Steinbach/Glan - Jewish Culture Trail (circular route - 28.5 km)

Track types

Safety information

NOTICE:

We endeavor to announce on this platform any closures that occur on our hiking trails in the region due to forestry work, hunting parties or similar.

Nevertheless, there are situations where hiking trails are closed and we have not been informed.

Every hiker who hikes through closed areas (route tape, "Caution Hunting" etc.), even at weekends, is acting with gross negligence and is responsible for their own actions!

The hiking trail leads along narrow paths in places.

Good footwear is required.

The areas in the nature reserves are unsuitable for baby carriages!

Particularly in the fall, be aware that leaves lying on the ground can cover uneven surfaces, roots, stones or holes in the path.

You must expect this type of path impairment when you go on a hike.

If you are of the opinion that certain sections of the path are not suitable for you, you should avoid them.

Especially in adverse weather conditions, muddy and slippery passages can occur on near-natural paths.

Tips and suggestions

Municipality of Oberes Glantal

Rathausstraße 8, 66901 Schönenberg-Kübelberg

Telephone: 06373/504-0

Internet: www.vgog.de

E-mail: poststelle@vgog.de

The stations along the "Jewish Path"

(1) Jewish Museum

The Jewish Museum in Steinbach, which was ceremonially opened on May 24, 2000, is a reminder of the history of the former and the former social, cultural and religious life of the . The beginnings of the museum in Steinbach date back to 1989, when the local mayor at the time, Heinz Dellbrügge, suggested the founding of a local history association and the establishment of a local history museum. On the initiative of Mayor Klaus Müller and with the support of the VG Glan-Münchweiler, the museum focused on Jewish history. The permanent exhibition presents the historical development of the local Jewish community, which was the center of Jewish life in the southern district of Kusel for more than 200 years. In the middle of the 19th century, a third of the population in Steinbach professed the Jewish religion. The Jewish community had a synagogue, a cemetery and a school with a ritual bath. In addition to display boards with pictorial and written documents, the collection of Jewish utensils and ritual objects provides a comprehensive picture of everyday and religious life and brings visitors closer to Jewish culture. The museum also hosts special exhibitions, lectures, talks and guided tours. The Jewish Museum, which is supported by the local community and the local history association, has become an important documentation center of supra-regional significance.

(2) Steinbach Synagogue

In 1725, one of the first synagogues of a Jewish rural community in the Palatinate was built in Steinbach. Located in the center of the village, the synagogue building was a stately structure measuring 13.80 x 9.80 m with three window axes on the street front and a crippled hipped roof. A description from 1815 states: "Of the synagogues now existing in the district, only the one in von and Steinbach truly deserves this name ... the others are small parlors in Jewish houses." At that time, there were a total of 205 Jews in the Waldmohr canton, who were united in the Steinbach "local synagogue". The end of the synagogue came with the November pogrom of 1938. On the morning of November 10, a Nazi commando stormed the building and desecrated the place of worship. The windows were torn out, the interior was vandalized and burned outside and the roof was destroyed. In 1939, the Steinbach community bought the ruins of the synagogue for 500 RM. In 1941, it sold the property to a butcher who had already been in negotiations with the Jewish community to buy it before the events of November 1938. In 1950, the property was converted into a residential and commercial building. In the restitution proceedings, the Jewish Community of the Rhine Palatinate finally received a retrospective payment of DM 2,250. A memorial stone was erected opposite the former synagogue in 1988 to commemorate the synagogue and its history.

(3) Steinbach Jewish cemetery

In the 18th century, the deceased were laid to rest in their own Jewish cemetery near Gries. The field name "Judengraben", which has survived to this day, is a reminder of this old burial site, of which no traces remain today. As the cemetery there was far away from Steinbach and no longer offered any space, the Jews of Steinbach sought permission to establish a new cemetery in 1820. About one kilometer northeast of the village, a new Jewish cemetery was built in the "Vier Eichen" ("Four Oaks") meadow, where Jews from Bettenhausen, Börsborn, Brücken, Glan-Münchweiler, Haschbach and Trahweiler Nanzweiler, Quirnbach and Waldmohr (until 1872) were buried alongside those from Frutzweiler. In 1891, the Jewish community had the burial ground extended. The existing graves show that the cemetery has been occupied since around 1826. The last burials took place in 1947 and 1966. The cemetery was desecrated by unknown perpetrators in 1979, 1986 and 1993. Since the end of the Second World War, the cemetery has been administered by the Jewish Community of the Palatinate. The local community of Steinbach is responsible for ongoing maintenance and care.

