Former vicarage Offermannsheide

The former vicarage was built by the Bergisch freedom fighter Johann Peter Ommerborn in 1794. He was vicar in Offermannsheide from 1792 to 1796. It is a classicist, simple quarry stone building with a plastered lower floor and slated upper floor with a hipped roof. The floor plan is almost square. The house has been a listed building since 1984. Until 1997, the house was still used by clergymen living in Offermannsheide. It was then sold and became private property.

Johann Peter Ommerborn left a lasting impression on the villages where he worked in Offermannsheide, Frielingsdorf and Sand. In all three villages, he had detached parsonages built close to the parish churches. All three houses are built in a uniform neoclassical style. The houses are characterized by strict symmetry and uniformity of the façades. The entrances are arranged in the middle of the main front and framed at the sides and top with sandstone or graywacke. The protruding keystones of the lintels have striking relief images carved into the stone in the middle. A flower is depicted in Offermannsheide and communion chalices in Frielingsdorf and Sand.

Streets in Offermannsheide, Frielingsdorf and Sand were also named after Johann Peter Ommerborn. There are monuments in Offermannsheide at the church and in Sand at the old cemetery. In Sand, the local sports club and a restaurant bear his name. A scout group in Bensberg is also named after him.

Who was Johann Peter Ommerborn?

Before his time as vicar in Offermannsheide, the French Revolution broke out in 1789. Initially, the goals and ideas of freedom, equality and fraternity generated great enthusiasm in Germany. From 1792, French troops occupied the Rhineland on the left bank of the Rhine and from 1795, troops advanced across the Rhine into the Bergisches Land. There were battles with the imperial troops and attacks on the local population. This prompted Johann Peter Ommerborn to warn the farmers on their farms when the French were on the prowl. Together with his friend, the lawyer Ferdinand Stucker from Bensberg, a small army of peasants was assembled. The small army succeeded in disrupting the French with pinpricks. Overall, this approach did not help. So the plan matured to use a large peasant army to drive out the French, who were camped behind Bensberg Castle with 1200 soldiers. Johann Peter Ommerborn and Ferdinand Stucker were to lead the peasant army. On November 18, 1795, groups of armed Bergisch peasants were camped on the Hohnsberg4 between Much and Marialinden, who, together with imperial hussars, were to advance via Overath to Bensberg to attack the French troops. However, this plan was betrayed to the French. The assembly point was already surrounded by French troops when the peasants arrived. The approaching French troops scattered and defeated the Berg farmers. Most of them were able to flee due to their better local knowledge. Ferdinand Stucker was wounded and taken prisoner. The forewarned Johann Peter Ommerborn was able to flee. Most of the hussars were taken prisoner. The peasants' uprising had thus failed. A price was put on Johann Peter Ommerborn's head. He had to go into hiding and joined the imperial army as a field chaplain. After the peace treaty between Austria and France in 1797, he was able to resume his position as vicar in Offermannsheide. However, on May 1, 1797 he was transferred to Frielingsdorf as vicar. On March 15, 1826, he was appointed pastor of Sand.