Pforzheim
Encyclopedia
Pforzheim is a town of nearly 119,000 inhabitants in the state of Baden-Württemberg
, southwest Germany at the gate to the Black Forest
. It is world-famous for its jewelry and watch-making industry. Until 1565 it was the home to the Margraves of Baden. Because of that it gained the nickname "Goldstadt" or Golden City. It has an area of 98 km² and is situated between the cities of Stuttgart
and Karlsruhe
at the confluence of three rivers (Enz
, Nagold
and Würm
) and marks the frontier between Baden
and Württemberg
, being located on Baden territory. Pforzheim is located on the Bertha Benz Memorial Route
.
The City of Pforzheim does not belong to any administrative district (Kreis), although it hosts the administrative offices of the Enz
district which surrounds the town.
During World War II, Pforzheim was bombed a number of times. The largest raid, and one of the most devastating area bombardment
s of World War II, was carried out by the Royal Air Force
(RAF) on the evening of 23 February 1945. About one quarter of the town's population, over 17,000 people, were killed in the air raid, and about 83% of the town's buildings were destroyed. The town was thought by the Allies
to be producing precision instruments for use in the German war effort and to be a transport centre for the movement of German troops. The story of the bombardment is dramatically recounted in the 2011 history book by Giles Milton
, entitled Wolfram: The Boy Who Went To War.
After the war, the rubble from the destruction was heaped into a large pile on mount Wallberg and into the Brötzinger Tal valley on the outskirts of the town, resulting in a volcano-ish look of the mountain and the disappearance of the valley. Similar efforts were undertaken in other destroyed cities such as Stuttgart
and Munich
. In the twenty years following the end of the war, Pforzheim was gradually rebuilt, giving the town a quite modern look and making it home to some landmark buildings of the 1950s.
(Schwarzwald) and the rim of the hilly country of the Kraichgau
, in an open valley at the confluences of the rivers Würm
and Nagold
and the rivers Nagold and Enz
. Due to its location, this city is also called the "three-valleys town" (Drei-Taeler Stadt) or the "Gateway to the Black Forest" (Pforte zum Schwarzwald / Porta Hercynia). The early settlement (in fact much earlier than the current centers Stuttgart
and Karlsruhe
) by the Romans, who constructed a ford through the river, shortly past the confluence of the three rivers, for their military highway, is also due to this extraordinary geography. Due to this location, Pforzheim later on became a center for the timber-rafting
trade which transported timber from the Black Forest via the rivers Wuerm, Nagold, Enz and then the Neckar
and Rhine to, among other destinations, the Netherlands for use in shipbuilding and the construction of Amsterdam
on poles in a swamp.
Pforzheim and its surrounding area belongs to the "Densely Populated Area Karlsruhe/Pforzheim". Pforzheim has the functions of a regional center (Mittelzentrum) for the towns and municipalities Birkenfeld (Enz)
, Eisingen
, Engelsbrand
,
Friolzheim
, Heimsheim
, Ispringen
, Kämpfelbach
, Keltern
, Kieselbronn
, Königsbach-Stein
, Mönsheim
, Neuenbürg
, Neuhausen
, Neulingen
, Niefern-Öschelbronn
, Ölbronn-Dürrn
, Remchingen
, Straubenhardt
, Tiefenbronn
, Wiernsheim
, Wimsheim
and Wurmberg
.
, all of them are included in the Enz
district.
Ispringen
, Neulingen
, Kieselbronn
, Niefern-Öschelbronn
, Wurmberg
, Wimsheim
, Neuhausen (Enz)
, Unterreichenbach
, Engelsbrand
, Birkenfeld (Enz)
, Keltern and Kämpfelbach
, are represented by independent community councils
and community administrations according to § 8 and following paragraphs of the main city-ordinance of Pforzheim. In important matters concerning any of these communities the opinions of the respective community councils must be taken into consideration. However, final decisions on the matter will be made by the Pforzheim city council.
in France (since 1989) Vicenza
in Italy (since 1991)
Pforzheim is twinned
or has friendship agreements exist with the following cities and regions: Osijek
in Croatia
(since 1994) Irkutsk
in Russia (since 1999) Nevşehir
in Turkey
(since 2000) Częstochowa
in Poland (since 2000) Győr-Moson-Sopron
in Hungary (since 2001 in conjunction with the Enz district)
(nowadays Strasbourg
in France) and the military camp at Cannstatt (now a suburb of Stuttgart
) at the Upper Germanic Limes border line of the Roman Empire
crossed the Enz
river. This place was known as Portus (river crossing, harbor), which is believed to be the origin of the first part of the city's name "Pforzheim". A Roman milestone (the so-called 'Leugenstein') from the year 245 and later excavated at nowadays Friolzheim
shows the exact distance to 'Portus'; it is the first document about the settlement.
259/260: The Roman settlement 'Portus' was destroyed completely, as the Frank
and Alemanni tribes overrun the Upper Germanic Limes border line of the Roman Empire
and conquered the Roman administrated area west of the Rhine river. From then on, over an extended period of time historical records about the settlement are not available.
6th/7th century: Graves from this period indicate that the settlement had been continued.
1067: The settlement of Pforzheim was mentioned for the first time in a document by Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor
as "Phorzheim". Visits to Pforzheim by Heinrich IV in 1067 and 1074 are documented.
Before 1080: The "old town" of Pforzheim was awarded market rights (Marktrecht). At that time Pforzheim belonged to the estate of Hirsau
Monastery
, according to monastery documents.
From 1150: Establishment of the "new town" west of the "old town" at the foot of the Schlossberg (palais hill) under Margrave Hermann V
.
1200: The town charter of the "new town" was mentioned for the first time in a document. The "old town" continued to exist as a legally independent entity.
1220: The Margraves of Baden selected Pforzheim as their residence. The "new town" became prominent.
1240: A mayor of Pforzheim was mentioned in a document for the first time.
13th/14th century: Pforzheim enjoyed its first period of flourishment. A group of influential patricians emerged. They developed extensive activities on the financial markets of those days. The town drew its income from the wood trade, timber rafting
, the tannery
trade, textile
manufacturing and other crafts. Documents mention mayor, judge, council and citizens. The town walls surrounding the new town were completed at about 1290. During this era three catholic
orders
established their convents in town (the Franciscan
order established their domicile within the town wall at nowadays Barfuesserkirche (the choir of which remains), the Dominican
nun
order established their domicile outside of the walls of the old town near Auer bridge, and the Prediger cloister was located east of the Schlossberg, probably inside the town walls). Outside of the town wall across the Enz river, the suburb Flösser Quarters (the home of the timber floating trade) was established. Next to the western town wall, the suburb of Brötzingen gradually developed. The Margraves of Baden considered Pforzheim as their most important power base up to the first half of the 14th century. Under Margrave Bernard I
(Bernhard I) Pforzheim became one of the administrative centers of the margraviate.
1322: Holy Ghost Hospital was founded at Tränk Street (nowadays Deimling Street).
15th century: Various fraternities
among people working in the same trade were established: The fraternity of tailor
s in 1410, the fraternity of baker
s on May 14, 1422, the fraternity of the weavers in 1469, the fraternity of the wine-growers in 1491, the fraternity of the skippers and timber raftsmen in 1501, and the fraternity of the carters in 1512. Members of the same fraternity assisted each other in various ways, for example with funerals and in cases of sickness. In a sense, the fraternities were early forms of health and life insurance
.
August 8/9, 1418: Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor
visits Margrave
Bernard I
(Bernhard I) in Pforzheim. On this occasion the mint
of the Margraves of Baden in Pforzheim was mentioned. Mint master was Jakob Broeglin between 1414–1431. The emperor appointed the master of the Pforzheim mint, Jakob Bröglin, and Bois von der Winterbach for five years as Royal Mint Masters of the mints of Frankfurt
and Nördlingen
. The Margrave was appointed as their patron.
1447: The wedding of Margrave
Charles I
(Karl I) of Baden with Katharina
of Austria, the sister of Frederick III, Holy Roman Emperor
(Friedrich III), was celebrated in Pforzheim with great pomp (including tournaments and dances).
1455: Johannes Reuchlin, the great German humanist
, was born in Pforzheim on January 29 (he died in Stuttgart on June 30, 1522). He attended the Latin School
section of the monastery school run by the Dominican order of Pforzheim in the late 1460s. Later, partly due to Reuchlin's efforts, the Latin School
of Pforzheim developed into one of the most prominent schools in southwestern Germany. The school's teachers and pupils played an outstanding role in the dissemination of the ideas of humanism
and the protestant reformation
movement. The most famous pupils included Reuchlin himself, Reuchlin's nephew Philipp Melanchthon
, and Simon Grynaeus
.
1460: Margrave Charles I established a kind of monastery (Kollegialstift) at the site of Schlosskirche St. Michael, turning the church into a collegiate church
. There were also plans to establish a university in Pforzheim, but this plan had to be abandoned because Margrave Charles I lost the Battle of Seckenheim.
1463: Margrave Charles I was forced to transfer the palace and the town of Pforzheim as a fiefdom
to the Elector Palatine after losing the Battle of Seckenheim. He then began to build a new palace in modern Baden-Baden
. Margrave Christoph I finally moved the residence of the margraves to Baden-Baden. This gradually ended the first period of Pforzheim's flourishment. The rich merchants gradually left the town, which declined to the status of a country town of mostly small traders.
1486: The Weavers Ordinance (Wollweberordnung) for the towns Pforzheim und Ettlingen
was approved by Margrave
Christoph I. This was a contract concerning the town privileges of Pforzheim. This regulation of the weaving trade did not allow the formation of a regular guild
(Zunft).
1491: A contract between Margrave Christoph I and the citizens of Pforzheim was concluded, granting the town of Pforzheim several privileges concerning taxes and business.
1496: Foundation of the first printer's shop by Thomas Anshelm. During the first half of the 16th century Pforzheim's printers contributed significantly to the establishment of this (in those days) new medium.
1501: Margrave Christoph I of Baden enacted the "Ordinance
on the timber rafting profession in Pforzheim". The single timber logs that were floated from the deeper Black Forest areas down the Enz, Nagold and Wuerm rivers were bound together in the Au area to form larger timber rafts. Those rafts were then floated down the lower Enz, Neckar and Rhine rivers. The timber rafting stations of Weissenstein, Dillstein and Pforzheim were well known in the profession.
1501 was also the year for which an outbreak of the plague (probably the bubonic plague
) is recorded in the Swabia
n chronicle
Annalium Suevicorum by Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen
professor Martin Grusius, published 1596. It is not known how many of Pforzheim's citizens died in that year, but there are reports of 500 deceased in the close-by city of Calw
and about 4000 in Stuttgart
, which accounted for approximately one quarter to one half of the populations of those towns. Outbreaks of the disease were reported for many places in southwestern Germany, Bohemia
, the Alsace
region in nowadays France, Switzerland, and Italy. Common graves with massive numbers of human bones at the cemetery of St. Michael Church and the cemetery on the estate of the Dominican order near nowadays Waisenhausplatz found during the last century may indicate that hundreds of citizens became the victims of the plague. There are indications that a fraternity
for taking care of the sick and removing the bodies of the deceased from houses was formed in 1501, whose members later on stayed together and became known as the choral society Singergesellschaft, which is still active today as the Loebliche Singergesellschaft of 1501. (They are probably one of the oldest clubs in Europe).
1520s: The ideas of the protestant religious movement advanced by Martin Luther
spread rapidly in Pforzheim. Its most prominent promoters were Johannes Schwebel, a preacher at Holy Ghost church (Heiliggeistkirche), and Johannes Unger, the principal of the Dominican
Latin school
.
1535–1565: Due to the heritage
division of the clan of the Margraves of Baden, Margrave
Ernst of Baden made Pforzheim the residential town of his family line. He decided to use the Schlosskirche St. Michael as the entombment site for his family line.
1549: A large fire caused severe damage to the town.
1556: After the conclusion of the Peace of Augsburg
in 1555, Margrave
Karl II
introduced Lutherism (protestantism
) as the state religion in the district Baden-Durlach, which included Pforzheim. The (Catholic) monasteries were gradually shut down.
1565: Margrave Karl II chooses Durlach as the new residential town. Pforzheim stayed one of the administrative centers of Baden.
1618: At the beginning of the Thirty Years' War
, the number of inhabitants of Pforzheim is estimated to have been between 2500 and 3000. This was the largest town among all towns in Baden, even though at that time it had already declined somewhat.
1645: Toward the end of the Thirty Years' War the "old town" was burned down by Bavaria
n (i.e. Catholic) troops. It was rebuilt, but without the former fortifications, which gave it the status of a village-like settlement. It soon vanished from historical records. The "new town" had survived.
1688–1697: The "War of the Palatinian Succession" (also called the Nine Years War) caused tremendous destruction in Southwestern Germany. The French "sun king" Louis XIV
's efforts to expand the territory of France up to the Upper Rhine river and to put the Elector Palatine under pressure to severe its ties with the League of Augsburg included the Brûlez le Palatinat! tactics of destroying major towns on both sides of the Rhine river. These tactics seem to have been mainly the idea of the French war minister, François Michel le Tellier, Marquis de Louvois.
Pforzheim was occupied by French troops on October 10, 1688. Commanding officer is said to have been Joseph de Montclar
. The town was forced to accommodate a large number of soldiers and had to pay a large amount of "contributions" to the French. When the army unit was about to depart early in the morning of January 21, 1689 (obviously because an army of the Holy Roman Empire
had been approaching), they set many major buildings on fire, including the palais, the city hall, and vicarages. About 70 houses (i.e. one quarter of all houses) and part of the town's fortifications were reportedly destroyed.
Between August 2 and August 4, the French army under the general command of Marshal
Jacques Henri de Durfort de Duras
again crossed the Rhine river and began the destruction of major towns in Baden. On August 10, 1689, a French army unit under the command of General Ezéchiel du Mas, Comte de Mélac appeared in front of Pforzheims town gates, but this time the town refused to surrender. In response, the French army began shelling the town with cannons from the Rod hill located southwest of the town, and the several hundred soldiers of the German imperial command, who were defending the town, were forced to surrender. After a short period of looting, the French troops set the inner town area on fire on August 15, which made that area uninhabitable for several weeks. Then the French moved on.
During the following two years French troops stayed away from Pforzheim, but the economic situation of the town was miserable. In addition to this, the reconstruction of the town and the repairs of the fortifications under the supervision of Johann Matthaeus Faulhaber, the chief construction officer of the Margraviate Baden, required a lot of efforts. The accommodation of an imperial garrison under the command of (then) colonel Count Palfy also was a heavy burden.
In 1691 Louvois
instructed his marshals to destroy those towns which were to serve as winter quarters for imperial troops, explicitly including Pforzheim, and then continue to Wuerttemberg for further destructions. After the French troops had crossed the Rhine river under the command of Marshal Guy Aldonce de Durfort de Lorges
at Philippsburg
on August 3, 1691, they assaulted the Margraves' residential town of Durlach
and 1,200 cavalry
men, 300 dragoons and 1,200 infantry
men advanced toward Pforzheim where they arrived in the morning on August 9 and surrounded the town. When the approximately 200 imperial soldiers under the command of Captain Zickwolf and other men in the town refused to surrender, the siege began. After shelling the town during the day and the following night, the resistance of the town broke down and on August 10 in the morning the French forced the town gates open, occupied and looted it (although with little success, as there was not much left to be taken away). On August 12, the French moved on, this time refraining from setting houses on fire. The fortification had again been damaged, though (the White Tower, the Auer Bridge Gate, the Upper Mill and the Nonnen Mill were burnt down). The French also stole all church bells, except for one minor one.
On September 20, 1692, again crossed the Rhine river under the general command of Marshal
Guy Aldonce de Durfort de Lorges
, and advanced toward Durlach
and Pforzheim. On September 24, 2,000 cavalry soldiers and 1,200 infantry and artillery troops under the command of Marshal
Noël Bouton de Chamilly, moved to Pforzheim, where the town and 600 soldiers of the imperial German army in town surrendered without any military engagements. The rest of the French army arrived on September 27 under the command of Marshal de Lorges. On the same day, the French army moved on to Oetisheim near Mühlacker
and attacked an imperial army unit of 4,000 cavalry men under the command of Duke Frederick Charles of Württemberg-Winnental
in their camp. As they were taken by surprise, they withdrew hastily and lost several hundred men, either killed or captured by the French. (The Duke himself was among the French prisoners.) On September 28, the French army returned to Pforzheim and established a camp. It was reported that the entire Enz
valley between the village of Eutingen east of Pforzheim and the village of Birkenfeld west of Pforzheim was occupied by the 30,000 French soldiers' camps. From their base in Pforzheim, French army units obviously under the leadership of Marshal de Chamilly advanced along the river valleys of Nagold
and Wuerm and looted and destroyed the villages and towns of Huchenfeld, Calw
, Hirsau
, Liebenzell and Zavelstein. They also destroyed Liebeneck castle about 10 kilometers from Pforzheim towering above the Wuerm valley, where part of the Pforzheim town archives were hidden. The archive was burned. Another part of the town archive as well as documents of Baden administrative office had been brought to Calw, were they went up in flames, too.
When the French troops left after about one week of occupation, they again looted Pforzheim and put it on fire. This time, all houses which had survived the two previous fires, were destroyed. In the Au suburb, only three houses survived. The Au bridge was heavily damaged. Only four houses survived in the Broetzingen suburb. The town church St. Stephan and a large part of the Dominican monastery complex were also destroyed. The Castle Church (Schlosskirche) St. Michael was heavily damaged, and the family tombs of the Baden Margraves in the church were ravaged by the soldiers. The last remaining church bell and the churches' clockworks were stolen as well. The town wall was damaged again, including the town gates. After the one-week presence of 30,000 soldiers in a town of only a few thousand citizens, all food was gone, including the seeds saved for next spring's sowing season. Every tree and grape
vine on the valley slopes had been used up as firewood. The French army reached their camp in Philippsburg
on October 5, 1692.
1718: Inauguration of the "institution for orphans, the mad, the sick, for discipline and work" in a building of the former Dominican order
Convent
by the Enz river. Fifty years later this institution was to become the incubator of Pforzheim's jewellery and watchmaking industries.
1715–1730: During this period there was a prolonged dispute between Pforzheim's citizens and the Margrave of Baden concerning the privileges granted to the town in 1491, which the Margrave considered obsolete and therefore demanded significantly higher tax payments from Pforzheim citizens. The issue was taken all the way to the Imperial Court of Justice, where the town's motion was defeated.
1767: Establishment of a watch and jewellery factory in the orphanage. This led to Pforzheim's jewellery industries. Watchmaking was given up later on.
1805/06: Typhus epidemic in Pforzheim.
1809: The Administrative District Pforzheim of Baden was split into a Municipal District Administration Pforzheim and two Rural Districts.
1813: The two Rural Districts were combined to form the Rural District Administration Pforzheim.
