Bad Dürkheim
Encyclopedia
Bad Dürkheim is a spa town
in the Rhine-Neckar urban agglomeration, and is the seat of the Bad Dürkheim
district in Rhineland-Palatinate
, Germany
.
and just under 20 km west of Ludwigshafen and Mannheim
. Roughly 15 km to the south lies Neustadt an der Weinstraße
. In Bad Dürkheim, Bundesstraße
n 37 and 271 cross each other. From west to east through the town flows the river Isenach.
in Bad Dürkheim amounts to 574 mm, which is low, falling into the lowest fourth of the precipitation chart for all Germany. Only at 16% of the German Weather Service’s weather stations are even lower figures recorded. The driest month is February. The most rainfall comes in May. In that month, precipitation is 1.6 times what it is in February. Precipitation varies little. At only 1% of the weather stations are lower seasonal swings recorded.
On 1 June 778, the town had its first documentary mention in the Lorsch codex
as Turnesheim. A letter of enfeoffment from the Bishop of Speyer
in 946 dealt with Thuringeheim. About 1025, building work on Limburg Abbey, nowadays preserved only as ruins, was begun.
Town rights were granted on 1 January 1360, but were withdrawn again in 1471 after Elector Friedrich the Victorious of the Palatinate
conquered the town and wrought considerable destruction. After the slow reconstruction, Dürkheim passed to the Counts of Leiningen in 1554.
In 1689, the town was almost utterly destroyed when French
troops in the Nine Years' War (known in Germany as the Pfälzischer Erbfolgekrieg, or War of the Palatine Succession) carried out a scorched-earth campaign in Electoral Palatinate. This time, though, reconstruction was swifter, leading to Count Johann Friedrich of Leiningen granting Dürkheim town rights once more as early as 1700.
In the late 18th century, as the French Revolution
was beginning to spread into southwest Germany, Dürkheim, as the Canton of Durkheim (without the umlaut), became part of the Department of Mont-Tonnerre
(or Donnersberg in German
). After the Napoleonic Wars
, it ended up along with the rest of Electoral Palatinate’s territory on the Rhine’s left bank in the Kingdom of Bavaria
.
For its seven mineral spring
s, Dürkheim was given the epithet Solbad (“brine
bath”), and in 1904 it was given leave to change its name to Bad Dürkheim (Bad is German for “bath”, and a place may only bear this epithet on state recognition of its status as a spa town). In 1913, the Rhein-Haardtbahn (a narrow-gauge
tram
way) was opened, linking Bad Dürkheim with Ludwigshafen and Mannheim
.
In 1935, Grethen, Hausen and Seebach were amalgamated.
After 1933 the number of Jews in Bad Dürkheim reduced drastically, due to the economic boycott, constantly increasing repression and dehumanization (1933: 184, 1937: 98, 1938: 40). During the Night of Broken Glass in 1938, the synagoge was plundered. The 19 Jews still surviving here in 1940 were deported to the concentration camp Gurs in October of that year.
On 18 March 1945, Bad Dürkheim was badly stricken by an Allied
air raid in which more than 300 people lost their lives.
In Rhineland-Palatinate
’s administrative reform, Hardenburg and Leistadt were amalgamated with Bad Dürkheim on 7 June 1969, as was Ungstein along with its outlying hamlet
of Pfeffingen on 22 April 1972. Moreover, the town, having belonged to the old district of Neustadt an der Weinstraße, became the district seat of the newly formed district of Bad Dürkheim
and also lay in the likewise newly formed Regierungsbezirk
of Rheinhessen-Pfalz
, which would later be abolished in 2000.
, 25.3% Catholic, and 12% had no religion. The rest belonged to other faiths.
The municipal election held on 7 June 2009 yielded the following results:
On town council, the CDU, the FDP
and the Greens
form a coalition
, making Bad Dürkheim the only town in Germany governed by a so-called Jamaica coalition. This special arrangement was concluded in 1999 after the SPD
lost its majority. It has been twice extended by five years after municipal elections in 2004 and 2009.
The town’s arms
might in English heraldic
language be described thus: Argent a wall brace (hinge) sable.
The arms go back to a court seal from 1405, which itself was a reference to the arms borne by the Lords of Dürkheim.
Between 1540 and 1776, the arms featured a cross and a crozier above the escutcheon, indicating Limburg Abbey's ownership of the town.
, Saône-et-Loire
, France
Wells
, Somerset
, England
, United Kingdom
Kluczbork
, Opole Voivodeship
, Poland
Kempten im Allgäu
, Bavaria
Bad Berka
, Thuringia
(sponsorship) Michelstadt
, Hesse
(town friendship) Emmaus
, Pennsylvania
, USA
(town friendship)
’s ruins. In the 9th century, the Salian Dukes
from Worms
built a fortress on the Linthberg as their family seat. In the early 11th century, the fortress was converted into a monastery
with a basilica
. It existed until the mid 16th century.
Above the like-named constituent community are spread the castle
ruins of Hardenburg. Beginning in the 13th century, the castle was the seat of the Counts of Leiningen, but was built in its current shape only in the 16th century. It was destroyed once and for all in the late 18th century.
Catholic Parish Church (Ludwigskirche) was built in 1828 and 1829 in the Classicist
style. The plans were inspired by a master builder from Baden
named Weinbrenner. The building work was backed and financially supported by King Ludwig I of Bavaria
(Bad Dürkheim was part of Bavaria’s Palatine exclave at the time).
The Protestant
Castle Church (Schlosskirche) – formerly Saint John’s Church (Kirche St. Johannis) – was built in the late 13th century. Its tower, with a height of 70 m, is the Further (or “Anterior”, that is, East) Palatinate’s third tallest churchtower.
The Castle Church (Burgkirche) was built in the 18th century, destroyed in 1945 and thereafter built once again. Today it serves as a Protestant community centre. In its tower hangs a 317 kg bell
poured in 1758. It underwent improvements in 2006 and is rung by a hand-drawn rope. It is rung each year at 14:00 on 18 March in memory of the air raid on Bad Dürkheim in 1945, and also at 17:00 on the first Saturday in Advent
, together with the other bells in the inner town, to usher in the new liturgical year
.
