The Frankenbund e.V. (registered association) was founded a few years after World War I, on October 11, 1920, by Dr. Peter Schneider together with citizens of Würzburg. The goal was to instill a sense of home among the people of Franconia and—to put it in today’s terms—create a Franconian identity. People living in Franconia were to be encouraged to become more aware of their historical and cultural roots and to actively preserve this heritage.

The founding of the Frankenbund was not a spontaneous idea of Peter Schneider but rather the result of long preparation. Unfortunately, his writings from before 1945, as well as the Frankenbund archive, were destroyed in the devastating air raid on Würzburg on March 16, 1945, when they burned in the cellar of his home in Würzburg’s old town. To shed light on the prehistory and origins of the Frankenbund, the journal Frankenland, founded in 1914, thus plays an important role.

Since its founding in the early Weimar Republic, the Frankenbund has seen itself as a civic movement to bring together locally all those who seek to explore the history of their immediate environment, preserve the distinctiveness of their region, participate in regional art and cultural life, or contribute to preserving local monuments and natural landscapes.

With nearly 30 local groups, the association is largely free to set its own priorities, which is reflected in the diversity of its programs: excursions, lectures, musical evenings, and art exhibitions. In addition, the quarterly journal Frankenland provides a shared publication forum to disseminate well-founded knowledge about Franconian history, art, and culture.

Further information about the history, membership, and program of the Frankenbund, as well as the history of Frankenland, can be found on the association’s website and in the article by Dr. Christina Bergerhausen.