Waldenburg, Baden-Wurttemberg

Waldenburg is a hilltop town in south central Germany, eastwards of Heilbronn in the Hohenlohe of Baden-Württemberg. The town is the site of Waldenburg Castle and some hilltop churches. Records first mention Waldenburg in the year 1253, but the town was destroyed in April 1945, at the end of World War II, and it has been rebuilt since.

Geography

Geographical form

Waldenburg covers part of the natural Schwäbisch-Fränkische forest-hills and the Hohenloher-Haller Ebene.

  ''Naturräume Baden-Württembergs'' (Nature Spaces of
  Baden-Württemberg). Landesanstalt for Umwelt, Messungen
  and Naturschutz of Baden-Württemberg, Stuttgart, 2009.

City outline

Waldenburg includes the village of Waldenburg proper and the 2 sections Obersteinbach (173 people, as of 31 March 2006) and Sailach (222 people).

History

of Waldenburg dates from 1253. By 1330 it was a free city. Plague and war reduced the population during the Thirty Years' War. The Confederation of the Rhine of 1806 annexed Waldenburg into the Kingdom of Württemberg, and the town has been part of the Federal Republic of Germany state of Baden-Württemberg since 1952.

In April 1945 at the end of World War II the town had been occupied for a last-ditch stand by the Wehrmacht against the advancing United States 3rd army, and was almost completely destroyed by American artillery. Postwar efforts have reconstructed some historic buildings.

The ancient castle still belongs to the......
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