Rohrbach is a district of the city of Heidelberg in Baden-Württemberg, Germany.
Rohrbach is located approximately three kilometers south of Heidelberg's city center, about halfway to Leimen.
Besides Alt-Rohrbach (Old Rohrbach) with the Melanchthon Church and the old town hall, Rohrbach is divided into the districts of Kühler Grund, Gewann See, Hasenleiser, and Rohrbach-Süd (industrial park). Also belonging to Rohrbach is the somewhat secluded, wooded, and agricultural area around the Bierhelderhof. The now independent Heidelberg districts of Boxberg and Emmertsgrund were formerly part of the Rohrbach cadastral area as well.
Including all its districts, Rohrbach has a total population of 16,105 (as of December 31, 2021).
Since Rohrbach's incorporation into Heidelberg in 1927, the southern border with Rohrbach has been SickingenstraÃÂe. Before then, the border between Heidelberg and Rohrbach lay approximately 200 meters to the north â along SaarstraÃÂe and Markscheide (boundary line), whose names still reflect the former border.
Rohrbach was first documented in the Lorsch Codex in 766, spelled Rorbach, where the donation of a vineyard to Lorsch Abbey is recorded there. The name Rohrbach is derived from the reeds (Rohr) growing along a local brook (Bach). Today, the lower reaches of the Rohrbach are canalized, completely built over, and part of the sewage system. Only in its upper reaches, in the area of the Kühlen Grund, can the Rohrbach still be seen in its open, though largely straightened, bed.
The village of Rohrbach, originally probably belonging to Kirchheim, was in the possession of the Counts Palatine of the Rhine from 1234 onwards. During the Thirty Years' War, which left hardly any survivors in Rohrbach, and during the War of the Palatine Succession, the village was repeatedly destroyed.
In 1901, Rohrbach was connected to the Heidelberg-Leimen-Wiesloch tram network for the first time. It was later incorporated into Heidelberg in 1927.
During the Kristallnacht in 1938, the village synagogue, built in 1845 and located on the site of today's town hall square, was completely destroyed. This was perpetrated in the early morning hours of November 10 by the same individuals who had already destroyed the former synagogue in Heidelberg's old town during the night of November 9 to 10. Today, the event is commemorated by a memorial stone.
From 1970 onwards, the Rohrbach South industrial park was created as part of the construction of the new Emmertsgrund district, which adjoins Rohrbach to the southeast. in which the several thousand inhabitants of Emmertsgrund were to find local employment and shopping opportunities.
Until its incorporation into Heidelberg, Rohrbach had its own coat of arms, which is still presented at local celebrations today.
Blazon: The letters r o r are drawn in a shield divided with an upper yellow field and a base of five blue wavy lines atop a white field.
The letters stand for the first part of the place name Ro(h)r(bach), while the blue wavy lines symbolize the brook of the same name.
Symbolism: The reed over the brook.
The Protestant Melanchthon Church dates back to the 13th century and was rebuilt and enlarged in the Neo-Renaissance style by Hermann Behaghel in 1907/08. The Catholic St. John's Church, built in 1964, features stained-glass windows by Emil Wachter . In Hasenleiser is the St. Thomas Church of the Independent Evangelical-Lutheran Church, built in 1971.
Also noteworthy is the Rohrbach Castle, also called Rohrbach Castle, which is now part of the Thorax Clinic located above the town.
Rohrbach has two primary schools, one secondary school, and one comprehensive school:
With a feeder road to federal motorway 5, federal highway 3, the Kirchheim/Rohrbach train station of the Rhine-Neckar S-Bahn, RNV tram lines 23 and 24 and several bus lines, Rohrbach has very good transport connections to the other districts of Heidelberg and to the surrounding area.