Guldental


Guldental is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in the Bad Kreuznach district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It belongs to the Verbandsgemeinde Langenlonsheim-Stromberg, whose seat is in Langenlonsheim. With a population of some 2,900 inhabitants, Guldental is the biggest rural winegrowing community on the Nahe.
WWW guldental.de

Geography

Location

Guldental lies in the Naheland – the land lining each side of the Nahe – among the southern foothills of the Hunsrück, on the Guldenbach.

Neighbouring municipalities

Clockwise from the north, Guldental's neighbours are the municipality of Langenlonsheim, the municipality of Bretzenheim, the town of Bad Kreuznach, the municipality of Hargesheim, the municipality of Gutenberg and the municipality of Windesheim.

Constituent communities

Guldental's Ortsteile are Heddesheim and Waldhilbersheim. Also belonging to Guldental are the outlying homesteads of Breitenfelserhof and Ackermühle.

History

As early as 1163, the landhold of Hetdenesheim had its first documentary mention and already by 700 years ago it was one of the greater villages in what is now the Bad Kreuznach district. Under Revolutionary/Napoleonic French rule, Heddesheim was grouped into the Mairie of Langenlonsheim in 1800. The village, now constituent community of Guldental, Waldhilbersheim is likewise very old. Beginning as long ago as 1200, it began to crop up in documents. In 1800, however, it was grouped into the Mairie of Windesheim, and in 1939 into the Amt of Langenlonsheim. Today's Ortsgemeinde of Guldental was formed in the course of administrative restructuring in Rhineland-Palatinate on 7 June 1969 through the merger of the hitherto self-administering municipalities of Heddesheim with its outlying centre of Breitenfelser Hof and Waldhilbersheim. Guldental thus became the biggest winegrowing community on the Nahe, with 417 ha of land given over to vineyards. The vineyards to the south run for 6 km along the Guldenbach. Winegrowing in this area is witnessed quite early on.

Jewish history

Until the 1930s, there was a small Jewish community in Waldhilbersheim to which Jews in Heddesheim – and thus in both villages that now make up Guldental – also belonged. It had come to be established at least as far back as the 18th century. In 1808, Waldhilbersheim counted 29 Jewish inhabitants. Living here about 1858 were 50 Jews in Waldhilbersheim and another 40 in Heddesheim, but thereafter the numbers began to shrink with emigration and depopulation. This small community also included the Jewish inhabitants in Laubenheim until 1895, when they became tied to the community in Langenlonsheim. By 1925, the Jewish population in Waldhilbersheim and Heddesheim had sunk to 8 and 29 respectively. In the mid 1920s, the head of the Jewish community was August Schneider. In the way of institutions, the Jewish community had a small synagogue, a religious school and a graveyard. To supply the community's religious needs, a "worship official" was hired, at least temporarily, to do the jobs of religious teacher, prayer leader and shochet. According to the Gedenkbuch – Opfer der Verfolgung der Juden unter der nationalsozialistischen Gewaltherrschaft in Deutschland 1933-1945 and Yad Vashem, of all Jews who either were born in Waldhilbersheim or Heddesheim or lived there for a long time, 50 died under Nazi rule :
  • From Waldhilbersheim:
  1. Walter Aron
  2. Moritz Grünewald
  3. Hilde Hallgarten née Simon
  4. Erna Marcus née Aron
  5. Berta Schneider née Abraham
  6. Rosa Schneider
  7. Thekla Wolf née Schneider
  • From Heddesheim:
  1. Frieda Ansbacher née Stern
  2. Max Ansbacher
  3. Else Ansbacher
  4. Willy Ansbacher
  5. Leopold Bähr
  6. Walter Benjamin
  7. Adelheid Brunner née Reinstein
  8. Isidor Flörsheim
  9. Ida Grünfeld née Benjamin
  10. Jakob Grünwald
  11. Berthold Halm
  12. Friederike Heilbron née Stern
  13. Erna Kahn née Stern
  14. Moritz Kahn
  15. Ida Kiefer née Wolf
  16. Flora Meyer née Stern
  17. Sally Meyer
  18. Betty Moses née Stern
  19. Willy Moses
  20. Martha Müller née Benjamin
  21. Dorothe Schneider
  22. Johanna Schneider
  23. Sally Schwab
  24. Helene Schwarz née Benjamin
  25. Bertha Stern née Hirschfeld
  26. Auguste Stern née Lindauer
  27. Emil Stern
  28. David Stern
  29. Heinrich Stern
  30. Herbert Stern
  31. Lina Stern née Kahn
  32. Lothar Stern
  33. Markus Stern
  34. Moses Stern
  35. Sally Stern
  36. Rosa Strauß née Stern
  37. Ella Wolf
  38. Franz Wolf
  39. Lotte Wolf
  40. Moses Wolf
  41. Selma Wolf née Benjamin
  42. Walter Josef Wolf
  43. Amalie Zack née Schneider
On a memorial at the community's Jewish cemetery are the names of 23 persons who were murdered in the Holocaust. In the 19th century, the Jewish community held its services in rented rooms until in 1910 a favourably located house was acquired that could be converted into a synagogue. On 16 September 1910, the synagogue was consecrated by the Kreuznach regional rabbi, Dr. Abraham Tawrogi. Also present were the mayors of both Windesheim and Langenlonsheim, along with Heddesheim's and Waldhilbersheim's municipal leaders, clergy and schoolteachers. The Allgemeine Zeitung des Judentums, a Jewish newspaper, reported the following on 7 October 1910:
The synagogue itself was a simple aisleless building with round and round-arch windows. Corner lesenes and an ascending frieze were the outward decorative elements. On Kristallnacht, the synagogue was wrecked and plundered. In the process, all the fittings and the ritual objects, the pump organ, the stove, lamps and other useful things were stolen or destroyed by the Nazis. In January 1939, the building was sold and thereafter it was used as a storage building or a garage. On the street side, a gate was broken through, and the windows were walled up. Since 1994, the building has been under monumental protection. Its address in Waldhilbersheim is Naheweinstraße 83.

