Darscheid
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Darscheid is an ''
Ortsgemeinde Ortsgemeinde may refer to: * Ortsgemeinde (Austria), a type of municipality in Austria * Ortsgemeinde (Germany) A (; plural ) is a low-level administrative division, administrative unit in the Germany, German States of Germany, federal states ...
'' – a
municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...
belonging to a ''
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 ...
'', a kind of collective municipality – in the
Vulkaneifel Vulkaneifel () is a district (''Kreis'') in the northwest of the state Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is the least densely populated district in the state and the fourth most sparsely populated district in Germany. The administrative centre of ...
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 ...
in
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 ...
. It belongs to the ''Verbandsgemeinde'' of Daun, whose seat is in the like-named town.


Geography


Location

The municipality lies in the
Vulkaneifel Vulkaneifel () is a district (''Kreis'') in the northwest of the state Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is the least densely populated district in the state and the fourth most sparsely populated district in Germany. The administrative centre of ...
, a part of the
Eifel The Eifel (; , ) is a low mountain range in western Germany, eastern Belgium and northern Luxembourg. It occupies parts of southwestern North Rhine-Westphalia, northwestern Rhineland-Palatinate and the southern area of the German-speaking Com ...
known for its volcanic history, geographical and geological features, and even ongoing activity today, including gases that sometimes well up from the earth. The Alfbach also rises nearby.


History

Darscheid’s parish and school chronicle tells a story about how the three villages in the Alfbach’s headwaters came into being. Three brothers, the reader is told, came and settled here from faraway lands and divided the land amongst themselves, saying “''Hier ist ein Scheid, da ist ein Scheid und unten ist für alle ein Scheid.''” (“Here is a share, there is a share and below is for all a share”). From these “shares” or “splits” arose three farms that later grew into villages: Hörscheid (''Hier'' + ''Scheid''), Darscheid (''Da'' + ''Scheid'') and Allscheid (''Alle'' + ''Scheid''). More steadily based on historical fact, though, is the
Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language *Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Foot ...
presence in the area. They settled the
Eifel The Eifel (; , ) is a low mountain range in western Germany, eastern Belgium and northern Luxembourg. It occupies parts of southwestern North Rhine-Westphalia, northwestern Rhineland-Palatinate and the southern area of the German-speaking Com ...
as livestock raisers, and it may be assumed that they were in what is now Darscheid as well, as witnessed by the barrows in the nearby Lehwald (woods), which were explored in the late 19th century and determined to date from the early
Iron Age The Iron Age () is the final epoch of the three historical Metal Ages, after the Chalcolithic and Bronze Age. It has also been considered as the final age of the three-age division starting with prehistory (before recorded history) and progre ...
Hallstatt times. In the
Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...
, Darscheid was quite a poor village out in the heath, like so many in the
Eifel The Eifel (; , ) is a low mountain range in western Germany, eastern Belgium and northern Luxembourg. It occupies parts of southwestern North Rhine-Westphalia, northwestern Rhineland-Palatinate and the southern area of the German-speaking Com ...
. Thatched
timber-frame Timber framing () and "post-and-beam" construction are traditional methods of building with heavy timbers, creating structures using squared-off and carefully fitted and joined timbers with joints secured by large wooden pegs. If the struc ...
houses gathered around a 14th-century chapel. Darscheid had its first documentary mention in 1354, at which time it lay under the Counts of Daun. After they died in 1420, the lordship passed to the Counts of Manderscheid. There followed a long period of serfdom, compulsory labour and economic woes. Even after
serfdom Serfdom was the status of many peasants under feudalism, specifically relating to manorialism and similar systems. It was a condition of debt bondage and indentured servitude with similarities to and differences from slavery. It developed du ...
was abolished, things got no better, and many people heeded the promises of a better life from Empress Maria Theresa’s settler recruiter in 1754 and left the village for a new life in
Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...
. The 19th century brought the Eifel dwellers yet more in the way of economic hardship, leading to a further wave of emigration, this time to
North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...
. In about 1852, sixty-seven people left Darscheid and went abroad. Only in the 1890s did the situation begin to improve. The
spruce A spruce is a tree of the genus ''Picea'' ( ), a genus of about 40 species of coniferous evergreen trees in the family Pinaceae, found in the northern temperate and boreal ecosystem, boreal (taiga) regions of the Northern hemisphere. ''Picea'' ...
trees that had been planted beginning in 1830 were at last yielding income. Farm work was made easier by the reorganization of splintered farmland into bigger plots. Chemical fertilizer boosted crop yields. Further jobs and therefore earnings came with the Daun-Darscheid-Mayen
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 ...
, completed in 1895. This also spurred growth in trade and transport, raising Darscheid, as a railway centre, to a higher economic position. This further allowed the municipality, among other things, to build a new school in 1901, the old
timber-frame Timber framing () and "post-and-beam" construction are traditional methods of building with heavy timbers, creating structures using squared-off and carefully fitted and joined timbers with joints secured by large wooden pegs. If the struc ...
one, built in 1838, having outlived its usefulness. Over the next few decades, growth continued. The Lower Village swelled until it reached the railway track, a railway goods station opened, followed by a sawmill in 1919, there was electric light in 1921 and a public water supply by 1927. Between 1923 and 1924, three new bakehouses were built to afford the villagers a place to bake their bread. This was an important institution in those days, as people seldom had ovens in their own homes. Darscheid discovered
tourism Tourism is travel for pleasure, and the Commerce, commercial activity of providing and supporting such travel. World Tourism Organization, UN Tourism defines tourism more generally, in terms which go "beyond the common perception of tourism as ...
in 1924 when the
youth hostel A hostel is a form of low-cost, short-term shared sociable lodging where guests can rent a bed, usually a bunk bed in a dormitory sleeping 4–20 people, with shared use of a lounge and usually a kitchen. Rooms can be private or shared - mixe ...
was opened. A
census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...
on 16 June 1933 showed that there were 409 inhabitants in Darscheid. At about this time,
Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was the dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his suicide in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the lea ...
came to power in Germany and the
Third Reich Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a totalitarian dictat ...
began. The onset of 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 ...
depleted the ranks of working men as they were called into 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 ...
; jobs were taken over by women and older men. Also put to work were
prisoners of war A prisoner of war (POW) is a person held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold prisoners of war for a ...
, both men and women, from
Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...
,
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and
Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...
, who worked the land. Most of these were billeted with local families in the hope that the local husbands and sons fighting in the war would be well supplied by people in the occupied lands. After the war,
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 ...
began to lose its economic importance as the flight to the cities began. By about 1997, the last locally owned agricultural business was forsaken by its owner, and all farming in Darscheid is now handled by a large company. Furthermore, the old youth hostel closed in 1976 after 50 years and the building now houses a home for emotionally needy adults, as does the old
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 ...
. This service is run by the ''Weggemeinschaft Vulkaneifel''. The railway itself is still in use, but only hourly local trains are now in the summer months. For a decade, between January 1991 and early 2001, there was no passenger service at all.


