Darscheid
Encyclopedia
Darscheid is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality
belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde
, a kind of collective municipality – in the Vulkaneifel district
in Rhineland-Palatinate
, Germany
. It belongs to the Verbandsgemeinde of Daun
, whose seat is in the like-named town
.
, a part of the Eifel
known for its volcanic history, geographical and geological features, and even ongoing activity today, including gases that sometimes well up from the earth. The Alfbach also rises nearby.
More steadily based in historical fact, though, is the Celtic presence in the area. They settled the Eifel
as livestock raisers, and it may be assumed that they were in what is now Darscheid as well, as witnessed by the barrows
in the nearby Lehwald (woods), which were explored in the late 19th century and determined to date from the early Iron Age
– Hallstatt times
.
In the Middle Ages
, Darscheid was quite a poor village out in the heath, like so many in the Eifel
. Thatched timber-frame
houses gathered around a 14th-century chapel. Darscheid had its first documentary mention in 1354, at which time it lay under the Counts of Daun. After they died out in 1420, the lordship passed to the Counts of Manderscheid. There followed a long period of serfdom, compulsory labour and economic woes. Even after serfdom
was abolished, things got no better, and many people heeded the promises of a better life from Empress Maria Theresa’s
settler recruiter in 1754 and left the village for a new life in Hungary
.
The 19th century brought the Eifel dwellers yet more in the way of economic hardship, leading to a further wave of emigration, this time to North America
. About 1852, sixty-seven people left Darscheid and went abroad. Only in the 1890s did the situation begin to improve. The spruce
trees that had been planted beginning in 1830 were at last yielding income. Farm work was made easier by the reorganization of splintered farmland into bigger plots. Chemical fertilizer boosted crop yields. Further jobs and therefore earnings came with the Daun-Darscheid-Mayen railway, completed in 1895. This also spurred growth in trade and transport, raising Darscheid, as a railway centre, to a higher economic position. This further allowed the municipality, among other things, to build a new school in 1901, the old timber-frame
one, built in 1838, having outlived its usefulness.
Over the next few decades, growth continued. The Lower Village swelled until it reached the railway track, a railway goods station opened, followed by a sawmill in 1919, there was electric light in 1921 and a public water supply by 1927. Between 1923 and 1924, three new bakehouses were built to afford the villagers a place to bake their bread. This was an important institution in those days, as people seldom had ovens in their own homes. Darscheid discovered tourism
in 1924 when the youth hostel was opened.
A census
on 16 June 1933 showed that there were 409 inhabitants in Darscheid. At about this time, Adolf Hitler
came to power in Germany and the Third Reich
began. The onset of the Second World War depleted the ranks of working men as they were called into the Wehrmacht
; jobs were taken over by women and older men. Also put to work were prisoners of war
, both men and women, from Russia
, France
and Poland
, who worked the land. Most of these were billeted with local families in the hope that the local husbands and sons fighting in the war would be well supplied by people in the occupied lands.
After the war, agriculture
began to lose its economic importance as the flight to the cities began. By about 1997, the last locally owned agricultural business was forsaken by its owner, and all farming in Darscheid is now handled by a large company. Furthermore, the old youth hostel closed in 1976 after 50 years and the building now houses a home for emotionally needy adults, as does the old railway station. This service is run by the Weggemeinschaft Vulkaneifel.
The railway itself is still in use, but there are now only hourly local trains in the summer months. For a decade, between January 1991 and early 2001, there was no passenger service at all.
at the municipal election held on 7 June 2009, and the honorary mayor as chairman.
The municipality’s arms
might in English heraldic
language be described thus: Vert a bend sinister Or surmounted by a bendlet dancetty gules, in dexter a horn and in sinister a sword in bend sinister, the pommel to base, both argent.
The bend sinister (diagonal stripe) surmounted by the bendlet dancetty (narrow zigzag stripe) is taken from the arms borne by the Counts of Manderscheid-Kail and Manderscheid-Schleiden, who according to Weistümer (a Weistum – cognate with English
wisdom – was a legal pronouncement issued by men learned in law in the Middle Ages
and early modern times) from the 15th century held a jurisdictional estate (Dinghof) here.
