Cochem


Cochem is the seat of and the biggest town in the Cochem-Zell district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. With just over 5,000 inhabitants, Cochem falls just behind Kusel, in the Kusel district, as Germany's second smallest district seat. Since 7 June 2009, it has belonged to the Verbandsgemeinde of Cochem.

Geography

Cochem lies at an elevation of some 83 m above sea level and the municipal area measures 21.2 km2. The town centre with the outlying centre of Sehl upstream lies on the Moselle's left bank, while the constituent centre of Cond lies on its right. A further constituent centre, Brauheck, with its commercial area, air force barracks and new town development, lies in the heights of the Eifel on Bundesstraße 259, some from the town centre. Emptying into the Moselle in Cochem are the Kraklebach, the Ebernacher Bach, the Sehlerbach, the Falzbach, the Märtscheltbach and the Enthetbach.

History

Cochem was settled as early as Celtic and Roman times. In 866, it had its first documentary mention as Villa cuchema. Other names yielded by history are Cuhckeme and Chuckeme in 893, Cochemo in 1051, Chuchumo in 1056, Kuchema in 1130, Cuchemo in 1136, Cocheme in 1144, then Cuchme, and into the 18th century Cochheim or Cocheim. Cochem was an Imperial estate. It was pledged by King Adolf of Nassau in 1294 to the Archbishopric of Trier and remained Electoral-Trier territory until the French occupation began in 1794. In 1332, Cochem was granted town rights, and shortly thereafter, the town fortifications, which still stand today, were built. Between 1423 and 1425, the town was stricken with a Plague epidemic. In 1623, Elector Lothar von Metternich brought about the founding of a Capuchin monastery. In the Thirty Years' War, the town was besieged, but not conquered. In 1689, King Louis XIV's troops first burnt the Winneburg down and then conquered the town of Cochem with its castle. Reconstruction was long and drawn out. Beginning in 1794, Cochem lay under French rule. In 1815, it was assigned to the Kingdom of Prussia at the Congress of Vienna.
Louis Fréderic Jacques Ravené bought the ruin of the former Imperial castle in 1866 and began its reconstruction. Only after a bridge was built across the Moselle at Cochem in 1927 were the two fishing villages of Cond and Sehl amalgamated with the town in the course of administrative reform in 1932. This bridge, called the "Skagerrak Bridge", was dedicated on 23 January 1927. In the Second World War, great parts of Cochem's old town were destroyed. Also during the war, the operations staff of the underground subcamp of Zeisig of the Natzweiler concentration camp between the villages of Bruttig and Treis was located here. At its height, 13,000 people were imprisoned. They provided slave labour for Bosch, which made spark plugs, ignition systems, and glow plugs, which were important to the German war effort, under brutal conditions.
Since 1946, Cochem has been part of the then newly founded state of Rhineland-Palatinate.

Politics

Town council

The council is made up of 22 council members, who were elected at the municipal election held on 26 May 2019, and the honorary mayor as chairman.
The municipal election held on 26 May 2019 yielded the following results:

Mayor

Cochem's mayor is since 2018 Walter Schmitz, and his deputies are Josef Heimes, Wilfried Gerdes and Heinz Bremm.
  • Wilhelm Schmitz, 1919–1923
  • Karl Stier, 1925–1934
  • Aloys Elsen, 1934–1945
  • Jakob Rudolf Pauly, 1945–1949
  • Ferdinand Hillebrand, 1949–1956
  • Willy Massoth,, 1957–1969, first full-time mayor
  • Anno Vey, 1969–1975
  • Horst Hoffmann, 1975–1995
  • Herbert Hilken, 1995–2011
  • Wolfgang Lambertz, 2011–2018
  • Walter Schmitz,

    Coat of arms

The town's arms might be described thus: Per pale argent a cross gules and gules issuant from dexter a sinister hand of the first vested sable holding two keys in saltire Or, the wards to chief.
The town of Cochem and its castle were held by the Archbishops of Trier beginning in 1298. They also granted Cochem town rights in 1332. The charges in the town's arms are thus purely references to its long history with the Electorate of Trier. The red cross on the dexter side is Trier's old armorial bearing, and the keys on the sinister side are Saint Peter's attribute, thus representing Trier's patron. This composition appeared in the earliest known town seal, from the early 15th century, which likely dates from a bit earlier, the late 14th century.

Town partnerships

Cochem fosters partnerships with the following places:
After both the town council and the Verbandsgemeinde council approved the motion on 23 October 2008, the until then Verbandsgemeinde-free town of Cochem became part of the Verbandsgemeinde of Cochem-Land on 7 June 2009. In connection with this, the state government also enacted a law on 18 February 2009 that deals with, among other things, the transfer of ownership of certain properties from the town to the Verbandsgemeinde. The Verbandsgemeinde also changed its name with the amalgamation of Cochem, becoming the Verbandsgemeinde of Cochem.

