History of the city of Bensheim

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The coat of arms of Bensheim

The history of the city of Bensheim describes the development of the Hessian city ​​of Bensheim an der Bergstrasse . The now largest city in the Bergstrasse district has developed from a village that was first mentioned in the 8th century. Bensheim received city ​​rights in the 14th century . On March 26, 1945, large parts of the old town were destroyed by fire bombs. Today almost 40,000 people live in Bensheim and its districts.

Settlement history

The southern Hessian area was settled early on. The numerous archaeological finds go back to the time of the agriculture and cattle-rearing band and cord ceramics (approx. 2500 to 1500 BC).

A Roman manor from the 1st century AD was located and investigated in the city limits. Furthermore, a Franconian burial ground from around 700 AD directly near the old town indicates that what is now the city was settled at that time.

middle Ages

The first documentary mention of Bensheim was in the Lorsch Codex in 765 , when a certain Udo, son of Lando, gave his belongings to the Lorsch Monastery for the salvation of his soul . In 795, the Mark Heppenheim was donated by Charlemagne to the imperial monastery of Lorsch . This upgraded the monastery and withdrew it from the dioceses of Mainz and Worms . The Mark Heppenheim encompassed most of today 's Bergstrasse district and large parts of the Odenwaldkreis . Bensheim is not yet mentioned in the boundary description of 773. In connection with this donation, border disputes developed between the Lorsch Abbey and the Diocese of Worms, which led to the convening of an arbitration tribunal in 795 on the Kahlberg near Weschnitz, an old assembly and court venue not far from today's Walburgis Chapel . As a result of this court of arbitration, a new boundary description was established, which now also named the most important places within the boundaries of the Mark Heppenheim, namely Furte (Fürth) , Rintbach (Rimbach) , Morlenbach (Mörlenbach) , Birkenowa (Birkenau) , Winenheim (Weinheim) , Heppenheim , Besinsheim (Bensheim), Urbach (Auerbach) , Lauresham (Lorsch) and Bisestat (Bürstadt) .

The name Basinsheim could go back to Basinus , Bishop of Trier around the year 700.

The name changed from Basinsheim to Basinusheim and Besensheim finally to Bensheim. What is striking is the early granting of market rights by King Otto I on March 5, 956. The text of the document shows that Otto I, on the occasion of a stay in Frankfurt am Main, on the intervention of his wife Adelheid, granted the oldest market privilege of Lorsch Abbey . The term publicae mercationes in the original describes the place where public sales are allowed to take place. A real fair or weekly market cannot be assumed at this time. Large parts were destroyed during the siege of the city by King Albrecht I in 1301 .

When Frederick II took over the territory of the now run-down imperial abbey Lorsch Archbishop Siegfried III. Eppstein to feud there, Bensheim 1232 kurmainzisch and probably already receives some decades later city status , but can be detected only through a confirmation document from the year 1320th

Early modern age

Bensheim around 1612
Bensheim in 1646
Bensheim in 1710 (copper engraving by Gabriel Bodenehr the Elder )

In today's districts of Auerbach and Schönberg, Bensheim borders on the Upper Counts of the Counts of Katzenelnbogen and areas of the Schenken von Erbach . With the extinction of the Katzenelnbogen family in 1479, the Landgraviate of Hesse became a neighbor in the north. In 1532 the Erbachers were raised to counts and the county of Erbach became a neighbor in the east.

Bensheim experienced a heyday in the period of pledging to the Count Palatine near Rhine from 1461 to 1650, but as a Palatinate city was involved in the Bavarian-Palatinate War of Succession in 1504 and for eleven days by the Landgrave of Hesse and responsible for enforcing the imperial ban besieged his allies, the dukes Heinrich von Braunschweig and Heinrich von Mecklenburg, unsuccessfully. Since this year two fairs and a weekly market can be proven, a third fair was added in 1619.

With the introduction of the Reformation in the Landgraviate of Hesse in 1526 and in the County of Erbach in 1544, Bensheim now also had a denominational border with these neighbors in addition to the territorial borders.

The Thirty Years' War put an end to all positive developments . On November 20, 1644, Bensheim was occupied by French and Swedish troops, which were driven out by Bavarian units on December 2. The saga of Fraa vun Bensem was created later . In 1650, after almost 200 years of pledging to the Electoral Palatinate , Bensheim was redeemed by the Archdiocese of Mainz .

In 1787 Kurmainz carried out an administrative reform in which Bensheim received its own district bailiwick . The “ Amtsvogtei Bensheim ” was subordinate to the “Oberamt Starkenburg” of the “ Lower Archbishopric ” in the “ Electorate of Mainz ”.

Modern

Bensheim becomes Hessian

The Bensheim market square in 1869 (lithograph by F. Rau)

The late 18th and early 19th centuries brought far-reaching changes to Europe. As a result of the Napoleonic Wars , the “ Left Bank of the Rhine ” and thus the left bank of the Rhine from Kurmainz was annexed by France as early as 1797 . At the last session of the Perpetual Reichstag in Regensburg in February 1803, the Reichsdeputationshauptschluss was adopted, which implemented the provisions of the Peace of Lunéville and reorganized the territorial situation in the Holy Roman Empire (German Nation) .

