Ober-Olm
Encyclopedia
Ober-Olm is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality
belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde
, a kind of collective municipality – in the Mainz-Bingen
district in Rhineland-Palatinate
, Germany
.
-Layenhof, Mainz-Finthen, Mainz-Drais, Mainz-Lerchenberg, Mainz-Bretzenheim, Mainz-Marienborn, Klein-Winternheim
, Mainz-Ebersheim, Nieder-Olm
and Essenheim
.
settlement in the Ober-Olm cadastral area of Villenkeller. Ober-Olm itself arose in the 6th century as a Frankish
establishment and had its first documentary mention in 994. The name “Ulmena Superior” from 1190 was formerly associated with elm
trees, Ulme being the Modern High German
word for this tree; however, this word was not borrowed
into German from Latin
(ulmus) until the 12th century. The formation of the placename Ulm and an ending —ena is typical for a brook’s name, and these were often also used as placenames. It can be assumed that Ulmena was the name that the Germanic
settlers between Ober-Olm and Nieder-Olm gave the Selz. The few Roman people left still used the name Salusia for the brook, which was the name that eventually stuck to it. Ulmena, however, remained as well, and clove to both the centres now bearing Olm as part of their names.
In 1582, 1603 and 1857, Ober-Olm was destroyed by devastating fires.
Since 1972, Ober-Olm has belonged to the Verbandsgemeinde of Nieder-Olm
, whose seat is in the like-named town
.
Many ecclesiastical and monastic institutions had landholdings in the municipality, among whom were, for example, Eberbach Abbey
, the Maria Dalheim monasteries in Mainz, the Dominican
s and the Carthusian
s, the White Ladies (an order of nuns devoted to Mary Magdalene
) in Mainz and All Hallows’ Monastery in Wesel. Furthermore, the Cathedral Chapter in Mainz, the Ravengiersburg Monastery, Saint John’s Church in Mainz, Saint Stephen’s Church in Mainz
, Mariengreden, Saint Victor’s and Saint Peter’s were all landholders.
In 2003, the German-Pennsylvanian Association
was founded in Ober-Olm. It's also the village, where the German-Pennsylvanian newspaper Hiwwe wie Driwwe
is being published by the Private Archive of Pennsylvania German Literature.
Mainz-Finthen airfield was seized by the United States Third Army, and used by the USAAF 354th Fighter Group
which flew P-47 Thunderbolts from the aerodrome (designated ALG Y-64
) from 8 to 30 April 1945. Acquired for use by the United States Army after the conclusion of the war, the former German Luftwaffe fighter base was named Finthen Army Airfield and has been used by Army aviation units ever since.
The seats divided by party membership:
(as per municipal election held on 7 June 2009)
, Vosges
, France
Schloßvippach
, Sömmerda district
, Thuringia
There are also friendship arrangements with the following places: Bobrowice
, Lubusz Voivodeship
, Poland
Bruck in der Oberpfalz
, Schwandorf district
, Bavaria
Seebach
, Ortenaukreis
, Baden-Württemberg
Seiffen
, Erzgebirgskreis
, Saxony
Wolfsegg am Hausruck
, Upper Austria
, Austria
in 1966. Its nicknames include “Olmi”, “Ober-Olmer Spargel” (Spargel means “asparagus” in German
) and “Fernsehturm” (“Television Tower”). It stands at 49°56′31"N 8°10′16"E. In 1990, the transmission tower had another 38 m built onto the top, bringing its current height to 108.35 m.
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 Mainz-Bingen
Mainz-Bingen
Mainz-Bingen is a district in the east of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Neighboring districts are Rheingau-Taunus, the district-free cities Wiesbaden and Mainz, the districts Groß-Gerau, Alzey-Worms, Bad Kreuznach, Rhein-Hunsrück.-History:During the French occupation under Napoleon the district...
district 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...
.
Neighbouring municipalities
Ober-Olm’s neighbours are MainzMainz
Mainz under the Holy Roman Empire, and previously was a Roman fort city which commanded the west bank of the Rhine and formed part of the northernmost frontier of the Roman Empire...