Culture and sightseeing

Buildings

The following are listed buildings or sites in Rhineland-Palatinate's Directory of Cultural Monuments:

Cochem (main centre)

  • Bahnhofsvorplatz 1 – new railway station, 1900–1902; picturesquely grouped three-floor quarrystone building, Renaissance Revival, with smaller wings and additions, partly timber-frame; old railway station, 1880, quarrystone and brick building, partly timber-frame; railway lands, brick building; whole complex
  • Bernstraße 2 – rectory or parish house; Baroque Revival timber-frame house, partly solid, mansard roof, about 1910
  • Bernstraße 3 – timber-frame house, partly solid, mansard roof, 18th century
  • Bernstraße 9 – four-floor timber-frame house, partly solid, 17th century
  • Bernstraße 22/24 – walkway through to the Moselle at Baroque building with hipped mansard roof, 1749
  • Bernstraße 31 – three-floor solid building, from 1775 and 1896
  • Branntweingässchen 2 – timber-frame house on quarrystone pedestal, 17th century
  • Brückenstraße 3, Endertstraße 4 – Hotel "Alte Torschenke"; building with mansard roof with gables set slantwise, about 1910
  • Burgfrieden 3 – former Electoral-Trier courthouse; two three-floor timber-frame houses, partly solid, latter half of the 17th century
  • Burgfrieden 11 – brick building, 19th century; side towards the Moselle: four-floor quarrystone building with oriel, 19th or 20th century
  • Burgfrieden 13/14 – side towards the street: timber-frame house in mixed building styles, plastered; side towards the Moselle: timber-frame house with balcony
  • Burgfrieden 18 – three-floor Late Classicist house, earlier half of the 19th century
  • Endertstraße 2 – "Alte Torschenke" ; three-floor timber-frame house, partly solid, from 1626; hearth heating plates; Saint Roch, 17th or 18th century
  • Endertstraße 7 – Late Historicist quarrystone building, Renaissance Revival, from 1899
  • Endertstraße/Brückenstraße – Kaiser-Wilhelm-Tunnel: bridge and teaching workshop used by the repair works; tunnel portal, sandstone, from 1877 and 1879; bridge: stone block building; teaching workshop: two-floor quarrystone pedestal and steel framework floor, about 1900
  • Endertstraße 146 – Saint Anthony's Chapel ; small aisleless church, partly timber-frame, half-hipped roof, 17th century
  • Capuchin Monastery and Church – church and sickroom, 1625–1628, church lengthened in 1692, aisleless church with lady's chapel, Baroque décor; monastery founded in 1623, cloister's east and north wings, about 1630, west wing 1692; guest building 1753; Way of the Cross to the town, 1758; attached old elementary school, about 1910
  • Graveyard – laid out towards the end of the 19th century, warriors' memorial 1864/1866/1870/1871 and warriors' memorial 1914/18, 1920s; graveyard cross from 1850; three metal crosses, 19th century; gravestones from the 19th century
  • Heiligenhäuschen – plastered building with three niches, 1710, endower's coat of arms from Archbishop Johann VIII Hugo von Orsbeck; wayside cross, 18th century
  • Herrenstraße 24 – three-floor timber-frame house, partly solid, early 17th century
  • Kelberger Straße – Jewish graveyard in an enclosed area with a gate with a pointed arch, 64 grave steles from 1879 to the 1940s
  • Hinter Kempen – chapel, 19th century
  • Kelberger Straße 40 – Villa Schönblick; Late Historicist quarrystone building, hipped roof, late 19th century; prominent location above the town, opposite the castle
  • Kirchgasse 4 – three-floor timber-frame house, partly solid, 18th century
  • Klosterberg 3 – old elementary school, hipped roof, about 1910
  • Löhrstraße 3 – three-floor timber-frame house, partly solid, from 1599, conversions beginning in the 18th century; in the quarrystone wall a grave cross, 18th century
  • Löhrstraße 15 – three-floor timber-frame house, partly solid, about 1700 or from the 18th century; side house timber-frame house, partly solid
  • Markt – town hall; building with mansard roof, after destruction in 1689 underwent reconstruction until 1739, completed by Philipp Honorius Ravensteyn
  • Markt – fountain, basalt basin, from 1767, architect Nikolaus Lauxen
  • Markt 4 – four-floor timber-frame building, partly solid, from 1610 and 1990
  • Markt 5 – four-floor timber-frame house, partly solid, mansard roof, late 17th century
  • Markt 6/7 – four-floor timber-frame building, partly solid, latter half of the 17th century
  • Markt 9 – coat of arms, from 1699
  • Markt 11 – three-floor timber-frame building, partly solid, plastered, from 1690
  • Markt 15 – three-floor solid building, partly timber-frame, about 1690; in the back remnants of a solid building, 16th century, timber-frame parts newer
