Baumholder () is a town in the

Birkenfeld Birkenfeld () is a town and the district seat of the Birkenfeld (district), Birkenfeld Districts of Germany, district in southwest Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is also the seat of the Birkenfeld (Verbandsgemeinde), like-named ''Verbandsge ...

district A district is a type of administrative division that in some countries is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or county, counties, several municipality, municip ...

Rhineland-Palatinate Rhineland-Palatinate ( , ; ; ; ) is a western state of Germany. It covers and has about 4.05 million residents. It is the ninth largest and sixth most populous of the sixteen states. Mainz is the capital and largest city. Other cities are ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

, in the Westrich, an historic region that encompasses areas in both Germany and

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

. The town of Baumholder is the administrative seat of the like-named ''Verbandsgemeinde'', a state-recognised tourism resort and, according to state planning, a middle centre.Statistisches Landesamt Rheinland-Pfalz – Regionaldaten
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Geography

Location

Baumholder lies between the

Hunsrück The Hunsrück () is a long, triangular, pronounced mountain range, upland in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is bounded by the valleys of the Moselle (river), Moselle-Saar (north-to-west), the Nahe (south), and the Rhine (east). It is continued ...

to the north and the

North Palatine Uplands The North Palatine Uplands (, ), sometimes shortened to Palatine Uplands (''Pfälzer Bergland''), is a low mountain range and landscape unit in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate and belongs mainly to the Palatinate region. It is part of ...

to the south, right on a height that marks the latter's northern boundary. This area is also known as the Westrich. Baumholder lies roughly 10 km south of

Idar-Oberstein Idar-Oberstein () is a town in the Birkenfeld (district), Birkenfeld Districts of Germany, district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. As a ''Große kreisangehörige Stadt'' (large city belonging to a district), it assumes some of the respons ...

. The countryside around Baumholder is marked by many meadows, fields and woodlands, both broadleaf and mixed. A great part of the Baumholder Troop Drilling Ground abutting the town serves as a refuge for many plant and animal species that have become rare, for example the

common kingfisher The common kingfisher (''Alcedo atthis''), also known as the Eurasian kingfisher and river kingfisher, is a small kingfisher with seven subspecies recognized within its wide distribution across Eurasia and North Africa. It is resident in much of ...

, the

lynx A lynx ( ; : lynx or lynxes) is any of the four wikt:extant, extant species (the Canada lynx, Iberian lynx, Eurasian lynx and the bobcat) within the medium-sized wild Felidae, cat genus ''Lynx''. The name originated in Middle Engl ...

and the

badger Badgers are medium-sized short-legged omnivores in the superfamily Musteloidea. Badgers are a polyphyletic rather than a natural taxonomic grouping, being united by their squat bodies and adaptions for fossorial activity rather than by the ...

, some of which are on the

IUCN Red List The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, also known as the IUCN Red List or Red Data Book, founded in 1964, is an inventory of the global conservation status and extinction risk of biological ...

Climate

Yearly

precipitation In meteorology, precipitation is any product of the condensation of atmospheric water vapor that falls from clouds due to gravitational pull. The main forms of precipitation include drizzle, rain, rain and snow mixed ("sleet" in Commonwe ...

in Baumholder amounts to 884 mm. At 76% of the

German Weather Service The () or DWD for short, is the German Meteorological Service, based in Offenbach am Main, Germany, which monitors weather and meteorological conditions over Germany and provides weather services for the general public and for nautical, aviati ...

weather station A weather station is a facility, either on land or sea, with instruments and equipment for measuring atmosphere of Earth, atmospheric conditions to provide information for weather forecasting, weather forecasts and to study the weather and clima ...

s, lower figures are recorded. The driest month is April. The most rainfall comes in December. In that month, precipitation is twice what it is in April. Precipitation varies only slightly. At 46% of the weather stations, lower seasonal swings are recorded.

History

Middle Ages to 19th century

In 1156, Baumholder had its first documentary mention as ''Bemondula'', then held by the

Bishop of Verdun The Diocese of Verdun (; ) is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Catholic Church in France. It is a suffragan diocese in the ecclesiastical province of the metropolitan Archdiocese of Besançon. The Diocese of Verdun co ...

. By the 14th century, it had ended up under the

Counts of Veldenz The County Palatine of Veldenz was a principality in the contemporary Land Rhineland-Palatinate with full voting rights to the Reichstag. The county was located partially between Kaiserslautern, Sponheim and Zweibrücken, partially on the Mosel ...

, until 1444, when it was acquired by

Stephen, Count Palatine of Simmern-Zweibrücken Stephen of Simmern-Zweibrücken () (23 June 1385 – 14 February 1459, Simmern) was Count Palatine of Simmern and Zweibrücken from 1410 until his death in 1459.Ludwig Molitor: Vollständige Geschichte der ehemals pfalz-bayerischen Residenzstadt ...

