Editing Heidelberg (section)

==History==
[[File:Heidelberg nachts.jpg|thumb|Heidelberg on the Neckar at night]]

===Early history===
Between 600,000 and 200,000 years ago,{{Citation needed|date=April 2010}} "[[Homo heidelbergensis|Heidelberg Man]]" died at nearby [[Mauer (Baden)|Mauer]]. His jaw bone was discovered in 1907. Scientific dating determined his remains as the earliest evidence of human life in Europe. In the 5th century BC, a [[Celts|Celtic]] fortress of refuge and place of worship were built on the {{lang|de|Heiligenberg}}, or "Holy Mountain". Both places can still be identified. In 40 AD, a fort was built and occupied by the 24th Roman cohort and the 2nd [[Cyrenaican]] cohort (CCG XXIIII and CCH II CYR). The late Roman Emperor [[Valentinian I]], in 369 AD, built new and maintained older ''[[castra]]'' (permanent camps) and a signal tower on the bank of the [[Neckar]]. They built a wooden bridge based on stone pillars across it. The camp protected the first civilian settlements and was eventually captured by [[Germanic people|Germanic tribes]]. The local administrative center in Roman times was the nearby city of Lopodunum, today known as [[Ladenburg]].

===Middle Ages===
[[File:Carl Blechen 003.jpg|thumb|[[Heidelberg Castle]], here shown in a painting by [[Carl Blechen]], was destroyed by the French during the [[Nine Years' War|war of the succession]] of the [[Electorate of the Palatinate]].]]
Modern Heidelberg can trace its beginnings to the fifth century. The village {{lang|de|Bergheim}} {{gloss|mode=def|Mountain Home}} is first mentioned for that period in documents dated to 769 AD. {{lang|de|Bergheim}} now lies in the middle of modern Heidelberg. The people gradually converted to Christianity. In 870 AD, the [[monastery]] of [[St. Michael]] was founded on the [[Heiligenberg (Heidelberg)|Heiligenberg]] inside the double rampart of the Celtic fortress. Around 1130, the Neuburg Monastery was founded in the Neckar valley. At the same time, the [[bishopric]] of [[Worms, Germany|Worms]] extended its influence into the valley, founding [[Schönau Abbey (Odenwald)|Schönau Abbey]] in 1142. Modern Heidelberg can trace its roots to this 12th-century monastery. The first reference to Heidelberg can be found in a document in Schönau Abbey dated to 1196. This is considered to be the town's founding date. In 1156, Heidelberg castle and its neighboring settlement were taken over by the house of [[Hohenstaufen]]. [[Conrad of Hohenstaufen]] became [[Count Palatine of the Rhine]] ({{langx|de|link=no|Pfalzgraf bei Rhein}}). In 1195, the [[Electorate of the Palatinate]] passed to the [[House of Welf]] through marriage. In 1214, [[Louis I, Duke of Bavaria|Ludwig I, Duke of Bavaria]] acquired the Palatinate, as a consequence of which the castle came under his control. By 1303, another castle had been constructed for defense. In 1356, the Counts Palatine were granted far-reaching rights in the [[Golden Bull of 1356|Golden Bull]], in addition to becoming [[Prince-elector|Electors]]. In 1386, [[Heidelberg University]] was founded by [[Rupert I, Elector Palatine]].<ref>Heike Hawicks / Ingo Runde: Heidelberg and the Holy See – from the Late Medieval Reform Councils to the Reformation in the Electoral Palatinate, in: 1517. Le università e la Riforma protestante. Studi e ricerche nel quinto anniversario delle tesi luterane (Studi e ricerche sull'università), ed. Simona Negruzzo, Bologna 2018, S. 33–54.</ref>

===Modern history===
Heidelberg University played a leading part in Medieval [[Scholasticism]], [[Renaissance humanism in Northern Europe|Renaissance humanism]], the [[German Reformation]], and in the subsequent conflict between [[Lutheranism]] and [[Calvinism]] during the 15th and 16th centuries. In April 1518, a few months after proclaiming his ''[[Ninety-five Theses]]'', [[Martin Luther]] was received in Heidelberg, to defend them.

Heidelberg's library, founded in 1421, is the oldest existing public library in Germany.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Heidelberg University Library - Heidelberg University Library |url=https://www.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/en |access-date=2025-03-05 |website=www.ub.uni-heidelberg.de}}</ref>

In 1537, the castle located higher up the mountain was destroyed by a gunpowder explosion. The duke's palace was built at the site of the lower castle.{{clarify|date=June 2022}}

