Langenlonsheim 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 Langenlonsheim-Stromberg, and is also its seat. Langenlonsheim is a state-recognized tourism communityStatistisches Landesamt Rheinland-Pfalz – Regionaldaten and a winegrowing village.
Geography
Location Langenlonsheim lies between the southern edge of the Hunsrück and the Nahe. Lying 7 km away is the district seat, Bad Kreuznach, while Bingen am Rhein lies just under 10 km away. On the municipality's western outskirts, the Guldenbach flows by, while the Nahe flows by to the south. Langenlonsheim is well known for its good vineyards and wineries and its Qualitätsweine. Fertile loess soils and the region's warm climate have been defining factors for the village.Location
Neighbouring municipalities Clockwise from the north, Langenlonsheim's neighbours are the municipalities of Laubenheim, Grolsheim, Gensingen, Bretzenheim, Guldental, Windesheim, Waldlaubersheim and Dorsheim. Grolsheim and Gensingen both lie in the neighbouring Mainz-Bingen district, whereas all the others likewise lie within the Bad Kreuznach district. Langenlonsheim also comes to within a few metres of two other neighbours: the municipality of Rümmelsheim in the northwest and the town of Bad Kreuznach in the southeast.
Constituent communities Also belonging to Langenlonsheim is the outlying homestead of Forsthaus Langenlonsheim.Statistisches Landesamt Rheinland-Pfalz – Amtliches Verzeichnis der Gemeinden und Gemeindeteile , Seite 15 (PDF; 2,3 MB)
History Even as long ago as Roman times, there was winegrowing in what is now Langenlonsheim. In 769, Langenlonsheim had its first documentary mention as Longistisheim. Over its long history, the village changed owners many times. Under French rule, Langenlonsheim became the seat of a mairie ("mayoralty") in 1800, to which five municipalities belonged. This arrangement persisted even after the French were driven out and the region was assigned under the terms of the Congress of Vienna to the Kingdom of Prussia in 1815, although it was thereafter known as a Bürgermeisterei (also "mayoralty"). In those days, the population was still very much engaged in agriculture as its main income earner.History
Jewish history Langenlonsheim had a Jewish community until sometime between 1938 and 1942. It arose sometime in the 17th or 18th century. The earliest mention of a Jewish family in the village – named Benedict – comes from 1685. In 1695 a Wendel Judt was named. In 1722, two Jewish families were named (Jud Benedict and Mayer), while in 1743 it was four (Hayum Benedict, Götz Benedict, Juda Kahn and Meyer). In 1790, the following Jewish household heads were named: Hayum Benedict (widow), Joseph Benedict, Nadan Benedict Maier, Gottschlag Jude, Benedict Joseph, Sükkind Juda, David Götz and Benedict Nadan. In the 19th century, the number of Jewish inhabitants developed as follows: in 1808 there were 45; in 1843, there were 42 (of all together 1,236 inhabitants); in 1858, 73; in 1895, 70. In 1808, the following Jewish families were listed (the names given in brackets were those borne after Napoleonic French rule ended): Israel Brill, Benoît (Benedict) Goetz, Gottschalk Kahn, Widow (?) Rebekka Kuhn, Widow (of Joseph Kaufmann) Schoene Kaufmann née Kuhn, Benoît (Benedict) Natt, Mayer Natt, Jacques (Jakob) Scheier (Scheuer), Moses Schweiss (Schweig), Widow Judith Stern, Seeligmann Stern. In the way of institutions, there were a synagogue (see Synagogue below), a Jewish school (a schoolroom at the synagogue), a mikveh and a graveyard (see Jewish graveyard below). To provide for the community's religious needs, a schoolteacher was hired, who also busied himself as the hazzan and the shochet (preserved is a whole series of job advertisements for such a position in Langenlonsheim from such publications as Der Israelit). Among the religion teachers were, about 1855 