatine (Dukes) of Zweibrücken. In 1486, there was an agreement between the monastery and the Waldgraves under whose terms each side's rights were precisely set down. Under this arrangement, the provostry could claim most of its old ownership rights, while the inhabitants became fully subject to the Waldgravial house. The provost himself, according to the agreement, further had to comply with an old traditional duty, namely, delivering the gallows.Middle Ages – Offenbach
Hundheim