1819: Municipal District Pforzheim and Rural District Pforzheim are merged to form the Higher District Administration Pforzheim.
1836: Ferdinand Öchsle in Pforzheim invented a device for measuring the sugar content in freshly pressed grape juice for assessing the future quality of wine
(Mostwaage). It is still in use in the winery business.
1861/62: Pforzheim was connected to the German railway network with the completion of a ection of the Karlsruhe–Mühlacker line between Wilferdingen and Pforzheim.
1863: The railway section between Pforzheim and Mühlacker
was completed, thus establishing railway traffic between the capital of Baden
, Karlsruhe
, and the capital of Württemberg
, Stuttgart
.
1864: The Higher District Administration Pforzheim was made the Regional Administration Pforzheim.
1868: The Enz Valley Railway
between Pforzheim and Wildbad was completed.
1869: Establishment of the first worker's union in Pforzheim, the "Pforzheim Gold(-metal) Craftsmen's Union".
1874: The section of the Nagold Valley Railway
between Pforzheim and Calw
was completed.
1877: Inauguration of the Arts and Crafts School (Kunstgewerbeschule
; now incorporated into Hochschule (University) Pforzheim).
1888: Bertha Benz
and her two sons arrived in Pforzheim on the first "long-distance" drive in the history of the automobile in a car manufactured by her husband Carl Benz in order to visit relatives. She had started her drive in Mannheim
, which is located about 106 km (more than sixty miles) from Pforzheim. The very first gasoline
-powered, automobile
with an internal combustion engine
of the inventor had hit the roads only two years earlier after a patent
for this new technology had been granted to Karl Benz on January 29, 1886. She bought the gasoline necessary for her trip back home in a "pharmacy
" in Pforzheim. During the trip Bertha Benz had to make repairs with a hairpin to open a blocked fuel line, and after returning home, suggested to her husband that another gear
be provided in his automobile for climbing hills. To commemorate this first long-distance journey by automobile the Bertha Benz Memorial Route
was officially approved as a route of industrial heritage of mankind in 2008. Now everybody can follow the 194 km of signposted route from Mannheim
via Heidelberg
to Pforzheim and back.
1893: Inauguration of the Pforzheim Synagogue.
From 1900: Revival of the Pforzheim watchmaking industry.
1906: The 1st FC Pforzheim Football (soccer) Club was defeated by VfB Leipzig with a score of 1:2 in the final game of the German soccer championship.
1914–1918: Pforzheim was not a battlefield in World War I, but 1600 men from Pforzheim lost their lives as soldiers on the battlefields.
1920s: The Pforzheim watchmaking industry thrived due to the new popularity of wrist-watches.
1927: Pforzheim-born (1877) Professor
of Munich University Heinrich Otto Wieland
received the Nobel prize
in chemistry
.
From 1933: Along with the installation of the Nazi government in Germany the local subsidiaries of all political parties, groups and organizations other than the NSDAP were gradually disbanded in town. Public life as well as individual affairs were increasingly affected by Nazi influences. Persecution of Jewish fellow citizens occurred in Pforzheim, too, with boycotts of Jewish shops and companies.
1938: Establishment of the municipal Jewellery Museum.
1938: On November 9, the so-called Kristallnacht
, the Pforzheim Synagogue
(see WWW-site) of the Jewish community was so badly damaged by Nazi
activists that it had to be demolished later on.
1939: Regional Administration Pforzheim (Bezirksamt) was converted to the Rural District Pforzheim (Landkreis) with Pforzheim city as its administrative site. However, the town itself became a district-less administrative body.
1940: Deportation
of Jewish citizens of Pforzheim to the concentration camp in Gurs
(France). Only 55 of the 195 deported persons escaped from the holocaust.
1944: Many factories were converted to produce weaponry such as anti-aircraft shell
s, fuze
s for bombs, and allegedly even parts for the V1
and V2
rockets.
1945: On 23 February, Pforzheim was bombed in one of the most devastating area bombardment
s of World War II. It was carried out by the Royal Air Force
(RAF) on the evening of February 23, 1945. About one quarter of the town's population, over 17,000 people, were killed in the air raid, and about 83% of the town's buildings were destroyed. The mission order to bomb Pforzheim issued by RAF Bomber Command
states as the intention of the raid on Pforzheim "to destroy built up area and associated industries and rail facilities". The bombardment was carried out as part of the British carpet bombing
campaign. The town was put on the target list for bombardments in November 1944 because it was thought by the Allies to be producing precision instruments for use in the German war effort and as transport centre for the movement of German troops.
(Additional details are given in Bombing of Pforzheim in World War II
.)
There were also several minor raids in 1944 and 1945.
After the main attack, about 30,000 people had to be fed by makeshift public kitchens because their housing had been destroyed. Almost 90% of the buildings in the core city area had been destroyed. Many Pforzheim citizens were buried in mass graves at Pforzheim's main cemetery because they could not be identified. There are also many graves of complete families. Among the dead were several hundred foreigners who had been in Pforzheim as forced labor workers.
The inner-city districts were severely depopulated. According to the State Statistics Bureau (Statistisches Landesamt), in the Market Square area (Marktplatzviertel) in 1939 there were 4,112 registered inhabitants, in 1945 none (0). In the Old Town area (Altstadtviertel) in 1939 there were 5,109 inhabitants, in 1945 only 2 persons were still living there. In the Leopold Square area, in 1939 there were 4,416 inhabitants, in 1945 only 13.
The German Army Report of February 24, 1945 devoted only two lines to reporting the bombardment: "In the early evening hours of February 23, a forceful British attack was directed at Pforzheim." RAF Bomber Command
later assessed the bombing raid as the one with "probably the greatest proportion (of destroyed built-up area) (of any target) in one raid during the war".
In early April as the allied forces and notably the French Army
advanced toward Pforzheim, the local German military commander gave orders to destroy the electric power generating plant and those gas and water supply lines that were still working, but citizens succeeded in persuading the staff sergeant
in charge of the operation to refrain from this absurd endeavor in the face of the imminent and inevitable surrender of the German military. Likewise, orders were issued for the destruction of those bridges that had remained unscathed (some of the bridges had been destroyed by air strikes even before and after February 23), and this could not be prevented. Only the Iron (Railway) Bridge in Weißenstein ward was saved by stout-hearted citizens who, during an unguarded moment, pulled off the fuze
wiring from the explosive devices, which had already been installed, and dropped it into Nagold river. Soon after that on April 8, French troops (an armored vehicle unit) moved into Pforzheim from the northwest and were able to occupy the area north of Enz river, but the area south of the Enz river was defended by a German infantry
unit using artillery
. Fighting was especially fierce in Broetzingen. The French army units (including an Algeria
n and Moroccan
unit) suffered heavy losses; among the dead was the commander of the army unit, Capitaine Dorance. The advance of the French army came to a halt temporarily, but with the support of fighterbomber aircraft and due to the bad condition of the defenders (which included many old men and young boys who had been drafted in a last desperate war effort) the French troops finally succeeded and on April 18 took possession of the vast rubble field which once was the proud residential town of the Baden Margraves.
The three months of French occupation
were reportedly marked by hostile attitudes on both the French army side and the Pforzheim population side; incidences of rape
and looting
, mainly by Moroccan soldiers, were also reported. Au Bridge (Auerbruecke) and Wuerm Bridge received makeshift repairs by the French military. The US Army
, which replaced the French troops on July 8, 1945, helped repair Goethe Bridge, Benckiser Bridge, Old Town Bridge (Altstädterbrücke) and Horse Bridge (Roßbrücke) in 1945 and the following year. The relationship between the population and the US military was reportedly more relaxed than had been the case with the French army.
1945–1965: Pforzheim was gradually rebuilt, giving Pforzheim a quite modern look. In September 1951 the Northern Town Bridge (Nordstadtbrücke) was inaugurated (the ceremony was attended by then Federal President Prof. Dr. Theodor Heuss
). Jahn Bridge followed in December 1951, Werder Bridge in May 1952, the rebuilt Goethe Bridge in October 1952, and the rebuilt Old Town Bridge was inaugurated in 1954.
1955: On the occasion of the 500th birthday anniversary of Johannes Reuchlin, the city of Pforzheim established the Reuchlin Prize and awarded it for the first time in the presence of then President of the Federal Republic of Germany (West-Germany), Prof. Dr. Theodor Heuss
.
1961: Inauguration of the culture center "Reuchlinhaus", which from then on housed the Jewellery Museum, the Arts and Crafts Association, the City Library, the Homeland Museum (Heimatmuseum), and the City Archives.
1968: On July 10 shortly before 22:00, Pforzheim and its surrounding areas were hit by a rare tornado
. It had strength F4 on the Fujita scale
. Two persons died and more than 200 were injured, and 1750 buildings were damaged. Across the town between Buechenbronn ward and the village of Wurmberg the storm caused severe damage to forest areas (i.e. most trees fell to the ground). During the first night and the following days the soldiers of the French 3rd Husar Regiment and the US Army Unit, which were still stationed at the Buckenberg Barracks, helped clear the streets of a lot of fallen trees (especially in the Buckenberg/Haidach area). It took about four weeks to carry out the most necessary repairs on buildings. The overhead electric contact wires for the electric trolley
buses then still operating in town and the streetcar transport system to the village of Ittersbach were never repaired; those transport systems were retired.
1971–1975: The townships of Würm, Hohenwart, Buechenbronn, Huchenfeld and Eutingen were incorporated into the city administration.
1973: Inauguration of the new Pforzheim City Hall.
1973 As part of the reform of administrative districts, the rural district of Pforzheim was incorporated into the newly established Enz
rural district, which has its administration in Pforzheim. But the city of Pforzheim itself remains a district-less city. In addition, Pforzheim became the administrative center of the newly formed Northern Black Forest Region
.
1975 On January 1, the population exceeded 100.000 and Pforzheim gained the status of a "large city" (Grossstadt).
1979: Inauguration of the Pforzheim City Museum.
1983: Inauguration of the "Technical Museum of the Jewellery and Watchmaking Industry" and the "Citizens Museum".
1987: Inauguration of the City Convention Center.
1987/1990: Inauguration of the City Theater at the Waisenhausplatz.
1989: Sister City agreement with the City of Gernika, Spain.
1990: Sister City agreement with the City of Saint-Maur
-des-Fosses, France.
1991: Sister City agreement with the City of Vicenza
, Italy.
1992: State Gardening Expo in Pforzheim. Enzauenpark was created and part of the Enz river was re-naturalized.
1994: Inauguration of the cultural institution "Kulturhaus Osterfeld".
1994: Merger of the Pforzheim Business School and the Pforzheim School of Design to form the Pforzheim University of Applied Sciences in Design, Technology and Business.
1995: Inauguration of the Archeological Site Kappelhof.
2000: Inauguration of the Pforzheim Gallery.
2002: In November, during excavation works for a new shopping center right in the center of the city, a power shovel hit a 250 kg bomb which had not gone off during the bombardment of 1945. On a Sunday, about 5000 citizens had to temporarily leave their homes as a precautionary measure while specialists were defusing and disposing of the (so far) last of a large number of unexploded explosive
devices found in Pforzheim's grounds since 1945.
See also History of Baden
.
¹ Result of census
The population growth diagrams show that the largest growth rates were recorded between about 1830 and 1925, which was the period following the political reorganisation of Europe agreed upon at the Vienna Congress of 1815 after the violent period that was so much dominated by Napoleon Bonaparte of France. This high population growth period coincided with the period of intensive industrialisation
of Germany. Population growth weakened due to the effects of World War I and World War II. The population declined sharply due to the destruction on February 23, 1945, and increased sharply in the post-WWII era due to high economic growth levels in West-Germany and the rapid rebuilding efforts in Pforzheim. Earlier setbacks were recorded during the Thirty Years' War
period in the 17th century.
in 1556 installed the Protestant Reformation
in the Margraviate of Baden
, of which Pforzheim was the capital in those days, Pforzheim continued to be a Protestant town for several centuries. The congregations in Pforzheim were affiliated with the deanery (Dekanat) of Pforzheim of the Protestant National Church of Baden, unless they were members of one of the independent churches (Freikirche).
Since the 19th century at the latest Catholics settled in Pforzheim again. They are affiliated with the deanery of Pforzheim which belongs to Archdiocese of Freiburg
.
Other denominations and religious sects in Pforzheim are:
city administration. It forms expert committees in order to deal with
specialized issues.
Department I: Personnel, finances, business development, general
administration. (Managed by Christel Augenstein.)
Department II: Construction and planning, environment. (Managed by Alexander Uhlig.)
Department III: Education, culture, social affairs, sports. (Managed by Gert Hager.)
Department IV: Security and public order, health, energy and water supply, local transportation and traffic. (Managed by Andreas Schuetze.)
(Schultheiss) who used to be appointed by the lord (owner) of the town. Later on, there was a council with a mayor leading it, who since 1849 holds the title "Lord Mayor". The terms of office of the mayors until 1750 are unknown. Only the names of the mayors are mentioned in historical documents.
of Pforzheim city shows in the left-hand half of a shield an inclined bar in red color on a golden background, and the right-hand half is divided into four fields in the colors red, silver, blue and gold. The city flag is white-blue.
The inclined bar can be traced back to the 13th century as the symbol of the lords (owners) of Pforzheim, which later on also became the National Coat of Arms of Baden, but its meaning is unknown. Since 1489 the coat of arms in its entire form can be verified, but its meaning is not known, either. Current coloring has been used only since 1853; in earlier times the coloring was different.
and has one of the highest densities of industrial activity in the state.
Pforzheim is historically an important jewelry and watch-making centre in Germany. Due to this reason, Pforzheim is nicknamed as Golden City. Jewelry and watch-making industry is first set up by Jean François Autran after receiving an edict from then overlord Margrave Karl Friedrich von Baden. This enterprise is later joined by other commercial enterprises and helped Pforzheim to become an important manufacturing city. Pforzheim accounts for just under 70 percent of the total sales of the German jewelry and silverware industry and around 80 percent of all the pieces of jewelry exported by Germany come from Pforzheim.
However, a smaller fraction of the economy nowadays is dedicated to producing the traditional products of watches and jewellery
. Only 11,000 people are employed in the jewelry and watch-making industries. Two thirds of all employment positions are made available in the areas of metal processing, dental industry electronics and electro-technology. The mail order
companies (Bader, Klingel, Wenz) with their sales volumes in the order of millions of Euros occupies a leading position in Germany. Tourism
is gaining importance. In this respect the city benefits from its favorable Three-Valleys location at the gateway to the Black Forest, and related to this, from the starting points of a large number of hiking, cycling and waterway routes. The European long-distance trail
E1
passes through Pforzheim. It is also the starting point of the Black Forest Hiking Routes Westweg
, Mittelweg and Ostweg.
(Perl
- Bad Reichenhall
) runs by just to the north of the city. The city can be accessed via three freeway exits. The Interstate Road B10 (Lebach
- Augsburg
) and B294 (Gundelfingen
- Bretten
) run through the city. The B463 Interstate Road running toward Nagold
has its starting point here.
Pforzheim Hauptbahnhof
(central station) is located on the Karlsruhe–Mühlacker line, connecting to Stuttgart. In addition there are two railway lines into the Black Forest
: the Enz Valley Railway
to Bad Wildbad
and the Nagold Valley Railway
to Nagold. Pforzheim is connected to the Karlsruhe Light Rail network
. Other public transportation services in the city area are provided by buses of the Pforzheim Municipal Transport, subsidiary of Veolia Transport Company (SVP) and several other transportation companies. They all offer unified fares within the framework of the Pforzheim-Enzkreis Verkehrsverbund.
Between 1931 and 1968 a light rail
connection existed between Ittersbach and Pforzheim, operated by Pforzheim Municipal Transportation Company (SVP). Before that (since 1899) the railroad belonged to the BLEAG (Baden Local Railway Inc., Badische-Lokaleisenbahn-Aktiengesellschaft). The only remaining light rail
service "S 5" connecting Pforzheim to Bietigheim-Bissingen
, Karlsruhe
and Wörth am Rhein
is operated by Albtal-Verkehrs-Gesellschaft
(Albtal Transportation Company), which since 2002 also operates the Enz Valley Light Rail route to Bad Wildbad.
, independent) and the Pforzheimer Kurier, which is a regional edition of Badische Neueste Nachrichten (BNN) with main editorial offices in Karlsruhe
, are published in Pforzheim.
which belongs to the District Court and Higher District Court Precinct of Karlsruhe. It is also the domicile of a Local Labor Court
.
Baden-Württemberg
Baden-Württemberg is one of the 16 states of Germany. Baden-Württemberg is in the southwestern part of the country to the east of the Upper Rhine, and is the third largest in both area and population of Germany's sixteen states, with an area of and 10.7 million inhabitants...
, southwest Germany at the gate to the Black Forest
Black Forest
The Black Forest is a wooded mountain range in Baden-Württemberg, southwestern Germany. It is bordered by the Rhine valley to the west and south. The highest peak is the Feldberg with an elevation of 1,493 metres ....
. It is world-famous for its jewelry and watch-making industry. Until 1565 it was the home to the Margraves of Baden. Because of that it gained the nickname "Goldstadt" or Golden City. It has an area of 98 km² and is situated between the cities of Stuttgart
Stuttgart
Stuttgart is the capital of the state of Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. The sixth-largest city in Germany, Stuttgart has a population of 600,038 while the metropolitan area has a population of 5.3 million ....
and Karlsruhe
Karlsruhe
The City of Karlsruhe is a city in the southwest of Germany, in the state of Baden-Württemberg, located near the French-German border.Karlsruhe was founded in 1715 as Karlsruhe Palace, when Germany was a series of principalities and city states...
at the confluence of three rivers (Enz
Enz
The Enz is a left tributary of the Neckar in Baden-Württemberg.It is 112 km long.Its headstreams – the Little Enz and the Big Enz – rise in the northern Black Forest, the latter at Enzklösterle. In Calmbach , the Little Enz and the Big Enz join to form the Enz. The river passes through...
, Nagold
Nagold
Nagold is a town in southwestern Germany, bordering the northern Black Forest. It is located in the Landkreis of Calw . Nagold is known for its ruined castle, Hohennagold Castle, and for its road viaduct...
and Würm
Würm
The Würm is a river in Bavaria, Germany, right tributary of the Amper. It drains the overflow from Lake Starnberg and flows swiftly through the villages of Gauting, Krailling, Planegg, Gräfelfing and Lochham as well as part of Munich before joining, near Dachau, the Amper, which soon afterwards...
) and marks the frontier between Baden
Baden
Baden is a historical state on the east bank of the Rhine in the southwest of Germany, now the western part of the Baden-Württemberg of Germany....
and Württemberg
Württemberg
Württemberg , formerly known as Wirtemberg or Wurtemberg, is an area and a former state in southwestern Germany, including parts of the regions Swabia and Franconia....
