From the Neolithic to the early first millennium (right) from
Legends about Theodoric the Great 1645 The earliest traces of settlement in the Alzey area go back as far as the
Neolithic. Alzey was founded as a
vicus (village) in the
Roman province of
Germania Superior in the lands surrounding Mogontiacum (
Mainz). The name of Alzey is first mentioned on a
Nymphenstein (a Roman altar stone dedicated to nymphs), dedicated on 22 November 223 by the
Vicani Altiaienses ("Villagers of Alzey"). The name
Altiaia could well originate from the name of an older, pre-Roman
Celtic settlement of about 400 BC, although the name's exact origins have not been passed down to the present day. Over the ruins of the Roman village, which was destroyed about 350, a
fort,
Castra Alteium, was built about 390. In 406 and 407, the
Burgundians, together with the
Vandals, crossed the
Rhine and settled in Mainz, Alzey and Worms as Roman confederates. The area was secured for them by treaty. In 436, the Burgundian kingdom was destroyed by the
Western Roman magister militum Flavius Aëtius with help from
Hunnish troops. These events were worked into the
Nibelungenlied and form the origin of the legendary figure Volker von Alzey, the
gleeman in the
Nibelungenlied. After 450, Alzey passed to the
Alamanni and the
Franks when they took over the land. After
Clovis I's death in 511, the Frankish Empire fell apart into separate smaller kingdoms, and Alzey became part of
Austrasia, whose capital was at
Metz. Following the unification of the Frankish kingdoms in the mid-8th century, Alzey was assigned by the 843
Treaty of Verdun to the
Kingdom of the East Franks, a forerunner of the German Empire. In 897, Alzey was first mentioned as an Imperial fief.
12th century to early 20th century In 1156, Alzey belonged to the
Electorate of the Palatinate, and
Konrad von Staufen attained the rank of Count Palatine in the Imperial castle, which had been completed in 1118. In 1277, Alzey attained the rank of town from
Rudolf von Habsburg. In 1620, Count
Ambrogio Spinola sided with the
Catholic Emperor in the
Thirty Years' War against the
Protestant Electorate of the Palatinate and also conquered Alzey. In 1689, the town and the castle, under the
French troops' scorched-earth policy, were burnt down in the
Nine Years' War, when
Louis XIV's armies had to leave areas conquered earlier. In 1798, areas west of the Rhine, among them those that until this time had been parts of the Electorate of the Palatinate, were annexed to
France. Alzey belonged until 1814 to the Department of
Mont-Tonnerre (or Donnersberg in
German). In 1816, Alzey was attached to the
Grand Duchy of Hesse. In 1909, the winemaking school (now the
Landesanstalt für Rebenzüchtung) was founded. Its first head was Georg Scheu, after whom the grape variety
Scheurebe is named.
Third Reich On
Kristallnacht (9 November 1938), the Alzey
synagogue was destroyed and the fittings were burnt in front of the building. The ruin was removed in the 1950s. A rescued
Torah scroll can nowadays be found in the museum. On 8 January 1945, in
World War II, the town narrowly missed being destroyed when 36
Boeing B-17 bombers had been sent to take out a railway bridge in Alzey. Owing to bad weather and a landmark misinterpretation – the crew mistook the top of the old watchtower for the church steeple – the bombers ended up dropping their load on the Wartberg, a nearby hill, giving rise to the legend of the Wartbergturm – the old tower – as Alzey's saviour.
Since 1945 Since 1947, Alzey has no longer been Hessian, but rather it became the seat of Alzey District in the newly formed state of
Rhineland-Palatinate. Since the merger of the old Alzey and Worms Districts in 1969, Alzey has been the seat of the new
Alzey-Worms District and the seat of the
Verbandsgemeinde of Alzey-Land, although as a
Verband-free town, it does not actually belong to the
Verbandsgemeinde.
Amalgamations On 22 April 1972, the formerly autonomous villages of Weinheim, Heimersheim and Dautenheim were amalgamated with Alzey. The outlying centre of Schafhausen had already been a
Stadtteil (constituent community) of Alzey since the
Middle Ages.
Religion On 31 January 2008, the townsfolk's religious affiliations broke down thus: • 8,927
Evangelical • 3,684
Catholic • 2,996 none or no affiliation established in public law • 1,322 other affiliations established in public law • 6,809 other • 988 no data • sundry • 50 Alzey Free
Religious-Humanist Association • 4
Old Catholic • 2
Jewish • 1 Mainz Free Religious-Humanist Association
Jewish History The town's Jewish congregation is dated to the 14th century. In 1349, during the
Black Death, the town's Jews were murdered in the cause of a
blood libel. A few years after, the community renewed and a document from 1377 depicted a Jew named Yitschak of Alzey who sued the town of
Worms for not paying its debt to him. Several documents from around 1670, depict disputes between Joseph Simon Jessel, a Jew who lived in Alzey and the town butchers, regarding his wish to open a business. On another dispute between him and a neighbor who sold his house to Jessel but refused to evacuate, the verdict blamed both sides — Jessel for it was "unthinkable that a Jew will hit a Christian", and the neighbor for not evacuating the house. During the 18th century, most of the town Jews were established if not rich. in 1710, a Jew called Simcha Deidesheimer founded a large
Matzo factory that existed until 1925 and exported its products to
France and
Italy. In addition, two brothers named Levy opened a porcelain factory in town in 1770. The community had a local cemetery Alzey was the hometown of well-known family Belmont; In 1844, Jewish Shimon Belmont (the ancestor of American politicians
August Belmont and
August Belmont JR. was elected as the president of the 'Narhalle' carnival, which he initiated, intended for the town's high classes. He donated some money to the cemetery and other community facilities. Eight of Alzey Jews died as soldiers during
World War I. According to town municipality, 76 Jews were expelled from the town to
Nazi concentration camps around
Europe. In 1954, one
Jew returned to Alzey. == Politics ==