Dunzweiler - Religion

Religion

From an 1108 document it comes to light that in 976, the parish of Ohmbach was transferred into the Disibodenberg Monastery’s ownership. On the assumption that Dunzweiler, too, then belonged to the parish of Ohmbach, then it must also from that time onwards, until the mid 13th century, have been held by the monastery on the river Nahe. Its holdings on the Ohmbach and in the Oster valley passed to Count Gerlach V of Veldenz, who then bequeathed them to Wörschweiler Abbey. After the Reformation, Dunzweiler belonged to the Ohmbacher Pfarr, an ecclesiastical district that included not only Palatinate-Zweibrücken-held villages, but also some Electoral Palatinate ones. In 1561, though, the Electoral Palatinate villages were split away from the parish of Ohmbach, leaving Dunzweiler, as a Zweibrücken village, in the parish, but it was now geographically no longer contiguous with the parish seat, with Electoral Palatinate villages lying in between. The pastor from Ohmbach had the opportunity to hold services at a chapel, albeit sporadically, but would not do so for a time because the inhabitants of Dunzweiler were not prepared to give him “provisions” for the trip. From 1638 to 1832, the Evangelical Christians at first belonged to the parish of Waldmohr and then to the Church of Breitenbach. In 1841, the Evangelical congregation got a new church after the old chapel had been torn down. Catholic Christians were among the newcomers who came to settle in the wake of the Thirty Years' War, and in the beginning likewise attended services in Breitenbach. In 1932, they set up an “emergency church” (Notkirche); a proper church was not built until 1987. This is consecrated to Saint Giles (Ägidius in German).