Quirnheim (
Palatine German: ''Querm'') is an ''Ortsgemeinde'' – 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
Bad Dürkheim
Bad Dürkheim () is a spa town in the Rhine-Neckar urban agglomeration. It is the seat of the Bad Dürkheim (district), Bad Dürkheim district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, and the site of the discovery of the element caesium, in 1860.
Geogra ...
district 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 lies in the northwest of the
Rhine-Neckar
The Rhine-Neckar Metropolitan Region (, ), often referred to as the Rhein-Neckar Triangle, is a polycentric Metropolitan regions in Germany, metropolitan region located in south western Germany, between the Frankfurt/Rhine-Main region to the nor ...
urban agglomeration.
Geography
Location
The municipality lies in the
Palatinate on a rise at the edge of the
Haardt
The Haardt () is a range of wooded, sandstone hills in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate in southwestern Germany. The range is some long and lies within the Palatinate Forest (''Pfälzerwald''). Its highest point is the Kalmit, near Maikammer
...
near the north end of the
German Wine Route
The German Wine RouteScheunemann J., Stewart J., Walker N. and Williams C. (2011), ''Back Roads Germany'', Dorling Kindersley, London. . or Wine Road (, ) is the oldest of Germany's tourist wine routes. Located in the Palatinate region of the ...
. Until 1969 it belonged to the now abolished district of Frankenthal. It has belonged to the
''Verbandsgemeinde'' of Leiningerland, whose seat is in
Grünstadt
Grünstadt () is a town in the Bad Dürkheim (district), Bad Dürkheim district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany with roughly 13,200 inhabitants. It does not belong to any ''Verbandsgemeinde'' – a kind of collective municipality – but is noneth ...
(although that town is itself not in the ''Verbandsgemeinde'') since it was formed in 2018.
Constituent communities
To the village belong the ''
Ortsteil
A village is a human settlement or Residential community, community, larger than a hamlet (place), hamlet but smaller than a town with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand. Although villages are often located ...
e'' of Quirnheim-Tal and Boßweiler.
History
In May 771, Saint Mary’s and
Saint Martin’s Church (''Kirche St. Maria und St. Martin'') had its first documentary mention. It is therefore said to be the district’s oldest church. The outlying centre of Boßweiler was mentioned as early as 767 in the
Lorsch codex
The Lorsch Codex (Chronicon Laureshamense, Lorscher Codex, Codex Laureshamensis) is an important historical document created between about 1175 to 1195 AD in the Lorsch Abbey, Monastery of Saint Nazarius in Lorsch, Germany. The codex is handwrit ...
. In 1467, Quirnheim came to be under the ownership of the Counts of Leiningen-Westerburg. In the 17th century, Quirinus von Merz was enfeoffed with both places.
Religion
In 2007, 41.9% of the inhabitants were
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 ...
and 32.6%
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 ...
. The rest belonged to other faiths or adhered to none.
Politics
Municipal council
The council is made up of 12 council members (as at municipal election held on 7 June 2009).
The municipal election held on 7 June 2009 yielded the following results:
Coat of arms
The German blazon reads: '
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: Per fess, in chief per pale, in dexter per pale chequy of six argent and azure and Or a demi-eagle reguardant sable couped at the partition, in sinister a lion rampant of the first armed and langued gules, in base argent a horseshoe of the second.
The arms were approved in 1926 by the Bavarian State Ministry of the Interior and date from a 1674 court seal.
[Karl Heinz Debus: ''Das große Wappenbuch der Pfalz''. Neustadt an der Weinstraße 1988, ]
Culture
Regular events
* ''Erbsenkerwe'' (“Pea Fair”), held in July
* ''Dorfkerwe'' (“Village Fair”), held in the first week in October
Air sports
On one of the municipality’s hills is found the
model aircraft
A model aircraft is a physical model of an existing or imagined aircraft, and is built typically for display, research, or amusement. Model aircraft are divided into two basic groups: flying and non-flying. Non-flying models are also termed s ...
site of the ''Luftfahrtvereins Grünstadt und Umgebung'' (“Grünstadt and Area Air Travel Club”).
Museum
On the lands of the former
US Army
The United States Army (USA) is the primary 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 the United Stat ...
Nike-Hercules
The Nike Hercules, initially designated SAM-A-25 and later MIM-14, was a surface-to-air missile (SAM) used by U.S. and NATO armed forces for medium- and high-altitude long-range anti-aircraft, air defense. It was normally armed with the W31 nuclea ...
launcher area for
C Btry 2nd/1st ADA. is found a commercial area that houses, among other things, a motorcycle and technology museum run by unpaid workers. Right next to it are the airfield and the abandoned
Nike-Hercules
The Nike Hercules, initially designated SAM-A-25 and later MIM-14, was a surface-to-air missile (SAM) used by U.S. and NATO armed forces for medium- and high-altitude long-range anti-aircraft, air defense. It was normally armed with the W31 nuclea ...
IFC (Integrated Fire Control) Area of
C Btry 2nd/1st ADA.
Famous people
The forebears of
German resistance fighter against
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 ...
and
20 July plot
The 20 July plot, sometimes referred to as Operation Valkyrie, was a failed attempt to assassinate Adolf Hitler, the chancellor and leader of Nazi Germany, and overthrow the Nazi regime on 20 July 1944. The plotters were part of the German r ...
co-conspirator
Albrecht Mertz von Quirnheim
Albrecht Mertz von Quirnheim (25 March 1905 – 21 July 1944) was a German Army colonel and a resistance fighter in Nazi Germany involved in the 20 July plot against Adolf Hitler.
Early life
Quirnheim was born in Munich, the son of Herm ...
were connected to the village.
References
External links
Quirnheim in the collective municipality’s Web pages
Quirnheim: Tourism
{{Authority control
Bad Dürkheim (district)