Editing Freiburg im Breisgau (section)

==History==
{{see also|History of Freiburg}}
Freiburg was founded by Konrad and Duke Berthold III of the [[House of Zähringen]] in 1120 as a free market town;<ref name="frhist">
{{cite web |url=http://www.freiburg.de/servlet/PB/menu/1143537_l2/index.html |title=Stadt Freiburg im Breisgau: History |publisher=www.freiburg.de (Stadt Freiburg im Breisgau) |access-date  = 2009-04-11 |url-status     = dead |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20090227225808/http://freiburg.de/servlet/PB/menu/1143537_l2/index.html |archive-date = 2009-02-27}}, also Arnold, Benjamin ''German Knighthood 1050–1300'' (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1985) p. 123.</ref> hence its name, which translates to "free (or independent) town". ''Frei'' means "free", and ''Burg'', like the modern English word "[[borough]]", was used in those days for an incorporated city or town, usually one with some degree of autonomy.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |url=https://ahdictionary.com/word/search.html?q=borough |title=borough |encyclopedia=American Heritage Dictionary |publisher=Houghton Mifflin Harcourt|access-date=13 September 2019}}</ref> The German word ''Burg'' also means "a fortified town", as in [[Hamburg]]. Thus, it is likely that the name of this place means a "fortified town of free citizens".

This town was strategically located at a junction of trade routes between the [[Mediterranean Sea]] and the [[North Sea]] regions, and the [[Rhine]] and [[Danube]] rivers. In 1200, Freiburg's population numbered approximately 6,000 people. At about that time, under the rule of [[Berthold V, Duke of Zähringen|Bertold V]], the last duke of Zähringen, the town began construction of its [[Freiburg Minster]] minster on the site of an older parish church.<ref name="frhist"/> Begun in the [[Romanesque architecture|Romanesque]] style, it was continued and completed 1513 for the most part as a [[Gothic architecture|Gothic]] edifice. In 1218, when Bertold V died, then Egino V von Urach, the count of [[County of Urach|Urach]] assumed the title of [[Counts of Freiburg|Freiburg's count]] as Egino I von Freiburg.<ref name="frhist"/> The town council did not trust the new nobles and wrote down its established rights in a document. At the end of the thirteenth century there was a feud between the town of Freiburg and their lord, Count Egino II of Freiburg. Egino II raised taxes and sought to limit the citizens' freedom, after which the Freiburgers used catapults to destroy the count's castle atop the [[Schlossberg (Freiburg)|Schloßberg]], a hill that overlooks the town. The furious count called on his brother-in-law the [[Prince-Bishopric of Strasbourg]], [[Conrad of Lichtenberg]], for help. The bishop responded by marching with his army to Freiburg.

{{Historical populations|1385|9000|1620|10000|1871|24668|1900|61504|1910|83324|1919|87946|1925|90475|1933|99122|1939|110110|1950|109717|1961|145016|1970|162222|1987|178672|2001|208294|2011|209628|2022|233040|align=right|footnote=source:<ref>[[:de:Einwohnerentwicklung von Freiburg im Breisgau|Link]]</ref>{{Circular reference|date=August 2019}}<ref>{{cite web |title=Germany: States and Major Cities|url=https://citypopulation.de/en/germany/cities/}}</ref>}}

[[File:Neues Rathaus (Freiburg) 4029.jpg|left|thumb|Freiburg City Hall ''([[Rathaus]])'']]

According to an old Freiburg legend, a butcher named Hauri stabbed the Bishop of Strasbourg to death on 29 July 1299. It was a [[Pyrrhic victory]], since henceforth the citizens of Freiburg had to pay an annual expiation of 300 marks in silver to the count of Freiburg until 1368. In 1366 the counts of Freiburg made another failed attempt to occupy the town during a night raid. Eventually the inhabitants were fed up with their lords, and in 1368 Freiburg purchased its independence from them. The town turned itself over to the protection of the [[Habsburgs]], who allowed the town to retain a large measure of freedom. Most of the nobles of the city died in the [[battle of Sempach]] (1386). The [[patricianship|patrician]] family Schnewlin took control of the city until the guildsmen revolted. The guilds became more powerful than the patricians by 1389.

The silver mines in Mount Schauinsland provided an important source of capital for Freiburg. This silver made Freiburg one of the richest cities in Europe, and in 1327 Freiburg minted its own coin, the ''Rappenpfennig''. In 1377 the cities of Freiburg, [[Basel]], [[Colmar]], and [[Breisach]] entered into a monetary alliance known as the ''Genossenschaft des Rappenpfennigs'' (Rappenpfennig Collective). This alliance facilitated commerce among the cities and lasted until the end of the sixteenth century. There were 8,000–9,000 people living in Freiburg between the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, and 30 churches and monasteries. At the end of the fourteenth century the veins of silver were dwindling, and by 1460 only approximately 6,000 people still lived within Freiburg's [[Defensive wall|city walls]].

A university town, Freiburg evolved from its focus on mining to become a cultural centre for the arts and sciences. It was also a commercial center. The end of the [[Middle Ages]] and the dawn of the [[Renaissance]] was a time of both advances and tragedy for Freiburg.

In 1457, [[Albert VI, Archduke of Austria|Albrecht VI]], Regent of [[Further Austria]], established [[Albert-Ludwigs-Universität]], one of Germany's oldest universities. In 1498, Emperor [[Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor|Maximilian I]] held a [[Imperial Diet (Holy Roman Empire)|Reichstag]] in Freiburg. In 1520, the town ratified a set of legal reforms, widely considered the most progressive of the time. The aim was to find a balance between traditions and old [[Roman Law]]. The reforms were well received, especially the sections dealing with civil process law, punishment, and the town's constitution.

