Frankenthal (Pfalz) ( pfl, Frongedahl) is a

town A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world. Origin and use The word "town" shares an o ...

in southwestern

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 ...

, in the state of

Rhineland-Palatinate Rhineland-Palatinate ( , ; german: link=no, Rheinland-Pfalz ; lb, Rheinland-Pfalz ; pfl, Rhoilond-Palz) is a western state of Germany. It covers and has about 4.05 million residents. It is the ninth largest and sixth most populous of the ...

History

Frankenthal was first mentioned in 772. In 1119 an Augustinian monastery was built here, the ruins of which — known, after the founder, as the ''Erkenbertruine'' — still stand today in the town centre. In the second half of the 16th century, people from

Flanders Flanders (, ; Dutch: ''Vlaanderen'' ) is the Flemish-speaking northern portion of Belgium and one of the communities, regions and language areas of Belgium. However, there are several overlapping definitions, including ones related to cultu ...

, persecuted for their religious beliefs, settled in Frankenthal. They were industrious and artistic and brought economic prosperity to the town. Some of them were important carpet weavers, jewellers and artists whose ''Frankenthaler Malerschule'' ("Frankenthal school of painting") acquired some fame. In 1577 the settlement was raised to the status of a town by the Count Palatine Johann Casimir. In 1600 Frankenthal was converted to a fortress. In 1621 it was besieged by the Spanish during the

Thirty Years' War The Thirty Years' War was one of the longest and most destructive conflicts in European history, lasting from 1618 to 1648. Fought primarily in Central Europe, an estimated 4.5 to 8 million soldiers and civilians died as a result of batt ...

, and then successively occupied by troops of the opposing sides. Trade and industry were ruined and the town was not reconstructed until 1682. In 1689 the town was burnt to the ground by

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

troops in the

War of the Grand Alliance The Nine Years' War (1688–1697), often called the War of the Grand Alliance or the War of the League of Augsburg, was a conflict between Kingdom of France, France and a European coalition which mainly included the Holy Roman Empire (led by t ...

. The town did not fully recover from this for more than fifty years. However, in 1750, under the rule of the Elector (Kurfürst) Charles Theodore, Frankenthal was established as a centre of industry. Numerous factories were opened and

mulberry ''Morus'', a genus of flowering plants in the family Moraceae, consists of diverse species of deciduous trees commonly known as mulberries, growing wild and under cultivation in many temperate world regions. Generally, the genus has 64 ident ...

trees were planted for

silk Silk is a natural protein fiber, some forms of which can be woven into textiles. The protein fiber of silk is composed mainly of fibroin and is produced by certain insect larvae to form cocoons. The best-known silk is obtained from th ...

production. In 1755 the famous

Frankenthal porcelain factory The Frankenthal Porcelain Factory (german: link=no, Porzellanmanufaktur Frankenthal) was one of the greatest porcelain manufacturers of Germany and operated in Frankenthal in the Rhineland-Palatinate between 1755 and 1799. From the start they ...

was opened, which remained in production until 1800. During this period, the town was also known in English as Frankendal. In 1797 the town came under French occupation during the

French Revolutionary Wars The French Revolutionary Wars (french: Guerres de la Révolution française) were a series of sweeping military conflicts lasting from 1792 until 1802 and resulting from the French Revolution. They pitted France against Britain, Austria, Pruss ...

. It passed into the rule of

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 l ...

in 1816. The beginning of modern

industrialisation Industrialisation ( alternatively spelled industrialization) is the period of social and economic change that transforms a human group from an agrarian society into an industrial society. This involves an extensive re-organisation of an econo ...

is dated from 1859. In 1938 the Jewish synagogue, built in 1884, was burnt to the ground during the

Kristallnacht () or the Night of Broken Glass, also called the November pogrom(s) (german: Novemberpogrome, ), was a pogrom against Jews carried out by the Nazi Party's (SA) paramilitary and (SS) paramilitary forces along with some participation fro ...

. In 1943 during a bombing raid the centre of the town was almost completely destroyed. In 1945, at the end of

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 World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, its industries in ruins, it was occupied first by the

Americans Americans are the citizens and nationals of the United States of America.; ; Although direct citizens and nationals make up the majority of Americans, many dual citizens, expatriates, and permanent residents could also legally claim Ame ...

and then by the French. From 1946 Frankenthal has been part of the federal state of Rhineland-Palatinate. Today the town is again the site of some medium-sized industries.

Number of inhabitants

* 1850: 4,767 * 1900: 16,899 * 2000: around 50,000 * 2015: 48,363

Lord Mayors

Twin towns – sister cities

Frankenthal is twinned with: *

Colombes Colombes () is a commune in the northwestern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the centre of Paris. In 2019, Colombes was the 53rd largest city in France. Name The name Colombes comes from Latin ''columna'' (Old French ''colombe'' ...

, France (1958) * Rosolini, Italy (2018) *

Sopot Sopot is a seaside resort city in Pomerelia on the southern coast of the Baltic Sea in northern Poland, with a population of approximately 40,000. It is located in Pomeranian Voivodeship, and has the status of the county, being the smallest ci ...

, Poland (1991) * Strausberg, Germany (1990) Since 1982, Frankenthal also cooperates with the community of Butamwa in Nyarugenge,

Rwanda Rwanda (; rw, u Rwanda ), officially the Republic of Rwanda, is a landlocked country in the Great Rift Valley of Central Africa, where the African Great Lakes region and Southeast Africa converge. Located a few degrees south of the Equator ...

