Sosberg is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in the Cochem-Zell district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It belongs to the Verbandsgemeinde of Zell, whose seat is in the municipality of Zell an der Mosel. Geography The municipality lies on a sloped edge in the Hunsrück between the rivers Moselle, Nahe and Rhine on the one hand and the Idarwald and Soonwald (wooded areas of the Hunsrück) on the other. East of the village runs the Mörsdorfer Bach towards the Moselle. History In 1330, Sosberg had its first documentary mention under the name Soysbergh. The village was until 1781 part of the “Three-Lord Territory”. As in the Beltheim court, the landlordship was shared among the Electorate of Trier, the County of Sponheim and the House of Braunshorn (later Winneburg and Metternich). Beginning in 1794, Sosberg lay under French rule. In 1815 it was assigned to the Kingdom of Prussia at the Congress of Vienna. Since 1946, it has been part of the then newly founded state of Rhineland-Palatinate. Under the Verwaltungsvereinfachungsgesetz (“Administration Simplification Law”) of 18 July 1970, with effect from 7 November 1970, the municipality was grouped into the Verbandsgemeinde of Zell. Politics Municipal council The council is made up of 6 council members, who were elected by majority vote at the municipal election held on 7 June 2009, and the honorary mayor as chairman. Mayor Sosberg's mayor is Andreas Lehnert. Coat of arms The German blazon reads: Der Wappenschild ist zweimal gespalten. Vorn in Silber ein rotes, durchgehendes Kreuz, belegt mit einem silbernen Hifthorn. Das Mittelfeld zeigt in Grün eine linkshin gerichtete, silberne Hellebarde, hinten ein silbern-rotes Schach zu drei Plätzen in elf Reihen. The municipality's arms might in English heraldic language be described thus: A pale vert charged with a pole-axe argent, the edge to sinister, between argent a cross gules surmounted by a bugle-horn of the second, the bell to sinister, and chequy of thirty-three of the second and third. The red cross on the dexter (armsbearer's right, viewer's left) side refers to the Electorate of Trier and the horn stands for the Imperial lordship of Beilstein. The axe is Saint Matthias’s attribute, thus representing the church’s patron saint. The green field tincture on which this charge appears refers to the municipality’s agricultural structure. The silver and red “chequy” pattern on the sinister (armsbearer's left, viewer's right) side is