Oberstreit

Oberstreit lies north of the River Nahe east of Bad Sobernheim and just north of the former Disibodenberg Abbey at an elevation of 200 m above sea level. The municipal area measures 1.01 km².[2]

Clockwise from the north, Oberstreit's neighbours are the municipalities of Waldböckelheim, Boos and Staudernheim, all of which likewise lie within the Bad Kreuznach district.

Oberstreit'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:[5]

At the census conducted on 1 December 1885, the census takers counted, according to the school chronicle, 190 inhabitants. These broke down as follows:

• Sex: 98 male; 92 female
• Religion: 152 Catholic; 36 Evangelical; 3 Jewish
• Occupation: 25 bricklayers and stonemasons; 3 day labourers; 15 cropraisers; 7 menservants; 5 maidservants; 8 female persons working at the Sobernheim rope factory; 1 schoolteacher; 1 blacksmith; 3 innkeepers; 1 wainwright; 1 police officer; 2 seamstresses; 1 tradesman (thus, even in the late 19th century, 16% of Oberstreit's female population also sought work outside the home)
• Livestock ownership: 10 horses; 114 head of cattle; 57 pigs; 41 goats

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.[7]

Oberstreit's mayor is Rudolf Sutor.[8]

The municipality's arms might be described thus: Per pale countercompony azure and Or and gules a salmon palewise argent.

In the Middle Ages, Oberstreit was divided between two lordships, and this is reflected in the coat of arms. The “countercompony” pattern (two chequered rows) on the dexter (armsbearer's right, viewer's left) side are a reference to (half) the village's former allegiance to the Counts of Sponheim, while the charge on the sinister (armsbearer's left, viewer's right) side, the fish, is a reference to the other half's former allegiance to the Counts of Salm, Salm being a German word for “salmon”.

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

• Catholic Church, Kirchstraße – aisleless church with Baroque elements, later Heimatstil, about 1952–1955
• Eichgraben 2 – former school; small one- and two-floor group of buildings, sandstone-block, 1848, conversion and expansion in 1892
• At Hauptstraße 10 – armorial stone, marked 1604

The Oberstreiter-Markt – despite its name, actually a fair – is held each year on the second weekend in September, and is widely known.[10] The Oberstreiter-Markt had its first documentary mention in 1570. Then standing at what is now the graveyard was a chapel consecrated to Saint Bartholomew. Electoral Palatinate established a market here so that inhabitants of the Amt of Böckelheim could buy a variety of useful articles. Also tied in with this event were folk plays and merrymaking in the form of dancing. The market could only be opened once an officer, leading a squad of soldiers, had tasted the wine to be given out at the event and deemed it to be the genuine article. As early as the 17th century, the hustle and bustle at the Oberstreiter-Markt had got so far out of hand, thereby rousing God in heaven to wrath and retribution that the Oberamtmann of Böckelheim felt constrained to impose a strict ban. On 24 August 1687, Oberamtmann Pawal von Ramlingen issued an order that anybody caught at the Oberstreiter-Markt dancing, gorging himself, guzzling wine or taking part in a brawl would either be locked up in the tower for eight days or have to pay a fine of 10 Rhenish guilders. It was no use, though. Even though the weather was bad, ten thousand visitors attended the market that year. In 1772, there was a murder at the market. The man who was killed was an Electoral Palatinate soldier, and his death was the culmination of an argument between some Electoral Palatinate people and some others representing the House of Salm. In 1787, the notorious outlaw Schinderhannes (or Johannes Bückler, to use his true name) showed up at the market to cause trouble. He and his gang did no Oberstreiter any harm, only striking some French soldiers who had come from the Sponheim domain to Oberstreit to dance. These incidents are without a doubt traceable to the fiery Oberstreit wine. As late as the 1940s, the Oberstreiter-Markt was still one of the biggest folk festivals on the Middle Nahe. There were always several marquees, and on the last day of the market, a livestock market was held attended by the farmers and livestock dealers from throughout the surrounding area. The fair is not quite as grand now, but it is still held.[11]

The following clubs are active in Oberstreit:[12]

• Turn und Sportverein Oberstreit — gymnastic and sport club
• Freiwillige Feuerwehr Oberstreit — volunteer fire brigade
• Oberstreiter Jugend — youth club
• Senioren-Treff — seniors’ club

Running through the village is Landesstraße 234, leading northeast to neighbouring Waldböckelheim where it meets Landesstraße 108 and Bundesstraße 41, which itself leads to both Bad Sobernheim and the district seat, Bad Kreuznach. Landesstraße 234 also leads southwards to neighbouring Staudernheim, which is served by a railway station on the Nahe Valley Railway (Bingen–Saarbrücken), which also offers direct connections to Mainz and Frankfurt am Main. Three kilometres north of the village lies the Bad Sobernheim-Domberg recreational airfield.

There are today in the municipality organic winegrowing, an automotive workshop and a country inn with adjoining guesthouse. Also found in the village are a sound studio and a series of small businesses in the service sector.