Flein () is a municipality in the district of

Heilbronn Heilbronn () is a List of cities and towns in Germany, city in northern Baden-Württemberg, Germany, surrounded by Heilbronn (district), Heilbronn District. With over 126,000 residents, it is the sixth-largest city in the state. From the late Mid ...

Baden-Württemberg Baden-Württemberg (; ), commonly shortened to BW or BaWü, is a German state () in Southwest Germany, east of the Rhine, which forms the southern part of Germany's western border with France. With more than 11.07 million inhabitants across a ...

in southern

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

Flein is situated in the south of the district of Heilbronn and directly borders on to

in the south.

Neighbouring municipalities

Neighbouring towns and municipalities of Flein are (clockwise from north-west): ''

'' (

Stadtkreis In all German states, except for the three city states, the primary administrative subdivision higher than a ''Gemeinde'' (municipality) is the (official term in all but two states) or (official term in the states of North Rhine-Westphalia a ...

Untergruppenbach Untergruppenbach () is a municipality near Heilbronn, a city in the northern half of the German state of Baden-Württemberg. There are a total of 7,600 inhabitants living in six villages that form the municipality of Untergruppenbach. Approxim ...

and

Talheim Talheim () is a Municipalities of Germany, municipality in the district of Heilbronn (district), Heilbronn in Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. It is commonly known for its wine, the tennis tournament Intersport Heilbronn Open, Heilbronn ...

(both in the district of Heilbronn). Flein has combined with Talheim to form a joint association of administrations.

History

The communal land of Flein settled during the

linear pottery culture The Linear Pottery culture (LBK) is a major archaeological horizon of the European Neolithic period, flourishing . Derived from the German ''Linearbandkeramik'', it is also known as the Linear Band Ware, Linear Ware, Linear Ceramics or Inci ...

of the

neolithic The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several parts ...

. The village was first mentioned in 1188 within an imperial document as ''Flina''. The name presumably comes from the

Old High German Old High German (OHG; german: Althochdeutsch (Ahd.)) is the earliest stage of the German language, conventionally covering the period from around 750 to 1050. There is no standardised or supra-regional form of German at this period, and Old High ...

term ''flins'' respectively the

Middle High German Middle High German (MHG; german: Mittelhochdeutsch (Mhd.)) is the term for the form of German spoken in the High Middle Ages. It is conventionally dated between 1050 and 1350, developing from Old High German and into Early New High German. High ...

''vlins'', meaning something like "pebble" or "hard stone". In 1385, the free imperial city

bought the village from the ''Lords of Sturmfeder''. During the

German Peasants' War The German Peasants' War, Great Peasants' War or Great Peasants' Revolt (german: Deutscher Bauernkrieg) was a widespread popular revolt in some German-speaking areas in Central Europe from 1524 to 1525. It failed because of intense oppositio ...

many insurgent farmers of the region assembled in Flein around of their head Jäcklein Rohrbach. Like most of Germany, Flein suffered great damage during the

Thirty Years' War The Thirty Years' War was one of the longest and most destructive conflicts in European history The history of Europe is traditionally divided into four time periods: prehistoric Europe (prior to about 800 BC), classical antiquity (80 ...

. In 1802, Flein became part of

Württemberg Württemberg ( ; ) is a historical German territory roughly corresponding to the cultural and linguistic region of Swabia. The main town of the region is Stuttgart. Together with Baden and Hohenzollern, two other historical territories, Würt ...

. The enormous increase of population after World War II is due to the settlement of many refugees and creation of building land a few years later. In the 1970s the population of Flein voted against an incorporation to Heilbronn and for combining a joint association of administrations with Talheim.

Religions

Apart from an own Protestant parish there's a Catholic one together with Talheim (Catholic Parish Flein-Talheim). The Protestant parish consists of 3,400 members.

Development of population

*1648: 250 *1800: 800 *1900: 1,600 *2005: 6,535

Politics

District council

Elections in 2014: *Free voters: 8 seats *CDU/Bürgerliste: 5 seats *SPD: 5 seats No difference to year 2009. The mayor is also a member of the district council and its chairman.

