Leimen (

South Franconian South Franconian (german: Südfränkisch) or South Rhine Franconian (german: Südrheinfränkisch) is an Upper German dialect which is spoken in the northernmost part of Baden-Württemberg in Germany, around Karlsruhe, Mosbach and Heilbronn. Lik ...

: ''Lååme'') is a town in north-west

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 ...

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 betwee ...

. It is about south of

Heidelberg Heidelberg (; Palatine German: ') is a city in the German state of Baden-Württemberg, situated on the river Neckar in south-west Germany. As of the 2016 census, its population was 159,914, of which roughly a quarter consisted of students ...

and the third largest town of the Rhein-Neckar district after

Weinheim Weinheim (; pfl, Woinem) is a town with about 43,000 inhabitants in northwest Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is in the Rhine-Neckar Metropolitan Region, approximately north of Heidelberg and northeast of Mannheim. Weinheim is known as the "Zwe ...

and Sinsheim. It is also the area's industrial centre. Leimen is located on the Bergstraße (Mountain Road) and on the Bertha Benz Memorial Route. In the context of a communal reform in the 1970s, Leimen was newly created from the villages Leimen, Gauangelloch and Sankt Ilgen. In 1981, the state government of Baden-Württemberg granted Leimen the privilege to be called "town." When Leimen's population exceeded 20,000 in 1990, the city council applied for elevation to a

Große Kreisstadt ''Große Kreisstadt'' (, "major district town") is a term in the municipal law ('' Gemeindeordnung'') of several German states. In some federal states the term is used as a special legal status for a district-affiliated town—as distinct from an ...

which was granted by the state government on 1 April 1992.

History

The first documentary record of Leimen is from 791, when both the

Lorsch Abbey Lorsch Abbey, otherwise the Imperial Abbey of Lorsch (german: Reichsabtei Lorsch; la, Laureshamense Monasterium or ''Laurissa''), is a former Imperial abbey in Lorsch, Germany, about east of Worms. It was one of the most renowned monasteries ...

and the

Diocese of Worms The Prince-Bishopric of Worms, was an ecclesiastical principality of the Holy Roman Empire. Located on both banks of the Rhine around Worms just north of the union of that river with the Neckar, it was largely surrounded by the Electorate of the ...

owned land there. First records of the districts are from 1270 for Gauangelloch (a document supposedly from 1016 was found out to be a fake), 1312 for Lingental, around 1300 for Ochsenbach and 1100 for Sankt Ilgen, then called ''bruch'', an

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 Hig ...

word for

bog A bog or bogland is a wetland that accumulates peat as a deposit of dead plant materials often mosses, typically sphagnum moss. It is one of the four main types of wetlands. Other names for bogs include mire, mosses, quagmire, and muskeg; a ...

. In 1262, the lords of

Bruchsal Bruchsal (; orig. Bruohselle, Bruaselle, historically known in English as Bruxhall; South Franconian: ''Brusel'') is a city at the western edge of the Kraichgau, approximately 20 km northeast of Karlsruhe in the state of Baden-Württemberg, ...

gave Leimen to the

Electorate of the Palatinate The Electoral Palatinate (german: Kurpfalz) or the Palatinate (), officially the Electorate of the Palatinate (), was a state that was part of the Holy Roman Empire. The electorate had its origins under the rulership of the Counts Palatine o ...

as a fiefdom and from 1464 on Leimen was part of the Palatinate. In 1579, Leimen was granted the right to celebrate an annual

fair A fair (archaic: faire or fayre) is a gathering of people for a variety of entertainment or commercial activities. Fairs are typically temporary with scheduled times lasting from an afternoon to several weeks. Types Variations of fairs incl ...

and became a ''marketplace'' in 1595. In 1674, Leimen was partially destroyed.

Mayors

*Johann Ludwig Waldbauer 1838–1844 *Heinrich Seitz 1845–1876 *Jakob Rehm III. 1876–1882 *Leonhard Schneider 1882–1883 *Ludwig Endlich 1883–1896 *Christoph Lingg 1883–1923 *Jakob Weidemaier 1923–1933 *Fritz Wisswesser 1933–1945 *Jakob Weidemaier 1945 *Georg Appel 1946–1948 *Otto Hoog 1948–1976 *Herbert Ehrbar 1976–2000 (from 1992 Lord Mayor)

Lord Mayor

*Wolfgang Ernst 2000–2016 * since 2016: Hans D. Reinwald

People, culture and architecture

Leimen consists of the Leimen (proper), nowadays called "Leimen (Mitte)", and the four boroughs Gauangelloch, Lingental, Ochsenbach and Sankt Ilgen. Despite its industrial roots, Leimen's downtown has maintained a certain quaintness. It is an active town, with a regular cycle of festivals and activities. At Ochsenbach, there is the NDB NKR.

