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49-554: The town lies at the eastern edge of the Rhine rift on the slopes of the western Odenwald on the Bergstraße . The nearest major cities are Darmstadt (some 22 km (14 mi) to the north), Heidelberg (some 35 km (22 mi) to the south), Worms (some 18 km (11 mi) to the west) and Mannheim (some 32 km (20 mi) to the southwest). The district seat of Heppenheim lies roughly 5 km (3 mi) to

98-639: A downfaulted trough through which the river Rhine flows. The Upper Rhine Plain was formed during the Early Cenozoic era, during the Late Eocene epoch. At this time, the Alpine Orogeny , the major mountain building event that was to produce the Alps , was in its early stages. The Alps were formed because the continents of Europe and Africa collided. It is thought that because the collision

147-403: A new youth centre, opened on 26 January 2006 offering ample possibilities, busying itself with this. The old, bigger youth centre on Wilhelmstraße was then closed. For youths, there is relatively little on offer. However, work has begun on the new Skate/BMX-park , on the same site where the old one was. The park was promoted and planned by youths themselves. Bandsheim (“Band Home”) has afforded

196-917: A secret route). In 1650, after just under 200 years of being pledged to the Electorate of the Palatinate , Bensheim was once again redeemed by the Archbishopric of Mainz . By the Reichsdeputationshauptschluss in 1803, Bensheim passed to the Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt , who joined the Confederation of the Rhine in 1806 and was raised to Grand Duke. In 1822, there was a great fire in which 16 buildings were destroyed and 15 others were heavily damaged. Bensheim became

245-566: A settlement. The name changed from Basinsheim to Basinusheim and then to Besensheim , finally becoming Bensheim. Noteworthy is that town rights were granted early on by Emperor Otto I on 5 March 956. It can be inferred from the document text that Otto I, on the occasion of his stay in Frankfurt am Main , with his wife Adelheid’s intervention, awarded the Lorsch Abbey’s oldest market privilege. The concept, called publicae mercationes in

294-534: A territorial border with these neighbours, but also a denominational one. The Thirty Years' War put an end to all the positive developments mentioned above. On 20 November 1644, Bensheim was occupied by French and Swedish troops, who were driven out again on 2 December by Bavarian units. Later, the legend of the Fraa vun Bensem arose (the “woman from Bensheim” is said to have led the Bavarians into town through

343-580: A village around the Good Well in the middle of a picturesque landscaped park. Like many territorial overlords of their day, its owners sought the peace of a rural idyll far removed from the pomp and circumstance of court. All the above churches are Catholic, except Saint Michael's, which is Evangelical . All 557 cultural monuments are listed in the Liste der Kulturdenkmäler in Bensheim . Nationally known

392-570: A “promotional club for a self-administering culture and youth centre in Bensheim”, and the action group BürgerMaiStar . In 2010 about 50 young people from the region occupied a derelict army complex in order to establish a self-organised youth centre . However, the occupation was broken up by police several hours after it had begun. As a follow-up to the SKJuz club the JUKUZ Bensheim e.V.

441-799: Is a cluster of volcanic hills to the northwest of Freiburg, within the Rhine Graben. The highest point of this small, isolated volcanic centre is the Totenkopf (557 metres). Volcanic activity was most prevalent in the Miocene epoch, some 15 million years ago. Today, the Kaiserstuhl volcano is extinct. In 1356, the Basel earthquake occurred in the Rhine Plain. It was perhaps the most destructive earthquake ever in northwest Europe , destroying

490-567: Is even a Blütenkönigin (“Blossom Queen”). She is put forth every year by the Bensheim Automobile Club and for decades has been Bensheim's hallmark both within the country and abroad. Bensheim has grown out of a village that had its first documentary mention in the 8th century. In the 14th century, Bensheim was granted town rights. On 26 March 1945, much of the Old Town was destroyed by incendiary bombs. The South Hesse area

