Mittelstrimmig
Encyclopedia
Mittelstrimmig is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality
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 Cochem-Zell
Cochem-Zell
Cochem-Zell is a district in the north-west of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Neighboring districts are Mayen-Koblenz, Rhein-Hunsrück, Bernkastel-Wittlich, and Vulkaneifel.- 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...

. It belongs to the Verbandsgemeinde of Zell
Zell (Verbandsgemeinde)
Zell is a Verbandsgemeinde in the district Cochem-Zell, in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. The seat of the Verbandsgemeinde is in Zell....

, whose seat is in the municipality of Zell an der Mosel
Zell (Mosel)
Zell is a town in the Cochem-Zell district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Zell has roughly 4,300 inhabitants and is the seat of the like-named Verbandsgemeinde.-Location:...

.

Location

Mittelstrimmig lies together with the neighbouring municipality of Altstrimmig
Altstrimmig
Altstrimmig is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in the Cochem-Zell district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany...

 on a high ridge in the northern Hunsrück
Hunsrück
The Hunsrück is a low mountain range in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is bounded by the river valleys of the Moselle , the Nahe , and the Rhine . The Hunsrück is continued by the Taunus mountains on the eastern side of the Rhine. In the north behind the Moselle it is continued by the Eifel...

 roughly 30 km from Frankfurt-Hahn Airport
Frankfurt-Hahn Airport
-Cargo airlines:-Other facilities:AirIT Services AG, a subsidiary of Fraport, has its head office in Building 663 at Hahn Airport.-References:*Active Air Force Bases Within the United States of America on 17 September 1982 USAF Reference Series, Office of Air Force History, United States Air Force,...

.

Mittelstrimmig is the biggest village in the so-called Strimmiger Berg and, thanks to a great deal of woodlands, is among the Hunsrück’s wealthiest municipalities.

Land use

Outside the built-up lands within the municipality, land use breaks down as follows:
  • Forest: 716 ha
    • Municipal woodlands: 701.7 ha
    • Other woodlands held by official bodies: 0.4 ha
    • Small, private woodlots: 13.6 ha
  • Agriculture
    Agriculture
    Agriculture is the cultivation of animals, plants, fungi and other life forms for food, fiber, and other products used to sustain life. Agriculture was the key implement in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that nurtured the...

    : 337 ha
    • Cropland: 211.3 ha
    • Crop-grassland: 12.8 ha
    • Grassland: 102.2 ha
    • Meadow orchard: 0.6 ha
    • Grazing land: 9.6 ha
    • Horticultural
      Horticulture
      Horticulture is the industry and science of plant cultivation including the process of preparing soil for the planting of seeds, tubers, or cuttings. Horticulturists work and conduct research in the disciplines of plant propagation and cultivation, crop production, plant breeding and genetic...

       land: 0.3 ha
    • Tree nurseries: 0.2 ha


The figures are from the Daun Land Survey and Cadastral Office (Vermessungs- und Katasteramt Daun), dated 2 August 2005.

Roman times

Along today’s Landesstraße (State Road) 202 between Mittelstrimmig and Blankenrath
Blankenrath
Blankenrath is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in the Cochem-Zell district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It belongs to the Verbandsgemeinde of Zell, whose seat is in the municipality of Zell an der Mosel.- Location :The...

, remnants of a Roman
Ancient Rome
Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....

 settlement, or vicus
Vicus (Rome)
In ancient Rome, the vicus was a neighborhood. During the Republican era, the four regiones of the city of Rome were subdivided into vici. In the 1st century BC, Augustus reorganized the city for administrative purposes into 14 regions, comprising 265 vici. Each vicus had its own board of...