-Layenhof, Mainz-Finthen, Mainz-Drais, Mainz-Lerchenberg, Mainz-Bretzenheim, Mainz-Marienborn, Klein-Winternheim
Klein-Winternheim
Klein-Winternheim is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in the Mainz-Bingen district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany.-Location:...
, Mainz-Ebersheim, Nieder-Olm
Nieder-Olm
Nieder-Olm is a town in the Mainz-Bingen district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Until 5 November 2006 it was an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – but it was raised to town the next day...
and Essenheim
Essenheim
Essenheim is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in the Mainz-Bingen district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany.-Location:Essenheim lies in Rhenish Hesse southwest of Mainz...
.
History
Finds in the municipal area have yielded the first clues to settlers here in the 4th century BC. In AD 97, Consul Vejento had a temple built to the forest goddess Nemetona near his Klein-Winternheim landholding, a richly furnished RomanAncient 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 in the Ober-Olm cadastral area of Villenkeller. Ober-Olm itself arose in the 6th century as a Frankish
Franks
The Franks were a confederation of Germanic tribes first attested in the third century AD as living north and east of the Lower Rhine River. From the third to fifth centuries some Franks raided Roman territory while other Franks joined the Roman troops in Gaul. Only the Salian Franks formed a...
establishment and had its first documentary mention in 994. The name “Ulmena Superior” from 1190 was formerly associated with elm
Elm
Elms are deciduous and semi-deciduous trees comprising the genus Ulmus in the plant family Ulmaceae. The dozens of species are found in temperate and tropical-montane regions of North America and Eurasia, ranging southward into Indonesia. Elms are components of many kinds of natural forests...
trees, Ulme being the Modern High 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....
word for this tree; however, this word was not borrowed
Loanword
A loanword is a word borrowed from a donor language and incorporated into a recipient language. By contrast, a calque or loan translation is a related concept where the meaning or idiom is borrowed rather than the lexical item itself. The word loanword is itself a calque of the German Lehnwort,...
into German from Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
(ulmus) until the 12th century. The formation of the placename Ulm and an ending —ena is typical for a brook’s name, and these were often also used as placenames. It can be assumed that Ulmena was the name that the Germanic
Germanic peoples
The Germanic peoples are an Indo-European ethno-linguistic group of Northern European origin, identified by their use of the Indo-European Germanic languages which diversified out of Proto-Germanic during the Pre-Roman Iron Age.Originating about 1800 BCE from the Corded Ware Culture on the North...
settlers between Ober-Olm and Nieder-Olm gave the Selz. The few Roman people left still used the name Salusia for the brook, which was the name that eventually stuck to it. Ulmena, however, remained as well, and clove to both the centres now bearing Olm as part of their names.
In 1582, 1603 and 1857, Ober-Olm was destroyed by devastating fires.
Since 1972, Ober-Olm has belonged to the Verbandsgemeinde of Nieder-Olm
Nieder-Olm (Verbandsgemeinde)
Verbandsgemeinde Nieder-Olm is a collective municipality in the district Mainz-Bingen in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. The administrative center of the Verbandsgemeinde Nieder-Olm is located in the town of Nieder-Olm...
, whose seat is in the like-named town
Nieder-Olm
Nieder-Olm is a town in the Mainz-Bingen district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Until 5 November 2006 it was an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – but it was raised to town the next day...
.
Many ecclesiastical and monastic institutions had landholdings in the municipality, among whom were, for example, Eberbach Abbey
Eberbach Abbey
Eberbach Abbey is a former Cistercian monastery near Eltville am Rhein in the Rheingau, Germany. On account of its impressive Romanesque and early Gothic buildings it is considered one of the most significant architectural heritage sites in Hesse, Germany...
