Editing Heidelberg (section)

===Nazism and the World War II-period===
During the Nazi period (1933–1945), Heidelberg was a stronghold of the [[NSDAP]]/Nazi party (the National Socialist German Workers' Party), the strongest party in the elections before 1933 (the NSDAP obtained 30% at the communal elections of 1930<ref>{{harvnb|Cser|2007|pp=209–10}})</ref>). The NSDAP received 45.9% of the votes in the [[German federal election, March 1933|German federal election of March 1933]] (the national average was 43.9%).<ref>{{harvnb|Cser|2007|p=229}})</ref>
In 1934 and 1935 the {{lang|de|Reichsarbeitsdienst}} {{gloss|mode=def|State Labor Service}} and Heidelberg University students built the huge [[Heidelberg Thingstätte|''Thingstätte'' amphitheatre]] on the {{lang|de|Heiligenberg}} north of the town, for [[Nazi Party]] and [[SS]] events. A few months later, the inauguration of the huge Ehrenfriedhof memorial cemetery completed the second and last NSDAP project in Heidelberg. This cemetery is on the southern side of the old part of town, a little south of the [[Königstuhl (Odenwald)|Königstuhl]] hilltop, and faces west towards France. During World War II and after, [[Wehrmacht]] soldiers were buried there.
[[File:Heidelberger Synagogenplatz 2.JPG|thumb|Memorial stone marking the site of the synagogue in the Lauerstrasse]]
During the ''[[Kristallnacht]]'' on 9 November 1938, Nazis burned down synagogues at two locations in the city. The next day, they started the systematic deportation of Jews, sending 150 to [[Dachau concentration camp]]. On 22 October 1940, during the "Wagner Buerckel event", the Nazis deported 6000 local Jews, including 281 from Heidelberg, to [[Camp Gurs]] concentration camp in France. Within a few months, as many as 1000 of them (201 from Heidelberg) died of hunger and disease.<ref>{{harvnb|Cser|2007|pp=246–8}}</ref> Among the deportees from Heidelberg, the poet [[Alfred Mombert]] (1872–1942) left the [[nazi concentration camp|concentration camp]] in April 1941 thanks to the Swiss poet Hans Reinhart but died shortly thereafter due to illness he contracted while held prisoner.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.blb-karlsruhe.de/sammlungen/alte-drucke-und-rara/bestand/nachlassbibliotheken/#c599|title=Alfred Mombert|work=Badische Landesbibliothek|language=de|archive-date=19 September 2018|url-status=dead|access-date=19 September 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180919171757/https://www.blb-karlsruhe.de/sammlungen/alte-drucke-und-rara/bestand/nachlassbibliotheken/#c599}}</ref> From 1942, the deportees who had survived internment in Gurs were deported to Eastern Europe, where most of them were murdered.

The U.S. [[44th Infantry Division (United States)|44th Infantry Division]] took part in combat in Western Europe throughout 1944 and early 1945, and the division's artillery commander, Brigadier General [[William A. Beiderlinden]], became the subject of international headlines in March 1945, when he helped save Heidelberg from bombing by persuading Nazi troops to withdraw.<ref name="St. Joseph News-Press-1981">{{cite news |date=17 May 1981 |title=Death Notice, Maj. Gen. William Beiderlinden |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/st-joseph-news-press-obituary-for-willi/117758052/ |work=[[St. Joseph News-Press]] |location=St. Joseph, MO |page=10 |via=[[Newspapers.com]]}}</ref> When his command was ordered to shell the city, Beiderlinden took the initiative to contact the [[burgomaster]] and attempt to persuade Nazi soldiers to abandon their positions.<ref name="St. Joseph News-Press-1981"/> Though burgomasters were forbidden from conducting such talks, Heidelberg's burgomaster ignored warnings from the local Nazi [[gauleiter]] and discussed the matter with Beiderlinden.<ref name="St. Joseph News-Press-1981"/> The negotiations focused on the importance of sparing [[Heidelberg University]] and other historic and culturally significant sites.<ref name="St. Joseph News-Press-1981"/> Beiderlinden and the burgomaster agreed to terms, and the Nazis spared the city by evacuating.<ref name="St. Joseph News-Press-1981"/>

On 29 March 1945, German troops left the city after destroying three arches of the old bridge, Heidelberg's treasured river crossing. They also destroyed the more modern bridge downstream. The U.S. Army ([[63rd Infantry Division (United States)|63rd Infantry]], 7th Army) entered the town on 30 March 1945. The civilian population surrendered without resistance.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Kleine Heidelberger Stadtgeschichte |last=Fink |first=Oliver |year=2005 |publisher=Pustet |isbn=978-3-7917-1971-9 }}</ref>

Heidelberg, unlike most German cities and towns, was spared from Allied bombing raids during the war. A popular belief is that Heidelberg escaped bombing because the U.S. Army wanted to use the city as a garrison after the war, but, as Heidelberg was neither an industrial center nor a transport hub, it did not present a tactical or strategic target. Other notable university towns, such as [[Tübingen]] and [[Göttingen]], were spared bombing as well. Allied air raids focused extensively on the nearby industrial cities of [[Mannheim]] and [[Ludwigshafen]].

The U.S. Army may have chosen Heidelberg as a garrison base because of its excellent infrastructure, including the Heidelberg–Mannheim [[Autobahn]] (motorway), which connected to the Mannheim–Darmstadt–Frankfurt Autobahn, and the U.S. Army installations in [[Mannheim]] and [[Frankfurt]]. The intact rail infrastructure was more important in the late 1940s and early 1950s when most heavy loads were still carried by train, not by truck. Heidelberg had the untouched Wehrmacht barracks, the "Grossdeutschland Kaserne" which the US Army occupied soon after, renaming it the [[Campbell Barracks]].