The horn refers to the municipality’s patron saint, Cornelius
.
The sword refers to “Thommen”, the old execution place. Executions of the condemned from the tithe villages of Brockscheid, Darscheid, Ellscheid, Mehren, Rengen, Schalkenmehren, Schönbach, Trittscheid, Udler, Üdersdorf and to some extent, Strohn took place here.
Municipalities of Germany
Municipalities are the lowest level of territorial division in Germany. This may be the fourth level of territorial division in Germany, apart from those states which include Regierungsbezirke , where municipalities then become the fifth level.-Overview:With more than 3,400,000 inhabitants, the...
belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde
Verbandsgemeinde
A Verbandsgemeinde is an administrative unit in the German Bundesländer of Rhineland-Palatinate and Saxony-Anhalt.-Rhineland-Palatinate:...
, a kind of collective municipality – in the Vulkaneifel district
Districts of Germany
The districts of Germany are known as , except in the states of North Rhine-Westphalia and Schleswig-Holstein where they are known simply as ....
in Rhineland-Palatinate
Rhineland-Palatinate
Rhineland-Palatinate is one of the 16 states of the Federal Republic of Germany. It has an area of and about four million inhabitants. The capital is Mainz. English speakers also commonly refer to the state by its German name, Rheinland-Pfalz ....
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
. It belongs to the Verbandsgemeinde of Daun
Daun (Verbandsgemeinde)
Daun is a collective municipality in the Vulkaneifel district of Rhineland-Palatinate. The seat of the Daun Verbandsgemeinde is in the municipality of Daun.- Constituent municipalities:# Betteldorf# Bleckhausen# Brockscheid...
, whose seat is in the like-named town
Daun, Germany
Daun is a town in the Vulkaneifel district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is the district seat and also the seat of the Verbandsgemeinde of Daun.- Location :...
.
Location
The municipality lies in the VulkaneifelVulkan Eifel
The Vulkan Eifel is a region in the Eifel Mountains in Germany, that is defined to a large extent by its volcanic geological history. Characteristic of the Vulkan Eifel are its typical explosion crater lakes or maars, and numerous other signs of volcanic activity such as volcanic tuffs, lava...
, a part of the Eifel
Eifel
The Eifel is a low mountain range in western Germany and eastern Belgium. It occupies parts of southwestern North Rhine-Westphalia, northwestern Rhineland-Palatinate and the south of the German-speaking Community of Belgium....
known for its volcanic history, geographical and geological features, and even ongoing activity today, including gases that sometimes well up from the earth. The Alfbach also rises nearby.
History
Darscheid’s parish and school chronicle tells a story about how the three villages in the Alfbach’s headwaters came into being. Three brothers, the reader is told, came and settled here from faraway lands and divided the land amongst themselves, saying “Hier ist ein Scheid, da ist ein Scheid und unten ist für alle ein Scheid.” (“Here is a share, there is a share and below is for all a share”). From these “shares” or “splits” arose three farms that later grew into villages: Hörscheid (Hier + Scheid), Darscheid (Da + Scheid) and Allscheid (Alle + Scheid).More steadily based in historical fact, though, is the Celtic presence in the area. They settled the Eifel
Eifel
The Eifel is a low mountain range in western Germany and eastern Belgium. It occupies parts of southwestern North Rhine-Westphalia, northwestern Rhineland-Palatinate and the south of the German-speaking Community of Belgium....
as livestock raisers, and it may be assumed that they were in what is now Darscheid as well, as witnessed by the barrows
Tumulus
A tumulus is a mound of earth and stones raised over a grave or graves. Tumuli are also known as barrows, burial mounds, Hügelgrab or kurgans, and can be found throughout much of the world. A tumulus composed largely or entirely of stones is usually referred to as a cairn...
in the nearby Lehwald (woods), which were explored in the late 19th century and determined to date from the early Iron Age
Iron Age
The Iron Age is the archaeological period generally occurring after the Bronze Age, marked by the prevalent use of iron. The early period of the age is characterized by the widespread use of iron or steel. The adoption of such material coincided with other changes in society, including differing...
