Weinheim
Encyclopedia
Weinheim is a town in the north west of the state of Baden-Württemberg
in Germany
with 43 000 inhabitants, approximately 15 km north of Heidelberg
and 10 km northeast of Mannheim
. Together with these cities, it makes up the Rhine-Neckar triangle. It has the nickname "Zwei-Burgen-Stadt", or Two-Castle city ('Burg' means 'fortress'), named after the two fortresses on the hill overlooking the town in the east on the edge of the Odenwald
, the Windeck
and the Wachenburg
.
. The old town lies in the valley, with the new part of town further to the west. The Market Square is filled with numerous cafes, as well as the old Rathaus (Council building). Further to the south is the Schlossgarten (Palace garden) and the Exotenwald (Exotic forest), which contains species of trees imported from around the world, but mostly from North America and Japan.
The earliest record of Weinheim dates back to 755 AD, when the name "Winenheim" was recorded in the Lorscher Codex, the record book of the Lorsch monastery.
In 1000 AD, emperor Otto III
bestowed Weinheim the right to hold markets, and in 1065 the right to mint and issue coins. A new town developed next to the old town from 1250. In 1308, the old town was transferred to the Palatinate. From 1368 onwards the whole town belonged to the Electoral Palatinate and its district Heidelberg since the end of the 14th century. With the transfer to the duke of Baden in 1803, Weinheim became a regional centre, which was unified with the district of Mannheim in 1936. From 1938 onwards Weinheim belonged to the new district of Mannheim until January 1, 1973, when the Rhine-Neckar district was formed.
from the prehistoric through to the Merovingian dynasty
, the highlight of which is the so-called "Nächstenbacher Bronze-find" of 76 objects from the late Bronze Age
; displays documenting the Medieval and modern social history of the town and works from contemporary artists.
).
>
Year
Population
December 1945 ¹
19,944
13 September 1950 ¹
25,199
6 June 1961 ¹
27,859
27 May 1970 ¹
29,670
31 December 1975
41,005
31 December 1980
41,654
27 May 1987 ¹
41,934
31 December 1990
42,241
31 December 1995
42,812
31 December 2000
42,520
31 December 2005
43,417
30 June 2006
42,745
¹ These are taken from a Volkszählungsergebnes.
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...
in 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...
with 43 000 inhabitants, approximately 15 km north of 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...
and 10 km northeast of 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....
. Together with these cities, it makes up the Rhine-Neckar triangle. It has the nickname "Zwei-Burgen-Stadt", or Two-Castle city ('Burg' means 'fortress'), named after the two fortresses on the hill overlooking the town in the east on the edge of the Odenwald
Odenwald
The Odenwald is a low mountain range in Hesse, Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg in Germany.- Location :The Odenwald lies between the Upper Rhine Rift Valley with the Bergstraße and the Hessisches Ried in the west, the Main and the Bauland in the east, the Hanau-Seligenstadt Basin – a subbasin of...
, the Windeck
Windeck Castle (Weinheim)
Windeck Castle stands on a small hill in Weinheim on the Bergstraße. It was built around 1100 to protect the inhabitants of the Lorsch monastery....
and the Wachenburg
Wachenburg
The Wachenburg is a castle on a hill overlooking Weinheim an der Bergstrasse, in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It was built between 1907 and 1928 by the Weinheimer Senioren-Convent, a Corps of former students. The castle contains a restaurant with a nice view of the country.- See also :* Windeck Castle...
.
Geography
Weinheim is situated on the Bergstraße ("Mountain Road") on the western rim of the OdenwaldOdenwald
The Odenwald is a low mountain range in Hesse, Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg in Germany.- Location :The Odenwald lies between the Upper Rhine Rift Valley with the Bergstraße and the Hessisches Ried in the west, the Main and the Bauland in the east, the Hanau-Seligenstadt Basin – a subbasin of...
. The old town lies in the valley, with the new part of town further to the west. The Market Square is filled with numerous cafes, as well as the old Rathaus (Council building). Further to the south is the Schlossgarten (Palace garden) and the Exotenwald (Exotic forest), which contains species of trees imported from around the world, but mostly from North America and Japan.
History
Weinheim celebrated its 1250th anniversary in 2005.The earliest record of Weinheim dates back to 755 AD, when the name "Winenheim" was recorded in the Lorscher Codex, the record book of the Lorsch monastery.