. Until the French Revolution, Baumholder was the seat of a Zweibrücken ''

Schultheiß In medieval Germany, the ''Schultheiß'' () was the head of a municipality (akin to today's office of mayor), a '' Vogt'' or an executive official of the ruler. As official (''villicus'') it was his duty to order his assigned village or county ( ...

erei''. In 1490,

Alexander, Count Palatine of Zweibrücken Alexander of Zweibrücken () (26 November 1462 – 21 October 1514) was Count Palatine, Duke of Zweibrücken and Count of Veldenz in 1489–1514. Life He was the son of Louis I, Count Palatine of Zweibrücken and his wife Johanna of Croÿ. A ...

gave Baumholder leave to fortify the market town. Although town rights were never explicitly granted Baumholder, the town acquired a number of privileges over the ages that have more or less amounted to as much. From 1816, Baumholder, along with the rest of the

Principality of Lichtenberg The Principality of Lichtenberg () on the Nahe River was an exclave of the Duchy of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld from 1816 to 1826 and the Duchy of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha from 1826 to 1834, when it was sold to the Kingdom of Prussia. Today its territori ...

, belonged as an

exclave An enclave is a territory that is entirely surrounded by the territory of only one other state or entity. An enclave can be an independent territory or part of a larger one. Enclaves may also exist within territorial waters. ''Enclave'' is s ...

Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld () was one of the Ernestine duchies, Saxon Duchies held by the Ernestine line of the House of Wettin. Established in 1699, the Saxe-Coburg-Saalfield line lasted until the reshuffle of the Ernestine territories that occurred f ...

. The Principality was sold in 1834 to

Prussia Prussia (; ; Old Prussian: ''Prūsija'') was a Germans, German state centred on the North European Plain that originated from the 1525 secularization of the Prussia (region), Prussian part of the State of the Teutonic Order. For centuries, ...

and came to form the geographical centre of the Sankt Wendel district, whose bounds to this day define most of the bounds of the

Evangelical Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide, interdenominational movement within Protestantism, Protestant Christianity that emphasizes evangelism, or the preaching and spreading of th ...

church district of Sankt Wendel.

20th century

With the formation of the

Territory of the Saar Basin The Territory of the Saar Basin (, ; ) was a region occupied and governed by the United Kingdom and France from 1920 to 1935 under a League of Nations mandate. It had its own flag (adopted on 28 July 1920): a blue, white, and black horizontal t ...

in 1919, Baumholder was split from the district seat of

Sankt Wendel St. Wendel (; sometimes spelled in full as Sankt Wendel) is a town in northeastern Saarland. It is situated on the river Blies 36 km northeast of Saarbrücken, the capital of Saarland, and is named after Saint Wendelin of Trier. According t ...

by the newly drawn border and thereafter became the seat of the ''Restkreis'' (roughly "remnant district") of St. Wendel-Baumholder. Its designation as a ''Restkreis'' arose from its being what was left of the Sankt Wendel district on the Prussian side of the border once the Territory of the Saar Basin had been formed under the terms of the

Treaty of Versailles The Treaty of Versailles was a peace treaty signed on 28 June 1919. As the most important treaty of World War I, it ended the state of war between Germany and most of the Allies of World War I, Allied Powers. It was signed in the Palace ...

. It was run as a rural district (''Landkreis''), however. Once the Saar area was returned to Germany in 1935, though, the district remained separate. On 1 April 1937, the ''Restkreis'' was merged into the Birkenfeld district. In the 20th century, Baumholder became a garrison town when the

Wehrmacht The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the German Army (1935–1945), ''Heer'' (army), the ''Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmac ...

built its barracks and troop drilling ground here. To do this, several thousand inhabitants were moved. Between 1941 and 1945, the troop drilling ground was the location of a

prisoner-of-war camp A prisoner-of-war camp (often abbreviated as POW camp) is a site for the containment of enemy fighters captured as Prisoner of war, prisoners of war by a belligerent power in time of war. There are significant differences among POW camps, inte ...

for

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Polish people, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken * Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin ...

and other

prisoners A prisoner, also known as an inmate or detainee, is a person who is deprived of liberty against their will. This can be by confinement or captivity in a prison or physical restraint. The term usually applies to one serving a sentence in priso ...

After the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, after a short occupation by the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...

