Oberdiessbach is a municipality in the Bern-Mittelland administrative district in the canton of Bern in Switzerland.
In 1218 it first appears in a record when Hartmann IV of Kyburg inherited the court of Diessbach from the Zähringens.
The village, the Herrschaft and the Castle Diessenberg on the Falkenfluh remained with the Kyburg family until they were given as a fief to the Ministerialis (unfree knights in the service of a feudal overlord) family of Senn von Münsingen.
In 1331 the city of Bern attacked and destroyed the castle while expanding their power into the region.
The Senn family remained in power over the valley for over forty years after the destruction of the castle.
In the late 17th century the von Wattenwyl family built a private chapel in the church.
[7] The municipality is located in the Kiesental (Kiesen Valley) between Kurzenberg, Falkenfluh and Hube.
The blazon of the municipal coat of arms is Sable a Bendlet dancety Or between two Lions passant of the same langued and viriled Gules.
[10] Most of the population (as of 2000[update]) speaks German (2,777 or 95.2%) as their first language, Serbo-Croatian is the second most common (29 or 1.0%) and French is the third (26 or 0.9%).
The historical population is given in the following chart:[4][14] The Chapel of the von Wattenwyl family, the Landsitz (country estate) Diessenhof, Oberdiessbach Castle and since the 2014 merger, the Statthalterhof in Bleiken, are listed as Swiss heritage site of national significance.
The entire urbanized village of Oberdiessbach is part of the Inventory of Swiss Heritage Sites.
In the federal election, a total of 1,253 votes were cast, and the voter turnout was 53.8%.
[10] There were 1,493 residents of the municipality who were employed in some capacity, of which females made up 41.2% of the workforce.
The number of jobs in the primary sector was 55, of which 51 were in agriculture and 4 were in forestry or lumber production.
In the tertiary sector; 158 or 30.5% were in wholesale or retail sales or the repair of motor vehicles, 19 or 3.7% were in the movement and storage of goods, 20 or 3.9% were in a hotel or restaurant, 12 or 2.3% were the insurance or financial industry, 25 or 4.8% were technical professionals or scientists, 49 or 9.5% were in education and 182 or 35.1% were in health care.
[10] From the 2000 census[update], 2,215 or 76.0% belonged to the Swiss Reformed Church, while 176 or 6.0% were Roman Catholic.
This is followed by three years of obligatory lower Secondary school where the students are separated according to ability and aptitude.
Following the lower Secondary students may attend additional schooling or they may enter an apprenticeship.
[19] During the 2010-11 school year, there were a total of 469 students attending classes in Oberdiessbach.
The library has (as of 2008[update]) 9,553 books or other media, and loaned out 25,251 items in the same year.
It was open a total of 175 days with average of 8 hours per week during that year.