The Roman
quarry
, Kriemhildenstuhl, was in use in the 4th century.
The Kurhaus (“spa house”) holds not only catering rooms and lounges but also the Dürkheim casino
.
The graduation tower
, known locally as Saline, is part of Bad Dürkheim’s spa facilities. With a length of some 330 m, it is one of the biggest of its kind in Germany. In the wake of a fire on 7 April 2007, in which great parts of the facility were destroyed, the outdoor inhalatorium has reopened as of June 2011. The opportunity is also being taken to modify the spa park.
, whose name literally means “sausage market”, although it is in fact the world’s biggest wine festival, drawing more than 600,000 visitors each year.
, and is performed by ringers at the town’s three churches, the Burgkirche, the Schlosskirche and the Ludwigskirche.
’s third biggest winegrowing centre. In Rhineland-Palatinate
as a whole, it ranks fourth. Nevertheless, tourism
and health promotion
play an important rôle. Some spa clinics have located in the town. Furthermore, Bad Dürkheim was one of the few places in Germany with a graduation tower
that was still being run, until it all but burnt down in 2007. It was rebuilt in 2010. Among midsize businesses, the paper and wood industry is represented, along with various technology businesses.
n 37 (Kaiserslautern
–Mosbach
) and 271 (Neustadt–Monsheim
). The four-lane Autobahn A 650 has still not been built quite as far as Bad Dürkheim.
The Rhein-Haardtbahn (a narrow-gauge
tram
way), which now runs as “Line 4”, runs through Maxdorf
and links Bad Dürkheim with Ludwigshafen and Mannheim, where it joins that city’s tramway network and then runs farther on to Heddesheim
. On Sundays and holidays, the RNV-Express offers a through tramway connection with five two-car units running as far as Heidelberg
; The RNV-Express does not stop everywhere and has no line number. The Pfälzische Nordbahn from Neustadt an der Weinstraße
to Monsheim serves the town at a “terminal” station (although the right-of-way branches both ways after a short distance). The excursion train, the Elsass-Express (“Alsace Express”), also begins its run here, taking riders all the way to the Alsatian
town of Wissembourg
just inside France
.
Until 1981, there was also a gondola lift
that whisked riders from the Wurstmarkt grounds to the Teufelsstein (“Devil’s Stone” – a mountain). Since 2005, the town has been preparing its reintroduction.
In Bad Dürkheim’s east lies a small airport, the Flugplatz Bad Dürkheim.
On cable television, the public-access channel Offener Kanal Neustadt und Weinstraße can be received.
. This Typenturm
was built in 1969. Position: 49°29′26"N 8°7′31"E.
for the O2 and E+ cellular networks. Position: 49°28′33"N 8°7′27"E.
administration. It has at its disposal an Amtsgericht
that belongs to the Landgerichtsbezirk
of Frankenthal and to the Oberlandesgericht
sbezirk of Zweibrücken.
On 23 November 2008, the Palatinate’s first Protestant
urn graveyard was consecrated in Bad Dürkheim’s outlying centre of Seebach. It is found right at the monastery church. The burials there are exclusively cinerary urns made of disintegrating unfired earth. Charged with the artistic design was the Landau
sculptor Madeleine Dietz.
Spa town
A spa town is a town situated around a mineral spa . Patrons resorted to spas to "take the waters" for their purported health benefits. The word comes from the Belgian town Spa. In continental Europe a spa was known as a ville d'eau...
in the Rhine-Neckar urban agglomeration, and is the seat of the Bad Dürkheim
Bad Dürkheim (district)
Bad Dürkheim is a district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is bounded by the districts of Kaiserslautern, Donnersbergkreis and Alzey-Worms, the city of Worms, the Rhein-Pfalz-Kreis, the city of Neustadt/Weinstraße, the districts of Südliche Weinstraße, the city of Landau , the district...
district in Rhineland-Palatinate
Rhineland-Palatinate
Rhineland-Palatinate is one of the 16 states of the Federal Republic of Germany. It has an area of and about four million inhabitants. The capital is Mainz. English speakers also commonly refer to the state by its German name, Rheinland-Pfalz ....
, 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...
.
Location
Bad Dürkheim lies in the Palatinate Forest on the German Wine Route some 30 km east of KaiserslauternKaiserslautern
Kaiserslautern is a city in southwest Germany, located in the Bundesland of Rhineland-Palatinate at the edge of the Palatinate forest . The historic centre dates to the 9th century. It is from Paris, from Frankfurt am Main, and from Luxembourg.Kaiserslautern is home to 99,469 people...
and just under 20 km west of Ludwigshafen and 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....
. Roughly 15 km to the south lies Neustadt an der Weinstraße
Neustadt an der Weinstraße
Neustadt an der Weinstraße is a town located in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. With 53,892 inhabitants as of 2002, it is the largest town called Neustadt.-Etymology:...
. In Bad Dürkheim, Bundesstraße
Bundesstraße
Bundesstraße , abbreviated B, is the denotation for German and Austrian national highways.-Germany:...
n 37 and 271 cross each other. From west to east through the town flows the river Isenach.
Constituent communities
Bad Dürkheim’s Ortsteile are Grethen, Hardenburg, Hausen, Leistadt, Seebach and Ungstein mit Pfeffingen.Climate
Yearly precipitationPrecipitation (meteorology)
In meteorology, precipitation In meteorology, precipitation In meteorology, precipitation (also known as one of the classes of hydrometeors, which are atmospheric water phenomena is any product of the condensation of atmospheric water vapor that falls under gravity. The main forms of precipitation...
in Bad Dürkheim amounts to 574 mm, which is low, falling into the lowest fourth of the precipitation chart for all Germany. Only at 16% of the German Weather Service’s weather stations are even lower figures recorded. The driest month is February. The most rainfall comes in May. In that month, precipitation is 1.6 times what it is in February. Precipitation varies little. At only 1% of the weather stations are lower seasonal swings recorded.
