Eisenschmitt
Encyclopedia
Eisenschmitt is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality
belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde
, a kind of collective municipality – in the Bernkastel-Wittlich
district
in Rhineland-Palatinate
, Germany
.
, whose seat is in the like-named municipality
.
, which is within Großlittgen
’s municipal limits.
in the surrounding woods to fire the furnaces and the feasibility of using the Salm’s waterpower for smelting were great enough to run ironworks for a long time. This in turn brought about the settlement of ironworkers and thereby the founding and growth of a village.
Beginning in 1794, Eisenschmitt lay under French
rule. In 1814 it was assigned to the Kingdom of Prussia
at the Congress of Vienna
. In 1835, Eisenschmitt had roughly 1,350 inhabitants, the highest population figure in its history. As the 19th century wore on, however, an end was brought to the iron
industry in the Salm valley by new production processes and more productive as well as bigger ironworks in the industrial areas on the Lower Rhine and the Ruhr, which moreover could be worked with the more economical coal
instead of with charcoal.
Since 1947, Eisenschmitt has been part of the then newly founded state
of Rhineland-Palatinate
.
for “iron”), which had its beginnings in the 14th century. The ironworks in Eichelhütte was founded in 1701.
at the municipal election held on 7 June 2009, and the honorary mayor as chairman.
The municipality’s arms
might in English heraldic
language be described thus: Tierced in mantle, dexter Or a fess dancetty gules, sinister Or a hammer and tongs per saltire sable, and in base gules the letters I and S interlaced argent.
The symbol made of the two interlocking letters I and S stands for “Isen-Schmitt”, the old Eisenschmitt foundry mark from the 16th century. The tincture
s gules and argent (red and silver) are the Malbergs’, under whose lordship Eisenschmitt lay until feudal
times came to an end. The horizontal zigzag stripe (“fess dancetty”) on the dexter (armsbearer’s right, viewer’s left) side is the sign of the old County of Manderscheid and a reference to the village’s former allegiance thereto. On the sinister (armsbearer’s left, viewer’s right) side are a hammer and tongs, symbols of the iron industry that lasted centuries, and from which the municipality also got its name.
(1860-1952) as a model for her novel Das Weiberdorf (“The Women’s Village” or “The Village of Women”), which describes life in the small community of “Eifelschmitt”. The novel’s background is a peculiarity of the village community: Owing to the increasing dearth of the raw material, iron ore, in the area around Eisenschmitt, those men capable of working became guestworkers in the Ruhr area
towards the end of the 19th century. They earned a living for themselves and their families in the emerging steelworks. The women stayed back, and during their husbands’ long absence, they had to do all the work in the house and in the fields, hence the novel’s name. The description of these conditions was perceived by many of the writer’s contemporaries as scandalous, the women taking on a rôle that then was not commonly customary.
Scenes from the novel are displayed on the village fountain before the church.
Since June 2005, the Clara-Viebig-Zentrum (centre) in Eisenschmitt has memorialized the writer.
Municipalities of Germany
Municipalities are the lowest level of territorial division in Germany. This may be the fourth level of territorial division in Germany, apart from those states which include Regierungsbezirke , where municipalities then become the fifth level.-Overview:With more than 3,400,000 inhabitants, the...
belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde
Verbandsgemeinde
A Verbandsgemeinde is an administrative unit in the German Bundesländer of Rhineland-Palatinate and Saxony-Anhalt.-Rhineland-Palatinate:...
, a kind of collective municipality – in the Bernkastel-Wittlich
Bernkastel-Wittlich
Bernkastel-Wittlich is a district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is bounded by the districts of Vulkaneifel, Cochem-Zell, Rhein-Hunsrück, Birkenfeld, Trier-Saarburg and Bitburg-Prüm.- History :...
district
Districts of Germany
The districts of Germany are known as , except in the states of North Rhine-Westphalia and Schleswig-Holstein where they are known simply as ....
in Rhineland-Palatinate
Rhineland-Palatinate
Rhineland-Palatinate is one of the 16 states of the Federal Republic of Germany. It has an area of and about four million inhabitants. The capital is Mainz. English speakers also commonly refer to the state by its German name, Rheinland-Pfalz ....
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
.
