Pirmasens
Pirmasens | |
---|---|
Urban district | |
Government | |
• Lord mayor (2018–26) | Markus Christian Zwick[1] (CDU) |
Area | |
• Total | 61.37 km2 (23.70 sq mi) |
Elevation | 380 m (1,250 ft) |
Population (2022-12-31)[2] | |
• Total | 40,682 |
• Density | 660/km2 (1,700/sq mi) |
Time zone | UTC+01:00 (CET) |
• Summer (DST) | UTC+02:00 (CEST) |
Postal codes | 66953–66955 |
Dialling codes | 06331 |
Vehicle registration | PS |
Website | www.pirmasens.de |
Pirmasens (German pronunciation:
History
Early years
The first mention of "Pirminiseusna", a colony of
In 1182, the County of Saarbrücken was divided by Simon II and Henry I, who were sons of Simon I. Pirmasens was given to the latter and Henry I's dominion was named as County of Zweibrücken.[5] He built Lemberg Castle for protecting his dominion in 1198. During the period Pirmasens was formal jurisdiction in Bishop of Metz. But, parish administration of Pirmasens was passed to monastery of Hornbach after confirmation of John, Bishop of Metz in 1225.
In 1297, County of Zweibrücken was divided and Pirmasens was passed to County of Zweibrücken-Bitsch, Eberhard I's dominion. He traded some localities with Duke Frederick III of Lorraine and took lordship of Bitsch at same year.
In 1525, during German Peasants' War, Pirmasens was looted by peasants of Bitsch.
In 1560,
Philip V was initially successful in the dispute with Philip I about Zweibrücken-Bitsch. However, he introduced the Lutheran confession in his newly gained territories in 1572. This upset his powerful Catholic neighbour and liege lord,
Before the
In 1736, Johann Reinhard III, the last count of Hanau-Lichtenberg, died without male heir and the duchy passed to his grandson, Landgrave Ludwig IX of Hesse-Darmstadt, the son of Countess Charlotte of Hanau-Lichtenberg, sole heir of County of Hanau Lichtenberg, and Ludwig VIII, Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt.
Landgrave Ludwig IX took residence in his grandfathers hunting lodge in Pirmasens and established a garrison. In 1763, Pirmasens was granted city rights by Ludwig IX who stayed in his small residence even after taking office in Hesse-Darmstadt due to his father's death in 1768. The garrison was continuously expanded, a town hall, two churches and a large exercise hall were erected. Residence and garrison abruptly ended with the landgrave's death in 1790.
In 1793, it was the location of the Battle of Pirmasens between Prussia and the French Corps of the Vosges. The French lost the battle, but their opponents' divisions nevertheless enabled them to return and occupy Pirmasens by the end of the year: between 1798 and 1814, the town was included in the French département of Mont-Tonnerre ("Donnersberg-Département" in German). After the French defeat, it was made part of Bavaria together with the Rhenish Palatinate.
20th century
- 1923/24 tests of Palatinate separatists to settle down in Pirmasens failed on 12 February 1924: occupation of the district town hall, home of the separatist administration; many deaths on both sides
- 9 November 1938 destruction of the synagogue during the Kristallnacht.
On 15 March 1945 Pirmasens was captured by US troops, and the following year it became part of the newly founded Bundesland Rhineland-Palatinate. During the occupation on Sept. 19 the Museum of Pirmasens announced that about 50 paintings which had been stored in the air-raid shelter at Husterhoh School during the war have been plundered during the arrival of the American troops. The paintings were returned in 2006.[9]
Main sights
- Dynamikum, a science museum
- Old Postal Building, with an exhibition of the life and work of Hugo Ball and a picture gallery of the painter Heinrich Bürkel
- Collected works of Hugo Ball in the public library
- Old Town Hall, now a museum of local history and shoes, with silhouettes from Elisabeth Emmler
- Siegfried Line Museum
- Stierbrunnen (Central of the Shopping Area)
- Exerzierplatz (The geographical center of the city)
- Countless forests and springs around the city
Incorporations
- 1969: Erlenbrunn, Fehrbach, Hengsberg, Niedersimten, Winzeln
- 1972: Gersbach, Windsberg
Evolution of population (since 1875):
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Politics
Town council as at August 2014:
- CDU40.7% – 18 seats
- SPD 28.0% – 12 seats
- FWG10.4% – 5 seats
- REP 4.6% – 2 seats
- FDP 4.0% – 2 seats
- Die Linke 5.0% – 2 seats
- The Greens4.6% – 2 seats
- National Democratic Party of Germany 2.0% – 1 seat
Twin towns – sister cities
Pirmasens is twinned with:[10]
- Poissy, France
Culture
Events
- the "Landgrafen-Tage" (days of the landgraves) - every second weekend in April