Religion

As at 30 September 2013, there are 2,460 full-time residents in Guldental, and of those, 768 are Evangelical, 1,272 are Catholic, 1 belongs to the Free Evangelical Church,
1 is Greek Orthodox,
4 are Lutheran, 53 belong to other religious groups and 361 either have no religion or will not reveal their religious affiliation.

Politics

Municipal council

The council is made up of 20 council members, who were elected by proportional representation at the municipal election held on 7 June 2009, and the honorary mayor as chairman. The municipal election held on 7 June 2009 yielded the following results:
YearSPDCDUGreensFLGTotal
2009492520 seats
20044101520 seats

Mayor

Guldental's mayor is Elke Demele.

Coat of arms

The municipality's arms might be described thus: Per fess Or a saltire humetty sable and gules three wings argent.
The municipal arms are put together from two coats of arms, the ones formerly borne by the two villages of Heddesheim and Waldhilbersheim before they were merged as part of administrative restructuring in Rhineland-Palatinate. The charge in the upper field is Saint Andrew's Cross, a saltire whose arms do not reach the field's outer edges. This was drawn from Waldhilbersheim's former arms. In the lower field stands a threefold charge, bird's wings. These were drawn from Heddesheim's former arms. The approval for the new, merged municipality of Guldental to bear these arms was granted some time after the actual 1969 merger, in 1971, by the now defunct Regierungsbezirk administration in Koblenz.

Town partnerships

Guldental fosters partnerships with the following places:
This relationship is not a formalized partnership, amounting to more of a "friendship".

Culture and sightseeing

Buildings

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

Heddesheim

Waldhilbersheim

  • Saint Martin's Catholic Parish Church, Große Kirchgasse – aisleless church, 1774/1775, lengthened in 1923; in the churchyard wall gravestones, 18th and 19th centuries; on the quire a Late Baroque Crucifix, marked 1779; three priests' grave crosses, marked 1888, 1920 and 1927; warriors' memorial 1914-1918, Saint Martin relief, 1920s; graveyard cross, sandstone, about 1900; former church portal of the Baroque Catholic church, 1762
  • Brückenstraße 1 – Classicist timber-frame house, plastered, earlier half of the 19th century, door leaf marked 1900
  • At Brunnenplatz 1 – armorial stone, marked 1577
  • Brunnenplatz 5 – former town hall and schoolhouse; Classicist plastered building, about 1850/1860, fountain
  • Brunnenplatz 7 – timber-frame dwelling, two-part Baroque timber-frame house, plastered, possibly about 1700; characterizes square's appearance
  • Im Baumgarten 2 – estate complex; Baroque timber-frame house, partly solid, 17th century
  • Naheweinstraße 83 – former synagogue; brick building with round-arch windows, 1910
  • Windesheimer Straße/corner of Flurweg – wayside chapel, 19th century
  • Jewish graveyard, in the forest "Auf dem Engelroth" – area with some 49 gravestones, 1840 to 1937

Jewish graveyard

The Jewish graveyard in Waldhilbersheim was documented up to about 1934, according to Alemannia Judaica. It has an area of 1 274 m². Also differing from the Directory of Cultural Monuments above is Alemannia Judaica's figure for the number of gravestones, which they give as 42.

