Frankenthal

Frankenthal (Pfalz)
Frankenthal (Pfalz)
Town
	Town hall
	Coat of arms
	Frankenthal (red) in the Rhein-Neckar region
	Frankenthal (Pfalz) Frankenthal (Pfalz)
	Coordinates: 49°32′N 8°21′E / 49.533°N 8.350°E
Country	Germany
State	Rhineland-Palatinate
District	urban district
Government
• Lord mayor (2024–32)	Nicolas Meyer
Area
• Total	43.78 km2 (16.90 sq mi)
Elevation	96 m (315 ft)
Population (2022-12-31)
• Total	49,051
• Density	1,100/km2 (2,900/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+01:00 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+02:00 (CEST)
Postal codes	67227
Dialling codes	06233
Vehicle registration	FT
Website	frankenthal.de

Frankenthal (Pfalz) (Palatine German: Frongedahl) is a town in southwestern Germany, in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate.

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, 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 city by the Count Palatine Johann Casimir.

In 1600 Frankenthal was converted to a fortress. In 1621 it was garrisoned by English soldiers under Sir Horace Vere and besieged by the Spanish during the Thirty Years' War, 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 troops in the War of the Grand Alliance. 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. To establish trade, a port was built between 1772-1781, numerous factories were opened and mulberry trees were planted for silk production. In 1755 the famous Frankenthal porcelain factory was opened, which remained in production until 1800. During this period, the town was also known in English as Frankendal.^[3]

In 1797 the town came under French occupation during the French Revolutionary Wars. It passed into the rule of Bavaria in 1816.

The beginning of modern industrialisation is dated from 1859.

In 1938 the Jewish synagogue, built in 1884, was burnt to the ground during the Kristallnacht.

In 1943 during a bombing raid the centre of the town was almost completely destroyed. In 1945, at the end of World War II, its industries in ruins, it was occupied first by the Americans 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
2022: 49,051

Lord Mayors

1921–1933: Hermann Strasser
1942-1945: Hieronymus Merkle (NSDAP)
1945: Hermann Strasser
1946–1947: Karl Zimmermann (SPD)
1947–1948: Karl Breyer (SPD)
1949: Adam Kroll (CDU)
1949–1959: Emil Kraus
1959–1964: Jürgen Hahn (SPD)

1964–1972: Berno Zeißler (SPD)
1972–1983: Günter Kahlberg (CDU)
1984–1989: Jochen Riebel (CDU)
1990–1999: Peter Popitz (SPD)
2000–2015: Theo Wieder (CDU)
2015-2023: Martin Hebich (CDU)
since 2024: Dr. Nicolas Meyer (FWG)

Twin towns – sister cities

Frankenthal is twinned with:^[4]

Colombes, France (1958)
Rosolini, Italy (2018)
Sopot, Poland (1991)
Strausberg, Germany (1990)

Since 1982, Frankenthal also cooperates with the community of Butamwa in Nyarugenge, Rwanda.

Notable people

Konrad Maurer in 1876

Franz Nissl

Abraham Heidanus (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 (1809–1886), revolutionary
Georg Vierling (1820–1901), composer (dedication of the Vierlingstrasse )
Konrad Maurer (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 (1861–1942), designer of airships (dedication of the Parsevalplatz)
Hermann Wilker (1874–1941), rower
Karl Gentner (1876–1922), operatic tenor
Oskar Perron (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 (1903–1943), wrestler
Karl Huber (1904–1965), politician and trade unionist
Josef Frank (1906–1971), politician (SPD)
Werner Knab (1908–1945), jurist and SS leader
Hans Carste (1909–1971), composer and conductor
Adolf Metzner (1910–1978), Leichtathlet
Rudi Fischer (1925–2012), Football goalkeeper
Michael Werner (publisher) (born 1965), founder of the Pennsylvania German newspaper Hiwwe wie Driwwe
Tobias Eckmeier (born 1995), vlogger and Instagram personality known as EXSL95
Frauke Schäfer, operatic soprano

Family name

The family 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.