Ettlingen
Encyclopedia
Ettlingen is a town in 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...

, 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...

, about 8 km (4.97 mi) (5 mi (8.05 km).) south of the city of 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...

. Ettlingen is the second largest town in the district of Karlsruhe
Karlsruhe (district)
Karlsruhe is a rural district in the north-west of Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Neighboring districts are Rhein-Neckar, Heilbronn,Enz, Calw, Rastatt, Germersheim, Rhein-Pfalz-Kreis and the district-free city Speyer...

, after Bruchsal
Bruchsal
Bruchsal is a city at the western edge of the Kraichgau, approximately 20 km northeast of Karlsruhe in the state of Baden-Württemberg, Germany...

.

Geography

Ettlingen is situated at the northern edge of 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 ....

 on the Upper Rhine Plain
Upper Rhine Plain
The Upper Rhine Plain, Rhine Rift Valley or Upper Rhine Graben is a major rift, straddling the border between France and Germany. It forms part of the European Cenozoic Rift System, which extends across central Europe...

. The Alb River
Alb (Northern Black Forest)
The Alb is a river in the northern region of the Black Forest in Germany. It is a tributary of the Rhine, and flows through the cities of Karlsruhe, Ettlingen and Bad Herrenalb.-Geography:...

 arises in the hills of the Black Forest and flows through Ettlingen before emptying into the Rhine at Eggenstein-Leopoldshafen
Eggenstein-Leopoldshafen
Eggenstein-Leopoldshafen/BW is a town of about 15000 inhabitants located in the federal state of Baden-Württemberg in the Federal Republic of Germany. It lies about 12 km north of Karlsruhe and is the site of the northern campus of a research centre Karlsruhe Institute of Technology...

, making Ettlingen a central feature of the Albtal, the Alb Valley. Central Ettlingen and its largest constituent communities (Bruchhausen, Ettlingenweier, Oberweier) lie on the plain itself, but some of the villages (Spessart, Schöllbronn, and Schluttenbach) are nestled among the northernmost foothills of the Black Forest.

Neighboring Communities

The municipality of Ettlingen is bordered by the following communities, clockwise from the north: 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...

, Waldbronn
Waldbronn
Waldbronn is a municipality in the district of Karlsruhe, in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is situated in the northern Black Forest, 11 km southeast of Karlsruhe.-Geography:...

, Karlsbad (Baden)
Karlsbad (Baden)
Karlsbad is an administrative area in the district of Karlsruhe, in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is situated in the northern Black Forest, 13 km southeast of Karlsruhe, and 15 km west of Pforzheim. The largest town in Karlsbad is Langensteinbach, where its administration offices are...

, Marxzell
Marxzell
Marxzell is a municipality in the district of Karlsruhe in Baden-Württemberg in Germany.-Geography:Marxzell is located on the Alb and on the heights of the North Black Forest ....

, Malsch
Malsch
Malsch is a municipality in the district of Karlsruhe, in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is situated 15 km south of Karlsruhe, and 10 km east of Rastatt, at the eastern border of the Upper Rhine Plain....

, and Rheinstetten
Rheinstetten
Rheinstetten is a town in the district of Karlsruhe in Baden-Württemberg. The town is situated 7 km southwest of Karlsruhe. Several people from Karlsruhe live in this Vorort.-Geography:...

, all of which belong to the district of Karlsruhe
Karlsruhe (district)
Karlsruhe is a rural district in the north-west of Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Neighboring districts are Rhein-Neckar, Heilbronn,Enz, Calw, Rastatt, Germersheim, Rhein-Pfalz-Kreis and the district-free city Speyer...

, except for the independent city
Independent city
An independent city is a city that does not form part of another general-purpose local government entity. These type of cities should not be confused with city-states , which are fully sovereign cities that are not part of any other sovereign state.-Historical precursors:In the Holy Roman Empire,...

 of Karlsruhe itself.

Constituent Communities

Since the major communal reforms enacted by Baden-Württemberg in the early 1970s, the municipality of Ettlingen has consisted of the town of Ettlingen itself and the communities of Bruchhausen, Ettlingenweier, Oberweier, Schluttenbach, Schöllbronn, and Spessart.

History

Ettlingen was an important crossroads during Roman times, when the region was part of the province of Germania Superior
Germania Superior
Germania Superior , so called for the reason that it lay upstream of Germania Inferior, was a province of the Roman Empire. It comprised an area of western Switzerland, the French Jura and Alsace regions, and southwestern Germany...

