Weinheim

Weinheim  is a town with about 43,000 inhabitants in northwest Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is in the Rhine-Neckar Metropolitan Region, approximately 15 km (9 mi) north of Heidelberg and 10 km (6 mi) northeast of Mannheim. Weinheim is known as the "Zwei-Burgen-Stadt", the "town of two castles", after two fortresses overlooking the town from the edge of the Odenwald in the east.

Weinheim
Panorama of Weinheim from the south-east
Coat of arms
Location of Weinheim within Rhein-Neckar-Kreis district
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Weinheim
Weinheim
Coordinates: 49°33′N 08°40′E
CountryGermany
StateBaden-Württemberg
Admin. regionKarlsruhe
DistrictRhein-Neckar-Kreis
SubdivisionsTown centre and 10 quarters
Government
  Lord mayorManuel Just (SPD)
Area
  Total58.11 km2 (22.44 sq mi)
Elevation
135 m (443 ft)
Population
 (2019-12-31)[1]
  Total45,425
  Density780/km2 (2,000/sq mi)
Time zoneUTC+01:00 (CET)
  Summer (DST)UTC+02:00 (CEST)
Postal codes
69469
Dialling codes06201
Vehicle registrationHD
Websitewww.weinheim.de

Geography

Weinheim is situated on the Bergstraße theme route on the western rim of the Odenwald. 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 (guildhall). 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 CE, when the name "Winenheim" was recorded in the Lorsch codex, the record book of Lorsch Abbey.

In 1000, Emperor Otto III bestowed on 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 Electorate of the Palatinate. From 1368 the whole town belonged to the Electorate of the Palatinate, and since the end of the 14th century to the Heidelberg Oberamt district. With the transfer to Baden in 1803, Weinheim became the seat of its own Amt, which was unified with Landkreis Mannheim in 1936. From 1938 onwards Weinheim belonged to Landkreis Mannheim until January 1, 1973, when the Rhein-Neckar-Kreis was formed.

A Jewish community in Weinheim is first recorded in 1228. There were persecutions in Weinheim in 1298 (Rintfleisch massacres) and 1348–49 (Black Death persecutions). The Jews were expelled from Weinheim in 1391. The Weinheim Jewish community began to grow again in the Thirty Years' War. There was a synagogue, a beth midrash, and a mikveh, and, in the 19th century, a school for boys and a teacher-training college. The synagogue was destroyed in the Kristallnacht (9–10 November 1938) and the last few Jews sent to Gurs on 22 October 1940.[2]

Local attractions

Lebanon Cedar in Schlosspark

Museum

Weinheim's town museum occupies what used to be the local headquarters of the Teutonic Order and holds exhibits about Weinheim and its surroundings: archaeology from the prehistoric through to the Merovingian dynasty, the highlight of which is the Nächstenbach bronze hoard of 76 objects from the late Bronze Age; 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-Convents
  • 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)
  • September (first Friday-Sunday): Weinheimer UKW-Tagung, a three-day international amateur radio meeting held annually since 1956[3]
  • October: Bergsträßer Winzerfest (lit. "mountain-road vintner festival") in Lützelsachsen

Local businesses

  • Beltz Verlag
  • Freudenberg Group
  • Schlegel und Partner GmbH
  • Kukident GmbH, Reckitt Benckiser AG
  • Naturin
  • OAGIS
  • T-Systems ITS GmbH
  • Wiley-VCH publishers
  • 3 Glocken
  • Weinheimer Nachrichten
  • Druckhaus Diesbach
  • SAP SE
  • Domaniecki Carpetence
  • DLCON

Transport

Trains

Weinheim has two main train stations on the Main-Neckar Railway, these being Weinheim (Bergstraße) station (served by Regional and long-distance IC trains) and Lützelsachsen (served by Regional trains). These provide connections to Frankfurt, Hamburg and other destinations within Germany.

  • Deutsche Bahn
  • Rhein-Neckar Verkehr

Weinheim is also served by the OEG tramway, which is used daily by people who use this to commute to the cities of Mannheim and Heidelberg.

Air

The closest airports to Weinheim are:

International relations

Weinheim is twinned with:[4]

People

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 (Hauptwohnsitz).

Year Population
14391780
17741774
18124039
18305000
1 December 18716350
1 December 1880 ¹7159
1 December 1890 ¹8243
1 December 1900 ¹11,167
1 December 1910 ¹14,170
8 Oktober 1919 ¹14,550
16 June 1925 ¹15,793
16 June 1933 ¹17,486
17 May 1939 ¹18,561
Year Population
December 1945 ¹19,944
13 September 1950 ¹25,199
6 June 1961 ¹27,859
27 May 1970 ¹29,670
31 December 197541,005
31 December 198041,654
27 May 1987 ¹41,934
31 December 199042,241
31 December 199542,812
31 December 200042,520
31 December 200543,417
30 June 200642,745

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 Wachenburg
  • 1918: Hermann Ernst Freudenberg, Geheimer Kommerzienrat (royal economist)
  • 1922: Georg Friedrich Vogler, vice-mayor
  • 1923: Adam Karrillon, doctor and author
  • 1928: Emil Hartmann, construction engineer
  • 1928: Prof. Arthur Wienkoop, Architect
  • 1933: Paul von Hindenburg, German President[5]
  • 1940: Georg Peter Nickel, agriculturist
  • 1949: Richard Freudenberg, factory owner
  • 1953: Hans Freudenberg, factory owner
  • 1954: Sepp Herberger, sports trainer, trainer of the German World Cup 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 Landtag
  • 2005: Uwe Kleefoot, Lord Mayor

Sons and daughters of the town

People who worked in the town

  • Ingrid Noll (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)

References

  1. "Bevölkerung nach Nationalität und Geschlecht am 31. Dezember 2019". Statistisches Landesamt Baden-Württemberg (in German). September 2020.
  2. "Die Synagoge in Weinheim (Rhein-Neckar-Kreis)". Alemannia-judaica.de. Retrieved 29 December 2019.
  3. https://ukw-tagung.org/historisches/
  4. "Städtepartnerschaften". weinheim.de (in German). Weinheim. Retrieved 2019-12-02.
  5. For those made honorary citizens in 1933, see Heinz Keller: Weinheim 1933-1945 − Zeitskizzen. in: Stadt Weinheim (Hrsg.): (in German)Die Stadt Weinheim zwischen 1933 und 1945. (= Weinheimer Geschichtsblatt Nr. 38), Weinheim 2000, ISBN 3-923652-12-7, S. 13f.
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