Through this reorganization, Kurmainz was dissolved, the Oberamt Starkenburg and with it Bensheim came to the Landgraviate of Hessen-Darmstadt , which assigned it to the " Principality of Starkenburg ". The "Amt Bensheim" was continued as the Hessian district bailiwick , but the Oberamt was dissolved in 1805. In the same year the elector moved from Mainz to Regensburg.

Under pressure from Napoleon , the Rhine Confederation was founded in 1806 , this happened when the member territories left the empire at the same time. This led to the laying down of the imperial crown on August 6, 1806, with which the old empire ceased to exist.

On August 14, 1806, the Landgraviate of Hesse-Darmstadt was raised by Napoleon to the Grand Duchy of France against high military contingents and membership of the Rhine Confederation , otherwise he was threatened with invasion. After the final defeat of Napoléon, the Congress of Vienna in 1814/15 regulated the territorial situation in Germany, the affiliation of the "Principality of Starkenburg" to the Grand Duchy was confirmed, after which the area was renamed the Province of Starkenburg .

In 1814 serfdom was abolished in the Grand Duchy and with the constitution of the Grand Duchy of Hesse introduced on December 17, 1820, it was given a constitutional monarchy , in which the Grand Duke still had great powers. The remaining civil rights magnificent as Low jurisdiction , tithes, ground rents and other slope but remained composed until 1848.

The Grand Duchy of Hesse was a member state of the German Confederation from 1815 to 1866 and then a federal state of the German Empire . It existed until 1919, after the First World War, the Grand Duchy for was republican written People's State of Hesse . After the end of the Second World War in 1945, the area of ​​today's Hesse was in the American zone of occupation and by order of the military government, Greater Hesse was created , from which the state of Hesse emerged in its current borders.

In 1821, as part of a comprehensive administrative reform, the district bailiffs in the provinces of Starkenburg and Upper Hesse of the Grand Duchy were dissolved and districts were introduced, and Bensheim was given its own district . As part of this reform, regional courts were also created, which were now independent of the administration. The district court districts corresponded in their scope to the district council districts and for the district council district Bensheim the district court Zwingenberg was responsible as the court of first instance.

This reform also regulated the administrative administration at the municipal level. The mayor's office in Bensheim was one of 12 mayor's offices in the district, although the mayors had been elected by the municipality since 1820 and there were no more appointments of mayors . In addition to Bensheim, the mayor's office was also responsible for Fehlheim . In 1832 the administrative units were further enlarged and circles were created. After the reorganization announced on August 20, 1832, there should only be the districts of Bensheim and Lindenfels in the future in Süd-Starkenburg; the district of Heppenheim was to fall into the Bensheim district. Even before the entry into force in October 15, 1832 but this was revised to the effect that instead of the circle Lindenfels next to the circle Bensheim the county Heppenheim was formed as the second circle. As a result of the March Revolution of 1848, with the "Law on the Relationships of the Classes and Noble Court Lords" of April 15, 1848, the special rights of the class were finally repealed.

In addition, in the provinces, the districts and the district administration districts of the Grand Duchy were abolished on July 31, 1848 and replaced by "administrative districts", whereby the previous districts of Bensheim and Heppenheim were combined to form the administrative district of Heppenheim . Just four years later, in the course of the reaction era, they returned to the division into districts and, in addition to the Bensheim and Heppenheim districts, the Lindenfels and Wimpfen districts were re-established.

In 1822 there was a major fire in which 16 buildings were destroyed and 15 others were badly damaged. In 1837, after the intervention of citizens at the Oberpostamt Darmstadt, Bensheim received its own postal expedition. Together with her, the postal service between Darmstadt, Bensheim and Heppenheim and later between Bensheim and Worms was established. The distribution of parcels and letters had previously been organized from Bickenbach and Heppenheim. In Bickenbach there was a large post office with around 100 horses. In 1842 the tax system in the Grand Duchy was reformed and the tithe and basic pensions were replaced by a tax system of the kind that still largely exists today.

The statistical-topographical-historical description of the Grand Duchy of Hesse reports on Bensheim in 1829:

