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[loot-vikhs-hah-fuhn, lood-]
Ludwigshafen am Rhein is a city in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Ludwigshafen is located on the Rhine opposite Mannheim. Together with Mannheim, Heidelberg and the surrounding region, it forms the Rhine Neckar Area.

Ludwigshafen is known for its chemical industry (BASF). Among its cultural facilities rank the Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz. Ludwigshafen is the birthplace of the former German chancellor Helmut Kohl, the philosopher Ernst Bloch.


Early History

In antiquity, Celtic and Germanic tribes settled here and during the last century B.C., the Romans conquered the region and a Roman auxiliary fort was constructed near the present suburb of Rheingönheim.

In the Middle Ages, some of the later suburbs of Ludwigshafen were founded, for example Oggersheim, Maudach, Oppau and Mundenheim, but most of the area was still swampland.

The Rheinschanze

All the region belonged to the territory of the Prince-elector of the Kurpfalz, or Electoral Palatinate, one of the larger states within the Holy Roman Empire, and the foundation of the new capital of the Kurpfalz, Mannheim, had decisive influence on the further development of the area on the opposite bank of the Rhine. Parallel to the foundation of Mannheim in 1606, a fortress (die Rheinschanze) was built by Frederick IV, Elector Palatine, on the other side of the River Rhine to protect the City of Mannheim, thus forming the nucleus of the city of Ludwigshafen itself.

But the region had a hard time in the 17th century, it was devastated and depopulated during the Thirty Years' War and also in King Louis XIV of France´s wars of conquest in the later part of the century.

It was only in the 18th century that the settlements around the Rheinschanze began to prosper and they profited from the proximity of the capital Mannheim. Especially Oggersheim gained some importance: There was a small palace serving as secondary residence for the Elector, the famous pilgrimage church Wallfahrtskirche was built and for some weeks in 1782, even the great German writer and playwright Friedrich Schiller lived in Oggersheim (admittedly, he was on flight from his native Württemberg).

War came back to the Ludwigshafen area with the armies of the French Revolution. The palace at Oggersheim was burned down, Mannheim besieged several times and all the area left of the Rhine was annexed by France from 1798 to 1813. The Kurpfalz was split up, the eastern bank of the Rhine with Mannheim and Heidelberg was given to Baden, the western bank (including the Ludwigshafen area) was granted to Bavaria after the Wars of Liberation 1813-1815, in which the French were expelled. So the Rhine had become a frontier and the Rheinschanze was cut off politically from Mannheim and lost its function as the neighbouring city's military bulwark.

Foundation of Ludwigshafen

Already in 1808, during the French occupation, Carl Hornig from Mannheim had purchased the fortress from the French authorities and turned it into a resting place for French sailors that needed to pass from that area of the Rhine River. Later, the Rheinschanze with its winter-proof harbour basin (created by a flood in 1824) was used as trading post. Hornig died in 1819, but Johann Heinrich Scharpff, the businessman from Speyer, continued Hornig's plans, which were then turned over to his son-in-law, Philipp Markus Lichtenberger, in 1830. Their activities marked the beginning of the civilian use of the Rheinschanze.


During the failed German revolution of 1848, rebels took young Ludwigshafen, but they were bombarded from Mannheim (rumours said the Mannheimers didn't aim at the revolutionaries, but on the rival harbour's infrastructure) and Prussian troops quickly expelled the revolutionaries. On December 27, 1852, King Maximilian II granted Ludwigshafen am Rhein political freedom and as soon as November 8, 1859, the settlement gained town status.

Industry and growth of population

But this “town” was still a very modest settlement with just 1.500 inhabitants. The real growth began with industrialization, which gained enormous momentum in Ludwigshafen because of its ideal transport facilities: The perfect Rhine harbour has already been mentioned and in 1849 the railway connecting Ludwigshafen with the Saar coalfields was finished.

The year 1865 was an important date in the history of independent Ludwigshafen. After several discussions, BASF decided to move its factories from Mannheim to the Hemshof district, which belonged to Ludwigshafen. From now on, the city's rapid growth and wealth was linked to the BASF's success and the company's expansion to one of the world's most important chemical companies. With more jobs available, the population of Ludwigshafen started to increase very rapidly, so that in 1899 the city was governing more than 62,000 residents (Compared to 1,500 in 1852).