, being located on Baden territory. Pforzheim is located on the Bertha Benz Memorial Route
Bertha Benz Memorial Route
The Bertha Benz Memorial Route is a German tourist and theme route in Baden-Württemberg and member of the European Route of Industrial Heritage...
.
The City of Pforzheim does not belong to any administrative district (Kreis), although it hosts the administrative offices of the Enz
Enz (district)
Enzkreis is a district in the north-west of Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Neighboring districts are Karlsruhe, Heilbronn,Ludwigsburg, Böblingen and Calw...
district which surrounds the town.
During World War II, Pforzheim was bombed a number of times. The largest raid, and one of the most devastating area bombardment
Area bombardment
In military aviation, area bombardment is aerial bombardment targeted indiscriminately at a large area, such as a city block or an entire city.Area bombing is a form of strategic bombing...
s of World War II, was carried out by the Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Formed on 1 April 1918, it is the oldest independent air force in the world...
(RAF) on the evening of 23 February 1945. About one quarter of the town's population, over 17,000 people, were killed in the air raid, and about 83% of the town's buildings were destroyed. The town was thought by the Allies
Allies of World War II
The Allies of World War II were the countries that opposed the Axis powers during the Second World War . Former Axis states contributing to the Allied victory are not considered Allied states...
to be producing precision instruments for use in the German war effort and to be a transport centre for the movement of German troops. The story of the bombardment is dramatically recounted in the 2011 history book by Giles Milton
Giles Milton
Giles Milton is a writer who specialises in the history of exploration. His books have been published in seventeen languages worldwide and are international best-sellers...
, entitled Wolfram: The Boy Who Went To War.
After the war, the rubble from the destruction was heaped into a large pile on mount Wallberg and into the Brötzinger Tal valley on the outskirts of the town, resulting in a volcano-ish look of the mountain and the disappearance of the valley. Similar efforts were undertaken in other destroyed cities such as Stuttgart
Stuttgart
Stuttgart is the capital of the state of Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. The sixth-largest city in Germany, Stuttgart has a population of 600,038 while the metropolitan area has a population of 5.3 million ....
and Munich
Munich
Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...
. In the twenty years following the end of the war, Pforzheim was gradually rebuilt, giving the town a quite modern look and making it home to some landmark buildings of the 1950s.
Geography
Pforzheim is located at the northern rim of the eastern part of the Black ForestBlack Forest
The Black Forest is a wooded mountain range in Baden-Württemberg, southwestern Germany. It is bordered by the Rhine valley to the west and south. The highest peak is the Feldberg with an elevation of 1,493 metres ....
(Schwarzwald) and the rim of the hilly country of the Kraichgau
Kraichgau
The Kraichgau is a hilly region in Baden-Württemberg, southwestern Germany. It is bordered by the Odenwald and the Neckar to the North, the Black Forest to the South, and the Upper Rhine Plain to the West. To the east, its boundary is considered to be the Stromberg, the Hardt, and the...
, in an open valley at the confluences of the rivers Würm
Würm
The Würm is a river in Bavaria, Germany, right tributary of the Amper. It drains the overflow from Lake Starnberg and flows swiftly through the villages of Gauting, Krailling, Planegg, Gräfelfing and Lochham as well as part of Munich before joining, near Dachau, the Amper, which soon afterwards...
and Nagold
Nagold
Nagold is a town in southwestern Germany, bordering the northern Black Forest. It is located in the Landkreis of Calw . Nagold is known for its ruined castle, Hohennagold Castle, and for its road viaduct...
and the rivers Nagold and Enz
Enz
The Enz is a left tributary of the Neckar in Baden-Württemberg.It is 112 km long.Its headstreams – the Little Enz and the Big Enz – rise in the northern Black Forest, the latter at Enzklösterle. In Calmbach , the Little Enz and the Big Enz join to form the Enz. The river passes through...
. Due to its location, this city is also called the "three-valleys town" (Drei-Taeler Stadt) or the "Gateway to the Black Forest" (Pforte zum Schwarzwald / Porta Hercynia). The early settlement (in fact much earlier than the current centers Stuttgart
Stuttgart
Stuttgart is the capital of the state of Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. The sixth-largest city in Germany, Stuttgart has a population of 600,038 while the metropolitan area has a population of 5.3 million ....
and Karlsruhe
Karlsruhe
The City of Karlsruhe is a city in the southwest of Germany, in the state of Baden-Württemberg, located near the French-German border.Karlsruhe was founded in 1715 as Karlsruhe Palace, when Germany was a series of principalities and city states...
) by the Romans, who constructed a ford through the river, shortly past the confluence of the three rivers, for their military highway, is also due to this extraordinary geography. Due to this location, Pforzheim later on became a center for the timber-rafting
Timber rafting
Timber rafting is a log transportation method in which logs are tied together into rafts and drifted or pulled across a water body or down a flatter river. It is arguably the second cheapest method of transportation of timber, next after log driving...
trade which transported timber from the Black Forest via the rivers Wuerm, Nagold, Enz and then the Neckar
Neckar
The Neckar is a long river, mainly flowing through the southwestern state of Baden-Württemberg, but also a short section through Hesse, in Germany. The Neckar is a major right tributary of the River Rhine...
and Rhine to, among other destinations, the Netherlands for use in shipbuilding and the construction of Amsterdam
Amsterdam
Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...
on poles in a swamp.
Pforzheim and its surrounding area belongs to the "Densely Populated Area Karlsruhe/Pforzheim". Pforzheim has the functions of a regional center (Mittelzentrum) for the towns and municipalities Birkenfeld (Enz)
Birkenfeld (Enz)
Birkenfeld is a municipality in the Enz district, in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is situated on the river Enz, 6 km southwest of Pforzheim.Birkenfeld has a stop on route S6 of the Karlsruhe Stadtbahn, which operates over the Enztalbahn railway....
, Eisingen
Eisingen
Eisingen is a town in the district of Enz in Baden-Württemberg in Germany. It is located on Bertha Benz Memorial Route.-External links:* *...
, Engelsbrand
Engelsbrand
Engelsbrand is a town in the district of Enz in Baden-Württemberg in Germany....
,
Friolzheim
Friolzheim
Friolzheim is a town in the district of Enz in Baden-Württemberg in Germany. The 47 metre tall telecommunications tower, Friolzheimer Riese is located here....
, Heimsheim
Heimsheim
Heimsheim is a town in the Enz district, in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is situated 16 km southeast of Pforzheim, and 24 km west of Stuttgart....
, Ispringen
Ispringen
Ispringen is a town in the district of Enz in Baden-Württemberg in Germany. The name of the town was first recorded in the early Middle Ages as 'Urspringen'. It refers to a natural spring which is the source of the Kämpfelbach, a small stream that ultimately empties in to the Rhine...
, Kämpfelbach
Kämpfelbach
Kämpfelbach is a municipality in the district of Enz in Baden-Württemberg in Germany, 7 km away from the town of Pforzheim.- Geography :The municipality of Kämpfelbach is located in the transition area between the Kraichgau and the northern Black Forrest...
, Keltern
Keltern
Keltern is a town in the district of Enz in Baden-Württemberg in Germany....
, Kieselbronn
Kieselbronn
Kieselbronn is a town in the district of Enz in Baden-Württemberg in Germany....
, Königsbach-Stein
Königsbach-Stein
Königsbach-Stein is a town in the district of Enz in Baden-Württemberg in Germany. It is located on Bertha Benz Memorial Route.-References:* *...
, Mönsheim
Mönsheim
Mönsheim is a town in the district of Enz in Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany....
, Neuenbürg
Neuenbürg
Neuenbürg is a town in the Enz district, in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is situated on the river Enz, 10 km southwest of Pforzheim.The town has three stops, Neuenbürg, Neuenbürg Süd and Neuenbürg Freibad, on route S6 of the Karlsruhe Stadtbahn, which operates over the Enztalbahn railway....
, Neuhausen
Neuhausen (Enz)
Neuhausen is a town in the district of Enz in Baden-Württemberg in Germany.- Geography :Neuhausen is on the plateau between Nagold and Würm, also named Biet Neuhausen is a town in the district of Enz in Baden-Württemberg in Germany.- Geography :Neuhausen is on the plateau between Nagold and Würm,...
, Neulingen
Neulingen
Neulingen is a town in the district of Enz in Baden-Württemberg in Germany. It is located on Bertha Benz Memorial Route.-References:*...
, Niefern-Öschelbronn
Niefern-Öschelbronn
Niefern-Öschelbronn is a municipality in the Enz district, in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is situated on the river Enz, 6 km east of Pforzheim.-References:...
, Ölbronn-Dürrn
Ölbronn-Dürrn
Ölbronn-Dürrn is a small villiage in the district of Enz in Baden-Württemberg in Germany. The village called Ölbronn is a bit bigger like Dürrn but don't have much population. Dürrn has a number of 1803 and Ölbronn only 1657. Ölbronn is 13km away from the City Centrum called "Pforzheim".- Train...
, Remchingen
Remchingen
Remchingen is a municipality in the Enz district, in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is situated on the river Pfinz, 14 km southeast of Karlsruhe, and 12 km northwest of Pforzheim...
, Straubenhardt
Straubenhardt
Straubenhardt is a municipality in the Enz district, in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is situated 21 km southeast of Karlsruhe, and 14 km west of Pforzheim.- Municipality arrangement :...
, Tiefenbronn
Tiefenbronn
Tiefenbronn is a town in the district of Enz in Baden-Württemberg in Germany....
, Wiernsheim
Wiernsheim
Wiernsheim is a town in the district of Enz in Baden-Württemberg in Germany....
, Wimsheim
Wimsheim
Wimsheim is a town in the district of Enz in Baden-Württemberg in Germany....
and Wurmberg
Wurmberg
Wurmberg is a town in the district of Enz in Baden-Württemberg in Germany....
.
Neighboring communities
The following towns and communities share borderlines with the City of Pforzheim. Below they are mentioned in clockwise order, beginning to the north of the city. Except for Unterreichenbach, which belongs to the district of CalwCalw
Calw is a municipality in the middle of Baden-Württemberg in the south of Germany, capital of the district Calw. It is located in the northern Black Forest.-History:...
, all of them are included in the Enz
Enz (district)
Enzkreis is a district in the north-west of Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Neighboring districts are Karlsruhe, Heilbronn,Ludwigsburg, Böblingen and Calw...
district.
Ispringen
Ispringen
Ispringen is a town in the district of Enz in Baden-Württemberg in Germany. The name of the town was first recorded in the early Middle Ages as 'Urspringen'. It refers to a natural spring which is the source of the Kämpfelbach, a small stream that ultimately empties in to the Rhine...
, Neulingen
Neulingen
Neulingen is a town in the district of Enz in Baden-Württemberg in Germany. It is located on Bertha Benz Memorial Route.-References:*...
, Kieselbronn
Kieselbronn
Kieselbronn is a town in the district of Enz in Baden-Württemberg in Germany....
, Niefern-Öschelbronn
Niefern-Öschelbronn
Niefern-Öschelbronn is a municipality in the Enz district, in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is situated on the river Enz, 6 km east of Pforzheim.-References:...
, Wurmberg
Wurmberg
Wurmberg is a town in the district of Enz in Baden-Württemberg in Germany....
, Wimsheim
Wimsheim
Wimsheim is a town in the district of Enz in Baden-Württemberg in Germany....
, Neuhausen (Enz)
Neuhausen (Enz)
Neuhausen is a town in the district of Enz in Baden-Württemberg in Germany.- Geography :Neuhausen is on the plateau between Nagold and Würm, also named Biet Neuhausen is a town in the district of Enz in Baden-Württemberg in Germany.- Geography :Neuhausen is on the plateau between Nagold and Würm,...
, Unterreichenbach
Unterreichenbach
Unterreichenbach is a town in the district of Calw in the northern Black Forest in Baden-Württemberg in Germany.-Geography:Unterreichenbach is in the Nagold River Valley between Calw and Pforzheim, at an altitude of between 292 und 633 metres....
, Engelsbrand
Engelsbrand
Engelsbrand is a town in the district of Enz in Baden-Württemberg in Germany....
, Birkenfeld (Enz)
Birkenfeld (Enz)
Birkenfeld is a municipality in the Enz district, in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is situated on the river Enz, 6 km southwest of Pforzheim.Birkenfeld has a stop on route S6 of the Karlsruhe Stadtbahn, which operates over the Enztalbahn railway....
, Keltern and Kämpfelbach
Kämpfelbach
Kämpfelbach is a municipality in the district of Enz in Baden-Württemberg in Germany, 7 km away from the town of Pforzheim.- Geography :The municipality of Kämpfelbach is located in the transition area between the Kraichgau and the northern Black Forrest...
City wards
The city of Pforzheim consists of 16 city wards. The communities Büchenbronn, Eutingen on Enz, Hohenwart, Huchenfeld and Würm, which by way of the latest regional administrative reform during the 1970s were incorporated into Pforzheim's administrationLocal government
Local government refers collectively to administrative authorities over areas that are smaller than a state.The term is used to contrast with offices at nation-state level, which are referred to as the central government, national government, or federal government...
, are represented by independent community councils
Local government
Local government refers collectively to administrative authorities over areas that are smaller than a state.The term is used to contrast with offices at nation-state level, which are referred to as the central government, national government, or federal government...
and community administrations according to § 8 and following paragraphs of the main city-ordinance of Pforzheim. In important matters concerning any of these communities the opinions of the respective community councils must be taken into consideration. However, final decisions on the matter will be made by the Pforzheim city council.
- City center (Innenstadt)
- Northern ward (Nordstadt)
- Eastern ward (Oststadt)
- Southeastern ward (Südoststadt)
- Southwestern ward (Südweststadt)
- Western ward (Weststadt)
- Arlinger
- Brötzingen
- Buckenberg and Hagenschiess; including Altgefaell, Haidach and Wald-Siedlung
- Büchenbronn including Sonnenberg
- Sonnenhof
- Dillweißenstein
- Eutingen on Enz including Mäuerach
- Hohenwart
- Huchenfeld
- Würm
Sister cities, twin towns and friendship agreements
Pforzheim has sister city agreements with the following cities: Gernika-Lumo in Spain (since 1989) Saint-Maur-des-FossesSaint-Maur-des-Fossés
Saint-Maur-des-Fossés is a commune in the southeastern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located 11.7 km. from the center of Paris.-The abbey:...
in France (since 1989) Vicenza
Vicenza
Vicenza , a city in north-eastern Italy, is the capital of the eponymous province in the Veneto region, at the northern base of the Monte Berico, straddling the Bacchiglione...
in Italy (since 1991)
Pforzheim is twinned
Town twinning
Twin towns and sister cities are two of many terms used to describe the cooperative agreements between towns, cities, and even counties in geographically and politically distinct areas to promote cultural and commercial ties.- Terminology :...
or has friendship agreements exist with the following cities and regions: Osijek
Osijek
Osijek is the fourth largest city in Croatia with a population of 83,496 in 2011. It is the largest city and the economic and cultural centre of the eastern Croatian region of Slavonia, as well as the administrative centre of Osijek-Baranja county...
in Croatia
Croatia
Croatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of the Mitteleuropa, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers ...
(since 1994) Irkutsk
Irkutsk
Irkutsk is a city and the administrative center of Irkutsk Oblast, Russia, one of the largest cities in Siberia. Population: .-History:In 1652, Ivan Pokhabov built a zimovye near the site of Irkutsk for gold trading and for the collection of fur taxes from the Buryats. In 1661, Yakov Pokhabov...
in Russia (since 1999) Nevşehir
Nevsehir
Nevşehir, formerly Muşkara, , is a city and the capital district of Nevşehir Province in the Central Anatolia Region of Turkey. According to the 2010 census, population of the district is 117,890 of which 85,634 631 live in the city of Nevşehir...
in Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
(since 2000) Częstochowa
Czestochowa
Częstochowa is a city in south Poland on the Warta River with 240,027 inhabitants . It has been situated in the Silesian Voivodeship since 1999, and was previously the capital of Częstochowa Voivodeship...
in Poland (since 2000) Győr-Moson-Sopron
Gyor-Moson-Sopron
Győr-Moson-Sopron is the name of an administrative county in north-western Hungary, on the border with Slovakia and Austria. It shares borders with the Hungarian counties Komárom-Esztergom, Veszprém and Vas. The capital of Győr-Moson-Sopron county is Győr...
in Hungary (since 2001 in conjunction with the Enz district)
History
Since 90: A settlement was established by Roman citizens at the Enz river near the modern Altstädter Brücke (old town bridge). Archeological surveys have unearthed several items from that period which are kept and displayed in the Kappelhof Museum. The settlement was located where the Roman military road connecting the military camp ArgentoratumArgentoratum
Argentoratum or Argentorate was the ancient name of the French city of Strasbourg.The Romans under Nero Claudius Drusus established a military outpost belonging to the Germania Superior Roman province close to a Gaulish village near the banks of the Rhine, at the current location of Strasbourg,...
(nowadays Strasbourg
Strasbourg
Strasbourg is the capital and principal city of the Alsace region in eastern France and is the official seat of the European Parliament. Located close to the border with Germany, it is the capital of the Bas-Rhin département. The city and the region of Alsace are historically German-speaking,...
in France) and the military camp at Cannstatt (now a suburb of Stuttgart
Stuttgart
Stuttgart is the capital of the state of Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. The sixth-largest city in Germany, Stuttgart has a population of 600,038 while the metropolitan area has a population of 5.3 million ....
) at the Upper Germanic Limes border line of the Roman Empire
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
crossed the Enz
Enz
The Enz is a left tributary of the Neckar in Baden-Württemberg.It is 112 km long.Its headstreams – the Little Enz and the Big Enz – rise in the northern Black Forest, the latter at Enzklösterle. In Calmbach , the Little Enz and the Big Enz join to form the Enz. The river passes through...
river. This place was known as Portus (river crossing, harbor), which is believed to be the origin of the first part of the city's name "Pforzheim". A Roman milestone (the so-called 'Leugenstein') from the year 245 and later excavated at nowadays Friolzheim
Friolzheim
Friolzheim is a town in the district of Enz in Baden-Württemberg in Germany. The 47 metre tall telecommunications tower, Friolzheimer Riese is located here....
shows the exact distance to 'Portus'; it is the first document about the settlement.
259/260: The Roman settlement 'Portus' was destroyed completely, as the Frank
Franks
The Franks were a confederation of Germanic tribes first attested in the third century AD as living north and east of the Lower Rhine River. From the third to fifth centuries some Franks raided Roman territory while other Franks joined the Roman troops in Gaul. Only the Salian Franks formed a...
and Alemanni tribes overrun the Upper Germanic Limes border line of the Roman Empire
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
and conquered the Roman administrated area west of the Rhine river. From then on, over an extended period of time historical records about the settlement are not available.
6th/7th century: Graves from this period indicate that the settlement had been continued.
