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Ettlingen (; South Franconian: Eddlinge) is a town in Baden-Württemberg, Germany, about south of the city of Karlsruhe and approximately from the border with Lauterbourg, in France's Bas-Rhin. Ettlingen is the second largest town in the district of Karlsruhe, after Bruchsal.
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 Roman Catholic line of Baden-Baden died out in 1771, Ettlingen passed to the Protestant Baden, 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.Smith, Digby (1998). The Napoleonic Wars Data Book. London: Greenhill. p. 111. . In the period of Napoleon's activities in Germany, Margrave Karl Friedrich of Baden was made Prince-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.
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.
Judaism families lived in Ettlingen since at least the 14th century.Fuehrer durch die juedische Wohlfahrtspflege (1932/33), 348; Germ Jud, 2 (1968), 232–3; F.M. Hundsnurscher and G. Taddey, Die juedischen Gemeinden in Baden (1967), index. 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.Fuehrer durch die juedische Wohlfahrtspflege (1932/33), 348; Germ Jud, 2 (1968), 232–3; F.M. Hundsnurscher and G. Taddey, Die juedischen Gemeinden in Baden (1967), index.
Protestantism (Lutheranism), most of whom had moved to Ettlingen since the early 19th century, were first administered from Karlsruhe, 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.
Among the U.S. Army units based in Rheinland Kaserne were the 78th Engineer Battalion and 44th Signal Battalion.
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