Hammelburg is a 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 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 sits in the district of Bad Kissingen, in

Lower Franconia Lower Franconia (german: Unterfranken) is one of seven districts of Bavaria, Germany. The districts of Lower, Middle and Upper Franconia make up the region of Franconia. History After the founding of the Kingdom of Bavaria the state was totally ...

. It lies on the river Franconian Saale, 25 km west of

Schweinfurt Schweinfurt ( , ; ) is a city in the district of Lower Franconia in Bavaria, Germany. It is the administrative centre of the surrounding district (''Landkreis'') of Schweinfurt and a major industrial, cultural and educational hub. The urban ag ...

. Hammelburg is the oldest

winegrowing Viticulture (from the Latin word for ''vine'') or winegrowing (wine growing) is the cultivation and harvesting of grapes. It is a branch of the science of horticulture. While the native territory of ''Vitis vinifera'', the common grape vine, ran ...

town (''Weinstadt'') in Franconia.

History

Hammelburg was first documented on 18 April 716 as , when

Hedan II Heden, Hedan, or Hetan II (died 741), called the Younger, was a Duke of Thuringia, one of the "older" stem duchies (''Stammesherzogtums''), from around 700 until his death. He may have been the Hedan who married Saint Bilihild. One of the chie ...

, Duke of Thuringia, donated the place to

Saint Willibrord Willibrord (; 658 – 7 November AD 739) was an Anglo-Saxon missionary and saint, known as the "Apostle to the Frisians" in the modern Netherlands. He became the first bishop of Utrecht and died at Echternach, Luxembourg. Early life His fath ...

. In 741, Carloman bequeathed Saint Martin's Church () to

Saint Boniface Boniface, OSB ( la, Bonifatius; 675 – 5 June 754) was an English Benedictines, Benedictine monk and leading figure in the Anglo-Saxon mission to the Germanic parts of the Frankish Empire during the eighth century. He organised significant ...

for the foundation of the

Diocese of Würzburg In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associate ...

. In 777,

Charlemagne Charlemagne ( , ) or Charles the Great ( la, Carolus Magnus; german: Karl der Große; 2 April 747 – 28 January 814), a member of the Carolingian dynasty, was King of the Franks from 768, King of the Lombards from 774, and the first Holy ...

donated Hammelburg with its entire municipal area to the

Abbey of Fulda The Abbey of Fulda (German ''Kloster Fulda'', Latin ''Abbatia Fuldensis''), from 1221 the Princely Abbey of Fulda (''Fürstabtei Fulda'') and from 1752 the Prince-Bishopric of Fulda (''Fürstbistum Fulda''), was a Benedictine abbey and ecclesiastic ...

. At this time, the fortress () was in a favorable location at a

ford Ford commonly refers to: * Ford Motor Company, an automobile manufacturer founded by Henry Ford * Ford (crossing), a shallow crossing on a river Ford may also refer to: Ford Motor Company * Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company * Ford F ...

on the Franconian Saale, and on the intersection of east–west and north–south trade routes. In the 12th century, the prince-abbots of Fulda built the

castle A castle is a type of fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by military orders. Scholars debate the scope of the word ''castle'', but usually consider it to be the private fortified r ...

of Saaleck on the heights over the Saale's left bank for Hammelburg's protection, which particularly served for control of the Trimburg established by the Hennebergs. In 1234, Würzburg succeeded in appropriating the Trimburg from the Hennebergs. Fulda answered this by moving closer to the old opponent with the attachment of Hammelburg and to the stronger development of Saaleck Castle. In 1303, under King Albrecht, town privileges were granted to Hammelburg. Walls and ditches surrounded the city, specifically three

gate tower A gate tower (german: Torturm) is a tower built over or next to a major gateway. Usually it is part of a medieval fortification. This may be a town or city wall, fortress, castle or castle chapel. The gate tower may be built as a twin tower on ...

s (Weiher, upper, and lower) and eleven military towers. From this time the Guardian, Monk and Baderturm, a part of the southern city wall and the survive. Hammelburger citizens had begun in 1302 to build a church. This Church of Maria () at the cattle market became a symbol of civil self-sufficiency. The parish church Johannes in the old castle district the Hammelburger was left to the national organization. The fell victim to a

fire Fire is the rapid oxidation of a material (the fuel) in the exothermic chemical process of combustion, releasing heat, light, and various reaction Product (chemistry), products. At a certain point in the combustion reaction, called the ignition ...

in 1854 that destroyed several other parts of the city. The gothic-era parish church (1389-1461) survives. Despite the support of Fulda and Würzburg, Hammelburg converted early to the

Lutheran Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Catholic Church launched th ...

faith and only by force did the city return to

Catholic 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 ...

ism in 1604. 120

Protestant Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...

Hammelburger families left their hometown because of it. A few years later, an epidemic cost the city many citizens. The city did not recover until the 18th century. From this blooming time of the 16th century, came the (1524-1526)

city hall In local government, a city hall, town hall, civic centre (in the UK or Australia), guildhall, or a municipal building (in the Philippines), is the chief administrative building of a city, town, or other municipality. It usually houses ...

