Baumholder, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany

Geography : Location | History : 20th century | Coat of arms

🇩🇪 Baumholder is a town in the Birkenfeld district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, in the Westrich, an historic region that encompasses areas in both Germany and France. 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. The Verbandsgemeinde Baumholder consists of the following Ortsgemeinden ("local municipalities"): 1 Baumholder; 2 Berglangenbach; 3 Berschweiler bei Baumholder; 4 Eckersweiler; 5 Fohren-Linden; 6 Frauenberg; 7 Hahnweiler; 8 Heimbach; 9 Leitzweiler; 10 Mettweiler; 11 Reichenbach; 12 Rohrbach; 13 Rückweiler; 14 Ruschberg.

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Geography: Location Baumholder lies between the Hunsrück to the north and the North Palatine Uplands 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.

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 lynx and the badger, some of which are on the IUCN Red List.

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History In 1156, Baumholder had its first documentary mention as Bemondula, then held by the Bishop of Verdun. By the 14th century, it had ended up under the Counts of Veldenz, until 1444, when it was acquired by Stephen, Count Palatine of Simmern-Zweibrücken. Until the French Revolution, Baumholder was the seat of a Zweibrücken Schultheißerei. In 1490, Alexander, Count Palatine of Zweibrücken 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, belonged as an exclave to Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld. The Principality was sold in 1834 to Prussia 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 church district of Sankt Wendel.

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History: 20th century With the formation of the Territory of the Saar Basin in 1919, Baumholder was split from the district seat of Sankt Wendel 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. 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 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 for Soviet, Polish and other prisoners.

After the Second World War, after a short occupation by the United States Army, 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 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 soldiers engaged in a crime spree within the town of Baumholder, burgling several US Government buildings in Smith Barracks. The soldiers stole computer equipment, robbed a local German taxi 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 and German nationals, for information about the crime spree. Private First Class Zachary Watson and Specialist Samuel Bell were arrested by German authorities in connection to the crimes which totalled more than €1.5 million in damage. The soldiers were handed over to US officials. Watson was sentenced to 15 years in prison at court-martial. In a separate court-martial proceeding, Bell was sentenced to seven years in prison, dishonourable discharge, demotion to private and forfeiture of all pay and allowances.

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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 might in English heraldic 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 original, by Wilhelm II, King of Prussia.

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Europe/Berlin/Rhineland-Palatinate 
<b>Europe/Berlin/Rhineland-Palatinate</b>
Image: Adobe Stock dudlajzov #259259743

Baumholder has a population of over 4,069 people. Baumholder also forms part of the wider Birkenfeld District which has a population of over 80,830 people. Baumholder is situated near Birkenfeld.

Twin Towns, Sister Cities Baumholder has links with:

🇺🇸 Delaware, USA 🇫🇷 Warcq, France
Text Atribution: Wikipedia Text under CC-BY-SA license

Antipodal to Baumholder is: -172.659,-49.615

Locations Near: Baumholder 7.34069,49.6152

🇩🇪 Birkenfeld 7.183,49.65 d: 12  

🇩🇪 Sankt Wendel 7.167,49.467 d: 20.7  

🇩🇪 Homburg 7.338,49.32 d: 32.8  

🇩🇪 Neunkirchen 7.18,49.344 d: 32.3  

🇩🇪 Zweibrücken 7.367,49.25 d: 40.7  

🇩🇪 Saarpfalz 7.25,49.25 d: 41.1  

🇩🇪 Simmern 7.517,49.983 d: 42.8  

🇩🇪 Kaiserslautern 7.76,49.442 d: 35.9  

🇩🇪 Pirmasens 7.6,49.2 d: 49.8  

🇩🇪 Saarbrücken 6.997,49.235 d: 49  

Antipodal to: Baumholder -172.659,-49.615

🇹🇴 Nuku'alofa -175.216,-21.136 d: 16840.3  

🇦🇸 Pago Pago -170.701,-14.279 d: 16081.9  

🇼🇸 Apia -171.76,-13.833 d: 16035.4  

🇵🇫 Papeete -149.566,-17.537 d: 15892.3  

🇺🇸 Hilo -155.089,19.725 d: 12112.1  

🇺🇸 Maui -156.446,20.72 d: 12031.8  

🇺🇸 Maui County -156.617,20.868 d: 12019.1  

🇺🇸 Wailuku -156.505,20.894 d: 12014  

🇺🇸 Kahului -156.466,20.891 d: 12013.5  

🇺🇸 Honolulu -157.85,21.3 d: 11995  

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