[[File:Belagerung Heidelbergs C-L 205.jpg|thumb|The siege of Heidelberg 1622]]
[[Elector Frederick III]], sovereign of the [[Electoral Palatinate]] from 1559 to 1576, commissioned the composition of a new [[Catechism]] for his territory. While the catechism's introduction credits the "entire theological faculty here" (at the [[University of Heidelberg]]) and "all the superintendents and prominent servants of the church" for the composition of the Catechism, [[Zacharias Ursinus|Zacharius Ursinus]] is commonly regarded as the catechism's principal author. [[Caspar Olevianus]] (1536–1587) was formerly asserted as a co-author of the document, though this theory has been largely discarded by modern scholarship. [[Johann Sylvan]], [[Adam Neuser]], Johannes Willing, [[Thomas Erastus]], Michael Diller, Johannes Brunner, Tilemann Mumius, Petrus Macheropoeus, Johannes Eisenmenger, [[Immanuel Tremellius]], and [[Pierre Boquin]] are all likely to have contributed to the Catechism in some way. Frederick himself wrote the preface to the Catechism and closely oversaw its composition and publication. Frederick, who was officially Lutheran but had strong Reformed leanings, wanted to even out the religious situation of his highly Lutheran territory within the primarily Catholic [[Holy Roman Empire]]. The [[Council of Trent]] had just concluded with its conclusions and decrees against the Protestant faiths, and the [[Peace of Augsburg]] had only granted toleration for [[Lutheranism]] within the empire where the ruler was Lutheran. One of the aims of the catechism was to counteract the teachings of the [[Roman Catholic Church]] as well as [[Anabaptism|Anabaptists]] and "strict" [[Gnesio-Lutherans]] like [[Tilemann Heshusius]] and [[Matthias Flacius]], who were resisting Frederick's Reformed influences, particularly on the matter of Eucharist ([[Eucharist|the Lord's Supper]]). The Catechism-based each of its statements on biblical [[Prooftext|proof-texts]], and Frederick himself would defend it as biblical, not reformed, at the 1566 [[Diet of Augsburg]] when he was called to answer to charges of violating the Peace of Augsburg. This was the [[Heidelberg Catechism]], officially called the ″Catechism, or Christian Instruction, according to the Usages of the Churches and Schools of the Electoral [[Palatinate (region)|Palatinate]].″
[[File:2002-04-02 Hauptstraße, Heidelberg IMG 0404.jpg|thumb|Main street Heidelberg]]
[[File:Heidelberg Old Bridge.jpg|thumb|[[Old Bridge (Heidelberg)|Old Bridge Gate]]]]

In November 1619, the Royal [[Crown of Bohemia]] was offered to the Elector, [[Frederick V, Elector Palatine|Frederick V]]. (He was married to [[Elizabeth of Bohemia|Princess Elizabeth]], eldest daughter of [[James VI and I]] of Scotland and England, respectively.) Frederick became known as the "Winter King", as he reigned for only one winter before the Imperial [[House of Habsburg]] regained Bohemia by force. His overthrow in 1621 marked the beginning of the [[Thirty Years' War]]. In 1622, after a [[Siege of Heidelberg (1622)|siege of two months]], the armies of the [[Catholic League (German)|Catholic League]], commanded by [[Johann Tserclaes, Count of Tilly]], captured the town. Tilly gave the famous ''[[Bibliotheca Palatina]]'' from the [[Church of the Holy Spirit, Heidelberg|Church of the Holy Spirit]] to the Pope as a present. The Catholic and Bavarian [[House of Wittelsbach]] gained control over the Palatinate and the title of Prince-Elector.
[[File:Hotelritter.jpg|thumb|left|Hotel zum Ritter St. Georg]]
[[File:Alte Bruecke Heidelberg von Konrad Linck 1788.jpg|thumb|left|Old Bridge, Konrad Linck, 1788]]

In late 1634, after the Swedish army had conquered Heidelberg, imperial forces attempted to recapture the city. They quickly took the city, but were unable to take the castle. As they prepared to blow up its fortifications with gunpowder the French army arrived, 30,000 men strong, led by [[Urbain de Maillé-Brézé]], who had fought in many battles and participated in the [[Siege of La Rochelle]] (1627–1628), and [[Jacques-Nompar de Caumont, duc de La Force]]. They broke the siege and drove off the Imperial forces.<ref>Helfferich, Tryntje, The Thirty Years War: A Documentary History (Cambridge, 2009), pp. 289–90.</ref>

In 1648, at the end of the war, Frederick V's son [[Charles I Louis, Elector Palatine]], was able to recover his titles and lands. To strengthen his dynasty, Charles I Louis arranged the marriage of his daughter [[Elizabeth Charlotte, Princess Palatine|Liselotte]] to [[Philip I, Duke of Orléans]], brother of [[Louis XIV of France|Louis XIV]], King of France. In 1685, after the death of Charles Louis' son, Elector [[Charles II, Elector Palatine|Charles II]], King Louis XIV laid claim to his sister-in-law's inheritance. The Germans rejected the claim, in part because of religious differences between local Protestants and the French Catholics, as the [[Protestant Reformation]] had divided the peoples of Europe. The [[War of the Grand Alliance]] ensued. In 1689, French troops took the town and castle, bringing nearly total destruction to the area in 1693. As a result of the destruction due to repeated French invasions related to the [[War of the Palatinate Succession]] coupled with severe winters, thousands of German Calvinist Palatines emigrated in the early 18th century. They fled to other European cities and especially to London (where the refugees were called "the poor Palatines"). In sympathy for the Protestants, in 1709–1710, [[Anne, Queen of Great Britain|Queen Anne]]'s government arranged transport for nearly 6,000 Palatines to New York. Others were transported to [[Pennsylvania]], and to [[South Carolina]]. They worked their passage and later settled in the English colonies there.