(4) Altstraße

An old road runs along the striking ridge that stretches from the Ohmbach valley from Brücken in a north-easterly direction to the Glantal valley and reaches its highest point between Steinbach and 417 m above sea level. It is possible that this old road already existed in the Iron Age (around 750 BC to the turn of the millennium), as the long line of several burial mounds from Börsborn, Steinbach and Glan-Münchweiler is located here. Over a length of 6 km, these groups of mounds lie in the immediate vicinity of the prominent path on the ridge. As the ridge has no major topographical differences in height, the burial mounds are still clearly visible in the terrain today. Interestingly, the burial mounds are not grouped together in compact clusters, but are distributed in rows along the ridge. It is therefore likely that this was an old road connection between the Ohmbach valley and the Glan valley, which may have been part of a regional route.

(5) Henschbachtal highway bridge

In the course of the construction of the A62 highway between Landstuhl and Trier, the 390 m long prestressed concrete beam bridge over the Henschbach valley was built in 1968-71. Two bridge piers had already been built in 1939/40 for the valley crossing of the planned Reichsautobahn near Quirnbach, which were later to carry a steel superstructure. In August 1968, the two piers were blown up and work began on the new bridge. After the eastern half of the carriageway was opened to traffic in December 1970, the bridge was finally completed in August 1971. The bridge has a width of 30.50 m at the carriageways. The spans of the two outer spans at the bridgeheads are 35 m, the span of the eight intermediate spans is 40 m. The bridge quickly became the symbol of the municipality of Glan-Münchweiler, which was created in 1972, and was included as a unifying element in the municipality's coat of arms, which was approved in 1980. The highway bridge dominating the valley was also included in the coat of arms of the newly formed local community of Henschtal in 1969.

(6) Glantal and Glantalbahn

The 350-metre-high Rottersberg offers a magnificent panorama of the Palatinate mountains, the Sickinger Höhe and the Westricher Niederung. On the eastern horizon, the view extends as far as the Palatinate Forest. To the north, the Glan Valley stretches between Remigiusberg (with its church and castle ruins) and the sweeping Potzberg (562 m). Even in earlier times, important transport routes ran along the longest river in the West Palatinate. As part of the railroad connection from Landstuhl to Kusel, the route between and Altenglan was opened in 1868 as the first section of what would later become the Glantalbahn, which is still in operation today. At the end of the 19th century, the rail network in the Glantal was further expanded. In 1904, the Glantalbahn was finally open to traffic all the way from Homburg to Bad Münster am Stein. From 1961 to 1986, rail traffic was discontinued on long stretches and entire sections of track were dismantled. The Glan-Blies cycle path, which was created between 2001 and 2006, runs along parts of the former railroad line.

(7) Rhönrad

Otto Feick (1890-1959), the inventor of the Rhönrad, is commemorated today by a sculpture on the traffic circle on the main road near Bettenhausen. Feick was born in Reichenbach/Pfalz in 1890, but had close family ties here due to his father coming from there. At the beginning of the 1920s, Feick developed the special gymnastics and sports equipment, had it patented in 1925 and began manufacturing the "Rhönrad", named after the manufacturing location in the Rhön, in his metal workshop in Schönau an der Brend in Lower Franconia. Thanks to Feick's trips abroad and demonstrations during the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin, the Rhönrad attracted worldwide attention. The sports equipment consists of two parallel hoops connected by six rungs. The diameter of the hoops is between 130 and 245 cm. Rhönrad has been practiced in Glan-Münchweiler since 1980. In 1984, the 13th German club team championships in rhönrad gymnastics were held here. In 1990, the gymnasium at the Glantal School was given the name "Otto-Feick-Halle".