Clubs

Guldental has a great number of clubs. Currently active in the municipality are the following:
  • Angelsportverein Guldental e.V. — angling club
  • Bauern- und Winzerverband Guldental — farmers' and winegrowers' association
  • Chor kreuz und quer — choir
  • Dorfladen Guldental w.V. — village shop
  • EPG- Europäische Pfadfinderschaft St.Georg — scouting
  • Evangelische Frauenhilfe Guldental — Evangelical women's aid
  • Förderverein der Grundschule Guldental e.V. — primary school promotional association
  • Freizeitreiter Guldenbachtal e.V. — "leisure riders"
  • Fremdenverkehrs- und Verschönerungsverein Guldental — tourism and beautification club
  • Freunde der fröhlichen Runde — "friends of the merry tour"
  • Guldentaler Frauenstammtisch e.V. — women's Stammtisch
  • Karateakademie G-Dojo Guldental e.V. — martial arts
  • Karnevalverein Sunneblum 1928 Guldental e.V. — Shrovetide Carnival club
  • Katholische Frauengemeinschaft "St. Jakobus" Guldental — Catholic women's association
  • Katholische Frauengemeinschaft "St. Martin" Guldental — Catholic women's association
  • Katholischer Kirchenchor "St. Jakobus" Guldental — Catholic church choir
  • Katholischer Kirchenchor "St. Martin" Guldental — Catholic church choir
  • Landfrauenverein Guldental — countrywomen's club
  • Männergesangverein "Gute Laune" 1927 Guldental e.V. — men's singing club
  • Männergesangverein 1923 Guldental e.V. — men's singing club
  • Musikverein Guldental e.V. — music club
  • Ortsvereinsring Guldental — association of clubs
  • Sportgemeinschaft Guldental 07 — sporting association
  • Theatergruppe Guldental 2005 e.V. — theatre
  • TV 1909 Guldental e.V. — gymnastic club
  • VdK Ortsverband Guldental — social advocacy group
  • VSC "Spike" Guldental — volleyball club
  • Winzerkapelle Guldental e.V. — "winemakers' orchestra"

Museums

Feldbahn-Museum Guldental with 36 Feldbahnen and actual runningHeimat- und Weinbaumuseum — local history and winegrowing museum

Economy and infrastructure

Transport

Guldental lies within the Rhein-Nahe-Nahverkehrsverbund, a local public transport association whose fares therefore apply. Within the municipality is a railway station, Heddesheim on the Cross-Hunsrück Railway, although currently it has only goods service. The nearest place with passenger rail service is Langenlonsheim on the Alsenz Valley Railway lying some 5 km east of Guldental. In Bad Kreuznach, some 8 km south of Guldental, this line crosses the Nahe Valley Railway. Running daily at least every two hours to Bad Kreuznach is bus route 240, run by Omnibusverkehr Rhein-Nahe. The nearest Autobahn interchange is Waldlaubersheim on the A 61, some 5 km north of Guldental.

Winegrowing

Guldental is characterized to a considerable extent by winegrowing, and with 377 ha of vineyard planted it is second only to Bad Kreuznach among the Nahe wine region's biggest winegrowing centres.

Famous people

Honorary citizens

  • Jakob Maurer, since 6 January 2002
  • Günter Lukas, since 6 January 2002
  • Josef Sonnet, since 21 January 2007
  • Hubert Zimmermann, since 2012

Sons and daughters of the town

  • Guldental claims Michael von Obentraut as one of its own, pointing out that although Castle Stromburg near Stromberg may have been the Family Obentraut's seat, the family also had holdings in Heddesheim, among them a fortified house where Michael was actually born. Michael von Obentraut, upon whom history has bestowed the honorific Deutscher Michel, is thus said to have brought Heddesheim legendary renown through his exploits in the Thirty Years' War.
  • Gustav Pfarrius, called the Sänger des Nahetals, came into the world in 1800 in Heddesheim. Besides his many homeland poems he also wrote for the first printed guide book for the Nahe country.

Famous people associated with the municipality

Sundry

The constituent community of Heddesheim has the same name as another village in the Rhein-Neckar-Kreis in Baden-Württemberg.