539-697: Is the HSG Bensheim/Auerbach women's handball team, which plays in the 2. Handball-Bundesliga (Frauen) . Bensheim and its outlying centres are also home to many other sport clubs. Since 1947, Bensheim has been home to the Evangelical Federation's Konfessionskundliches Institut (“Denominational Institute”), Europe ’s biggest ecumenical institute. It was housed at Wolfgang-Sucker-Haus from 1947 to 1967 and also has been once again since November 2007. Bensheim has many offerings for children up to 14 years old, with, for example,

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588-659: The Electorate of Mainz 's domains and likely received town rights only a few decades later, which is, however, only proved by a certificate issued in 1320. In today’s outlying centres of Auerbach and Schönberg, Bensheim borders on what were the Upper County – “Upper” here refers to geography, not rank – of the Counts of Katzenelnbogen and domains of the Schenken of Erbach. When the Katzenelnbogens died out in 1479,

637-579: The Kirchberg (mountain) where they were murdered by the Gestapo . Two days later, on 26 March 1945, Saint George's Parish Church, the Town Hall and parts of the Old Town were destroyed by incendiary bombs . On 27 March, the town was occupied by United States troops. As the U.S. Army Counter Intelligence Corps agent, Henry Kissinger was the most important representative of the occupying power, after

686-638: The Landgraviate of Hesse became a neighbour to the north. In 1532, the Erbachs were raised to counts and the County of Erbach became a neighbour to the east. In the time of the pledging to the counts palatine of the Rhine from 1461 to 1650, Bensheim experienced a boom, but as a Palatinate town, however, it was embroiled in the Bavarian-Palatine war of succession in 1504, and for eleven days

735-613: The Landgraviate of Hesse-Darmstadt . An ancient tribe known as the Chatti Melibokus may have stayed on a high hill in the Bergstraße region of Hesse (the part that lies south), in Germany. One Diether I ( c. 1065–1095) of Katzenelnbogen (literally, 'cat's elbow'), then serving as Vogt of Prüm Abbey , was first mentioned about 1070 in a deed issued by Archbishop Anno II of Cologne . From 1094 onwards, Diether and his son Henry I built Katzenelnbogen Castle in

784-554: The Odenwald on the eastern side. The extension induced by the formation of the Alps was sufficient to thin the crust and provide suitable dilational conduits for magmatic and volcanic activity to occur. This resulted in the emplacement of mafic dykes , which follow the general structural trend of the extensional faults. In addition, isolated volcanoes such as the Kaiserstuhl were formed. The Kaiserstuhl (literally "Emperor's Chair")

833-715: The Taunus mountain range; in 1138, King Conrad III of Germany vested his grandson Henry II with the comital title, when the Kraichgau was bequeathed to him. The counts also built Burg Rheinfels and Auerbach Castle in the 13th century and finished Burg Katz in 1371, they rebuilt the Marksburg purchased from the Lords of Eppstein and acquired highly lucrative customs rights on the Rhine River. Over nearly four centuries,

882-738: The Vornerum Theater , the Varieté Pegasus and the Autorenkollektiv Laufkundschaft . Besides the Museum der Stadt Bensheim (municipal museum), there is also the old synagogue in Auerbach which nowadays houses a museum. The Bensheim Music School was founded in 1979. By taking part in various contests, the students at this municipal music school regularly find themselves among the prizewinners at both

931-597: The 14th century. After the early death of Count Philipp's only son in 1453, he called himself Count of Katzenelnbogen-Diez. When Philipp died in 1479, the male line of the Katzenelnbogens became extinct. The Obergrafschaft was passed to the Landgraves of Hesse by virtue of the 1458 marriage of Henry III of Upper Hesse to Count Philipp's daughter Anna of Katzenelnbogen . Thereafter, the Landgraves of Hesse added to their title "Count of Katzenelnbogen". The War of