– Hallstatt times
Hallstatt culture
The Hallstatt culture was the predominant Central European culture from the 8th to 6th centuries BC , developing out of the Urnfield culture of the 12th century BC and followed in much of Central Europe by the La Tène culture.By the 6th century BC, the Hallstatt culture extended for some...
.
In the Middle Ages
Middle Ages
The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...
, Darscheid was quite a poor village out in the heath, like so many in the Eifel
Eifel
The Eifel is a low mountain range in western Germany and eastern Belgium. It occupies parts of southwestern North Rhine-Westphalia, northwestern Rhineland-Palatinate and the south of the German-speaking Community of Belgium....
. Thatched timber-frame
Timber framing
Timber framing , or half-timbering, also called in North America "post-and-beam" construction, is the method of creating structures using heavy squared off and carefully fitted and joined timbers with joints secured by large wooden pegs . It is commonplace in large barns...
houses gathered around a 14th-century chapel. Darscheid had its first documentary mention in 1354, at which time it lay under the Counts of Daun. After they died out in 1420, the lordship passed to the Counts of Manderscheid. There followed a long period of serfdom, compulsory labour and economic woes. Even after serfdom
Serfdom
Serfdom is the status of peasants under feudalism, specifically relating to Manorialism. It was a condition of bondage or modified slavery which developed primarily during the High Middle Ages in Europe and lasted to the mid-19th century...
was abolished, things got no better, and many people heeded the promises of a better life from Empress Maria Theresa’s
Maria Theresa of Austria
Maria Theresa Walburga Amalia Christina was the only female ruler of the Habsburg dominions and the last of the House of Habsburg. She was the sovereign of Austria, Hungary, Croatia, Bohemia, Mantua, Milan, Lodomeria and Galicia, the Austrian Netherlands and Parma...
settler recruiter in 1754 and left the village for a new life in Hungary
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...
.
The 19th century brought the Eifel dwellers yet more in the way of economic hardship, leading to a further wave of emigration, this time to North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
. About 1852, sixty-seven people left Darscheid and went abroad. Only in the 1890s did the situation begin to improve. The spruce
Spruce
A spruce is a tree of the genus Picea , a genus of about 35 species of coniferous evergreen trees in the Family Pinaceae, found in the northern temperate and boreal regions of the earth. Spruces are large trees, from tall when mature, and can be distinguished by their whorled branches and conical...
trees that had been planted beginning in 1830 were at last yielding income. Farm work was made easier by the reorganization of splintered farmland into bigger plots. Chemical fertilizer boosted crop yields. Further jobs and therefore earnings came with the Daun-Darscheid-Mayen railway, completed in 1895. This also spurred growth in trade and transport, raising Darscheid, as a railway centre, to a higher economic position. This further allowed the municipality, among other things, to build a new school in 1901, the old timber-frame
Timber framing
Timber framing , or half-timbering, also called in North America "post-and-beam" construction, is the method of creating structures using heavy squared off and carefully fitted and joined timbers with joints secured by large wooden pegs . It is commonplace in large barns...
one, built in 1838, having outlived its usefulness.
Over the next few decades, growth continued. The Lower Village swelled until it reached the railway track, a railway goods station opened, followed by a sawmill in 1919, there was electric light in 1921 and a public water supply by 1927. Between 1923 and 1924, three new bakehouses were built to afford the villagers a place to bake their bread. This was an important institution in those days, as people seldom had ovens in their own homes. Darscheid discovered tourism
Tourism
Tourism is travel for recreational, leisure or business purposes. The World Tourism Organization defines tourists as people "traveling to and staying in places outside their usual environment for not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business and other purposes".Tourism has become a...
in 1924 when the youth hostel was opened.
A census
Census
A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring and recording information about the members of a given population. It is a regularly occurring and official count of a particular population. The term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common...
on 16 June 1933 showed that there were 409 inhabitants in Darscheid. At about this time, Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
came to power in Germany and the Third Reich
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
began. The onset of the Second World War depleted the ranks of working men as they were called into the Wehrmacht
Wehrmacht
The Wehrmacht – from , to defend and , the might/power) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the Heer , the Kriegsmarine and the Luftwaffe .-Origin and use of the term:...