In 1000 AD, emperor Otto III
Otto III, Holy Roman Emperor
Otto III , a King of Germany, was the fourth ruler of the Saxon or Ottonian dynasty of the Holy Roman Empire. He was elected King in 983 on the death of his father Otto II and was crowned Holy Roman Emperor in 996.-Early reign:...
bestowed Weinheim the right to hold markets, and in 1065 the right to mint and issue coins. A new town developed next to the old town from 1250. In 1308, the old town was transferred to the Palatinate. From 1368 onwards the whole town belonged to the Electoral Palatinate and its district Heidelberg since the end of the 14th century. With the transfer to the duke of Baden in 1803, Weinheim became a regional centre, which was unified with the district of Mannheim in 1936. From 1938 onwards Weinheim belonged to the new district of Mannheim until January 1, 1973, when the Rhine-Neckar district was formed.
Local attractions
- WindeckWindeck Castle (Weinheim)Windeck Castle stands on a small hill in Weinheim on the Bergstraße. It was built around 1100 to protect the inhabitants of the Lorsch monastery....
Castle, originally built around 1100 to protect the LorschLorschLorsch is a town in the Bergstraße district in Hesse, Germany, 60 km south of Frankfurt. Lorsch is well known for the Lorsch Abbey, which has been named a World Heritage Site.-Location:...
monastery, it was badly damaged in the Thirty Years War and by Louis XIV of France. - WachenburgWachenburgThe Wachenburg is a castle on a hill overlooking Weinheim an der Bergstrasse, in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It was built between 1907 and 1928 by the Weinheimer Senioren-Convent, a Corps of former students. The castle contains a restaurant with a nice view of the country.- See also :* Windeck Castle...
Castle, built between 1907 and 1928 by student fraternities. - The Market Square
- The Schloss, home of the town council
- Gerberbach Quarter, old haunt of the leather makers
- Schlosspark
- Exotenwald WeinheimExotenwald WeinheimThe Exotenwald Weinheim is a forest arboretum located beside the Schlosspark in Weinheim, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is open daily without charge....
, a forest arboretumArboretumAn arboretum in a narrow sense is a collection of trees only. Related collections include a fruticetum , and a viticetum, a collection of vines. More commonly, today, an arboretum is a botanical garden containing living collections of woody plants intended at least partly for scientific study... - Schau- und Sichtungsgarten HermannshofSchau- und Sichtungsgarten HermannshofThe Schau- und Sichtungsgarten Hermannshof , also known as the Hermannshof Weinheim, is a botanical garden located at Babostraße 5, Weinheim, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is open daily in the summer and weekdays in winter; admission is free.Today's garden was first established as a private garden...
, a botanical gardenBotanical gardenA botanical garden The terms botanic and botanical, and garden or gardens are used more-or-less interchangeably, although the word botanic is generally reserved for the earlier, more traditional gardens. is a well-tended area displaying a wide range of plants labelled with their botanical names... - Weinheim's beautiful synagogue was destroyed on 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...
.
Museum
Winheim's town museum occupies what used to be the headquarters of the Teutonic Order in the town and holds exhibits about Weinheim and its surroundings: archaeologyArchaeology
Archaeology, or archeology , is the study of human society, primarily through the recovery and analysis of the material culture and environmental data that they have left behind, which includes artifacts, architecture, biofacts and cultural landscapes...
from the prehistoric through to the Merovingian dynasty
Merovingian dynasty
The Merovingians were a Salian Frankish dynasty that came to rule the Franks in a region largely corresponding to ancient Gaul from the middle of the 5th century. Their politics involved frequent civil warfare among branches of the family...
, the highlight of which is the so-called "Nächstenbacher Bronze-find" of 76 objects from the late Bronze Age
Urnfield culture
The Urnfield culture was a late Bronze Age culture of central Europe. The name comes from the custom of cremating the dead and placing their ashes in urns which were then buried in fields...
; displays documenting the Medieval and modern social history of the town and works from contemporary artists.
Events
- February: High-jump Gala, with world class high-jumpers
- March: the Sommertagszug, a festival celebrating the coming of summer.