Politics


Municipal council

The council is made up of 12 council members, who were elected by
majority vote A majority is more than half of a total; however, the term is commonly used with other meanings, as explained in the "#Related terms, Related terms" section below. It is a subset of a Set (mathematics), set consisting of more than half of the se ...
at the municipal election held on 7 June 2009, and the honorary mayor as chairman.


Coat of arms

The German blazon reads: ''In Grün ein goldener Schräglinksbalken, belegt mit einer roten Zickzackleiste. Oben ein silbernes Horn, unten ein schräg aufgerichtetes silbernes Schwert.'' The municipality’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: Vert a bend sinister Or surmounted by a bendlet dancetty gules, in dexter a horn and in sinister a sword in bend sinister, the pommel to base, both argent. The bend sinister (diagonal stripe) surmounted by the bendlet dancetty (narrow zigzag stripe) is taken from the arms borne by the Counts of Manderscheid-Kail and Manderscheid-Schleiden, who according to ''Weistümer'' (a ''Weistum'' – cognate with
English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...
''wisdom'' – was a legal pronouncement issued by men learned in law in the
Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...
and early modern times) from the 15th century held a jurisdictional estate (''Dinghof'') here. The horn refers to the municipality’s patron saint, Cornelius. The sword refers to “Thommen”, the old execution place. Executions of the condemned from the tithe villages of Brockscheid, Darscheid, Ellscheid, Mehren, Rengen, Schalkenmehren, Schönbach, Trittscheid, Udler, Üdersdorf and to some extent, Strohn took place here.


Culture and sightseeing


Buildings

* Holy Cross Parish Church (''Pfarrkirche Heilig Kreuz'', 1969) * Former railway station building from 1906, under monumental protection * Graveyard with old
sandstone Sandstone is a Clastic rock#Sedimentary clastic rocks, clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of grain size, sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate mineral, silicate grains, Cementation (geology), cemented together by another mineral. Sand ...
crosses set in the wall * Barrows


Natural monuments

*
Juniper Junipers are coniferous trees and shrubs in the genus ''Juniperus'' ( ) of the cypress family Cupressaceae. Depending on the taxonomy, between 50 and 67 species of junipers are widely distributed throughout the Northern Hemisphere as far south ...
heath A heath () is a shrubland habitat found mainly on free-draining infertile, acidic soils and is characterised by open, low-growing woody vegetation. Moorland is generally related to high-ground heaths with—especially in Great Britain—a coole ...
* Bird conservation wood


References


External links


Municipality’s official webpage
{{Authority control Municipalities in Rhineland-Palatinate Vulkaneifel