1067: The settlement of Pforzheim was mentioned for the first time in a document by Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor
Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor
Henry IV was King of the Romans from 1056 and Holy Roman Emperor from 1084 until his forced abdication in 1105. He was the third emperor of the Salian dynasty and one of the most powerful and important figures of the 11th century...
as "Phorzheim". Visits to Pforzheim by Heinrich IV in 1067 and 1074 are documented.
Before 1080: The "old town" of Pforzheim was awarded market rights (Marktrecht). At that time Pforzheim belonged to the estate of Hirsau
Hirsau
Hirsau is a district of the town of Calw in the German state of Baden-Württemberg, located in the south-west portion of the country, about two miles north of Calw and about twenty four miles west of Stuttgart.-Town:...
Monastery
Monastery
Monastery denotes the building, or complex of buildings, that houses a room reserved for prayer as well as the domestic quarters and workplace of monastics, whether monks or nuns, and whether living in community or alone .Monasteries may vary greatly in size – a small dwelling accommodating only...
, according to monastery documents.
From 1150: Establishment of the "new town" west of the "old town" at the foot of the Schlossberg (palais hill) under Margrave Hermann V
Hermann V, Margrave of Baden-Baden
Hermann V, Margrave of Baden-Baden ruled Verona and Baden from 1190 until his death.He was the son of Hermann IV and his wife Bertha of Tübingen...
.
1200: The town charter of the "new town" was mentioned for the first time in a document. The "old town" continued to exist as a legally independent entity.
1220: The Margraves of Baden selected Pforzheim as their residence. The "new town" became prominent.
1240: A mayor of Pforzheim was mentioned in a document for the first time.
13th/14th century: Pforzheim enjoyed its first period of flourishment. A group of influential patricians emerged. They developed extensive activities on the financial markets of those days. The town drew its income from the wood trade, timber rafting
Timber rafting
Timber rafting is a log transportation method in which logs are tied together into rafts and drifted or pulled across a water body or down a flatter river. It is arguably the second cheapest method of transportation of timber, next after log driving...
, the tannery
Tanning
Tanning is the making of leather from the skins of animals which does not easily decompose. Traditionally, tanning used tannin, an acidic chemical compound from which the tanning process draws its name . Coloring may occur during tanning...
trade, textile
Textile
A textile or cloth is a flexible woven material consisting of a network of natural or artificial fibres often referred to as thread or yarn. Yarn is produced by spinning raw fibres of wool, flax, cotton, or other material to produce long strands...
manufacturing and other crafts. Documents mention mayor, judge, council and citizens. The town walls surrounding the new town were completed at about 1290. During this era three catholic
Catholic
The word catholic comes from the Greek phrase , meaning "on the whole," "according to the whole" or "in general", and is a combination of the Greek words meaning "about" and meaning "whole"...
orders
Holy Orders
The term Holy Orders is used by many Christian churches to refer to ordination or to those individuals ordained for a special role or ministry....
established their convents in town (the Franciscan
Franciscan
Most Franciscans are members of Roman Catholic religious orders founded by Saint Francis of Assisi. Besides Roman Catholic communities, there are also Old Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran, ecumenical and Non-denominational Franciscan communities....
order established their domicile within the town wall at nowadays Barfuesserkirche (the choir of which remains), the Dominican
Dominican Order
The Order of Preachers , after the 15th century more commonly known as the Dominican Order or Dominicans, is a Catholic religious order founded by Saint Dominic and approved by Pope Honorius III on 22 December 1216 in France...
nun
Nun
A nun is a woman who has taken vows committing her to live a spiritual life. She may be an ascetic who voluntarily chooses to leave mainstream society and live her life in prayer and contemplation in a monastery or convent...
order established their domicile outside of the walls of the old town near Auer bridge, and the Prediger cloister was located east of the Schlossberg, probably inside the town walls). Outside of the town wall across the Enz river, the suburb Flösser Quarters (the home of the timber floating trade) was established. Next to the western town wall, the suburb of Brötzingen gradually developed. The Margraves of Baden considered Pforzheim as their most important power base up to the first half of the 14th century. Under Margrave Bernard I
Bernard I, Margrave of Baden-Baden
Bernard I of Baden was Margrave of Baden-Baden from 1391 to 1431.-Life:He was the elder son of Rudolf VI and Matilde of Sponheim. He and his brother Rudolf VII concluded an inheritance contract in 1380, according to which the margraviate might be divided only among male descendants for two...
(Bernhard I) Pforzheim became one of the administrative centers of the margraviate.
1322: Holy Ghost Hospital was founded at Tränk Street (nowadays Deimling Street).
15th century: Various fraternities
Guild
A guild is an association of craftsmen in a particular trade. The earliest types of guild were formed as confraternities of workers. They were organized in a manner something between a trade union, a cartel, and a secret society...
among people working in the same trade were established: The fraternity of tailor
Tailor
A tailor is a person who makes, repairs, or alters clothing professionally, especially suits and men's clothing.Although the term dates to the thirteenth century, tailor took on its modern sense in the late eighteenth century, and now refers to makers of men's and women's suits, coats, trousers,...
s in 1410, the fraternity of baker
Baker
A baker is someone who bakes and sells bread, Cakes and similar foods may also be produced, as the traditional boundaries between what is produced by a baker as opposed to a pastry chef have blurred in recent decades...
s on May 14, 1422, the fraternity of the weavers in 1469, the fraternity of the wine-growers in 1491, the fraternity of the skippers and timber raftsmen in 1501, and the fraternity of the carters in 1512. Members of the same fraternity assisted each other in various ways, for example with funerals and in cases of sickness. In a sense, the fraternities were early forms of health and life insurance
Life insurance
Life insurance is a contract between an insurance policy holder and an insurer, where the insurer promises to pay a designated beneficiary a sum of money upon the death of the insured person. Depending on the contract, other events such as terminal illness or critical illness may also trigger...
.
August 8/9, 1418: Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor
Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor
Sigismund of Luxemburg KG was King of Hungary, of Croatia from 1387 to 1437, of Bohemia from 1419, and Holy Roman Emperor for four years from 1433 until 1437, the last Emperor of the House of Luxemburg. He was also King of Italy from 1431, and of Germany from 1411...
visits Margrave
Margrave
A margrave or margravine was a medieval hereditary nobleman with military responsibilities in a border province of a kingdom. Border provinces usually had more exposure to military incursions from the outside, compared to interior provinces, and thus a margrave usually had larger and more active...
Bernard I
Bernard I, Margrave of Baden-Baden
Bernard I of Baden was Margrave of Baden-Baden from 1391 to 1431.-Life:He was the elder son of Rudolf VI and Matilde of Sponheim. He and his brother Rudolf VII concluded an inheritance contract in 1380, according to which the margraviate might be divided only among male descendants for two...
(Bernhard I) in Pforzheim. On this occasion the mint
Mint (coin)
A mint is an industrial facility which manufactures coins for currency.The history of mints correlates closely with the history of coins. One difference is that the history of the mint is usually closely tied to the political situation of an era...
of the Margraves of Baden in Pforzheim was mentioned. Mint master was Jakob Broeglin between 1414–1431. The emperor appointed the master of the Pforzheim mint, Jakob Bröglin, and Bois von der Winterbach for five years as Royal Mint Masters of the mints of Frankfurt
Frankfurt
Frankfurt am Main , commonly known simply as Frankfurt, is the largest city in the German state of Hesse and the fifth-largest city in Germany, with a 2010 population of 688,249. The urban area had an estimated population of 2,300,000 in 2010...
and Nördlingen
Nördlingen
Nördlingen is a town in the Donau-Ries district, in Bavaria, Germany, with a population of 20,000. It is located in the middle of a complex meteorite crater, called the Nördlinger Ries. The town was also the place of two battles during the Thirty Years' War...
. The Margrave was appointed as their patron.
1447: The wedding of Margrave
Margrave
A margrave or margravine was a medieval hereditary nobleman with military responsibilities in a border province of a kingdom. Border provinces usually had more exposure to military incursions from the outside, compared to interior provinces, and thus a margrave usually had larger and more active...
Charles I
Charles I, Margrave of Baden-Baden
Charles I of Baden was a Margrave of Baden-Baden during 1454-1475.Charles was the elder son of Jacob, Margrave of Baden-Baden and his wife Catherine, daughter of Charles II, Duke of Lorraine. In 1462 he began the Baden-Palatinate war with Elector Frederick I of the Rhine...
(Karl I) of Baden with Katharina
Katharina
Katharina is a feminine given name. It is a German form of Katherine. It may refer to:In television and film:*Katharina Bellowitsch, Austrian radio and TV presenter*Katharina Thalbach, German actress and film director...
of Austria, the sister of Frederick III, Holy Roman Emperor
Frederick III, Holy Roman Emperor
Frederick the Peaceful KG was Duke of Austria as Frederick V from 1424, the successor of Albert II as German King as Frederick IV from 1440, and Holy Roman Emperor as Frederick III from 1452...
(Friedrich III), was celebrated in Pforzheim with great pomp (including tournaments and dances).
1455: Johannes Reuchlin, the great German humanist
Humanism
Humanism is an approach in study, philosophy, world view or practice that focuses on human values and concerns. In philosophy and social science, humanism is a perspective which affirms some notion of human nature, and is contrasted with anti-humanism....
, was born in Pforzheim on January 29 (he died in Stuttgart on June 30, 1522). He attended the Latin School
Latin School
Latin School may refer to:* Latin schools of Medieval Europe* These schools in the United States:** Boston Latin School, Boston, MA** Brooklyn Latin School, New York, NY** Brother Joseph C. Fox Latin School, Long Island, NY...
section of the monastery school run by the Dominican order of Pforzheim in the late 1460s. Later, partly due to Reuchlin's efforts, the Latin School
Latin School
Latin School may refer to:* Latin schools of Medieval Europe* These schools in the United States:** Boston Latin School, Boston, MA** Brooklyn Latin School, New York, NY** Brother Joseph C. Fox Latin School, Long Island, NY...
of Pforzheim developed into one of the most prominent schools in southwestern Germany. The school's teachers and pupils played an outstanding role in the dissemination of the ideas of humanism
Humanism
Humanism is an approach in study, philosophy, world view or practice that focuses on human values and concerns. In philosophy and social science, humanism is a perspective which affirms some notion of human nature, and is contrasted with anti-humanism....
and the protestant reformation
Protestant Reformation
The Protestant Reformation was a 16th-century split within Western Christianity initiated by Martin Luther, John Calvin and other early Protestants. The efforts of the self-described "reformers", who objected to the doctrines, rituals and ecclesiastical structure of the Roman Catholic Church, led...
movement. The most famous pupils included Reuchlin himself, Reuchlin's nephew Philipp Melanchthon
Philipp Melanchthon
Philipp Melanchthon , born Philipp Schwartzerdt, was a German reformer, collaborator with Martin Luther, the first systematic theologian of the Protestant Reformation, intellectual leader of the Lutheran Reformation, and an influential designer of educational systems...
, and Simon Grynaeus
Simon Grynaeus
Simon Grynaeus , German scholar and theologian of the Reformation, son of Jacob Gryner, a Swabian peasant, was born at Veringendorf, in Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen.He adopted the name Grynaeus from the epithet of Apollo in Virgil...
.
1460: Margrave Charles I established a kind of monastery (Kollegialstift) at the site of Schlosskirche St. Michael, turning the church into a collegiate church
Collegiate church
In Christianity, a collegiate church is a church where the daily office of worship is maintained by a college of canons; a non-monastic, or "secular" community of clergy, organised as a self-governing corporate body, which may be presided over by a dean or provost...
. There were also plans to establish a university in Pforzheim, but this plan had to be abandoned because Margrave Charles I lost the Battle of Seckenheim.
1463: Margrave Charles I was forced to transfer the palace and the town of Pforzheim as a fiefdom
Fiefdom
A fee was the central element of feudalism and consisted of heritable lands granted under one of several varieties of feudal tenure by an overlord to a vassal who held it in fealty in return for a form of feudal allegiance and service, usually given by the...
to the Elector Palatine after losing the Battle of Seckenheim. He then began to build a new palace in modern Baden-Baden
Baden-Baden
Baden-Baden is a spa town in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is located on the western foothills of the Black Forest, on the banks of the Oos River, in the region of Karlsruhe...
. Margrave Christoph I finally moved the residence of the margraves to Baden-Baden. This gradually ended the first period of Pforzheim's flourishment. The rich merchants gradually left the town, which declined to the status of a country town of mostly small traders.
1486: The Weavers Ordinance (Wollweberordnung) for the towns Pforzheim und Ettlingen
Ettlingen
Ettlingen is a town in Baden-Württemberg, Germany, about south of the city of Karlsruhe. Ettlingen is the second largest town in the district of Karlsruhe, after Bruchsal.-Geography:...
was approved by Margrave
Margrave
A margrave or margravine was a medieval hereditary nobleman with military responsibilities in a border province of a kingdom. Border provinces usually had more exposure to military incursions from the outside, compared to interior provinces, and thus a margrave usually had larger and more active...
Christoph I. This was a contract concerning the town privileges of Pforzheim. This regulation of the weaving trade did not allow the formation of a regular guild
Guild
A guild is an association of craftsmen in a particular trade. The earliest types of guild were formed as confraternities of workers. They were organized in a manner something between a trade union, a cartel, and a secret society...
(Zunft).
1491: A contract between Margrave Christoph I and the citizens of Pforzheim was concluded, granting the town of Pforzheim several privileges concerning taxes and business.
1496: Foundation of the first printer's shop by Thomas Anshelm. During the first half of the 16th century Pforzheim's printers contributed significantly to the establishment of this (in those days) new medium.
1501: Margrave Christoph I of Baden enacted the "Ordinance
Local ordinance
A local ordinance is a law usually found in a municipal code.-United States:In the United States, these laws are enforced locally in addition to state law and federal law.-Japan:...
on the timber rafting profession in Pforzheim". The single timber logs that were floated from the deeper Black Forest areas down the Enz, Nagold and Wuerm rivers were bound together in the Au area to form larger timber rafts. Those rafts were then floated down the lower Enz, Neckar and Rhine rivers. The timber rafting stations of Weissenstein, Dillstein and Pforzheim were well known in the profession.
1501 was also the year for which an outbreak of the plague (probably the bubonic plague
Bubonic plague
Plague is a deadly infectious disease that is caused by the enterobacteria Yersinia pestis, named after the French-Swiss bacteriologist Alexandre Yersin. Primarily carried by rodents and spread to humans via fleas, the disease is notorious throughout history, due to the unrivaled scale of death...
) is recorded in the Swabia
Swabia
Swabia is a cultural, historic and linguistic region in southwestern Germany.-Geography:Like many cultural regions of Europe, Swabia's borders are not clearly defined...
n chronicle
Chronicle
Generally a chronicle is a historical account of facts and events ranged in chronological order, as in a time line. Typically, equal weight is given for historically important events and local events, the purpose being the recording of events that occurred, seen from the perspective of the...
Annalium Suevicorum by Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen
Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen
Eberhard Karls University, Tübingen is a public university located in the city of Tübingen, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is one of Germany's oldest universities, internationally noted in medicine, natural sciences and the humanities. In the area of German Studies it has been ranked first among...
professor Martin Grusius, published 1596. It is not known how many of Pforzheim's citizens died in that year, but there are reports of 500 deceased in the close-by city of Calw
Calw
Calw is a municipality in the middle of Baden-Württemberg in the south of Germany, capital of the district Calw. It is located in the northern Black Forest.-History:...
and about 4000 in Stuttgart
Stuttgart
Stuttgart is the capital of the state of Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. The sixth-largest city in Germany, Stuttgart has a population of 600,038 while the metropolitan area has a population of 5.3 million ....
, which accounted for approximately one quarter to one half of the populations of those towns. Outbreaks of the disease were reported for many places in southwestern Germany, Bohemia
Bohemia
Bohemia is a historical region in central Europe, occupying the western two-thirds of the traditional Czech Lands. It is located in the contemporary Czech Republic with its capital in Prague...
, the Alsace
Alsace
Alsace is the fifth-smallest of the 27 regions of France in land area , and the smallest in metropolitan France. It is also the seventh-most densely populated region in France and third most densely populated region in metropolitan France, with ca. 220 inhabitants per km²...
region in nowadays France, Switzerland, and Italy. Common graves with massive numbers of human bones at the cemetery of St. Michael Church and the cemetery on the estate of the Dominican order near nowadays Waisenhausplatz found during the last century may indicate that hundreds of citizens became the victims of the plague. There are indications that a fraternity
Fraternal and service organizations
A "fraternal organization" or "fraternity" is a brotherhood, though the term usually connotes a distinct or formal organization. Please list college fraternities and sororities at List of social fraternities and sororities.-International:...
for taking care of the sick and removing the bodies of the deceased from houses was formed in 1501, whose members later on stayed together and became known as the choral society Singergesellschaft, which is still active today as the Loebliche Singergesellschaft of 1501. (They are probably one of the oldest clubs in Europe).
1520s: The ideas of the protestant religious movement advanced by Martin Luther
Martin Luther
Martin Luther was a German priest, professor of theology and iconic figure of the Protestant Reformation. He strongly disputed the claim that freedom from God's punishment for sin could be purchased with money. He confronted indulgence salesman Johann Tetzel with his Ninety-Five Theses in 1517...
spread rapidly in Pforzheim. Its most prominent promoters were Johannes Schwebel, a preacher at Holy Ghost church (Heiliggeistkirche), and Johannes Unger, the principal of the Dominican
Dominican Order
The Order of Preachers , after the 15th century more commonly known as the Dominican Order or Dominicans, is a Catholic religious order founded by Saint Dominic and approved by Pope Honorius III on 22 December 1216 in France...
Latin school
Latin School
Latin School may refer to:* Latin schools of Medieval Europe* These schools in the United States:** Boston Latin School, Boston, MA** Brooklyn Latin School, New York, NY** Brother Joseph C. Fox Latin School, Long Island, NY...
.
1535–1565: Due to the heritage
Inheritance
Inheritance is the practice of passing on property, titles, debts, rights and obligations upon the death of an individual. It has long played an important role in human societies...
division of the clan of the Margraves of Baden, Margrave
Margrave
A margrave or margravine was a medieval hereditary nobleman with military responsibilities in a border province of a kingdom. Border provinces usually had more exposure to military incursions from the outside, compared to interior provinces, and thus a margrave usually had larger and more active...
Ernst of Baden made Pforzheim the residential town of his family line. He decided to use the Schlosskirche St. Michael as the entombment site for his family line.
1549: A large fire caused severe damage to the town.
1556: After the conclusion of the Peace of Augsburg
Peace of Augsburg
The Peace of Augsburg, also called the Augsburg Settlement, was a treaty between Charles V and the forces of the Schmalkaldic League, an alliance of Lutheran princes, on September 25, 1555, at the imperial city of Augsburg, now in present-day Bavaria, Germany.It officially ended the religious...
in 1555, Margrave
Margrave
A margrave or margravine was a medieval hereditary nobleman with military responsibilities in a border province of a kingdom. Border provinces usually had more exposure to military incursions from the outside, compared to interior provinces, and thus a margrave usually had larger and more active...
