Neckargemünd (; ) is a town in Germany, in the district of Rhein-Neckar-Kreis, state of

Baden-Württemberg Baden-Württemberg ( ; ), commonly shortened to BW or BaWü, is a states of Germany, 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 i ...

. It lies on the

Neckar The Neckar () is a river in Germany, mainly flowing through the southwestern States of Germany, state of Baden-Württemberg, with a short section through Hesse. The Neckar is a major right tributary of the Rhine. Rising in the Schwarzwald-Baar ...

, 10 km upriver from

Heidelberg Heidelberg (; ; ) is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, fifth-largest city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, and with a population of about 163,000, of which roughly a quarter consists of studen ...

at the confluence with the river Elsenz. This confluence of the two rivers is the origin of the name, as Neckargemünd means ''confluence of the Neckar''. As of 2006, there were 14,122 inhabitants.

History

The region has been occupied by people for a half a million years as shown by the find of

Homo heidelbergensis ''Homo heidelbergensis'' is a species of archaic human from the Middle Pleistocene of Europe and Africa, as well as potentially Asia depending on the taxonomic convention used. The species-level classification of ''Homo'' during the Middle Pleis ...

in nearby Mauer in 1907. Stone shards and stone axes have been found from the Early Stone Age. During Roman times the area was settled by

Celts The Celts ( , see Names of the Celts#Pronunciation, pronunciation for different usages) or Celtic peoples ( ) were a collection of Indo-European languages, Indo-European peoples. "The Celts, an ancient Indo-European people, reached the apoge ...

and

Suebi file:1st century Germani.png, 300px, The approximate positions of some Germanic peoples reported by Graeco-Roman authors in the 1st century. Suebian peoples in red, and other Irminones in purple. The Suebi (also spelled Suavi, Suevi or Suebians ...

. Grave stones from the 2nd and 3rd century in Kleingemünd show Celtic names. From the end of the 5th century the

Franks file:Frankish arms.JPG, Aristocratic Frankish burial items from the Merovingian dynasty The Franks ( or ; ; ) were originally a group of Germanic peoples who lived near the Rhine river, Rhine-river military border of Germania Inferior, which wa ...

held sway over the region. An iron spear tip and two iron arrow heads were left behind in Neckargemünd. Neckargemünd was founded in the 10th century, most likely as a fishing village. Neckargemünd was first mentioned by name in documents in 988.

Otto III, Holy Roman Emperor Otto III (June/July 980 – 23 January 1002) was the Holy Roman emperor and King of Italy from 996 until his death in 1002. A member of the Ottonian dynasty, Otto III was the only son of Emperor Otto II and his wife Theophanu. Otto III was cro ...

enfeoffed Hildebald, Bishop of Worms, with the royal forests around Wimpfen and Neckarbischofsheim. Neckargemünd was named as the northwest corner of this area: ''a loco Gemundi ubi Elisinzia fluvius influit Neccaro fluvio''. The counts of Lauffen also played a role in the region after making Dilsberg the seat of their domain. Neckargemünd became a free town in 1286. In 1395 it passed to the elector palatine and, together with the surrounding district, became part of Baden in 1814.

Population development

Neckargemünd with Kleingemünd Neckargemünd with current boroughs

Boroughs

Neckargemünd includes a number of boroughs (''Ortsteile'') not part of the core settlement Neckargemünd. * Kleingemünd (1 January 1907) – independent from 1860-1906 * Dilsberg (1 January 1973) - a small historic village with a medieval castle ruin, the village includes Neuhof, Dilsbergerhof and Rainbach * Waldhilsbach (1 January 1974) * Mückenloch (1 January 1975)

Mayors

* 1855–1861: Georg Reibold * 1862–1867: Julius Friedrich Menzer * 1867–1873: Carl Heckmann * 1873–1899: Carl Thilo * 1899–1902: Carl Wittmann * 1903–1909: Franz Heeg * 1909–1910: Wilhelm Steinbrunn * 1910–1917: Georg Schneider * 1917–1919: Carl Kirchmayer * 1919–1928: Dr. Emil Leist * 1928–1939: Georg Müßig * 1939–1942: Wilhelm Cloos * 1942–1945: Gottfried Kramer (first vice mayor, then mayor) * 1945–1948: Georg Lampertsdörfer * 1948–1966: Heinrich Held (1948–1951 temporary) * 1966–1984: Kurt Schieck * 1984–2000: Oskar Schuster * 2000-2016: Horst Althoff (CDU) * 2016–2024: Frank Volk * 2024-2032: Jan Peter Seidel

Twin towns – sister cities

Neckargemünd is twinned with: * Evian-les-Bains, France (1970) *

Missoula Missoula ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Missoula County, Montana, Missoula County, Montana, United States. It is located along the Clark Fork River near its confluence with the Bitterroot River, Bitterroot and Blackfoot River (Montana), ...

, United States (1993) *

Jindřichův Hradec Jindřichův Hradec (; ) is a town in the South Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 21,000 inhabitants. The historic town centre is well preserved and is protected as an Cultural monument (Czech Republic)#Monument reservations, urb ...

, Czech Republic (1996) * Romeno, Italy (1996) Neckargemünd also has friendly relations with Valeč in the Czech Republic.

Notable people

* Rainer Ohlhauser (born 1941), footballer

References

External links

Official Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Neckargemund Towns in Baden-Württemberg Rhein-Neckar-Kreis Populated places on the Neckar basin Populated riverside places in Germany