, were found. Later research brought to light that an important Roman highway once led through the area. The local school chronicle has this to say about it: “…it is a fact that in the district called Die Mauer (“The Wall”), the clear remnants of an establishment of great extent, destroyed by violence, can still be made out today…”

Middle Ages

The first documentary mention of the name Strimmig – shared by Mittelstrimmig, Altstrimmig
Altstrimmig
Altstrimmig is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in the Cochem-Zell district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany...

 and the Strimmiger Berg – is to be found in a document from Count Simon I of Sponheim-Kreuznach from the year 1259, in which Heinrich, Lord of Ehrenberg, settled the matter of the inheritance from the County of Sayn
Sayn
Sayn was a mediæval German County located in the Rhineland-Palatinate and North Rhine-Westphalia. There were two Counties of Sayn: the first County emerged in 1139. It became closely associated with the County of Sponheim early in its existence. Count Henry II was notable for being accused of...

 with Count Simon with regards to the Vogt
Vogt
A Vogt ; plural Vögte; Dutch voogd; Danish foged; ; ultimately from Latin [ad]vocatus) in the Holy Roman Empire was the German title of a reeve or advocate, an overlord exerting guardianship or military protection as well as secular justice...

ei
of Strimmig. Mittelstrimmig belonged in the Middle Ages
Middle Ages
The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...

 to the “three-lord” courts. In Mittelstrimmig, the three lords were: the Electorate of Trier, Sponheim
County of Sponheim
The County of Sponheim was an independent territory in the Holy Roman Empire which lasted from the 11th century until the early 19th century...

 and Braunshorn (until 1367). In 1437, Johann von Sponheim, the last Count of the ruling house of Sponheim, died. The County passed unpartitioned – as a condominium
Condominium (international law)
In international law, a condominium is a political territory in or over which two or more sovereign powers formally agree to share equally dominium and exercise their rights jointly, without dividing it up into 'national' zones.Although a condominium has always been...

 – to Margrave Bernhard of Baden and Count Friedrich at Veldenz. To this also belonged the Sponheim share in the “three-lord” court, which was administered by either Kastellaun or Trarben. In 1444, after Count Friedrich’s death, came the merger of the County of Veldenz with the Duchy of Palatinate-Zweibrücken
Palatinate-Zweibrücken
Palatinate-Zweibrücken is a former state of the Holy Roman Empire. Its capital was Zweibrücken.-Overview:→ History before 1394 see main article County of Zweibrücken→ History before 1444 see main article County of Veldenz...

 under Duke Friedrich I.

Early modern times

About 1637, the family Winneburg-Beilstein, the Braunshorns’ heirs, died out. The lordship was taken over by the family Metternich, but only years later, about 1652. About 1776, the greater County of Sponheim was split up, with the “three-lord” part passing to Palatinate-Zweibrücken. Under the treaties of 1780 and 1784, the “three-lord” territory was itself dismembered. The Lords of Winneburg-Beilstein, or rather their successors, came into possession of the Vogt
Vogt
A Vogt ; plural Vögte; Dutch voogd; Danish foged; ; ultimately from Latin [ad]vocatus) in the Holy Roman Empire was the German title of a reeve or advocate, an overlord exerting guardianship or military protection as well as secular justice...

ei
of Strimmig.

Beginning in 1794, Mittelstrimmig 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.

19th century

In 1814 or 1815, Mittelstrimmig 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,...

. Despite greater freedom of travel
Freedom of movement
Freedom of movement, mobility rights or the right to travel is a human right concept that the constitutions of numerous states respect...

, begging
Begging
Begging is to entreat earnestly, implore, or supplicate. It often occurs for the purpose of securing a material benefit, generally for a gift, donation or charitable donation...

 and vagrancy
Vagrancy (people)
A vagrant is a person in poverty, who wanders from place to place without a home or regular employment or income.-Definition:A vagrant is "a person without a settled home or regular work who wanders from place to place and lives by begging;" vagrancy is the condition of such persons.-History:In...

 remained punishable. The problem of those with no fixed address, without social safeguards or possibility of taking care of their own livelihoods also affected the villages on the Strimmiger Berg. About 1842, the Prussian government passed a law requiring every Prussian citizen to have a permanent domicile, and requiring every municipality to house any family that was willing to settle. Many members of Prussian society’s homeless wanderers seized the opportunity. This led in the villages on the Strimmiger Berg to the establishment of what were called Ortsteile Klein-Frankreich (roughly “Little France Neighbourhoods”). The dwellers of these new neighbourhoods were ordinary municipal citizens, but the long-established villagers continued to exclude them socially.

