The city lies on a high plateau at the east edge of the north Black Forest, and is well known for its fresh air.

In the 19th and 20th centuries, visitors of note included George V of the United Kingdom, the Queen of Sweden, John D. Rockefeller, and the American writer Mark Twain.

With its many hotels and guest houses, and its high-class cuisine, Freudenstadt remains a popular vacation spot for Germans from every part of the country.

Among the many Germans of note who considered Freudenstadt a second home was the justice inspector Friedrich Kellner whose WWII diary is the subject of a Canadian documentary.

[citation needed] The building of Freudenstadt was ordered by Frederick of Württemberg in 1599 with the initial population largely being made up of many of the 11,000 Protestants who left the Inner Austrian provinces by force or through self-exile beginning in 1598.

[citation needed] In World War II, on the nearly 1,000 meter high Kniebis, not far from the Alexanderschanze, a Command Center of the Armed Forces was built to defend the Western Front: the Führer's headquarters Tannenberg.

Heavy anti-aircraft warfare positions with the associated supply and accommodation buildings were built in the area as part of the LVZ West (Western Air Defense Zone), especially on the Schliffkopf and the Hornisgrinde.

Hitler's one-week visit to Tannenberg and Freudenstadt in 1940 (after the French campaign) at the inauguration of the headquarters was for propaganda, which was reported in newsreels.

Thus, Freudenstadt including the nearby region in France, became a symbol of the Nazi regime and the French defeat, which in 1945 was to play an important role.

[6] There were several dozen civilian casualties; about 600 buildings, 95 percent of the town, were destroyed directly or indirectly during the night from 16 to 17 April and 1,400 families were made homeless.

[citation needed] The Rathaus (Town Hall), at the market place, houses the museum of local history.

[citation needed] On the south side of the market place is the Evangelical Lutheran Church, with its green tower roofs.

[citation needed] The Catholic young community (KJG) Freudenstadt is involved in child and youth work.

[citation needed] Regional daily newspapers are the Schwarzwälder Bote and the Neckar Chronik of the Südwest Presse.

[citation needed] Particularly significant are the Gebrüder Schmid (photovoltaic, printed circuit boards, flat panel displays), the Robert Bürkle (equipment for surface finishing), the company Georg Oest mineral (mineral oil, gas stations, mechanical engineering).

[citation needed] Due to the central location in the Black Forest, four federal roads lead through Freudenstadt.

The trains of the Ortenau-S-Bahn (OSB), connect Freudenstadt hourly over Alpirsbach, Schiltach and Hausach to Offenburg.