(8) Roman coin treasure

In 1976, a late Roman coin hoard was discovered in the center of the village during the construction of a supermarket. At a depth of around one and a half meters, workers excavating a foundation trench came across 36 coins(folles) from the period between 330 and 346. The follis was a Roman coin introduced by Emperor Diocletian in 294 and minted until 346. The coin had a weight of approx. 10 grams and a diameter of around 27-30 mm. It thus corresponded to 1/32 of a Roman pound. Folles made of bronze with a thin silver coating were the typical money used by the Romans for daily payments at that time. Charred pieces of wood, which were found caked on some of the coins, are evidence of a fire. No further investigations were carried out at the site at the time, as construction work continued apace.

(9) Protestant church in Glan-Münchweiler

The village of Münchweiler with its first church was founded in the early Middle Ages on a spur of land stretching towards the Glan valley, starting from the Hornbach monastery founded by Pirminius around 741/42. In 1420, the first parish priest of Glan-Münchweiler was named as Johann, archpriest on the Glan. 1451 parochia ecclesia s. Permenii in villa Munchwiler. After the introduction of the Reformation in 1555, the work of the first Lutheran priest in the church of Glan-Münchweiler is also recorded. From 1684-1902, Catholics were granted the right to use the church. The current church building has several construction phases and consists of a rectangular medieval choir room, which was given a ribbed vault at the beginning of the 13th century, an adjoining sacristy to the north with a 15th century tracery window, a southern choir flank tower and a Baroque nave. When the old nave was demolished and the church extended in 1771, Roman "four-god stones" were discovered embedded in the foundations. Another relief stone from Roman times was placed on the outer wall of the choir during the renovation. In 1854 and 1958, further Roman fragments and stone sarcophagi were found during excavations in the church. The Roman spolia and sarcophagi have been displayed in a lapidarium in the churchyard since 1997.

(10) Official town of Glan-Münchweiler

After the foundation of Hornbach Abbey by St. Pirmin around 741, the abbey was subsequently endowed with extensive donations. The Hornbach monks also received a complex of properties between Glan, Henschbach and Ohmbach. The estate they founded on a hill above the Glan and the resulting village of Münchweiler became the starting point for their clearing and expansion activities. The village, first mentioned in a document in 1296, developed into the central administrative center in the so-called Münchweiler Valley, which also included Haschbach, Steinbach, Börsborn, Gries, Dietschweiler and Nanzweiler. In French times (1798-1814), Glan-Münchweiler was the seat of a "Mairie", and since Bavarian times it has been the center of a mayor's office. In the course of the Rhineland-Palatinate administrative reform, the Glan-Münchweiler association municipality was created in 1972 with initially 14 and from 1975 13 local municipalities. In 2017, the merger of the three municipalities of Glan-Münchweiler, Schönenberg-Kübelberg and Waldmohr formed the new municipality of Oberes Glantal, which also has a municipal administrative center.

(11) Von der Leyen

For over 300 years, the von der Leyen family held the "Münchweiler Tal" as a fiefdom. The noble family came from Gondorf on the Moselle and was elevated to the rank of imperial counts in 1711. The acquisition of estates and rights in Bliesgau and the Western Palatinate and the subsequent establishment of their own domain took place in the 15th century. In 1456, Georg von der Leyen married Eva Mauchenheimer, the heiress daughter of Simon Mauchenheimer von Zweibrücken, who had significant estates and fiefs in the Westrich. In 1484, Georg von der Leyen acquired half of the Münchweiler Valley from the heirs of the Lords of Breidenborn. He received the other half in 1486 as an inheritance from his deceased father-in-law Simon Mauchenheimer. During Leyen's reign , Jews are granted settlement in the Münchweiler Valley. The last regent from the house of von der Leyen to hold the office of Münchweiler was Marianne von der Leyen (née von Dalberg). She had to flee her Blieskastel residence from French revolutionary troops in 1793. During her escape, she spent the night in the Lutheran vicarage in Glan-Münchweiler.

(12) Horse market

Quirnbach can look back on a centuries-old market tradition. In 1444, the consecration of the church on St. Bartholomew's Day, August 24, the name day of the village's former church saint, was first documented in writing. In the 18th century, St. Bartholomew's market was "a pretty good market" and in 1760 we also learn of a Whitsun market, which was later moved to the autumn. In 1799, the French government granted permission to hold a cattle market in Quirnbach on the third day of every month. In the 19th century, a market date was established with the "Martinimarkt", which soon became the most important market in the village and gained regional significance as the "Quirnbacher Pferdsmarkt". A large lottery was associated with the market. In 1892, for example, 24,000 tickets were sold. After the horse market experienced a brief heyday in the 1950s, market activity declined steadily in the following two decades. At the beginning of the 1980s, the horse market was revived and since 1989, horses have once again been awarded prizes on market day. Today, the "Quermbacher Perdsmarkt" is extremely popular and thousands of visitors come to the small market town on the second Wednesday in November.