Between 1817 and 1830, Mittelstrimmig, like the other municipalities, was self-administering. The 19th century was in Mittelstrimmig, as it was throughout Germany, a time of yearning to emigrate to the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

, for the region that now makes up 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 ....

 and Hesse
Hesse
Hesse or Hessia is both a cultural region of Germany and the name of an individual German state.* The cultural region of Hesse includes both the State of Hesse and the area known as Rhenish Hesse in the neighbouring Rhineland-Palatinate state...

 was seething with political discontent at this time, and there was a dearth of gainful work. After the French Revolution
French Revolution
The French Revolution , sometimes distinguished as the 'Great French Revolution' , was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France and Europe. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years...

 had ended, hopes began to grow that the social situation would become better. This, however, did not happen.

On 26 May 1852, 151 persons (56 of whom were 14 or younger, the rest of whom were over 14) left Mittelstrimmig for New York
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

, landing there on 13 June of the same year. They made their new homes in Wisconsin
Wisconsin
Wisconsin is a U.S. state located in the north-central United States and is part of the Midwest. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michigan to the northeast, and Lake Superior to the north. Wisconsin's capital is...

 in, among other places, Green Bay
Green Bay, Wisconsin
Green Bay is a city in and the county seat of Brown County in the U.S. state of Wisconsin, located at the head of Green Bay, a sub-basin of Lake Michigan, at the mouth of the Fox River. It has an elevation of above sea level and is located north of Milwaukee. As of the 2010 United States Census,...

, Washington County, Sheboygan
Sheboygan, Wisconsin
-Airport:Sheboygan is served by the Sheboygan County Memorial Airport, which is located several miles from the city.-Roads:Interstate 43 is the primary north-south transportation route into Sheboygan, and forms the west boundary of the city. U.S...

, Milwaukee, Germantown
Germantown, Wisconsin
Germantown is a village in Washington County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 18,260 at the 2000 census. The village surrounds the Town of Germantown...

, Farmington, Cedarburg
Cedarburg, Wisconsin
Cedarburg is a city in Ozaukee County, Wisconsin, United States with Cedar Creek running through it. The city is bordered by the Village of Grafton to the east and the Town of Cedarburg elsewhere...

 and Appleton
Appleton, Wisconsin
Appleton is a city in Outagamie, Calumet, and Winnebago Counties in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. It is situated on the Fox River, 30 miles southwest of Green Bay and 100 miles north of Milwaukee. Appleton is the county seat of Outagamie County. The population was 78,086 at the 2010 census...

. Another wave of emigration followed in July of the very next year. This saw 39 persons leave, also bound for New York, with their route going by way of Cologne
Cologne
Cologne is Germany's fourth-largest city , and is the largest city both in the Germany Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia and within the Rhine-Ruhr Metropolitan Area, one of the major European metropolitan areas with more than ten million inhabitants.Cologne is located on both sides of the...

, Antwerp, Liverpool
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...

 or Hamburg
Hamburg
-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...

 and Bremen
Bremen
The City Municipality of Bremen is a Hanseatic city in northwestern Germany. A commercial and industrial city with a major port on the river Weser, Bremen is part of the Bremen-Oldenburg metropolitan area . Bremen is the second most populous city in North Germany and tenth in Germany.Bremen is...

. The rest of the emigrants – 54 persons – left Mittelstrimmig between 1829 and 1890 bound for North
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...

 or South America
South America
South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...

. The parts of South America that some went to were the areas around Porto Alegre
Porto Alegre
Porto Alegre is the tenth most populous municipality in Brazil, with 1,409,939 inhabitants, and the centre of Brazil's fourth largest metropolitan area . It is also the capital city of the southernmost Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul. The city is the southernmost capital city of a Brazilian...

, Santa Cruz do Sul
Santa Cruz do Sul
Santa Cruz do Sul is a city in central Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. The city has approximately 130,000 inhabitants and sits about 150 km from the capital city of the state, Porto Alegre...

 and San José. These communities can still be found today in Novo Hamburgo
Novo Hamburgo
Novo Hamburgo is a city in the southernmost Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul.Its population is 237,044 . The city covers an area of 217 square kilometers, and the average temperature is 19°C, a mild one for the region...

 (called Neu Hamburg in German
German 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....

