Hundsbach
Hundsbach 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 of Meisenheim, whose seat is in the like-named town. Hundsbach is a clump village that lies in the North Palatine Uplands. Its typical historical appearance as a rural village has been preserved. Clockwise from the north, Hundsbach's neighbours are the municipalities of Kirschroth, Bärweiler, Lauschied, Jeckenbach, Schweinschied and Limbach, all of which likewise lie within the Bad Kreuznach district. Also belonging to Hundsbach are the outlying homesteads of Forsthaus Hundsbach and Lochmühle. Yearly precipitation in Hundsbach amounts to 590 mm, which is very low, falling into the lowest fourth of the precipitation chart for all Germany. Only 19% of the German Weather Service's weather stations are even lower figures recorded. The driest month is February. The most rainfall comes in May. In that month, precipitation is 1.6 times what it is in February. Precipitation varies only slightly and is spread quite evenly over the year. At only 1% of the weather stations are lower seasonal recorded. Hundsbach is found on an old Roman road that led from the Rhine Valley to Metz. The village, mentioned in old records as Hundisbach had for a while in the Middle Ages two centres, Oberhundsbach and Niederhundsbach (“Upper” and “Nether”). By 1611, however, Hundsbach had been given up, and this even before the ravages of the Thirty Years' War (1618—1648). Hundsbach belonged to the County of Veldenz, and as of 1386 to the Waldgraves. From 1816 to 1866 it belonged to the Oberamt of Meisenheim in the Landgraviate of Hesse-Homburg, passing with this state in 1866 to the Kingdom of Prussia. Late in the Second World War, Hundsbach was almost utterly destroyed. Hundsbach had a Jewish community in the 19th century. It arose in the 18th century. In the 19th century, the number of Jewish inhabitants developed as follows: in 1808, 40 Jewish inhabitants; in 1867, 22 (of all together 688 inhabitants); in 1895, 21.