the old Eisenschmitt foundry mark from the 16th century. The tinctures gules and argent (red and silver) are the Malbergs’, under whose lordship Eisenschmitt lay until feudal times came to an end. The horizontal zigzag stripe (“fess dancetty”) on the dexter (armsbearer's right, viewer's left) side is the sign of the old County of Manderscheid and a reference to the village's former allegiance thereto. On the sinister (armsbearer's left, viewer's right) side are a hammer and tongs, symbols of the iron industry that lasted centuries, and from which the municipality also got its name. “Das Weiberdorf” The municipality of Eisenschmitt served the writer Clara Viebig (1860-1952) as a model for her novel Das Weiberdorf (“The Women’s Village” or “The Village of Women”), which describes life in the small community of “Eifelschmitt”. The novel's background is a peculiarity of the village community: Owing to the increasing dearth of the raw material, iron ore, in the area around Eisenschmitt, those men capable of working became guestworkers in the Ruhr area towards the end of the 19th century. They earned a living for themselves and their families in the emerging steelworks. The women stayed back, and during their husbands’ long absence, they had to do all the work in the house and in the fields, hence the novel's name. The description of these conditions was perceived by many of the writer's contemporaries as scandalous, the women taking on a rôle that then was not commonly customary. Scenes from the novel are displayed on the village fountain before the church. Since June 2005, the Clara-Viebig-Zentrum (centre) in Eisenschmitt has memorialized the writer. Culture and sightseeing Eisenschmitter Brunnen Clara-Viebig-Zentrum Further reading Erich Gerten: Eisenschmitt -- von der mittelalterlichen Eisenhütte zum Eifeler Wohn- und Erholungsort, Herausgeber: Ortsgemeinde Eisenschmitt in Verbindung mit dem Förderkreis Kultur und Geschichte e.V., 2006 Claus Rech: Zurückbleiben im "Weiberdorf". Frauen von Arbeitsmigranten und ihre Lebensverhältnisse in Eisenschmitt/Eifel 1830-1900. In: Andreas Gestrich, Marita Krauss: Zurückbleiben. Der vernachlässigte Teil der Migrationsgeschichte. Franz Steiner Verlag, Stuttgart 2007, S. 125-153 . References External links Municipality’s official webpage Cultural properties in the Trier Region, Eisenschmitt Municipality’s history Clara-Viebig-Zentrum Bernkastel-Wittlich