), São Leopoldo
São Leopoldo
São Leopoldo is an important Brazilian industrial city located in the south state of Rio Grande do Sul. It occupies a total area of 103.9 km² at circa 30 km from the State Capital, Porto Alegre. Climate is sub-tropical, with temperatures varying from 2°C minimum at Winter to more than...

 and Rio Grande
Rio Grande, Rio Grande do Sul
Rio Grande is the oldest city in the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul and also the former state capital from 1835 to 1845...

. Thirty-one newspaper
Newspaper
A newspaper is a scheduled publication containing news of current events, informative articles, diverse features and advertising. It usually is printed on relatively inexpensive, low-grade paper such as newsprint. By 2007, there were 6580 daily newspapers in the world selling 395 million copies a...

s and more than 150 clubs were founded by the colonists.

The cost of the voyage was 22,015 Thaler
Thaler
The Thaler was a silver coin used throughout Europe for almost four hundred years. Its name lives on in various currencies as the dollar or tolar. Etymologically, "Thaler" is an abbreviation of "Joachimsthaler", a coin type from the city of Joachimsthal in Bohemia, where some of the first such...

, 221 Silbergroschen
Silbergroschen
The Silbergroschen was a coin used in Prussia and several other German Confederation states in northern Germany during the 19th century, worth one thirtieth of a Thaler....

and 46 Pfennig
Pfennig
The Pfennig , plural Pfennige, is an old German coin or note, which existed from the 9th century until the introduction of the euro in 2002....

s
; for all emigrants from Mittelstrimmig, Altstrimmig
Altstrimmig
Altstrimmig is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in the Cochem-Zell district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany...

, Liesenich
Liesenich
Liesenich is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in the Cochem-Zell district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It belongs to the Verbandsgemeinde of Zell, whose seat is in the municipality of Zell an der Mosel...

, Grenderich
Grenderich
Grenderich is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in the Cochem-Zell district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany...

 and Senheim
Senheim
Senheim is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in the Cochem-Zell district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It belongs to the Verbandsgemeinde of Cochem, whose seat is in the like-named town.-Location:The municipality lies on both...

, the cost was covered by their respective municipalities. Mittelstrimmig had to pay 5,578 Thaler of this amount. For the 1852 travel costs alone, 308 Morgen
Morgen
A morgen was a unit of measurement of land in Germany, the Netherlands, Poland and the Dutch colonies, including South Africa and Taiwan. The size of a morgen varies from 1/2 to 2½ acres, which equals approximately 0.2 to 1 ha...

(roughly 9.8 ha) of forest had to be felled, among other things.

First World War

To the people in the Hunsrück, the war’s imminence was something that was unknown. Only in mid July 1914 did it become apparent that a military conflict of some kind lay just ahead. On 6 August, Kaiser Wilhelm II issued a decree. A few days later, soldiers from Mittelstrimmig were leaving their homeland. With Germany’s defeat, the people in Mittelstrimmig saw the world that they had known fall apart. Not only was the monarchy gone, but the toll in blood had been quite high. Nine men from Mittelstrimmig had fallen “for Empire and Emperor”. When soldiers withdrew from the villages, they left behind weapons and ammunition. Civilians took these and used them for hunting. With the German soldiers gone, the villages on the Strimmiger Berg were occupied by the Americans
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

, who were billeted in barns, stables, barrooms at inns and schools. Once Germany had been divided into occupation zones by the victorious powers, the Americans withdrew and the Rhineland
Rhineland
Historically, the Rhinelands refers to a loosely-defined region embracing the land on either bank of the River Rhine in central Europe....

, and along with it the Strimmiger Berg, once again fell 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 the early 1920s, many young men left the Strimmiger Berg to go to Cologne
Cologne
Cologne is Germany's fourth-largest city , and is the largest city both in the Germany Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia and within the Rhine-Ruhr Metropolitan Area, one of the major European metropolitan areas with more than ten million inhabitants.Cologne is located on both sides of the...

, where money could be earned in factories and coalpits. However, once the French and Belgians
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...

 occupied 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...

 in 1923, they came back home. As was so throughout Germany, make-work
Job creation program
Job Creation Programs are programs or projects undertaken by a government of a nation to assist unemployed members of the population in securing employment. A cornerstone of Keynesian economics, they are especially common during time of high unemployment...

 measures were undertaken. Several roads were built on the Strimmiger Berg by means of the Ruhr impost. Owing to inflation
Inflation
In economics, inflation is a rise in the general level of prices of goods and services in an economy over a period of time.When the general price level rises, each unit of currency buys fewer goods and services. Consequently, inflation also reflects an erosion in the purchasing power of money – a...

