do with the German word heilig (“holy”). It is merely another example of how names can change over time. The community was first mentioned in 1365 as Haldenstat, meaning “town at the slope” (Halde is still a German word for “slope”). In a report from the time of the Franconian Switzerland's discovery (that is, as a tour destination), Dr. Gottlieb Zimmermann describes in 1840 a hiking route along the Leinleiter wherein he shows by mentioning the community's old name that the name Heiligenstadt has nothing to do with Heiligen (“Holy Ones” or “Saints”), but rather with the word Halde: „Heiligenstadt, auch das lutherische Hallstadt genannt, ist ein hübscher Marktflecken im Thale, wo die Reisenden mehrere und ziemlich gute Wirthshäuser finden.“ The community was called Lutherisches Hallstadt to distinguish it from Hallstadt near Bamberg, which was (and is) mostly Catholic. Religion Within the market community's limits, Catholic and Evangelical villages lie in the area of the Archdiocese of Bamberg: In Leidingshof there is not a single Catholic, in the villages of the parish of Tiefenpölz, almost nobody is Evangelical. In the heart of the main community, mostly Lutherans live, whereas in the outlying newer developments, most people are Catholic. All together, the ratio between the two faiths stands at roughly 1:1. Churches Roman Catholic church Heiligenstadt-Burggrub is a patronage parish with presentation rights of the Schenken von Stauffenberg, Greifenstein, and calls itself St. Paul Heiligenstadt-Burggrub. Evangelical Lutheran church The Evangelical Lutheran parish has its centre in the St.-Veit- und St.-Michaels-Kirche. Free churches Furthermore, there is in Heiligenstadt an Evangelical Free Church Congregation (Baptists). It has its seat in the family centre (sponsored by the Familienzentrum der Evangelisch-Freikirchlichen Gemeinden in Nordbayern e. V. ) Jews Already by 1430 there were Jews from nearby towns doing trade with peasants in Heiligenstadt. In Heiligenstadt itself, it is believed there were no Jews at that time. According to documents, in 1605 there were at least three Jewish families living in Heiligenstadt. In 1617, there were seven. According to a directory kept by a clergyman named Knab from Heiligenstadt, there were 1,758 souls in his parish all together, 239 of them Catholic and 58 Jewish. In 1692, a shechita and slaughter order was in effect. In 1734, Jews were allowed to carry their books publicly, accompanied by musicians, into their synagogue. Not seldom, the Jews’ business acumen led to envy. In 1699, peasants from the Scheßlitz