Bergen, Rhineland-Palatinate
Bergen 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 Herrstein-Rhaunen, whose seat is in Herrstein. Geography Location The municipality lies in the Hunsrück, 3 km west of Kirn and 9 km northeast of Idar-Oberstein. Land use The greater part of municipal area is covered by a 4.5 km2 forest, and most of the rest of this rural village's land is taken up by cropland. History In 926, Bergen had its first documentary mention. To the southwest once lay the now vanished village of Staufenberg. After the Second World War, the village still had more than sixty businesses that were active in agriculture. Nowadays there are only seven, most of which are run as sidelines. Until 1969, Bergen still had its own primary school; after it closed that year, schoolchildren were transferred to the nearby town of Kirn in Bad Kreuznach district. In 1995, the Verbandsgemeinde of Herrstein opened a two-group kindergarten with an intake capacity of 50 three- to six-year-olds. This is meant to serve not only Bergen, but also the neighbouring municipalities of Berschweiler, Griebelschied and Sonnschied. Politics Municipal