, a new building in the

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass ideas ...

style, from

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

Johannes Schöner Johannes Schöner (16 January 1477, in Karlstadt am Main – 16 January 1547, in the Free Imperial City of Nuremberg) (aka, Johann Schönner, Johann Schoener, Jean Schönner, Joan Schoenerus) was a renowned and respected German polymath. It i ...

, (1529). The first council meeting was held there. Only the lateral stair tower and the city hall cellar remain. The current city hall, built after the fire in the Gothic style, was occupied on 12 December 1859. The Renaissance market well, completed in 1541, is also the work of master builder Schöner. Until 1803, Hammelburg belonged to Fulda. In the course of the

German mediatisation German mediatisation (; german: deutsche Mediatisierung) was the major territorial restructuring that took place between 1802 and 1814 in Germany and the surrounding region by means of the mass mediatisation and secularisation of a large number ...

it passed to the Principality of Nassau-Orange-Fulda from 1803-1806. Under

Napoleon Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...

's brother-in-law, Marshal Murat (1806-1810), the city was under French administration. In 1810, it was assigned to the new

Grand Duchy of Frankfurt The Grand Duchy of Frankfurt was a German satellite state of Napoleonic creation. It came into existence in 1810 through the combination of the former territories of the Archbishopric of Mainz along with the Free City of Frankfurt itself. Hist ...

. After a short

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

n affiliation, the city was integrated in 1816 into the

Kingdom of Bavaria The Kingdom of Bavaria (german: Königreich Bayern; ; spelled ''Baiern'' until 1825) was a German state that succeeded the former Electorate of Bavaria in 1805 and continued to exist until 1918. With the unification of Germany into the German E ...

. The

Nazi Party 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 ...

placed Hammelburg in Gau Mainfranken. During

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 opposin ...

, Hammelburg was the site of the

POW A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold prisoners of war ...

Camps

OFLAG XIII-B Oflag XIII-B was a German Army World War II prisoner-of-war camp for officers ('' Offizierslager''), originally in the Langwasser district of Nuremberg. In 1943 it was moved to a site south of the town of Hammelburg in Lower Franconia, Bavaria, ...

and

Stalag XIII-C Stalag XIII-C was a German Army World War II prisoner-of-war camp ('' Stammlager'') built on what had been the training camp at Hammelburg, Lower Franconia, Bavaria, Germany. Camp history Hammelburg was a large German Army training camp, set up ...

, as well as the attempted rescue of POWs from these camps by

Task Force Baum Task Force Baum, also known as the Hammelberg raid was a secret and controversial World War II task force set up by U.S. Army General George S. Patton and commanded by Capt. Abraham Baum in late March 1945. Baum was given the task of penetrating ...

in 1945. Lt.

Donald Prell Donald B. Prell (July 7, 1924 – July 28, 2020) was an American World War II veteran, venture capitalist and futurist who created ''Datamation'', the first magazine devoted solely to the computer hardware and software industry. Early life Prell ...

of the 106th Infantry Division was one of the POWs liberated by the Task Force. American television

sitcom A sitcom, a portmanteau of situation comedy, or situational comedy, is a genre of comedy centered on a fixed set of characters who mostly carry over from episode to episode. Sitcoms can be contrasted with sketch comedy, where a troupe may use ne ...

'' Hogan's Heroes'' featured a fictional Luft-Stalag 13, said to be near Hammelburg — the German ''Wehrmacht Heer''-operated

POW camp was located in Hammelburg. The German Army's

Infantry School A School of Infantry provides training in weapons and infantry tactics to infantrymen of a nation's military forces. Schools of infantry include: Australia *Australian Army – School of Infantry, Lone Pine Barracks at Singleton, NSW. France ...

(''Infanterieschule'') is located there. During the post-war years the population grew as the town attracted refugees from Eastern Europe and Eastern Germany and starting from 1956 the German Federal Armed Forces reorganization. In those years, the edge municipalities also saw a large population increase. The local reorganisation let the number of inhabitants rise in Hammelburg again. The former municipalities of Westheim, Pfaffenhausen, Untererthal, Obererthal, Feuerthal, Morlesau, and Obereschenbach. Untereschenbach and Gauaschach attached themselves to Hammelburg, which thus reached approximately 12,500 inhabitants.

Amenities

The city can be reached by motorway. Architectural monuments, restaurants and hotels are available. The sports center contains outdoor and indoor swimming pools, indoor tennis courts, large-sport-resounds, a football stadium, a landing area for aircraft, recreation sites and hiking trails File:Hammelburg_Moenchsturm.jpg, City walls File:Hammelburg_St_Johannes_SW.jpg, St John the Baptist's Church File:Hammelburg_rectory.jpg, Rectory File:Hammelburg_St_Michael.jpg, St Michael's church File:Hammelburg_cemetery.jpg, Cemetery File:Hammelburg_Bahnhofstr_18.jpg, Listed building

References

External links

Official websiteOldest Weinstadt in Franconia
*Actual photographic footage of the liberation of the POW Camp in 1945: http://www.criticalpast.com/video/65675071587_prisoners-of-war_M-4-tank_American-soldiers_prisoners-wave {{Authority control Bad Kissingen (district)