, French soldiers were stationed in Baumholder for a few years. These left the garrison when the Americans came back. The United States Army built the troop drilling ground beginning in 1951 into one of its biggest garrisons in Germany, which also brought Baumholder a considerable upswing in its economy in the 1950s: bars opened, as did dancehalls and music halls. On 1 January 1994, the municipality of Gutsbezirk Baumholder (''Gutsbezirk'' means "estate area") was amalgamated with Baumholder, although not wholly, for parts of the area were also shared out to other neighbouring municipalities in both the Birkenfeld and

Kusel Kusel (; written ''Cusel'' until 1865) is a town in the Kusel (district), Kusel Districts of Germany, district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is the seat of the Kusel-Altenglan ''Verbandsgemeinde'' and is also the district seat. The well-kno ...

districts. The municipality of Zaubach had already been merged into Gutsbezirk Baumholder on 1 January 1978. On August 10, 2005 a group of US Army

soldier A soldier is a person who is a member of an army. A soldier can be a Conscription, conscripted or volunteer Enlisted rank, enlisted person, a non-commissioned officer, a warrant officer, or an Officer (armed forces), officer. Etymology The wo ...

s engaged in a crime spree within the town of Baumholder, burgling several

US Government The Federal Government of the United States of America (U.S. federal government or U.S. government) is the national government of the United States. The U.S. federal government is composed of three distinct branches: legislative, execut ...

buildings in Smith Barracks. The soldiers stole computer equipment,

robbed Robbery is the crime of taking or attempting to take anything of value by force, threat of force, or use of fear. According to common law, robbery is defined as taking the property of another, with the intent to permanently deprive the person o ...

a local German

taxi A taxi, also known as a taxicab or simply a cab, is a type of vehicle for hire with a Driving, driver, used by a single passenger or small group of passengers, often for a non-shared ride. A taxicab conveys passengers between locations of thei ...

driver, and ended their spree early the next morning by setting fire to the Town Hall (''Rathaus''). Later that day, German law enforcement took into custody two US Army soldiers and were seeking a third for questioning. Investigators eventually questioned as many as 20 persons, both

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, p ...

and

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

nationals, for information about the crime spree. Private First Class Zachary Watson and

Specialist A specialist is someone who is an expert in, or devoted to, some specific branch of study or research. Specialist may also refer to: Occupations * Specialist (rank), military rank ** Specialist (Singapore) * Specialist officer, military rank in ...

Samuel Bell were arrested by German authorities in connection to the crimes which totalled more than

€ The euro sign () is the currency sign used for the euro, the official currency of the eurozone. The design was presented to the public by the European Commission on 12 December 1996. It consists of a stylized letter E (or epsilon), crossed by t ...

1.5 million in damage. The soldiers were handed over to US officials. Watson was sentenced to 15 years in

prison A prison, also known as a jail, gaol, penitentiary, detention center, correction center, correctional facility, or remand center, is a facility where Prisoner, people are Imprisonment, imprisoned under the authority of the State (polity), state ...

court-martial A court-martial (plural ''courts-martial'' or ''courts martial'', as "martial" is a postpositive adjective) is a military court or a trial conducted in such a court. A court-martial is empowered to determine the guilt of members of the arme ...

. In a separate court-martial proceeding, Bell was sentenced to seven years in prison,

dishonourable discharge A military discharge is given when a member of the armed forces is released from their obligation to serve. Each country's military has different types of discharge. They are generally based on whether the persons completed their training and the ...

, demotion to

private Private or privates may refer to: Music * "In Private", by Dusty Springfield from the 1990 album ''Reputation'' * Private (band), a Denmark-based band * "Private" (Ryōko Hirosue song), from the 1999 album ''Private'', written and also recorded ...

and forfeiture of all pay and allowances.

Politics

Town council

The council is made up of 20 council members, who were elected by

proportional representation Proportional representation (PR) refers to any electoral system under which subgroups of an electorate are reflected proportionately in the elected body. The concept applies mainly to political divisions (Political party, political parties) amon ...

at the municipal election held on 7 June 2009, and the honorary mayor as chairman. The municipal election held on 7 June 2009 yielded the following results:

Mayor

Baumholder's mayor is Günther Jung (FWG).

Coat of arms

The German blazon reads: ''Das Wappen der Stadt Baumholder zeigt im silbernen Schilde einen aus grünem Dreiberg aufwachsenden grün belaubten Holder- (Holunder-) baum. Neben dem Stamm desselben erscheint an nach außen gebogenen grünen Stielen rechts und links je eine vergrößerte, naturfarbene (weiße) Blüte des Holderbaums. Auf dem Schilde ruht die dreitürmige steinfarbene Mauerkrone.'' The town's

arms Arms or ARMS may refer to: *Arm or arms, the upper limbs of the body Arm, Arms, or ARMS may also refer to: People * Ida A. T. Arms (1856–1931), American missionary-educator, temperance leader Coat of arms or weapons *Armaments or weapons **Fi ...

might in English

heraldic Heraldry is a discipline relating to the design, display and study of armorial bearings (known as armory), as well as related disciplines, such as vexillology, together with the study of ceremony, rank and pedigree. Armory, the best-known branc ...

language be described thus: Argent issuant from a mount of three vert in base an elder tree leafed of the same between two elder blossoms proper, also issuant from the mount, the dexter with stem embowed to dexter and the sinister with stem embowed to sinister, the shield ensigned with a mural crown with three towers masoned and embattled proper. The arms were designed in 1907 by the Berlin heraldic artist Prof. Hildebrandt, and go back to town seals and arms borne in the 16th and 17th centuries. The arms have been borne since 8 February 1909 when they were approved, with a signature on the

watercolour Watercolor (American English) or watercolour ( Commonwealth English; see spelling differences), also ''aquarelle'' (; from Italian diminutive of Latin 'water'), is a painting method"Watercolor may be as old as art itself, going back to the ...

original, by Wilhelm II, King of Prussia.