, a 21-year-old worker earned up to 35,000 Marks each day. Now, in a reversal of the former trend, people from Cologne were coming to Strimmig to hoard, steal and trade. The farmers, though, were unwilling to yield up very much, given the money’s meagre worth.

On this subject, one chronicle had this to say: “…if one gets any money, one must right away buy something with it … the market value changes several times daily. At this time, one pays for 1 American dollar
United States dollar
The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....

 4 trillion Marks, for one French franc
French franc
The franc was a currency of France. Along with the Spanish peseta, it was also a de facto currency used in Andorra . Between 1360 and 1641, it was the name of coins worth 1 livre tournois and it remained in common parlance as a term for this amount of money...

, 1 billion 1 hundred million, where before one would have paid 4.20 Marks and 80 Pfennigs respectively. …a 3½ pound loaf of bread costs 170 million, a pound of butter 1-2 trillion… Daily people come from the Moselle and offer sugar, brandy in trade… Bills are reckoned in fruit, as oats, barley and wheat are very much coveted.”

Second World War

The Second World War began on 1 September 1939. Already by 26 or 27 August, 9 men from Mittelstrimmig had to man the anti-aircraft gun battery (Flugabwehrstelle, or FLUWA) in the cadastral area known as Galgenflur. Up to 1942, roughly 75 men from Mittelstrimmig were called into the forces, 28 of whom fell in the war (in, among other places, Stalingrad
Battle of Stalingrad
The Battle of Stalingrad was a major battle of World War II in which Nazi Germany and its allies fought the Soviet Union for control of the city of Stalingrad in southwestern Russia. The battle took place between 23 August 1942 and 2 February 1943...

); a further 17 are missing in action
Missing in action
Missing in action is a casualty Category assigned under the Status of Missing to armed services personnel who are reported missing during active service. They may have been killed, wounded, become a prisoner of war, or deserted. If deceased, neither their remains nor grave can be positively...

 to this day. Mittelstrimmig and Forst
Forst (Hunsrück)
Forst is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in the Cochem-Zell district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It belongs to the Verbandsgemeinde of Zell, whose seat is in the municipality of Zell an der Mosel. It is not to be confused...

 were the only two villages that came through the war unscathed in any bombing or grenade attack. Only one aircraft ever crashed within Mittelstrimmig’s limits, having been shot down by an RAF
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Formed on 1 April 1918, it is the oldest independent air force in the world...

 bomber. The Flak battery in Mittelstrimmig was meant to defend Koblenz
Koblenz
Koblenz is a German city situated on both banks of the Rhine at its confluence with the Moselle, where the Deutsches Eck and its monument are situated.As Koblenz was one of the military posts established by Drusus about 8 BC, the...

 against Allied
Allies of World War II
The Allies of World War II were the countries that opposed the Axis powers during the Second World War . Former Axis states contributing to the Allied victory are not considered Allied states...

 air-raids. When the war reached Koblenz in 1943, people fled, seeking shelter in slate
Slate
Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade regional metamorphism. The result is a foliated rock in which the foliation may not correspond to the original sedimentary layering...

 caves and shacks.

Recent times

Since 1946, Mittelstrimmig 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 ....

. Until 1970, the municipality belonged to the Verbandsgemeinde of Senheim. However, after state administrative reform, it became part of the newly formed Verbandsgemeinde of Zell
Zell (Verbandsgemeinde)
Zell is a Verbandsgemeinde in the district Cochem-Zell, in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. The seat of the Verbandsgemeinde is in Zell....

 in the Cochem-Zell
Cochem-Zell
Cochem-Zell is a district in the north-west of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Neighboring districts are Mayen-Koblenz, Rhein-Hunsrück, Bernkastel-Wittlich, and Vulkaneifel.- 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 ....

.

