Schauren (près Idar-Oberstein)

Schauren is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in the Birkenfeld district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It belongs to the Verbandsgemeinde Herrstein-Rhaunen, whose seat is in Herrstein. The municipality lies in the Hunsrück at the edge of the Idar Forest. The municipal area is 64.4% wooded. Schauren borders in the north on the municipality of Hellertshausen, in the northeast on the municipality of Asbach, in the southeast on the municipality of Kempfeld, in the southwest on the municipality of Bruchweiler and in the northwest on the municipality of Morbach which, unlike all the others, is not in the Birkenfeld district, but rather in the Bernkastel-Wittlich district. Also belonging to Schauren are the outlying homesteads of Aschiedermühle and Schaurenermühle. In 1275, Schauren had its first documentary mention. In 1279, it was called Schuren; the name stems from the Old High German Scura. Even so, Schauren existed long before its first documentary mention. As with most villages on the slopes of the Idar Forest, several prehistoric graves unearthed within Schauren's limits bear witness to very early settlers here, even as far back as the early Celtic Iron Age. In 1351, the village was held by the Waldgraves of Kyrburg. By 1515, Schauren was still obliged to pay tithes or other levies to the Waldgraves and Rhinegraves. In 1816, in the wake of Napoleon’s downfall and the Congress of Vienna, French rule ended and Schauren found itself in the Kingdom of Prussia. Schauren also has its industrial history. The village fields’ meagre yields spurred many men to find other work when industrialization began to make itself felt. There were ironworks of “Hammerbirkenfeld” and Asbach. There was also slate mining. The Aschiedermühle, now merely an outlying homestead, was an actual mill at one time (Mühle means “mill” in German) and contributed to the local economy. The council is made up of 12 council members, who were elected by majority vote at the municipal election held on 7 June 2009, and the honorary mayor as chairwoman.