(13) Munzinger brewery and beer cellar in Quirnbach

When Quirnbach developed into a market town of supra-regional importance in the 19th century, this also had a considerable impact on the local hospitality industry. In 1877, the town of around 500 inhabitants had 4 innkeepers, 5 landlords and 6 innkeepers as well as a brewery. Jakob Munzinger (1807-1874), an innkeeper and farmer from Gerhardsbrunn, founded the brewery in Quirnbach. The versatile businessman, who was also granted a license to operate a coal mine in 1844, was mayor of Quirnbach from 1838-1850 and, as a supporter of the 1848 revolution, was politically active beyond the town's borders. His son Adolf Munzinger (1834-1892) continued to run the brewery and also followed in his father's footsteps as mayor from 1870-1892. In 1875, he was one of the co-founders of the Glan-Münchweiler Advance Association, today's Volksbank. In the third generation, the Munzinger brothers Ernst (*1855) and Adolf (*1861), who left Quirnbach in the 1880s to work in large foreign breweries, were initially active in the local brewing business. Their brother-in-law Adolf Weidmann ultimately ran the brewery until 1901. Munzinger beer was not only served in the brewery's own pubs, but was also delivered to local inns and the surrounding villages.

(14) Quirnbach Protestant Church

The history of the church in Quirnbach goes back to the first documentary mention of the village in 1152. At that time, the Quirnbach chapel was a branch of the mother church in Kusel. In 1485, a chaplain named Johannis zu Quirnbach is mentioned. The church was dedicated to St. Bartholomew, whose patron saint's day was celebrated on August 24. The Bartholomew market in Quirmbach also took place every year on this day. Quirnbach probably attained parish status before the Reformation. In 1518, there is explicit mention of the "parochialis ecclesia", i.e. the parish church in "Quirenbach". The importance of Quirnbach as the center of a parish and as an important market town remained until modern times. After the Reformation in the Duchy of Palatinate-Zweibrücken, Quinbach was assigned to the parish priest of Konken in 1539. It was not until 1821 that the independent Protestant parish of Quirnbach was established. The current church building was built in 1777 to replace the old church according to a model plan by the regional building director Philipp Heinrich Hellermann as a simple hall with a ridge turret.

(15) Haschbach and Trahweiler

The local community of Henschtal was formed in 1969 from the merger of the former communities of Haschbach am Glan and Trahweiler. The Henschbach stream flowing between the two districts was the inspiration for the new place name. The course of the stream formed a political border for centuries. In the late Middle Ages, Haschbach, which was first mentioned in the Glan-Münchweilerer Weistum from around 1330, belonged to the County of von der Leyen along with the so-called Münchweiler Valley. Trahweiler, documented in 1446, was located in Remigiusland and belonged to the Palatinate- Zweibrücken Oberamt Lichtenberg. In Bavarian times, the Henschbach river separated the district offices of Kusel and Homburg here until 1920. Sangerhof, which was founded in 1768 and was initially called Trahweiler Hof , belongs to Henschtal. The nearby highway bridge over the Henschbach valley was included in the municipal coat of arms of Henschtal , approved in 1972, as a connecting element for the two former villages.

(16) Frensweiler deserted settlement

On the opposite side of the Henschbach stream, on the edge of the valley floodplain, on both sides of the B 423, was the former village of Frensweiler, popularly known as Fröschweiler. The village of "Vrodenswilre", first documented in 1313, probably originated at the time of the Frankish conquest on the site of a Roman settlement or a portal tomb. Well-preserved Roman stone lions were found during road construction work and later hearths with ashes. In old documents, the village name is recorded as "Flinßwilr" in 1419, "Frynswilr" in 1456 and "Frentzwiler" in 1477. Around 100 years later, the village no longer existed, as can be seen from a description of the Lichtenberg office from 1585. At the time, the Palatinate-Tyrolean cellar noted: "An old village town called Frensweiler is located in the meadows near the Heinspach or Draweiler stream, outside the district of Lichtenberg, not far from the place where the Hodenbach stream flows into the Draweiler stream." Today, the field name "Fröschweiler Dell" on the official cadastral maps in the Steinbach district is a reminder of the lost village.

