Ettlingen was an important crossroads during Roman times, when the region was part of the province of
Germania Superior. This is demonstrated by the many artifacts found in the area, including the "Neptune Stone," which commemorates a flood of the Rhine, and the remains of a Roman bath excavated beneath St. Martin's Church. The town was first mentioned in 788 as "Ediningom" in a deed of donation belonging to
Weissenburg Abbey in
Alsace (now in
France). In 965, the village of Ettlingen ("Ediningom") received
market rights (
Marktrecht) from Emperor
Otto the Great. In 1192, Emperor
Henry VI, one of
Frederick Barbarossa's sons. Margrave
Herman V of Baden-Baden became Ettlingen's feudal lord in 1219. In the following centuries, Ettlingen developed into an important administrative centre within the
Margraviate of Baden-Baden. Ettlingen gave its name to a line of defensive earthworks known as the
Ettlingen Line built to deter French aggression. During the
Nine Years' War the town was nearly completely burned to the ground by the troops of
Louis XIV, but was nevertheless rebuilt in the following decades under
Margravine Sibylle Auguste. After the
Catholic line of Baden-Baden died out in 1771, Ettlingen passed to the
Protestant Margraviate of Baden-Durlach, which would become the reunited Margraviate of Baden. During the
French Revolutionary Wars, Ettlingen was the site of a
battle between elements of the French
Army of the Rhine and Moselle and the Habsburg
Army of the Upper Rhine on 9 July 1796. In the period of
Napoleon's activities in Germany,
Margrave Karl Friedrich of Baden was made
Elector in 1806 and
Grand Duke in 1806. Ettlingen remained an independent town until 1937, when it was incorporated into the administrative unit that would become the
district of Karlsruhe in 1939. Ettlingen and its surrounding villages and land continue to be part of this district. In 1966, Ettlingen passed the 20,000 population mark and raised to the status of
Große Kreisstadt by the state government of Baden-Württemberg. During the communal reforms of the early 1970s, several smaller communities were incorporated into Ettlingen, raising the population to over 30,000. Ettlingen's renowned open-air theater series, the
Schlossfestspiele first took the stage in the
Baroque inner courtyard of
Ettlingen Palace in 1979.
Religions Ettlingen was originally a part of the ancient
Diocese of Speyer and was under the pastoral care of the
Archdeacon of St. German and Moritz in
Speyer. The town originally belonged to the
deanery of Durlach but was itself made archdeaconate in the 16th century. The
Protestant Reformation made gains in Ettlingen as early as 1520, but the town remained mostly Catholic, and the town's Catholic majority was supported by the
Catholic line of
Baden-Baden; later, starting in 1624, the
Jesuits played an active role in converting many of the town's inhabitants back to the Catholic faith. By the beginning of the 19th century, Protestants were a small minority. During the period of
secularization following the dissolution of the
Holy Roman Empire, Ettlingen was part of the
ordinariate of
Bruchsal. In 1821, it became part of the newly founded
Archdiocese of Freiburg, and the town was made the seat of a deanery, which included not only the parishes within Ettlingen proper, but also those in surrounding villages and neighboring municipalities. Today, Ettlingen belongs to the deanery of
Karlsruhe, with the various parishes organized into pastoral units (
Seelsorgeeinheiten). These include Ettlingen Stadt, with the parishes Herz Jesu (Sacred Heart), Liebfrauen (Our Lady), and St. Martin's, the town's oldest church; Ettlingen South, with St. Dionysius' in Ettlingenweier, St. Wendelin's in Oberweier, and St. Joseph's in Bruchhausen; and Ettlingen Heights, with St. George's in Völkersbach, St. Boniface's in Schöllbronn, and St. Anthony's in Spessart, although Völkersbach belongs politically to the municipality of
Malsch.
Jewish families lived in Ettlingen since at least the 14th century. They lived primarily in Färbergasse ('Dyers' Alley), which was formerly known as "Judengasse" (Jews' Alley). The Jews of Ettlingen paid a protection tax of 16 florins in the 18th century, which was reduced to 8 florins in 1812. Ettlingen's first
synagogue was built on Albstraße in 1849, only to be torn down again when a new synagogue was built on Pforzheimerstraße and dedicated in 1889. The "New Synagogue" was itself destroyed during the infamous
Kristallnacht pogrom of November 1938. About two thirds of the remaining Jewish citizens of Ettlingen emigrated during the Nazi era and the rest were deported to concentration camps.
Protestants (
Lutherans), most of whom had moved to Ettlingen since the early 19th century, were first administered from
Rüppurr, but in 1848 they received their own clergyman, and in 1869 their own parish (
Johannesgemeinde - Congregation of St. John), which soon got its own church, the oldest Protestant church in Ettlingen. The
Johannesgemeinde belonged to the city deanery of Karlsruhe at first, but was later transferred over to the deanery of Alb-Pfinz with its seat in
Pfinztal. The congregation continued to grow and was eventually divided in 1951, creating the
Paulusgemeinde (Congregation of St. Paul). The
Paulusgemeinde had a parish hall built in 1953, adding a bell tower in 1965. The
Paulusgemeinde was split up in 1972 to create the
Luthergemeinde (Luther Congregation), which caters to the Protestants of Ettlingen West, Bruchhausen, Ettlingenweier, and Oberweier. From 1969 to 2003, Ettlingen was the seat of the
Evangelical (Lutheran) Church in Baden's district of Central Baden. However, in the wake of efforts to save money, this district was dissolved and Ettlingen incorporated into the district of North Baden. Alongside the two major churches, there are also a few
free churches and congregations, including a
Free Evangelical congregation and the
Liebenzell Congregation. The
Jehovah's Witnesses, the
New Apostolic Church, and a small Jewish community are also represented in Ettlingen. ==Districts==