980-548: The Bergstraße as well, for its particularly mild and sunny climate with roughly 2,000 hours of sunshine yearly and Germany's earliest onset of spring . Under the Odenwald's protection, kiwifruit , almonds , figs and peaches thrive here, giving the Bergstraße the nickname “Germany’s Riviera”. The town of Bensheim fosters almond tree cultivation, to name one example, in people's front gardens. Each year in Bensheim, there

1029-773: The CDU (3), the SPD (1), the Grüne Liste Bensheim (2) and the FWG (1). When the Municipal Order of the Grand Duchy of Hesse came into force on 30 June 1821, Bensheim citizens were allowed to choose their mayor. The town's arms might be described thus: Gules a knight with kontos , held in both hands, and armour Or astride a steed salient argent, the whole sinister, below which a dragon statant reguardant sinister vert,

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1078-642: The Katzenelnbogen Succession was a long, drawn out legal and military conflict over inheritance from 1500 until 1557 between the Landgraviate of Hesse and the County of Nassau-Siegen . With the formation of the Confederation of the Rhine in 1806, the County of Katzenelnbogen was annexed to the French Empire as the first of its trans-Rhine territories, and this was held until the overthrow of Emperor Napoleon I in 1814. The territory

1127-549: The Lauter. Bensheim borders in the north on the town of Zwingenberg and the communities of Alsbach-Hähnlein und Seeheim-Jugenheim (both in Darmstadt-Dieburg ), in the east on the community of Lautertal , in the south on the town of Heppenheim and in the west on the town of Lorsch and the community of Einhausen . Bensheim is roughly subdivided thus: Bensheim is especially well known, like other places along

1176-694: The Nibelungenstraße towards Schönberg stood the Guntrum Bräu Bensheim brewery . In 1979, the brewery was taken over by Binding Bier Mainz, and then closed and torn down in 1987. Today, the former premises are home to a number of houses. The municipal election held on 27 March 2011 yielded the following results: The Magistrat (roughly “town executive”) is made up of nine councillors and the mayor Rolf Richter (CDU). The two full-time councillors are Helmut Sachwitz (CDU) and Adil Oyan (Grüne Liste Bensheim). The other seats are shared among

1225-603: The city of Basel and flattening buildings as far as 200 km away. It was the most significant historic seismological event to have occurred in Central Europe. Its epicenter was between Waldkirch and St. Peter in Breisgau-Hochschwarzwald . However, it remains disputed whether the fault that ruptured to cause this earthquake was part of the Rhine Valley extensional system, or simply one of

1274-596: The county grew bit by bit, from the Neckar to the Moselle Rivers. Berthold II of Katzenelnbogen became a leader in the Kingdom of Thessalonica in the first decades of the 13th century. The counts founded many cities, and for centuries or decades, they owned others, such as Offenbach , Gießen , Diez and Limburg . They also contributed to the enlargement of Eberbach Abbey , which became their family tomb in

1323-572: The famous Riesling variety should be grown. Hundreds of vineyards were documented, many of which still exist: among them the famous rock Loreley documented in 1395. The county was divided in 1260 and ruled by two lines of counts. Eberhard IV was succeeded by Diether VIII, reuniting the junior branch. The whole county was reunited in 1402 by Johann IV, son of Diether VIII, who had married his cousin Anna, daughter and heiress of Eberhard V, in 1385. Anna married Henry III, Landgrave of Upper Hesse , and

1372-480: The formation of an extensional basin. As a consequence, the highest mountains exist immediately adjacent to the margin of the basin, and become increasingly low outwards. The boundaries between the hill ranges and the Rhine Graben are defined by major, normal fault zones. The northern section of the Rhine Plain is equally framed by somewhat lower mountain ranges, the Palatinate Forest on the western and

1421-549: The knight's kontos thrust through it. The German blazon says that the kontos, or lance, is golden, and that the dragon is green, although the achievement shown here, whose source is the town administration itself, shows different tinctures for these two charges . The red field refers to the Mainz coat of arms, as the town was owned by the Bishopric of Mainz until 1802. The knight slaying the dragon represents Saint George , who