David Cahn from Mertloch, in 1857 Heinrich Hirschfeld from Dessau, in 1861 Julius Kappel (or Koppel) and in 1893 Michael Boreich. The Jewish household heads were active in various occupations, foremost in trading. There were several businesses and shops in Langenlonsheim belonging to Jewish families (businesses with domestic products and fertilizer, several wine dealer's shops, men's and women's clothing and bedding shops as well as livestock and grain dealerships). There were also Jewish bakers and butchers. The Jewish inhabitants were fully integrated into village life and played a lively part in public life and in the village's clubs, even as club founders and chairmen: Heinrich Natt and Siegmund Hirschberger were founding members in 1887 of the Verein für Leibesübungen 1887 Langenlonsheim e.V. (a club for physical exercise), while Siegmund Heymann, Siegmund Hirschberger, Carl Mayer and Emil Natt were, among other such endeavours, founding members in 1902 of the Langenlonsheim volunteer fire brigade. Two members of Langenlonsheim's Jewish community fell in the First World War, Unteroffizier Sally Natt (b. 7 July 1889 in Langenlonsheim, d. 26 September 1914) and Gefreiter Arthur Metzger (b. 6 November 1883 in Langenlonsheim, d. May 1915). Both names appear on the monument to the fallen in the First World War that stands before the general graveyard. All together, fourteen Jewish men were in wartime service; several came back highly decorated. About 1924, when there were still some 50 persons in the Jewish community (2.5% of the total population of some 2,000 inhabitants), the community leaders were Ludwig Mayer and Fritz Natt. Then living in each of Bretzenheim and Laubenheim were seven Jews. In 1932, the community leader was Carl Mayer. Tending the community's religious needs was Rabbi Dr. Jacob (Bad Kreuznach). About 1930, the following families were living in Langenlonsheim: Karl Mayer (wine dealer, Bingerstraße 2), Rudolf Mayer (men's and women's clothing, bedding and manufactured goods, Bingerstraße 11), Ludwig Mayer (livestock dealer, Hauptstraße 52), Fritz Natt (wine dealer, Hollergasse 28/corner of Weidenstraße), Moritz Weiss (butcher and livestock and wine dealer, Hauptstraße 24), Siegmund Heymann (domestic products, Hauptstraße 39), Carl Nachmann (wine and grain dealer, Hauptstraße 35), August Weiss (livestock dealer, Schulstraße 12), Gustav Kahn (plumber, Hollergasse 20) and the Family Blank (religion teacher, Kreuznacher Straße).
After 1933 (Langenlonsheim's Jewish population that year was 40), the year when Adolf Hitler and the Nazis seized power, though, some of the Jews moved away or even emigrated in the face of the boycotting of their businesses, the progressive stripping of their rights and repression, all brought about by the Nazis. In the 1939 Bad Kreuznach book of inhabitants (presumably presenting 1938 figures), five Jewish families are still listed: Karl Mayer, Rudolf Mayer, Fritz Natt, August Weiss and Moritz Weiss. On Kristallnacht (9–10 November 1938), the synagogue was utterly demolished by Nazi brigands from within Langenlonsheim and without. The families of Fritz Natt, Karl Mayer, Karl Nachmann and Moritz Weiss had their houses invaded and destroyed as living spaces. Several Jews were mishandled and more than slightly injured. The Jewish men were taken away to Dachau concentration camp. After the first deportation on 10 April 1942, Langenlonsheim's last two Jewish inhabitants, August Weiss and his wife Isabella Weiss née Furchheimer, were deported on 25 April 1942. According to the Gedenkbuch – Opfer der Verfolgung der Juden unter der nationalsozialistischen Gewaltherrschaft in Deutschland 1933-1945 ("Memorial Book – Victims of the Persecution of the Jews under National Socialist Tyranny") and Yad Vashem, of all Jews who either were born in Langenlonsheim or lived there for a long time, 50 were