History
Between 1200 and 500 BC, the area around the eastern end of the Isenach valley was settled by Celts, who also built the Heidenmauer (“Heathen Wall”), a Celtic ringwall.On 1 June 778, the town had its first documentary mention in the Lorsch codex
Lorsch codex
The Lorsch Codex is an important historical document created between about 1175 to 1195 AD in the Monastery of Saint Nazarius in Lorsch, Germany. It consists of 460 pages in large format containing more than 3800 entries...
as Turnesheim. A letter of enfeoffment from the Bishop of Speyer
Bishopric of Speyer
The Bishopric of Speyer was a state, ruled by Prince-Bishops, in what is today the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate. It was secularized in 1803...
in 946 dealt with Thuringeheim. About 1025, building work on Limburg Abbey, nowadays preserved only as ruins, was begun.
Town rights were granted on 1 January 1360, but were withdrawn again in 1471 after Elector Friedrich the Victorious of the Palatinate
Frederick I, Elector Palatine
Frederick I, the Victorious was a Count Palatine of the Rhine and Elector Palatine from the House of Wittelsbach in 1451 - 1476....
conquered the town and wrought considerable destruction. After the slow reconstruction, Dürkheim passed to the Counts of Leiningen in 1554.
In 1689, the town was almost utterly destroyed when French
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...
troops in the Nine Years' War (known in Germany as the Pfälzischer Erbfolgekrieg, or War of the Palatine Succession) carried out a scorched-earth campaign in Electoral Palatinate. This time, though, reconstruction was swifter, leading to Count Johann Friedrich of Leiningen granting Dürkheim town rights once more as early as 1700.
In the late 18th century, as the French Revolution
French Revolution
The French Revolution , sometimes distinguished as the 'Great French Revolution' , was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France and Europe. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years...
was beginning to spread into southwest Germany, Dürkheim, as the Canton of Durkheim (without the umlaut), became part of the Department of Mont-Tonnerre
Mont-Tonnerre
Mont-Tonnerre is the name of a département of the First French Empire in present Germany. It is named after the highest point in the Rhenish Palatinate, the Donnersberg. It was the southernmost of four départements formed in 1798, when the west bank of the Rhine was annexed by France...
(or Donnersberg in German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
). After the Napoleonic Wars
Napoleonic Wars
The Napoleonic Wars were a series of wars declared against Napoleon's French Empire by opposing coalitions that ran from 1803 to 1815. As a continuation of the wars sparked by the French Revolution of 1789, they revolutionised European armies and played out on an unprecedented scale, mainly due to...
, it ended up along with the rest of Electoral Palatinate’s territory on the Rhine’s left bank in the Kingdom of Bavaria
Kingdom of Bavaria
The Kingdom of Bavaria was a German state that existed from 1806 to 1918. The Bavarian Elector Maximilian IV Joseph of the House of Wittelsbach became the first King of Bavaria in 1806 as Maximilian I Joseph. The monarchy would remain held by the Wittelsbachs until the kingdom's dissolution in 1918...
.
For its seven mineral spring
Mineral spring
Mineral springs are naturally occurring springs that produce water containing minerals, or other dissolved substances, that alter its taste or give it a purported therapeutic value...
s, Dürkheim was given the epithet Solbad (“brine
Brine
Brine is water, saturated or nearly saturated with salt .Brine is used to preserve vegetables, fruit, fish, and meat, in a process known as brining . Brine is also commonly used to age Halloumi and Feta cheeses, or for pickling foodstuffs, as a means of preserving them...
bath”), and in 1904 it was given leave to change its name to Bad Dürkheim (Bad is German for “bath”, and a place may only bear this epithet on state recognition of its status as a spa town). In 1913, the Rhein-Haardtbahn (a narrow-gauge
Narrow gauge
A narrow gauge railway is a railway that has a track gauge narrower than the of standard gauge railways. Most existing narrow gauge railways have gauges of between and .- Overview :...
tram
Tram
A tram is a passenger rail vehicle which runs on tracks along public urban streets and also sometimes on separate rights of way. It may also run between cities and/or towns , and/or partially grade separated even in the cities...
way) was opened, linking Bad Dürkheim with Ludwigshafen and 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....
.
In 1935, Grethen, Hausen and Seebach were amalgamated.
After 1933 the number of Jews in Bad Dürkheim reduced drastically, due to the economic boycott, constantly increasing repression and dehumanization (1933: 184, 1937: 98, 1938: 40). During the Night of Broken Glass in 1938, the synagoge was plundered. The 19 Jews still surviving here in 1940 were deported to the concentration camp Gurs in October of that year.
On 18 March 1945, Bad Dürkheim was badly stricken by an Allied
Allies of World War II
The Allies of World War II were the countries that opposed the Axis powers during the Second World War . Former Axis states contributing to the Allied victory are not considered Allied states...
air raid in which more than 300 people lost their lives.
In Rhineland-Palatinate
Rhineland-Palatinate
Rhineland-Palatinate is one of the 16 states of the Federal Republic of Germany. It has an area of and about four million inhabitants. The capital is Mainz. English speakers also commonly refer to the state by its German name, Rheinland-Pfalz ....
’s administrative reform, Hardenburg and Leistadt were amalgamated with Bad Dürkheim on 7 June 1969, as was Ungstein along with its outlying hamlet
Hamlet (place)
A hamlet is usually a rural settlement which is too small to be considered a village, though sometimes the word is used for a different sort of community. Historically, when a hamlet became large enough to justify building a church, it was then classified as a village...
of Pfeffingen on 22 April 1972. Moreover, the town, having belonged to the old district of Neustadt an der Weinstraße, became the district seat of the newly formed district of Bad Dürkheim
Bad Dürkheim (district)
Bad Dürkheim is a district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is bounded by the districts of Kaiserslautern, Donnersbergkreis and Alzey-Worms, the city of Worms, the Rhein-Pfalz-Kreis, the city of Neustadt/Weinstraße, the districts of Südliche Weinstraße, the city of Landau , the district...
and also lay in the likewise newly formed Regierungsbezirk
Regierungsbezirk
In Germany, a Government District, in German: Regierungsbezirk – is a subdivision of certain federal states .They are above the Kreise, Landkreise, and kreisfreie Städte...
of Rheinhessen-Pfalz
Rheinhessen-Pfalz
Rheinhessen-Pfalz was one of the three Regierungsbezirke of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, located in the south of the state...
, which would later be abolished in 2000.
Religion
In 2007, 42.8% of the inhabitants were EvangelicalEvangelical 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...