Karl II
Karl II, Margrave of Baden-Durlach
Charles II, Margrave of Baden-Durlach , nicknamed Charles with the bag, governed the Margravate of Durlach from 1552 to 1577...
introduced Lutherism (protestantism
Protestantism
Protestantism is one of the three major groupings within Christianity. It is a movement that began in Germany in the early 16th century as a reaction against medieval Roman Catholic doctrines and practices, especially in regards to salvation, justification, and ecclesiology.The doctrines of the...
) as the state religion in the district Baden-Durlach, which included Pforzheim. The (Catholic) monasteries were gradually shut down.
1565: Margrave Karl II chooses Durlach as the new residential town. Pforzheim stayed one of the administrative centers of Baden.
1618: At the beginning of the Thirty Years' War
Thirty Years' War
The Thirty Years' War was fought primarily in what is now Germany, and at various points involved most countries in Europe. It was one of the most destructive conflicts in European history....
, the number of inhabitants of Pforzheim is estimated to have been between 2500 and 3000. This was the largest town among all towns in Baden, even though at that time it had already declined somewhat.
Bavaria
Bavaria, formally the Free State of Bavaria is a state of Germany, located in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the largest state by area, forming almost 20% of the total land area of Germany...
n (i.e. Catholic) troops. It was rebuilt, but without the former fortifications, which gave it the status of a village-like settlement. It soon vanished from historical records. The "new town" had survived.
1688–1697: The "War of the Palatinian Succession" (also called the Nine Years War) caused tremendous destruction in Southwestern Germany. The French "sun king" Louis XIV
Louis XIV of France
Louis XIV , known as Louis the Great or the Sun King , was a Bourbon monarch who ruled as King of France and Navarre. His reign, from 1643 to his death in 1715, began at the age of four and lasted seventy-two years, three months, and eighteen days...
's efforts to expand the territory of France up to the Upper Rhine river and to put the Elector Palatine under pressure to severe its ties with the League of Augsburg included the Brûlez le Palatinat! tactics of destroying major towns on both sides of the Rhine river. These tactics seem to have been mainly the idea of the French war minister, François Michel le Tellier, Marquis de Louvois.
Pforzheim was occupied by French troops on October 10, 1688. Commanding officer is said to have been Joseph de Montclar
Joseph de Montclar
Joseph de Pons-Guimera Baron de Montclar, ,French cavalry generalCommander in chief of the Alsace, he was an implacable executioner of the orders of Louis XIV and Louvois. In 1676 the king ordered the destruction of Haguenau, which he accomplished in January 1677...
. The town was forced to accommodate a large number of soldiers and had to pay a large amount of "contributions" to the French. When the army unit was about to depart early in the morning of January 21, 1689 (obviously because an army of the Holy Roman Empire
Holy Roman Empire
The Holy Roman Empire was a realm that existed from 962 to 1806 in Central Europe.It was ruled by the Holy Roman Emperor. Its character changed during the Middle Ages and the Early Modern period, when the power of the emperor gradually weakened in favour of the princes...
had been approaching), they set many major buildings on fire, including the palais, the city hall, and vicarages. About 70 houses (i.e. one quarter of all houses) and part of the town's fortifications were reportedly destroyed.
Between August 2 and August 4, the French army under the general command of Marshal
Marshal of France
The Marshal of France is a military distinction in contemporary France, not a military rank. It is granted to generals for exceptional achievements...
Jacques Henri de Durfort de Duras
Jacques Henri de Durfort de Duras
Jacques Henri de Durfort, Duke of Duras was marshal of France.-Life:Jacques Henri was the oldest son of Guy Aldonce de Durfort , marquis of Duras, count of Rozan and of Lorges, maréchal de camp and of Élisabeth de La Tour d'Auvergne, sister of Henri de La Tour d'Auvergne, better known as...
again crossed the Rhine river and began the destruction of major towns in Baden. On August 10, 1689, a French army unit under the command of General Ezéchiel du Mas, Comte de Mélac appeared in front of Pforzheims town gates, but this time the town refused to surrender. In response, the French army began shelling the town with cannons from the Rod hill located southwest of the town, and the several hundred soldiers of the German imperial command, who were defending the town, were forced to surrender. After a short period of looting, the French troops set the inner town area on fire on August 15, which made that area uninhabitable for several weeks. Then the French moved on.
During the following two years French troops stayed away from Pforzheim, but the economic situation of the town was miserable. In addition to this, the reconstruction of the town and the repairs of the fortifications under the supervision of Johann Matthaeus Faulhaber, the chief construction officer of the Margraviate Baden, required a lot of efforts. The accommodation of an imperial garrison under the command of (then) colonel Count Palfy also was a heavy burden.
In 1691 Louvois
François-Michel le Tellier, Marquis de Louvois
François Michel Le Tellier, Marquis de Louvois was the French Secretary of State for War for a significant part of the reign of Louis XIV. Louvois and his father, Michel le Tellier, would increase the French Army to 400,000 soldiers, an army that would fight four wars between 1667 and 1713...
instructed his marshals to destroy those towns which were to serve as winter quarters for imperial troops, explicitly including Pforzheim, and then continue to Wuerttemberg for further destructions. After the French troops had crossed the Rhine river under the command of Marshal Guy Aldonce de Durfort de Lorges
Guy Aldonce de Durfort de Lorges
Guy Aldonce de Durfort, duc de Lorges, marshal of France, , was a French nobleman and soldier.Guy Aldonce was the fourth son of Guy Aldonce de Durfort , marquis of Duras, count of Rozan and of Lorges, maréchal de camp, and Élisabeth de La Tour d'Auvergne, daughter of Henri de La Tour d'Auvergne and...
at Philippsburg
Philippsburg
Philippsburg is a town in Germany, in the district of Karlsruhe in Baden-Württemberg.-History:Before 1632, Philippsburg was known as "Udenheim".The city was a possession of the Bishop of Speyer from 1371–1718...
on August 3, 1691, they assaulted the Margraves' residential town of Durlach
Durlach
Durlach is a borough of the German city of Karlsruhe with a population of roughly 30,000.-History:Durlach was bestowed by emperor Frederick II on the margrave Hermann V of Zähringen as an allodial possession, but afterwards came into the hands of Rudolph of Habsburg.It was chosen by the margrave...
and 1,200 cavalry
Cavalry
Cavalry or horsemen were soldiers or warriors who fought mounted on horseback. Cavalry were historically the third oldest and the most mobile of the combat arms...
men, 300 dragoons and 1,200 infantry
Infantry
Infantrymen are soldiers who are specifically trained for the role of fighting on foot to engage the enemy face to face and have historically borne the brunt of the casualties of combat in wars. As the oldest branch of combat arms, they are the backbone of armies...
men advanced toward Pforzheim where they arrived in the morning on August 9 and surrounded the town. When the approximately 200 imperial soldiers under the command of Captain Zickwolf and other men in the town refused to surrender, the siege began. After shelling the town during the day and the following night, the resistance of the town broke down and on August 10 in the morning the French forced the town gates open, occupied and looted it (although with little success, as there was not much left to be taken away). On August 12, the French moved on, this time refraining from setting houses on fire. The fortification had again been damaged, though (the White Tower, the Auer Bridge Gate, the Upper Mill and the Nonnen Mill were burnt down). The French also stole all church bells, except for one minor one.
On September 20, 1692, again crossed the Rhine river under the general command of Marshal
Marshal of France
The Marshal of France is a military distinction in contemporary France, not a military rank. It is granted to generals for exceptional achievements...
Guy Aldonce de Durfort de Lorges
Guy Aldonce de Durfort de Lorges
Guy Aldonce de Durfort, duc de Lorges, marshal of France, , was a French nobleman and soldier.Guy Aldonce was the fourth son of Guy Aldonce de Durfort , marquis of Duras, count of Rozan and of Lorges, maréchal de camp, and Élisabeth de La Tour d'Auvergne, daughter of Henri de La Tour d'Auvergne and...
, and advanced toward Durlach
Durlach
Durlach is a borough of the German city of Karlsruhe with a population of roughly 30,000.-History:Durlach was bestowed by emperor Frederick II on the margrave Hermann V of Zähringen as an allodial possession, but afterwards came into the hands of Rudolph of Habsburg.It was chosen by the margrave...
and Pforzheim. On September 24, 2,000 cavalry soldiers and 1,200 infantry and artillery troops under the command of Marshal
Marshal of France
The Marshal of France is a military distinction in contemporary France, not a military rank. It is granted to generals for exceptional achievements...
Noël Bouton de Chamilly, moved to Pforzheim, where the town and 600 soldiers of the imperial German army in town surrendered without any military engagements. The rest of the French army arrived on September 27 under the command of Marshal de Lorges. On the same day, the French army moved on to Oetisheim near Mühlacker
Mühlacker
Mühlacker is a town in the eastern part of the Enz district in Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. Mühlacker station has direct rail connections with Stuttgart, Karlsruhe, Heidelberg, Pforzheim and the Northern Black Forest....
and attacked an imperial army unit of 4,000 cavalry men under the command of Duke Frederick Charles of Württemberg-Winnental
Frederick Charles of Württemberg-Winnental
Frederick Charles of Württemberg-Winnental was since 1677 Duke of the new-founded line of Württemberg-Winnental and regent of the infant Duke Eberhard Ludwig.-Biography:...
in their camp. As they were taken by surprise, they withdrew hastily and lost several hundred men, either killed or captured by the French. (The Duke himself was among the French prisoners.) On September 28, the French army returned to Pforzheim and established a camp. It was reported that the entire Enz
Enz
The Enz is a left tributary of the Neckar in Baden-Württemberg.It is 112 km long.Its headstreams – the Little Enz and the Big Enz – rise in the northern Black Forest, the latter at Enzklösterle. In Calmbach , the Little Enz and the Big Enz join to form the Enz. The river passes through...
valley between the village of Eutingen east of Pforzheim and the village of Birkenfeld west of Pforzheim was occupied by the 30,000 French soldiers' camps. From their base in Pforzheim, French army units obviously under the leadership of Marshal de Chamilly advanced along the river valleys of Nagold
Nagold
Nagold is a town in southwestern Germany, bordering the northern Black Forest. It is located in the Landkreis of Calw . Nagold is known for its ruined castle, Hohennagold Castle, and for its road viaduct...
and Wuerm and looted and destroyed the villages and towns of Huchenfeld, Calw
Calw
Calw is a municipality in the middle of Baden-Württemberg in the south of Germany, capital of the district Calw. It is located in the northern Black Forest.-History:...
, Hirsau
Hirsau
Hirsau is a district of the town of Calw in the German state of Baden-Württemberg, located in the south-west portion of the country, about two miles north of Calw and about twenty four miles west of Stuttgart.-Town:...
, Liebenzell and Zavelstein. They also destroyed Liebeneck castle about 10 kilometers from Pforzheim towering above the Wuerm valley, where part of the Pforzheim town archives were hidden. The archive was burned. Another part of the town archive as well as documents of Baden administrative office had been brought to Calw, were they went up in flames, too.
When the French troops left after about one week of occupation, they again looted Pforzheim and put it on fire. This time, all houses which had survived the two previous fires, were destroyed. In the Au suburb, only three houses survived. The Au bridge was heavily damaged. Only four houses survived in the Broetzingen suburb. The town church St. Stephan and a large part of the Dominican monastery complex were also destroyed. The Castle Church (Schlosskirche) St. Michael was heavily damaged, and the family tombs of the Baden Margraves in the church were ravaged by the soldiers. The last remaining church bell and the churches' clockworks were stolen as well. The town wall was damaged again, including the town gates. After the one-week presence of 30,000 soldiers in a town of only a few thousand citizens, all food was gone, including the seeds saved for next spring's sowing season. Every tree and grape
Grape
A grape is a non-climacteric fruit, specifically a berry, that grows on the perennial and deciduous woody vines of the genus Vitis. Grapes can be eaten raw or they can be used for making jam, juice, jelly, vinegar, wine, grape seed extracts, raisins, molasses and grape seed oil. Grapes are also...
vine on the valley slopes had been used up as firewood. The French army reached their camp in Philippsburg
Philippsburg
Philippsburg is a town in Germany, in the district of Karlsruhe in Baden-Württemberg.-History:Before 1632, Philippsburg was known as "Udenheim".The city was a possession of the Bishop of Speyer from 1371–1718...
on October 5, 1692.
1718: Inauguration of the "institution for orphans, the mad, the sick, for discipline and work" in a building of the former Dominican order
Dominican Order
The Order of Preachers , after the 15th century more commonly known as the Dominican Order or Dominicans, is a Catholic religious order founded by Saint Dominic and approved by Pope Honorius III on 22 December 1216 in France...
Convent
Convent
A convent is either a community of priests, religious brothers, religious sisters, or nuns, or the building used by the community, particularly in the Roman Catholic Church and in the Anglican Communion...
by the Enz river. Fifty years later this institution was to become the incubator of Pforzheim's jewellery and watchmaking industries.
1715–1730: During this period there was a prolonged dispute between Pforzheim's citizens and the Margrave of Baden concerning the privileges granted to the town in 1491, which the Margrave considered obsolete and therefore demanded significantly higher tax payments from Pforzheim citizens. The issue was taken all the way to the Imperial Court of Justice, where the town's motion was defeated.
1767: Establishment of a watch and jewellery factory in the orphanage. This led to Pforzheim's jewellery industries. Watchmaking was given up later on.
1805/06: Typhus epidemic in Pforzheim.
1809: The Administrative District Pforzheim of Baden was split into a Municipal District Administration Pforzheim and two Rural Districts.
1813: The two Rural Districts were combined to form the Rural District Administration Pforzheim.
1819: Municipal District Pforzheim and Rural District Pforzheim are merged to form the Higher District Administration Pforzheim.
1836: Ferdinand Öchsle in Pforzheim invented a device for measuring the sugar content in freshly pressed grape juice for assessing the future quality of wine
Wine
Wine is an alcoholic beverage, made of fermented fruit juice, usually from grapes. The natural chemical balance of grapes lets them ferment without the addition of sugars, acids, enzymes, or other nutrients. Grape wine is produced by fermenting crushed grapes using various types of yeast. Yeast...
(Mostwaage). It is still in use in the winery business.
1861/62: Pforzheim was connected to the German railway network with the completion of a ection of the Karlsruhe–Mühlacker line between Wilferdingen and Pforzheim.
1863: The railway section between Pforzheim and Mühlacker
Mühlacker
Mühlacker is a town in the eastern part of the Enz district in Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. Mühlacker station has direct rail connections with Stuttgart, Karlsruhe, Heidelberg, Pforzheim and the Northern Black Forest....
was completed, thus establishing railway traffic between the capital of Baden
Baden
Baden is a historical state on the east bank of the Rhine in the southwest of Germany, now the western part of the Baden-Württemberg of Germany....
, Karlsruhe
Karlsruhe
The City of Karlsruhe is a city in the southwest of Germany, in the state of Baden-Württemberg, located near the French-German border.Karlsruhe was founded in 1715 as Karlsruhe Palace, when Germany was a series of principalities and city states...
, and the capital of Württemberg
Württemberg
Württemberg , formerly known as Wirtemberg or Wurtemberg, is an area and a former state in southwestern Germany, including parts of the regions Swabia and Franconia....
, Stuttgart
Stuttgart
Stuttgart is the capital of the state of Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. The sixth-largest city in Germany, Stuttgart has a population of 600,038 while the metropolitan area has a population of 5.3 million ....
.
1864: The Higher District Administration Pforzheim was made the Regional Administration Pforzheim.
1868: The Enz Valley Railway
Enz Valley Railway
The Enz Valley Railway is a long railway line in the northern part of the Black Forest in Germany...
between Pforzheim and Wildbad was completed.
1869: Establishment of the first worker's union in Pforzheim, the "Pforzheim Gold(-metal) Craftsmen's Union".
1874: The section of the Nagold Valley Railway
Nagold Valley Railway
The Nagold Valley Railway is a railway line in the northern part of the Black Forest in Germany which links Pforzheim with Horb am Neckar and, for most of its route, follows the valley of the River Nagold....
between Pforzheim and Calw
Calw
Calw is a municipality in the middle of Baden-Württemberg in the south of Germany, capital of the district Calw. It is located in the northern Black Forest.-History:...
was completed.
1877: Inauguration of the Arts and Crafts School (Kunstgewerbeschule
Kunstgewerbeschule
A Kunstgewerbeschule was the old name for an advanced school of applied arts in German-speaking countries. The first such schools were opened in Kassel in 1867 and Berlin and Munich in 1868 with other German towns following. They are now merged into universities....
; now incorporated into Hochschule (University) Pforzheim).
1888: Bertha Benz
Bertha Benz
Bertha Benz was born on 3 May 1849 in Pforzheim, Germany. She married inventor Karl Benz on 20 July 1872, and died 5 May 1944 in Ladenburg...
and her two sons arrived in Pforzheim on the first "long-distance" drive in the history of the automobile in a car manufactured by her husband Carl Benz in order to visit relatives. She had started her drive in Mannheim
Mannheim
Mannheim is a city in southwestern Germany. With about 315,000 inhabitants, Mannheim is the second-largest city in the Bundesland of Baden-Württemberg, following the capital city of Stuttgart....
, which is located about 106 km (more than sixty miles) from Pforzheim. The very first gasoline
Gasoline
Gasoline , or petrol , is a toxic, translucent, petroleum-derived liquid that is primarily used as a fuel in internal combustion engines. It consists mostly of organic compounds obtained by the fractional distillation of petroleum, enhanced with a variety of additives. Some gasolines also contain...
-powered, automobile
Automobile
An automobile, autocar, motor car or car is a wheeled motor vehicle used for transporting passengers, which also carries its own engine or motor...
with an internal combustion engine
Internal combustion engine
The internal combustion engine is an engine in which the combustion of a fuel occurs with an oxidizer in a combustion chamber. In an internal combustion engine, the expansion of the high-temperature and high -pressure gases produced by combustion apply direct force to some component of the engine...
of the inventor had hit the roads only two years earlier after a patent
Patent
A patent is a form of intellectual property. It consists of a set of exclusive rights granted by a sovereign state to an inventor or their assignee for a limited period of time in exchange for the public disclosure of an invention....
for this new technology had been granted to Karl Benz on January 29, 1886. She bought the gasoline necessary for her trip back home in a "pharmacy
Pharmacy
Pharmacy is the health profession that links the health sciences with the chemical sciences and it is charged with ensuring the safe and effective use of pharmaceutical drugs...