. This is demonstrated by the many artifacts found in the area, including the "Neptune Stone," which commemorates a flood of the Rhine, and the remains of a Roman bath excavated beneath St. Martin's Church. The city was first mentioned in 788 as "Ediningom" in a deed of donation belonging to Wissembourg Abbey
Wissembourg
Wissembourg is a commune in the Bas-Rhin department in Alsace in northeastern France.It is situated on the little River Lauter close to the border between France and Germany approximately north of Strasbourg and west of Karlsruhe. Wissembourg is a sub-prefecture of the department...

 in 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...

 (now in France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

). In 965, the village of Ettlingen ("Ediningom") received market rights (Marktrecht) from Emperor Otto the Great. In 1192, Emperor Henry VI
Henry VI, Holy Roman Emperor
Henry VI was King of Germany from 1190 to 1197, Holy Roman Emperor from 1191 to 1197 and King of Sicily from 1194 to 1197.-Early years:Born in Nijmegen,...

, one of Frederick Barbarossa's
Frederick I, Holy Roman Emperor
Frederick I Barbarossa was a German Holy Roman Emperor. He was elected King of Germany at Frankfurt on 4 March 1152 and crowned in Aachen on 9 March, crowned King of Italy in Pavia in 1155, and finally crowned Roman Emperor by Pope Adrian IV, on 18 June 1155, and two years later in 1157 the term...

 sons. Margrave Herman V of Baden-Baden
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...

 became Ettlingen's feudal lord in 1219. In the following centuries, Ettlingen developed into an important administrative center within the Margraviate of Baden-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....

.
During the Nine Years' War the city was nearly completely burned to the ground by the troops of 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...

, but was nevertheless rebuilt in the following decades under Margravine Sibylle Auguste. After the Catholic line of Baden-Baden died out in 1771, Ettlingen passed to the Protestant Margraviate of Baden-Durlach
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....

, which would become the reunited Margraviate of Baden. In the period of Napoleon's activities in Germany, Margrave Karl Friedrich of Baden was made Elector
Prince-elector
The Prince-electors of the Holy Roman Empire were the members of the electoral college of the Holy Roman Empire, having the function of electing the Roman king or, from the middle of the 16th century onwards, directly the Holy Roman Emperor.The heir-apparent to a prince-elector was known as an...

 in 1806 and Grand Duke
Grand Duke
The title grand duke is used in Western Europe and particularly in Germanic countries for provincial sovereigns. Grand duke is of a protocolary rank below a king but higher than a sovereign duke. Grand duke is also the usual and established translation of grand prince in languages which do not...

 in 1806.

Ettlingen remained an independent city until 1937, when it was incorporated into the administrative unit that would become the district of Karlsruhe
Karlsruhe (district)
Karlsruhe is a rural district in the north-west of Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Neighboring districts are Rhein-Neckar, Heilbronn,Enz, Calw, Rastatt, Germersheim, Rhein-Pfalz-Kreis and the district-free city Speyer...

 in 1939. Ettlingen and its surrounding villages and land has belonged to this district since then.

In 1966, Ettlingen passed the 20,000 population mark and raised to the status of Große Kreisstadt
Große Kreisstadt
Große Kreisstadt is a term in the German municipal law. In some German federal states the term is used as a special legal status for district-affiliated cities or towns with additional competences in comparison with other municipalities or towns of the district. The title is based on souvereign...

by the state government of Baden-Württemberg. During the communal reforms of the early 1970s, several smaller communities were incorporated into Ettlingen, raising the population to over 30,000. Ettlingen's renowned open-air theater series, the Schlossfestspiele first took the stage in the Baroque
Baroque
The Baroque is a period and the style that used exaggerated motion and clear, easily interpreted detail to produce drama, tension, exuberance, and grandeur in sculpture, painting, literature, dance, and music...

 inner courtyard of Ettlingen Palace in 1979.