- May/June (near Ascension Day): day of the Weinheimer Senioren-ConventWeinheimer Senioren-ConventThe Weinheimer Senioren-Convent is the second oldest association of German Studentenverbindungen. It comprises roughly 60 German Corps, all of which are based upon the principle of tolerance....
s - June-August: Weinheim's summer of culture
- June: Scheuerfest (barn party) in Ritschweier
- July: the Weinheim road race
- May-September: Kerwes in Rippenweier, Sulzbach, Lützelsachsen, Oberflockenbach und Hohensachsen
- August (second weekend thereof): Weinheim's Kerwe (Friday to Monday)
- October: Bergsträßer Winzerfest (lit. "mountain-road vintner festival") in Lützelsachsen
Local businesses
- Beltz Verlag http://www.beltz.de
- Management group FreudenbergFreudenberg-Places:*Municipalities in Germany:**Freudenberg, Westphalia, in the Siegen-Wittgenstein district, North Rhine-Westphalia**Freudenberg, Bavaria, in the Amberg-Sulzbach district, Bavaria**Freudenberg am Main, in the Main-Tauber district, Baden-Württemberg...
- Kukident GmbH, Reckitt Benckiser AG
- Naturin
- OAGIS
- T-Systems ITS GmbH
- Wiley-VCHJohn Wiley & SonsJohn Wiley & Sons, Inc., also referred to as Wiley, is a global publishing company that specializes in academic publishing and markets its products to professionals and consumers, students and instructors in higher education, and researchers and practitioners in scientific, technical, medical, and...
publishers - 3 Glocken
- Weinheimer Nachrichten
- Druckhaus Diesbach
- SAP AG
- Domaniecki Carpetence
Population over time
These are the population figures for particular years. There are drawn from guesses, Volkszählungsergebnisse (semi-official figures, demarcated by a ¹) and official statistics based on place of residence (HauptwohnsitzHauptwohnsitz
In German-speaking countries, Hauptwohnsitz denotes the primary place of residence. In Germany and Austria, the concept of Hauptwohnsitz has special legal ramifications, primarily involving tax....
).
| > | Year | Population |
|---|---|
| 1439 | 1780 |
| 1774 | 1774 |
| 1812 | 4039 |
| 1830 | 5000 |
| 1 December 1871 | 6350 |
| 1 December 1880 ¹ | 7159 |
| 1 December 1890 ¹ | 8243 |
| 1 December 1900 ¹ | 11,167 |
| 1 December 1910 ¹ | 14,170 |
| 8 Oktober 1919 ¹ | 14,550 |
| 16 June 1925 ¹ | 15,793 |
| 16 June 1933 ¹ | 17,486 |
| 17 May 1939 ¹ | 18,561 |
¹ These are taken from a Volkszählungsergebnes.
Honorary citizens
The town of Weinheim has made the following people honorary citizens (Ehrenbürger):- 1894: Carl Johann Freudenberg, Geheimer Kommerzienrat (royal economist)
- 1904: Erhard Bissinger, Consul general
- 1913: Aute Bode, chief engineer and the architect behind the WachenburgWachenburgThe Wachenburg is a castle on a hill overlooking Weinheim an der Bergstrasse, in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It was built between 1907 and 1928 by the Weinheimer Senioren-Convent, a Corps of former students. The castle contains a restaurant with a nice view of the country.- See also :* Windeck Castle...
- 1918: Hermann Ernst Freudenberg, Geheimer Kommerzienrat (royal economist)
- 1922: Georg Friedrich Vogler, vice-mayor
- 1923: Adam Karrillon, doctor and author
- 1928: Emil HartmannEmil HartmannEmil Hartmann was a Danish composer, the eldest son of Johan Peter Emilius Hartmann and brother-in-law to Niels Gade. His son Oluf Hartmann was a painter....
, construction engineer - 1928: Prof. Arthur Wienkoop, Architect
- 1933: Paul von HindenburgPaul von HindenburgPaul Ludwig Hans Anton von Beneckendorff und von Hindenburg , known universally as Paul von Hindenburg was a Prussian-German field marshal, statesman, and politician, and served as the second President of Germany from 1925 to 1934....
, German President - 1933: Adolf HitlerAdolf HitlerAdolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
, German Chancellor (revoked in 1945) - 1933: Robert WagnerRobert Heinrich WagnerRobert Heinrich Wagner was Gauleiter of Baden and Head of the Civil Government of Alsace during the German occupation of France in World War II....