»Bensheim (L. Bez. Gl. Name) city; is located on the pulling by the mountain road in a road slope, and 5 3 / 4 St. south of Darmstadt. The city, through which the Winkelbach (Ziegelbach) flows, is surrounded with old walls, towers and ditches, but most of which are in ruins, has 2 suburbs, one in front of the Heppenheimer, the other in front of the Auerbacher Thor, and is the seat of the district administrator, the master builder, the landlord and the tax inspector. There are 497 houses, most of which have a gloomy appearance, and 3977 inhabitants, up to 90 Lutherans, 8 Reform. and 74 Jews are all Catholic. Bensheim has a parish church dedicated to St. George, the Hospitals-Pfalzgraf Philipp was horrified, to which siege a stone in front of the Auerbacher Thor at the so-called Hessenkirchhof refers. In the Thirty Years' War in 1644, the French had seized the city. But it was besieged by the Bavarians and taken away and everything that was armed was massacred. In the Orleans War of 1689, Melac, the notorious French murderer, had already waved the torch over Bensheim, but luckily for the city, a French general lay seriously ill in the Capuchin monastery and the city was saved. In 1802 Bensheim came from Mainz to Hesse. In recent times the city has been ravaged by fire very often; the strongest was May 12, 1822; the compensation was 21,942 fl. 23 1 ⁄ 2 kr. , the seminarium or former Capuchin church, the St. Michaelskapelle in the church courtyard, a handsome town hall in the middle of the market, 9 grinding mills, one of which is in the city, 2 oil mills and 2 brick huts. Here you can find a Catholic grammar school, a school teacher seminar for Catholic schools, established in 1804 and reorganized in 1820, with 20-30 pupils, in the building of the former Capuchin Convent, a trivial school for boys consisting of two classes, two girls' schools, a hospital with a good income, several mild foundations, a tobacco factory, several tanners, etc. The inhabitants make wine and do a fair amount of trade with it, as with other products in the district. The population includes 27 traders and landlords, 282 artisans, 82 farmers and 182 day laborers. 3 markets are held annually. - Bensheim already existed in 765 and comes under the names Basinesheim, Basinsheim and Besinsheim, and through many donations it became the complete property of the Lorsch Monastery, to which Emperor Otto the Great, 956, also granted market justice for Bensheim. Already in 772 the place had a church, the Michaelskirche ( basilica ), which was given to the Lorsch monastery in the intended year. In 1232 Bensheim appears on Mainz, and in 1321 as a city, although it is probable that the place had already had city justice in 1318. In the Bavarian feud, 1504, Landgrave Wilhelm II besieged the city for 11 days until she was appalled by Elector Palatine Philipp, to which siege a stone in front of the Auerbach Gate at the so-called Hessenkirchhof refers. In the Thirty Years' War in 1644, the French had seized the city. But it was besieged by the Bavarians and taken away and everything that was armed was massacred. In the Orleans War of 1689, Melac, the notorious French murderer, had already waved the torch over Bensheim, but luckily for the city, a French general lay seriously ill in the Capuchin monastery and the city was saved. In 1802 Bensheim came from Mainz to Hesse. In recent times the city has been ravaged by fire very often; the strongest was May 12, 1822; the amount of compensation was 21.942 fl. 23 1 / 2 kr. "

After the industrial age slowly heralded itself for Bensheim at the end of the 19th century , great advances in infrastructure were achieved with the commissioning of the Langen (Hessen) - Darmstadt - Heppenheim section of the Main-Neckar Railway on June 22, 1846. The Bensheim train station also dates from this period . With the final commissioning of the line on October 9, 1846, three German states at that time, namely Prussia with Frankfurt am Main , the Grand Duchy of Hesse and the Grand Duchy of Baden , were connected by rail.

In 1869 the opening of the Nibelungen Railway from Worms via Lorsch to Bensheim was celebrated, giving Bensheim two stations. After a while the timetables of the two companies were coordinated, but it was not until 1872 that the two routes were connected. Since April 1, 1863, an “official personal mail” has been running from Bensheim through the Lautertal to Lindenfels . Initially operated with horse-drawn carriages, the connection was only suitable for wealthy citizens. From 1905 horses were replaced by omnibuses, which were initially operated privately. After the First World War, the Reichspost took over the route and extended it to Michelstadt . 40 postal workers were employed in the motor vehicle station set up in Lindenfels.

The age of communication began on August 1, 1871, with the opening of a telegraph station in the grand-ducal post office. On September 21, 1899, the next step took place with the commissioning of a "city telephone system connected to a public telephone" of the imperial Oberpostdirektion. A little later, the Bensheim district office confirmed that the 15 participants were "allowed to speak to the telephone facilities in the upper post office districts of Darmstadt, Karlsruhe (Baden), Frankfurt (Main) and Coblenz". In 1909 a manual exchange was set up in the newly built post office . In 1939 about 700 main lines were counted in Bensheim and from 1960 there were no more “ Misses from Office ” when the self-election procedure was switched over.

The first steam engine ran in 1874 at the Guntrum brewery founded in 1859 and a little later at the Euler paper mill , while the first steam engine was operated in Darmstadt in 1832. The Guntrum brewery existed until 1987 and the Eulersche paper factory until 2008. In 1887, when the gasworks went into operation, Bensheim received its first supply of modern energy. In 1892, 120 gas lanterns were used as street lighting for the people of Bensheim. This type of street lighting has been practiced in major European cities for decades, for example in London since 1814, in Frankfurt since 1828 and in Darmstadt since 1853. There were street signs from 1873. In 1896, the region's first power station was built in what is now Auerbach , from which Bensheim was subsequently also supplied with electricity. Further infrastructure improvements were reported for 1900, so near Worms both the Ernst Ludwig Bridge for road traffic and the railway bridge over the Rhine were opened to traffic.