, 25.3% Catholic, and 12% had no religion. The rest belonged to other faiths.
Town council
The council is made up of 32 honorary members, who were elected at the municipal election held on 7 June 2009, and the fulltime mayor as chairman.The municipal election held on 7 June 2009 yielded the following results:
| SPD Social Democratic Party of Germany The Social Democratic Party of Germany is a social-democratic political party in Germany... |
CDU | FDP Free Democratic Party (Germany) The Free Democratic Party , abbreviated to FDP, is a centre-right classical liberal political party in Germany. It is led by Philipp Rösler and currently serves as the junior coalition partner to the Union in the German federal government... |
Grüne Alliance '90/The Greens Alliance '90/The Greens is a green political party in Germany, formed from the merger of the German Green Party and Alliance 90 in 1993. Its leaders are Claudia Roth and Cem Özdemir... |
Linke The Left (Germany) The Left , also commonly referred to as the Left Party , is a democratic socialist political party in Germany. The Left is the most left-wing party of the five represented in the Bundestag.... |
REP | FWG Free Voters Free Voters is a German concept in which an association of persons participates in an election without having the status of a registered political party. Usually it is a locally organized group of voters in the form of a registered association . In most cases, Free Voters are active only at the... |
Total | |
| 2009 | 9 | 12 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 32 seats |
| 2004 | 9 | 14 | 2 | 2 | – | 2 | 3 | 32 seats |
On town council, the CDU, the FDP
Free Democratic Party (Germany)
The Free Democratic Party , abbreviated to FDP, is a centre-right classical liberal political party in Germany. It is led by Philipp Rösler and currently serves as the junior coalition partner to the Union in the German federal government...
and the Greens
Alliance '90/The Greens
Alliance '90/The Greens is a green political party in Germany, formed from the merger of the German Green Party and Alliance 90 in 1993. Its leaders are Claudia Roth and Cem Özdemir...
form a coalition
Coalition
A coalition is a pact or treaty among individuals or groups, during which they cooperate in joint action, each in their own self-interest, joining forces together for a common cause. This alliance may be temporary or a matter of convenience. A coalition thus differs from a more formal covenant...
, making Bad Dürkheim the only town in Germany governed by a so-called Jamaica coalition. This special arrangement was concluded in 1999 after the SPD
Social Democratic Party of Germany
The Social Democratic Party of Germany is a social-democratic political party in Germany...
lost its majority. It has been twice extended by five years after municipal elections in 2004 and 2009.
Mayor
Wolfgang Lutz (CDU) has been the Mayor of Bad Dürkheim since 2000 and was reelected on 6 May 2007 for a further eight years with 75.3% of the vote.Coat of arms
The German blazon reads: In Silber ein schwarzer Maueranker (Türangel).The town’s arms
Coat of arms
A coat of arms is a unique heraldic design on a shield or escutcheon or on a surcoat or tabard used to cover and protect armour and to identify the wearer. Thus the term is often stated as "coat-armour", because it was anciently displayed on the front of a coat of cloth...
might in English heraldic
Heraldry
Heraldry is the profession, study, or art of creating, granting, and blazoning arms and ruling on questions of rank or protocol, as exercised by an officer of arms. Heraldry comes from Anglo-Norman herald, from the Germanic compound harja-waldaz, "army commander"...
language be described thus: Argent a wall brace (hinge) sable.
The arms go back to a court seal from 1405, which itself was a reference to the arms borne by the Lords of Dürkheim.
Between 1540 and 1776, the arms featured a cross and a crozier above the escutcheon, indicating Limburg Abbey's ownership of the town.
Town partnerships
Paray-le-MonialParay-le-Monial
Paray-le-Monial is a commune in the Saône-et-Loire department in the region of Burgundy in eastern France.-History:Paray existed before the monks who gave it its surname of Le Monial, for when Count Lambert of Chalon, together with his wife Adelaide and his friend Mayeul de Cluny, founded there in...
, Saône-et-Loire
Saône-et-Loire
Saône-et-Loire is a French department, named after the Saône and the Loire rivers between which it lies.-History:When it was formed during the French Revolution, as of March 4, 1790 in fulfillment of the law of December 22, 1789, the new department combined parts of the provinces of southern...
, 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...
Wells
Wells
Wells is a cathedral city and civil parish in the Mendip district of Somerset, England, on the southern edge of the Mendip Hills. Although the population recorded in the 2001 census is 10,406, it has had city status since 1205...
, Somerset
Somerset
The ceremonial and non-metropolitan county of Somerset in South West England borders Bristol and Gloucestershire to the north, Wiltshire to the east, Dorset to the south-east, and Devon to the south-west. It is partly bounded to the north and west by the Bristol Channel and the estuary of the...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, 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...
Kluczbork
Kluczbork
Kluczbork is a town in southwestern Poland with 26,670 inhabitants , situated in the Opole Voivodeship. It is the capital of Kluczbork County and an important railroad junction. In Kluczbork the major rail line from Katowice splits into two directions - westwards to Wroclaw and northwards to Poznań...
, Opole Voivodeship
Opole Voivodeship
- Administrative division :Opole Voivodeship is divided into 12 counties : 1 city county and 11 land counties. These are further divided into 71 gminas.The counties are listed in the following table .- Economy :...
, Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
Kempten im Allgäu
Kempten im Allgäu
Kempten is the largest town in Allgäu, a region in the south-west of Bavaria, Germany. The population was ca 61,000 in 2006. The area was possibly settled originally by Celts, but was later overtaken by the Romans, who called the town Cambodunum...
, Bavaria
Bavaria
Bavaria, formally the Free State of Bavaria is a state of Germany, located in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the largest state by area, forming almost 20% of the total land area of Germany...
Bad Berka
Bad Berka
Bad Berka is a German city, situated in the south of Weimar region in the state of Thuringia. With its almost 8.000 inhabitants Bad Berka is the second biggest city in Weimarer Land district . The river flowing through the city, which is embedded in new red sandstone, is called Ilm.Bad Berka is a...
, Thuringia
Thuringia
The Free State of Thuringia is a state of Germany, located in the central part of the country.It has an area of and 2.29 million inhabitants, making it the sixth smallest by area and the fifth smallest by population of Germany's sixteen states....
