Rimsberg

Rimsberg 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 of Birkenfeld, whose seat is in the like-named town. The municipality lies northwest of the district seat of Birkenfeld. To the north lies Schmißberg, and to the southeast, Nohen. Also belonging to Rimsberg are the outlying centre of Vogelsbüsch and the outlying homestead of Lindenhof. In 1269, Rimsberg had its first documentary mention in the “Schwarzenburg Document”. Its name was Rummersberg then, and later Rymsberg. In the years after 1465, there were 15 families living in Rimsberg, but after the Thirty Years' War, only one family was left. The houses were deserted and bare, plundered by Spanish troops, and the fields, too, were bare, for nobody was there to work them now. From 1665 to 1792, the village's name was Reinsberg, and until the late 18th century, it belonged to the “Hinder” County of Sponheim. After this, the village was under French rule until 1830. At this time, Rimsberg was called Rimsbach. It was during the time of French rule that the notorious outlaw Johannes Bückler (1777–1803), commonly known as Schinderhannes, brought fear and dread to this part of Germany. Merchants with freight carts were ambushed in the woods by Schinderhannes's band of robbers and had everything stolen. In the end, though, Schinderhannes, together with his band, were caught, and in 1803 they were beheaded in Mainz by the French. In 1835, the school was built. Shortly thereafter a fountain was installed in the garden and the school was given a bell. It was also about this time that a graveyard was laid out, which ended the practice of Rimsberg burying its dead in Nohen. Before the school was built, classes were taught at people's houses. According to the school chronicle, classes were taught at the school building from 1796 to 1966, when the school was closed. It has since become a community centre.