Map of the Grand Duchy of Hesse from 1832 to 1850 with Bensheim and some of the current districts
Synagogue of Bensheim around 1900

The population and cadastral lists recorded in December 1852 showed for Bensheim: “5104 inhabitants in 500 apartments. Among them are about 350 Protestant and 150 Jews, all the rest are Catholic. In addition to the church built by Moller and Opfermann between 1825 and 1830, the Catholics have 3 others in use: the monastery church, now the school seminary church, the hospital church in the suburbs and the church in front of the city in the cemetery. There is a prayer room for Protestant worship, in which the Protestants from the neighboring Catholic towns also meet. There is also a synagogue. ”The town includes:“ 600 acres of vineyards, 4200 acres of arable land, 3300 acres of forest and 1300 acres of meadows. Of farmland, the Treasury has 164 acres, the nobles with churches and funds 184 acres, the city 744 acres. Private 2500 acres. ”It was also noted:“ The majority of the residents are engaged in agriculture and viticulture […] Among the trades, the tanneries and leather factories are particularly noteworthy. The weekly markets and 4 annual markets are very important for Bensheim. "

In the statistics of the Grand Duchy of Hesse, based on December 1867, Bensheim has its own mayor's office, 590 houses, 4706 inhabitants, the district of Bensheim, the district court of Zwingenberg, the Protestant parish of Bensheim of the Deanery Zwingenberg and the Catholic parish of Bensheim of the Deanery Bensheim. The mayor's office also acquired the beer mill (one house, 15 pop.), The Hahnmühle (two houses, 8 pop.), The millet or mother god's mill (one house, 19 pop.), The bar or Hanenwald mill (one House, 17 inh.), The Falkenhof with mill (one house, 10 inh.) And the paper mill (one house, 6 in.).

In 1868 and 1873, parts of the old town were destroyed by fires. On June 17, 1868, a fire broke out in Hasengasse, which caused 35 buildings to burn down due to the dense development. The Bergstrasse Anzeiger reported: "From Auerbach, Zell, Heppenheim, Lorsch, Schönberg and Zwingenberg fire engines and crews have arrived". On the night of September 7th to 8th, 1873, another fire broke out from which the Raabviertel was badly affected. Here, too, the development was very dense and strong winds intensified the flames, so that in the end 42 houses, 13 barns and many outbuildings lay in rubble in ashes. An aid committee deeply raised donations for the mostly poor homeless families and the authorities made 1500 guilders available. The prince and princess of Hesse “had the grace to contribute 400 guilders”.

In the last decades of the end of the 19th century until the beginning of the First World War , brisk building activity developed in Bensheim through the upper middle class in the region. Manufacturers and business people use the prominent residential area on Bergstrasse, which is close to the state capital Darmstadt, to combine living culture and business life and have villas built. This is how the villa areas " North of the old town ", " Schönberger Tal " and others , which are now under monument protection, were created . Many of the designs come from Heinrich Metzendorf , who decisively shaped the style of the time.

From 1898 there was a regular garbage disposal, from 1903 a municipal sewer system.

The numbers of emigrants show that the times were also marked by a lot of poverty. From 1881 to 1900, 529,875 German emigrants were counted. At the beginning of the 20th century, with the industrial and manual development of Bensheim, new districts were created west of the Main-Neckar railway line . They got their names from the world political events of that time: "Port Arthur" from the Port Arthur fortress, which was heavily fought over in the Russo-Japanese War in 1905 and "Morocco", probably after the Rif War, also the Second Moroccan War, a military conflict from 1921 to 1926 between the Rifkabylen under Mohammed Abd al-Karim and Spain. The Rifkabylen are a Berber tribe (Kabylen) in Morocco living on the Rifatlas and on the Tangier coast. The “Port Arthur” district even celebrated its own “ curb ”, a tradition that, unlike the surrounding communities in Bensheim, did not exist before. However, the "Port Arthur-Curb" had no ecclesiastical background, but pure folk festival character. The “ Syenitwerk Kreuzer” and “Sägewerk Lange & Schachner” companies, which are important for Bensheim, were located in the new districts, also known as “industrial suburbs”, near the freight station . The freight yard was also used to load the huge rolls of paper from the Euler factory and to unload coal and chilli nitrate .

At the beginning of April 1902, Bensheim received its first bathing establishment. The municipal swimming pool was planned by Professor Heinrich Metzendorf in the Art Nouveau style and the paper manufacturer and member of the state parliament, Kommerzienrat Wilhelm Euler, was chairman of the bathing committee. The “time division” had to be strictly adhered to, because “men and boys as well as women and girls had the wet pleasure - at 22 degrees water temperature - to enjoy strictly separately”. The entrance fee was 6 marks for season tickets and 30 pfennigs for single tickets. On July 31, 1909, an airship was seen for the first time over Bensheim . The Zeppelin Z.II flew over on its journey from Friedrichshafen , where the Graf Zeppelin built his airships, via Ulm, Esslingen, Heilbronn and Heidelberg to Frankfurt am Main, where it took part in the first international airship exhibition on the Rebstock site . The airship over Bensheim was followed with great enthusiasm by the population and even the church bells rang. The airship pioneer Graf Zeppelin was on board and traveled to the exhibition. A few months later, he founded the world's first airline, the "Deutsche Luftschifffahrt-Aktiengesellschaft" ( DELAG ).

Time of world wars

On August 1, 1914, the First World War broke out, which put an end to the positive economic development in Bensheim as in the whole of the German Empire . When the armistice was signed on November 11, 1918 after the German defeat, Bensheim also had many casualties to mourn, while the war cost a total of around 17 million human victims.

