Description
Calw is a town in the middle of Baden-Württemberg in the south of Germany, capital of the district Calw. It is located in the Northern Black Forest and is approximately 18 kilometres south of Pforzheim and 33 kilometres west of Stuttgart.HistoryCalw was first mentioned in records in 1037. In the 11th century, the town grew around the older castle of the Grafen (Counts/Earls) of Calw. In the Middle Ages, Calw was an important commercial town, especially for the trade of cloth and leather. In 1345, Calw became part of Württemberg, and by the 16th century, it had become the summer residence of the Duke of Württemberg. In 1634 the town was taken by the Bavarians, and in 1692 by the French. In the 18th century, Calw flourished from the lumber trade and rafting of timber on the river Nagold.Due to her romantic relationship with a Polish guest worker, seventeen-year-old Calw resident Erna Brehm was publicly shaved bald in the town's market square in August 1941. She served eight months in jail in Calw and Stuttgart for violating Nazi Rassenschande ("racial shame") laws before being deported to Ravensbrück concentration camp. She was released on 1 April 1944 because she was in such poor health that she was no longer able to work. She was extremely underweight (reportedly only 34.5 kilograms or 76 pounds) and died on 19 August 1951 at the age of twenty-seven.
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