Religions

Ettlingen was originally a part of the ancient diocese of Speyer
Diocese of Speyer
The Diocese of Speyer is a diocese of the Catholic Church in Germany. The diocese is located in the South of the Rhineland-Palatinate and comprises also the Saarpfalz district in the east of the Saarland. The bishop's see is in the Palatinate city of Speyer.The current bishop is Karl-Heinz...

 and was under the pastoral care of the Archdeacon
Archdeacon
An archdeacon is a senior clergy position in Anglicanism, Syrian Malabar Nasrani, Chaldean Catholic, and some other Christian denominations, above that of most clergy and below a bishop. In the High Middle Ages it was the most senior diocesan position below a bishop in the Roman Catholic Church...

 of St. German and Moritz in Speyer
Speyer
Speyer is a city of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany with approximately 50,000 inhabitants. Located beside the river Rhine, Speyer is 25 km south of Ludwigshafen and Mannheim. Founded by the Romans, it is one of Germany's oldest cities...

. The town originally belonged to the deanery
Deanery
A Deanery is an ecclesiastical entity in both the Roman Catholic Church and the Church of England. A deanery is either the jurisdiction or residence of a Dean.- Catholic usage :...

 of Durlach but was itself made archdiaconate in the 16th century. The Reformation
Reformation
- Movements :* Protestant Reformation, an attempt by Martin Luther to reform the Roman Catholic Church that resulted in a schism, and grew into a wider movement...

 made gains in Ettlingen as early as 1520, but because the city belonged to the Catholic line of Baden-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...

, much of the town retained Roman Catholicism; starting in 1624, the Jesuits played an active role in the re-Catholicization of the population. By the beginning of the 19th century, Protestants were a small minority.

During the period of secularization
German Mediatisation
The German Mediatisation was the series of mediatisations and secularisations that occurred in Germany between 1795 and 1814, during the latter part of the era of the French Revolution and then the Napoleonic Era....

 following the dissolution 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...

, Ettlingen was part of the ordinariate of Bruchsal
Bruchsal
Bruchsal is a city at the western edge of the Kraichgau, approximately 20 km northeast of Karlsruhe in the state of Baden-Württemberg, Germany...

. In 1821 it became part of the newly-founded 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...

, and the town was made the seat of a deanery, which included not only the parishes within Ettlingen proper, but also those in surrounding villages and neighboring municipalities. Today, Ettlingen belongs to the deanery of 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...

, with the various parishes organized into pastoral units (Seelsorgeeinheiten). These include Ettlingen City, with the parishes Herz Jesu (Sacred Heart), Liebfrauen (Our Lady), and St. Martin's, the town's oldest church; Ettlingen South, with St. Dionysius' in Ettlingenweier, St. Wendelin's in Oberweier, and St. Joseph's in Bruchhausen; and Ettlingen Heights, with St. George's in Völkersbach, St. Boniface's in Schöllbronn, and St. Anthony's in Spessart, although Völkersbach belongs politically to the municipality of Malsch
Malsch
Malsch is a municipality in the district of Karlsruhe, in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is situated 15 km south of Karlsruhe, and 10 km east of Rastatt, at the eastern border of the Upper Rhine Plain....

.

Jewish
Judaism
Judaism ) is the "religion, philosophy, and way of life" of the Jewish people...

 families have been living in Ettlingen since at least the 17th century. They lived primarily in Färbergasse ('Dyers' Alley), which was formerly known as "Judengasse" (Jews' Alley). Ettlingen's first 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...

 was built on Albstraße in 1849, only to be torn down again when a new synagogue was built on Pforzheimerstraße and dedicated in 1889. The "New Synagogue" was itself destroyed during the infamous 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...

pogrom of November 1938. Most of the remaining Jewish citizens of Ettlingen were deported soon thereafter.

Protestants
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...

 (Lutherans
Lutheranism
Lutheranism is a major branch of Western Christianity that identifies with the theology of Martin Luther, a German reformer. Luther's efforts to reform the theology and practice of the church launched the Protestant Reformation...

), most of whom had moved to Ettlingen since the early 19th century, were first administered from Rüppurr
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...

, but in 1848 they received their own clergyman, and in 1869 their own parish (Johannesgemeinde - Congregation of St. John), which soon got its own church, the oldest Protestant church in Ettlingen. The Johannesgemeinde belonged to the city deanery of Karlsruhe at first, but was later transferred over to the deanery of Alb-Pfinz with its seat in Pfinztal
Pfinztal
Pfinztal is a municipality in the district Karlsruhe, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It municipality consists of the villages Wöschbach, Berghausen, Söllingen and Kleinsteinbach, which were merged to one municipality in 1974....

