Albstadt

Albstadt (German pronunciation: [ˈalpʃtat] (listen)) is the largest city in the district of Zollernalbkreis in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is located on the Swabian Alb mountains, about halfway between Stuttgart and Lake of Constance.

Albstadt
A view of Ebingen.
Coat of arms
Location of Albstadt within Zollernalbkreis district
Sigmaringen (district)Tuttlingen (district)Rottweil (district)Freudenstadt (district)Tübingen (district)Reutlingen (district)AlbstadtBalingenBisingenBitzBurladingenDautmergenDormettingenDotternhausenGeislingenGrosselfingenHaigerlochHausen am TannHechingenJungingenMeßstettenNusplingenObernheimRangendingenRatshausenRosenfeldSchömbergStraßbergWeilen unter den RinnenWinterlingenZimmern unter der Burg
Albstadt
Albstadt
Coordinates: 48°12′43″N 09°01′26″E
CountryGermany
StateBaden-Württemberg
Admin. regionTübingen
DistrictZollernalbkreis
Government
 • MayorKlaus Konzelmann (FW)
Area
 • Total134.41 km2 (51.90 sq mi)
Elevation
731 m (2,398 ft)
Population
 (2018-12-31)[1]
 • Total45,327
 • Density340/km2 (870/sq mi)
Time zoneCET/CEST (UTC+1/+2)
Postal codes
72421–72461
Dialling codes07431, 07432, 07435
Vehicle registrationBL
Websitewww.albstadt.de

Geography

Albstadt is spread across a variety of hills and valleys, its elevation ranges between 614 m (2,014 ft) above sea level and 966 m (3,169 ft). One valley is the river Schmiecha, a left-hand tributary of the Danube, a second valley is the river of upper Eyach, a tributary of the Neckar.

To Albstadt belongs also the Raichberg hill in the north, on which there is the Raichberg Transmitter and an observation tower located. South of Albstadt is the Heuberg Military Training Area.

History

Settlement in the region dates back to at least the Iron Age. A Hallstatt cemetery in Albstadt was excavated by amateur archaeologists in the late nineteenth century and revealed a wide range of pottery and metal artefacts. Known as the 'Degerfeld Barrow' cemetery, a substantial collection was built up by the local antiquary Hyronimus Edelmann that was eventually deposited in the British Museum.[2][3]

Mining

In former times iron ore was produced in Albstadt. Fidel Eppler was the name of the mine-inspector. The buttress wood was bought in Truchtelfingen and used from Lautlinger Knappen at the Hörnle area .[4] From an old 3,5 km mine in a Doggererzflöz in Weilheim is wood in the Tuttlinger Fruchtkasten .[5] Steel was produced in Tuttlingen by the Schwäbische Hüttenwerke in Ludwigstal, today iron brakes.

The districts Ebingen, Laufen, Lautlingen, Pfeffingen und Tailfingen were first mentioned in 793 in a document of the abbey St. Gallen. Ebingen received city rights around 1250 from the Hohenberg ducal family.

Albstadt consists of the following urban districts, which had been independent towns and merged to form Albstadt in 1975:

Truchtelfingen and Tailfingen
Coat of Arms
District EbingenTailfingen (Albstadt)OnstmettingenTruchtelfingenPfeffingen (Albstadt)Lautlingen (Albstadt)Laufen (Albstadt)MargrethausenBurgfelden
Population (2006) 19.61812.2345.3843.2292.1681.9981.7531.084345
Population (2007) 19.33912.0915.3143.2232.1311.9871.7531.087338
Population (2008) 19.26512.0725.2603.1892.1471.9881.7771.069346
Population (2009) 19.19611.8955.1943.2102.0741.9421.7641.046382
Population (2010) 18.71811.5225.0063.1012.1441.8331.7091.023364
Population (2011) 18.58411.5004.9573.1082.0481.8211.6991.025361
Population (2012) 18.47811.3294.9003.0281.9931.7711.6990997314
Population (2014)[6] 18.67511.2084.9033.0351.9821.8081.6640967336

Economy

Most of the textiles industry (among them Hasana J. Hakenmüller) is gone today, leaving some monuments, like Villa Haux. However, one of the world's biggest makers of industrial needles, Groz-Beckert, is still based in the town. Other prominent local companies include Mey (knitwear), Mettler Toledo (weighing systems) and a major part of Assa Abloy security systems (Eff-Eff Brand). Ebingen also hosts the technical and computer science faculties of Albstadt-Sigmaringen University with about 3,000 students (2014).

Number of inhabitants
  • 1975: 50.772
  • 1987: 46.369
  • 1995: 49.463
  • 2005: 46.505
  • 2015: 44.431

Lord Mayors of Albstadt
  • 1975–1991: Hans Pfarr (CDU)
  • 1991–1999: Hans-Martin Haller (SPD)
  • 1999–2015: Jürgen Gneveckow (CDU)
  • since 2015: Klaus Konzelmann (Free voters Baden-Württemberg)

Sons and daughters of the town
Kurt Georg Kiesinger Oberhausen 1967
  • Gregor Dorfmeister (also known as Manfred Gregor; born 1929), journalist and writer
  • Jürgen Gneveckow (born 1952 in Tailfingen), 1999-2015 mayor of Albstadt
  • Walther Groz (1903–2000), born in Ebingen, producer, mayor of Ebingen
  • Monika Herzig (born 1964), jazz musician and musicologist
  • Kurt Georg Kiesinger (1904–1988), lawyer and politician (CDU), Prime Minister of Baden-Württemberg (1958–1966) and Chancellor (1966–1969)
  • Klaus Konzelmann (born 1963 in Truchtelfingen), police official and current mayor of Albstadt

Personalities who have worked on the ground
Philipp Matthäus Hahn
  • Ignaz Anton Demeter (1773-1842), 1802-1808 first Parish Councilor in Lautlingen, 1836-1842 Archbishop of Freiburg.
  • Otto Hahn (1879-1968), chemist, nuclear scientist, Nobel laureate. After the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute was bombed out in Berlin in the spring of 1944, he researched from June 1944 to April 1945 in Tailfingen.
  • Philipp Matthäus Hahn (1739-1790), pastor, designer and inventor, lived in Onstmettingen from 1764-1770
  • Claus von Stauffenberg (1907-1944), officer, assassin on Adolf Hitler; spent parts of his youth in Lautlingen
  • Berthold Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg (1905-1944), jurist, participant in the assassination attempt on Adolf Hitler; spent parts of his youth in Lautlingen
  • Martin Schaudt (born 1958), dressage rider
gollark: It's generally cleaner to just *return* the new version of something.
gollark: I would generally recommend against global variable use.
gollark: If you get money by making an existing thing better or cheaper that is also good for people.
gollark: If you obtain money by making some sort of innovative product/service, you're improving things for everyone who wants the product.
gollark: > one could argue that you can't be wealthy without it being at *someone's* expenseOne would be wrong, lots of things are positive sum.

Media related to Albstadt at Wikimedia Commons

References
  1. "Bevölkerung nach Nationalität und Geschlecht am 31. Dezember 2018". Statistisches Landesamt Baden-Württemberg (in German). July 2019.
  2. Schwarzwaelder-bote website
  3. British Museum Collection
  4. Hermann Bitzer, Hermann Bitzer Studienrat Rosenfeld †1964 (ed.), Tailfinger Heimatbuch 1954 (in German), p. 35
  5. Fruchtkasten: Abteilung Ludwigsthal. In: Pressemiteilungen. 21.November 2016.
  6. http://www.albstadt.de/stadt/zahlendatenfakten (in German) Population numbers
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