[[File:Freiburg from above.jpg|thumb|upright|right|[[Freiburg Münster]] medieval cathedral]]

In 1520, Freiburg decided not to take part in the [[Protestant Reformation|Reformation]] and became an important centre for [[Catholic Church|Catholicism]] on the [[Upper Rhine]]. [[Erasmus]] moved here after [[Basel]] accepted the Reformation. In 1536, a strong and persistent belief in [[witchcraft]] led to the town's first [[witch-hunt]]. The need to find a scapegoat for calamities such as the [[Black Plague]], which claimed 2,000 area residents (25% of the town's population) in 1564, led to an escalation in witch-hunting that peaked in 1599. A plaque on the old town wall marks the spot where burnings were carried out.

The seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries were turbulent times for Freiburg. At the beginning of the [[Thirty Years' War]] in 1618, its population numbered between 10,000 to 14,000; when it ended in 1648, only 2,000 remained.<ref>{{Cite web|title=The Thirty Years War|url=http://www.freiburg-madison.de/freiburg_history/1618-1648_Thirty_Years_War.htm|website=www.freiburg-madison.de|access-date=2020-05-28}}</ref> In August 1644, it was the site of the [[Battle of Freiburg]], said to be the bloodiest battle of the war in terms of percentage of casualties.<ref>{{Cite web|title=The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Thirty Years' War, 1618–1648, by Samuel Rawson Gardiner.|url=https://www.gutenberg.org/files/40082/40082-h/40082-h.htm|website=www.gutenberg.org|access-date=2020-05-28}}</ref> 

Between 1648 and 1805, when the town was not under French occupation, it was the administrative headquarters of [[Further Austria]], the Habsburg territories in southwest Germany. In 1805 the town, together with the [[Breisgau]] and [[Ortenau]] areas, became part of [[Grand Duchy of Baden|Baden]]. In 1828, after the [[Archdiocese of Freiburg]] was founded, Freiburg became seat of a [[Catholic]] archbishop.

[[File:Martinstor (Freiburg im Breisgau) jm10177.jpg|thumb|left|upright=0.8|The [[Martinstor]], one of the former town [[City gate|gates]] in Freiburg]]

Freiburg was heavily bombed during [[World War II]]. In [[Bombing of Freiburg on 10 May 1940|May 1940]], aircraft of the [[Luftwaffe]] mistakenly dropped approximately 60 bombs on Freiburg near the railway station, killing 57 people, most of them civilians and including 22 children.<ref>{{cite book |last=Robinson |first=Derek | author-link =Derek Robinson (novelist) |title=Invasion 1940 |publisher=Constable & Robinson |year=2005 |location=London |pages=31–32 |isbn=1-84529-151-4}}</ref> This was reported by the official German news agency as an attack by the Western Allies, and retaliation against them was threatened. The Freiburg police commander subsequently established that the bombs were German, but the full story was not published until many years later.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Deighton |first1=Len |title=Blitzkrieg |date=2014 |publisher=William Collins |location=London |isbn=978-0-00754-951-1 |page=238}}</ref> On 27 November 1944, a raid by more than 300 [[bomber]]s of [[RAF Bomber Command]] ([[Operation Tigerfish]]) destroyed a large portion of the city centre, with the notable exception of the ''Münster'', which was only lightly damaged, and houses southeast to it, . After the war, the city was rebuilt on its medieval plan.

On 22 October 1940, the [[Nazi]] [[Gauleiter]] of Baden, [[Robert Heinrich Wagner]], ordered the deportation of all of Baden's and 350 of Freiburg's [[Jewish]] population. They were deported to [[Camp Gurs]] in the south of France, where many died. On 18 July 1942, the remaining Baden and Freiburg Jews were transferred to [[Auschwitz]] in [[Occupation of Poland (1939–1945)|German-occupied Poland]], where almost all were murdered.<ref>Spector, Shmuel and Wigoder, Geoffrey, ''The Encyclopedia of Jewish life Before and During the Holocaust'', [[New York University Press]] 2001. See [http://www.alemannia-judaica.de/freiburg_synagoge_a.htm Die Synagoge in Freiburg im Breisgau].</ref> A memorial has been created in the form of the 'footprint' in marble on the site of the city's original [[synagogue]], which was burned down on 9 November 1938, during the [[pogrom]] known as ''[[Kristallnacht]]''. The memorial is a fountain and contains a bronze plaque commemorating the original building and the Jewish community which perished. The pavements of Freiburg carry memorials to individual victims, in the form of [[Stolperstein|brass plates]] outside their former residences. There was a camp for [[Sinti]] and [[Romani people]] (see ''[[Romani Holocaust]]'') in the city.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bundesarchiv.de/zwangsarbeit/haftstaetten/index.php?action=2.2&tab=7&id=1483|title=Lager für Sinti und Roma Freiburg im Breisgau|website=Bundesarchiv.de|access-date=9 January 2024|language=de}}</ref>

It was occupied by the [[French Army]] on 21 April 1945, and Freiburg was soon allotted to the [[French occupation zone in Germany|French Zone of Occupation]]. In December 1945 Freiburg became the seat of government for the German state of [[South Baden|Baden]], which was merged into [[Baden-Württemberg]] in 1952. The [[French Army]] maintained a presence in Freiburg until 1991, when the last French Army division left the city, and left Germany.

On the site of the former French Army base, a new neighborhood for 5,000 people, [[Vauban (Freiburg)|Vauban]], began in the late 1990s as a "sustainable model district".{{Citation needed|date=July 2018}} Solar power provides electricity to many of the households in this small community.

{{Freiburg im Breisgau graphical timeline}}