Tiefenthal

Tiefenthal is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in the Bad Dürkheim district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany.

Geography

Location

The municipality lies in a small hollow with northern slopes between the Eisbach and Eckbach valleys in the Palatinate. Tiefenthal belongs to the Verbandsgemeinde of Hettenleidelheim, whose seat is in the like-named municipality. Until 1969, the municipality belonged to the now abolished district of Frankenthal.

History

In 1318, the municipality had its first documentary mention as Dyfendal.

Religion

In 2007, 45.4% of the inhabitants were Evangelical and 35.4% Catholic. The rest belonged to other faiths or adhered to none.

Politics

Municipal council

The council is made up of 12 council members, who were elected 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:

Coat of arms

The German blazon reads: In Rot ein goldenes Tatzenkreuz.

Tiefenthal, Bad Kreuznach

Tiefenthal is a municipality in the district of Bad Kreuznach in Rhineland-Palatinate, in western Germany.

Coat of Arms

The coat of Arms of Tiefenthal includes a sword, a hammer, and a lion, each with symbolic significance beyond traditional heraldry. The lion is included because of a local folk tale wherein a pride of lions came out of the nearby forest one day in antiquity and terrorized the town for twelve days and twelve nights, only to disappear at dawn on the twelfth day. To this day, a superstitious fear of all feline animals persists.

The sword and hammer shown in the coat of arms relate to the same story. The town blacksmith is said to have created a sword and a hammer to drive the lions out of town, but neither was finished before the lions left of their own accord. These weapons are said to be buried with the blacksmith who died of grief over his wife, maimed in the lion attack because of his dedication to the creation of the two weapons.

References