# Hahnweiler

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**Hahnweiler** (ˈhaːnvaɪlɐ) is an *[Ortsgemeinde](/source/Ortsgemeinde_(Germany))* – a [municipality](/source/Municipalities_of_Germany) belonging to a *[Verbandsgemeinde](/source/Verbandsgemeinde)*, a kind of collective municipality – in the [Birkenfeld](/source/Birkenfeld_(district)) [district](/source/Districts_of_Germany) in [Rhineland-Palatinate](/source/Rhineland-Palatinate), [Germany](/source/Germany). It belongs to the [*Verbandsgemeinde* of Baumholder](/source/Baumholder_(Verbandsgemeinde)), whose seat is in the [like-named town](/source/Baumholder).

## Geography

### Location

The municipality lies in the [Hunsrück](/source/Hunsr%C3%BCck) at the southwesternmost end of the Birkenfeld district and the *Verbandsgemeinde* of Baumholder. In the south it borders on the [Saarland](/source/Saarland). With its 218 inhabitants – which includes those who hold only a secondary residence here – (as at 31 January 2011), Hahnweiler is the third smallest municipality in the *Verbandsgemeinde*. By land area – the municipal area measures only 228.5 ha – it is the smallest. Its elevation ranges between 450 and 552 m above [sea level](/source/Sea_level).[2]

### Neighbouring municipalities

Hahnweiler borders in the northeast on [Rückweiler](/source/R%C3%BCckweiler), in the south on [Freisen](/source/Freisen) in the Saarland, in the west on [Gimbweiler](/source/Gimbweiler) and [Nohfelden](/source/Nohfelden)-Wolfersweiler, also in the Saarland, and in the north on [Leitzweiler](/source/Leitzweiler).

## History

Hahnweiler, or *Hanwilre* as it was known in the [Middle Ages](/source/Middle_Ages), belonged to the comital House of Tholey holdings in the Moselgau (a territory that stretched along the [Moselle](/source/Moselle_(river))). The *[Vogtei](/source/Vogt)* rights over the Moselgau were granted Count Gerlach V in 1235 by the [Bishop of Verdun](/source/Prince-Bishopric_of_Verdun). By 1397, Count Friedrich von [Veldenz](/source/County_of_Veldenz) had bought from Geretrud Broich, her son Emmerich and his wife the estate, along with its serfs, interests and rights at *Hanwilre* and *Moysberg* (now Mosberg, part of Mosberg-Richweiler, itself an outlying centre of Nohfelden) for 50 [Rhenish guilders](/source/Rhenish_guilder). In the time that followed, the village belonged to the *[Amt](/source/Amt_(country_subdivision))* of Nohfelden and thereby to the *Oberamt* of Lichtenberg. After the Nohfelden *Gerichtsweistum* (a *Weistum* – cognate with [English](/source/English_language) *wisdom* – was a legal pronouncement issued by men learned in law in the [Middle Ages](/source/Middle_Ages) and early modern times; *Gericht* means “court”), the rightful judges of the [high court](/source/Blood_court) were deemed to be the [Counts Palatine of Zweibrücken](/source/Palatine_Zweibr%C3%BCcken). Hahnweiler was part of the great [fief](/source/Fief) given Wirich II of Oberstein in 1432 by the [Duke of Lorraine](/source/Lorraine_(duchy)). The 1480 *Bede* register (the *Bede* was a kind of [taxation](/source/Taxation)) lists for Hahnweiler two inhabitants who had to pay the May *Bede* and three who had to pay the autumn *Bede*. Wendel Gelzenleichter, his wife Agnes, son Nickel and daughter Elisa from Hahnweiler were Oberstein serfs in 1603. Wendel performed “along with the thresher at *Hanwiller* and his fellow heirs at [*Berßwiller*](/source/Berschweiler_bei_Baumholder) a goods transport for the Count of Oberstein. As to further compulsory service, the said Wendel yearly gave the Count some money, about 1 *[Thaler](/source/Thaler)*. What else he yearly gave in money and produce in levies has not been determined.”