(sponsorship) Michelstadt
Michelstadt
Michelstadt in the Odenwald is a town in the Odenwaldkreis in southern Hesse, Germany between Darmstadt and Heidelberg.- Location :Michelstadt is the biggest town in the Odenwaldkreis and borders on the district seat of Erbach....
, Hesse
Hesse
Hesse or Hessia is both a cultural region of Germany and the name of an individual German state.* The cultural region of Hesse includes both the State of Hesse and the area known as Rhenish Hesse in the neighbouring Rhineland-Palatinate state...
(town friendship) Emmaus
Emmaus, Pennsylvania
Emmaus is a borough in Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, in the United States. It is located five miles southwest of Allentown, Pennsylvania, in the Lehigh Valley region of the state.The population of Emmaus was 11,313 at the 2000 census...
, Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
, USA
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
(town friendship)
Buildings
Limburg Abbey and Hardenburg
At the edge of the Palatinate Forest lie the once thriving Limburg AbbeyLimburg Abbey
Limburg Abbey is a ruined abbey near Bad Dürkheim, at the edge of the Palatinate Forest in Germany. In the 9th century, the Salian Dukes from Worms built a fortress on the Linthberg as their family seat. In the early 11th century, the fortress was converted into a monastery with a basilica. It...
’s ruins. In the 9th century, the Salian Dukes
Salian dynasty
The Salian dynasty was a dynasty in the High Middle Ages of four German Kings , also known as the Frankish dynasty after the family's origin and role as dukes of Franconia...
from Worms
Worms, Germany
Worms is a city in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, on the Rhine River. At the end of 2004, it had 85,829 inhabitants.Established by the Celts, who called it Borbetomagus, Worms today remains embattled with the cities Trier and Cologne over the title of "Oldest City in Germany." Worms is the only...
built a fortress on the Linthberg as their family seat. In the early 11th century, the fortress was converted into a monastery
Monastery
Monastery denotes the building, or complex of buildings, that houses a room reserved for prayer as well as the domestic quarters and workplace of monastics, whether monks or nuns, and whether living in community or alone .Monasteries may vary greatly in size – a small dwelling accommodating only...
with a basilica
Basilica
The Latin word basilica , was originally used to describe a Roman public building, usually located in the forum of a Roman town. Public basilicas began to appear in Hellenistic cities in the 2nd century BC.The term was also applied to buildings used for religious purposes...
. It existed until the mid 16th century.
Above the like-named constituent community are spread the castle
Castle
A castle is a type of fortified structure built in Europe and the Middle East during the Middle Ages by European nobility. Scholars debate the scope of the word castle, but usually consider it to be the private fortified residence of a lord or noble...
ruins of Hardenburg. Beginning in the 13th century, the castle was the seat of the Counts of Leiningen, but was built in its current shape only in the 16th century. It was destroyed once and for all in the late 18th century.
Hunting lodges
In the town’s woodlands, nobles built the hunting lodges (Jagdschlösser) Kehrdichannichts (whose name means “Do-not-mind-anything”), Murrmirnichtviel (“Do-not-grumble-at-me-much”) and Schaudichnichtum (“Do-not-look-about”). While the first is still used today as a forester’s house, there is nothing but ruins left of the other two.Churches
Saint Louis’sLouis IX of France
Louis IX , commonly Saint Louis, was King of France from 1226 until his death. He was also styled Louis II, Count of Artois from 1226 to 1237. Born at Poissy, near Paris, he was an eighth-generation descendant of Hugh Capet, and thus a member of the House of Capet, and the son of Louis VIII and...
Catholic Parish Church (Ludwigskirche) was built in 1828 and 1829 in the Classicist
Classicism
Classicism, in the arts, refers generally to a high regard for classical antiquity, as setting standards for taste which the classicists seek to emulate. The art of classicism typically seeks to be formal and restrained: of the Discobolus Sir Kenneth Clark observed, "if we object to his restraint...
style. The plans were inspired by a master builder from 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....
named Weinbrenner. The building work was backed and financially supported by King Ludwig I of Bavaria
Ludwig I of Bavaria
Ludwig I was a German king of Bavaria from 1825 until the 1848 revolutions in the German states.-Crown prince:...
(Bad Dürkheim was part of Bavaria’s Palatine exclave at the time).
The Protestant
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...
Castle Church (Schlosskirche) – formerly Saint John’s Church (Kirche St. Johannis) – was built in the late 13th century. Its tower, with a height of 70 m, is the Further (or “Anterior”, that is, East) Palatinate’s third tallest churchtower.
The Castle Church (Burgkirche) was built in the 18th century, destroyed in 1945 and thereafter built once again. Today it serves as a Protestant community centre. In its tower hangs a 317 kg bell
Bell (instrument)
A bell is a simple sound-making device. The bell is a percussion instrument and an idiophone. Its form is usually a hollow, cup-shaped object, which resonates upon being struck...
poured in 1758. It underwent improvements in 2006 and is rung by a hand-drawn rope. It is rung each year at 14:00 on 18 March in memory of the air raid on Bad Dürkheim in 1945, and also at 17:00 on the first Saturday in Advent
Advent
Advent is a season observed in many Western Christian churches, a time of expectant waiting and preparation for the celebration of the Nativity of Jesus at Christmas. It is the beginning of the Western liturgical year and commences on Advent Sunday, called Levavi...
, together with the other bells in the inner town, to usher in the new liturgical year
Liturgical year
The liturgical year, also known as the church year, consists of the cycle of liturgical seasons in Christian churches which determines when feast days, including celebrations of saints, are to be observed, and which portions of Scripture are to be read. Distinct liturgical colours may appear in...
.
Ancient sites
The Heidenmauer (“Heathen Wall”) is the remnants of a great Celtic settlement with a 2.5 km-long ringwall, which was built about 500 BC.The Roman
Ancient Rome
Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....
quarry
Quarry
A quarry is a type of open-pit mine from which rock or minerals are extracted. Quarries are generally used for extracting building materials, such as dimension stone, construction aggregate, riprap, sand, and gravel. They are often collocated with concrete and asphalt plants due to the requirement...
, Kriemhildenstuhl, was in use in the 4th century.