- Open-Air Highlights at the parade-ground (e.g. musicals, opera)
- "Schlabbeflicker-Fest", a parade of uniformed musicians - every first weekend in August
- Parade-ground festival - every second weekend in September
- Euroclassic festival (Festival of the cities: Pirmasens, Bitche, Zweibrücken, Blieskastel and of the Verbandsgemeinde Zweibrücken-Land)
- "Grenadiermarkt" (infantrymanmarket) - in Autumn
- "Novembermarkt" - last weekend of October or first weekend of November
- Advent
- Yearly Conventions like "Culinaria"
Music
- Choir of oratory Pirmasens
- Chantor's house of Pirmasens
Theatre
- Performances at the festival hall
Sport
- FK Pirmasens
- TV 1863 Pirmasens
- VFB Pirmasens
- GW Pirmasens
- SG Pirmasens
- Rot-Weiß Pirmasens
- Blau-Weiß Pirmasens
- ASV Pirmasens
- TTC Pirmasens
- TUS/DJK Pirmasens
- SV 1907 Ruhbank
- RC Pirmasens
- 1. Boule Verein Pirmasens
- MTV 1873 Pirmasens
Companies
- Carl Semler shoe factory
- ZWAANS GmbH - Import/Export of tannery machines, orthopedic branche
- Ergo-Fit - manufacturer of cardiology equipment
- FWB Kunststofftechnik GmbH - injection moulding
- Apoplex medical technologies GmbH - products for the prevention of stroke
- Cytoimmun diagnostics cervical cancer screening
- Koch Maschinenbau GmbH - engineering
- Peter Kaiser GmbH - Germany's oldest shoe-factory
- Park&Bellheimer AG - brewery
- Profine GmbH, Kömmerling - manufacturer of synthetic material; major company
- psb GmbH
- SympaTel Telemarketing GmbH
- WAFO GmbH - specialist in the abrasion technique
- WAWI Euro GmbH - chocolate factory
- "Pirmasenser Zeitung" local newspaper
- "Die Rheinpfalz" local newspaper
- KD Schaltanlagenbau
- CONVAR Deutschland GmbH - provides data recovery of hard drives within difficult setups
- Footwear Concept and Design GmbH - Shoe design, Outsole design, mould manufacture and rapid prototyping
- Dampf-Shop GmbH
- WHG-Rahn GmbH - Systems for heating and cooling, plumbing
- Framas
- WASGAU AG
Education
- Fachhochschule Kaiserslautern, Campus Pirmasens located in Pirmasens
- Deutsche Schuhfachschule
Notable people
- Heinrich Bürkel (1802–1869), genre and landscape painter
- Godfrey Weitzel (1835–1884), Union Army general during the American Civil War
- Hugo Ball (1886–1927), author, poet, founder of the Dada movement
- Betty Amann (1905–1990), actor
- Ralph H. Baer (1922–2014), German-American inventor, game developer and engineer
- Julian Steckel (born 1982), cellist
- Erik Durm (born 1992), footballer
Military
Husterhoeh Kaserne was a former (1945–1994) US military facility in Pirmasens, and is now a mostly closed Bundeswehr facility, which still hosts U.S. Army Medical Materiel Center – Europe. It was a constituent member of the Kaiserslautern Military Community.
Gallery
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Oecumenic view
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St. Pirminius
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St. Pirminius
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Parade ground and St. John's Church
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Dynamikum
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Old cemetery
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Old Postal Building
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Former shoe factory
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Youth hostel
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Streck valley bridge
References
- ^ Wahl der Oberbürgermeister der kreisfreien Städte, Landeswahlleiter Rheinland-Pfalz, accessed 4 October 2022.
- Statistisches Landesamt Rheinland-Pfalz. 2023.
- ^ "Geschichte des Klosters Hornbach". Archived from the original on 2013-09-07. Retrieved 2013-08-27.
- ^ Homepage of the Protestant church communities and Brenschelbach Hornbach: The history of the monastery of Hornbach
- ^ http://www.historischer-verein-pirmasens.de/pirmasenser_chronik.htm History of village of Pirmasens between 850-1763
- ^ http://de.wikisource.org/wiki/Seite:De_Zimmerische_Chronik_2_251.jpg Zimmerische Chronik, vol. 2, p. 251
- ISBN 3-920558-00-6, pp. 23-24
- ^ Fritz Claus: Mary Rosenberg. Legend Sage and history. 3rd Edition, Edenkoben, 1911, publishing Zweibrücker People's Daily, p 331
- ^ "Mystery of family's art unraveled: Stolen in World War II".
- ^ "Städtepartnerschaft". pirmasens.de (in German). Pirmasens. Retrieved 2021-03-08.
Further reading
- J.B.Lehnung, Geliebtes Pirmasens, 12 Bände, Pirmasens (Komet), 1978 ff. [with a lot of photos]
- Gräber/Spindler, Die Pfalzbefreier, Ludwigshafen/Rhein, 2005 [discussed separatism]
External links
- Official website (in German)
- Westwallmuseum (in German)
- Museum Dynamikum[permanent dead link] (in German)