(17) Hodenbachtal recreation area

The extensive forest area of the Hodenbach, which extends over parts of the districts of Trahweiler(Henschtal), Frutzweiler (Steinbach), Ohmbach, Herschweiler-Pettersheim, Wahnwegen and Liebsthal(Quirnbach), was once the preferred hunting ground of the Dukes of Zweibrücken. When Hans Müller from Krottelbach was appointed mayor in 1575, the rulers instructed him to take special care of the Hodenbach forest as a forester. In the description of the Oberamt Lichtenberg in 1585, Landschreiber Johannes Hoffmann noted that in the "large high and wide brook, which is called Hodenbach by one name, ... there are also several high forests." In 1736, Landschreiber Schimper reported to Zweibrücken: "The so-called Hodenbach is a fairly large and extensive woodland, in which many villages and their streams meet, and there are also various huts." In earlier times, the use of the forest and its Huben repeatedly led to ban, forest and grazing disputes between the communities. Today, the Hodenbach forest and the Hodenbach valley with its healing pond is a popular local recreation area.

(18) Baldwein'scher Hof

In the Middle Ages, there was a family of lower nobility who named themselves von Frutzweiler after their place of origin and were initially in the service of the Counts of Veldenz. A Nikolaus von Frutzweiler is attested in 1378 and in 1391 the noble servant Baldewin von Frutzweiler was accepted as a Veldenz Burgmann at Lichtenberg Castle. Together with the Burgsess there, the Baldwein family also owned a house with a barn in Lichtenberg Castle. In Frutzweiler itself was the Baldwein estate, which included numerous fields and meadows as well as a pond and extensive woodland in the Hodenbach. From 1434 onwards, the family appeared more and more frequently under the name Baldwein von Zweibrücken due to their headquarters. In 1737, the lower noble family died out in the male line and the estates passed to the Barons of Wrede. At the beginning of the 20th century, the tradition of the farm was still present in the population of Frutzweiler. In the vernacular, later owners of the former estate were called "Hof-Jakobs" and "Hof-Peters". Today, the street name Hofgasse is a reminder of the former Baldwein'schen Hof.

(19) Frutzweiler

In 1969, the former villages of Frutzweiler and Steinbach, which were hardly distinguishable from one another, merged to form one municipality, which has since been known as Steinbach am Glan. Frutzweiler was first mentioned in a document in 1378 and belonged to Remigiusland, in which the County of Veldenz held the bailiwick rights. In 1444, these rights were transferred to their heirs, the Dukes of Palatinate-Zweibrücken. Steinbach, on the other hand, lay in the Leyen office of Münchweiler Tal. The Steinbach stream flowing between the two villages formed a territorial border for centuries until modern times. In earlier times, the bridge over the stream was called "Salzburger Brücke" (Salzburg Bridge) and is said to have been named after emigrants from Salzburg who built the bridge because they were stopped by the water here when fleeing. However, it is likely to have been builders from Salzburg who built the bridge on behalf of the local lords. In the middle of Frutzweiler was the so-called Baldwein'sche Hof, which was owned by the manor until 1797. From the 18th century until the 1870s, Frutzweiler was also home to a number of Jewish residents.

(20) The golden cradle

There is an old legend about the origins of the two villages of Brücken and Steinbach. In the valley floor next to the road from Brücken to Steinbach, there used to be numerous hewn stones lying around. They are said to have been the remains of a castle that stood here and protected the nearby village of Steinbrück. When the castle was besieged and the lord of the castle saw no way to save his family, he sank the golden cradle that had rocked his entire family in the castle well. The valuable family heirloom was not to fall into enemy hands. The few inhabitants who had survived the destruction of their village in the nearby woods split up and founded new settlements to the north and south of the old village, which they called Brücken and Steinbach, derived from the old place name Steinbrück. Sunday children can see the golden cradle rise from the well at certain times. This legend certainly has its origins in the fact that near the old path that runs between Brücken and Steinbach, farmers repeatedly came across the remains of walls while plowing. Several field names are reminiscent of these finds. In the Steinbach district, for example, there are the fields "In der Mauer", "In der untersten Mauer" and "Auf den Burgwiesen".

