Freinsheim

Infobox Ort in Deutschland
Art = Stadt
Wappen = Wappen freinsheim.pnglat_deg = 49 |lat_min = 30 |lat_sec = 27
lon_deg = 8 |lon_min = 12 |lon_sec = 31
Lageplan =
Bundesland = Rheinland-Pfalz
Landkreis = Bad Dürkheim
Verbandsgemeinde = Freinsheim
Höhe = 100
Fläche = 13.61
Einwohner = 4965
Stand = 2006-12-31
PLZ = 67251 67098 (Lindemannsruhe) 67247, 67248 (P.O. boxes)
Vorwahl = 06353 06322 (Lindemannsruhe)
Kfz = DÜW
Gemeindeschlüssel = 07 3 32 019
Adresse-Verband = Bahnhofstraße 12 67251 Freinsheim
Website = [http://www.stadt-freinsheim.de/ www.stadt-freinsheim.de]
Bürgermeister = Klaus Bähr
Partei = SPD

Freinsheim is a town and a municipality in the district of Bad Dürkheim, in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is situated on the eastern edge of the Palatinate forest, approx. 6 km north-east of Bad Dürkheim and 17 km west of Ludwigshafen. It has a preserved city wall of length more than one kilometer. A small number of immigrants are know to have move from there to Pennsylvania in the 1700s. Today the town is know for its apples and its wine.

History

As various excavation findings show Freinsheim exhibits about 5000 years of human settlement. An organized community probably existed from the 6th Century, as the discovery of a Merovingian cemetery suggests. It was first mentioned as Freinsheim in the year 773 in records of the monastery of Weissenburg (Alsace).

In the 15th Century fell Freinsheim to the Kurpfalz, on whose behalf the existing fortifications were completed. The latest structure of the city wall was completed in 1514. In 1689 Freinsheim was badly damaged in the Palatine war of succession, there remained only foundations. After the 18th Century reconstruction, administrative functions within the Kurpfalz (such as the establishment of a sub-office) promoted an economic upturn. After the French Revolution and the Congress of Vienna Freinsheim and the {alatine region on the left bank of the Rhine were connected with the Kingdom of Bavaria. Until 1818 Freinsheim belonged to Ganerbschaft. These included the villages of Leistadt, Herxheim on the mountain and Kallstadt and other villages.

After the Second World War Freinsheim belonged to the newly created federal state of Rhineland-Palatinate, since 1972 it is the seat of a community association. 1979 saw Freinsheim receive town status because of its historical significance.

Freinsheim is the seat of the "Verbandsgemeinde" ("collective municipality") Freinsheim.

External links

* [http://www.freinsheim.de/ Freinsheim Homepage]