The end of the German Empire was thus sealed, and the troubled times of the Weimar Republic followed. In 1918 the Grand Duke was deposed and the People's State of Hesse was formed from the Grand Duchy of Hesse . In the period from 1921 to 1930, there were 566,500 emigrants in Germany who tried to escape the difficult conditions in Germany. On April 28, 1928, the Bergstrasse was hit by a catastrophic storm, nobody in the affected area could remember anything similar. "Bensheim, Auerbach, Zell, the Ried and above all Zwingenberg offered a picture of devastation". Thunderstorms and hail destroyed the hope of a harvest and masses of water rolled from the slopes of the mountain road into the affected places. “Nibelungenstrasse in the Kalkgasse area was filled in half a meter high; Water and mud penetrated through the entire city center towards Winkelbach. ”Some companies such as the Eulersche paper mill were badly affected.

When the National Socialists came to power on January 30, 1933, the Weimar Republic ended and the National Socialist dictatorship began. In the spring of 1933, Adolf Hitler made May 1st a public holiday under the name “ National Labor Day ”. In this way, a union demand was met by the government of all people, which the unions strictly rejected. The unions called for participation in the May events, as they felt they were the initiators of the May idea. The official program was already heavily influenced by the National Socialists: “6 o'clock wake up by the SA bands. 8 a.m. flag hoisting in the factories, march to the parade ground, 9 a.m. transmission of the rally from the pleasure garden in Berlin to the public squares of the cities. 10.45 am State act of the Hessian government (...), reception of a workers delegation from the three Hessian provinces. (...) Common chant of the 'Song of the Workers'. (...) 7.30 a.m. Transmission from Tempelhofer Feld, Berlin: Manifesto of Reich Chancellor Adolf Hitler, 'The first year of the four-year plan'. Then light music and German dance. 12 noon: Broadcast of the speech by Prime Minister Hermann Göring. (...) Former Marxist singing, gymnastics and sports clubs can take part in the parades, but carry Marxist flags or symbols with you. ”One day later, the unions were smashed by the NSDAP:“ The Marxist leaders who have been in protective custody since then The 3 million account of the former Reichstag President Löbe blocked - the rights of the workers secured - the buildings of the free trade unions occupied ”, was the headline of the newspapers, which had already been harmonized throughout the Reich.

In Hesse, on July 3, 1933, the "Law for the implementation of field clearing for the purpose of creating jobs in the course of the redevelopment " was passed. In 13 municipalities in the Starkenburg province, including Bensheim, the field clearing procedure was ordered over an area of ​​200,000 ha. On March 20, 1935, Hitler visited Bensheim.

The Hessian provinces of Starkenburg, Rheinhessen and Upper Hesse were abolished in 1937 after the provincial and district assemblies were dissolved in 1936. On November 1, 1938, a comprehensive regional reform came into force at the district level. In the former province of Starkenburg, the Bensheim district was particularly affected, as it was dissolved and most of it was added to the Heppenheim district. The district of Heppenheim also took over the legal successor to the district of Bensheim and was given the new name Landkreis Bergstrasse . As compensation for the lost district seat, Bensheim received the district leadership of the NSDAP .

In November 1938 the so-called Reichskristallnacht brought hardship and misery to the Jewish fellow citizens. The synagogue in Bensheim was burned down and the homes and businesses of Jewish families were devastated. Since 1933, part of the Jewish community, which at that time consisted of 160 people, had moved away as a result of increasing reprisals, or around 50 of them emigrated to the USA. By 1942 at the latest, the last people of Jewish descent still living in Bensheim were deported to extermination camps. Of the people born in Bensheim or who lived here for a long time, 88 died as a result of the Nazi tyranny

On April 1, 1939, Auerbach, Schönberg and Zell were incorporated and the number of inhabitants increased to almost 16,500 at that time. In Auerbach there was a branch of the Natzweiler-Struthof concentration camp .

Soldiers of the 180th Infantry Regiment of the 45th Division of the US Army marched into Bensheim on March 27, 1945. In the center of the picture is 64-year-old Anna Mix, stunned, looking at the ruins of her sister's house on Hauptstrasse.
Memorial stone to the massacre of March 24, 1945

On September 1, 1939, when German troops marched into Poland, the Second World War began , the effects of which were even more dramatic than the First World War and the number of victims estimated at 60 to 70 million people. From 1944 onwards, the increased air war against Germany was also felt in Bensheim. Large aviation associations flew over the city in their attacks on the surrounding industrial cities of Ludwigshafen, Mannheim or Worms. Bensheim remains spared from bomb attacks. In that year, work in the fields became life-threatening due to the continued low-flying attacks. Nobody was safe on the train or on the streets either.

