Bad Windsheim (

East Franconian East Franconian (german: Ostfränkisch) or Mainfränkisch, usually referred to as Franconian (') in German, is a dialect which is spoken in Franconia, the northern part of the federal state of Bavaria and other areas in Germany around Nuremberg, ...

: ''Winsa'') is a small historic town in

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 with a population of almost 12,000. It lies in the district Neustadt an der Aisch-Bad Windsheim, west of

Nuremberg Nuremberg ( ; german: link=no, Nürnberg ; in the local East Franconian dialect: ''Nämberch'' ) is the second-largest city of the German state of Bavaria after its capital Munich, and its 518,370 (2019) inhabitants make it the 14th-largest ...

. In the

Holy Roman Empire The Holy Roman Empire was a political entity in Western, Central, and Southern Europe that developed during the Early Middle Ages and continued until its dissolution in 1806 during the Napoleonic Wars. From the accession of Otto I in 962 ...

, Windsheim held the rank of Imperial City (until 1802). Since 1810 Windsheim is part of

. In 1961, it became a spa town and has since been called "Bad Windsheim".

Climate

The climate in this area shows only small differences between highs and lows, and there is adequate rainfall year-round. The

Köppen Climate Classification The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, notabl ...

subtype for this climate is " Cfb" (Marine West Coast Climate/ Oceanic climate).Climate Summary for Bad Windsheim (from Weatherbase.com)
/ref>

History

A document from 741 proves for the first time the existence of the town, then called ''Uuinidesheim''. The name changed to "Windsheim" by linguistic development, meaning "the home of the wind". In the late stage of

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 ...

, a Volkssturm battalion took control of the town and refused to surrender to the approaching American troops, declaring Windsheim a "fortress". American troops eventually captured the town after deploying fire bombs through aerial bombing. The civilian population was forced to flee from Windsheim under enemy fire. The town was rebuilt after the war.

Attractions

The town is known for its waters and spa, ''Franken-Therme'', and an

open-air museum An open-air museum (or open air museum) is a museum that exhibits collections of buildings and artifacts out-of-doors. It is also frequently known as a museum of buildings or a folk museum. Definition Open air is “the unconfined atmosphere� ...

, the ''Freilandmuseum'', which brings together old farms and farmhouses from the area. On the first weekend in August every year Bad Windsheim is the location for an event called ''Weinturm Open Air'', a concert on the top of a hill in the town. The town also features a war memorial in the form of a large statue of Roland.

Notable people

Sons and daughters of the town

Georg Wilhelm Steller Georg Wilhelm Steller (10 March 1709 – 14 November 1746) was a German botanist, zoologist, physician and explorer, who worked in Russia and is considered a pioneer of Alaskan natural history.Evans, Howard Ensign. Edward Osborne Wilson (col.) ...

(1709–1746), physician and scientist who participated in the

Great Northern Expedition The Great Northern Expedition (russian: Великая Северная экспедиция) or Second Kamchatka Expedition (russian: Вторая Камчатская экспедиция) was one of the largest exploration enterprises in hi ...

* Johann Christoph Döderlein (1745–1792), theologian *

Otto Strasser Otto Johann Maximilian Strasser (also german: link=no, Straßer, see ß; 10 September 1897 – 27 August 1974) was a German politician and an early member of the Nazi Party. Otto Strasser, together with his brother Gregor Strasser, was a lead ...

(1897–1974), politician, brother of

Gregor Strasser Gregor Strasser (also german: Straßer, see ß; 31 May 1892 – 30 June 1934) was an early prominent German Nazi official and politician who was murdered during the Night of the Long Knives in 1934. Born in 1892 in Bavaria, Strasser served i ...

* Erich Mühe (1938–2005), surgeon, founder of micro-invasive surgery in 1985 * Nevio Passaro (born 1980), German-Italian singer and songwriter *

Vyncint Smith Vyncint Smith (born June 9, 1996) is an American football wide receiver for the Indianapolis Colts of the National Football League (NFL). Smith was born in Germany while his US army parents were stationed there, but he grew up in South Carolina ...

(born 1996), American Football Wide Receiver in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

(NFL)

Personalities who worked locally

Francis Daniel Pastorius Francis Daniel Pastorius (September 26, 1651) was a German born educator, lawyer, poet, and public official. He was the founder of Germantown, Pennsylvania, now part of Philadelphia, the first permanent German-American settlement and the gatewa ...

(1651–1719), German lawyer and writers, he is considered to be the founder of the first German settlement in North America.

References

External links

Bad Windsheim official website

Weinturm Open Air official website

Fränkisches Freilandmuseum official website

Frankentherme Bad Windsheim official website
1802 disestablishments States and territories established in 1248 Neustadt (Aisch)-Bad Windsheim Franconian Circle Spa towns in Germany {{NeustadtBadWindsheim-geo-stub