Lauffen

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Arms
Basis data
Federal state:	Baden-Württemberg
Administrative region:	Stuttgart
District:	Heilbronn
Coordinates:	Template:Koordinate Text Article
Elevation:	175m over NN
Area:	22.63 km²
Inhabitants:	11,058 (Dec 31st, 2004)
Population density:	490 inhabitants per km²
Post code:	74344-74348
Dialling code:	07133
Vehicle registration plate:	HN
Municipal key:	08 1 25 056
Town structure:	1 district
Address of the town council:	Rathausstraße 10 74348 Lauffen am Neckar
Website:	www.lauffen.de
Politics
Mayor:	Klaus-Peter Waldenberger
Position of Lauffen in the District of Heilbronn

Lauffen is a town in the district of Heilbronn, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is situated on the river Neckar, 9 km southwest of Heilbronn.

Contents 1 Geography 1.1 Geographical position 1.2 Neighbouring municipalities 1.3 Town structure 2 History 2.1 First settlement 2.2 9th until 11th century 2.3 High Middle Ages 2.4 Late Middle Ages and Peasants' War 2.5 Thirty Years' War 2.6 After the war 2.7 18th century 2.8 19th century 2.9 20th century 3 Politics 3.1 District council 3.2 Arms and flag 3.3 Twin towns 4 Culture and sights 4.1 Associations 5 Economy and infrastructure 5.1 Electricity 5.2 Wine-growing 5.3 Traffic 5.4 Resident enterprises 5.5 Education 6 Personalities 6.1 Sons and daughters of the town 7 External link

[edit] Geography

[edit] Geographical position

Lauffen is located in the south of the district of Heilbronn, 8 kilometres south of Heilbronn and 50 kilometres north of the capital Stuttgart on the Neckar . In Lauffen the Zaber joins into this river. The previous big bow the Neckar was flowing was broke through by erosion. During several centuries the bow was used as a ring of seas. An exclave of Lauffen, the town forest of Etzlenswenden is located further east in the Löwenstein Mountains.

[edit] Neighbouring municipalities

Neighbouring municipalities of Lauffen are (clockwise): Brackenheim, Nordheim, Heilbronn, Neckarwestheim and Kirchheim (Neckar) (District of Ludwigsburg). The exclave Etzlenswenden is surrounded by Abstatt, Untergruppenbach, Löwenstein and Beilstein.

[edit] Town structure

Three previous parts were put together to today's Lauffen in 1914.

[edit] History

[edit] First settlement

The area around Lauffen was presumably already settled in pre-Christian time, although only a few bones verifies that. Two kilometres further south-east both the foundation of a Roman estate and coin and receptacle finds are preserved. Moving into the area, the francs built a royal estate with a church. A document verifies the construction of this church constructed in honour of Holy Martin. The first named term "Hlauppa" in this document characterizes the name of Lauffen (Lauffa, Laufen). This name comes from the local high flowing speed of the Neckar.

[edit] 9th until 11th century

In 832 Louis the Pious gave the village to his son Earl Ernst by developing it during his period of office. His daughter Regiswindis was murdered by her mother and thrown into the Neckar. After this incident he went back into his native region Upper Palatinate, so the village got in charge of the emperor. In 889, 923 and 993, different German emperors transferred their rule at the village to the Bishopric of Würzburg. By the influence of Heinrich II a convent was built in 1003.

[edit] High Middle Ages

During the 11th century further francish earls appeared by developing the town. However, these earls didn't have any sons, so their house died out and their possessions went back to the emperor. Friedrich II pawned both Lauffen and Sinsheim and Eppingen to Herman V in 1227. In the pawn document Lauffen was first mentioned as "civitas" (town with civil institutions). The Margraves of Baden used a Vogt to administrate the town. A church was built during the same year consecrated to Holy Regiswindis. Lauffen was pawned to Württemberg in 1327 and was bought by Count Eberhard I of Württemberg and his brother Ulrich IV of Württemberg in 1361. Due to the near Free Imperial City Heilbronn the earls demanded an obligation of the inhabitants to Württemberg.

[edit] Late Middle Ages and Peasants' War

The 15th century of Lauffen was characterized by conflicts about the difficult fish and tithe rights. The lake of Lauffen was laid in by Earl Ulrich in 1454. In 1460 his troups had to defend his fishing and duty rights against Palatinate troups. One year later Earl Friedrich obligated himself to stop the fights. In 1474 a first bridge was built over the Neckar, which was destroyed by the flood of 1529 and rebuilt in 1532. In 1480 a town hall and market were built, two years later 1,300 inhabitants were killed by the bubonic plague. During the Peasants' War the area between Lauffen and Gemmrigheim was the resting-place of an army with 8,000 farmers. Due to this superior strength the council showed its solidarity with the farmers, anyway the convent was plundered by them. On May 13, 1534, the troups of Württemberg and Austria were inferior to the Rulers of Hesse containing around 25,000 men. However, there was no long influence of the Hesses, since the Hispanics occupied the town during the Schmalkalden War about 1547. Later Lauffen came back to Württemberg. In 1564 the bubonic plague raged further time demanding around 800 victims. The years 1606, 1607 and 1626 were also characterized by the plague, although with less victims.