1470-657: The length of the basin. To the west, in France, these hills are known as the Vosges mountain range and in the east, in Germany, the hills comprise the Black Forest . These ranges exhume the same types of rocks in their cores, including deep crustal gneiss . Both ranges correspond to uplifts of more than 2,500 metres, much of which has since been eroded. This uplift has occurred because of the isostatic response associated with

1519-694: The many thrust faults that make up the Alps to the south. Doubts have been raised over the adequacy of the seismic evaluation and design of the Fessenheim Nuclear Power Plant , built in the Rhine Plain close to the faults. Located below the plain, the Upper Rhine aquifer – one of the largest in Europe – holds an estimated 45,000 km (11,000 cu mi) of fresh water and supplies some 3 million people in France and Germany, supplying 75% of their drinking water and 50% of

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1568-524: The municipal programme of plays, freelance producers, clubs and schools bring a multifaceted programme in the fields of spoken theatre, musical theatre and dance theatre. From October 1998 to December 1999, the Parktheater was optically, technologically and artistically made over from the ground up and now shines in new splendour. Furthermore, Bensheim also has the PiPaPo Theater ( cabaret ),

1617-537: The official town commander. In 1945, Bensheim passed to the newly formed state of Hesse. After the Second World War ended in 1945, a displaced persons camp was established in Bensheim, first for Polish former forced labourers, later for Jewish displaced persons. The camp was dissolved in 1949. In 1971, the population rose to some 34,000 with the amalgamation of Langwaden, Schwanheim, Fehlheim, Hochstädten, Gronau and Wilmshausen. From 1859 to 1987 on

1666-403: The original, indicates the community, where public buying and selling was allowed. It still cannot be assumed that this led to a regular yearly or weekly market. Great parts of the town were destroyed in the siege of 1301 by King Albrecht I . When Friedrich II enfeoffed the territory of the now derelict Lorsch Imperial Abbey to Archbishop Siegfried III of Eppstein , Bensheim became part of

1715-767: The seat of the Landratsbezirk (an administrative region) of Bensheim in the province of Starkenburg, which in 1832 was merged with the Landratsbezirk of Heppenheim to form the district of Bensheim ( Kreis Bensheim ) with Bensheim as its seat. In 1918, the Grand Duke was removed and out of the Grand Duchy of Hesse the People's State of Hesse was formed. On 1 November 1938, the districts of Bensheim and Heppenheim were merged into one district, Kreis Bergstraße with Heppenheim as its seat. To offset Bensheim's loss of

1764-667: The south and the cities of Frankfurt / Wiesbaden in the north. Its southern section straddles the France–Germany border . It forms part of the European Cenozoic Rift System , which extends across Central Europe . The Upper Rhine Graben formed during the Oligocene , as a response to the evolution of the Alps to the south. It remains active to the present day. Today, the Rhine Rift Valley forms

1813-404: The south. The Lauter flows through Bensheim, coming from the Lauter valley from the east, which after it passes through Bensheim is known as the Winkelbach. In the south of town runs the Meerbach, also coming from the Odenwald (but from the Zell valley). Mostly channelled underground and only coming above ground at the western edge of town is the Neuer Graben , or “New Channel”, which branches off

1862-400: The state and national level. Many ensembles promote the music school's community spirit. Bensheim, along with all its outlying centres has all together 557 cultural monuments. The following is a selection of the town's most important buildings: The Landgraves of Hesse once used the Fürstenlager near Bensheim-Auerbach as a spa. It is an artistic combination of simple buildings clustered like

1911-427: The status of district seat, the town got the district leadership of the Nazi Party. During Kristallnacht on 9 November 1938, the synagogue was destroyed, while the one in Auerbach survived. In 1939, Auerbach, Schönberg and Zell were amalgamated, raising the population to just under 16,500. In Auerbach, a subcamp of Natzweiler-Struthof Concentration Camp was built. On 24 March 1945, twelve people were taken to