Town partnerships

Baumholder fosters partnerships with the following places: * Warcq,

Ardennes The Ardennes ( ; ; ; ; ), also known as the Ardennes Forest or Forest of Ardennes, is a region of extensive forests, rough terrain, rolling hills and ridges primarily in Belgium and Luxembourg, extending into Germany and France. Geological ...

, since the 1960s *

Delaware Delaware ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic and South Atlantic states, South Atlantic regions of the United States. It borders Maryland to its south and west, Pennsylvania to its north, New Jersey ...

Ohio Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...

, United States, since 13 May 2011

Culture and sightseeing

Buildings

The following are listed buildings or sites in

’s Directory of Cultural Monuments: *

parish church, Kirchstraße 19 –

Baroque The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western Style (visual arts), style of Baroque architecture, architecture, Baroque music, music, Baroque dance, dance, Baroque painting, painting, Baroque sculpture, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from ...

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 on either side of the nave and separated from the nave by col ...

, 1748–1750, architect Friedrich Hartmann Koch, Kusel; west tower Late Gothic * Saint Simon's and

Saint Jude Jude the Apostle (Ancient Greek: Ἰούδας Ἰακώβου translit. Ioúdas Iakóbou Syriac/Aramaic: ܝܗܘܕܐ translit. Yahwada) was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus according to the New Testament. He is generally identified as Tha ...

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

Parish Church (''Pfarrkirche St. Simon und Judas Thaddäus''), Hinterm Turm/corner of Hinter Haselweg –

Gothic Revival Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic or neo-Gothic) is an Architectural style, architectural movement that after a gradual build-up beginning in the second half of the 17th century became a widespread movement in the first half ...

hall church A hall church is a Church (building), church with a nave and aisles of approximately equal height. In England, Flanders and the Netherlands, it is covered by parallel roofs, typically, one for each vessel, whereas in Germany there is often one s ...

, 1882–1885, architect P. Kontzen,

Deggendorf Deggendorf (; ) is a town in Bavaria, Germany, capital of the Deggendorf district. It is located on the left bank approximately in the middle between the Danube cities of Regensburg and Passau. The Danube forms the town's natural border towards ...

Bavaria Bavaria, officially the Free State of Bavaria, is a States of Germany, state in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the list of German states by area, largest German state by land area, comprising approximately 1/5 of the total l ...

; furnishings * Town fortifications – built in the 16th century, only two towers preserved: ** ''Dicker Turm'' ("Fat Tower" or "Thick Tower") – full-round, quarrystone, partly reconstructed ** ''Leichenpförtchen'' ("Little

Lychgate A lychgate (from Old English ''līc'', corpse) or resurrection gate is a covered gateway found at the entrance to a traditional English or English-style churchyard. Examples also exist outside the British Isles in places such as Newfoundland, the ...

") – square gatetower, pyramidal roof * Across from Badegasse 1 – so-called ''Schmiede Bier''; small smithy, possibly about 1840; technical fittings * Hauptstraße 10 – former town hall; seven-axis, three-floor

Classicist Classics, also classical studies or Ancient Greek and Roman studies, is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, ''classics'' traditionally refers to the study of Ancient Greek literature, Ancient Greek and Roman literature and ...

building with hipped roof, 1840 * Hauptstraße 16 – ''Quereinhaus'' (a combination residential and commercial house divided for these two purposes down the middle, perpendicularly to the street), twelve-axis ''Quereinhaus'', late 19th century * Korngasse 1 – ''Gasthaus Goldener Engel'' (

inn Inns are generally establishments or buildings where travelers can seek lodging, and usually, food and drink. Inns are typically located in the country or along a highway. Before the advent of motorized transportation, they also provided accomm ...

); three-floor plastered building, partly slated, early 20th century; characterises town's appearance * Marktplatz – so-called ''Wäschbach''; five-sided walled basin, essentially from the 19th century * Guthausmühle/Edingers Mühle (mill), northeast of the town on the Guthausbach – witnessed in 1750; three-sided estate: commercial building, mill, house and since 1890 inn joined together; gristmill from the latter half of the 19th century; fittings

Dialect

The regional dialect is highly consistent with the Saarland Dialect, a Rhine Franconian dialect spoken mainly in the east of the

Saarland Saarland (, ; ) is a state of Germany in the southwest of the country. With an area of and population of 990,509 in 2018, it is the smallest German state in area apart from the city-states of Berlin, Bremen, and Hamburg, and the smallest in ...