[edit] Thirty Years' War

During the Thirty Years' War Lauffen was the scene of several fights and troup movings. The bridge of Lauffen proved to have a big strategical significance. On April 1622, the big troups of Duke Wilhelm of Sachsen-Weimar and Margrave Georg Friedrich assembled at the bridge fighting against the imperial troups together. After suffering a defeat near Wimpfen, two companies and many farmers of Neckargartach took refuge in Lauffen. The town escaped big fightings during the next years, but had to suffer nearly 20 years long.

In 1629, big imperial troups moved trough the town, 1631 troups of Lorraine. In 1634, Croatian troups plundered Lauffen, two days later the imperial troups came back. In November the last 16 head of cattle became confiscated. During the next time Lauffen had to suffer from a big famine, 800 inhabitants were killed. Until 1639, Lauffen got plundered many times, so the numbers of inhabitants sank to 30 people. The years 1640-'42 were comparatively quiet. In 1643, French regiments occupied the town, after the whole French general staff crossed Lauffen. The garrison ended not until May of 1643, losing a battle against the Bavarian army among Earl Fugger. In 1645 further lootings occurred by French and Hessian troups. One year later Swedish troups arrived in Lauffen building extensive entrenchments. After the armistice of 1647 between France and Bavaria, a French garrison troup arrived in Lauffen building new defence constructions. Since the 1948s conclusion of peace these constructions weren't required anymore.

At the end of the Thirty Years' War the numbers of inhabitants exactly was 155 people. The upper castle was totally destroyed, the lower one heavy damaged. The town church showed heavy damages, too. 270 houses, 452 acres of wine, 1239 acres of fields and 50 acres of meadows were damaged.

[edit] After the war

Since the political situation wasn't firm at all, Eberhard III strengthened the fortifications around Lauffen to defend against potential attacks by French trouos. After the devastating Thirty Years' War, Lauffen was the scene of troop movements a second time. In 1674 the army of the Prince-elector of Brandenburg crossed the river towards Strasbourg. On May 1675 the imperial army arriving from the Netherlands crossed the river near Lauffen. Lauffen was the winter billet of many armies. In 1688, the French army penetrated into the town confiscating all horses and destroying the bridge. During the following decades there were many fights and garrisons. The population increased between both the wars, after it was decimated to 210 persons in 1697.

[edit] 18th century

The 18th century is also characterized by military actings. In 1704, a Dutch-English cavalry crossed the Neckar near Lauffen, three years later 2,000 French horseman infested the town. More than 100 years after the Thirty Years' War Lauffen recovered from its damages. In 1721, the town hall was redeveloped, 1724 the new Neckar bridge got enlarged. Since 1728 a night-watch was established, bacause many murders and robberies characterized the everyday life of Lauffen until then. In 1755, the previous administration structure was cancelled. Thirty years later 160 inhabitants were killed by Typhus.

Towards the end of the 18th century Lauffen came to the centre of attention a second time. In July 1796 imperial artillery arrived at Lauffen containing a lot of ammunition. Three years later the Austrian infantry moved back from Heilbronn to Lauffen, where Duke Frederick I of Württemberg sent his forces against the advancing French army. Subsequently the French succeeded in taking the town once again by setting it on fire, plundering and taking hostages.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] 19th century

The Oberamt Lauffen was wound up in 1808, the town came to the Oberamt Besigheim. Two years later the bridge over the Neckar was renovated once again, stony componentes took the place of wooden ones. In 1817, the council bought the Neckar Island to build a town hall on it. The 19th century is characterized by cultivating of the soil, the lake of Lauffen was drained in 1820. 200 acres of field arises, wine-growing is flourishing by renouncing of unprofitable sorts of wine. The main wine sort is Pinot Blanc. The town plants more than 2,000 fruit-trees on its area and countless willows along the Neckar bank. Agriculture increases more and more.

[edit] 20th century

By the communal reform 1938 the Oberamt Besigheim was wound up and Lauffen joined the district of Heilbronn.

On June 20, 1959, a public service bus driving on behalf of the Deutsche Bundesbahn crashed into the fast stopping train "Tübingen - Stuttgart - Würzburg" in Lauffen am Neckar. By that time it was the worst bus accident after World War II ever. 45 persons were killed, further 27 injured. A commemorative plague reminds of this.