, the Maria Dalheim monasteries in Mainz, the Dominican
Dominican Order
The Order of Preachers , after the 15th century more commonly known as the Dominican Order or Dominicans, is a Catholic religious order founded by Saint Dominic and approved by Pope Honorius III on 22 December 1216 in France...
s and the Carthusian
Carthusian
The Carthusian Order, also called the Order of St. Bruno, is a Roman Catholic religious order of enclosed monastics. The order was founded by Saint Bruno of Cologne in 1084 and includes both monks and nuns...
s, the White Ladies (an order of nuns devoted to Mary Magdalene
Mary Magdalene
Mary Magdalene was one of Jesus' most celebrated disciples, and the most important woman disciple in the movement of Jesus. Jesus cleansed her of "seven demons", conventionally interpreted as referring to complex illnesses...
) in Mainz and All Hallows’ Monastery in Wesel. Furthermore, the Cathedral Chapter in Mainz, the Ravengiersburg Monastery, Saint John’s Church in Mainz, Saint Stephen’s Church in Mainz
St. Stephen's Church, Mainz
|right|300 px|thumb|St. Stephan at Mainz. View of the great belfry, the highest spot in the city for centuries, and the nave.The Collegiate Church of St. Stephan, known in German as St. Stephan zu Mainz, is a Gothic hall collegiate church located in the German city of Mainz.-History:St...
, Mariengreden, Saint Victor’s and Saint Peter’s were all landholders.
In 2003, the German-Pennsylvanian Association
German-Pennsylvanian Association
The German-Pennsylvanian Association is an organization founded 2003 in the Rheinhessen area of Ober-Olm in Germany dedicated to cultural exchange and research involving the Pennsylvania Dutch language and people...
was founded in Ober-Olm. It's also the village, where the German-Pennsylvanian newspaper Hiwwe wie Driwwe
Hiwwe wie Driwwe
Hiwwe wie Driwwe, which means "Over here as over there" , is the title of the only existing Pennsylvania German language newspaper. Since 1997 the publication is distributed twice a year. More than 100 Pennsylvania German authors have already contributed pieces of prose, poems and newspaper...
is being published by the Private Archive of Pennsylvania German Literature.
World War II
During the Western Allied invasion of Germany in April 1945, the nearby LuftwaffeLuftwaffe
Luftwaffe is a generic German term for an air force. It is also the official name for two of the four historic German air forces, the Wehrmacht air arm founded in 1935 and disbanded in 1946; and the current Bundeswehr air arm founded in 1956....
Mainz-Finthen airfield was seized by the United States Third Army, and used by the USAAF 354th Fighter Group
354th Fighter Wing
The 354th Fighter Wing is a United States Air Force wing that is part of Pacific Air Forces . It is the host wing at Eielson Air Force Base, Alaska, and is assigned to the Eleventh Air Force .-Overview:...
which flew P-47 Thunderbolts from the aerodrome (designated ALG Y-64
Advanced Landing Ground
Advanced Landing Ground was the term given to the temporary advance airfields constructed by the Allies during World War II in support of the invasion of Europe...
) from 8 to 30 April 1945. Acquired for use by the United States Army after the conclusion of the war, the former German Luftwaffe fighter base was named Finthen Army Airfield and has been used by Army aviation units ever since.
Town council
The council is made up of 20 elected council members, in addition to the unsalaried, directly elected mayor. The mayor has voting rights just like the other council members.The seats divided by party membership:
| SPD Social Democratic Party of Germany The Social Democratic Party of Germany is a social-democratic political party in Germany... |
CDU | FWG | FDP Free Democratic Party (Germany) The Free Democratic Party , abbreviated to FDP, is a centre-right classical liberal political party in Germany. It is led by Philipp Rösler and currently serves as the junior coalition partner to the Union in the German federal government... |
Total | |
| 2009 | 8 | 7 | 3 | 2 | 20 seats |
(as per municipal election held on 7 June 2009)
Town partnerships
RamonchampRamonchamp
Ramonchamp is a large commune in the Vosges department in Lorraine in northeastern France.Inhabitants are called Ramoncenais.-Geography:...
, Vosges
Vosges
Vosges is a French department, named after the local mountain range. It contains the hometown of Joan of Arc, Domrémy.-History:The Vosges department is one of the original 83 departments of France, created on February 9, 1790 during the French Revolution. It was made of territories that had been...
