Vaihingen an der Enz is located on the western periphery of the middle Neckar region

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...

, between 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...

, in southern Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

. Vaihingen is situated on the river 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...

, and has a population of around 30,000. The city is within the administrative region of Stuttgart, and in the district of Ludwigsburg

Ludwigsburg (district)

Ludwigsburg is a district in the middle of Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Neighboring districts are Heilbronn, Rems-Murr, the district-free city Stuttgart, and the districts Böblingen and Enz.-History:...

, state of Baden-Württemberg

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...

. It is 25 km northwest 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 15 km west of Ludwigsburg

Ludwigsburg

Ludwigsburg is a city in Baden-Württemberg, Germany, about north of Stuttgart city centre, near the river Neckar. It is the largest and primary city of the Ludwigsburg urban district with about 87,000 inhabitants...

.

History

Vaihingen may date back as far as 799 a.d., but the documents are not clear. In 1252 documents refer directly to Vaihingen as a town, established by Count Gottfried von Vaihingen. The city changed hands several times. In the sixteenth century it became a Protestant city. During the Thirty Years War (1618–1648), Vaihingen was besieged by both the Protestant and Catholic warring factions. The consequences of the 1848 revolution caused harvest failures and inflation, and the city population diminished by a large emigration. In the early 1900s, a connection to the railroad network brought more people and industries to Vaihingen. In 1938 Vaihingen became a regional center.

Vaihingen was the site of a concentration camp during World War II. See Vaihingen an der Enz concentration camp

Vaihingen an der Enz concentration camp

Vaihingen an der Enz concentration camp, near the city of Vaihingen an der Enz in the Neckar region of Germany, was a slave labor camp for armament manufacturing built by the Todt organization, and then became an extermination camp.The camp was built in late 1943 - early 1944 as part of a secret...

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People

• Jacob Friedrich von Abel
  Jacob Friedrich von Abel
  Jacob Friedrich von Abel was a German philosopher. His main interest was the human soul and in trying to find a proof for its immortality....
  
   (1751–1829), Professor of Philosophy

Born in Vaihingen May 9, 1751. Published his "Introduction to the doctrine of spirituality" ("Einleitung in die Seelenlehre") in Stuttgart, 1786.

• Karl Friedrich Hensler (1759–1825), Viennese theater director
• Karl Gerok (1815–1890), Bishop
• Friedrich Kellner
  Friedrich Kellner
  August Friedrich Kellner was a mid-level official in Germany who worked as a justice inspector in Mainz and Laubach. During the First World War, Kellner was an infantryman in a Hessian regiment...
  
   (1885–1970) Chief Justice Inspector, Diarist

Born in Vaihingen February 1, 1885. His 10-volume diary was exhibited at the George Bush Presidential Library

George Bush Presidential Library

The George Bush Presidential Library and Museum is the presidential library of George H. W. Bush, the 41st President of the United States. It was dedicated on Nov. 6, 1997 and opened to the public shortly thereafter...

 in 2005 and is the subject of the Canadian documentary, My Opposition: the Diaries of Friedrich Kellner

My Opposition: the Diaries of Friedrich Kellner

My Opposition - The Diaries of Friedrich Kellner is a 2007 documentary film about an orphaned American who went in search of his German grandfather and discovered a secret diary written during the time of the Third Reich. The film is a production of Abella Entertainment Ltd...

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External links

• Pictures of the concentration camp cemetery at Vaihingen/Enz at the Sites of Memory webpage
• Pictures of the military and refugee memorials in the municipal cemetery at Vaihingen/Enz at the Sites of Memory webpage
• official internetpresence of Vaihingen Enz town council
• internetpresence of district Aurich
• Internetpräsenz of district Kleinglattbach