(21) Neumühle mill

The existence of a mill at this location can be traced back to 1572. In 1623, historical documents mention the "henn mülgen ...unden an Ohmbach uff Leyscher bottmäsigkeit". The mill was destroyed during the Thirty Years' War. In 1682, Johannes Marx received a certificate of inheritance for the "neu mühl" near Steinbach in the Münchweiler district. At the instigation of the miller Johannes Stephan, the Neumühle came to Brücken in 1842. In September 1887, the Jewish businessman Isidor Triefus from Steinbach acquired the Neumühle and in February 1888 set up the first Palatinate diamond grinding shop here with 4 grinders from Hanau. By 1894, Triefus already employed 45 diamond cutters. After the death of Triefus, who died in Kaiserslautern in 1919, the grinding shop was leased out until 1939. The business then had to be closed down due to the Second World War. In May 1942, the Triefus family was expropriated and the Neumühle was confiscated by the Nazi state. After restitution of the property in 1950, Anna Bettany from London, the granddaughter of the company founder, planned to restart the diamond cutting business. Due to the rental and housing conditions on the Neumühle at the time, the project failed and the property was sold in 1951.

(22) Jewish business premises in Brücken

There were several renowned Jewish businesses in Brücken that were known beyond the town in earlier times. In 1798, the merchant Kostmann Nathan from Thaleischweiler opened an impressive store (Glanstr. 8). At the beginning of the 19th century, Nathan also maintained close business relations with Frankfurt trading houses. Members of the Nathan family were the wealthiest Jews in the Homburg district in the middle of the 19th century. Ferdinand Sender also became quite wealthy, taking over the business in 1863 and extensively remodeling the house five years later. The house remained in Jewish ownership until 1922.

Sender's brother-in-law Leopold Roos came to Brücken in 1874 as a cattle dealer from Offenbach am Glan and acquired a two-storey property (Glanstr. 5) in which his son Bernhard Roos and his wife Rosa, née Jakob, later ran a manufacturing and ready-to-wear store. Mrs. Roos had to give up the business in 1936 because of the Nazi regime.

Her father Joseph Jakob had been running a manufactured goods shop since 1868 (Hauptstr. 49). In 1894, the renowned Jakob merchant family had a new building with spacious living and business premises erected in the center of the village. The two-storey building (Hohlstr. 1), which is characteristic of the village, has remained almost unchanged to this day and is known in the village as "Daubersch Eck". The architecture of the house was based on urban models and its dimensions set it apart from the modest surrounding buildings of the time. The Jakobs sold their business premises in Brücken in 1897 and moved to Neunkirchen.

Although a significant Jewish synagogue community had existed in nearby Brücken since the early 18th century, an independent Jewish community developed at the beginning of the 19th century following the settlement of the first Jews in 1798. There is evidence that a religious teacher was employed in 1818 and a synagogue was built in 1832/33. The culture of Jewish rural life in also included a ritual bath, which was located in the cellar of a private house in 1838. Around the middle of the 19th century, the village was at the zenith of its development. In 1845, the village had 1047 inhabitants, including 668 Catholics, 305 Protestants and 74 Jews. Towards the end of the 19th century, the number of Jewish families in declined, so that in 1872 it was decided to dissolve the Jewish religious community and join the synagogue association in . The last two Jewish citizens in , Hilde and Simon Straaß, were deported to Gurs in France in 1940. They later died in the gas chambers of Auschwitz. Their son Walter Straaß, who survived the Holocaust and returned in 1945, emigrated to the USA in 1946.

(24) Brücken Synagogue

Following the settlement of the Jewish merchant Kostmann Nathan in 1798, more Jews settled here at the beginning of the 19th century. In the spring of 1828, the "" decided to build a synagogue from "their own resources". The building was completed in 1832/33 and was inaugurated on August 17, 1833. According to the original plans that have survived, the rectangular building was divided into two storeys and had a hipped roof. Despite the modest building task, the result was a small country synagogue with sophisticated architecture, which was designed in a classicist style and showed interesting Egyptian echoes in the details. The Waldmohr Jews also belonged to it. In 1872, the local synagogue community disbanded due to a decline in membership. According to oral tradition, the last Jewish wedding took place in the synagogue in 1891 and the building remained unused until it was auctioned off in 1927. In 1927/28, the synagogue was partially demolished and completely converted into a residential building.