, France
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...
Schloßvippach
Schloßvippach
Schloßvippach is a municipality in the Sömmerda district of Thuringia, Germany....
, Sömmerda district
Sömmerda (district)
Sömmerda is a Kreis in the north of Thuringia, Germany. Neighboring districts are the districts Kyffhäuserkreis, the Burgenlandkreis in Saxony-Anhalt, the district Weimarer Land and the district-free city Erfurt, and the districts Gotha and Unstrut-Hainich.-History:The district Sömmerda was...
, Thuringia
Thuringia
The Free State of Thuringia is a state of Germany, located in the central part of the country.It has an area of and 2.29 million inhabitants, making it the sixth smallest by area and the fifth smallest by population of Germany's sixteen states....
There are also friendship arrangements with the following places: Bobrowice
Bobrowice, Krosno Odrzanskie County
Bobrowice is a village on the Bóbr river in Krosno Odrzańskie County, Lubusz Voivodeship, in western Poland. It is the seat of the gmina called Gmina Bobrowice...
, Lubusz Voivodeship
Lubusz Voivodeship
- Administrative division :Lubusz Voivodeship is divided into 14 counties : 2 city counties and 12 land counties. These are further divided into 83 gminas....
, Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
Bruck in der Oberpfalz
Bruck in der Oberpfalz
Bruck in der Oberpfalz is a market town in the district of Schwandorf in the Upper Palatinate, Bavaria, Germany....
, Schwandorf district
Schwandorf (district)
Schwandorf is a Kreis in the east part of Bavaria, Germany. Neighboring districts are Cham, Regensburg, Neumarkt, Amberg-Sulzbach, Neustadt , and the Czech Plzeň Region.-History:...
, Bavaria
Bavaria
Bavaria, formally the Free State of Bavaria is a state of Germany, located in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the largest state by area, forming almost 20% of the total land area of Germany...
Seebach
Seebach, Baden-Württemberg
Seebach is a town in the district of Ortenau in Baden-Württemberg in Germany....
, Ortenaukreis
Ortenaukreis
Ortenaukreis is a district in the west of Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Neighboring districts are Rastatt, Freudenstadt, Rottweil, Schwarzwald-Baar and Emmendingen...
, Baden-Württemberg
Baden-Württemberg
Baden-Württemberg is one of the 16 states of Germany. Baden-Württemberg is in the southwestern part of the country to the east of the Upper Rhine, and is the third largest in both area and population of Germany's sixteen states, with an area of and 10.7 million inhabitants...
Seiffen
Seiffen
The town of Seiffen is located in the district of Erzgebirgskreis, which is the south-center of the Free State of Saxony in Germany. The earliest record of the town is from 1324 when it was referred to as "Cynsifen"....
, Erzgebirgskreis
Erzgebirgskreis
Erzgebirgskreis is a district in the Free State of Saxony, Germany. It is named after the Erzgebirge , a mountain range in the southern part of the district which forms part of the Germany–Czech Republic border...
, Saxony
Saxony
The Free State of Saxony is a landlocked state of Germany, contingent with Brandenburg, Saxony Anhalt, Thuringia, Bavaria, the Czech Republic and Poland. It is the tenth-largest German state in area, with of Germany's sixteen states....
Wolfsegg am Hausruck
Wolfsegg am Hausruck
Wolfsegg am Hausruck is a municipality in the district of Vöcklabruck in Upper Austria, Austria....
, Upper Austria
Upper Austria
Upper Austria is one of the nine states or Bundesländer of Austria. Its capital is Linz. Upper Austria borders on Germany and the Czech Republic, as well as on the other Austrian states of Lower Austria, Styria, and Salzburg...
, Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
Sightseeing
- Saint Martin’s Church (Martinskirche) with a tower from Carolingian times and a statue of Saint UrbanUrban of LangresSaint Urban of Langres was a French saint and bishop. He served as the sixth bishop of Langres from 374 until his death. Saint Lodegaria was his sister....
from the 16th century. - Hunting lodge of the Electors of Mainz (Altes Forsthaus) from 1764.