Notable people

Joseph von Henikstein Joseph Ritter von Henikstein (1768 – April 29, 1838) was a Jewish businessman and financier. He was a patron of the arts, and a friend of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Born in Leimen, Baden, Henikstein was married to Elisabeth von Sonnenstein ...

(1768–1838), businessman and financier, art patron and friend of

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 17565 December 1791), baptised as Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period. Despite his short life, his rapid pace of composition r ...

Bert Hellinger Anton Hellinger (16 December 1925 – 19 September 2019), known as Bert Hellinger, was a German psychotherapist associated with a therapeutic method best known as Family Constellations and Systemic Constellations. In recent years, his work evolved ...

(1925–2019), psychotherapist and author *

Michael Peter Michael Peter (7 May 1949 – 23 October 1997) was a field hockey player from West Germany, who captained the West German team that won the gold medal at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich. Twelve years later, at age 35, he was a member of ...

(1949–1997),

field hockey Field hockey is a team sport structured in standard hockey format, in which each team plays with ten outfield players and a goalkeeper. Teams must drive a round hockey ball by hitting it with a hockey stick towards the rival team's shooting ...

player, Olympic winner *

Rainer Zietsch Rainer Zietsch (born 21 November 1964) is a German football coach and a former player who is the assistant coach of Germany U17. Honours VfB Stuttgart * Bundesliga: 1983–84 * DFB-Pokal: runner-up 1985–86 * UEFA Cup A cup is an ope ...

(born 1964), football player and coach *

Ralph Götz Ralph Götz (born 15 May 1967) was the President of the German Rugby Federation from 2011 to 2013. He succeeded Claus-Peter Bach at this position. Götz, whose father was for many years the President of the Baden-Württemberg Rugby Union, starte ...

(born 1967), rugby player and administrator *

Boris Becker Boris Franz Becker (, ; born 22 November 1967) is a German former world No. 1 tennis player. Becker was successful from the start of his career, winning the Wimbledon Championships at the age of 17. He ultimately won six Grand Slam singles tit ...

(born 1967), tennis player *

Clemens von Grumbkow Clemens von Grumbkow (born 22 July 1983) is a German international rugby union player, playing for the U.S. Dax in the French Rugby Pro D2.

(born 1983), rugby union player * Akeem Vargas (born 1990), basketball player, grew up in Leimen *

Anne Spiegel Anne Spiegel (born 15 December 1980) is a German politician of Alliance 90/The Greens. She served as Federal Minister for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth in the cabinet of Chancellor Olaf Scholz since 8 December 2021; she anno ...

(born 1980), German politician, born in Leimen

Twin towns – sister cities

Leimen is twinned with: * Castanheira de Pera, Portugal *

Cernay-lès-Reims Cernay-lès-Reims (, literally ''Cernay near Reims'') is a commune in the Marne department in north-eastern France. Cernay-lès-Reims, along with the neighboring commune of Berru, is notable in the literature of paleontology as the site of a ge ...

, France *

Kunín Kunín (until 1947 Kunvald; german: Kunewald) is a municipality and village in Nový Jičín District in the Moravian-Silesian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 1,800 inhabitants. Geography Kunín lies on the Jičínka river. The larger ...

, Czech Republic *

Mafra Mafra is a Czech media group that publishes printed and internet media, headquartered in Prague, Czech Republic. It is a subsidiary of Agrofert holding conglomerate owned by trust of Andrej Babiš, the former Prime Minister of the Czech Republi ...

, Portugal * Tigy, France *

Tinqueux Tinqueux () is a commune in the Marne department in north-eastern France. It is a suburb, adjacent to the west of Reims Reims ( , , ; also spelled Rheims in English) is the most populous city in the French department of Marne, and the 12th ...

, France

References

{{Authority control Towns in Baden-Württemberg Rhein-Neckar-Kreis Baden