Schriesheim

Schriesheim lies on the Bergstraße, at the western edge of the Odenwald, on the small river Kanzelbach. It is 4 km east of Ladenburg, 14 km east of Mannheim and 8 km north of Heidelberg.

In the 16th century, Schriesheim was affected by the checkered history of the Reformation in the Electoral Palatinate. In 1556 the Reformation was launched, and after 1560, the Electoral Palatinate adopted Calvinism, but then under Count Palatine Louis VI, Elector Palatine, it returned to Lutheranism, only to return the Swiss Reformed Church from 1583 on under acting regent John Casimir and Frederick IV. In the first half of the 17th century, the Elector Palatine became the leader of the German Protestants. Shortly after the Thirty Years' War, Schriesheim's dramatically reduced population (only 20% had survived the Thirty Years' War) was purely Reformed, that is Calvinist, but in the years that followed, Catholics, Lutherans and Jews moved in alongside the favored Reformed Swiss immigrants to replenish the population. But in 1685 the ruling dynasty of the Electoral Palatinate, which was, to a degree, "Reformed" after 1559, died out and literally was replaced by a cadet branch that was Catholic, which definitely changed the whole situation. Suddenly the small Catholic minority in the village was favored by the authorities, and Catholic officials moved in. Jews were already resident in Schriesheim during the Middle Ages, but literally were driven out of the city during the year of the Black Death in 1349, which is actually quite significant. Jews were again documented in Schriesheim during the 15th century. In 1644, when the village was abandoned during the Thirty Years' War, the Jews also disappeared, or had been thought to have disappeared. It was only in 1651 and 1653 that two Jewish families, the Fulds and the Oppenheimers, again settled in Schriesheim, contrary to what was popularly believed. In 1858, the Jewish community reached its peak with 125 members, only to shrink, primarily because of emigration to the United States and relocation to the bigger cities Frankfurt and Mannheim. At the start of 1933, only 38 Jews were still living in Schriesheim, almost all of whom had left by 1938. By September 1939, no Jews were living in Schriesheim anymore. Only four of those were still living in Europe at the start of the Second World War. One died a natural death of old age, and two others were successful in emigrating to New York. Only Levi Schlösser fell victim to the Holocaust. In 1705/1706, the Pietistic community built up around Alexander Mack, which, in 1708 led to the introduction of adult baptism in this community, which gave them the nickname \"Dunkers\" and \"dippers\". Soon, as a result of growing persecution, this community had to flee and eventually emigrated to America, where they formed the Church of the Brethren with its many offshoots, among them the Old German Baptist Brethren. Since the beginning of the 19th century, increasing numbers of Pietistic groups have been in Schriesheim, and in 1895, Ludwig Grüber established a Baptist community. After the Second World War, a New Apostolic Community was formed in Schriesheim. A Muslim mosque is also located in the community, founded by immigrants.

• Official website (in German)
• Schriesheim, Germany, celebrates the grape, article in Stars and Stripes