Mayor

On June 24, 2007, there were mayoral elections; the incumbent, Jürgen Schmid did not stand for re-election after 16 years in office. Since there was no absolute majority after the first election a run off was necessary. On July 15, 2007. Alexander Krüger was elected as mayor for an eight-year term with 63.9% of the votes. He started on August 15, 2007.

Coat of arms and flag

The theme of the municipal coat of arms is the martyrdom of

Saint Vitus Vitus (), whose name is sometimes rendered Guy or Guido, was a Christian martyr from Sicily. His surviving hagiography is pure legend. The dates of his actual life are unknown.Basil Watkins, ''The Book of Saints: A Comprehensive Biographical D ...

, derived from a picture in the town's St. Vitus Church (see gallery below). The arms depict a golden cauldron on red flames with a blue background, inside which is the bare, praying Saint Vitus. The municipal flag is yellow and blue. The holy Vitus is the

patron saint A patron saint, patroness saint, patron hallow or heavenly protector is a saint who in Catholicism, Anglicanism, or Eastern Orthodoxy is regarded as the heavenly advocate of a nation, place, craft, activity, class, clan, family, or perso ...

of Flein. In Flein, there's the oldest portrayal of his torture, presumably an old seal. The second oldest one is on a stone of 1699. In a description holy Vitus is named in 1865. In a municipal seal it's attested no earlier than 1903. However, since the

Reformation The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and in ...

no Saints' icons were inserted in the arms, which means that the arms are in fact much older, dating to around 1500 or earlier, making them one of the oldest of the whole district. The colours of the coats of arms were laid down in 1938 by the head archive of Württemberg. In the same year, the Nazi

NSDAP The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party (german: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or NSDAP), was a far-right politics, far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that crea ...

party Heilbronn suggested to accept another arms without a religious meaning. The archive direction suggested a blazon containing an arms ''In a split sign in blue a head of a lion, behind in gold a blue grape with two vine leaves''. However, in June 1939 the NSDAP stated that it was of minor importance and not to hurry the change. So Flein remained with its previous coat of arms and confirmed this decision in 1956. This decision was confirmed on January 11, 1957, by the ministry of the interior of Baden-Württemberg. In the same year local artist Hans Epple created a drawing used by the municipality today (see illustration).

Twin municipalities

Twin municipalities of Flein are *

Onzain Onzain () is a former commune in the French department of Loir-et-Cher, administrative region of Centre-Val de Loire. On 1 January 2017, it was merged into the new commune Veuzain-sur-Loire.French

Département In the administrative divisions of France, the department (french: département, ) is one of the three levels of government under the national level ("territorial collectivity, territorial collectivities"), between the regions of France, admin ...

Loir-et-Cher Loir-et-Cher (, ) is a department in the Centre-Val de Loire region of France. Its name is originated from two rivers which cross it, the Loir in its northern part and the Cher in its southern part. Its prefecture is Blois. The INSEE and La P ...

(since March 1990) * Steinthaleben in the

Kyffhäuserkreis The Kyffhäuserkreis is a district in the northern part of Thuringia, Germany. Neighboring districts are the districts Mansfeld-Südharz, Saalekreis und Burgenlandkreis in Saxony-Anhalt, and the districts Sömmerda, Unstrut-Hainich-Kreis and Ei ...

Thuringia Thuringia (; german: Thüringen ), officially the Free State of Thuringia ( ), is a state of central Germany, covering , the sixth smallest of the sixteen German states. It has a population of about 2.1 million. Erfurt is the capital and larg ...

(since June 1991)

Economy and infrastructure

Flein, situated within the wine region of Württemberg, is known for its famous wine. On 180 ha of vineyards several different

varietal A varietal wine is a wine made primarily from a single named grape variety, and which typically displays the name of that variety on the wine label.The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition, 2000.winepros.com.au. ...

s such as

Riesling Riesling (, ; ) is a white grape variety that originated in the Rhine region. Riesling is an aromatic grape variety displaying flowery, almost perfumed, aromas as well as high acidity. It is used to make dry, semi-sweet, sweet, and sparkling wh ...

, Pinot Meunier and ''Samtrot'' grow. These wines are mostly commercialized by the ''Weingärtnergenossenschaft Flein-Talheim'', however there are also private wine-growing estates. In 1951 Hildegard Seitz from Flein got voted to be ''wine queen of Württemberg''.