. German speakers from other regions often mistake Baumholderers for people from the Saarland for this reason, although Baumholder speech is a relative "island dialect", for in all neighbouring centres, such as

and

Freisen Freisen is a municipality in the district of Sankt Wendel, in Saarland, Germany. It is situated approximately 12 km northeast of Sankt Wendel, and 20 km southwest of Idar-Oberstein. The public transportation in Freisen/Oberkirchen is th ...

, even in ones like Freisen that are actually in the Saarland, the pronunciation is noticeably different.

Deutschland-Rallye

Baumholder is a venue for the Hunsrück-Rallye and later the

ADAC The ADAC, officially the Allgemeiner Deutscher Automobil-Club (), is Europe's largest automobile association. The ADAC is the largest wikt:Verein, ''verein'' (club) in Germany, with around 21 million members. Its headquarters are located i ...

Rallye Deutschland The ADAC Rallye Deutschland is a Rallying, rally event held in Germany. The event was first held in 1982 and originally hosted by e.g. Frankfurt, Mainz and Koblenz. In 2000, the rally was relocated to the region around Trier. Previously part of ...

, which has every year since 2002, except 2009, been a stage in the

World Rally Championship The World Rally Championship (abbreviated as WRC) is an international rallying series owned and governed by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile, FIA. Inaugurated in 1973, it is the oldest FIA world championship after Formula One. E ...

. The ''Altstadtfest'' ("Old Town Festival") held at the same time as the rally is among the region's most important events.

OIE Triathlon

Since 2005, a

triathlon A triathlon is an endurance multisport race consisting of Swimming (sport), swimming, Cycle sport, cycling, and running over various distances. Triathletes compete for fastest overall completion time, racing each segment sequentially with the ...

has been held each year in the town of Baumholder. This is open to individual or team competition.

Clubs

One of the town's best known clubs is VfR Baumholder sport club. Other less well known but important clubs include the ''Deutsche Lebens-Rettungs-Gesellschaft'' (

DLRG The German Life Saving Association ( or DLRG) is a relief organization for life saving in Germany. The DLRG is the largest voluntary lifesaving organization in the world. With around 560,000 members, organised in approximately 2,100 local gr ...

), the ''Baumholderer Karnevalsgesellschaft'' (BKG, devoted to

Carnival Carnival (known as Shrovetide in certain localities) is a festive season that occurs at the close of the Christian pre-Lenten period, consisting of Quinquagesima or Shrove Sunday, Shrove Monday, and Shrove Tuesday or Mardi Gras. Carnival typi ...

), the

German Red Cross The German Red Cross (GRC) ( ; DRK) is the national Red Cross Society in Germany. During the Nazi era, the German Red Cross was under the control of the Nazi Party and played a role in supporting the regime's policies, including the exclusion ...

(DRK), the

angling Angling (from Old English ''angol'', meaning "hook") is a fishing technique that uses a fish hook attached to a fishing line to tether individual fish in the mouth. The fishing line is usually manipulated with a fishing rod, although rodless te ...

club and the

dog sport Dog sports are competitive activities specifically designed for dogs. Dogs typically participate in sports with the help of owners, although some dog sports do not require human participation. A 2015 survey found that dog owners of all classes pa ...

club (HSV).

Other yearly events

* ''Altstadtfest'' ("Old Town Festival") * ''Lindenfest'' * ''Kräutermarkt'' ("Herb Market") * ''Kirmes'' (

kermis Kermesse, or kermis, or kirmess, is an outdoor fair or festival usually organized for charitable purposes. The term was derived from 'kerk' (church) and 'mis' (mass) in the original Dutch language term, and was borrowed in English, French, Spa ...

; church consecration festival) * ''Weihnachtsmarkt'' ("

Christmas Christmas is an annual festival commemorating Nativity of Jesus, the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a Religion, religious and Culture, cultural celebration among billions of people Observance of Christmas by coun ...

Market") * ''

Rosenmontag (, ) is the highlight of the German (carnival), and takes place on the Shrove Monday before Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent. Mardi Gras, though celebrated on Fat Tuesday, is a similar event. is celebrated in German-speaking countries, in ...

szug'' ("

Shrove Monday Shrove Monday (also known as Collopy Monday, Rose Monday, Merry Monday or Hall Monday) is part of the Shrovetide or Carnival observances and celebrations of the week before Lent, following Quinquagesima or Shrove Sunday and preceding Shrove Tuesd ...