In the final phase of the Second World War in Europe, the American units reached the Rhine between Mainz and Mannheim in mid-March 1945. The bridgeheads on the left bank of the Rhine could not be held by the weak German forces, which led to the demolition of the Rhine bridges at Worms, Nordheim and Gernsheim on March 20. The remnants of the German 7th Army, which had withdrawn to the right bank of the Rhine, had to leave almost all of their heavy equipment such as tanks and artillery behind, which made a continuation of the fighting with the absolute air dominance of the Americans and the lack of any German reserves actually completely pointless. On the American side, the primary goal was now to avoid further losses, which led to the massive use of artillery, tanks and aircraft, even without precise knowledge of a possible resistance, on all cities and villages to be captured. If the advancing forces encountered resistance, there was an immediate retreat and massive use of the air force and artillery. On March 22nd, the 3rd US Army crossed the Rhine near Oppenheim and occupied Darmstadt on March 25th. From the American point of view, this made it necessary for the neighboring US 7th Army to move up quickly to secure its flanks. In preparation for their crossing of the Rhine, most of the Ried communities were shelled by American artillery on March 25th and on the night of March 26th. In all affected communities people were killed and property damage was caused to buildings.

On March 26, 1945, American troops crossed the Rhine near Hamm and advanced to Einhausen on the same day . The next day they occupied Lorsch, Bensheim and Heppenheim. Three days before the American invasion, on March 24, 1945, 12 prisoners and two American prisoners of war were murdered by the Gestapo on Kirchberg in the garden of the Gestapo headquarters. On March 26th, American fighter-bombers were shot at from Kirchberg and Hohberg, whereupon they dropped high-explosive and phosphorus bombs that left part of the old town in ruins, including the parish church of St. George and the town hall. The American Army reached Bensheim on March 27th via Schwanheim, where eight civilians were killed and several houses were destroyed by artillery fire. A day later, Aschaffenburg am Main and the western and northern parts of the Odenwald were occupied. As a liaison officer for counter-espionage , Henry Kissinger was the most important representative of the occupying power after the official city commandant. The war in Europe ended with the unconditional surrender of all German troops, which came into effect on May 8, 1945 at 11:01 p.m. Central European Time.

Post-war and present

After the end of the Second World War in 1945, a DP camp was set up in Bensheim , initially for Polish former forced laborers and later for Jewish “ displaced persons ”. The camp was disbanded in April 1949.

In the first free election after the National Socialist dictatorship, the new city council was elected in early 1946. The CDU with its mayoral candidate Joseph Treffert received the most votes (15 seats) followed by the SPD with 9 seats. The turnout today was an imaginable 89%. On February 15, 1946, the new city council met for the first time. The main topic was the reconstruction of the inner city, which was destroyed by bombs at the end of the war. Since building material was extremely difficult to obtain in all of Germany, it was decided to manufacture field fire bricks in-house . Coal should provide the energy necessary for production. Ten wagons of coal were estimated for the production of the first million bricks and a daily output of 3000 pieces was planned.

In 1961 the size of the district was given as 3941  ha , of which 700 ha were forest. In September 1969 the Bensheim volunteer fire brigade organized the first Hessian fire brigade day .

In the course of the territorial reform in Hesse , the previously independent communities Langwaden , Schwanheim (on February 1, 1971), Fehlheim (on July 1, 1971), Gronau and Hochstädten and the Wilmshausen district of the community of Elmshausen (on December 31, 1971) became part of the community incorporated into the city of Bensheim on a voluntary basis . This increased the population from 26,418 to 32,605 (as of June 30, 1976)

For all formerly independent communities as well as for the core city, local districts with local advisory council and local councilor were formed according to the Hessian municipal code.

From 1859 to 1987, the Guntrum Bräu Bensheim brewery was located on Nibelungenstrasse in the direction of Schönberg . In 1979 the brewery was taken over by Binding Bier Mainz, closed in 1987 and demolished. Today there are several residential buildings, the Guntrum galleries, on the former premises of the brewery.

At the beginning of December 1991 the central bus station east of the station was inaugurated. The underpass between the pedestrian zone and the train station was also implemented and 200 parking spaces for Park & ​​Ride were created under the bus station. 4 million marks were built for the project, plus another 6.5 million for the underground car park and 1.3 million for utilities. The redesign of the station forecourt was not without controversy, so the Green List expressed its "medium horror" about the "gigantomania in concrete as far as the eye can see". Also in the run-up to the project there was resistance to the removal of the war memorial, the felling of the old chestnut trees and the demolition of the “tea room Obolus”, which was even occupied by young people.

In 1976 and 2014 , Bensheim hosted the Hessentag . In 2014 over 1.3 million visitors came to the ten-day event.

Territorial history and administration

The following list gives an overview of the territories in which Bensheim was located and the administrative units to which it was subordinate:

literature

  • Diether Blüm : If stones could tell ... the publisher of the weekly newspaper “Der Bensemer”.
  • Wilhelm Weyrauch : The early Bensheim - lectures and essays on the development history of the city - with numerous historical images. VVB Laufersweiler Verlag, Giessen 2004.
  • Manfred Berg: Experience Bensheim - A guide to the historical sights . Edition Diesbach, Weinheim 2nd edition 2004, ISBN 3-936468-02-8 .
  • History workshop Geschwister Scholl (Ed.) Under the direction of v. Schäfer, Franz Josef and Lotz, Peter: History of the Bensheim Jews in the 20th century. With memories and reflections by Hans Sternheim. Foreword: Minister of Education Karin Wolff. Weinheim 2004, 343 pages DIN A4, ISBN 978-3-00-013826-3 .
  • History workshop Geschwister Scholl (Ed.) Under the direction of v. Schäfer, Franz Josef and Lotz, Peter: Jakob Kindinger - A political life. Druckhaus Diesbach GmbH, Weinheim 2006, ISBN 3-00-018379-5 .
  • Reiner Maaß and Manfred Berg (eds.): Bensheim - traces of history. Edition Diesbach, Weinheim 2006, ISBN 3-936468-31-1 , ISBN 978-3-936468-31-1 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ permanent exhibition. In: www.stadtkultur-bensheim.de. Museum of the City of Bensheim, accessed December 2019 .
  2. ↑ Minst, Karl Josef [transl.]: Lorscher Codex (Volume 2), Certificate 232 April 20, 765 - Reg. 3. In: Heidelberger historical stocks - digital. Heidelberg University Library, pp. 43, 44 , accessed on January 23, 2016 .
  3. ↑ Regests of the city of Heppenheim and Starkenburg Castle until the end of Kurmainzer rule (755 to 1461) . No. 5a ( digital view [PDF; 2.0 MB ] Compiled and commented on by Torsten Wondrejz on behalf of the Heppenheim City Archives).
  4. ↑ the date of the foundation of Bensheim presumed by Karl Härter ("Bishop Basinus (Basin), between the years 697/698 and around 705 Bishop of Trier, belonged to this clan [" the Lampertiner / Wideonen "] and" was possibly the founder of Basinsheim " Härter dated the founding date to around 700. " Bergsträßer Anzeiger from May 12, 2014 )
  5. ↑ a b c d Bensheim, Bergstrasse district. Historical local dictionary for Hessen. (As of October 16, 2018). In: Landesgeschichtliches Informationssystem Hessen (LAGIS).
  6. ↑ Law on the Conditions of the Class Lords and Noble Court Lords of August 7, 1848 . In: Grand Duke of Hesse (ed.): Grand Ducal Hessian Government Gazette. 1848 no. 40 , p. 237–241 ( online at the information system of the Hessian state parliament [PDF; 42,9 MB ]).
  7. ^ Ordinance on the division of the Grand Duchy into circles of May 12, 1852 . In: Grand Ducal Hessian Ministry of the Interior (ed.): Grand Ducal Hessian Government Gazette 1852 No. 30 . S. 224–229 ( online at the Bavarian State Library digital [PDF]).
  8. ↑ Headlines from Bensheim on the 175th anniversary of the "Bergsträßer Anzeiger" 2007. (PDF; 8.61 MB) The Post - a long success story. (No longer available online.) P. 95 , archived from the original on October 5, 2016 ; accessed on December 28, 2014 .
  9. ^ Johann Konrad Dahl: Historical-topographical-statistical description of the principality of Lorsch or church history of the Upper Rhinegau . Darmstadt 1812, OCLC 162251605 , p. 11 ( online at google books ).
  10. ^ The German railway lines in their development 1835-1935. Berlin 1935 = manual of the German railway lines. ND Mainz 1984, p. 19f (No. 7).
  11. ↑ Headlines from Bensheim on the 175th anniversary of the "Bergsträßer Anzeiger" 2007. May n-Neckar-Bahn brings "progress". P. 3
  12. ↑ Headlines from Bensheim on the 175th anniversary of the "Bergsträßer Anzeiger" 2007: "A personal post for the well-off", p. 11
  13. ↑ Headlines from Bensheim on the 175th anniversary of the "Bergsträßer Anzeiger" 2007: "Telegraph und Fernsprecher", p. 13
  14. ↑ Headlines from Bensheim on the 175th anniversary of the "Bergsträßer Anzeiger" 2007: "City of Hops and Beer", p. 20
  15. ↑ Headlines from Bensheim on the 175th anniversary of the "Bergsträßer Anzeiger" 2007: "A light goes on for the people of Bensheim", p. 4
  16. ↑ Erika Ertl: "Back then in Bensheim and elsewhere" 1995, p. 15
  17. ↑ Headlines from Bensheim on the 175th anniversary of the "Bergsträßer Anzeiger" 2007: "Electricity works founded in Auerbach", p. 7
  18. ↑ a b Timetable from the Biblis community , accessed on June 25, 2014
  19. ^ Ph. AF Walther : The Grand Duchy of Hessen: according to history, country, people, state and locality . G. Jonghaus, Darmstadt 1854, DNB  730150224 , OCLC 866461332 , p. 289 ( online at google books ).
  20. ^ Ph. AF Walther : Alphabetical index of the residential places in the Grand Duchy of Hesse . G. Jonghaus, Darmstadt 1869, OCLC 162355422 , p. 12 ( online at google books ).
  21. ↑ Headlines from Bensheim on the 175th anniversary of the “Bergsträßer Anzeiger” 2007: “Parts of the city in ruins”, p. 47