  • Moselpromenade 1 – see Bernstraße 22/24
  • Moselpromenade 9 – gateway arch, 14th century; see Town wall
  • Moselpromenade 11/12 – three-floor quarrystone building, crow-stepped gable, from 1654, expansion from 1894 or 1899
  • Moselpromenade 18 – solid building with timber-frame gable, late 19th century, heavily altered by commercial modifications
  • Moselpromenade 27 – two four-floor timber-frame houses, plastered, late 17th or early 18th century
  • Moselpromenade 28 – Late Historicist hotel; three-floor quarrystone building, Renaissance Revival, from 1893
  • Moselpromenade 37 – plastered building, partly timber-frame, early 20th century
  • Moselpromenade 39 – see Burgfrieden 11
  • Moselpromenade 40 – see Burgfrieden 13/14
  • Moselpromenade 60 – Late Historicist winery, 1881–1882, building adviser R. A. Schmidt in collaboration with Julius Raschdorff; picturesque winemaker's villa, quarrystone, timber-frame commercial wing, garden; whole complex of buildings
  • Moselpromenade/Burgfrieden – group of buildings built before the 17th or 18th century along with a few less old buildings, about 1900
  • Moselstraße 8 – quarrystone villa, about 1900
  • Moselstraße 18 – villa; two-winged quarrystone building, partly timber-frame, early 20th century; sandstone sculpture
  • Oberbachstraße 14 – "Zom Stüffje" inn; timber-frame building, partly solid, essentially from the 16th century, façade from the 18th century
  • Oberbachstraße 17/19 – double timber-frame house, plastered, early 18th century
  • Oberbachstraße 23 – three-floor timber-frame house, partly solid, late 17th or early 18th century; wooden sculpture, about 1700
  • Oberbachstraße 25 – timber-frame house, partly solid, 18th century
  • Oberbachstraße 46 – Evangelical church; Gothic Revival aisleless church, 1892–1893
  • Behind Oberer Weg 9 – columbarium; three-floor tower, from 1898
  • Obergasse 1 – three-floor house, timber-frame upper floor from 1839, essentially possibly older
  • Obergasse 22 – sculpture of Saint Peter, 19th century
  • Obergasse 24 – timber-frame house, partly solid, from 1704
  • Pater-Martin-Straße 1 – Saint Martin's Catholic Parish Church ; Late Gothic quire, between 1456 and 1503; quarrystone aisleless church, 1950–1951, architect Dominikus Böhm, Cologne; quarrystone tower with onion cupola, 1955–1963
  • Pater-Martin-Straße 1 – three-floor building with mansard roof, about 1910
  • Saint Roch's Plague Chapel ; Baroque aisleless church, 1680; Late Gothic keystone, 15th century; cross fragments
  • Town wall – begun in 1332, reinforced in 1675; preserved: mediaeval Enderttor, after 1352, with "Alter Torschänke" ; Kirchgasse town wall gate, 14th century; town wall at Capuchin monastery/graveyard with Balduinstor and further wall remnants; Martinstor or Mäuseturm
  • Pinnerweg 10 – narrow gauge railway, 1879
  • Ravenestraße 15 – Late Classicist plastered building, mid to late 19th century
  • Ravenestraße 17 – so-called Landratsvilla ; Late Classicist plastered building, 1876
  • Ravenestraße 32 – quarrystone building, from 1907
  • Ravenestraße 38 – quarrystone building 1900
  • Ravenestraße 39 – Amt court; building with half-hipped roof, crow-stepped gable risalto, 1891–1893, government building councillor NN
  • Ravenestraße 41 – plastered building, partly timber-frame, early 20th century
  • Ravenestraße 43 – three-floor plastered building, Renaissance Revival, about 1900-1910
  • Schlaufstraße 5 – three-floor timber-frame house, partly solid, 17th century
  • Schlaufstraße 7 – three-floor timber-frame house, partly solid, 18th century, expansion in 19th century
  • Schloßstraße 11, 13 – former school, 18th/19th century; three-floor plastered building; pavilion, mid 19th century
  • Weinbergshäuschen ; one-floor quarrystone building, mid 19th century
  • Chapel; aisleless church, from 1892, Pietà, 18th or 19th century
  • Way of the Cross to the Chapel at the Three Crosses; Bildstock type with sandstone reliefs, about 1900; chapel, quarrystone building, from 1856
  • Löscher Hof – Lescherlinde, chapel and grave crosses; chapel, 19th century
  • former Cochem Imperial castle, whole complex; begun possibly in the 10th century or about 1020, expanded in 1051 and in the earlier half of the 14th century, blown up in 1689, reconstructed in 1868 and between 1874 and 1877; Gothic Revival castle, mediaeval keep, inside from the earlier half of the 11th century, encased in the 14th century; garden pavilion, 19th century
  • Ruin of the Winneburg
  • Below Cochem castle in the woods – Jewish graveyard; seven gravestones, the oldest from 1836–1837