Bensheim has grown out of a village that had its first documentary mention in the 8th century. In the 14th century, Bensheim was granted town rights. On 26 March 1945, shortly before American forces entered, much of the Old Town was destroyed by incendiary bombs.
Settlement history The South Hesse area was settled quite early on. The many finds from
archaeological digs stretch back to the time of the
Linear Pottery and
Corded Ware cultures (roughly 2500 to 1500 BC), peoples who raised crops and livestock.
Middle Ages 's church In 765,
Basinsheim had its first documentary mention in the
Lorsch Abbey’s
Codex Laureshamensis. Its founding may go back to a knight named
Basinus, who received the rights to found a settlement. The name changed from
Basinsheim to
Basinusheim and then to
Besensheim, finally becoming Bensheim. Noteworthy is that town rights were granted early on by Emperor
Otto I on 5 March 956. It can be inferred from the document text that Otto I, on the occasion of his stay in
Frankfurt am Main, with his wife Adelheid’s intervention, awarded the Lorsch Abbey’s oldest market privilege. The concept, called
publicae mercationes in the original, indicates the community, where public buying and selling was allowed. It still cannot be assumed that this led to a regular yearly or weekly market. Great parts of the town were destroyed in the
siege of 1301 by King
Albrecht I. When
Friedrich II enfeoffed the territory of the now derelict Lorsch
Imperial Abbey to Archbishop
Siegfried III of Eppstein, Bensheim became part of the
Electorate of Mainz's domains and likely received town rights only a few decades later, which is, however, only proved by a certificate issued in 1320.
Early modern times In today’s outlying centres of Auerbach and Schönberg, Bensheim borders on what were the Upper County – “Upper” here refers to geography, not rank – of the
Counts of Katzenelnbogen and domains of the
Schenken of Erbach. When the Katzenelnbogens died out in 1479, the
Landgraviate of Hesse became a neighbour to the north. In 1532, the Erbachs were raised to counts and the County of Erbach became a neighbour to the east. In the time of the pledging to the
counts palatine of the Rhine from 1461 to 1650, Bensheim experienced a boom, but as a Palatinate town, however, it was embroiled in the Bavarian-Palatine war of succession in 1504, and for eleven days was unsuccessfully besieged by the Landgrave of Hesse, who was charged with the execution of the ban of the Empire, and his confederates, the Dukes
Henry of Brunswick and Henry of Mecklenburg. From this year, two yearly markets and one weekly can be established; a third yearly market came in 1619. With the introduction of the
Reformation in the Landgraviate of Hesse in 1526 and in the County of Erbach in 1544, Bensheim got not only a territorial border with these neighbours, but also a denominational one. The
Thirty Years' War put an end to all the positive developments mentioned above. On 20 November 1644, Bensheim was occupied by
French and
Swedish troops, who were driven out again on 2 December by
Bavarian units. Later, the legend of the
Fraa vun Bensem arose (the “woman from Bensheim” is said to have led the Bavarians into town through a secret route). In 1650, after just under 200 years of being pledged to the
Electorate of the Palatinate, Bensheim was once again redeemed by the
Archbishopric of Mainz.
Modern times By the
Reichsdeputationshauptschluss in 1803, Bensheim passed to the Landgrave of
Hesse-Darmstadt, who joined the
Confederation of the Rhine in 1806 and was raised to Grand Duke. In 1822, there was a great fire in which 16 buildings were destroyed and 15 others were heavily damaged. Bensheim became the seat of the
Landratsbezirk (an administrative region) of Bensheim in the province of Starkenburg, which in 1832 was merged with the
Landratsbezirk of Heppenheim to form the district of Bensheim (
Kreis Bensheim) with Bensheim as its seat. In 1918, the Grand Duke was removed and out of the
Grand Duchy of Hesse the
People's State of Hesse was formed. On 1 November 1938, the districts of Bensheim and Heppenheim were merged into one district,
Kreis Bergstraße with Heppenheim as its seat. To offset Bensheim's loss of the status of district seat, the town got the district leadership of the
Nazi Party. During
Kristallnacht on 9 November 1938, the
synagogue was destroyed, while the one in Auerbach survived. In 1939, Auerbach, Schönberg and Zell were amalgamated, raising the population to just under 16,500. In Auerbach, a subcamp of
Natzweiler-Struthof Concentration Camp was built. On 24 March 1945, twelve people were taken to the
Kirchberg (mountain) where they were
murdered by the
Gestapo. Two days later, on 26 March 1945, Saint George's Parish Church, the Town Hall and parts of the Old Town were destroyed by
incendiary bombs. On 27 March, the town was occupied by
United States troops. As the U.S. Army Counter Intelligence Corps agent,
Henry Kissinger was the most important representative of the occupying power, after the official town commander. In 1945, Bensheim passed to the newly formed state of Hesse. After the
Second World War ended in 1945, a
displaced persons camp was established in Bensheim, first for
Polish former forced labourers, later for
Jewish displaced persons. The camp was dissolved in 1949. In 1971, the population rose to some 34,000 with the amalgamation of Langwaden, Schwanheim, Fehlheim, Hochstädten, Gronau and Wilmshausen. From 1859 to 1987 on the Nibelungenstraße towards Schönberg stood the
Guntrum Bräu Bensheim brewery. In 1979, the brewery was taken over by Binding Bier Mainz, and then closed and torn down in 1987. Today, the former premises are home to a number of houses. == Politics ==