- Ober-Olmer Wald (forest), a 335-hectare recreation area.
- Saint Valentine’s Chapel (Valentinskapelle) with its RococoRococoRococo , also referred to as "Late Baroque", is an 18th-century style which developed as Baroque artists gave up their symmetry and became increasingly ornate, florid, and playful...
altar, which stands picturesquely on the edge of the vineyards. - The 650-year-old elmElmElms are deciduous and semi-deciduous trees comprising the genus Ulmus in the plant family Ulmaceae. The dozens of species are found in temperate and tropical-montane regions of North America and Eurasia, ranging southward into Indonesia. Elms are components of many kinds of natural forests...
tree had to be cut down in 1985 after it fell victim to Dutch elm diseaseDutch elm diseaseDutch elm disease is a disease caused by a member of the sac fungi category, affecting elm trees which is spread by the elm bark beetle. Although believed to be originally native to Asia, the disease has been accidentally introduced into America and Europe, where it has devastated native...
. - Renovated Town Hall from 1550, floors added in 1721-1722.
Transport
- The Autobahn A 63Bundesautobahn 63is an autobahn in southwestern Germany. It connects the Mainz area to Kaiserslautern and the A 6 and is therefore an important connection between the Rhine/Main and the Saar areas...
lies approximately 3 km away. - The Deutsche BahnDeutsche BahnDeutsche Bahn AG is the German national railway company, a private joint stock company . Headquartered in Berlin, it came into existence in 1994 as the successor to the former state railways of Germany, the Deutsche Bundesbahn of West Germany and the Deutsche Reichsbahn of East Germany...
railway station Klein-Winternheim/Ober-Olm is found in neighbouring Klein-WinternheimKlein-WinternheimKlein-Winternheim is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in the Mainz-Bingen district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany.-Location:...
. - City bus link to Mainz as far as Hochheim (route 68) and ORN bus links (regional route 650) to outlying areas in Rhenish Hesse as well as into the city of Mainz in the evening and back until after midnight.
Telecommunications
The Ober-Olm Transmission Tower (Fernmeldeturm Ober-Olm) was built as a 70.35 m-tall tower for Deutsche TelekomDeutsche Telekom
Deutsche Telekom AG is a telecommunications company headquartered in Bonn, Germany. It is the largest telecommunications company in Europe....
in 1966. Its nicknames include “Olmi”, “Ober-Olmer Spargel” (Spargel means “asparagus” 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....
) and “Fernsehturm” (“Television Tower”). It stands at 49°56′31"N 8°10′16"E. In 1990, the transmission tower had another 38 m built onto the top, bringing its current height to 108.35 m.
Public Institutions
- Ulmenhalle, a multi-purpose hall at Essenheimer Straße 17a
- Sport facility with artificial-turf football pitch and competition-standard athletic facility, Am Sportplatz (location)
- Kindergarten Abenteuerland (“Kindergarten Adventureland”), Pfannenstiel 36
- Kindertagesstätte St. Elisabeth (daycare centre), Essenheimer Straße 17
Education
- Grundschule Ober-Olm (primary school), Schulstraße, sponsor: Verbandsgemeinde Nieder-Olm
- Kreisvolkshochschule (KVHS, district folk high schoolFolk high schoolFolk high schools are institutions for adult education that generally do not grant academic degrees, though certain courses might exist leading to that goal...
), Ober-Olm branch, Schulstraße 2
Further reading
- Heribert Schmitt et al.: Das Dorf, in dem wir leben, Ober-Olm. Geiger-Verlag, Horb am Neckar 1994, ISBN 978-3-89264-913-7
- Maria Regina Kaiser: Die Trommeln der Freiheit novel, 1848 - Märzrevolution in Mainz, 1998, ISBN 3-00-003678-4
- Claudius Moseler: Der Ober-Olmer Wald - Raumnutzungsansprüche, Gefährdungspotentiale und Nutzungskonkurrenzen in einem rheinhessischen Waldareal Diplomarbeit Geographie, Uni Mainz, 1992