Ellweiler


Ellweiler 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 Birkenfeld, whose seat is in the like-named town.

Geography

Location

The municipality lies on the Traunbach in the Schwarzwälder Hochwald in the Hunsrück near the boundary with the Saarland. The municipal area is 67.6% wooded.

Neighbouring municipalities

Ellweiler borders in the north on the municipality of Dambach, in the east on the municipality of Hoppstädten-Weiersbach and in the south on the municipality of Nohfelden in the Saarland.

Constituent communities

Also belonging to Ellweiler are the outlying homesteads of Haumbach, Neubrücker Mühle and Steinautal.

History

In the 12th century, Ellweiler had its first documentary mention. After first being an Electoral-Trier fief, it passed in 1480 to the Duchy of Palatinate-Zweibrücken.

Politics

Municipal council

The council is made up of 8 council members, who were elected by majority vote at the municipal election held on 7 June 2009, and the honorary mayor as chairman.

Mayor

Ellweiler's mayor is Hans-Robert Spreier.

Coat of arms

The German blazon reads: In geteiltem Schild oben eine rote Elchschaufel in Gold, unten ein rotbewehrter, -gezungter und -gekrönter wachsender goldener Löwe in Schwarz.
The municipality's arms might in English heraldic language be described thus: Per fess Or an elk's attire fesswise gules and sable issuant from base a demilion of the first armed, langued and crowned of the second.
The elk's attire is a canting charge for the German word Elch, meaning “ elk”, which is taken to be the source of the first syllable in the village's name. The lion is drawn from the arms formerly borne by the Duchy of Palatinate-Zweibrücken.
The arms have been borne since 1963.

Culture and sightseeing

Buildings

The following are listed buildings or sites in Rhineland-Palatinate’s Directory of Cultural Monuments:

Transport

To the southeast run Bundesstraße 41 and the Autobahn A 62. Serving nearby Neubrücke is a railway station on the Nahe Valley Railway.

Uranium

From 1958 to 1967, uranium ore was mined by the Gewerkschaft Brunhilde in an open pit north of Ellweiler on the “Bühlskopf”. Smaller uranium deposits were also found 650 m northwest of the Bühlskopf on the northeast slope of “Der Stein” as well as in a couple of places near Nohfelden. Processing was done at the Uranerzaufbereitungsanlage Ellweiler.