History
Neckarwestheim was first mentioned on March 5, 1123 in a document of Holy Roman Emperor Henry V called Westheim. In 1673 the region was called Württemberg and the town was renamed to Kaltenwesten. On August 19, 1884 it was renamed in Neckarwestheim by a royal decree. In 1938 the district was named Heilbronn.
After World War II the currently agricultural town received many refugees and exiles of the East. In the 1970s, the nuclear power station of Neckarwestheim was built on the previous area of a quarry. The taxes on this new power station enriched the municipal finances.
In 1995, Neckarwestheim was at the centre of attention in an internationally-known scandal. The previous mayor, Horst Armbrust, was accused of having embezzled more than 40 million DM of the municipal funds. He put this money in different dubious investments and hoped for high yields. However, the money disappeared nearly without a trace. Armbrust was arrested and committed for trial on February 8, 1995. On January 24, 1996, he was sentenced by the Stuttgart district court to 8 and a half years in prison for unfaithfulness and falsification of a document. On May 17, 1999, the Konstanz district court imposed this suspended sentence. By February 2005 the municipality succeeded in getting back around 13 million €. The court costs amount to 2 million €.
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