Mark Twain Village (MTV) was a United States Army military family housing area located in the Südstadt district of

Heidelberg Heidelberg (; Palatine German: ') is a city in the German state of Baden-Württemberg, situated on the river Neckar in south-west Germany. As of the 2016 census, its population was 159,914, of which roughly a quarter consisted of students ...

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 ...

. It was one of the two main American family housing areas in the

United States Army Garrison Heidelberg The U.S. Army Garrison Heidelberg was made up of a number of United States military installations in and around Heidelberg, Germany in the state of Baden-Württemberg, along with Germersheim Depot in the neighboring German state of Rhineland-Palatin ...

that provided quarters for American military personnel, authorized civilian employees, and their families (the other being Patrick Henry Village). MTV was located adjacent to

Campbell Barracks Campbell Barracks, in Heidelberg, Germany, was home to Headquarters, United States Army Europe (USAREUR) from 1948 to 2013. It was also home to Headquarters, V Corps and Headquarters, Allied Force Command Heidelberg. History As part of the Ger ...

, which served as the home to the Headquarters of

United States Army Europe United States Army Europe and Africa (USAREUR-AF) is an Army Service Component Command (ASCC) /Theater Army responsible for directing United States Army operations throughout the U.S. European Command (EUCOM) and U.S. Africa Command (AFRICO ...

(USAREUR), the Headquarters for NATO's Allied Land Forces Central Europe (LANDCENT), and the Installation Management Command Europe Region (IMCOM-E). MTV was separated by a main thoroughfare. Located within the housing area was an

Army and Air Force Exchange Service The Army & Air Force Exchange Service (AAFES, also referred to as The Exchange and The PX or The BX) is the retailer in U.S. Army and Air Force installations worldwide. The Exchange is headquartered in Dallas, Texas, and its director/chief exe ...

(AAFES) shoppette, a library, a chapel, the Mark Twain Elementary School, and the Heidelberg High School, which both served American military dependent children living in the surrounding area. The high school served students from Mark Twain Village, nearby Patrick Henry Village, and their respective surrounding areas. Heidelberg High was one of the largest DoDDS schools in Germany. It, along with all the other schools in the Heidelberg area, was closed in 2013. Since 2017, Julius-Springer-Schule has occupied the former Heidelberg High School building at Mark-Twain-Straße 1. Most of MTV's housing area has been shut down (the area across the street from Campbell Barracks) and given back to the City of Heidelberg. Because the closed area had severed access from Campbell Barracks, the decision was made that this would be the first portion returned to the City of Heidelberg. It is currently being renovated with some buildings already accommodating German civilians. Another part of MTV's housing area is now being used by NATO personnel. For most of its existence, MTV was indistinguishable from the surrounding public residential buildings and was not fenced, gated, or otherwise closed to the general public until 2003, when a fence was installed around MTV and all other United States Army installations in Heidelberg. There was a requirement to show ID to enter the area. The entire compound, along with Campbell Barracks, was gated and required United States military ID to enter.

References

Buildings and structures in Heidelberg United States Army posts Military installations of the United States in Germany {{US-Army-stub