; jobs were taken over by women and older men. Also put to work were prisoners of war
Prisoner of war
A prisoner of war or enemy prisoner of war is a person, whether civilian or combatant, who is held in custody by an enemy power during or immediately after an armed conflict...
, both men and women, from Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
and Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
, who worked the land. Most of these were billeted with local families in the hope that the local husbands and sons fighting in the war would be well supplied by people in the occupied lands.
After the war, agriculture
Agriculture
Agriculture is the cultivation of animals, plants, fungi and other life forms for food, fiber, and other products used to sustain life. Agriculture was the key implement in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that nurtured the...
began to lose its economic importance as the flight to the cities began. By about 1997, the last locally owned agricultural business was forsaken by its owner, and all farming in Darscheid is now handled by a large company. Furthermore, the old youth hostel closed in 1976 after 50 years and the building now houses a home for emotionally needy adults, as does the old railway station. This service is run by the Weggemeinschaft Vulkaneifel.
The railway itself is still in use, but there are now only hourly local trains in the summer months. For a decade, between January 1991 and early 2001, there was no passenger service at all.
Municipal council
The council is made up of 12 council members, who were elected by majority votePlurality voting system
The plurality voting system is a single-winner voting system often used to elect executive officers or to elect members of a legislative assembly which is based on single-member constituencies...
at the municipal election held on 7 June 2009, and the honorary mayor as chairman.
Coat of arms
The German blazon reads: In Grün ein goldener Schräglinksbalken, belegt mit einer roten Zickzackleiste. Oben ein silbernes Horn, unten ein schräg aufgerichtetes silbernes Schwert.The municipality’s arms
Coat of arms
A coat of arms is a unique heraldic design on a shield or escutcheon or on a surcoat or tabard used to cover and protect armour and to identify the wearer. Thus the term is often stated as "coat-armour", because it was anciently displayed on the front of a coat of cloth...
might in English heraldic
Heraldry
Heraldry is the profession, study, or art of creating, granting, and blazoning arms and ruling on questions of rank or protocol, as exercised by an officer of arms. Heraldry comes from Anglo-Norman herald, from the Germanic compound harja-waldaz, "army commander"...
language be described thus: Vert a bend sinister Or surmounted by a bendlet dancetty gules, in dexter a horn and in sinister a sword in bend sinister, the pommel to base, both argent.
The bend sinister (diagonal stripe) surmounted by the bendlet dancetty (narrow zigzag stripe) is taken from the arms borne by the Counts of Manderscheid-Kail and Manderscheid-Schleiden, who according to Weistümer (a Weistum – cognate with English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
wisdom – was a legal pronouncement issued by men learned in law in the Middle Ages
Middle Ages
The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...
and early modern times) from the 15th century held a jurisdictional estate (Dinghof) here.
The horn refers to the municipality’s patron saint, Cornelius
Pope Cornelius
Pope Saint Cornelius was pope from his election on 6 or 13 March 251 to his martyrdom in June 253.- Christian persecution :Emperor Decius, who ruled from 249 to 251 AD, persecuted Christians in the Roman Empire rather sporadically and locally, but starting January in the year 250, he ordered all...
.
The sword refers to “Thommen”, the old execution place. Executions of the condemned from the tithe villages of Brockscheid, Darscheid, Ellscheid, Mehren, Rengen, Schalkenmehren, Schönbach, Trittscheid, Udler, Üdersdorf and to some extent, Strohn took place here.
Buildings
- Holy Cross Parish Church (Pfarrkirche Heilig Kreuz, 1969)
- Former railway station building from 1906, under monumental protection
- Graveyard with old sandstoneSandstoneSandstone is a sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized minerals or rock grains.Most sandstone is composed of quartz and/or feldspar because these are the most common minerals in the Earth's crust. Like sand, sandstone may be any colour, but the most common colours are tan, brown, yellow,...
crosses set in the wall - BarrowsTumulusA tumulus is a mound of earth and stones raised over a grave or graves. Tumuli are also known as barrows, burial mounds, Hügelgrab or kurgans, and can be found throughout much of the world. A tumulus composed largely or entirely of stones is usually referred to as a cairn...