Parade") * BKG ''Prunksitzungen'' (Councils of Elves, a

event) * DLRG ''Weiherfest'' ("Pond Festival")

Economy and infrastructure

Economy

Baumholder is well known as the location of one of the biggest

garrisons in Germany, which sprang up beginning in the 1950s on the lands of the Baumholder Troop Drilling Ground (''Truppenübungsplatz Baumholder''), which abuts the town. Ever since that time, the 13,000 or so United States military personnel and their dependents have characterized the town's image scenically, economically and even socially. The Americans maintain two facilities, Smith Barracks and Wetzel Barracks, in which roughly 12,000 people live. There is also

Baumholder Army Airfield Baumholder Army Airfield is a small military airfield in support of the United States Army facilities in Baumholder, Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic ...

. The Americans run twelve of their own churches as well as

cinemas A movie theater (American English) or cinema (Commonwealth English), also known as a movie house, cinema hall, picture house, picture theater, the movies, the pictures, or simply theater, is a business that contains auditoriums for viewing fi ...

, a PX and a hospital. Many of the town's shops accept

United States dollar The United States dollar (Currency symbol, symbol: Dollar sign, $; ISO 4217, currency code: USD) is the official currency of the United States and International use of the U.S. dollar, several other countries. The Coinage Act of 1792 introdu ...

s in payment and are to a great extent dependent on American currency. To this day, the United States forces and the

Bundeswehr The (, ''Federal Defence'') are the armed forces of the Germany, Federal Republic of Germany. The is divided into a military part (armed forces or ''Streitkräfte'') and a civil part, the military part consists of the four armed forces: Germ ...

are the biggest employers of the town's German population. On more than 35 ranges designed for infantry, tank troops and artillery, Bundeswehr soldiers can be found training alongside Americans and soldiers from other

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...

countries. The troop drilling ground is under Bundeswehr administration. Since 2002, the US Army has been gradually moving its

tank A tank is an armoured fighting vehicle intended as a primary offensive weapon in front-line ground combat. Tank designs are a balance of heavy firepower, strong armour, and battlefield mobility provided by tracks and a powerful engine; ...

s to troop drilling grounds in the

Upper Palatinate The Upper Palatinate (; , , ) is an administrative district in the east of Bavaria, Germany. It consists of seven districts and 226 municipalities, including three cities. Geography The Upper Palatinate is a landscape with low mountains and nume ...

that are under their own control. Some of the US troops stationed in town were regularly deployed in the

Iraq War The Iraq War (), also referred to as the Second Gulf War, was a prolonged conflict in Iraq lasting from 2003 to 2011. It began with 2003 invasion of Iraq, the invasion by a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition, which ...

, and for the most part, returned afterwards to Baumholder. On 9 October 2012, the 170th Infantry Brigade was inactivated ending a decades-long legacy of combat units stationed at Baumholder's Smith Barracks. While Smith Barracks has been rumoured to be facing closure for years, it has been designated an "enduring" base. 32nd AADCOM had a presence in Germany in the 1960s and 1970s. There was a Nike-Hercules missile battery in Baumholder (Battery C, 5th Battalion, 6th Air Defence Artillery). There was another (Battery D, 5th Battalion, 6th Air Defense Artillery) in nearby

Hontheim Hontheim is an ''Ortsgemeinde'' – a municipality belonging to a ''Verbandsgemeinde'', a kind of collective municipality – in the Bernkastel-Wittlich district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Geography Location The municipality lies o ...

. Hontheim The battalion headquarters was in Baumholder. An IHAWK battery, Battery D, 2nd Battalion, 62nd Air Defense Artillery, was in Reitscheid. Battalion headquarters was at

Spangdahlem Air Base Spangdahlem Air Base (International Air Transport Association airport code, IATA: SPM, International Civil Aviation Organization airport code, ICAO: ETAD, former code EDAD) is a NATO air base with the United States Air Force as a tenant constru ...

. They were supplied from the

(

Bitburg-Prüm The Eifelkreis Bitburg-Prüm () is a district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is bounded by (from the west and clockwise) Luxembourg, Belgium and the districts of Euskirchen, Vulkaneifel, Bernkastel-Wittlich and Trier-Saarburg. History ...

). Baumholder's inhabitants, however, are exclusively civilian.

Agriculture Agriculture encompasses crop and livestock production, aquaculture, and forestry for food and non-food products. Agriculture was a key factor in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created ...

today plays a role in the town's life only in a very few surrounding farms and villages. Given the small number of learned occupations available in the region, especially in Baumholder and the surrounding ''

Verbandsgemeinde A (; plural ) is a low-level administrative division, administrative unit in the Germany, German States of Germany, federal states of Brandenburg, Rhineland-Palatinate and Saxony-Anhalt. A is typically composed of a small group of Municipalitie ...

'', the share of the population with academic degrees is also rather small.

