Gebroth

Gebroth lies on the upper reaches of the Ellerbach in the southern Hunsrück between the Soonwald and the Gauchswald at an elevation of some 360 m above sea level. The municipal area measures 236 ha, of which 18 ha is wooded.[4] Gebroth lies in the middle of the Soonwald-Nahe Nature Park.

Clockwise from the north, Gebroth’s neighbours are the municipalities of Spall, Allenfeld, Winterburg and Winterbach, all of which likewise lie within the Bad Kreuznach district.

Gebroth’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:[6]

The council is made up of 6 council members, who were elected by majority vote at the municipal election held on 7 June 2009, and the honorary mayor as chairman.[8]

Gebroth’s mayor is Jürgen Klitzke.[1]

The municipality’s arms might be described thus: Chequy of twenty gules and argent two hoes in saltire, the blades to chief, sable.

The following are listed buildings or sites in Rhineland-Palatinate’s Directory of Cultural Monuments:[9]

• Evangelical church, Schulstraße 5 – aisleless church, Romanesquified Heimatstil, marked 1906, Government Master Builder August Senz, Cologne
• Schulstraße 7 – Evangelical rectory; Late Baroque solid building, partly slated timber framing, marked 1760, abutting former commercial building resembling estate complex along the street

From the Reformation onwards, Gebroth was the parish seat for a number of surrounding villages. Built in 1580 on a rocky knoll in the middle of the village was a church, ringed by a defensive wall. In 1906, this old round church, which had fallen into disrepair after being damaged in a fire, was replaced with a new one.[10]

The following clubs are currently active in Gebroth:[11]

• Freiwillige Feuerwehr — volunteer fire brigade
• Hundezucht — dog breeding club
• Kirchenchor — church choir
• Männerchor — men’s choir
• Rassegeflügelzüchter — club for breeding poultry breeds
  • Found in Gebroth is the seat of the regional association of poultry “breed breeders” for Rhine-Moselle-Nahe-Hünsrück.
• Reit-, Fahr- und Zuchtverein Ellerbachtal e.V. — club for riding and horse breeding

At the one farm in Gebroth that has given itself over to riding, a riding club has arisen, and each year there are riding and show jumping tournaments that are well known and popular far and wide.[12]

Gebroth is a small municipality with fewer than 200 inhabitants. Nonetheless, it has all the necessary public institutions, although unfortunately there are no longer any shops. Villagers can be supplied with everyday needs by mobile dealers in such things as baked goods, groceries, fruits, vegetables and meat. Over the years, the municipality has undergone a shift from a purely agricultural orientation to a more residential one. There are only three farms left that are run as main sources of income, but one of these has dedicated itself wholly to equestrianism. A great number of the inhabitants who are in the workforce must commute to work each day, mostly to Bad Kreuznach or Mainz, but a few even go as far as Frankfurt.[13]

There is no longer a school of any kind in Gebroth. The old school was dissolved in 1968. Primary school pupils now go to school in Wallhausen, as do older students, as that municipality has a Regionalschule. There are also other schools in Hargesheim and Bad Kreuznach. The kindergarten in Winterbach is also intended for children from Gebroth.[14]

Running through Gebroth are Kreisstraßen 26 and 27. These are part of a road network that links the village to main highways, but these lie quite far away, with Bundesstraße 41 running by some 7 km to the south and Bundesstraße 50 meeting the Autobahn A 61 at Rheinböllen some 13 km to the north. Serving nearby Bad Sobernheim is a railway station on the Nahe Valley Railway (Bingen–Saarbrücken).