This rapid population explosion looked quite “American” to contemporaries, it determined Ludwigshafen's character as a “worker's town” and created problematic shortages of housing and real estates. The solution was the expansion of the municipal area and the incorporation of the two nearest villages, Friesenheim and Mundenheim, in the years 1892 and 1899. In the area between the town centre and those two suburbs new quarters (“North” and “South”) were built after (then) modern urban development plans. Because the ground was marshy and too low to be protected from Rhine floods, all the new houses were built on raised ground, sometimes as high as 5 meters above the original ground. You can see the original ground level in many backyards of Ludwigshafen, which are sometimes two floors below street level.

Population of Ludwigshafen
Year Population Total
1840 ca. 90
1848 ca. 600
1852 ca. 1,400
1858 ca. 2,800
1871 ca. 7,900
1885 ca. 21,000
1895 ca. 40,000
1900 ca. 62,000
1914 ca. 94,000
1925 ca. 102,000
1939 ca. 144,000
1945 ca. 61,000
1950 ca. 124,000
1956 ca. 147,000
1970 ca. 180,000
1985 ca. 161,000
1995 ca. 171,000
2000 ca. 165,000
2004 ca. 166,000
2006 ca. 163,000

World War I and Inter-War Years

When World War I broke out in 1914, Ludwigshafen's industry plants played a key role in Germany's war economy. Many chemical ingredients of explosives and gunpowder for the forces, as well as much of the gas used on the Western Front, were fabricated in Ludwigshafen. This contributed to the fact that, on May 27, 1915, Ludwigshafen had the dubious honour of being the world's first civilian settlement behind the lines to be bombed by air. French aircraft attacked the BASF plants, thereby killing twelve people and setting a precedent for the years to come.


The economic recovery during the 1920s was thrown back by the worst explosion ever in a German industrial complex when, in 1921, a BASF factory blew up, killing more than 500, injuring a further 2000 and destroying countless buildings.

Nevertheless, Ludwigshafen reached the population number of 100,000 in 1922, thus gaining “City” status and it prospered until the worldwide economic crisis of 1929 caused unemployment, trouble and the final rise of the Nazis.

Initially, the Nazi party had few followers and votes in working-class-dominated Ludwigshafen. But after 1933, when they had come to power in Germany, the Nazis succeeded in getting their ideas through in Ludwigshafen. The Ludwigshafen synagogue was destroyed in 1938 and its Jewish population deported in 1940.

But the Nazis also interfered with Ludwigshafen's development as city. According to their ideology, many small houses with gardens were built, especially in the Gartenstadt. Further, similar to Nazi plans in other Cities (e.g. Hamburg), they aimed at creating a ”Greater Ludwigshafen” by assimilating smaller towns and villages in the vicinity. Thus Oggersheim, Oppau, Edigheim, Rheingönheim and Maudach became suburbs of Ludwigshafen and raised its population number to 135,000.

World War II

During World War II, the city was a prime target for strategic bombing because its two giant I.G. Farben plants, the BASF, covering and employing 40,000 workers, produced much of Germany's ammonia, synthetic rubber, synthetic oil and other vital chemicals. The city's railroad yards were important targets too, and hundreds of small shops and factories produced war materials, such as diesel engines for submarines. Because the junction of Rhine and Neckar at Mannheim was easy to find due to the shimmering waters; blackout was inneffective in Mannheim and Ludwigshafen; Allied bombers had few problems in finding the place by night.

The Luftwaffe ringed the city with 180 high-powered flak guns. Thirteen thousand Allied bombers hit the city in 121 separate raids during the war, of which 56 succeeded in hitting the BASF. Those 56 raids dropped 53,000 bombs each containing 250 to 4,000 pounds of high explosives, plus 2.5 million 4-pound magnesium incendiary bombs. (The bombers also dropped millions of warning leaflets ordering civilians to leave town immediately; they also dropped counterfeit ration coupons.) Clouds (or protective smoke) usually covered the target, so "pathfinder" planes identified the general vicinity with flares, and the bombardiers unloaded on the flares. This sort of "area bombing" was not especially accurate: out of 1,700 bombs dropped on January 7, 1944, only 127 hit the Farben plant. On average, 1.4 tons of bombs hit each acre of the Farben complex (but buildings covered only 25% of the ground, so most hit open land.) Bombing accuracy improved with experience; in a January 1945 raid, 1,000 high explosive bombs and 10,000 incendiaries fell within the factory fences, starting 10 large, 30 medium and 200 small fires. Bombs that missed the factory that day ruined 354 residences and dehoused 1,800 people.


