Hetzerath (Eifel)

Geschichte

Hetzerath is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in the Bernkastel-Wittlich district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany.GeographyLocationThe municipality lies on the edge of the Southern Eifel in the Wittlich Depression between Wittlich and Trier, five kilometres away from the Moselle, and is therefore known in officialdom as “Hetzerath (Mosel)”. It belongs to the Verbandsgemeinde of Wittlich-Land, whose seat is in Wittlich, although that town is itself not in the Verbandsgemeinde.HistoryIn 893, Hetzerath had its first documentary mention as Salmana . In the 9th or 10th century the name was changed to Hecelroide . The oldest documentary mention after the name change comes from 1068. Beginning in 1794, Hetzerath lay under French rule. In 1814 it was assigned to the Kingdom of Prussia at the Congress of Vienna. Since 1947, it has been part of the then newly founded state of Rhineland-Palatinate.