[edit] Politics

[edit] District council

By the municipal election of June 13, 2004, the district council of Lauffen got 22 seats. The election result is as follows:

• CDU.................34.7% - 8 seats (-1)
• SPD.................21.7% - 5 seats (-2)
• FW Lauffen.......17.8% - 4 seats (+1)
• FDP/DVP.........17.3% - 4 seats (+1)
• GRÜNE.............8.5% - 1 seat (+1)

Further member of the district council and its chairman is the mayor.

[edit] Arms and flag

Blazon: In silver a green dressed striding messenger with red shoes, holding a silver letter by his right hand and a red spear with blue point by his left one.

The municipal colours are green and white.

The previous Lauffen's arms was about its founders, a stubbed eagle. The today's arms is proved by a seal of 1464.

[edit] Twin towns

There are relationships with

• the French municipality La Ferté-Bernard in the Departement Sarthe (since 1974) and
• the German town Meuselwitz in Altenburger Land, Thuringia (since 1990).

[edit] Culture and sights

• Museum: The urban museum in the convent yard shows exhibitions about history of Lauffen and Friedrich Hölderlin.
• Cinema: The Mobile cinema and the movie club Lauffen shows regular movies both in the community centre and in the hall of the Friedrich-Hölderlin-Gymnasium.
• Buildings: Near the road to Ilsfeld are remains of a Roman estate digged up and restored in 1978. The town hall of Lauffen is a previous castle of the Earls of Lauffen built in the 11th century. The building is used as the town hall since 1818. The today's Regiswindis Church was rebuilt after a fire in the 16th century.

[edit] Associations

• Sailing Club Lauffen - LSCN
• Gymnastics Club Lauffen - TVL
• Sportfreunde Lauffen - SFL
• Tennis Club Lauffen - TC Lauffen
• Carrot Club
• Musikverein e.V - MV Lauffen
• Budo Club Hikari Lauffen e.V - BCH Lauffen

[edit] Economy and infrastructure

[edit] Electricity

In Lauffen startet the first transmission of electricity. Due to the International Electro Engineered Exhibition in Frankfurt am Main on September 13, 1891, Michail von Dolivo-Dobrowolsky and Oskar von Miller constructed a transmission by three-phase electric power. A three-phase-generator from Lauffen to Frankfurt was constructed; the entry of the exhibition was decorated by 1,000 light bulbs, a 6m high waterfall was carried on.

[edit] Wine-growing

Lauffen's wine-growing community founded in 1935 is one of the biggest and qualitative best wine-growing communities of Württemberg by a sales of 6 millions of litres and 22 million €. It has around 600 members, the area is around 570 hectare. There are also some wine-growers by self-marketing.

[edit] Traffic

Lauffen is situated at the Frankenbahn from Stuttgart to Würzburg. There are twice an hour connections by the RegionalBahn trains towards Stuttgart and Heilbronn. Until 1995, Lauffen was the starting point of the Zabergäubahn running to Leonbronn. The passenger services already stopped there in 1986. The section to Zaberfeld is supposed to get in business from 2011.

The connection to the nationwide road network occurs by the B27. The next motorway connection occurs at the A81 near Ilsfeld.

[edit] Resident enterprises

The company Schunk is nationwide known as the world market leader of tension. Worldwide the company occupies 1,440 members, 770 of them in Lauffen.

[edit] Education

Lauffen is a school centre for the surrounding municipalities. The different schools are these:

• Herzog-Ulrich-Grundschule
• Hölderlin-Grundschule
• Hölderlin-Hauptschule
• Hölderlin-Realschule
• Hölderlin-Gymnasium
• Erich-Kästner-Schule
• Kaywald-Schule

Besides there is an urban library open to the public.

[edit] Personalities

[edit] Sons and daughters of the town

• 9th century, Regiswindis, local saint
• 1770 March 20, Friedrich Hölderlin, +June 7, 1843 in Tübingen
• 1839 May 6, Friedrich Specht, +June 12, 1909 in Stuttgart, illustrator of Brehms Tierleben
• 1849 August 1, August Specht, +1923 in Stuttgart
• 1863 December 13, Eugen Gradmann, +April 26, 1927 in Stuttgart, German prayer
• 1865 July 18, Robert Gradmann, +September 16, 1950 in Sindelfingen, German prayer, geographer and botanist
• 1926 October 19, Gotthilf Link, wine-grower and politician, named to the first honorary citizen

[edit] External link

• http://www.lauffen.de The official website of Lauffen (in German).

Coordinates: 49°05′N 9°09′E