Benjamin Franklin Village, also called BFV, was a
United States Army
The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare, land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed services of the United States, U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army o ...
installation in
Mannheim
Mannheim (; Palatine German: or ), officially the University City of Mannheim (german: Universitätsstadt Mannheim), is the second-largest city in the German state of Baden-Württemberg after the state capital of Stuttgart, and Germany's ...
-
Käfertal,
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 opened in 1947 after
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
and was named after
Benjamin Franklin
Benjamin Franklin ( April 17, 1790) was an American polymath who was active as a writer, scientist, inventor, statesman, diplomat, printer, publisher, and political philosopher. Encyclopædia Britannica, Wood, 2021 Among the leading inte ...
. It was closed as part of the restructuring of US forces in Europe. The last soldier and their family moved out in September 2012.
The Mannheim military community was composed of several posts within a relatively small area in and around Mannheim. Sullivan Barracks,
Taylor Barracks, and Funari Barracks, Benjamin Franklin Village housing and the military shopping area were all located within walking distance of one another.
The approximate total population in Mannheim assigned prior to closure was 15,000 which consists of: Army active duty, 4,000; Air Force active duty, 200; Army family members, 6,484; Air Force family members, 197; civilian employees and family members, 3,266 and US military retirees, 727. The closure of Mannheim and
Heidelberg
Heidelberg (; Palatine German language, Palatine German: ''Heidlberg'') is a city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, situated on the river Neckar in south-west Germany. As of the 2016 census, its population was 159,914 ...
Kasernes is estimated to save the US $112,000,000 per year in operational costs starting in 2016.
Redevelopment
Benjamin Franklin Village and the other Army Kasernes in Mannheim are scheduled to be returned to the German government after the US removes all of its property from the site. Planning for redevelopment of the real estate is already ongoing.
Parts of the buildings were used to host some hundred asylum seekers and refugees starting September 2015.
[http://www.swr.de/landesschau-aktuell/bw/rhein-neckar/mannheim-fluechtlinge-benjamin-franklin-village-landeserstaufnahmestelle/-/id=1582/did=16178924/nid=1582/1ejlh79/index.html ]
See also
*
List of United States Army installations in Germany
The United States Army has 40 military installations in Germany, two of which are scheduled to close. Over 220 others have already been closed, mostly following the end of the Cold War in the 1990s. The rationale behind the large number of clos ...
References
{{Reflist
External links
Photos of Benjamin Franklin Village shopping area and Sullivan Barracks in 1964*
ttp://www.freewebs.com/504thsignal/BFV_Germany.jpg Aerial view of Benjamin Franklin Village in the 1990s
Installations of the United States Army in Germany
Cantonments
Buildings and structures in Mannheim