Baiersdorf is a town in the district of

Erlangen-Höchstadt Erlangen-Höchstadt is a ''Landkreis'' (district) in Bavaria, Germany. It is bounded by (from the south and clockwise) the districts of Fürth, Neustadt (Aisch)-Bad Windsheim, Bamberg, Forchheim and Nürnberger Land, and by the cities of Nurembe ...

, in northern

Bavaria Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total lan ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

Geography

Location

The major part of Baiersdorf is idyllically situated on a terrace which preserves the town from being flooded by the close

Regnitz The Regnitz is a river in Franconia, Germany. It is a left tributary of the Main and is in length. The river is formed by the confluence of the rivers Rednitz and Pegnitz, which meet in the city of Fürth. From there the Regnitz runs northwa ...

river. It is located exactly between

Erlangen Erlangen (; East Franconian German, East Franconian: ''Erlang'', Bavarian language, Bavarian: ''Erlanga'') is a Middle Franconian city in Bavaria, Germany. It is the seat of the administrative district Erlangen-Höchstadt (former administrative d ...

(eight kilometers in the south) and

Forchheim Forchheim () is a town in Upper Franconia (german: Oberfranken) in northern Bavaria, and also the seat of the administrative district of Forchheim. Forchheim is a former royal city, and is sometimes called the Gateway to the Franconian Switz ...

(eight kilometers in the north). Neighbor cities are Forchheim, Poxdorf, Langensendelbach, Bubenreuth, Möhrendorf and Hausen.

Division of the town

Baiersdorf consists of 4 districts * Baiersdorf * Hagenau * Igelsdorf * Wellerstadt

History

Baiersdorf was first mentioned in 1062 AD and has been chartered since 1460. As Baiersdorf is famous for farming and processing

horseradish Horseradish (''Armoracia rusticana'', syn. ''Cochlearia armoracia'') is a perennial plant of the family Brassicaceae (which also includes mustard, wasabi, broccoli, cabbage, and radish). It is a root vegetable, cultivated and used worldwide ...

, the Meerrettich Museum for horseradish ("the spiciest museum of the world") is located in the old center of the town. A horseradish queen is even chosen every year on the third Saturday in September. The margrave Johann der Alchimist (1401–1464) started the cultivation of horseradish in the region. Baiersdorf's Jewish cemetery attests to the fact that the town has been home to Jews since the 15th century. Among others the family of

Joseph Seligman Joseph Seligman (November 22, 1819 – April 25, 1880) was an American banker and businessman who founded J. & W. Seligman & Co. He was the patriarch of what became known as the Seligman family in USA and was subsequently related to the wealthy ...

who emigrated to the United States and founded an international bank lived there. Joseph's brother James who later followed him to the United States, is the grandfather of American art collector and socialite

Peggy Guggenheim Marguerite "Peggy" Guggenheim ( ; August 26, 1898 – December 23, 1979) was an American art collector, bohemian and socialite. Born to the wealthy New York City Guggenheim family, she was the daughter of Benjamin Guggenheim, who went down with t ...

Guggenheim family The Guggenheim family ( ) is an American-Jewish family known for making their fortune in the mining industry, in the early 20th century, especially in the United States and South America. After World War I, many family members withdrew from th ...

The district of Hagenau was founded in 1939 as a German

Luftwaffe The ''Luftwaffe'' () was the aerial-warfare branch of the German ''Wehrmacht'' before and during World War II. Germany's military air arms during World War I, the ''Luftstreitkräfte'' of the Imperial Army and the '' Marine-Fliegerabtei ...

base. French prisoners of war lived there. After 1945, Hagenau was a home for refugees from the

Sudetenland The Sudetenland ( , ; Czech and sk, Sudety) is the historical German name for the northern, southern, and western areas of former Czechoslovakia which were inhabited primarily by Sudeten Germans. These German speakers had predominated in the ...

. Today it is a part of the town, and the Karl Höfner Corporation is located there, world famous for its guitars and bass guitars. In July 2007, the town was flooded by torrential rain. Over 1000 homes were flooded, and the Bundesautobahn was temporarily closed to traffic.

Government

The City Council consists of 21 members, including the mayor. * CSU 9 + 1 Seats *

SPD The Social Democratic Party of Germany (german: Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands, ; SPD, ) is a centre-left social democratic political party in Germany. It is one of the major parties of contemporary Germany. Saskia Esken has been t ...

4 Seats * FW 4 Seats * Ökologische Wählergemeinschaft 3 Seats

Culture and sights

Museums

* Horseradish-Museum

Monuments

* A Jewish cemetery reminds of the Jewish residents of the town which were persecuted in

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

and killed during the

Holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; a ...

* Monument for the Castle Scharfeneck * The old Town Hall with a pillory in which the Greek restaurant "Irodion" is located today.

Notable people

* Joseph Aub (1804-1880), rabbi in Bayreuth, Mainz and Berlin; born in Baiersdorf *

(1819-1880), American banker, born in Baiersdorf *

Stefan Schwarzmann Stefan Schwarzmann (born 11 November 1965Larkin, Colin (2006). ''The Encyclopedia of Popular Music''. Oxford University Press. p. 189. .) is a German drummer who has recorded for Accept,Montgomery, James et al (2005)"Metal File: Korn, Motorhead, ...

(born 1965 in Erlangen), German musician who grew up in Baiersdorf, drummer from bands like Running Wild,

U.D.O. U.D.O. is a German heavy metal band founded by lead vocalist Udo Dirkschneider in 1987. History Following Udo Dirkschneider's departure from Accept in 1987, he formed his own band called U.D.O. He recruited guitarists Mathias Dieth and Peter ...

Accept Accept may refer to: * Acceptance, a person's assent to the reality of a situation etc. * Accept (band), a German heavy metal band ** ''Accept'' (Accept album), their debut album from 1979 * ''Accept'' (Chicken Shack album), 1970 * ACCEPT (or ...

Helloween Helloween is a German power metal band founded in 1984 in Hamburg by members of bands Iron Fist, Gentry, Second Hell and Powerfool. Its first lineup consisted of singer and guitarist Kai Hansen, bassist Markus Grosskopf, guitarist Michael Weik ...

Hisham Zreiq Hisham Zreiq ( ar, هشام زريق, he, הישאם זרייק; born 9 February 1968 in Nazareth), also spelled Zrake, is an award-winning Palestinian Christian- Israeli Independent filmmaker, poet, animator and visual artist. He began working ...

(born 1968), Palestinian visual artist and filmmaker.

References

External links

*
Judenfriedhof Baiersdorf

Foracheim: St. Nikolaus in Baiersdorf

* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20090819085225/http://www.hofner.com/gab/en Karl Höfner GmbH
Schamel Horseradish
{{Authority control Erlangen-Höchstadt Holocaust locations in Germany