" in Pforzheim. During the trip Bertha Benz had to make repairs with a hairpin to open a blocked fuel line, and after returning home, suggested to her husband that another gear
Gear
A gear is a rotating machine part having cut teeth, or cogs, which mesh with another toothed part in order to transmit torque. Two or more gears working in tandem are called a transmission and can produce a mechanical advantage through a gear ratio and thus may be considered a simple machine....
be provided in his automobile for climbing hills. To commemorate this first long-distance journey by automobile the Bertha Benz Memorial Route
Bertha Benz Memorial Route
The Bertha Benz Memorial Route is a German tourist and theme route in Baden-Württemberg and member of the European Route of Industrial Heritage...
was officially approved as a route of industrial heritage of mankind in 2008. Now everybody can follow the 194 km of signposted route from Mannheim
Mannheim
Mannheim is a city in southwestern Germany. With about 315,000 inhabitants, Mannheim is the second-largest city in the Bundesland of Baden-Württemberg, following the capital city of Stuttgart....
via Heidelberg
Heidelberg
-Early history:Between 600,000 and 200,000 years ago, "Heidelberg Man" died at nearby Mauer. His jaw bone was discovered in 1907; with scientific dating, his remains were determined to be the earliest evidence of human life in Europe. In the 5th century BC, a Celtic fortress of refuge and place of...
to Pforzheim and back.
1893: Inauguration of the Pforzheim Synagogue.
From 1900: Revival of the Pforzheim watchmaking industry.
1906: The 1st FC Pforzheim Football (soccer) Club was defeated by VfB Leipzig with a score of 1:2 in the final game of the German soccer championship.
1914–1918: Pforzheim was not a battlefield in World War I, but 1600 men from Pforzheim lost their lives as soldiers on the battlefields.
1920s: The Pforzheim watchmaking industry thrived due to the new popularity of wrist-watches.
1927: Pforzheim-born (1877) Professor
Professor
A professor is a scholarly teacher; the precise meaning of the term varies by country. Literally, professor derives from Latin as a "person who professes" being usually an expert in arts or sciences; a teacher of high rank...
of Munich University Heinrich Otto Wieland
Heinrich Otto Wieland
Heinrich Otto Wieland was a German chemist. He won the 1927 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his research into the bile acids. In 1901 Wieland received his doctorate at the University of Munich while studying under Johannes Thiele...
received the Nobel prize
Nobel Prize
The Nobel Prizes are annual international awards bestowed by Scandinavian committees in recognition of cultural and scientific advances. The will of the Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite, established the prizes in 1895...
in chemistry
Chemistry
Chemistry is the science of matter, especially its chemical reactions, but also its composition, structure and properties. Chemistry is concerned with atoms and their interactions with other atoms, and particularly with the properties of chemical bonds....
.
From 1933: Along with the installation of the Nazi government in Germany the local subsidiaries of all political parties, groups and organizations other than the NSDAP were gradually disbanded in town. Public life as well as individual affairs were increasingly affected by Nazi influences. Persecution of Jewish fellow citizens occurred in Pforzheim, too, with boycotts of Jewish shops and companies.
1938: Establishment of the municipal Jewellery Museum.
1938: On November 9, the so-called Kristallnacht
Kristallnacht
Kristallnacht, also referred to as the Night of Broken Glass, and also Reichskristallnacht, Pogromnacht, and Novemberpogrome, was a pogrom or series of attacks against Jews throughout Nazi Germany and parts of Austria on 9–10 November 1938.Jewish homes were ransacked, as were shops, towns and...
, the Pforzheim Synagogue
Synagogue
A synagogue is a Jewish house of prayer. This use of the Greek term synagogue originates in the Septuagint where it sometimes translates the Hebrew word for assembly, kahal...
(see WWW-site) of the Jewish community was so badly damaged by Nazi
Nazism
Nazism, the common short form name of National Socialism was the ideology and practice of the Nazi Party and of Nazi Germany...
activists that it had to be demolished later on.
1939: Regional Administration Pforzheim (Bezirksamt) was converted to the Rural District Pforzheim (Landkreis) with Pforzheim city as its administrative site. However, the town itself became a district-less administrative body.
1940: Deportation
Deportation
Deportation means the expulsion of a person or group of people from a place or country. Today it often refers to the expulsion of foreign nationals whereas the expulsion of nationals is called banishment, exile, or penal transportation...
of Jewish citizens of Pforzheim to the concentration camp in Gurs
Gurs
Gurs is a commune in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department in south-western France.Gurs was the site of the Camp Gurs concentration camp. Nothing remains of the camp; after World War II, a forest was planted on the site where it stood.-Geography:...
(France). Only 55 of the 195 deported persons escaped from the holocaust.
1944: Many factories were converted to produce weaponry such as anti-aircraft shell
Shell (projectile)
A shell is a payload-carrying projectile, which, as opposed to shot, contains an explosive or other filling, though modern usage sometimes includes large solid projectiles properly termed shot . Solid shot may contain a pyrotechnic compound if a tracer or spotting charge is used...
s, fuze
Fuse (explosives)
In an explosive, pyrotechnic device or military munition, a fuse is the part of the device that initiates function. In common usage, the word fuse is used indiscriminately...
s for bombs, and allegedly even parts for the V1
V-1 flying bomb
The V-1 flying bomb, also known as the Buzz Bomb or Doodlebug, was an early pulse-jet-powered predecessor of the cruise missile....
and V2
V-2 rocket
The V-2 rocket , technical name Aggregat-4 , was a ballistic missile that was developed at the beginning of the Second World War in Germany, specifically targeted at London and later Antwerp. The liquid-propellant rocket was the world's first long-range combat-ballistic missile and first known...
rockets.
1945: On 23 February, Pforzheim was bombed in one of the most devastating area bombardment
Area bombardment
In military aviation, area bombardment is aerial bombardment targeted indiscriminately at a large area, such as a city block or an entire city.Area bombing is a form of strategic bombing...
s of World War II. It was carried out by the Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Formed on 1 April 1918, it is the oldest independent air force in the world...
(RAF) on the evening of February 23, 1945. About one quarter of the town's population, over 17,000 people, were killed in the air raid, and about 83% of the town's buildings were destroyed. The mission order to bomb Pforzheim issued by RAF Bomber Command
RAF Bomber Command
RAF Bomber Command controlled the RAF's bomber forces from 1936 to 1968. During World War II the command destroyed a significant proportion of Nazi Germany's industries and many German cities, and in the 1960s stood at the peak of its postwar military power with the V bombers and a supplemental...
states as the intention of the raid on Pforzheim "to destroy built up area and associated industries and rail facilities". The bombardment was carried out as part of the British carpet bombing
Carpet bombing
Carpet bombing is a large aerial bombing done in a progressive manner to inflict damage in every part of a selected area of land. The phrase invokes the image of explosions completely covering an area, in the same way that a carpet covers a floor. Carpet bombing is usually achieved by dropping many...
campaign. The town was put on the target list for bombardments in November 1944 because it was thought by the Allies to be producing precision instruments for use in the German war effort and as transport centre for the movement of German troops.
(Additional details are given in Bombing of Pforzheim in World War II
Bombing of Pforzheim in World War II
During the latter stages of World War II, Pforzheim, a town in southwestern Germany, was bombed a number of times. The largest raid, and one of the most devastating area bombardments of the war was carried out by the Royal Air Force on the evening of February 23, 1945. As many as 17,600 people,...
.)
There were also several minor raids in 1944 and 1945.
After the main attack, about 30,000 people had to be fed by makeshift public kitchens because their housing had been destroyed. Almost 90% of the buildings in the core city area had been destroyed. Many Pforzheim citizens were buried in mass graves at Pforzheim's main cemetery because they could not be identified. There are also many graves of complete families. Among the dead were several hundred foreigners who had been in Pforzheim as forced labor workers.
The inner-city districts were severely depopulated. According to the State Statistics Bureau (Statistisches Landesamt), in the Market Square area (Marktplatzviertel) in 1939 there were 4,112 registered inhabitants, in 1945 none (0). In the Old Town area (Altstadtviertel) in 1939 there were 5,109 inhabitants, in 1945 only 2 persons were still living there. In the Leopold Square area, in 1939 there were 4,416 inhabitants, in 1945 only 13.
The German Army Report of February 24, 1945 devoted only two lines to reporting the bombardment: "In the early evening hours of February 23, a forceful British attack was directed at Pforzheim." RAF Bomber Command
RAF Bomber Command
RAF Bomber Command controlled the RAF's bomber forces from 1936 to 1968. During World War II the command destroyed a significant proportion of Nazi Germany's industries and many German cities, and in the 1960s stood at the peak of its postwar military power with the V bombers and a supplemental...
later assessed the bombing raid as the one with "probably the greatest proportion (of destroyed built-up area) (of any target) in one raid during the war".
In early April as the allied forces and notably the French Army
French Army
The French Army, officially the Armée de Terre , is the land-based and largest component of the French Armed Forces.As of 2010, the army employs 123,100 regulars, 18,350 part-time reservists and 7,700 Legionnaires. All soldiers are professionals, following the suspension of conscription, voted in...
advanced toward Pforzheim, the local German military commander gave orders to destroy the electric power generating plant and those gas and water supply lines that were still working, but citizens succeeded in persuading the staff sergeant
Staff Sergeant
Staff sergeant is a rank of non-commissioned officer used in several countries.The origin of the name is that they were part of the staff of a British army regiment and paid at that level rather than as a member of a battalion or company.-Australia:...
in charge of the operation to refrain from this absurd endeavor in the face of the imminent and inevitable surrender of the German military. Likewise, orders were issued for the destruction of those bridges that had remained unscathed (some of the bridges had been destroyed by air strikes even before and after February 23), and this could not be prevented. Only the Iron (Railway) Bridge in Weißenstein ward was saved by stout-hearted citizens who, during an unguarded moment, pulled off the fuze
Fuse (explosives)
In an explosive, pyrotechnic device or military munition, a fuse is the part of the device that initiates function. In common usage, the word fuse is used indiscriminately...
wiring from the explosive devices, which had already been installed, and dropped it into Nagold river. Soon after that on April 8, French troops (an armored vehicle unit) moved into Pforzheim from the northwest and were able to occupy the area north of Enz river, but the area south of the Enz river was defended by a German infantry
Infantry
Infantrymen are soldiers who are specifically trained for the role of fighting on foot to engage the enemy face to face and have historically borne the brunt of the casualties of combat in wars. As the oldest branch of combat arms, they are the backbone of armies...
unit using artillery
Artillery
Originally applied to any group of infantry primarily armed with projectile weapons, artillery has over time become limited in meaning to refer only to those engines of war that operate by projection of munitions far beyond the range of effect of personal weapons...
. Fighting was especially fierce in Broetzingen. The French army units (including an Algeria
Algeria
Algeria , officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria , also formally referred to as the Democratic and Popular Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of Northwest Africa with Algiers as its capital.In terms of land area, it is the largest country in Africa and the Arab...
n and Moroccan
Morocco
Morocco , officially the Kingdom of Morocco , is a country located in North Africa. It has a population of more than 32 million and an area of 710,850 km², and also primarily administers the disputed region of the Western Sahara...
unit) suffered heavy losses; among the dead was the commander of the army unit, Capitaine Dorance. The advance of the French army came to a halt temporarily, but with the support of fighterbomber aircraft and due to the bad condition of the defenders (which included many old men and young boys who had been drafted in a last desperate war effort) the French troops finally succeeded and on April 18 took possession of the vast rubble field which once was the proud residential town of the Baden Margraves.
The three months of French occupation
Military occupation
Military occupation occurs when the control and authority over a territory passes to a hostile army. The territory then becomes occupied territory.-Military occupation and the laws of war:...
were reportedly marked by hostile attitudes on both the French army side and the Pforzheim population side; incidences of rape
Rape
Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse, which is initiated by one or more persons against another person without that person's consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority or with a person who is incapable of valid consent. The...
and looting
Looting
Looting —also referred to as sacking, plundering, despoiling, despoliation, and pillaging—is the indiscriminate taking of goods by force as part of a military or political victory, or during a catastrophe, such as during war, natural disaster, or rioting...
, mainly by Moroccan soldiers, were also reported. Au Bridge (Auerbruecke) and Wuerm Bridge received makeshift repairs by the French military. The US Army
United States Army
The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...
, which replaced the French troops on July 8, 1945, helped repair Goethe Bridge, Benckiser Bridge, Old Town Bridge (Altstädterbrücke) and Horse Bridge (Roßbrücke) in 1945 and the following year. The relationship between the population and the US military was reportedly more relaxed than had been the case with the French army.
1945–1965: Pforzheim was gradually rebuilt, giving Pforzheim a quite modern look. In September 1951 the Northern Town Bridge (Nordstadtbrücke) was inaugurated (the ceremony was attended by then Federal President Prof. Dr. Theodor Heuss
Theodor Heuss
Theodor Heuss was a liberal German politician who served as the first President of the Federal Republic of Germany after World War II from 1949 to 1959...
). Jahn Bridge followed in December 1951, Werder Bridge in May 1952, the rebuilt Goethe Bridge in October 1952, and the rebuilt Old Town Bridge was inaugurated in 1954.
1955: On the occasion of the 500th birthday anniversary of Johannes Reuchlin, the city of Pforzheim established the Reuchlin Prize and awarded it for the first time in the presence of then President of the Federal Republic of Germany (West-Germany), Prof. Dr. Theodor Heuss
Theodor Heuss
Theodor Heuss was a liberal German politician who served as the first President of the Federal Republic of Germany after World War II from 1949 to 1959...
.
1961: Inauguration of the culture center "Reuchlinhaus", which from then on housed the Jewellery Museum, the Arts and Crafts Association, the City Library, the Homeland Museum (Heimatmuseum), and the City Archives.
1968: On July 10 shortly before 22:00, Pforzheim and its surrounding areas were hit by a rare tornado
Tornado
A tornado is a violent, dangerous, rotating column of air that is in contact with both the surface of the earth and a cumulonimbus cloud or, in rare cases, the base of a cumulus cloud. They are often referred to as a twister or a cyclone, although the word cyclone is used in meteorology in a wider...
. It had strength F4 on the Fujita scale
Fujita scale
The Fujita scale , or Fujita-Pearson scale, is a scale for rating tornado intensity, based primarily on the damage tornadoes inflict on human-built structures and vegetation...
. Two persons died and more than 200 were injured, and 1750 buildings were damaged. Across the town between Buechenbronn ward and the village of Wurmberg the storm caused severe damage to forest areas (i.e. most trees fell to the ground). During the first night and the following days the soldiers of the French 3rd Husar Regiment and the US Army Unit, which were still stationed at the Buckenberg Barracks, helped clear the streets of a lot of fallen trees (especially in the Buckenberg/Haidach area). It took about four weeks to carry out the most necessary repairs on buildings. The overhead electric contact wires for the electric trolley
Tram
A tram is a passenger rail vehicle which runs on tracks along public urban streets and also sometimes on separate rights of way. It may also run between cities and/or towns , and/or partially grade separated even in the cities...
buses then still operating in town and the streetcar transport system to the village of Ittersbach were never repaired; those transport systems were retired.
1971–1975: The townships of Würm, Hohenwart, Buechenbronn, Huchenfeld and Eutingen were incorporated into the city administration.
1973: Inauguration of the new Pforzheim City Hall.
1973 As part of the reform of administrative districts, the rural district of Pforzheim was incorporated into the newly established Enz
Enz (district)
Enzkreis is a district in the north-west of Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Neighboring districts are Karlsruhe, Heilbronn,Ludwigsburg, Böblingen and Calw...
rural district, which has its administration in Pforzheim. But the city of Pforzheim itself remains a district-less city. In addition, Pforzheim became the administrative center of the newly formed Northern Black Forest Region
Northern Black Forest Region
Northern Black Forest Region is an administrative unit in the southwestern German state of Baden-Württemberg, the area of which covers Pforzheim and the districts of Calw, Enzkreis, and Freudenstadt in the northeastern part of the Black Forest.-External links:...
.
1975 On January 1, the population exceeded 100.000 and Pforzheim gained the status of a "large city" (Grossstadt).
1979: Inauguration of the Pforzheim City Museum.
1983: Inauguration of the "Technical Museum of the Jewellery and Watchmaking Industry" and the "Citizens Museum".
1987: Inauguration of the City Convention Center.
1987/1990: Inauguration of the City Theater at the Waisenhausplatz.
1989: Sister City agreement with the City of Gernika, Spain.
1990: Sister City agreement with the City of Saint-Maur
Saint-Maur-des-Fossés
Saint-Maur-des-Fossés is a commune in the southeastern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located 11.7 km. from the center of Paris.-The abbey:...
-des-Fosses, France.
1991: Sister City agreement with the City of Vicenza
Vicenza
Vicenza , a city in north-eastern Italy, is the capital of the eponymous province in the Veneto region, at the northern base of the Monte Berico, straddling the Bacchiglione...
, Italy.
1992: State Gardening Expo in Pforzheim. Enzauenpark was created and part of the Enz river was re-naturalized.
1994: Inauguration of the cultural institution "Kulturhaus Osterfeld".
1994: Merger of the Pforzheim Business School and the Pforzheim School of Design to form the Pforzheim University of Applied Sciences in Design, Technology and Business.
1995: Inauguration of the Archeological Site Kappelhof.
2000: Inauguration of the Pforzheim Gallery.
2002: In November, during excavation works for a new shopping center right in the center of the city, a power shovel hit a 250 kg bomb which had not gone off during the bombardment of 1945. On a Sunday, about 5000 citizens had to temporarily leave their homes as a precautionary measure while specialists were defusing and disposing of the (so far) last of a large number of unexploded explosive
devices found in Pforzheim's grounds since 1945.
See also History of Baden
History of Baden
The history of Baden as a state began in the 12th century, as a fief of the Holy Roman Empire. A fairly inconsequential margraviate that was divided between various branches of its ruling family for much of its history, it gained both status and territory during the Napoleonic era, when it was...
.