Location
Eisenschmitt lies on the river Salm. It belongs to the Verbandsgemeinde of ManderscheidManderscheid (Verbandsgemeinde)
Manderscheid is a Verbandsgemeinde in the district Bernkastel-Wittlich, in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Its seat of administration is in Manderscheid....
, whose seat is in the like-named municipality
Manderscheid, Bernkastel-Wittlich
Manderscheid is a town in the Bernkastel-Wittlich district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is the seat of the like-named Verbandsgemeinde, and also both a climatic spa and a Kneipp spa.- Location :...
.
Constituent communities
Eisenschmitt’s Ortsteile are Eisenschmitt and the outlying centre of Eichelhütte, lying down the Salm. Not much farther downstream stands Himmerod AbbeyHimmerod Abbey
Himmerod Abbey is a Cistercian monastery in the community of Großlittgen in the Verbandsgemeinde of Manderscheid in the district of Bernkastel-Wittlich, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, located in the Eifel, in the valley of the Salm.-First foundation:Himmerod Abbey was founded in 1134 by Saint...
, which is within Großlittgen
Großlittgen
Großlittgen is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in the Bernkastel-Wittlich district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany....
’s municipal limits.
History
In 1372, Eisenschmitt had its first documentary mention as Yssensmyt uff der Salmen. The plentiful iron ore deposits, the production of charcoalCharcoal
Charcoal is the dark grey residue consisting of carbon, and any remaining ash, obtained by removing water and other volatile constituents from animal and vegetation substances. Charcoal is usually produced by slow pyrolysis, the heating of wood or other substances in the absence of oxygen...
in the surrounding woods to fire the furnaces and the feasibility of using the Salm’s waterpower for smelting were great enough to run ironworks for a long time. This in turn brought about the settlement of ironworkers and thereby the founding and growth of a village.
Beginning in 1794, Eisenschmitt lay under French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
rule. In 1814 it was assigned to the Kingdom of Prussia
Prussia
Prussia was a German kingdom and historic state originating out of the Duchy of Prussia and the Margraviate of Brandenburg. For centuries, the House of Hohenzollern ruled Prussia, successfully expanding its size by way of an unusually well-organized and effective army. Prussia shaped the history...
at the Congress of Vienna
Congress of Vienna
The Congress of Vienna was a conference of ambassadors of European states chaired by Klemens Wenzel von Metternich, and held in Vienna from September, 1814 to June, 1815. The objective of the Congress was to settle the many issues arising from the French Revolutionary Wars, the Napoleonic Wars,...
. In 1835, Eisenschmitt had roughly 1,350 inhabitants, the highest population figure in its history. As the 19th century wore on, however, an end was brought to the iron
Iron
Iron is a chemical element with the symbol Fe and atomic number 26. It is a metal in the first transition series. It is the most common element forming the planet Earth as a whole, forming much of Earth's outer and inner core. It is the fourth most common element in the Earth's crust...
industry in the Salm valley by new production processes and more productive as well as bigger ironworks in the industrial areas on the Lower Rhine and the Ruhr, which moreover could be worked with the more economical coal
Coal
Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock usually occurring in rock strata in layers or veins called coal beds or coal seams. The harder forms, such as anthracite coal, can be regarded as metamorphic rock because of later exposure to elevated temperature and pressure...
instead of with charcoal.
Since 1947, Eisenschmitt has been part of the then newly founded state
States of Germany
Germany is made up of sixteen which are partly sovereign constituent states of the Federal Republic of Germany. Land literally translates as "country", and constitutionally speaking, they are constituent countries...
of Rhineland-Palatinate
Rhineland-Palatinate
Rhineland-Palatinate is one of the 16 states of the Federal Republic of Germany. It has an area of and about four million inhabitants. The capital is Mainz. English speakers also commonly refer to the state by its German name, Rheinland-Pfalz ....
.
The name Eisenschmitt
The name “Eisenschmitt” comes from the now forsaken ironworking industry (Eisen is GermanGerman language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
for “iron”), which had its beginnings in the 14th century. The ironworks in Eichelhütte was founded in 1701.
Municipal council
The council is made up of 8 council members, who were elected by majority votePlurality voting system
The plurality voting system is a single-winner voting system often used to elect executive officers or to elect members of a legislative assembly which is based on single-member constituencies...
at the municipal election held on 7 June 2009, and the honorary mayor as chairman.
