Hintertiefenbach

Hintertiefenbach is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in the Birkenfeld district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It belongs to the Verbandsgemeinde of Herrstein, whose seat is in the like-named municipality.GeographyLocationThe municipality lies north of the river Nahe in a basin. Through it flows the like-named river, the Hintertiefenbach, among whose local tributaries are the Gilzbach, the Bach an der Bismarckeiche, the Waldbach and the Edemisbach. The municipal area measures 4.68 km², of which 54.3% is wooded. The municipality’s elevation is 338 m above sea level.HistoryIn 1338, Hintertiefenbach had its first documentary mention under the name Inredyfinenbach. The village then belonged, along with the other “abbey municipalities”, Gerach, Göttschied, and Regulshausen (Höhweiler and Ritzenberg) – the last two of which are now outlying centres of Idar-Oberstein – to the Mettlach Monastery. On 14 October 1560, the monastery sold the four villages to the “Hinder” County of Sponheim. The village’s name changed over time from the original form to Heredifenbach, Niederdiffenbach, Unterdefenbach and Underdiffenbach.