1960-527: The water used by industry. Since the 1970s it has suffered increasingly serious pollution from nitrates , pesticides , chloride and VOCs . A collaboration of 25 universities and government agencies have been researching seismic hazards, neotectonics, and water management of the Quaternary Graben fill. The research focuses on four themes: 48°57′54″N 8°14′02″E  /  48.9650°N 8.2340°E  / 48.9650; 8.2340 County of Katzenelnbogen The County of Katzenelnbogen

2009-435: The youth music scene an outlet that regularly hosts “newcomer” concerts in Bensheim. Besides Bandsheim there is also an outlet in Party-Bensheim , which offers a venue for youths to get to know each other, have discussions and make arrangements. Both these outlets were founded by youths themselves. Bensheim does host an “unofficial” youth club. Since the early 1980s there has been “McSlobos”, an inn that had its beginnings in

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2058-485: The “Germania-Hof”, which has now been torn down. With many live concerts by famous local bands and the guests’ active engagement in political issues, this inn has grown into an attraction for many youths. Nevertheless, many youths feel left out, as they must pay for all leisure activities. Hence there has also been for some time the will to create a self-administering youth centre. To this end, various action groups and campaigns have been started, such as, for example SKJuz ,

2107-438: Was irregular , the initial contact between the two continents resulted in the formation of dilational (extensional) structures in the foreland basin to the north of the Alps. The result was substantial crustal thinning, forming a major extensional graben and causing isolated volcanic activity. The stretch factor is estimated to be ~2. To both the east and west of the Rhine Plain, two major hill ranges have formed that run

2156-424: Was an immediate state of the Holy Roman Empire . It existed between 1095 and 1479, when it was inherited by the Landgraves of Hesse . The estate comprised two separate territories. The main parts were the original Untergrafschaft ('lower county') with its capital at Katzenelnbogen in the Middle Rhine area and the Obergrafschaft ('upper county') south of the Main River around Darmstadt , predecessor of

2205-430: Was attached to the Duchy of Nassau by the Congress of Vienna in 1815. William III of England as Prince of Orange had the title Katzenelnbogen in his reign from 1689-1702 and today, both the Grand Duke of Luxembourg and the King of the Netherlands have the title "Count of Katzenelnbogen" as part of their style. In 1435, Count John IV of Katzenelnbogen was building his last castle in Rüsselsheim , where he ordered

2254-442: Was formed, which is still actively promoting the idea of a self-administered, self-organised youth centre. Rhine rift The Upper Rhine Plain , Rhine Rift Valley or Upper Rhine Graben ( German : Oberrheinische Tiefebene , Oberrheinisches Tiefland or Oberrheingraben , French : Vallée du Rhin ) is a major rift , about 350-kilometre-long (220 mi) and on average 50-kilometre-wide (31 mi), between Basel in

2303-450: Was said in earlier times to have been Bensheim's patron saint . Moreover, some outlying centres have their own separate partnerships. On 29 April 1956, a Patenschaft (roughly, “sponsorship”) was set up for Sudeten Germans driven out of the town of Arnau (now Hostinné in the Czech Republic ) on the Elbe in the Hohenelbe district. The Parktheater was built in 1968 and is a linchpin in offering various cultural activities. Besides

2352-406: Was settled quite early on. The many finds from archaeological digs stretch back to the time of the Linear Pottery and Corded Ware cultures (roughly 2500 to 1500 BC), peoples who raised crops and livestock. In 765, Basinsheim had its first documentary mention in the Lorsch Abbey ’s Codex Laureshamensis . Its founding may go back to a knight named Basinus , who received the rights to found

2401-441: Was unsuccessfully besieged by the Landgrave of Hesse, who was charged with the execution of the ban of the Empire, and his confederates, the Dukes Henry of Brunswick and Henry of Mecklenburg. From this year, two yearly markets and one weekly can be established; a third yearly market came in 1619. With the introduction of the Reformation in the Landgraviate of Hesse in 1526 and in the County of Erbach in 1544, Bensheim got not only

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