Rümmelsheim
Rümmelsheim is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in the Bad Kreuznach district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It belongs to the Verbandsgemeinde Langenlonsheim-Stromberg, whose seat is in Langenlonsheim. Rümmelsheim is a winegrowing village.
Geography
Location
Rümmelsheim lies southwest of Bingen am Rhein and north-northwest of Bad Kreuznach in the Trollbach valley, west of the Nahe, just upstream from where it empties into the Rhine. The Trollbach itself flows through the village.Neighbouring municipalities
Clockwise from the north, Rümmelsheim's neighbours are the municipalities of Münster-Sarmsheim, Dorsheim, Waldlaubersheim and Waldalgesheim, the first and last of which lie in the neighbouring Mainz-Bingen district, while the other two likewise lie within the Bad Kreuznach district. Rümmelsheim also comes within several metres of Langenlonsheim, but does not actually touch it, while the village of Weiler bei Bingen lies roughly as far away to the north as the village of Münster-Sarmsheim does to the northeast, but Münster-Sarmsheim's municipal area lies between the two.Constituent communities
Rümmelsheim's Ortsteile are the main centre, also called Rümmelsheim, and the outlying centre of Burg Layen.History
Rümmelsheim and Burg Layen have been bound to each other throughout the ages. In 1125, Rümmelsheim had its first documentary mention as Rimilisheim. Rimilisheim and the castro Leiga then belonged, together with feudal landholds in Waldlaubersheim, Genheim, Roth, Schweppenhausen and Eckenroth to the Lords of Bolanden. Lesser landholds in Rümmelsheim were held by the Knights of Stein, Löwenstein, Weierbach and Dalberg. Without doubt, Castle Layen's task was to keep watch over the road that ran by, through the Trollbach valley to the bizarre crag formations up on the heights. The castle's name stems from its standing on a Lay, that is to say, stone. Built in the 12th century and reconstructed about 1680, remnants of the castle still stand today. The village of Rümmelsheim was at this time, as were Laubenheim and Heddesheim too, bound with the town of Bingen by a mutual support agreement. In 1772, Rümmelsheim passed by way of sale to the Lordship of Bretzenheim. In the time of French rule, Rümmelsheim belonged beginning in 1800 to the Mairie of Waldalgesheim, whose seat was in 1870 moved to Bingerbrück. At this time, Rümmelsheim had 420 inhabitants. In the course of administrative restructuring in Rhineland-Palatinate, Rümmelsheim passed to the Verbandsgemeinde of Langenlonsheim in 1970.Jewish history
Rümmelsheim had a Jewish community until 1906. It arose in the early 19th century. As far back as the 16th century, though, there were Jews living in the village. In 1548, a man named Mosse von Rimelsheim had his name included on a protection money list. However, no further record of Jews in Rümmelsheim crops up until the 19th century. In the 19th century, the number of Jewish inhabitants developed as follows: in 1808, there were 31 ; in 1843, 48 ; in 1848, 48 ; in 1858, 45 ; in 1885, 29. In 1823, the Jewish families living in Waldalgesheim and Weiler bei Bingen were assigned to the Rümmelsheim Jewish community. Until then, the Jews in Waldalgesheim had felt more like part of the Schweppenhausen synagogue congregation, while the ones in Weiler had felt the same way about belonging to the congregation in Bingen. Until 1892, the Jewish families living in Bingerbrück also belonged to the Rümmelsheim Jewish community. Living in Waldalgesheim in 1823 were 8 Jews, and by 1843 it was 9. In 1848, it was 8 again, in 1858 it was 5 and in 1885, 11. Living in Weiler in 1823 were 5 Jews, and by 1843 it was 24. In 1848, it was 12, in 1858 it was 6 and in 1885, 2. In 1850, the following Jewish families were living in the three villages: in Rümmelsheim: Mathias Marx, David Marx, Mathias Marx, Coppel Mayer, Jacob Stern, Sebastian Stern, Raphael Stern, Servatius Stern, Joseph Stern, Joseph Marx and Carl Wohlgemuth; in Waldalgesheim: Simon Stern; in Weiler: Joseph Berg and Wendel Berg. In the way of institutions, there were a synagogue, a Jewish religious school and a graveyard in Rümmelsheim where Jews from both Rümmelsheim and Waldalgesheim were buried ; the Jews in Weiler had their own graveyard. To provide for the community's religious needs, a schoolteacher was hired, who also busied himself as the hazzan and the shochet. The Jews in Weiler also availed themselves of his services, for they could not afford their own. In 1848, Carl Wohlgemuth was working as an “unpaid cantor”. He was at the same time the synagogue head, but had to take his leave in 1852 on health grounds. His successor was Raphael Stern. A few years later, the synagogue