Administrative unions
Formerly independent communities and districts which were incorporated into the City of Pforzheim.| Year | Community | Increase in km² |
| January 1, 1905 | Broetzingen | 13.01 |
| January 1, 1913 | Dillweissenstein | 4.612 |
| April 1, 1924 | Parts of Haidach district | 0.76 |
| October 1, 1929 | Parts of Hagenschiess district | 16.23 |
| September 1, 1971 | Würm | 8.22 |
| April 1, 1972 | Hohenwart | 4.92 |
| January 1, 1974 | Büchenbronn | 11.14 |
| January 1, 1975 | Huchenfeld | 9.47 |
| September 20, 1975 | Eutingen on the Enz | 8.45 |
Population growth
The table below shows the number of inhabitants for the past 500 years. Until 1789 the numbers represent estimates, after that they represent census results (¹) or official recordings by the Statistics Offices or the city administration.| Year | Population figures |
|---|---|
| 1500 | c. 800 |
| 1689 | c. 1.000 |
| 1789 | 4.311 |
| 1810 | 5.572 |
| 1830 | 6.284 |
| 1855 | 10.711 |
| 1849 | 12.377 |
| December 1, 1871¹ | 19.803 |
| December 1, 1890 ¹ | 29.988 |
| December 1, 1900 ¹ | 43.373 |
| December 1, 1910 ¹ | 69.082 |
| June 16, 1925 ¹ | 78.859 |
| June 16, 1933 ¹ | 79.816 |
| May 17, 1939 ¹ | 79.011 |
| 1946 | 46.752 |
| September 13, 1950 ¹ | 54.143 |
| June 6, 1961 ¹ | 82.524 |
| May 27, 1970 ¹ | 90.338 |
| June 30, 1975 | 108.635 |
| June 30, 1980 | 106.500 |
| June 30, 1985 | 104.100 |
| May 27, 1987 ¹ | 106.530 |
| December 31, 1990 | 112.944 |
| June 30, 1997 | 118.300 |
| December 31, 2000 | 117.156 |
| June 30, 2003 | 115.777 |
¹ Result of census
Industrialisation
Industrialization is the process of social and economic change that transforms a human group from an agrarian society into an industrial one...
of Germany. Population growth weakened due to the effects of World War I and World War II. The population declined sharply due to the destruction on February 23, 1945, and increased sharply in the post-WWII era due to high economic growth levels in West-Germany and the rapid rebuilding efforts in Pforzheim. Earlier setbacks were recorded during the Thirty Years' War
Thirty Years' War
The Thirty Years' War was fought primarily in what is now Germany, and at various points involved most countries in Europe. It was one of the most destructive conflicts in European history....
period in the 17th century.
Religions
After margrave Karl II of BadenKarl II, Margrave of Baden-Durlach
Charles II, Margrave of Baden-Durlach , nicknamed Charles with the bag, governed the Margravate of Durlach from 1552 to 1577...
in 1556 installed the Protestant Reformation
Protestant Reformation
The Protestant Reformation was a 16th-century split within Western Christianity initiated by Martin Luther, John Calvin and other early Protestants. The efforts of the self-described "reformers", who objected to the doctrines, rituals and ecclesiastical structure of the Roman Catholic Church, led...
in the Margraviate of Baden
Margraviate of Baden
The Margraviate of Baden were a historical territory in the Holy Roman Empire. It was already named so in 1112 and existed until the division in 1535 and lived with the reunion back in 1771, until the Electorate of Baden came up in 1803...
, of which Pforzheim was the capital in those days, Pforzheim continued to be a Protestant town for several centuries. The congregations in Pforzheim were affiliated with the deanery (Dekanat) of Pforzheim of the Protestant National Church of Baden, unless they were members of one of the independent churches (Freikirche).
Since the 19th century at the latest Catholics settled in Pforzheim again. They are affiliated with the deanery of Pforzheim which belongs to Archdiocese of Freiburg
Archdiocese of Freiburg
The Archdiocese of Freiburg im Breisgau is a Roman Catholic diocese in Baden-Württemberg comprising the former states of Baden and Hohenzollern...
.
Other denominations and religious sects in Pforzheim are:
- Israelite Congregation
- Islamic Congregation
- Adventist CongregationAdventistAdventism is a Christian movement which began in the 19th century, in the context of the Second Great Awakening revival in the United States. The name refers to belief in the imminent Second Coming of Jesus Christ. It was started by William Miller, whose followers became known as Millerites...
- Jehovah's WitnessesJehovah's WitnessesJehovah's Witnesses is a millenarian restorationist Christian denomination with nontrinitarian beliefs distinct from mainstream Christianity. The religion reports worldwide membership of over 7 million adherents involved in evangelism, convention attendance of over 12 million, and annual...
- Baptist Church
- Salvation ArmySalvation ArmyThe Salvation Army is a Protestant Christian church known for its thrift stores and charity work. It is an international movement that currently works in over a hundred countries....
- Methodist Church
- Church of Christ, ScientistChurch of Christ, ScientistThe Church of Christ, Scientist was founded in 1879 in Boston, Massachusetts, USA, by Mary Baker Eddy. She was the author of the book Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures. Christian Science teaches that the "allness" of God denies the reality of sin, sickness, death, and the material world...
City council
The city council of Pforzheim consists of the Lord Mayor as its president and 40 elected (part-time) councillors. It is democratically elected by the citizens for a period of five years. The last election was June 13, 2004. The city council is the main representative body of the city and determines the goals and frameworks for all local political activities. It makes decisions about all important issues regarding the public life and administration of the city and directs and monitors the work of thecity administration. It forms expert committees in order to deal with
specialized issues.
City administration
The city administration is led by the Lord Mayor (presently Gert Hager) and three Mayors (presently Alexander Uhlig, and Andreas Schuetze). The administration consists of four departments (Dezernat) which are in charge of the following areas:Department I: Personnel, finances, business development, general
administration. (Managed by Christel Augenstein.)
Department II: Construction and planning, environment. (Managed by Alexander Uhlig.)
Department III: Education, culture, social affairs, sports. (Managed by Gert Hager.)
Department IV: Security and public order, health, energy and water supply, local transportation and traffic. (Managed by Andreas Schuetze.)
(Lord) Mayors
At an early stage, the town administration was led by the mayorMayor
In many countries, a Mayor is the highest ranking officer in the municipal government of a town or a large urban city....
(Schultheiss) who used to be appointed by the lord (owner) of the town. Later on, there was a council with a mayor leading it, who since 1849 holds the title "Lord Mayor". The terms of office of the mayors until 1750 are unknown. Only the names of the mayors are mentioned in historical documents.
- 1750–1758: Ernst Matthaeus Kummer
- 1758–1770: W.C. Steinhaeuser
- 1770–1775: Weiss
- 1775–1783: Kissling
- 1783–1795: Guenzel
- 1795–1798: Geiger
- 1798–1815: Jakob Friedrich Dreher
- 1815–1830: Christoph Friedrich Krenkel
- 1830–1837: Wilhelm LenzWilhelm LenzWilhelm Lenz was a German physicist, most notable for his invention of the Ising model and for his application of the Laplace–Runge–Lenz vector to the quantum mechanical treatment of hydrogen-like atoms.In 1906, Lenz graduated from the Klinger-Oberralschule, a non-classical secondary school...
- 1837–1848: Rudolf Deimling
- 1848–1849: Christian Crecelius
- 1849–1862: Karl Zirenner
- 1862–1875: Kaspar Schmidt
- 1875–1884: Karl Gross
- 1885–1889: Emil Kraatz
- 1889–1919: Ferdinand Habermehl
- 1920–1933: Erwin Guendert
- 1933: Dr. Emil Goelser
- 1933: Dr. Hans Gottlob
- 1933–1941: Hermann Kuerz
- 1941–1942: Karl Mohrenstein
- 1942–1945: Ludwig Seibel
- 1945: Albert Hermann
- 1945: Wilhelm BeckerWilhelm BeckerWilhelm Becker was a highly decorated Unteroffizier in the Luftwaffe during World War II. He was also a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross. The Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross was awarded to recognise extreme battlefield bravery or successful military leadership...
- 1945–1947: Friedrich Adolf Katz
- 1947–1966: Dr. Johann Peter Brandenburg, FDP/DVPGerman People's PartyThe German People's Party was a national liberal party in Weimar Germany and a successor to the National Liberal Party of the German Empire.-Ideology:...
- 1966–1985: Dr. Willi Weigelt, SPDSocial Democratic Party of GermanyThe Social Democratic Party of Germany is a social-democratic political party in Germany...
- 1985–2001: Dr. Joachim Becker, SPDSocial Democratic Party of GermanyThe Social Democratic Party of Germany is a social-democratic political party in Germany...
- 2001–2009: Christel AugensteinChristel AugensteinChristel Augenstein is a member of the Free Democratic Party. From 2001 until 23 July 2009 she was the mayor of Pforzheim, Germany and the city's first female mayor....
, FDP/DVPGerman People's PartyThe German People's Party was a national liberal party in Weimar Germany and a successor to the National Liberal Party of the German Empire.-Ideology:... - 2009-now: Gert Hager, SPDSocial Democratic Party of GermanyThe Social Democratic Party of Germany is a social-democratic political party in Germany...
The coat of arms
The coat of armsCoat of arms
A coat of arms is a unique heraldic design on a shield or escutcheon or on a surcoat or tabard used to cover and protect armour and to identify the wearer. Thus the term is often stated as "coat-armour", because it was anciently displayed on the front of a coat of cloth...
of Pforzheim city shows in the left-hand half of a shield an inclined bar in red color on a golden background, and the right-hand half is divided into four fields in the colors red, silver, blue and gold. The city flag is white-blue.
The inclined bar can be traced back to the 13th century as the symbol of the lords (owners) of Pforzheim, which later on also became the National Coat of Arms of Baden, but its meaning is unknown. Since 1489 the coat of arms in its entire form can be verified, but its meaning is not known, either. Current coloring has been used only since 1853; in earlier times the coloring was different.
Economy and infrastructure
Pforzheim is one of the regional centers (Oberzentrum) in Baden-WürttembergBaden-Württemberg
Baden-Württemberg is one of the 16 states of Germany. Baden-Württemberg is in the southwestern part of the country to the east of the Upper Rhine, and is the third largest in both area and population of Germany's sixteen states, with an area of and 10.7 million inhabitants...
and has one of the highest densities of industrial activity in the state.
Pforzheim is historically an important jewelry and watch-making centre in Germany. Due to this reason, Pforzheim is nicknamed as Golden City. Jewelry and watch-making industry is first set up by Jean François Autran after receiving an edict from then overlord Margrave Karl Friedrich von Baden. This enterprise is later joined by other commercial enterprises and helped Pforzheim to become an important manufacturing city. Pforzheim accounts for just under 70 percent of the total sales of the German jewelry and silverware industry and around 80 percent of all the pieces of jewelry exported by Germany come from Pforzheim.
However, a smaller fraction of the economy nowadays is dedicated to producing the traditional products of watches and jewellery
Jewellery
Jewellery or jewelry is a form of personal adornment, such as brooches, rings, necklaces, earrings, and bracelets.With some exceptions, such as medical alert bracelets or military dog tags, jewellery normally differs from other items of personal adornment in that it has no other purpose than to...
. Only 11,000 people are employed in the jewelry and watch-making industries. Two thirds of all employment positions are made available in the areas of metal processing, dental industry electronics and electro-technology. The mail order
Mail order
Mail order is a term which describes the buying of goods or services by mail delivery. The buyer places an order for the desired products with the merchant through some remote method such as through a telephone call or web site. Then, the products are delivered to the customer...
companies (Bader, Klingel, Wenz) with their sales volumes in the order of millions of Euros occupies a leading position in Germany. Tourism
Tourism
Tourism is travel for recreational, leisure or business purposes. The World Tourism Organization defines tourists as people "traveling to and staying in places outside their usual environment for not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business and other purposes".Tourism has become a...
is gaining importance. In this respect the city benefits from its favorable Three-Valleys location at the gateway to the Black Forest, and related to this, from the starting points of a large number of hiking, cycling and waterway routes. The European long-distance trail
European long-distance paths
The European long-distance paths are a network of long-distance footpaths that traverse Europe. While most long-distance footpaths in Europe are located in just one country or region, each of these numbered European long-distance paths passes through many different countries.The European...
E1
European walking route E1
The E1 European long distance path, or just E1 path, is one of the European long-distance paths with a total length of some 4,960 km. It begins in Sweden, and crosses the Kattegat between Sweden and Denmark by ferry. It passes through Denmark, Germany and Switzerland to finish at Scapoli, Italy...
passes through Pforzheim. It is also the starting point of the Black Forest Hiking Routes Westweg
Westweg
The Westweg, , is a long-distance hiking trail running north-south through the Black Forest from Pforzheim to Basel. The trail is around 285 kilometres long, and was founded in 1900. It is currently maintained under the auspices of the Schwarzwaldverein...
, Mittelweg and Ostweg.
Traffic
The Federal Freeway A8Bundesautobahn 8
is an autobahn in southern Germany that runs 497 km from the Luxembourg A13 motorway at Schengen via Neunkirchen, Pirmasens, Karlsruhe, Stuttgart, Ulm, Augsburg and Munich to the Austrian West Autobahn near Salzburg....
(Perl
Perl, Germany
-Overview:It is situated on the right bank of the river Moselle, on the border with Luxembourg and France, approx. 25 km southeast of Luxembourg . It is joined by a bridge across the Moselle River with Schengen in Luxembourg and by a second bridge between Nennig and Remich...
- Bad Reichenhall
Bad Reichenhall
Bad Reichenhall is a spa town, and administrative center of the Berchtesgadener Land district in Upper Bavaria, Germany. It is located near Salzburg in a basin encircled by the Chiemgauer Alps ....
) runs by just to the north of the city. The city can be accessed via three freeway exits. The Interstate Road B10 (Lebach
Lebach
Lebach is a town in the district of Saarlouis, in Saarland, Germany. It is situated approx. 15 km northeast of Saarlouis, and 20 km north of Saarbrücken.-External links:*...
- Augsburg
Augsburg
Augsburg is a city in the south-west of Bavaria, Germany. It is a university town and home of the Regierungsbezirk Schwaben and the Bezirk Schwaben. Augsburg is an urban district and home to the institutions of the Landkreis Augsburg. It is, as of 2008, the third-largest city in Bavaria with a...
) and B294 (Gundelfingen
Gundelfingen
Gundelfingen im Breisgau is a municipality directly north of the city Freiburg in Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany.Gundelfingen is one of the larger municipalities in the Breisgau-Hochschwarzwald district...
- Bretten
Bretten
Bretten is a town in the state of Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is located on Bertha Benz Memorial Route.-Geography:Bretten lies in the centre of a rectangle that is formed by Heidelberg, Karlsruhe, Heilbronn and Stuttgart as corners. It has a population of approximately 28,000. The centre of...
) run through the city. The B463 Interstate Road running toward Nagold
Nagold
Nagold is a town in southwestern Germany, bordering the northern Black Forest. It is located in the Landkreis of Calw . Nagold is known for its ruined castle, Hohennagold Castle, and for its road viaduct...
has its starting point here.
Pforzheim Hauptbahnhof
Pforzheim Hauptbahnhof
is the main station in the city of Pforzheim in the German state of Baden-Württemberg.-Rail services :Pforzheim Hauptbahnhof is served by several lines operated at regular intervals, including an Interregio-Express/ Regional-Express line, a Regionalbahn line and two Karlsruhe Stadtbahn lines...
(central station) is located on the Karlsruhe–Mühlacker line, connecting to Stuttgart. In addition there are two railway lines into the Black Forest
Black Forest
The Black Forest is a wooded mountain range in Baden-Württemberg, southwestern Germany. It is bordered by the Rhine valley to the west and south. The highest peak is the Feldberg with an elevation of 1,493 metres ....
: the Enz Valley Railway
Enz Valley Railway
The Enz Valley Railway is a long railway line in the northern part of the Black Forest in Germany...
to Bad Wildbad
Bad Wildbad
Bad Wildbad is a town in Germany, in the state of Baden-Württemberg. It is located in the government district of Karlsruhe and in the district of Calw. Its coordinates are 48° 45' N, 8° 33' E. About 11,250 people live there...
and the Nagold Valley Railway
Nagold Valley Railway
The Nagold Valley Railway is a railway line in the northern part of the Black Forest in Germany which links Pforzheim with Horb am Neckar and, for most of its route, follows the valley of the River Nagold....
to Nagold. Pforzheim is connected to the Karlsruhe Light Rail network
Stadtbahn Karlsruhe
The Karlsruhe Stadtbahn is a German tram-train system combining tram lines in the city of Karlsruhe with railway lines in the surrounding countryside, serving the entire region of the middle upper Rhine valley and creating connections to neighbouring regions...
. Other public transportation services in the city area are provided by buses of the Pforzheim Municipal Transport, subsidiary of Veolia Transport Company (SVP) and several other transportation companies. They all offer unified fares within the framework of the Pforzheim-Enzkreis Verkehrsverbund.
Between 1931 and 1968 a light rail
Light rail
Light rail or light rail transit is a form of urban rail public transportation that generally has a lower capacity and lower speed than heavy rail and metro systems, but higher capacity and higher speed than traditional street-running tram systems...
connection existed between Ittersbach and Pforzheim, operated by Pforzheim Municipal Transportation Company (SVP). Before that (since 1899) the railroad belonged to the BLEAG (Baden Local Railway Inc., Badische-Lokaleisenbahn-Aktiengesellschaft). The only remaining light rail
Light rail
Light rail or light rail transit is a form of urban rail public transportation that generally has a lower capacity and lower speed than heavy rail and metro systems, but higher capacity and higher speed than traditional street-running tram systems...
service "S 5" connecting Pforzheim to Bietigheim-Bissingen
Bietigheim-Bissingen
Bietigheim-Bissingen is the second-largest town in the district of Ludwigsburg, Baden-Württemberg, Germany with 42,515 inhabitants in 2007. It is situated on the river Enz, close to its confluence with the Neckar, about 19 km north of Stuttgart, and 20 km south of Heilbronn.- Buildings...
, Karlsruhe
Karlsruhe
The City of Karlsruhe is a city in the southwest of Germany, in the state of Baden-Württemberg, located near the French-German border.Karlsruhe was founded in 1715 as Karlsruhe Palace, when Germany was a series of principalities and city states...
and Wörth am Rhein
Wörth am Rhein
Wörth am Rhein is a municipality in the southernmost part of the district of Germersheim, in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is situated on the left bank of the Rhine, approx. 10 km west of the city center of Karlsruhe and just north of the German-French border....
is operated by Albtal-Verkehrs-Gesellschaft
Albtal-Verkehrs-Gesellschaft
The Albtal-Verkehrs-Gesellschaft is a company, which is owned 100% by the city of Karlsruhe and operates rail and bus services in the Karlsruhe area....
(Albtal Transportation Company), which since 2002 also operates the Enz Valley Light Rail route to Bad Wildbad.
Major local enterprises
- Victor MayerVictor MayerVictor Mayer founded the jewellery manufacture in Pforzheim in 1890. In the time of Jugendstil / Art Nouveau, the company created pieces based on the designs of well-known artists such as the jewellery designer Professor Georg Kleemann or Anton Krautheimer of the Munich Secession...
GmbH&Co. KG, Workmaster of Fabergé - Schmid Machine Tools
- Klingel Mail Order Company
- Bader Mail Order Company
- Wenz Mail Order Company
- Witzenmann GmbH (Specialized Metal Goods)
- Mapal WWS
- Thales (Electronics)
- Allgemeine Gold- und Silberscheideanstalt (metal processing)
- Sparkasse Pforzheim Calw (Local financial services company)
Media
The daily newspapers Pforzheimer ZeitungPforzheimer Zeitung
Pforzheimer Zeitung is an independent local subscription newspaper with seat in Pforzheim, which is mainly distributed and read in the city of Pforzheim and the surrounding Enz district. Its language of publication is German and it appears daily, from Monday to Saturday...