. The congregation continued to grow and was eventually divided in 1951, creating the Paulusgemeinde (Congregation of St. Paul). The Paulusgemeinde had a parish hall built in 1953, adding a bell tower in 1965. The Paulusgemeinde was itself split up in 1972 to create the Luthergemeinde (Luther Congregation), which caters to the Protestants of Ettlingen West, Bruchhausen, Ettlingenweier, and Oberweier. From 1969 to 2003, Ettlingen was the seat of the Evangelical (Lutheran) Church in Baden's
Evangelical Church in Germany
The Evangelical Church in Germany is a federation of 22 Lutheran, Unified and Reformed Protestant regional church bodies in Germany. The EKD is not a church in a theological understanding because of the denominational differences. However, the member churches share full pulpit and altar...

 district of Central Baden. However, in the wake of efforts to save money, this district was dissolved and Ettlingen incorporated into the district of North Baden.

Alongside the two major churches, there are also a few free churches and congregations, including a Free Evangelical
International Federation of Free Evangelical Churches
International Federation of Free Evangelical Churches is a worldwide federation of 42 national federations of evangelical free churches. The member federations predominantly originate from Europe and the Americas...

 congregation and the Liebenzell Congregation. The Jehovah's Witnesses
Jehovah's Witnesses
Jehovah'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...

, the New Apostolic Church
New Apostolic Church
The New Apostolic Church is a chiliastic church, converted to Protestantism as a free church from the Catholic Apostolic Church. The church has existed since 1879 in Germany and since 1897 in the Netherlands...

, and a small Jewish community are also represented in Ettlingen.

Sister cities

Ettlingen is a sister city of: Épernay
Épernay
Épernay is a commune in the Marne department in northern France. Épernay is located some 130 km north-east of Paris on the main line of the Eastern railway to Strasbourg...

, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

, since 1953 Middelkerke
Middelkerke
Middelkerke is a municipality located in the Belgian province of West Flanders, on the North Sea, west of Ostend. The municipality comprises the towns of Leffinge, Lombardsijde, Mannekensvere, Middelkerke proper, Schore, Sint-Pieters-Kapelle, Slijpe, Westende and Wilskerke. On January 1, 2006...

, Belgium
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...

, since 1971 Clevedon
Clevedon
Clevedon is a town and civil parish in the unitary authority of North Somerset, which covers part of the ceremonial county of Somerset, England...

, United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

, since 1980 Löbau
Lobau
The Lobau is a Vienna floodplain on the northern side of the Danube and partly in Großenzersdorf, Lower Austria. It has been part of the Danube-Auen National Park since 1996 and has been a protected area since 1978. It is used as a recreational area and is known as a site of nudism. There is...

, Saxony
Saxony
The Free State of Saxony is a landlocked state of Germany, contingent with Brandenburg, Saxony Anhalt, Thuringia, Bavaria, the Czech Republic and Poland. It is the tenth-largest German state in area, with of Germany's sixteen states....

, since 1990 Gatchina
Gatchina
Gatchina is a town and the administrative center of Gatchinsky District of Leningrad Oblast, Russia, located south of St. Petersburg by the road leading to Pskov...

, Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

, since 1992 Menfi
Menfi
Menfi is a comune in the Province of Agrigento in the Italian region Sicily, located about 70 km southwest of Palermo and about 60 km northwest of Agrigento....

, Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

, since 2007

Rheinland Kaserne

Ettlingen is the location of Rheinland Kaserne. Formerly a German Army base, for many years after World War II Rheinland Kaserne was the home of several U.S. Army units and many Americans who remember Ettlingen fondly. In the mid-nineties, the U.S. Army handed the kaserne back over to Germany. The kaserne is now home to a private school, medical offices, new housing and the Kulisse movie theater.

One of the U.S. Army units which called Rheinland Kaserne home was the 78th Engineer Battalion, then the 44th Signal Battalion.

Public transport

Trains on lines S1 and S11 of the Stadtbahn Karlsruhe
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...

 stop at the Erbprinz Hotel, Wasen and at the Ettlingen Stadt station. These lines operated over the Albtalbahn, an electric railway that links 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...

 to Bad Herrenalb
Bad Herrenalb
Bad Herrenalb is a municipality in the district of Calw, in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is situated in the northern Black Forest, 15 km east of Baden-Baden, and 22 km southwest of Pforzheim....

 (S1) and Ittersbach (S11).

External links

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