Burgkunstadt is a town in the district of Lichtenfels, 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 ...

. It is situated on the right bank of the

Main Main may refer to: Geography * Main River (disambiguation) **Most commonly the Main (river) in Germany * Main, Iran, a village in Fars Province *"Spanish Main", the Caribbean coasts of mainland Spanish territories in the 16th and 17th centuries ...

, 15 km west of

Kulmbach Kulmbach () is the capital of the district of Kulmbach in Bavaria in Germany. The town is famous for Plassenburg Castle, which houses the largest tin soldier museum in the world, and for its sausages, or ''Bratwürste''. Geography Location Ku ...

, and 24 km southeast of

Coburg Coburg () is a town located on the Itz river in the Upper Franconia region of Bavaria, Germany. Long part of one of the Thuringian states of the Wettin line, it joined Bavaria by popular vote only in 1920. Until the revolution of 1918, it was ...

History

The earliest archeological evidence of settlement dates to the 8th century, and the first written record of a settlement dates to April 13, 1059 in the time of Friedrich Barbarossa. The city earned its charter on April 27, 1426 under Prince Frederick Bishop of Bamberg. The town experienced outbreaks of plague in 1312, 1348, 1448, 1473, and 1626. 195 villagers died, approximately one third of the population. The town fell under the sway of

Protestantism Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century against what its followers perceived to b ...

in 1517 but returned to

Catholicism The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

in 1624. The city's residents supported the peasant revolt of 1525, but the ruling diocese ordered the city plundered as punishment, and the city capitulated in June when order was restored. In the

Second Margrave War The Second Margrave War () was a conflict in the Holy Roman Empire between 1552 and 1555. Instigated by Albert Alcibiades, Margrave of Brandenburg-Kulmbach and Brandenburg-Bayreuth, it involved numerous raids, plunderings, and the destruction of ...

of 1553, the town was occupied by Albert Alcibiades who burned nearly the entire town. In the

Thirty Years War The Thirty Years' War was one of the longest and List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, most destructive conflicts in History of Europe, European history, lasting from 1618 to 1648. Fought primarily in Central Europe, an es ...

, the town was occupied by Swedish troops for one year and five months from 1632 onwards, causing a tremendous decline in living conditions. The town hall building dates to 1690 and is an archetypical Franconian half-timbered building. During the

Seven Years' War The Seven Years' War (1756–1763) was a global conflict that involved most of the European Great Powers, and was fought primarily in Europe, the Americas, and Asia-Pacific. Other concurrent conflicts include the French and Indian War (1754� ...

, Prussian troops were stationed in the town resulting in yet more destruction and looting. In the Napoleonic wars, the ruling Bishop was forced to resign in 1802, and the town government was secularized. A new main Catholic church dated to 1812. The town opened to industrialization with the construction of a railway line with service starting on February 15, 1846. A steam boiler factory opened in 1862, and the first telegraph reached the town in 1877. The town became known for its shoe factories, and it supplied military boots during the First World War. Following the war, the town suffered from the rampant inflation of the 1920s. During the Nazi period, Dr. Leo Feusinger was appointed Mayor, and he led an anti-Jewish boycott on 1 April 1933. The town enthusiastically embraced anti-Jewish policies. The town's synagogue was plundered and destroyed during

Kristallnacht () or the Night of Broken Glass, also called the November pogrom(s) (german: Novemberpogrome, ), was a pogrom against Jews carried out by the Nazi Party's (SA) paramilitary and (SS) paramilitary forces along with some participation from ...

of 1938, and the last Jewish residents were deported to Belzec and

Sobibor Sobibor (, Polish: ) was an extermination camp built and operated by Nazi Germany as part of Operation Reinhard. It was located in the forest near the village of Żłobek Duży in the General Government region of German-occupied Poland. As an ...

on 24 April 1942 where they were murdered. The period also saw investments in infrastructure and schools. Following the war, the town returned to its shoe manufacturing, but production declined and the last factory closed in 1990. The town, in the meantime, became known for its secondary schools.

Folklore

In folklore, Burgkunstadt (anciently ''Kunostadt'') is said to have been home to the giant Rübesam, and the subject of a once-popular children's poem:

Sons and daughters of the town

* Johann-Georg Dora, (born 1948), former general of the Bundeswehr *

Shelomo Dov Goitein Shelomo Dov Goitein (April 3, 1900 – February 6, 1985) was a German-Jewish ethnographer, historian and Arabist known for his research on Jewish life in the Islamic Middle Ages, and particularly on the Cairo Geniza. Biography Shelomo Dov (Fri ...

, (1900–1985), orientalist * Fridolin Friedmann, (1897–1976), educator

References

External links

* {{Cities and towns in Lichtenfels (district) Lichtenfels (district) Holocaust locations in Germany Populated places on the Main basin Populated riverside places in Germany