Merschbach

Merschbach 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 in the Dhron valley in the Hunsrück. Merschbach belongs to the Verbandsgemeinde of Thalfang am Erbeskopf, whose seat is in the municipality of Thalfang.HistoryIn 1281, Merschbach, which at the time was held by the Counts of Hunolstein, had its first documentary mention. As a result of the turmoil of the French Revolution, Merschbach lay under French rule beginning about 1800. 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.Population developmentSince the 1970s, the municipality’s population has shrunk markedly. While Merschbach still had 104 inhabitants in 1970 when the Verbandsgemeinde of Thalfang am Erbeskopf was founded, by March 2009, there were only 61.