Modern sites
On the western edge of the Wurstmarkt grounds stands the Dürkheimer Riesenfass (“Giant Barrel”), the world’s biggest barrel. It houses a restaurant.The Kurhaus (“spa house”) holds not only catering rooms and lounges but also the Dürkheim casino
Casino
In modern English, a casino is a facility which houses and accommodates certain types of gambling activities. Casinos are most commonly built near or combined with hotels, restaurants, retail shopping, cruise ships or other tourist attractions...
.
The graduation tower
Graduation tower
A graduation tower is a structure used in the production of salt which removes water from a saline solution by evaporation, increasing its concentration of mineral salts. The tower consists of a wooden wall-like frame stuffed with bundles of brushwood which have to be changed about every 5 to 10...
, known locally as Saline, is part of Bad Dürkheim’s spa facilities. With a length of some 330 m, it is one of the biggest of its kind in Germany. In the wake of a fire on 7 April 2007, in which great parts of the facility were destroyed, the outdoor inhalatorium has reopened as of June 2011. The opportunity is also being taken to modify the spa park.
Natural monuments
The foremost outing and hiking destinations in the Palatinate Forest are the Isenachweiher (a small, manmade lake) and the Drachenfels (despite its name, a mountain), but especially, near the ruins of the Weilach estate, the Teufelsstein (“Devil’s Stone” – another mountain) and the Heidenfels (“Heathen Crag”), as well as the Kupferfelsen (“Copper Crags”) near the former forester’s house Lindemannsruhe.Wurstmarkt
Above all, Bad Dürkheim is well known for the Dürkheimer WurstmarktWurstmarkt
The Wurstmarkt in Bad Dürkheim, in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany is the world's biggest wine festival with over 600,000 visitors each year. The first Wurstmarkt - under a different name - was held in the year 1417.-External links:...
, whose name literally means “sausage market”, although it is in fact the world’s biggest wine festival, drawing more than 600,000 visitors each year.
Literature prize
The town of Bad Dürkheim awards the Limburg-Preis for literature, named after the Abbey, every three years.Giant roulette
Every year in August, the Riesenroulette – “Giant Roulette Wheel” – is set up in the spa park as part of the Kurparkgala. It is the world’s biggest roulette wheel and uses a ball the size of a football.Stadtgeläute
The “Town Bellringing” is heard once a year at 17:00 on the first Saturday in AdventAdvent
Advent is a season observed in many Western Christian churches, a time of expectant waiting and preparation for the celebration of the Nativity of Jesus at Christmas. It is the beginning of the Western liturgical year and commences on Advent Sunday, called Levavi...
, and is performed by ringers at the town’s three churches, the Burgkirche, the Schlosskirche and the Ludwigskirche.
Economy and infrastructure
Bad Dürkheim’s main industry is winegrowing. With 855 ha of vineyards under cultivation, the town is the PalatinatePalatinate (wine region)
Palatinate is a German wine-growing region in the area of Bad Dürkheim, Neustadt an der Weinstraße, and Landau in Rhineland-Palatinate. Before 1993, it was known as Rhine Palatinate . With under cultivation in 2008, the region is the second largest wine region in Germany after Rheinhessen...
’s third biggest winegrowing centre. In Rhineland-Palatinate
Rhineland-Palatinate
Rhineland-Palatinate is one of the 16 states of the Federal Republic of Germany. It has an area of and about four million inhabitants. The capital is Mainz. English speakers also commonly refer to the state by its German name, Rheinland-Pfalz ....
as a whole, it ranks fourth. Nevertheless, tourism
Tourism
Tourism is travel for recreational, leisure or business purposes. The World Tourism Organization defines tourists as people "traveling to and staying in places outside their usual environment for not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business and other purposes".Tourism has become a...
and health promotion
Health promotion
Health promotion has been defined by the World Health Organization's 2005 Bangkok Charter for Health Promotion in a Globalized World as "the process of enabling people to increase control over their health and its determinants, and thereby improve their health"...
play an important rôle. Some spa clinics have located in the town. Furthermore, Bad Dürkheim was one of the few places in Germany with a graduation tower
Graduation tower
A graduation tower is a structure used in the production of salt which removes water from a saline solution by evaporation, increasing its concentration of mineral salts. The tower consists of a wooden wall-like frame stuffed with bundles of brushwood which have to be changed about every 5 to 10...
that was still being run, until it all but burnt down in 2007. It was rebuilt in 2010. Among midsize businesses, the paper and wood industry is represented, along with various technology businesses.
Transport
Bad Dürkheim is linked to the long-distance road network by BundesstraßeBundesstraße
Bundesstraße , abbreviated B, is the denotation for German and Austrian national highways.-Germany:...
n 37 (Kaiserslautern
Kaiserslautern
Kaiserslautern is a city in southwest Germany, located in the Bundesland of Rhineland-Palatinate at the edge of the Palatinate forest . The historic centre dates to the 9th century. It is from Paris, from Frankfurt am Main, and from Luxembourg.Kaiserslautern is home to 99,469 people...
–Mosbach
Mosbach
Mosbach is the capital of the Neckar-Odenwald district in the north of Baden-Württemberg, Germany, about 58 km east of Heidelberg. Its geographical position is 49.21'N 9.9'E....
) and 271 (Neustadt–Monsheim
Monsheim
Monsheim is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in the Alzey-Worms district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany.- Location :...
). The four-lane Autobahn A 650 has still not been built quite as far as Bad Dürkheim.
The Rhein-Haardtbahn (a narrow-gauge
Narrow gauge
A narrow gauge railway is a railway that has a track gauge narrower than the of standard gauge railways. Most existing narrow gauge railways have gauges of between and .- Overview :...
tram
Tram
A tram is a passenger rail vehicle which runs on tracks along public urban streets and also sometimes on separate rights of way. It may also run between cities and/or towns , and/or partially grade separated even in the cities...
way), which now runs as “Line 4”, runs through Maxdorf
Maxdorf
Maxdorf is a municipality in the Rhein-Pfalz-Kreis, in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany.It is situated approx. 11 km west of Ludwigshafen.Maxdorf is also the seat of the Verbandsgemeinde Maxdorf....
and links Bad Dürkheim with Ludwigshafen and Mannheim, where it joins that city’s tramway network and then runs farther on to Heddesheim
Heddesheim
Heddesheim is a municipality in the district of Rhein-Neckar-Kreis, in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is situated 9 km east of Mannheim, and 7 km southwest of Weinheim....