Name origin

The name Strimmig, formerly Stremig or Stremich, is of Slavic
Slavic languages
The Slavic languages , a group of closely related languages of the Slavic peoples and a subgroup of Indo-European languages, have speakers in most of Eastern Europe, in much of the Balkans, in parts of Central Europe, and in the northern part of Asia.-Branches:Scholars traditionally divide Slavic...

-Celtic
Celtic languages
The Celtic languages are descended from Proto-Celtic, or "Common Celtic"; a branch of the greater Indo-European language family...

 origin. Strymu means “hanging” or “sloping”, and is held to mean “on the slope”.

Municipal council

The council is made up of 8 council members, who were elected by majority vote
Plurality 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.

Mayor

Mittelstrimmig’s mayor is Lothar Jakobs, and his deputies are Heiko Theisen and Thomas Egon.

Coat of arms

The German blazon reads: Das Wappen von Mittelstrimmig ist schräg geteilt. Von Gold und Grün senkrecht gebrochen. In Gold ist ein Eichenblatt mit 2 Eicheln in silberner Frucht. In Grün eine 5-endiges Hirschgeweih.

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: Per bend fracted per pale in the middle, Or an oakleaf bendwise slipped vert fructed of two argent and vert a stag’s attire of five points bendwise of the first.

The oakleaf stands for the municipality’s extensive forests, and the stag’s antler for the wildlife.

Buildings

The following are listed buildings or sites 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 ....

’s Directory of Cultural Monuments:
  • Saint Philip’s
    Philip the Apostle
    Philip the Apostle was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus. Later Christian traditions describe Philip as the apostle who preached in Greece, Syria, and Phrygia....

     and Saint James’s
    James the Just
    James , first Bishop of Jerusalem, who died in 62 AD, was an important figure in Early Christianity...

     Catholic Church (Kirche St. Philippus und Jakobus), Schulstraße – three-naved Baroque
    Baroque architecture
    Baroque architecture is a term used to describe the building style of the Baroque era, begun in late sixteenth century Italy, that took the Roman vocabulary of Renaissance architecture and used it in a new rhetorical and theatrical fashion, often to express the triumph of the Catholic Church and...

     hall church
    Hall church
    A hall church is a church with nave and side aisles of approximately equal height, often united under a single immense roof. The term was first coined in the mid-19th century by the pioneering German art historian Wilhelm Lübke....

    , 1766-1769, architect possibly Paul Stehling (or Stähling), Strasbourg
    Strasbourg
    Strasbourg is the capital and principal city of the Alsace region in eastern France and is the official seat of the European Parliament. Located close to the border with Germany, it is the capital of the Bas-Rhin département. The city and the region of Alsace are historically German-speaking,...

    , quire expansion 1959-1962; two tomb slabs, one Late Gothic
    Gothic architecture
    Gothic architecture is a style of architecture that flourished during the high and late medieval period. It evolved from Romanesque architecture and was succeeded by Renaissance architecture....

    , 1522, obviously used again in 1729; two grave crosses, 1811, 1819; whole complex with surrounding area
  • Auf der Venn 2 – Quereinhaus (a combination residential and commercial house divided for these two purposes down the middle, perpendicularly to the street); timber-frame
    Timber framing
    Timber framing , or half-timbering, also called in North America "post-and-beam" construction, is the method of creating structures using heavy squared off and carefully fitted and joined timbers with joints secured by large wooden pegs . It is commonplace in large barns...

     building, partly solid, 18th century
  • Schulstraße 11/13 – timber-frame house, no. 11 plastered, no. 13 partly slated, hipped mansard roof
    Mansard roof
    A mansard or mansard roof is a four-sided gambrel-style hip roof characterized by two slopes on each of its sides with the lower slope at a steeper angle than the upper that is punctured by dormer windows. The roof creates an additional floor of habitable space, such as a garret...

    , 18th century
  • At the Hannosiusmühle (mill) south of the village in the Mittelstrimmig forest – chapel
    Chapel
    A chapel is a building used by Christians as a place of fellowship and worship. It may be part of a larger structure or complex, such as a church, college, hospital, palace, prison or funeral home, located on board a military or commercial ship, or it may be an entirely free-standing building,...

    , aisleless church
    Aisleless church
    An Aisleless church is a single-nave church building that consists of a single hall-like room. While similar to the hall church, the aisleless church lacks aisles or passageways either side of the nave separated from the nave by colonnades or arcades, a row of pillars or columns...