Traffic

Public transport in the HNV is ensured by buses, besides Flein is the only municipality in the district to be connected with the city bus network of Heilbronn. The A 81 is available by

Ilsfeld Ilsfeld is a municipality in the district of Heilbronn in Baden-Württemberg in Germany, on the outer edge of the Stuttgart Metropolitan Region. In addition to the village of Ilsfeld proper, it includes the formerly independent settlements of Aue ...

and

. The nearest rail station is

Heilbronn Hauptbahnhof Heilbronn Hauptbahnhof () is the main passenger railway station in Heilbronn in the German state of Baden-Württemberg. Description Heilbronn Hauptbahnhof is located about 1 km west of the inner city of Heilbronn and the Old Neckar on a 1 ...

Media

The ''Heilbronner Stimme'' informs about happenings in Flein within its edition South-East (SO).

Education

The primary school and

Hauptschule A ''Hauptschule'' (, "general school") is a secondary school in Germany, starting after four years of elementary schooling (''Grundschule''), which offers Lower Secondary Education (Level 2) according to the International Standard Classification ...

including

Werkrealschule Werkrealschule is a relatively young branch of German secondary education (e.g. in Baden-Württemberg), which offers pupils additional lessons in grades 8 and 9 and allows them to qualify after ten years with a final exam which is equal to graduatio ...

Flein is attended by 350 students (2005). Besides there's the ''Johannesschule'', a Förderschule being like a Waldorfschule. The Flein's library has 13,000 media at its disposal (2005).

Culture and sights

Notable buildings

* Protestant parish church ''St. Veit'', first mentioned in 1233, with war memorial * old town hall, arms of holy Vitus and initials of Schultheiß (built in 1604, rebuilt in 1834/35, 1895 and after World War II) * ''Fischerhaus'' from 1592 at the ''Ilsfelder Straße'' (

half-timbering Timber framing (german: Holzfachwerk) and "post-and-beam" construction are traditional methods of building with heavy timbers, creating structures using squared-off and carefully fitted and joined timbers with joints secured by large wooden ...

) * ''Kornhaus'' from 1595 (further half-timbering at the der ''Schulstraße'') * former residence of the sculptor Friedrich Göttle at the ''Ilsfelder Straße'' no. 72, 1892 in style of

Neo-Renaissance Renaissance Revival architecture (sometimes referred to as "Neo-Renaissance") is a group of 19th century architectural revival styles which were neither Greek Revival nor Gothic Revival but which instead drew inspiration from a wide range o ...

, planned and built by its inhabitant * fountain in front of the town hall * outside of the village between vine yards there's the hut of the former ''Karmeliterkloster'' monastery Image:Flein-altes-rathaus2.JPG, old town hall Image:Flein-altesrathaus-wappen1604.JPG, arms of 1604 Image:Flein Fischerhaus 20050918.jpg, ''Fischerhaus'' Image:Flein Evangelische Kirche 20070502.jpg, Protestant parish church ''St. Veit'' Image:Flein-kriegerdenkmal-st-veit-detail.JPG, war memorial nearby ''St. Veit'' Image:Flein-brunnen.JPG, fountain in front of the mayor office Image:Flein Karmeliterhaeuschen 20050918.jpg, ''Karmeliterhäuschen'' Image:Flein-st-veit.jpg, Martyrdom of

circa 1515, St. Vitus church, Flein (it also appears on the town's coat of arms) Building sourcesJulius Fekete: ''Kunst- und Kulturdenkmale in Stadt und Landkreis Heilbronn''. 2nd edition. Theiss, Stuttgart 2002, , partly added and verified by site inspection.

Sons and daughters of the municipality

* Friedrich Michael Münzing (born 1807 in Flein; died 1879 in Heilbronn), Stearinkerzenfabrikant, he approached the synthetic production of sulphuric acid for the first time (around 1830) * Monika Helbing (born November 16, 1953 in Flein), former member of the second generation of the

Red Army Faction The Red Army Faction (RAF, ; , ),See the section "Name" also known as the Baader–Meinhof Group or Baader–Meinhof Gang (, , active 1970–1998), was a West German far-left Marxist-Leninist urban guerrilla group founded in 1970. The ...

and involved in the Schleyer abduction 1977

References

External links

www.flein.de
(in German) {{Authority control Heilbronn (district)