. On Sundays and holidays, the RNV-Express offers a through tramway connection with five two-car units running as far as 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...
; The RNV-Express does not stop everywhere and has no line number. The Pfälzische Nordbahn from Neustadt an der Weinstraße
Neustadt an der Weinstraße
Neustadt an der Weinstraße is a town located in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. With 53,892 inhabitants as of 2002, it is the largest town called Neustadt.-Etymology:...
to Monsheim serves the town at a “terminal” station (although the right-of-way branches both ways after a short distance). The excursion train, the Elsass-Express (“Alsace Express”), also begins its run here, taking riders all the way to the Alsatian
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...
town of Wissembourg
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...
just inside 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...
.
Until 1981, there was also a gondola lift
Gondola lift
A gondola lift is a type of aerial lift, normally called a cable car, which is supported and propelled by cables from above. It consists of a loop of steel cable that is strung between two stations, sometimes over intermediate supporting towers. The cable is driven by a bullwheel in a terminal,...
that whisked riders from the Wurstmarkt grounds to the Teufelsstein (“Devil’s Stone” – a mountain). Since 2005, the town has been preparing its reintroduction.
In Bad Dürkheim’s east lies a small airport, the Flugplatz Bad Dürkheim.
Media
Local print media are the daily newspaper Die Rheinpfalz (with a local section for the Bad Dürkheim region) and the weekly Stadtanzeiger.On cable television, the public-access channel Offener Kanal Neustadt und Weinstraße can be received.
Gymnasium
- Werner-HeisenbergWerner HeisenbergWerner Karl Heisenberg was a German theoretical physicist who made foundational contributions to quantum mechanics and is best known for asserting the uncertainty principle of quantum theory...
-GymnasiumGymnasium (school)A gymnasium is a type of school providing secondary education in some parts of Europe, comparable to English grammar schools or sixth form colleges and U.S. college preparatory high schools. The word γυμνάσιον was used in Ancient Greece, meaning a locality for both physical and intellectual...
(roughly 1,250 students)
Transmission tower
The Fernmeldeturm, a 130 m-tall steel-reinforced concrete mast, stands on the Weilerskopf and is used by Deutsche TelekomDeutsche Telekom
Deutsche Telekom AG is a telecommunications company headquartered in Bonn, Germany. It is the largest telecommunications company in Europe....
. This Typenturm
Typenturm
A Typenturm is a standardised telecommunications tower built of reinforced concrete the former German federal post office . Different types of tower were developed and built at different locations, like the series FMT 1 to FMT 16...
was built in 1969. Position: 49°29′26"N 8°7′31"E.
Microwave transmission tower
The Richtfunkturm, a 72 m-tall steel-reinforced concrete mast, was formerly used by the military. The operational buildings stood in the outlying centre of Hardenburg. Today the tower is used for microwave transmissionMicrowave transmission
Microwave transmission refers to the technology of transmitting information or power by the use of radio waves whose wavelengths are conveniently measured in small numbers of centimeters; these are called microwaves. This part of the radio spectrum ranges across frequencies of roughly...
for the O2 and E+ cellular networks. Position: 49°28′33"N 8°7′27"E.
Public institutions
Bad Dürkheim, as the district seat, hosts the like-named district’sBad Dürkheim (district)
Bad Dürkheim is a district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is bounded by the districts of Kaiserslautern, Donnersbergkreis and Alzey-Worms, the city of Worms, the Rhein-Pfalz-Kreis, the city of Neustadt/Weinstraße, the districts of Südliche Weinstraße, the city of Landau , the district...
administration. It has at its disposal an Amtsgericht
Amtsgericht
Amtsgericht is German for Local District Court, situated in Germany in almost every larger capital of a rural district.It mainly acts in Civil and Criminal law affairs. It forms the lowest level of the so-called ordinary jurisdiction of the German judiciary , which is responsible for most criminal...
that belongs to the Landgerichtsbezirk
Judiciary of Germany
The Judiciary of Germany is based on the concept of the , in which the exercise of governmental power is constrained by law. Federal law delineates the structure of the judiciary, but the administration of most courts is regulated by the states of Germany which are responsible for the lower levels...
of Frankenthal and to the Oberlandesgericht
Oberlandesgericht
The Oberlandesgericht is one of the 'ordinary courts' in Germany...
sbezirk of Zweibrücken.
On 23 November 2008, the Palatinate’s first Protestant
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...
urn graveyard was consecrated in Bad Dürkheim’s outlying centre of Seebach. It is found right at the monastery church. The burials there are exclusively cinerary urns made of disintegrating unfired earth. Charged with the artistic design was the Landau
Landau
Landau or Landau in der Pfalz is an autonomous city surrounded by the Südliche Weinstraße district of southern Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is a university town , a long-standing cultural centre, and a market and shopping town, surrounded by vineyards and wine-growing villages of the...
sculptor Madeleine Dietz.
Sons and daughters of the town
Before 1900
- Johann Michael Hartung (1708–1763), master organOrgan (music)The organ , is a keyboard instrument of one or more divisions, each played with its own keyboard operated either with the hands or with the feet. The organ is a relatively old musical instrument in the Western musical tradition, dating from the time of Ctesibius of Alexandria who is credited with...
builder - Carl Friedrich WilhelmCarl Friedrich Wilhelm, 1st Prince of LeiningenCarl Friedrich Wilhelm, Prince of Leiningen was a German nobleman.He was the eldest son of Friedrich Magnus, Count of Leiningen-Dagsburg-Hartenburg and his wife Countess Anna Christine Eleonore von Wurmbrand-Stuppach, and succeeded his father on the latter's death, 28 October 1756...
(1724–1807), first Prince of Leiningen - Georg Friedrich Dentzel (1755–1828), clergyman and general under NapoleonNapoleon I of FranceNapoleon Bonaparte was a French military and political leader during the latter stages of the French Revolution.As Napoleon I, he was Emperor of the French from 1804 to 1815...