    , ridge turret, 19th century
  • On Kreisstraße (District Road) 43 going towards Liesenich
    Liesenich
    Liesenich is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in the Cochem-Zell district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It belongs to the Verbandsgemeinde of Zell, whose seat is in the municipality of Zell an der Mosel...

     – wayside chapel, inside: Baroque
    Baroque art
    Baroque painting is the painting associated with the Baroque cultural movement. The movement is often identified with Absolutism, the Counter Reformation and Catholic Revival, but the existence of important Baroque art and architecture in non-absolutist and Protestant states throughout Western...

     Crucifix
    Crucifix
    A crucifix is an independent image of Jesus on the cross with a representation of Jesus' body, referred to in English as the corpus , as distinct from a cross with no body....

    , possibly from the 18th or 19th century
  • Cast-iron
    Cast iron
    Cast iron is derived from pig iron, and while it usually refers to gray iron, it also identifies a large group of ferrous alloys which solidify with a eutectic. The color of a fractured surface can be used to identify an alloy. White cast iron is named after its white surface when fractured, due...

     wayside cross, 19th century


Although not a listed building, the Weißmühle (“White Mill”) is also to be found in Mittelstrimmig. Part of the film Der Schinderhannes – the title character’s
Schinderhannes
Johannes Bückler , nicknamed Schinderhannes, was a German outlaw who orchestrated one of the most fascinating crime sprees in German history. He was born at Miehlen, the son of Johann and Anna Maria Bückler. He began an apprenticeship to a tanner, but turned to petty theft. At 16 he was arrested...

 homecoming with his girlfriend Julchen Blasius to his father’s house – was made here. Another mill in the municipality is the one mentioned above in connection with the chapel with the ridge turret, the Hannosiusmühle, which nowadays houses a clinic that treats addictions.

Clubs

Life in Mittelstrimmig is characterized, as in other villages, by its clubs. Almost all clubs have names containing the placename “Strimmig”. Among the regular events in Mittelstrimmig are the Maikirmes (“May Fair”), which is held on the second weekend in May. One event of national importance is the International Federation of Popular Sports (Internationaler Volkssportverband or IVV) hike
Hiking
Hiking is an outdoor activity which consists of walking in natural environments, often in mountainous or other scenic terrain. People often hike on hiking trails. It is such a popular activity that there are numerous hiking organizations worldwide. The health benefits of different types of hiking...

 on the second or third weekend in September, which is attended by hiking enthusiasts from all over 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 ....

, Hesse
Hesse
Hesse or Hessia is both a cultural region of Germany and the name of an individual German state.* The cultural region of Hesse includes both the State of Hesse and the area known as Rhenish Hesse in the neighbouring Rhineland-Palatinate state...

, Luxembourg
Luxembourg
Luxembourg , officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg , is a landlocked country in western Europe, bordered by Belgium, France, and Germany. It has two principal regions: the Oesling in the North as part of the Ardennes massif, and the Gutland in the south...

, Belgium
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...

 and the Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...

.

Parish church

Saint Philip’s
Philip the Apostle
Philip the Apostle was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus. Later Christian traditions describe Philip as the apostle who preached in Greece, Syria, and Phrygia....

 and Saint James’s
James the Just
James , first Bishop of Jerusalem, who died in 62 AD, was an important figure in Early Christianity...

 Church (Kirche St. Philippus und Jakobus) was built between 1766 and 1769 and cost, according to a surviving request document sent to the then Prince-Archbishop-Elector of Trier, Johann Phillip von Walderdorf, 2,000 Reichsthaler
Reichsthaler
The Reichsthaler was a standard Thaler of the Holy Roman Empire, established in 1566 by the Leipzig convention. It was also the name of a unit of account in northern Germany and of a silver coin issued by Prussia.-Reichsthaler coin:...

. The first work to strengthen the church’s structure was undertaken as early as 1777. Further work needed to be done in 1845, 1861, 1863, 1881 and 1883. Remodelling between 1959 and 1962 fundamentally altered the church, with the chancel and quire being completely changed.

