Siershahn is an ''Ortsgemeinde'' – a community belonging to a ''
Verbandsgemeinde
A Verbandsgemeinde (; plural Verbandsgemeinden) is a low-level administrative unit in the German federal states of Rhineland-Palatinate and Saxony-Anhalt. A Verbandsgemeinde is typically composed of a small group of villages or towns.
Rhine ...
'' – in the
Westerwaldkreis
The Westerwaldkreis ("District of Westerwald") is a district (''Kreis'') in the north-east of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Neighbouring districts are (from north clockwise) Altenkirchen, Lahn-Dill, Limburg-Weilburg, Rhein-Lahn, the district-fr ...
in
Rhineland-Palatinate
Rhineland-Palatinate ( , ; german: link=no, Rheinland-Pfalz ; lb, Rheinland-Pfalz ; pfl, Rhoilond-Palz) 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 ...
,
Germany
Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG),, is a country in Central Europe. It is the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany lies between the Baltic and North Sea to the north and the Alps to the sou ...
.
History
Clay finds from
La Tène times have been unearthed here. In 1211, Siershahn had its first documentary mention as ''Sigarshagen''.
Politics
The municipal council is made up of 21 council members, with the extraofficial mayor (''Bürgermeister''), who were elected in a municipal election on 7 June 2009.
Allocation of seats in the municipal council:
Economy and infrastructure
Siershahn's biggest firm, and the one richest in tradition is Cera Tech (formerly Keramchemie), still employing most of the villagers. Nearby, during the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
, was a prison camp.
Siershahn has several bypass roads so that heavy vehicles do not drive through the community as they once did.
Transport
The nearest
Autobahn
The (; German plural ) is the federal controlled-access highway system in Germany. The official German term is (abbreviated ''BAB''), which translates as 'federal motorway'. The literal meaning of the word is 'Federal Auto(mobile) Track'. ...
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 ...
is Mogendorf on the
A 3 (
Cologne
Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 million inhabitants in the city proper and 3.6 millio ...
–
Frankfurt
Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , " Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on its ...
), some 2 km away. Siershahn was once an important
railway
Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in Track (rail transport), tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the ...
hub between
Limburg
Limburg or Limbourg may refer to:
Regions
* Limburg (Belgium), a province since 1839 in the Flanders region of Belgium
* Limburg (Netherlands), a province since 1839 in the south of the Netherlands
* Diocese of Limburg, Roman Catholic Diocese in ...
,
Gießen
Giessen, spelled Gießen in German (), is a town in the German state (''Bundesland'') of Hesse, capital of both the district of Giessen and the administrative region of Giessen. The population is approximately 90,000, with roughly 37,000 univer ...
and Cologne. All passenger services were closed over the years, except for the
line to Limburg. The
line to Au is used for freight and it is sometimes used for tourist services. The nearest
InterCityExpress
The Intercity Express (commonly known as ICE ()) is a system of high-speed trains predominantly running in Germany. It also serves some destinations in Austria, Denmark (ceased in 2017 but planned to resume in 2022), France, Belgium, Switzerl ...
stop is
Montabaur station
Montabaur station is a station at the 89.1 kilometre point of the Cologne-Frankfurt high-speed railway and on the Limburg–Siershahn railway (Lower Westerwald Railway) in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate. The station, which is served by ...
on the
Cologne-Frankfurt high-speed rail line.
References
Municipalities in Rhineland-Palatinate
Westerwaldkreis
{{Westerwaldkreis-geo-stub