  22. ↑ Erika Ertl: "Back then in Bensheim and elsewhere" 1995, p. 15
  23. ↑ Headlines from Bensheim on the 175th anniversary of the "Bergsträßer Anzeiger" 2007: "Port Arthur" and "Morocco", p. 54
  24. ↑ Headlines from Bensheim on the 175th anniversary of the "Bergsträßer Anzeiger" 2007: "Swimming pool - a pearl of Art Nouveau", p. 69
  25. ↑ Headlines from Bensheim on the 175th anniversary of the "Bergsträßer Anzeiger" 2007: "First Zeppelin over Bensheim", p. 85
  26. ↑ Headlines from Bensheim on the 175th anniversary of the "Bergsträßer Anzeiger" 2007: "Die Bergstrasse - ein Trümmerfeld", p. 64
  27. ↑ Headlines from Bensheim on the 175th anniversary of the "Bergsträßer Anzeiger" 2007: "Frisches Birkengrün, wehende Fahnen", p. 66
  28. ↑ Timeline of the community of Biblis. (1900-1944). Biblis parish, accessed December 15, 2014 .
  29. ^ Hitler in Bensheim, March 20, 1935. Historical photo documents from Hesse. (As of April 20, 2011). In: Landesgeschichtliches Informationssystem Hessen (LAGIS).
  30. ↑ Headlines from Bensheim on the 175th anniversary of the "Bergsträßer Anzeiger". "The creation of the Bergstrasse district". P. 109
  31. ^ History of the Jewish community in Bensheim. In: Alemannia Judaica. Accessed December 2019 .
  32. ^ Troops moving through Bensheim 1945, March 27, 1945. Historical photo documents from Hesse. (As of March 11, 2011). In: Landesgeschichtliches Informationssystem Hessen (LAGIS).
  33. ^ Bensheim, Gestapo office. Topography of National Socialism in Hesse. (As of February 14, 2011). In: Landesgeschichtliches Informationssystem Hessen (LAGIS).
  34. ↑ Frank Falla Archive: Bensheim Gestapo prison (English).
  35. ↑ Series of articles in the Bergstrasse Gazette from 2005 about the end of the war on Bergstrasse. Bergstrasse and Bensheim. (No longer available online.) Bergsträßer Anzeiger, archived from the original ; Retrieved December 20, 2014 .
  36. ↑ Headlines from Bensheim on the 175th anniversary of the "Bergsträßer Anzeiger". “Last days of the war and US invasion.” P. 36
  37. ↑ Headlines from Bensheim on the 175th anniversary of the "Bergsträßer Anzeiger" 2007. "Uprooted to transit station". P. 101
  38. ↑ Bensheim ( memento of October 10, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum , accessed on March 15, 2012 (in English)
  39. ↑ Headlines from Bensheim on the 175th anniversary of the “Bergsträßer Anzeiger” 2007: “The first choice after the dictatorship”, p. 72
  40. ^ Landesfeuerwehrverband Hessen (Hrsg.): All the strength of the fire brigade! - 50 years of the State Fire Brigade Association of Hesse . Kassel 2004, ISBN 3-927006-48-3 , p. 128 .
  41. ^ Municipal reform: mergers and integration of municipalities from January 20, 1971 . In: The Hessian Minister of the Interior (ed.): State Gazette for the State of Hesse. 1971 No. 6 , p. 248 , item 328, paragraph 33 ( online at the information system of the Hessian state parliament [PDF; 6.2 MB ]).
  42. ^ Municipal reform in Hesse: mergers and integrations of municipalities from June 21, 1971 . In: The Hessian Minister of the Interior (ed.): State Gazette for the State of Hesse. 1971 No. 28 , p. 1117 , item 988; Paragraph 23. ( Online at the information system of the Hessian State Parliament [PDF; 5.0 MB ]).
  43. ^ Federal Statistical Office (ed.): Historical municipality directory for the Federal Republic of Germany. Name, border and key number changes in municipalities, counties and administrative districts from May 27, 1970 to December 31, 1982 . W. Kohlhammer, Stuttgart / Mainz 1983, ISBN 3-17-003263-1 , p. 348 f .
  44. ↑ Karl-Heinz Meier barley, Karl Reinhard Hinkel: Hesse. Municipalities and counties after the regional reform. A documentation . Ed .: Hessian Minister of the Interior. Bernecker, Melsungen 1977, DNB  770396321 , OCLC 180532844 , p. 199 .
  45. ↑ main statute. (PDF; 69 kB) § 6. In: Website. City of Bensheim, p. 5 , accessed December 2019 .
  46. ↑ Headlines from Bensheim on the 175th anniversary of the "Bergsträßer Anzeiger" 2007: "Squatting shortly before demolition", p. 72
  47. ^ Michael Rademacher: German administrative history from the unification of the empire in 1871 to the reunification in 1990. State of Hesse. (Online material for the dissertation, Osnabrück 2006).
  48. ^ Grand Ducal Central Office for State Statistics (ed.): Contributions to the statistics of the Grand Duchy of Hesse . tape 1 . Großherzoglicher Staatsverlag, Darmstadt 1862, DNB  013163434 , OCLC 894925483 , p. 43 ff . ( Online at google books ).
  49. ↑ Law on the repeal of the provinces of Starkenburg, Upper Hesse and Rheinhessen from April 1, 1937 . In: The Reichsstatthalter in Hessen Sprengler (Hrsg.): Hessisches Regierungsblatt. 1937 no.  8 , p. 121 ff . ( Online at the information system of the Hessian State Parliament [PDF; 11.2 MB ]).