Shift in economic structure

The attempt introduced in the 1990s to change the economic structure by, for instance, bringing in the

recycling Recycling is the process of converting waste materials into new materials and objects. This concept often includes the recovery of energy from waste materials. The recyclability of a material depends on its ability to reacquire the propert ...

industry and doing seminal research at the

Environmental Campus Birkenfeld The Environmental Campus Birkenfeld (ECB) (German language, German: ''Umwelt-Campus Birkenfeld (UCB)'') is a branch of the Trier University of Applied Sciences, Hochschule Trier in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is close to the sm ...

in Neubrücke have thus far yielded little change in the local economy and job market.

Transport

Autobahn

Baumholder can be reached over the

Autobahn The (; German , ) is the federal controlled-access highway system in Germany. The official term is (abbreviated ''BAB''), which translates as 'federal motorway'. The literal meaning of the word is 'Federal Auto(mobile) Track'. Much of t ...

A 62 (

Interchange Interchange may refer to: Transport * Interchange (road), a collection of ramps, exits, and entrances between two or more highways * Interchange (freight rail), the transfer of freight cars between railroad companies * Interchange station, a rai ...

5 – Freisen). The town of Baumholder lies some 50 km northeast of

Saarbrücken Saarbrücken (; Rhenish Franconian: ''Sabrigge'' ; ; ; ; ) is the capital and largest List of cities and towns in Germany, city of the state of Saarland, Germany. Saarbrücken has 181,959 inhabitants and is Saarland's administrative, commerci ...

, some 35 km northwest of

Kaiserslautern Kaiserslautern (; ) is a town in southwest Germany, located in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate at the edge of the Palatinate Forest. The historic centre dates to the 9th century. It is from Paris, from Frankfurt am Main, 666 kilometers (414 m ...

and some 50 km southeast of

Trier Trier ( , ; ), formerly and traditionally known in English as Trèves ( , ) and Triers (see also Names of Trier in different languages, names in other languages), is a city on the banks of the Moselle (river), Moselle in Germany. It lies in a v ...

Railway

Baumholder has a

railway Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...

link in the Heimbach (Nahe)–Baumholder line, a 9 km-long

spur A spur is a metal tool designed to be worn in pairs on the heels of riding boots for the purpose of directing a horse or other animal to move forward or laterally while riding. It is usually used to refine the riding aids (commands) and to ba ...

. The line was closed to passenger traffic on 31 May 1981, but remained open for military traffic. The line was reopened in 2015. Trains run hourly to and from

or Kirn, where connecting trains to Mainz, Frankfurt/Main and Saarbrücken can be reached. There is also a bus link to Idar-Oberstein and Birkenfeld (route 322, run by the ''Rhein-Nahe-Nahverkehrsverbund''), although this is only run on weekdays, not weekends. The travel time to Neubrücke is roughly 30 minutes. Rail and bus services in the area are provided by Rhein-Nahe Nahverkehrsverbund (RNN). www.rnn.info. The nearest

railway station Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...

on a main line is in

Heimbach Heimbach is a town in the district of Düren of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located on the river Rur, in the Eifel hills, approx. 20 km south of Düren. Heimbach has the smallest population of any town in North Rhin ...

(some 8 km away) on the

Nahe Valley Railway The Nahe Valley Railway () is a two-track, partially electrified main line railway in the German states of Rhineland-Palatinate and Saarland, which runs for almost 100 kilometres along the Nahe (Rhine), Nahe. It was built by the Rhine-Nahe Railway ...

. Since the reopening of the Baumholder service, few trains stop at this station. The closest station for express trains is at Neubrücke (some 13 km away) or in

(some 15 km away).

Airport

The nearest

airport An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial Aviation, air transport. They usually consist of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surf ...

Saarbrücken Airport Saarbrücken Airport , or ''Flughafen Saarbrücken'' or ''Ensheim Airport'' in German language, German, is a minor international airport in Saarbrücken, the capital of the Germany, German state of Saarland. It features flights to major cities th ...

Frankfurt-Hahn Airport Hahn Airporthahn-airport.de
retrieved 30 April 2025 () , also colloquially known and formerly officially br ...

is about an hour's drive away. Frankfurt/Main is about 2 hours by car or rail. Saarbrücken-Ensheim is approximately 90 minutes away.

Zweibrücken Airport Zweibrücken Airport , or ''Flughafen Zweibrücken'' in German, is a regional airport and former minor international airport in Zweibrücken, Germany. It was the smaller of the two passenger airports in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate, the oth ...

is about 80 km away but is currently closed.

Current US Military on Smith Barracks

44th Expeditionary Signal Battalion-Enhanced

10th Army Air & Missile Defense Command

''(Headquartered in Kaiserslautern)''

5th Battalion, 7th Air Defense Artillery Regiment The 5th Battalion, 7th Air Defense Artillery Regiment (5-7 ADA) is a Patriot air defense battalion of the United States Army. It is currently a subordinate unit of the 10th Army Air & Missile Defense Command (AAMDC) and comprises six subordinat ...