Church bells

style="padding-bottom: 0.5em" | Mittelstrimmig’s Bells
Number
Weight (kg)
Name
Inscription
Note
1
1250
Christusglocke
Rex Christe, impera super nos
D
2
750
Marienglocke
Maria, assumpta, pro nobis ora
F
3
500
Josefglocke
Sancte Josef, nobiscum labora
G
4
250
Apostelglocke
Sancti Apostoli, vocate apostolos
B

Mittelstrimmig managed to keep its church bells in the First World War while others were being seized in the war effort to be melted down. What they were spared in the Great War, however, they were not spared in the Second World War; in 1943, the Army High Command decided to take the bells for war requirements. In 1951, however, sacrifices by the parish made it possible for the church to obtain four new steel
Steel
Steel is an alloy that consists mostly of iron and has a carbon content between 0.2% and 2.1% by weight, depending on the grade. Carbon is the most common alloying material for iron, but various other alloying elements are used, such as manganese, chromium, vanadium, and tungsten...

 bells, listed in the table at right.

One of the old bells was actually saved from the Wehrmacht
Wehrmacht
The Wehrmacht – from , to defend and , the might/power) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the Heer , the Kriegsmarine and the Luftwaffe .-Origin and use of the term:...

. It dates from 1373 and is now at the church in Altstrimmig
Altstrimmig
Altstrimmig is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in the Cochem-Zell district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany...

.

Heiligenhäuschen

Mittelstrimmig is home to three Heiligenhäuschen – small, shrinelike structures, each consecrated to a saint or saints.

The Dietzen-Heiligenhäuschen between Mittelstrimmig and Liesenich
Liesenich
Liesenich is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in the Cochem-Zell district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It belongs to the Verbandsgemeinde of Zell, whose seat is in the municipality of Zell an der Mosel...

 was built in 1700 by the Schöffe (roughly “lay jurist”) Johann Dietzen. In 2003, it was completely renovated. The figures were stolen by a thief from Valwig
Valwig
Valwig is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in the Cochem-Zell district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It belongs to the Verbandsgemeinde of Cochem, whose seat is in the like-named town...

, but were replaced.

The Schock-Heiligenhäuschen was built in the 18th century and stands on Landesstraße (State Road) 202 between Mittelstrimmig and Blankenrath
Blankenrath
Blankenrath is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in the Cochem-Zell district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It belongs to the Verbandsgemeinde of Zell, whose seat is in the municipality of Zell an der Mosel.- Location :The...

. A parallel path leads to the Galgenflur (roughly, “Gallows Field”). The Schock-Heiligenhäuschen was every condemned man’s last stop on the way to the gallows
Gallows
A gallows is a frame, typically wooden, used for execution by hanging, or by means to torture before execution, as was used when being hanged, drawn and quartered...

.

There is a third Heiligenhäuschen in the cadastral area called Konnel.

Education

In Mittelstrimmig are found the Kindergarten
Kindergarten
A kindergarten is a preschool educational institution for children. The term was created by Friedrich Fröbel for the play and activity institute that he created in 1837 in Bad Blankenburg as a social experience for children for their transition from home to school...

 Strimmiger Berg
and the Grundschule Strimmiger Berg (primary school), which are also attended by children from surrounding villages. Secondary school
Secondary school
Secondary school is a term used to describe an educational institution where the final stage of schooling, known as secondary education and usually compulsory up to a specified age, takes place...

s are to be found in Blankenrath
Blankenrath
Blankenrath is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in the Cochem-Zell district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It belongs to the Verbandsgemeinde of Zell, whose seat is in the municipality of Zell an der Mosel.- Location :The...

, Kastellaun
Kastellaun
-Climate:Yearly precipitation in Kastellaun amounts to 755 mm, which falls into the middle third of the precipitation chart for all Germany. At 53% of the German Weather Service’s weather stations, lower figures recorded. The driest month is April. The most rainfall comes in June. In that...

, Zell
Zell (Mosel)
Zell is a town in the Cochem-Zell district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Zell has roughly 4,300 inhabitants and is the seat of the like-named Verbandsgemeinde.-Location:...

 and Cochem
Cochem
Cochem is the seat of and the biggest place in the Cochem-Zell district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. With just under 5,000 inhabitants, Cochem falls just behind Kusel, in the like-named district, as Germany's second smallest district seat...

.
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