head was Ferdinand Stern, and beginning in 1885, Elias Stern. Towards the end of the 19th century, most of the Jewish families moved away from the village, and in 1906, the Rümmelsheim Jewish community was dissolved. The last member of the former Jewish community moved to Bingen in 1918. In 1925, no more Jewish inhabitants were being counted in Rümmelsheim. Still living in Waldalgesheim were master butcher Sally Stern's and tradesman Willy Hessel's families, while Simon Berg's family still lived in Weiler. The first two managed to emigrate to the United States. Simon Berg, then living in Bingen, and his daughter Lilly, then living in Friedberg, were both deported to the camps. According to the Gedenkbuch – Opfer der Verfolgung der Juden unter der nationalsozialistischen Gewaltherrschaft in Deutschland 1933-1945 and Yad Vashem, of all Jews who either were born in Rümmelsheim, Waldalgesheim or Weiler bei Bingen or lived there for a long time, 16 died in the time of the Third Reich :- From Rümmelsheim:
- Hedwig Eis née Stern
- Lina Goldschmidt née Stern
- Eugenie Marx née Marx
- Leo Marx
- Heinrich Stern
- Rudolf Stern
- Bertha Wetzler née Stern
- Selma Zacharias née Grünewald
- From Waldalgesheim:
- Isabella Kaufmann née Stern
- Dina Müller née Stern
- August Adolf Stern
- Julius Stern
- From Weiler bei Bingen:
- Simon Berg
- Isabella Kahn née Berg
- Luisa Kann née Berg
- Lilly Löwenthal née Berg
Population development
ReligionAs at 31 January 2014, there are 1,376 full-time residents in Rümmelsheim, and of those, 343 are Evangelical, 735 are Catholic, 2 are Lutheran, 1 belongs to the New Apostolic Church, 15 belong to other religious groups and 280 either have no religion or will not reveal their religious affiliation.PoliticsMunicipal councilThe council is made up of 16 council members, who were elected by proportional representation at the municipal election held on 7 June 2009, and the honorary mayor as chairman. The municipal election held on 7 June 2009 yielded the following results:MayorRümmelsheim's mayor is Jürgen Gumbrich, and his deputies are Friedbert Gohres and Jens Eckes.Coat of armsThe municipality's arms might be described thus: Per pale Or a cross Patriarchal mounted on one degree azure and sable in chief a chevron argent under which a bunch of grapes slipped of the first.Culture and sightseeingBuildingsThe following are listed buildings or sites in Rhineland-Palatinate’s Directory of Cultural Monuments:Rümmelsheim (main centre)
Jewish graveyardRümmelsheim's Jewish graveyard was laid out no later than 1808. Laid to rest here were not only Jewish inhabitants from Rümmelsheim but also those from Waldalgesheim. Only six gravestones, in varying states of preservation, still stand at the graveyard. Of these, only one is still fully legible. The graveyard's area is 975 m2 spread over two parcels of 790 m2 and 185 m2. The graveyard lands were not sold off in the time of the Third Reich. Even in 1958, the Rümmelsheim cadastral register still listed the Rümmelsheim synagogue community, which had ceased to exist more than half a century earlier, as the owner of those parcels. The graveyard lies 2 km northwest of the village in the woodland known as Horet, not far from the Waldlaubersheim Jewish graveyard.Economy and infrastructureTransportRunning through Rümmelsheim's southern outskirts is the Autobahn A 61, although the nearest interchange is in neighbouring Dorsheim 1 km away. Roughly parallelling the Autobahn is Kreisstraße 41 and running through the village itself is Kreisstraße 43. There are also bus services, one that runs hourly to railway stations in Münster-Sarmsheim and Bingen and another to Bad Kreuznach. Also serving nearby Laubenheim is a railway station on the Nahe Valley Railway with hourly connections in both directions, with Bingen Hauptbahnhof and Bad Kreuznach station both lying less than 10 km away. Frankfurt Airport and Frankfurt-Hahn Airport can each be reached by highway in roughly 45 minutes.WinegrowingRümmelsheim belongs to the Nahetal Winegrowing Area within the Nahe wine region. Eighteen winegrowing operations are active within the municipality, and the area planted with vineyards is 114 ha. Some 77% of the wine grown here is white wine varieties. In 1979, there were still 45 active winegrowing operations, and the area planted with vineyards was almost twice what it is now at 216 ha. The following wineries can be found in Rümmelsheim :
EducationRümmelsheim has an all-day daycare centre and an all-day primary school. Higher schools and training centres must be sought out in the surrounding area in Bingen, Bad Kreuznach, Hargesheim and Stromberg.Famous peopleSons and daughters of the town
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