* Headquarters & Headquarters Battery * A Battery * B Battery * C Battery * D Battery * E Company

16th Sustainment Brigade The 16th Sustainment Brigade is a Sustainment Brigade, sustainment brigade of the United States Army based at Smith Barracks in Baumholder, Germany. It is a subordinate unit of the 21st Theater Sustainment Command of the Seventh United States Ar ...

* Headquarters & Headquarters Company

16th Special Troops Battalion

* Headquarters & Headquarters Company * 504th Signal Company * 569th Human Resources Company

18th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion

* 240th Quartermaster Company * 51st Transportation Company * 515th Transportation Company

95th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion

* 317th Support Maintenance Company * 55th Quartermaster Company * 42nd Transportation Company

30th Medical Brigade } The 30th Medical Brigade is a US Army medical brigade, which provides medical support to United States Army Europe and Africa. The brigade headquarters is located in Sembach, Germany, and the brigade is assigned to the 21st Theater Sustainment C ...

''(Headquartered in Sembach)''

421st Medical Battalion (Multi-Functional)

* Headquarters & Headquarters Detachment * 557th Medical Company (Area Support) * 8th Medical Company (Logistics) * 64th Veterinary Detachment * 71st Preventive Medicine Detachment * 254th Combat and Operational Stress Control (COSC) Detachment

Special Operations Command Africa (SOCAFRICA)

''(Headquartered in Stuttgart)'' * Special Operations Task Force - North and West Africa (SOTF-NWA)

Notable people

Sons and daughters of the town: * Johannes Lichtenberger (d. about 1503), famous astrologer, from the vanished village of Grünbach on the troop drilling grounds * Otto Gennes (1873–1943), ''Generalanwalt'' (roughly "Attorney-General") and head of the ''Reichsverband der deutschen landwirtschaftlichen Genossenschaften'' (

Imperial Imperial is that which relates to an empire, emperor/empress, or imperialism. Imperial or The Imperial may also refer to: Places United States * Imperial, California * Imperial, Missouri * Imperial, Nebraska * Imperial, Pennsylvania * Imper ...

League of German Agricultural Coöperatives) * Gerd Menne (b. 1939), former

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany and the highest level of the German football league system. The Bundesliga comprises 18 teams ...

player from

VfB Stuttgart Verein für Bewegungsspiele Stuttgart 1893 e. V. (), commonly known as VfB Stuttgart (), is a German professional sports club based in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg. The club's Association football, football team is currently part of Germany's f ...

* Gerhard Fels (b. 1939),

economist An economist is a professional and practitioner in the social sciences, social science discipline of economics. The individual may also study, develop, and apply theories and concepts from economics and write about economic policy. Within this ...

and former member of the Expert Advisory Board for Assessing Macroeconomic Development * Jürgen Dringelstein (b. 1946), former

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

with, among others,

Hamburger SV Hamburger Sport-Verein e.V. (), commonly known as Hamburger SV () or Hamburg (), or HSV (), is a German sports club based in Hamburg, with its largest branch being its Association football, football department. Though the current HSV was founde ...

and

SV Waldhof Mannheim SV Waldhof Mannheim is a multi-sports club, located in Mannheim, Baden-Württemberg. It is most known for its association football team; however, there are also professional handball and table-tennis sides. The club today has a membership of ov ...

* Dietmar Mettlach (b. 1950), church musician and

choirmaster A choir ( ), also known as a chorale or chorus (from Latin ''chorus'', meaning 'a dance in a circle') is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform or in other words ...

* Bruce Bechtold (b. 1952), European and world champion in

catamaran A catamaran () (informally, a "cat") is a watercraft with two parallel hull (watercraft), hulls of equal size. The wide distance between a catamaran's hulls imparts stability through resistance to rolling and overturning; no ballast is requi ...

sailing * David Whitehurst (b. 1955), former

American football American football, referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada and also known as gridiron football, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular American football field, field with goalposts at e ...

player (

Green Bay Packers The Green Bay Packers are a professional American football team based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The Packers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. They ar ...

and

Kansas City Chiefs The Kansas City Chiefs are a professional American football team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Chiefs compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) West division. Established in 1959 ...

quarterback) * Stefan Münz (b. 1960), computer scientist and non-fiction author. He is the creator of a Hypertext reference called SELFHTML as well as chairman of the like-named club.

Documentation

* Hansjürgen Hilgert: ''Ami, bleib hier – Die Baumholderstory''; Deutschland, 2007 D

References

External links

Town’s official webpage

''Verbandsgemeinde'' of Baumholder

Official website of the army post
{{Authority control Birkenfeld (district) Naheland Rallye Deutschland