Only a few steps away from here (Hohlstr. 13) was the former synagogue of . The original hipped roof was removed, two new gables were added and a steep pitched roof was erected. The surrounding walls of the synagogue were preserved up to eaves height.

(25) Jews in Börsborn

The village of Börsborn, situated in a scenic location below the 406 m high Steinberg, was first mentioned in a document in 1383. The village's landmarks are the 1788 bell tower in the village center and the 500-year-old cow oak, which stands just outside the village on the road to Steinbach and has been designated a natural monument. A small museum in the tower documents the history of the village, the bell tower and the former lords of the village, the Counts von der Leyen. From 1486 to 1797, the Münchweiler Tal district and Börsborn were part of the Leyen domain. The Counts von der Leyen favored the settlement of Jews. As in neighboring Steinbach, Jewish families settled in Börsborn as early as the 18th century. In the 19th century, they made up around a tenth of the population. In 1880, their number peaked at 45. At that time, Börsborn had 368 inhabitants. At the end of the 19th century, their numbers steadily declined due to migration to towns. In the early years of the 20th century, the last Jewish citizens moved away from Börsborn.

(26) Legendary treasure

Under the title "The Jews and the Treasure", Friedrich Wilhelm Hebel recorded a folkloristic legend in the Palatinate Book of Legends in 1912 about two Jewish brothers from Börsborn who had set out in search of a hidden treasure. According to the legend, a rich Jew told the two Börsborn merchant Jews about a buried treasure chest that could be found at a certain place on the so-called Heidenburg near Oberstaufenbach. Early the next morning, the brothers and one of their sons set off on foot on the long journey to unearth the treasure. Late in the evening they came across a box, but at midnight a violent storm arose and a carriage pulled by two black horses, in which a man with eyes spraying fire sat, drove between them. Howling and wailing, the carriage, horses and treasure disappeared without a trace into the dug-up mountain. In fact, there were two Jewish brothers in Börsborn in the 19th century who were active as cattle traders. An incident connected with them could well have served as a model for this legend.

(27) Burial mound

In 1877, the Palatinate historian Professor Christian Mehlis published brief notes on "rows of burial mounds" located southwest of Glan-Münchweilerer "in the direction of Börsborn and Brücken", but these have not yet been examined in detail. To this day, the exact date of the groups of burial mounds where the districts of Glan-Münchweiler, Haschbach, Börsborn and Steinbach meet is still undetermined. The proximity to the ridgeway running along the mountain ridge could indicate that the burial mounds were possibly created as early as the Iron Age (750 BC - 0). The easternmost group of seven burial mounds is located somewhat off the ridgeway in the Glan-Münchweilerer Eicherwald forest.

(28) Friends of nature house "Am Haselrech"

For decades, the Naturfreundehaus "Am Haselrech" in Steinbach has been a popular local recreation destination for hikers and day trippers. There was already a local Friends of Nature group in Steinbach in the 1920s, which was dissolved by the Nazi regime in 1933. It was re-established in 1957 and the local group settled on the 400-metre-high Steinberg ridge. Initially, the clubhouse consisted of a wooden building, a former military barrack. In 1978/79, a spacious Naturfreundehaus was built in solid construction with a restaurant and guest rooms. The hiking home is called "Haus Haselrech ". From the wooded ridge, there is a wide view of the Landstuhler Bruch as far as Kaiserslautern and the heights of the Palatinate Forest. There is a well-equipped children's playground next to the house, which was awarded the "most beautiful playground at Naturefriends' Houses" prize in 2001. There is also a barbecue hut next to the Naturfreundehaus.

