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Pforzheim () is a town of nearly 120,000 inhabitants in the federal state of Baden-Württemberg, in the southwest of Germany. It is known for its jewelry and watch-making industry, and as such has gained the nickname "Goldstadt" ("Golden City"). It has an area of and is situated between the cities of Stuttgart and Karlsruhe at the confluence of three rivers (Enz, Nagold and Würm) and marks the frontier between Baden and Württemberg, being located on Baden territory. From 1535 to 1565 it was the home to the Margraves of Baden-Pforzheim. The City of Pforzheim does not belong to any administrative district (''Kreis''), although it hosts the administrative offices of the Enz district that surrounds the town. During World War II, Pforzheim was bombed a number of times. The largest raid, and one of the most devastating area bombardments of World War II, was carried out by the Royal Air Force (RAF) on the evening of 23 February 1945. Nearly a third of the town's population, 17,600 people, were killed in the air raid, and about 83% of the town's buildings were destroyed. The town was thought by the Allies to be producing precision instruments for use in the German war effort and to be a transport centre for the movement of German troops. The story of the bombardment is dramatically recounted in the 2011 history book by Giles Milton, entitled Wolfram: The Boy Who Went To War. In the twenty years following the end of the war, Pforzheim was gradually rebuilt, giving the town a quite modern look and making it home to some landmark buildings of the 1950s. ==Geography== Pforzheim is located at the northern rim of the eastern part of the Black Forest (Schwarzwald) and the rim of the hilly country of the Kraichgau, in an open valley at the confluences of the rivers Würm and Nagold and the rivers Nagold and Enz. Due to its location, this city is also called the "three-valleys town" (''Drei-Taeler Stadt'') or the "Gateway to the Black Forest" (''Pforte zum Schwarzwald / Porta Hercynia''). The early settlement (in fact much earlier than the current centers Stuttgart and Karlsruhe) by the Romans, who constructed a ford through the river, shortly past the confluence of the three rivers, for their military highway, is also due to this extraordinary geography. Due to this location, Pforzheim later on became a center for the timber-rafting trade which transported timber from the Black Forest via the rivers Wuerm, Nagold, Enz and then the Neckar and Rhine to, among other destinations, the Netherlands for use in shipbuilding and the construction of Amsterdam on poles in a swamp. Pforzheim and its surrounding area belongs to the "Densely Populated Area Karlsruhe/Pforzheim". Pforzheim has the functions of a regional center (Mittelzentrum) for the towns and municipalities Birkenfeld (Enz), Eisingen, Engelsbrand, Friolzheim, Heimsheim, Ispringen, Kämpfelbach, Keltern, Kieselbronn, Königsbach-Stein, Mönsheim, Neuenbürg, Neuhausen, Neulingen, Niefern-Öschelbronn, Ölbronn-Dürrn, Remchingen, Straubenhardt, Tiefenbronn, Wiernsheim, Wimsheim and Wurmberg. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Pforzheim」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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