Coat of arms
The German blazon reads: Gespalten von Gold durch eine eingebogene rote Spitze, darin ein silbernes Gemerke der verschlungenen Buchstaben I und S, vorne ein roter Sparrbalken, hinten schräggekreuzt schwarzer Hammer und schwarze Zange.The municipality’s arms
Coat of arms
A coat of arms is a unique heraldic design on a shield or escutcheon or on a surcoat or tabard used to cover and protect armour and to identify the wearer. Thus the term is often stated as "coat-armour", because it was anciently displayed on the front of a coat of cloth...
might in English heraldic
Heraldry
Heraldry is the profession, study, or art of creating, granting, and blazoning arms and ruling on questions of rank or protocol, as exercised by an officer of arms. Heraldry comes from Anglo-Norman herald, from the Germanic compound harja-waldaz, "army commander"...
language be described thus: Tierced in mantle, dexter Or a fess dancetty gules, sinister Or a hammer and tongs per saltire sable, and in base gules the letters I and S interlaced argent.
The symbol made of the two interlocking letters I and S stands for “Isen-Schmitt”, the old Eisenschmitt foundry mark from the 16th century. The tincture
Tincture (heraldry)
In heraldry, tinctures are the colours used to emblazon a coat of arms. These can be divided into several categories including light tinctures called metals, dark tinctures called colours, nonstandard colours called stains, furs, and "proper". A charge tinctured proper is coloured as it would be...
s gules and argent (red and silver) are the Malbergs’, under whose lordship Eisenschmitt lay until feudal
Feudalism
Feudalism was a set of legal and military customs in medieval Europe that flourished between the 9th and 15th centuries, which, broadly defined, was a system for ordering society around relationships derived from the holding of land in exchange for service or labour.Although derived from the...
times came to an end. The horizontal zigzag stripe (“fess dancetty”) on the dexter (armsbearer’s right, viewer’s left) side is the sign of the old County of Manderscheid and a reference to the village’s former allegiance thereto. On the sinister (armsbearer’s left, viewer’s right) side are a hammer and tongs, symbols of the iron industry that lasted centuries, and from which the municipality also got its name.
“Das Weiberdorf”
The municipality of Eisenschmitt served the writer Clara ViebigClara Viebig
Clara Emma Amalia Viebig was a German author. She was born in the German city of Trier, the daughter of a Prussian civil servant. She was related to Herman Goering. At the age of eight, the family moved to Düsseldorf where Clara attended school. At the age of twenty, after her father died, Clara...
(1860-1952) as a model for her novel Das Weiberdorf (“The Women’s Village” or “The Village of Women”), which describes life in the small community of “Eifelschmitt”. The novel’s background is a peculiarity of the village community: Owing to the increasing dearth of the raw material, iron ore, in the area around Eisenschmitt, those men capable of working became guestworkers in the Ruhr area
Ruhr Area
The Ruhr, by German-speaking geographers and historians more accurately called Ruhr district or Ruhr region , is an urban area in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. With 4435 km² and a population of some 5.2 million , it is the largest urban agglomeration in Germany...
towards the end of the 19th century. They earned a living for themselves and their families in the emerging steelworks. The women stayed back, and during their husbands’ long absence, they had to do all the work in the house and in the fields, hence the novel’s name. The description of these conditions was perceived by many of the writer’s contemporaries as scandalous, the women taking on a rôle that then was not commonly customary.
Scenes from the novel are displayed on the village fountain before the church.
Since June 2005, the Clara-Viebig-Zentrum (centre) in Eisenschmitt has memorialized the writer.
Further reading
- Erich Gerten: Eisenschmitt -- von der mittelalterlichen Eisenhütte zum Eifeler Wohn- und Erholungsort, Herausgeber: Ortsgemeinde Eisenschmitt in Verbindung mit dem Förderkreis Kultur und Geschichte e.V., 2006
- Claus Rech: Zurückbleiben im "Weiberdorf". Frauen von Arbeitsmigranten und ihre Lebensverhältnisse in Eisenschmitt/Eifel 1830-1900. In: Andreas Gestrich, Marita Krauss: Zurückbleiben. Der vernachlässigte Teil der Migrationsgeschichte. Franz Steiner Verlag, Stuttgart 2007, S. 125-153 ISBN 978-3-515-08940-1.