, independent) and the Pforzheimer Kurier, which is a regional edition of Badische Neueste Nachrichten (BNN) with main editorial offices in Karlsruhe
Karlsruhe
The City of Karlsruhe is a city in the southwest of Germany, in the state of Baden-Württemberg, located near the French-German border.Karlsruhe was founded in 1715 as Karlsruhe Palace, when Germany was a series of principalities and city states...
, are published in Pforzheim.
Courts of Justice
Pforzheim is the site of a Local Court of JusticeCourt of Justice
Court of Justice may refer to:*Caribbean Court of Justice*Court of Justice of the European Union*International Court of Justice*Court of Justice *Ontario Court of Justice...
which belongs to the District Court and Higher District Court Precinct of Karlsruhe. It is also the domicile of a Local Labor Court
Labor court
A labor court is a governmental judiciary body which rules on labor or employment-related matters and disputes. In a number of countries, labor cases are often taken to separate national labor high courts...
.
Authorities
Pforzheim is the domicile of the following public authorities and public incorporated bodies:- Pforzheim Employment Exchange (a federal government agency; Arbeitsagentur Pforzheim).
- Pforzheim Internal Revenue Agency (a state agency; Finanzamt Pforzheim)
- Northern Black Forest Chamber of Commerce (a public incorporated body; IHK Nordschwarzwald). The precinct of the chamber is the Northern Black Forest Region.
- Northern Black Forest Regional Association (a public incorporated body; Regionalverband Nordschwarzwald).
Educational institutions
- Pforzheim University of Applied SciencesFachhochschuleA Fachhochschule or University of Applied Sciences is a German type of tertiary education institution, sometimes specialized in certain topical areas . Fachhochschulen were founded in Germany and later adopted by Austria, Liechtenstein, Switzerland and Greece...
(Hochschule Pforzheim - Hochschule fuer Gestaltung, Technik und Wirtschaft) enrolls about 4600 students. It was formed in 1992 by way of merging the former Pforzheim School of Design (Fachhochschule fuer Gestaltung) and Pforzheim Business School (Fachhochschule fuer Wirtschaft) and additionally establishing the Faculty of Engineering. The Pforzheim School of Design had its roots in the Ducal Academy of Arts and Crafts and Technical School for the Metal Processing Industry, established 1877. The Pforzheim Business School was the successor institution of the National Business College, which was established in 1963. The campuses of the Faculty of Design and the Faculties of Economics and Engineering are located at separate sites in the city area. The Pforzheim University of Applied Sciences fosters international exchange. Among other relationships, it is affiliated with the NIEBES Association and has close academic ties to OsijekOsijekOsijek is the fourth largest city in Croatia with a population of 83,496 in 2011. It is the largest city and the economic and cultural centre of the eastern Croatian region of Slavonia, as well as the administrative centre of Osijek-Baranja county...
University of CroatiaCroatiaCroatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of the Mitteleuropa, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers ...
and academic exchange programs with many institutions abroad, among them Auburn UniversityAuburn UniversityAuburn University is a public university located in Auburn, Alabama, United States. With more than 25,000 students and 1,200 faculty members, it is one of the largest universities in the state. Auburn was chartered on February 7, 1856, as the East Alabama Male College, a private liberal arts...
, the University of WyomingUniversity of WyomingThe University of Wyoming is a land-grant university located in Laramie, Wyoming, situated on Wyoming's high Laramie Plains, at an elevation of 7,200 feet , between the Laramie and Snowy Range mountains. It is known as UW to people close to the university...
, Brigham Young UniversityBrigham Young UniversityBrigham Young University is a private university located in Provo, Utah. It is owned and operated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints , and is the United States' largest religious university and third-largest private university.Approximately 98% of the university's 34,000 students...
and the Illinois Institute of TechnologyIllinois Institute of TechnologyIllinois Institute of Technology, commonly called Illinois Tech or IIT, is a private Ph.D.-granting university located in Chicago, Illinois, with programs in engineering, science, psychology, architecture, business, communications, industrial technology, information technology, design, and law...
, in Chicago, of the United States of America.
- The Goldsmith and Watchmaking Vocational School is the only school of its kind in Europe. It is attended by many students from abroad.
- The general qualification for university admission (Abitur) can be obtained through an education at the Reuchlin-Highschool, the Kepler-Highschool, the Hebel-Highschool, the Theodor-Heuss-Highschool, the Hilda-Highschool, the Schiller-Highschool, the Fritz-Erler-Highschool (economics-oriented highschool), the Heinrich-Wieland-Highschool (technology-oriented highschool), der Johanna-Wittum-Highschool (home economics-oriented highschool), as well as the Waldorfschule.
- Pforzheim also has many schools providing the mandatory general elementary and secondary education (Grundschule, Realschule) as well an institution which is dedicated to further education of grown-ups (Volkshochschule). There are also several state-run vocational schools leading to professional diplomas in the crafts and trades.
Orchestras
- Pforzheim Chamber OrchestraPforzheim Chamber OrchestraPforzheim Chamber Orchestra, full German name: Südwestdeutsches Kammerorchester Pforzheim, full English name South West German Chamber Orchestra Pforzheim, is an internationally known German chamber orchestra based in Pforzheim.- History :...
- This orchestra was founded by Friedrich Tilegant in 1950. It participated in the world premiere of a work of Boris Blacher and has a good reputation beyond the region. - Symphony Orchestra of the City of Pforzheim
Museums
- Archeological Site Kappelhof - Roman and medieval excavation objects
- Civic Museum Eutingen
- Museum on the German Democratic Republic (former east Germany)
- The Center of Fellow-Countrymen Associations (Landsmannschaften; especially those from eastern Europe)
- The Pforzheim Minerals Museum
- The Pforzheim Gallery (paintings)
- Reuchlinhaus
- The Pforzheim Jewellery Museum in the Reuchlinhaus
- The Pforzheim City Museum Pforzheim (on city history)
- The Technical Museum of the Jewellery and Watchmaking Industry of Pforzheim
- Weissenstein Station - On Railway History in the area of Pforzheim
- Roman Estate in the Kanzlerwald (the excavated remains of an estate built by Roman settlers)
- The Product Exhibition of Pforzheim (jewellery) Companies (Industriehaus)
- The Exhibition of Precious Stones by Widow Mrs. Schuett
Cultural institutions
- The House of Culture Osterfeld (a sociocultural center: theater, music, dance, cabaret, musical, arts, exhibitions etc.)
- Kupferdaechle (The Copper Roof Teenage Culture Center)
- The Puppet Theater of Raphael Muerle / The Marionette Stage Mottenkaefig
- The Communal Cinema of Pforzheim
- CongressCenter Pforzheim (CCP)
- City Library
Notable examples of architecture
- Pre-war
- The Archive Building (Archivbau)
- The House of Industry (Industriehaus)
- The Arch Bridge at Dillweißenstein
- The ruins of Liebeneck Castle
- District office tower (Bezirksamtsturm)
- Leitgastturm
- Seehaus (formerly a hunting villa of the Margrave; now a popular destination for Sunday afternoon walks away from the city)
- The Old Grapes Press of Brötzingen
- Hachel Tower
- The Copper Hammer (Kupferhammer; a traditional water-powered sledge hammer which was used for metal forming)
- Post-war
- The Main Railway Station
- The former main post office and Brötzingen post office
- Reuchlinhaus
- Goldener Adler Building at Leopoldplatz
- former Public Health Authority building (Gesundheitsamt) at Blumenhof
- District Court Building
- The Old and New City Hall
- Stadtbau Building (Architect: Luigi Snozzi)
- Sparkasse Tower
- Churches:
- The Palais and Monastery Church St. Michael (Schloss- und Stiftskirche); it is the city's landmark.
- The Old Town Church St. Martin (Altstadtkirche; Protestant)
- Resurrection Church (Auferstehungskirche; Protestant)
- The Bare Feet Church (Barfüsserkirche; Catholic)
- Christ Church of Brötzingen (Protestant)
- The Protestant City Church (Stadtkirche)
- Heart of Christ Church (Herz-Jesu-Kirche; Catholic)
- Matthew Church (Matthäuskirche; Protestant). This church was designed by architect Eiermann and is a precursory structure of the famous New Berlin Memorial Church (Gedächtniskirche)
- St. Franziskus Church (Catholic)
- The Islamic Mosque
- The notable New Synagogue (1890) was lost n KristallnachtKristallnachtKristallnacht, also referred to as the Night of Broken Glass, and also Reichskristallnacht, Pogromnacht, and Novemberpogrome, was a pogrom or series of attacks against Jews throughout Nazi Germany and parts of Austria on 9–10 November 1938.Jewish homes were ransacked, as were shops, towns and...
Other sites of interest
- The Alpengarten PforzheimAlpengarten PforzheimThe Alpengarten Pforzheim is a commercial nursery with botanical garden specializing in alpine plants. It is located at Auf dem Berg 6, Pforzheim, Baden-Württemberg, Germany, and open weekdays in the warmer months; an admission fee is charged. The garden contains over 100,000 plants from all...
, closed since 2006 - The Main Cemetery (Hauptfriedhof)
- Wallberg. The debris from the destroyed town (February 23, 1945) was dumped onto this hill. The Wallberg-Monument on the top is meant to remind people of the city's history; it was erected in 2005 on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the bombing raid.
- The Game Animals Zoo (Wildpark Pforzheim)
- Brötzingen Valley Stadium. This is the classical soccer stadium of the 1st FC Pforzheim soccer club of 1896, which was inaugurated in 1913. It accommodated a record number of "15.000 to 20.000" spectators on the occasion of the match between South Germany against Central Hungary in 1920. In the post-Second-World-War era it accommodated 12.000 spectators at the cup matches 1st FC Pforzheim - 1. FC Nuremberg (score 2:1 after extension; 1961) and 1st FCP - Werder Bremen (score 1:1 after extension; 1988). The soccer club (simply called the "club"), which during its history supplied the first national teamNational teamA National sports team , is a team that represents a nation, rather than a particular club or region, in a sport....
captain and a total of eleven first league players, had to file for bankruptcy in February 2004 and for the first time in history is playing in the 5th league, i.e. the Soccer Association's Northern BadenBadenBaden is a historical state on the east bank of the Rhine in the southwest of Germany, now the western part of the Baden-Württemberg of Germany....
League, during the 2004-05 season. In 1906, the club lost the final of the German Soccer Championship against VfB Leipzig 1:2 in NurembergNurembergNuremberg[p] is a city in the German state of Bavaria, in the administrative region of Middle Franconia. Situated on the Pegnitz river and the Rhine–Main–Danube Canal, it is located about north of Munich and is Franconia's largest city. The population is 505,664...
.
Regularly scheduled events
- February: Carnival Procession (Faschingsumzug) in Dillweissenstein
- May: International Pentecost Tournament of the VfR Pforzheim
- June: "Pforzemer Mess" (a fun fair)
- July: Pforzheim Goldsmith's Market (Goldschmiedemarkt), last held in 2005.
- July: "Lust auf Schmuck" (a jewellery market taking up where Goldschmiedemarkt left off, with change of venue and change of focus).
- July: "Gruschtelmarkt" (a flea market)
- July: International Pforzheim Music & Theater Festival
- July: "Marktplatzfest" (market place festival, every 2 years; this is one of the largest free-of-charge open air festivals in Southwestern Germany)
- August: "Öchsle-Fest" (a festival celebrating local wines)
- September: "Brötzingen Saturday"
- November: Pre-Christmas Handicraft Market (Weihnachtsbastelmarkt)
- November/December: Christmas Market (Weihnachtsmarkt) in the inner city area
Honorary citizens
(a small selection)- 1939 Alfons Kern, historian
- 1965 Dr. Johann Peter Brandenburg, German politician (FDP/DVPGerman People's PartyThe German People's Party was a national liberal party in Weimar Germany and a successor to the National Liberal Party of the German Empire.-Ideology:...
), Member of State Parliament, Lord Mayor of Pforzheim - 1985 Dr. Willi Weigelt, German politician (SPDSocial Democratic Party of GermanyThe Social Democratic Party of Germany is a social-democratic political party in Germany...
), Lord Mayor of Pforzheim - 1991 Richard Ziegler, painter
- 1998 Rolf Schweizer, church music director
Famous citizens born in Pforzheim
- 1455, January 29, Johannes Reuchlin, † June 30, 1522 in StuttgartStuttgartStuttgart is the capital of the state of Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. The sixth-largest city in Germany, Stuttgart has a population of 600,038 while the metropolitan area has a population of 5.3 million ....
; humanistHumanismHumanism is an approach in study, philosophy, world view or practice that focuses on human values and concerns. In philosophy and social science, humanism is a perspective which affirms some notion of human nature, and is contrasted with anti-humanism....
and philosopher - 1485, Nikolaus GerbelNikolaus GerbelNikolaus Gerbel was a German humanist, jurist and doctor of both laws.Nikolaus Gerbel was part of a circle of literary men living in Strasbourg...
, † January 20, 1560 in StrasbourgStrasbourgStrasbourg is the capital and principal city of the Alsace region in eastern France and is the official seat of the European Parliament. Located close to the border with Germany, it is the capital of the Bas-Rhin département. The city and the region of Alsace are historically German-speaking,...
; humanistHumanismHumanism is an approach in study, philosophy, world view or practice that focuses on human values and concerns. In philosophy and social science, humanism is a perspective which affirms some notion of human nature, and is contrasted with anti-humanism....
and juristJuristA jurist or jurisconsult is a professional who studies, develops, applies, or otherwise deals with the law. The term is widely used in American English, but in the United Kingdom and many Commonwealth countries it has only historical and specialist usage... - 1798, October 21, Karl Heinrich Baumgaertner, † December 11, 1886 in Baden-BadenBaden-BadenBaden-Baden is a spa town in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is located on the western foothills of the Black Forest, on the banks of the Oos River, in the region of Karlsruhe...
; pathologist - 1849, May 3, Bertha BenzBertha BenzBertha Benz was born on 3 May 1849 in Pforzheim, Germany. She married inventor Karl Benz on 20 July 1872, and died 5 May 1944 in Ladenburg...
, née Ringer, † 1944; wife of Karl BenzKarl BenzKarl Friedrich Benz, was a German engine designer and car engineer, generally regarded as the inventor of the gasoline-powered car, and together with Bertha Benz pioneering founder of the automobile manufacturer Mercedes-Benz... - 1866, January 31, Emil Strauss, † August 10, 1960 in FreiburgFreiburgFreiburg im Breisgau is a city in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. In the extreme south-west of the country, it straddles the Dreisam river, at the foot of the Schlossberg. Historically, the city has acted as the hub of the Breisgau region on the western edge of the Black Forest in the Upper Rhine Plain...
(BreisgauBreisgauBreisgau is the name of an area in southwest Germany, placed between the river Rhine and the foothills of the Black Forest around Freiburg im Breisgau in the state of Baden-Württemberg. The district Breisgau-Hochschwarzwald, which partly consists of the Breisgau, is named after that area...
); German poet - 1877, Prof. Dr. Heinrich Otto WielandHeinrich Otto WielandHeinrich Otto Wieland was a German chemist. He won the 1927 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his research into the bile acids. In 1901 Wieland received his doctorate at the University of Munich while studying under Johannes Thiele...
, † 1957; Nobel PrizeNobel PrizeThe Nobel Prizes are annual international awards bestowed by Scandinavian committees in recognition of cultural and scientific advances. The will of the Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite, established the prizes in 1895...
laureate in chemistryChemistryChemistry is the science of matter, especially its chemical reactions, but also its composition, structure and properties. Chemistry is concerned with atoms and their interactions with other atoms, and particularly with the properties of chemical bonds....
1927 - 1899, December 18, Karl AbtKarl Abt (painter)Karl Abt was a German painter.-Life:Abt began to paint at the age of 12 and, with the support of his parents, enrolled in the Pforzheim Kunstgewerbeschule. In 1917 Abt was called into military service, effectively ending his studies. After the end of WWI, he was apprenticed to a goldsmith...
, † December 1985; painter - 1913, January 1, Hans Lutz Merkle, † September 22, 2000; chairman of the board of management of Robert Bosch GmbHRobert Bosch GmbHRobert Bosch GmbH is a multinational engineering and electronics company headquartered in Gerlingen, near Stuttgart, Germany. It is the world's largest supplier of automotive components...
- 1938, June 8, Manfred MohrManfred MohrManfred Mohr is a digital art pioneer. He has lived and worked in New York since 1981.-Life & career:...
; artist and one of the pioneers of computer-generated graphic art (living in New York since 1981) - 1943, June 6, Klaus Mangold; former chairman of the board of management of Toll CollectToll CollectToll Collect GmbH is a German company that has developed and is running the tolling system for trucks on German motorways.The company is a consortium led by Daimler AG, Deutsche Telekom, and Cofiroute. It has won a bid for the development of a toll billing system from the German government. The...
- 1948, May 30, Dieter KosslickDieter KosslickDieter Kosslick is the director of the Berlin International Film Festival . He has held this post since 1 May 2001 when he took over from Moritz de Hadeln....
; director of the Berlinale Film Festival - 1953, March 26, Rene Weller; former boxing world champion, presently poet
- 1954, September 18, Peter BofingerPeter BofingerPeter Bofinger is a German economist and member of the German Council of Economic Experts. He is the only proponent of Keynesian economics in this council....
; member of the Advisory Board on the Assessment of Macroeconomic Trends in the Federal Republic of GermanyWest GermanyWest Germany is the common English, but not official, name for the Federal Republic of Germany or FRG in the period between its creation in May 1949 to German reunification on 3 October 1990.... - 1956, Tomas MaierTomas MaierTomas Maier is a German-born designer who is currently Head of Creative Design at Italian luxury goods company Bottega Veneta, a subsidiary of the Gucci Group...
; fashion designer, currently Creative Director of Italian luxury label Bottega VenetaBottega VenetaBottega Veneta is an Italian luxury goods house best known for its leather goods. Founded in 1966, it was purchased in 2001 by Gucci Group, now a part of the French multinational group PPR. Bottega Veneta is headquartered in Vicenza, in the Veneto region of northeastern Italy.- History :Bottega... - 1961, April 13, Uwe Huebner; TV and radio show host (for example "ZDF-HitparadeZDF-HitparadeThe ZDF - Hitparade, or Hitparade for short, was one of the most popular and most well-known music television series by German TV channel ZDF. It was developed by Truck Branss and Dieter Thomas Heck and first broadcast on January 18, 1969...
")
Miscellaneous topics
- The Freemasons Lodge "Reuchlin" is located in Pforzheim.
- The internationally successful rock bandRock BandRock Band is a music video game developed by Harmonix Music Systems, published by MTV Games and Electronic Arts. It is the first title in the Rock Band series. The PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions were released in the United States on November 20, 2007, while the PlayStation 2 version was...
Fool's Garden ("Lemon Tree") has its origins in Pforzheim.