(29) Maria Pit

The final phase of coal mining in Steinbach took place in the post-war period. At that time, there was a coal shortage in Germany again. In 1948, a working group of unemployed miners, led and supervised by the miner Friedrich Drumm, began to excavate the base tunnel to the east of Steinbach. After the worsted spinning mill in Kaiserslautern undertook to take over the entire extraction, the company concluded a purchase agreement with the worsted spinning mill at the end of 1950. In 1951, a changing room with a crew bathroom and office, as well as two wells for water requirements and a coal crushing plant for crushing the large pieces of coal were built. Previously, only a small wooden barrack had been available as a changing room. The miners, most of whom came to work by bicycle from the surrounding villages in all weathers, had previously had no opportunity to wash themselves. In 1953, the Maria mine produced 600-700 tons of coal per month with a workforce of 62. The Maria pit was the last coal mine in Rhineland-Palatinate to be shut down on May 30, 1959, bringing the 200-year tradition of coal mining in Steinbach to an end.

(30) Jewish school with mikvah

The town had its own Jewish school from 1838 to 1916. In 1845, it acquired a private residence (today Hohlstr. 6) and converted the property into a school building. In addition to the classroom and teacher's apartment with kitchen, bedroom and living room, there was also a ritual bath (mikvah) in the basement of the building. In 1870, the municipality issued special regulations for the use of the bath. Official documents show that a Jewish ritual bath already existed before 1840. According to a report from 1828, the Jews at that time used a cold, makeshift covered rock spring as a cleansing bath. A plan for the conversion of the former Jewish schoolhouse from 1906 has survived, which was drawn up to "procure a room" for the teacher's apartment. It shows the spatial conditions of the school at the time. After only 11 Jewish pupils were counted in 1916, the Jewish school was closed on July 1, 1916. After the school was closed, the community used the building to house people in need. After temporarily housing the local kindergarten, the building was sold and converted into a residential building, so that no traces of the former basement baths remain.

(31) Steinbach pit

Coal was already being dug along the ridge between Brücken, Steinbach, Henschtal and Börsborn in the 18th century. In 1764, Count Franz Carl von der Leyen granted the prospecting and mining rights in the Münchweiler district, which included Steinbach. At the beginning of the 19th century, various new concessions were then granted for several mining fields in the Steinbach district, including to the important mine operator and administrator Weiß from Altenkirchen. In 1851, he received permission for a new mine, which was called Steinbrück and extended over the districts of Steinbach, Börsborn and Brücken. In the years 1851-1860, the Steinbach coal mine reached its highest extraction level with an average annual output of approx. 3100 tons of coal. In 1872, the Steinbach trade union bought the pits in Brücken and the Steinbrück pit at auction. The three mines formed the Steinbach coal mine from 1873 and were linked together. The Steinbach-Brücken mine, which still had 70 employees at the time, closed in 1911. Some miners continued to mine on their own until 1919. From 1920, the Steinbach trade union was owned by the company Boehringer & Sohn from Ingelheim, which finally ceased mining in 1924. In the same year, the Steinbach Catholics converted a former dormitory barrack of the mine into an emergency church. In 1936, the engine house was then converted into St. Joseph's Church.

(32) Steinbach bell tower

The historic bell tower was built in 1788 as a donation from the Counts von der Leyen and is the landmark of the local community of Steinbach am Glan. The listed bell tower can also be found in the municipal coat of arms. There is a similar bell tower in neighboring Börsborn. In the "Jahrbüchern des Vereins von Alterthumsfreunden im Rheinlande" of 1883, the following can be read about the bell towers: "Furthermore, there are two mysterious, square towers in the middle of Steinbach and Börsborn, which lack any connection to the churches." The origin of the towers was unknown to the author and he even interpreted them as watchtowers that were "ultimately of Roman origin". The exterior of the three-storey plastered tower in Steinbach is characterized by two storey cornices, a striking corner ashlar and window jambs with straight ends, so that the architectural design already shows a classicist emphasis. One of the oldest bells in the Palatinate hangs in the tower. It dates from around 1400 and is attributed to the bell founder Otto von Speyer. Directly in front of the tower stands the village lime tree, which was probably planted towards the end of the 19th century.

Directions

BAB 62 exit Glan-Münchweiler,

L 358 to Glan-Münchweiler

B 423 to Steinbach am Glan

Parking

Directly at the Jewish Museum, Lindenstraße 1, 66909 Steinbach am Glan

Coordinates: Longitude 7° 23' 00'' / Latitude 49° 27' 11''

Coordinates

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