With more than 50% of its houses destroyed, Ludwigshafen was one of the most thoroughly bombed cities in Germany.

Postwar rebuilding

As it had been after World War I, Ludwigshafen was occupied by the French. As part of the French occupation zone, it became part of the newly founded Bundesland (state) of Rheinland-Pfalz and thus part of the Federal Republic of Germany. Reconstruction of the devastated city and revival of the economy was supported by the Allies, especially by American aid. In 1948, the “Pasadena Shares Committee” sent packages of blankets, clothing, food, and medicines to help the residents of post-war Ludwigshafen. Many friendships started to form, so that in 1956, Ludwigshafen am Rhein and Pasadena, California became sister cities.

Large parts of the city were literally ruined, but because the BASF soon made enormous profits again, the city administration was wealthy enough to rebuild Ludwigshafen according to the architectural taste of the 1950s and 1960s. The most important projects were the Hochstraßen (highways on stilts), today a ramshackled and tore down piece of concrete, the revolutionary new main station (then the most modern station in Europe), today almost closed and not connected with important railway traffic, several tower blocks and a whole new suburb that became a focus point of social problems, the satellite quarter Pfingstweide north of Edigheim.

The city's trade tax profits also allowed a lot of social benefits and institutions to be introduced that are closed today. Many other cities were jealous of Ludwigshafen's wealth and the population number reached its all-time climax in 1970 with more than 180,000 inhabitants, thus surpassing even the capital of Rheinland-Pfalz, Mainz, for a while. Today cities point with the fingers to Ludwigshafen and are happy not be in their financial situation, have this kind of architecture, pollution and social problems.

Financial crisis

In the early 1970s, a plan to reform the composition of the German Bundesländer, which could have created a new state around a united Mannheim-Ludwigshafen as capital with more than half a million inhabitants, failed.



The negative aspects of industrial success became obvious when examinations revealed the bad state of air and the Rhine due to pollution. There had always been some stench or dirt all over the city, caused by BASF and other plants, and as long as the industry had prospered, people had accepted it. Besides that, the concrete constructions that had been so modern after the war and had a formative influence on today's townscape, were increasingly considered as obsolete and even as extremely ugly. The main station was rotting as a rarely used concrete monstrum.

Contemporary Ludwigshafen


One of the most annoying faults of Ludwigshafen – at least for many of the city's inhabitants - is its comparative lack of high-quality shopping possibilities. It has been attempted to repair this deficiency by creating a second large shopping mall on the southern tip of the city centre (the Walzmühle near Berliner Platz) with affiliated railway station (Ludwigshafen-Mitte) - but it didn't turn out as planned. Hopes are now pinned on the construction of another shopping mall on the banks of the Rhine.

For all its real and alleged shortcomings, Ludwigshafen still has enormous importance as industrial city.





The Südliche Innenstadt or “southern city centre” (ca. 29,000 inhabitants) includes the real city center as described above and the Stadtteil Süd or “South” quarter. “South” belongs to the most attractive residential areas, especially the Parkinsel area. Other sub-quarters of “South” are the Musikantenviertel or the Malerviertel. In a few years, there will be one more high prised residential area (“Rheinufer Süd”) on the River Rhine near the Walzmühle on former industrial estates.


The Nördliche Innenstadt (ca. 22,000 inhabitants) includes the Hemshof, “North” and “West” districts. Hemshof and “North” represent the “old town” of Ludwigshafen, they are known for their very high proportion of foreign inhabitants, making them culturally diverse and “colourful” (or better said head-cloth-ful), but also somewhat socially problematic. ”West” (also called Valentin-Bauer-Siedlung) is located between main station and main cemetery.




Oppau (ca. 10,000 inhabitants) in the North is dominated by the nearby BASF and had once been a town for its own, prior to its incorporation into Ludwigshafen. In its history, it has been afflicted by several catastrophes like the explosion of 1921 or the flood of 1882.



The Pfingstweide (ca. 6,000 inhabitants) is Ludwigshafen's northernmost district, it is dominated by tower blocks and is located in close vicinity to Frankenthal.


The Gartenstadt (ca. 18,000 inhabitants), west of Mundenheim, is (as the name “garden city” suggests) a very green suburb, dominated by flat roofed houses and some tower blocks. Most parts of it are widely known as problem area. Its sub-districts are Niederfeld, Hochfeld and Ernst-Reuter-Siedlung.


