| Pirmasens | |
| Old town hall | |
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Pirmasens
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| Coordinates | |
| Administration | |
| Country | Germany |
| State | Rhineland-Palatinate |
| District | Urban district |
| Lord Mayor | Bernhard Matheis (CDU) |
| Basic statistics | |
| Area | 61.37 km2 (23.70 sq mi) |
| Elevation | 380 m (1247 ft) |
| Population | 40,384 (31 December 2010)[1] |
| - Density | 658 /km2 (1,704 /sq mi) |
| Other information | |
| Time zone | CET/CEST (UTC+1/+2) |
| Licence plate | PS |
| Postal codes | 66953–66955 |
| Area code | 06331 |
| Website | www.pirmasens.de |
Pirmasens is a district-free city in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, near the border with France. It is famous for the manufacture of shoes. The surrounding rural district was called Pirmasens from 1818 until 1997, when it was renamed Südwestpfalz.
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The first mention of "Pirminiseusna", a colony of Hornbach Abbey, dates from 860. The name derives from St. Pirminius, the founder of the cloister.
In 1763 Pirmasens is chartered by landgrave Ludwig IX (Hesse-Darmstadt).
In 1793 it was the location of a battle between Prussia and Braunschweig against the French Moselle Army: the French lost the battle, but their opponents' divisions nevertheless enabled them to return and occupy Pirmasens by the end of the year: between 1798 and 1814, the town was included in the French département of Mont-Tonnerre ("Donnersberg-Département" in German}.
On 15 March 1945 Pirmasens was captured by US troops, and the following year it became part of the newly founded Bundesland Rhineland-Palatinate. During the occupation on Sept. 19 the Museum of Pirmasens announced that about 50 paintings which had been stored in the air-raid shelter at Husterhoh School during the war have been plundered during the arrival of the American troops.
In 1989 the FH Kaiserslautern was founded. After the fall of communism, and the reunification of East and West Germany, Pirmasens saw an influx of Russian immigrants (mainly from White Russia) claiming to be descendants of German soldiers caught behind the iron curtain after the second World War. Russian immigrants claiming German descendency were given permanent resident status. As typically occurs in human populations, tensions began to build between these immigrants and local residents, who were already at odds with the increasing Turkish and former Yugoslavian populations.
Evolution of population (since December 2000):
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Town council election 13 June 2004:
CDU 46,0% (-1,8) - 21 seats (-1)
SPD 23,8% (-11,4) - 11 seats (-5)
WGR 10,8% +3,7) - 5 seats (+3)
REP 10,2% (+7,3) - 5 seats (+5)
The Greens 4,3% (+0,3) - 2 seats (=)
Other 5,1% (+2,0) - 0 Sitze (-1)
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