- Georg Christian Heinrich Rosentritt (1760–1846), graduation tower inspector
- Emich Carl zu LeiningenEmich Carl, 2nd Prince of LeiningenEmich Carl, Prince of Leiningen was a German nobleman.He was born at Dürckheim, the fourth child and only son of Carl Friedrich Wilhelm, Count of Leiningen-Dagsburg-Hartenburg by his wife Countess Christiane Wilhelmine Luise of Solms-Rödelheim and Assenheim...
(1763−1814), second Prince of Leiningen - Gottlieb Wilhelm Bischoff (1797−1854), botanist
- Johann Georg Lehmann (1797−1876), historian
- Rudolph Eduard Christmann (1814−1867), politician
- Jan-Daniel Georgens (1823−1886), educator and physician
- Johann Heinrich Bonawitz, (1839–1917) composer
- Albert Fitz (1842–1885), biologist
- August Exter (1858−1933), architect
- Anna Croissant-Rust (1860−1943), writer
- Friedrich Bühler (1863–1944), politician (DDP)
- Philipp Fauth (1867–1941), schoolteacher and astronomer
- Daniel Hauer (1879–?), politician (NSDAP)
- Konrad Linder (1884–1963), educator and schoolmaster
- Ludwig König (1891–1974), ceramic artist and industrial designer
20th century
- Helmut Metzger (1917–1995), writer and Palatine dialect poet
- Kurt Dehn (1920−2000), Palatine dialect poet, composer and singer
- Karl Heinz Rahn (b. 1937), medic
- Hans Georg Löffler (b. 1953), politician (CDU), Chief Mayor of Neustadt an der WeinstraßeNeustadt an der WeinstraßeNeustadt an der Weinstraße is a town located in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. With 53,892 inhabitants as of 2002, it is the largest town called Neustadt.-Etymology:...
- Heiner DoppHeiner DoppHeiner Dopp is a former field hockey player from West Germany, who competed at three Summer Olympics for his native country. He won the silver medal with his team, in 1984 and in 1988...
(b. 1956), national-level field hockeyField hockeyField Hockey, or Hockey, is a team sport in which a team of players attempts to score goals by hitting, pushing or flicking a ball into an opposing team's goal using sticks...
player - Helmut Seitz (1956–2009), economist
- Ralf StegnerRalf StegnerRalf Stegner is a German politician .Stegner, who gained from his education at Harvard University, is member of the Landtag of Schleswig-Holstein, chairman of the parliamentary group and chairman of the Schleswig-Holstein-SPD...
(b. 1959), politician (SPD) in Schleswig-Holstein - Torsten LieberknechtTorsten LieberknechtTorsten Lieberknecht is a retired German football player and a football manager currently in charge of Eintracht Braunschweig.-External links:...
(b. 1973), footballer - Marco Laping (b. 1978), footballer
- Steffen BohlSteffen BohlSteffen Bohl is a German football player with Eintracht Braunschweig in the 3rd Liga.- Career :...
(b. 1983), footballer - Christian HenelChristian HenelChristian Henel is a German football player with SV Darmstadt 98.-Career:At the age of 15 Henel left his hometown Bad Dürkheim where he played for SV 1911 Bad Dürkheim to go to 1. FC Kaiserslautern which played in the first Bundesliga...
(b. 1988), footballer - Tobias SippelTobias SippelTobias Sippel is a German football goalkeeper who plays for 1. FC Kaiserslautern in the Fußball-Bundesliga.-Early career:Sippel began his football career playing for his hometown club of SV 1911 Bad Dürkheim...
(b. 1988), footballer
Famous people associated with the town
- Viktor BrackViktor BrackViktor Brack , was a Nazi war criminal, the organiser of the Euthanasia Programme, Action T4, where the Nazi state systematically murdered disabled German people...
(1904−1948), executed HolocaustThe HolocaustThe Holocaust , also known as the Shoah , was the genocide of approximately six million European Jews and millions of others during World War II, a programme of systematic state-sponsored murder by Nazi...
perpetrator, attended the Realschule in Bad Dürkheim. - Robert Wilhelm Bunsen (1811−1899) discovered by investigation of Bad Dürkheim’s brine springs, among them the Maxquelle, the elements rubidiumRubidiumRubidium is a chemical element with the symbol Rb and atomic number 37. Rubidium is a soft, silvery-white metallic element of the alkali metal group. Its atomic mass is 85.4678. Elemental rubidium is highly reactive, with properties similar to those of other elements in group 1, such as very rapid...
and caesiumCaesiumCaesium or cesium is the chemical element with the symbol Cs and atomic number 55. It is a soft, silvery-gold alkali metal with a melting point of 28 °C , which makes it one of only five elemental metals that are liquid at room temperature...
. - Paul Camille von DenisPaul Camille von DenisPaul Camille Denis, later von Denis, was an engineer, railway pioneer and participant in the Hambach Festival, the German political protest of 1832....
(1796−1872) died in Bad Dürkheim. - Otto Dill (1884−1957), painter, is an honorary citizen of Bad Dürkheim.
- Anton Eberhard (1892−1967) worked from 1922 as a freelance taxation and economic adviser in Bad Dürkheim.
- Waltraud Meißner (b. 1940), Palatine dialect poet, lives in Bad Dürkheim.
- Valentin Ostertag (ca. 1450−1507), founder of Germany’s oldest social foundation, worked for a time in Bad Dürkheim.
- Rudolf VirchowRudolf VirchowRudolph Carl Virchow was a German doctor, anthropologist, pathologist, prehistorian, biologist and politician, known for his advancement of public health...
(1821−1902), medic, visited the Dürkheim Brine Bath.
Further reading and film
- Walter Dautermann: Bad Dürkheim: Chronik einer Salierstadt. Landau 1978
- SWRSüdwestrundfunkThe Südwestrundfunk is a public broadcasting company for the southwest of Germany, specifically the states of Baden-Württemberg and Rhineland-Palatinate. The company has main offices in three cities: Stuttgart, Baden-Baden and Mainz, with the director's office being in Stuttgart. It is an...
(Inhaltsangabe): Die Toskana der Pfalz. Rund um Bad Dürkheim. Reisedokumentation, 2008, 28 Min., Erstausstrahlung 15. Juli 2008