Notable people

Abraham Heidanus Abraham van Heyden or van Heiden ( la, Abraham Heidanus or '; 1597–1678) was a Dutch Calvinist minister and controversialist, sympathetic to Cartesianism. Life He was born in Frankenthal in the Palatinate, son of Gaspar van der Heiden the Younge ...

(1597–1678), a reformed theologian * Esther Moscherosch née Ackermann (1602–1632), wife of the statesman and baroque poet Johann Michael Moscherosch * Jacob Marrel (1614–1681), still life painter *

Johann Philipp Becker Johann Phillipp Becker (20 March 1809 – 9 December 1886) was a German revolutionary and military officer who participated in the democratic movement in Germany and Switzerland in the 1830s and 1840s. In Baden during the 1848-1849 Baden-Palatina ...

(1809–1886), revolutionary * Georg Vierling (1820–1901), composer (dedication of the '' Vierlingstrasse '') *

Konrad Maurer Konrad Maurer, since 1876 Konrad von Maurer (April 29, 1823 – September 16, 1902) was a German legal historian. He was the son of legal historian and statesman Georg Ludwig von Maurer (1790–1872). Maurer is considered one of the most s ...

(1823–1902), a Bavarian legal historian * Julius von Michel (1843–1911), ophthalmologist * Richard Reverdy (1851–1915), civil engineer * Karl Wendling (1857–1918), pianist and music pedagogue * Karl Perron (1858–1928), opera singer * Franz Nissl (1860–1919), neurologist and psychiatrist *

August von Parseval August von Parseval (5 February 1861, in Frankenthal (Pfalz) – 22 February 1942, in Berlin) was a German airship designer. As a boy, Parseval attended the Royal Bavarian Pagenkorps in Munich from 1873 to 1878, where he took the ''Fähnrichex ...

(1861–1942), designer of airships (dedication of the Parsevalplatz) * Hermann Wilker (1874–1941), rower * Karl Gentner (1876–1922), operatic tenor *

Oskar Perron Oskar Perron (7 May 1880 – 22 February 1975) was a German mathematician. He was a professor at the University of Heidelberg from 1914 to 1922 and at the University of Munich from 1922 to 1951. He made numerous contributions to differential ...

(1880–1975), mathematician * Ludwig Marum (1882–1934), lawyer and politician, victims of the Holocaust * Arnold Fanck (1889–1974), director and pioneer of the mountain film * Paul Martini (1889–1964), medical doctor * Carl Neubronner (1892–1961), politician *

Georg Gehring Georg Gehring (14 November 1903 in Frankenthal – 31 October 1943 in Dnipro) was a German wrestler who competed in the 1928 Summer Olympics, in the 1932 Summer Olympics, and in the 1936 Summer Olympics. He was killed in action during World Wa ...

(1903–1943), wrestler * Karl Huber (1904–1965), politician and trade unionist * Josef Frank (1906–1971), politician (SPD) *

Werner Knab Werner Knab (1908–1945) was a German SS-''Sturmbannführer'' (major). He served at the German legation in Norway from 1939, and then as head of Gestapo in Norway from 1940 to 1942, during the occupation of Norway by Nazi Germany. Among others, he ...

(1908–1945), jurist and SS leader *

Hans Carste Hans Friedrich August Carste (5 September 1909 in Frankenthal – 11 May 1971 in Bad Wiessee) was a German composer and conductor. He arrived in Berlin in 1931 after working in Vienna and Breslau. He composed film music and as well as songs f ...

(1909–1971), composer and conductor *

Adolf Metzner Adolf Metzner (25 April 1910 in Frankenthal – 5 March 1978 in Hamburg) was a German athlete who competed in the 1932 Summer Olympics and in the 1936 Summer Olympics. After finishing his career due to Achilles tendon rupture he became a carpente ...

(1910–1978), Leichtathlet * Rudi Fischer (1925–2012), Football goalkeeper *

Michael Werner (publisher) Michael Werner (born 1965 in Frankenthal, Germany) is a publisher of Pennsylvania German publications and writer of Pennsylvania German articles, prose and poetry. He is the founder and publisher of the only existing Pennsylvania German newspaper ...

(born 1965), founder of the Pennsylvania German newspaper

Hiwwe wie Driwwe , which means "Hither like thither" (compare german: Hüben wie Drüben), is the title of the only existing Pennsylvania German-language newspaper. Publication Since 1997, the publication is distributed twice a year. More than 100 Pennsylvani ...

* Tobias Eckmeier (born 1995), vlogger and Instagram personality known as EXSL95 * Frauke Schäfer, operatic soprano

Family name

The

family name In some cultures, a surname, family name, or last name is the portion of one's personal name that indicates one's family, tribe or community. Practices vary by culture. The family name may be placed at either the start of a person's full name, ...

"Frankenthal" is attested among people scattered in many countries - especially among Jews - and indicates an ultimate origin of the family in the town, though it might be centuries old and leaving no memory other than the name.

Gallery

File:Frankenthal Klosterruine.jpg, Ruins of the monastery File:Frankenthal Kirchen.jpg, The two churches in the centre File:Frankenthal Wormser Tor Sueden.jpg, Wormser Tor File:Frankenthal Zufahrt Suedwest.jpg, Outskirts File:Dankaerts-Historis-9363.tif, Fortress Franckenthal

References

Citations

Bibliography

* . * * {{Authority control Anterior Palatinate Palatinate (region)