Schwäbisch Hall and its twin towns
Cosmopolitanism and tolerance have a long tradition in Schwäbisch Hall. Salt was the ancient basis of far-reaching commercial relations. The Heller minted in Hall was a currency that was accepted from the Rhineland to Northern Italy, from Czechia to the Alsace. After the Second World War, the town was strongly involved in the communication and reconciliation of the European nations. Town twinnings eliminate anonymity, giving the opposite a face, a voice, a name. Personal meeting and common experience create bonds between people to overcome resentments and to create trust. The town twinning with Epinal, France, was signed as early as 1964. Other twinnings followed: with Loughborough, England (1966), Lappeenranta, Finland (1985), Neustrelitz, Mecklenburg-Hither Pomerania (1988) and Zamosc, Poland (1989). When a vast majority of the town council had stipulated an official twinning with the Turkish city of Balikesir, a delegation of Hall's town council, led by mayor Hermann-Josef Pelgrim, travelled to Turkey to sign the twinning document in November 2006.
The Goethe Institute in the heart of the town and students from all four corners of the earth are visible signs of the town's cosmopolitanism in a shrinking world. People from more than 100 nations are living and working in Schwäbisch Hall - colourfully, peacefully, cosmopolitan.