The 1675 description of the *Oberamt* compiled by D. König after the [Thirty Years' War](/source/Thirty_Years'_War) counted two families in Hahnweiler, while 115 years later, there were 18 families in the village. In 1816, 13 houses, 14 families and 94 souls were counted. The village’s [Reformed](/source/Reformed_churches) parishioners were parochially bound with Wolfersweiler before [French Revolutionary](/source/French_Revolutionary_Wars) times, and thereafter with Berschweiler. The [Catholics](/source/Catholic_Church) belonged to the parish of Freisen. Until 1793, Hahnweiler was part of the Zweibrücken *Amt* of Nohfelden. The municipal boundary between Hahnweiler and [Rückweiler](/source/R%C3%BCckweiler) was also the old boundary between the Rohrbach and Nohfelden court regions. During the [French](/source/France) occupation, the village belonged to the *Mairie* (“Mayoralty”) of Nohfelden in the canton of Baumholder. Beginning in 1819, after the [Congress of Vienna](/source/Congress_of_Vienna), it was part of the *Bürgermeisterei* (also “Mayoralty”) of Berschweiler. In 1819, Hahnweiler had 13 families and 107 souls; by 1843, these figures had grown to 21 and 131 respectively.[3]

## Politics

### Municipal council

The council is made up of 6 council members, who were elected by [majority vote](/source/Plurality_voting_system) at the municipal election held on 7 June 2009, and the honorary mayor as chairman.[4]

### Mayors

Hahnweiler’s mayor is Heiko Bier.[1]

The following is a list of Hahnweiler’s mayors since 1936. The gap between 1938 and 1945 represents a loss of official records from the time of the [Third Reich](/source/Nazi_Germany).

- 1936-1938 Otto Stephan
- 1945-1952 Otto Haupenthal
- 1952-1956 Josef Becker
- 1956-1961 Emil Bier
- 1961-1969 Bernhard Werle
- 1969-1979 Otto Schmitt
- 1979-1988 Günter Mohr
- 1988-1999 Hermann Bier
- 1999-2004 Axel Mohr
- 2004-2015 Dietmar Schmitt[5]
- 2015- Heiko Bier

### Coat of arms

The municipality’s [arms](/source/Coat_of_arms) might be described thus: Per fess argent a demilion azure armed and langued gules, and vert a cock sinister crowing, his sinister leg raised, Or.

The [charge](/source/Charge_(heraldry)) in the upper field, the demilion, is a reference to the village’s former allegiance to the [County of Veldenz](/source/County_of_Veldenz). The cock (*Hahn* in [German](/source/German_language)) is [canting](/source/Canting_arms) for the municipality’s name.

## Economy and infrastructure

Hahnweiler has a village community centre.

### Transport

Directly to the north runs the [Autobahn](/source/Autobahn) [A 62](/source/Bundesautobahn_62) ([Kaiserslautern](/source/Kaiserslautern)–[Trier](/source/Trier)). Available in nearby [Heimbach](/source/Heimbach,_Rhineland-Palatinate) is a [railway station](/source/Railway_station) on the [Nahe Valley Railway](/source/Nahe_Valley_Railway) ([Bingen](/source/Bingen_am_Rhein)–[Saarbrücken](/source/Saarbr%C3%BCcken)).

## References

1. [Direktwahlen 2019, Landkreis Birkenfeld](https://www.wahlen.rlp.de/de/kw/wahlen/kd/gebiete/1340000000000.html), Landeswahlleiter Rheinland-Pfalz, accessed 10 August 2021.

1. ["Geographical data"](https://web.archive.org/web/20110725202428/http://www.hahnweiler.de/index-Dateien/wirueberuns.htm). Archived from [the original](http://www.hahnweiler.de/index-Dateien/wirueberuns.htm) on 2011-07-25. Retrieved 2011-08-20.

1. ["Hahnweiler’s history"](https://web.archive.org/web/20111001102129/http://www.hahnweiler.de/index-Dateien/geschichte.htm). Archived from [the original](http://www.hahnweiler.de/index-Dateien/geschichte.htm) on 2011-10-01. Retrieved 2011-08-20.

1. [Kommunalwahl Rheinland-Pfalz 2009, Gemeinderat](http://wahlen.rlp.de/kw/wahlen/2009/gemeinderatswahlen/ergebnisse/1340103300.html)

1. ["Hahnweiler’s council and its history"](https://web.archive.org/web/20111001102150/http://www.hahnweiler.de/index-Dateien/gemeinderat.htm). Archived from [the original](http://www.hahnweiler.de/index-Dateien/gemeinderat.htm) on 2011-10-01. Retrieved 2011-08-20.

## External links

- [Hahnweiler in the collective municipality’s webpages](https://web.archive.org/web/20120325152034/http://www.vgv-baumholder.de/die_gemeinden/hahnweiler/) (in German)
- [Municipality’s official webpage](http://www.hahnweiler.de/) (in German)

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Hahnweiler](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hahnweiler) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hahnweiler?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.