Nieder-Olm, Germany

From the Middle Ages, Nieder-Olm was an Electoral Mainz holding. It is established by documents that in 899 Archbishop of Mainz Hatto I made over a landholding called Ulmena (Olm) to the wife of Emperor Arnulf of Carinthia with a lifetime term. This estate is believed to have lain in the area now occupied by Ober-Olm and is both municipalities’ namesake. In 994, at Emperor Otto III's behest, the estate was put back under the Archbishopric's ownership. In the late 11th century, ownership was transferred to the Mainz Cathedral Foundation, in which time also arose Saint George's Catholic Church, expedited by strong ecclesiastical influence.

The settlement's first fortifications are believed to date from the 12th century. These were made up of walls and ditches and had four main gates. Later, in the late 13th century, supposedly as a reaction to the building of Stadeck Castle, a castle with a moat was built within the municipal boundaries, to which noble Burgmänner were given priority.

In the 15th century, Nieder-Olm found itself caught between the frontlines in an archiepiscopal feud being waged by Archbishops Diether von Isenburg and Adolf von Nassau. Its consequences entailed frequent changes in rulers. In 1503, Archbishop Berthold had the castle newly built to meet the requirements of what were then modern attack techniques. From this time, the castle was known as St. Laurenziburg. In the years that followed, both the castle and the fortifications were repeatedly destroyed. Today only a few remnants are left. In the early 19th century, the castle finally had to give way to a road. Quite well preserved is the defensive complex at the graveyard, which at the time surrounded the church.

During the Thirty Years' War, Nieder-Olm was repeatedly overrun by the enemy and in 1632 it was occupied by Swedish troops. Some 60 years later, in the Nine Years' War, Nieder-Olm was sacked by French troops.

Once again in the late 18th century, Nieder-Olm was occupied. This time it was French Revolutionary troops. The French put a Liberty pole up in 1792 and made Nieder-Olm a part of the Republic of Mainz, which was the first democratic republic on German territory. Only a short time later – the Republic of Mainz only lasted 100 days – Nieder-Olm was reconquered by Imperial troops.

As soon afterwards as 1797, though, French troops managed to take Nieder-Olm once again, and it thus became part of the Napoleonic Empire. After this fell, Nieder-Olm became in 1816 part of the newly founded province of Rhenish Hesse (Rheinhessen), which also made it part of the Grand Duchy of Hesse-Darmstadt.

With the opening of the Hessian Ludwig Railway from Mainz to Alzey in 1871, Nieder-Olm was linked to the railway network.

After the First World War, Nieder-Olm once again became French-occupied under the terms of the Treaty of Versailles. A border station of the occupied Rhineland was set up in an inn at that time, the Gasthaus zur schönen Aussicht.

Having been returned to German sovereignty in 1929, Nieder-Olm was no more spared National Socialism than any other part of Germany. After Kristallnacht (9 November 1938), in which Jewish houses and shops were looted and destroyed, there were no more Jewish inhabitants in Nieder-Olm.

Into the history of the Second World War went Nieder-Olm when during the Allied advance, scattered German troops in the Selz valley put up considerable resistance. Bearing witness to this time are American emplacements west of the Selz, which have, however, for safety's sake, been filled in.

From 1946, Nieder-Olm belonged to the newly founded state of Rhineland-Palatinate.

In the decades that followed, the infrastructure was under ongoing expansion: new schools arose (in 1957 the new primary school Burgschule Nieder-Olm, in 1974 the Hauptschule and special school and in 1981 the Gymnasium, as well as two schools for physically handicapped pupils and those with learning difficulties), a gymnasium and festival hall (1961) and the indoor and outdoor swimming pool (1968) were built. In 1980 the town acquired a connection to the A 63.

Also in the last two decades, development was steadily furthered: new residential areas were laid out and older ones continually expanded. The commercial area was amply expanded and three new bypasses were built. In 1997 the old festival hall was torn down and replaced with the new Ludwig-Eckes-Halle. Likewise, the indoor and outdoor swimming pool was expanded into an adventure pool.

Further upgrading is planned with a view to barring all through traffic and doing further building work, especially in the area around the primary school and Pariser Straße.

Today, Nieder-Olm has over 10,000 inhabitants and the number is growing. The Rhineland-Palatinate Cabinet decided on 24 October 2006 to grant Nieder-Olm the designation “town” (Stadt in German). Nieder-Olm has been allowed since the delivery of the granting documents on 6 November 2006 by Rhineland-Palatinate Interior Minister Karl Peter Bruch to call itself the “Town of Nieder-Olm” (Stadt Nieder-Olm).