In 1720, after assigning a major church for exclusively Catholic use, religious conflicts with the mostly Protestant inhabitants of Heidelberg caused the Roman Catholic Prince-Elector [[Karl III Philip, Elector Palatine|Charles III Philip]] to transfer his court to nearby [[Mannheim]]. The court remained there until the Elector [[Charles Theodore, Elector of Bavaria|Charles Theodore]] became [[Rulers of Bavaria|Elector of Bavaria]] in 1777 and established his court in [[Munich]]. In 1742, Elector Charles Theodore began rebuilding the Palace. In 1764, a lightning bolt destroyed other palace buildings during reconstruction, causing the work to be discontinued.

===1803 to 1933===
Heidelberg fell to the [[Grand Duchy of Baden]] in 1803. [[Charles Frederick, Grand Duke of Baden]], re-founded the university, named "Ruperto-Carola" after its two founders. Notable scholars soon earned it a reputation as a "royal residence of the intellect". In the 18th century, the town was rebuilt in the Baroque style on the old medieval layout.

In 1810 the [[French Revolution]] refugee Count Charles Graimberg began to preserve the palace [[ruins]] and establish a historical collection. In 1815, the Emperor of [[Austria]], the Emperor of Russia and the King of [[Prussia]] formed the "[[Holy Alliance]]" in Heidelberg. In 1848, the German National Assembly was held there. In 1849, during the Palatinate-Baden rebellion of the [[Revolutions of 1848 in the German states|1848 Revolutions]], Heidelberg was the headquarters of a revolutionary army. It was defeated by a Prussian army near Waghaeusel. The city was occupied by Prussian troops until 1850. Between 1920 and 1933, Heidelberg University became a center of notable physicians Czerny, Erb, and Krehl; and humanists Rohde, Weber, and Gandolf.<ref>Hartmut Ellrich, Photographic Documents: ''Das historische Heidelberg''. Imhof. ISBN 978-3-86568-505-6</ref>

===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]].

===History after 1945===
In 1945, the university was reopened relatively quickly on the initiative of a small group of professors, among whom were the anti-Nazi economist [[Alfred Weber]] and the philosopher [[Karl Jaspers]].<ref>{{harvnb|Remy|2002|page=240}}</ref> The surgeon Karl Heinrich Bauer was nominated rector.

On 9 December 1945, US Army General [[George S. Patton]] was involved in a car accident in the adjacent city of [[Mannheim]] and died in the Heidelberg US Army hospital on 21 December 1945. His funeral ceremony was held at the Heidelberg-Weststadt {{lang|de|Christuskirche}} {{gloss|mode=def|Christ Church}}, and he was buried in the 3rd Army cemetery in [[Luxembourg]].<ref>[[George S. Patton#Accident and death]]</ref>

During the post-war [[military occupation]], the [[U.S. Army]] used the {{lang|de|[[Heidelberg Thingstätte|Thingstätte]]}} for cultural and religious events. Civilian use started in the early to mid-1980s for occasional concerts and other cultural events. Today, the celebrations on {{langnf|de|Hexennacht|Witches' Night}}, also called [[Walpurgis Night]], the night of 30 April, are a regular "underground" fixture at the {{lang|de|Thingstätte}}. Thousands of mostly young people congregate there to drum, to breathe fire, and to juggle. The event has gained fame throughout the region, as well as a certain notoriety due to the amount of litter left behind. Officially, this event is forbidden due to security concerns. The City declares it will fence the Thingstätte and prosecute any trespassers.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.heidelberg.de/walpurgisnacht |publisher=City of Heidelberg |access-date=25 January 2022|title=Stadt untersagt Feier zur Walpurgisnacht }}</ref>

In 2022, [[Heidelberg University shooting|a mass shooting occurred in the university]], killing a woman and injuring three other people. The gunman then committed suicide.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Mutmaßlicher Amoklauf auf Uni-Gelände in Heidelberg: Was wir wissen – und was nicht|trans-title=Suspected killing spree on university grounds in Heidelberg: what we know – and what we don't|url=https://www.swr.de/swraktuell/baden-wuerttemberg/mannheim/polizei-einsatz-heidelberg-neuenheim-100.html|access-date=24 January 2022|website=[[SWR.de]]|language=de|archive-date=15 April 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220415005652/https://www.swr.de/swraktuell/baden-wuerttemberg/mannheim/polizei-einsatz-heidelberg-neuenheim-100.html|url-status=dead}}</ref>