Sonnenberg-Winnenberg () is an Ortsgemeinde â a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality â in the Birkenfeld district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It belongs to the Verbandsgemeinde of Birkenfeld, whose seat is in the like-named town.
The âÂÂdoubleâ municipality lies on the river Nahe.
Sonnenberg-Winnenberg borders in the north on the municipality of Oberbrombach, in the northeast on the town of Idar-Oberstein, in the east and south on the municipality of Frauenberg, in the southwest on the municipality of Kronweiler and in the west on the municipality of Niederbrombach.
Sonnenberg-WinnenbergâÂÂs Ortsteile are, as its double name suggests, Sonnenberg and Winnenberg. Also belonging to Sonnenberg-Winnenberg are the outlying homesteads of Birkensiedlung, Hohensteiner Hof and Schlesierhof.
The council is made up of 12 council members, who were elected by majority vote at the municipal election held on 7 June 2009, and the honorary mayor as chairman.
Sonnenberg-WinnenbergâÂÂs mayor is Frank Robbert.
The German blazon reads: Unter rot-silbern geschachtem Schildhaupt in Blau eine aufsteigende schwarze Spitze, belegt mit einem goldenem âÂÂWâÂÂ, im Feld eine goldene durch die Spitze begrenzte Sonne.
The municipalityâÂÂs arms might in English heraldic language be described thus: Azure the sun Or rising from behind a pile transposed sable, itself charged with the letter W of the second, the chief countercompony gules and argent.
The chief with its countercompony pattern (that is, with two chequered rows) is a reference to the villageâÂÂs former allegiance to the âÂÂHinderâ County of Sponheim, Oberamt of Birkenfeld, while the âÂÂpile transposedâ (that is, wedge-shaped charge stretching up from the base instead of down from the chief) and the sun behind it are a canting composition for one constituent communityâÂÂs name, Sonnenberg, whose name in German means âÂÂSun MountainâÂÂ. The W stands for Winnenberg.
The arms have been borne since 28 February 1963.
Running to the northwest of the municipality is BundesstraÃÂe 41, which towards the south leads to the Autobahn A 62 (KaiserslauternâÂÂTrier). Serving nearby Kronweiler is a railway station on the Nahe Valley Railway (BingenâÂÂSaarbrücken). There has been no railway station in Sonnenberg-Winnenberg itself since Sonnenberg station was closed in 1963.