killed through Nazi persecution (birthdates in brackets): Henriette Arnstein née Mayer (1866) Selma Baumgarten née Kahn (1888) Anny Blank (1895) Lili Brück née Natt (1892) Lotte Brück (1922) Berthold Cahn (1871) Else (Elsa) Groß née Mayer (1895) Paul Groß (1883) Hilde Hallgarten née Simon (1895) Rosalie Herz née Mayer (1868) Siegfried Hirschberger (1870) Paula (Paulina) Jakobi née Natt (1876) Elise Kahn née Natt (1862) Gustav Kahn (1885) Henriette Johanna Kahn née Weiss (1889) Henriette Marx née Natt (1854) Toni (Antoni) Marx née Weiß (1876) Emilie Mayer (1883) Erich Mayer (1888) Fritz Mayer (1888) Ida Mayer née Marx (1890) Johanna Mayer née Heymann (1872) Leiselotte Mayer (1910) Ludwig Mayer (1864) Richard Mayer (1922) Rudolf Mayer (1885) Jakob Nachmann (1880) Isidor Natt (1871) Paulina Natt (1876) Rudolf Natt (1879) Franziska Neuburger née Natt (1879) Elisabeth Gertrud Schneider (1897) Irma Schwarz née Nachmann (1900) Regina Schweig née Natt (1870) Selma Weil (1896) Wilhelm Weil (1882) August Weiss (1878) Elisabetha Weiss née Michel (1883) Else Weiss née Dornhardt (1914) Isabella Weiss née Furchheimer (1878) Klara Weiss (1885) Kurt Weiss (1913) Lina (Karoline) Weiss (1874) Ludwig Weiss (1873) Max Weiß (1887) Max Weiss (1909) Moritz Weiss (1880) Sally Weiß (1908) Sigmund Weiss (1882) Helene Windecker née Weiss (1894)Jewish history
On 1 September 2011, Gunter Demnig came to Langenlonsheim and laid 12 of his Stolpersteine in memory of Jews from Langenlonsheim who were murdered in the Holocaust.Gunter Demnig lays Stolpersteine in Langenlonsheim.
Population development Langenlonsheim's population development since Napoleonic times is shown in the table below. The figures for the years from 1871 to 1987 are drawn from census data: Year Inhabitants 1815 944 1835 1,243 1871 1,433 1905 1,731 1939 2,155 Year Inhabitants 1950 2,748 1961 3,012 1970 3,544 1987 3,311 2005 3,634
Religion Langenlonsheim has both an Evangelical and a Catholic church community. There was formerly also an important Jewish community before the Nazis destroyed it. The first place of worship built in Langenlonsheim was Saint Nicholas's Church (Sankt-Nikolaus-Kirche), built about 1200, which was later mentioned as Saint John's Church (Sankt-Johannes-Kirche) about 1475. In 1504, in the War of the Succession of Landshut, and again in 1540 when the village burnt, the church was damaged. In 1588, a new church was built to serve as the Evangelical parish church. New Baroque (1777) and Gothic Revival (1868) remodellings followed. The second place of worship built in Langenlonsheim was the synagogue, built about 1860, which was destroyed on Kristallnacht (9–10 November 1938); its ruins were removed in 1958.Friedrich Schmitt u.a.: Ortsgeschichte Langenlonsheim, Wiesbaden 1991 (hrsg. von der Ortsgemeinde Langenlonsheim), S. 357-366. The most recent house of worship built in Langenlonsheim has been the Catholic church, Saint John the Baptist's Parish Church (Pfarrkirche St. Johannes der Täufer), built in 1907 and 1908. As at 30 September 2013, there are 3,767 full-time residents in Langenlonsheim, and of those, 1,345 are Evangelical (35.705%), 1,305 are Catholic (34.643%), 4 are Lutheran (0.106%), 1 is Old Catholic (0.027%), 1 is Russian Orthodox (0.027%), 305 (8.097%) belong to other religious groups and 806 (21.396%) either have no religion or will not reveal their religious affiliation.Religion
Politics
Municipal council The council is made up of 20 council members, who were elected by personalized proportional representation at the municipal election held on 7 June 2009, and the honorary mayor as chairman. The municipal election held on 7 June 2009 yielded the following results:Kommunalwahl Rheinland-Pfalz 2009, Gemeinderat Year SPD CDU FDP GRÜNE FLL Total 2009 4 6 2 2 6 20 seats 2004 6 6 2 2 4 20 seats
Mayor Langenlonsheim's mayor is Bernhard Wolf.
Coat of arms