Mundenheim (ca. 13,000 inhabitants) is a very old suburb, it boasts its own railway station, an extensive industrial area near the harbour basins, junkyards and scrap metal retailers. A sub-district is the Herderviertel in Mundenheim's North.













Ludwigshafen has a huge main station, its impressive pylon bridge pier serving as the city's landmark, it is rarely used. The extraordinary architecture of the station complex is caused by the need to connect three joining tracks (to Frankenthal/Worms/Mainz, to Neustadt/Speyer and to Mannheim) and to work in the underground Straßenbahn station and the massive road bridge above the concourse. Other railway stations are at Oggersheim, Mundenheim, Rheingönheim, and, of late, near Berliner Platz. Since 2003, the S-Bahn Rhein-Neckar suburban train system runs successfully in the region.

Ludwigshafen's public transport system is run by the VBL (Verkehrsbetriebe Ludwigshafen) and the holding companies RNV and VRN. The Straßenbahn (tram/streetcar) network is closely connected with Mannheim, three lines (3,4,6) cross the Rhine bridges between the two cities and a further two lines (10,12) run through Ludwigshafen only. In addition, there is Line 14 (also known as "Rhein-Haardt-Bahn"). It's a long-distance tram, which runs from Bad Dürkheim to Ludwigshafen and Mannheim. The bus network consists of about ten municipal lines and further regional lines.

A rather strange feature of Ludwigshafen's public transport system is the existence of five underground stations for the Straßenbahn (Rathaus, Danziger Platz, Hauptbahnhof, Heinrich-Pesch-Haus, Hemshofstraße). They go back to the 1970s, when a common underground network in Mannheim and Ludwigshafen was planned. The rash construction of these first stations in Ludwigshafen became superflous when Mannheim cancelled the project due to its enormous costs.

Another low point of architecture is the extensive presence of roads running on bridges through the city centre.

Region and neighbours

The twin cities of Mannheim and Ludwigshafen closely cooperate in many areas; although they are separated by the Baden-Württemberg/Rhineland Palatinate boundary, this frontier is mainly an administrative one. Of course there is some rivalry between “LU” and “MA”, but it is restricted mostly to Mannheimers´ jokes about Ludwigshafen's apparent ugliness and Ludwigshafeners´ gloating jokes about the BASF's fumes being blown by the prevailing western winds to Mannheim. Nevertheless, most of the Ludwigshafeners prefer shopping and going out in Mannheim's inner city cause it is far more attractive and within easy reach. In the reverse case, some Mannheimers work in Ludwigshafen and many University of Mannheim students choose Ludwigshafen as residence because of its cheaper rents.


The regions with some more distance to Ludwigshafen include the beautiful German Wine Route region with Germany's biggest coherent winegrowing area and the Palatinate forest, the biggest coherent forest of Europe 50 km in the West, the French region Alsace and the German Schwarzwald (Black Forest) hills in the South, Heidelberg and the Odenwald hills in the East and the Rhein-Main region with the city of Frankfurt about 100km in the North.



The Wilhelm-Hack-Museum is known for its Miro wall that is getting more and more filthy due to the city smog. Several small museums in Ludwigshafen concentrate on the very short city's history, first of all the Stadtmuseum in the Rathaus Center, but also the Schillerhaus Oggersheim, K.O. Braun-Museum in Oppau or the Frankenthaler Kanal Museum in the North. The Fachhochschule Ludwigshafen (technical college) is specialised on economics and has an affiliated Ostasieninstitut (East Asia Institute). There is also the Evangelische Fachhochschule Ludwigshafen, specialised on social sciences.


Although the BASF is, of course, by far the most important industrial company in Ludwigshafen, there are many other firms. Trade and industry in Ludwigshafen have about 90,000 employees in total, with an annual total turnover of nearly 17 billion euros.




Barnsley midfielder Dominik Werling was born in Ludwigshafen.



The TSG Friesenheim plays in the German 2nd handball division.






The Maudacher Bruch in the West between Maudach, Gartenstadt and Oggersheim, is a very extensive, horse-shoe shaped area, including the Michaelsberg (126m), a mountain built of debris and wreckage after WW II. Due to excessive extraction of ground water from chemical companies the ground water level drops and the diversity of nature is no longer preserved. The Kief´scher Weiher in the South is connected with the River Rhine and serves as yacht harbour, being surrounded by weekend camping areas.

Notable natives

Sister cities

Ludwigshafen is twinned with:

External links

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