, Nazi gazetteerGazetteerA gazetteer is a geographical dictionary or directory, an important reference for information about places and place names , used in conjunction with a map or a full atlas. It typically contains information concerning the geographical makeup of a country, region, or continent as well as the social...
(revoked in 1945) - 1933: Walter KöhlerWalter KöhlerWalter Friedrich Julius Köhler, was Minister President of Baden, Germany during the Nazi regime. Köhler was born in Weinheim, Baden. He was known as a talented speaker and strict anti-semite...
, Minister President of 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....
during the Nazi regime (revoked in 1945) - 1940: Georg Peter Nickel, agriculturist
- 1949: Richard Freudenberg, factory owner
- 1953: Hans Freudenberg, factory owner
- 1954: Sepp HerbergerSepp HerbergerJosef "Sepp" Herberger was a German football player and manager...
, sports trainer, trainer of the German World CupFIFA World CupThe FIFA World Cup, often simply the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of Fédération Internationale de Football Association , the sport's global governing body...
winning side of 1954 - 1962: Wilhelm Brück, Lord Mayor
- 1986: Theo Gießelmann, Lord Mayor
- 2004: Dieter Freudenberg, factory owner
- 2004: Wolfgang Daffinger, mayor, representative in the LandtagLandtagA Landtag is a representative assembly or parliament in German-speaking countries with some legislative authority.- Name :...
- 2005: Uwe Kleefoot, Lord Mayor
Sons and daughters of the town
- Heinrich HübschHeinrich HübschHeinrich Hübsch was a German architect. After studies in Heidelberg and at Friedrich Weinbrenner's school of architecture in Karlsruhe he traveled extensively in Greece and Italy . In 1831 he was appointed Oberbaurat at Karlsruhe...
(1795–1863), head of public works - Karl Seidenadel (1829–1894), translatorTranslationTranslation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. Whereas interpreting undoubtedly antedates writing, translation began only after the appearance of written literature; there exist partial translations of the Sumerian Epic of...
of Greek works - Philipp Bickel (1829–1914), baptistBaptistBaptists comprise a group of Christian denominations and churches that subscribe to a doctrine that baptism should be performed only for professing believers , and that it must be done by immersion...
theologian and publisher - Friedrich August Bender (1847–1926), chemist and entrepreneurEntrepreneurAn entrepreneur is an owner or manager of a business enterprise who makes money through risk and initiative.The term was originally a loanword from French and was first defined by the Irish-French economist Richard Cantillon. Entrepreneur in English is a term applied to a person who is willing to...
- Wilhelm Platz (1866–1929), factory owner and author
- Richard Freudenberg (1892–1975), DDP MP, MdBMDBMDB may refer to:In computing:* .mdb, a file-extension used in certain versions of Microsoft Access databases* MDB or MDB2, PHP database abstraction layers* Message Driven Bean, a special type of Enterprise JavaBean...
, for a long time one of the town's aldermen and benefactors - Erwin Linder (1903–1968), actor and voice actor
- Heidi MohrHeidi MohrHeidi Mohr is a former German footballer. As a footballer she was renowned for her speed and her ability to shoot with both feet. In 1999 she was voted Europe's Footballer of the Century.-Club career:...
(born 1967), national football player - Ralf SonnRalf SonnRalf Sonn is a retired German high jumper.His personal best, achieved during the indoor season in March 1991 in Berlin, was 2.39 metres. Only five athletes have jumped higher on the indoor track...
(born 1967), high jumpHigh jumpThe high jump is a track and field athletics event in which competitors must jump over a horizontal bar placed at measured heights without the aid of certain devices in its modern most practiced format; auxiliary weights and mounds have been used for assistance; rules have changed over the years....
er - Christopher RainMan (born 1983), Public RelationsPublic relationsPublic relations is the actions of a corporation, store, government, individual, etc., in promoting goodwill between itself and the public, the community, employees, customers, etc....
, also known as JoJo
People who worked in the town
- Ingrid NollIngrid NollIngrid Noll is a German thriller writer. She has written several novels, including Head Count, Hell hath no Fury and The Pharmacist, as well as one television drama, Bommels Billigflüge...
(born 1935), writer (e.g. "Die Apothekerin"), lived in Weinheim. - Karl Friedrich Bender (1806–1869), theologian, teacher, principal of the Erziehungsanstalt für Knaben (boys' school)