Pocking (; ) is a town in the district of Passau, in

Lower Bavaria Lower Bavaria (, ; ) is one of the seven administrative regions of Bavaria, Germany, located in the east of the state. It consists of nine districts and 258 municipalities (including three cities). Geography Lower Bavaria is subdivided into two ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. It is situated about 30 km south-west of

Passau Passau (; ) is a city in Lower Bavaria, Germany. It is also known as the ("City of Three Rivers"), as the river Danube is joined by the Inn (river), Inn from the south and the Ilz from the north. Passau's population is about 50,000, of whom ...

, close to the

Austrian Austrian may refer to: * Austrians, someone from Austria or of Austrian descent ** Someone who is considered an Austrian citizen * Austrian German dialect * Something associated with the country Austria, for example: ** Austria-Hungary ** Austria ...

border.

History

A Roman settlement was founded in the area of Pocking as early as the 1st century AD. The '' Bajuwaren tribe'' settled around Pocking in the 6th century AD. In 820 AD Pocking was first mentioned in a historic document. Since 1824 Pocking forms its own political community and in 1971 it was granted the privileges of a town. During the Nazi regime a side camp of the

Flossenbürg concentration camp Flossenbürg was a Nazi concentration camp built in May 1938 by the SS Main Economic and Administrative Office. Unlike other concentration camps, it was located in a remote area, in the Fichtel Mountains of Bavaria, adjacent to the town of Flos ...

was set up in Pocking. After

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

the second largest DP camp ("displaced persons") in Germany was located in Pocking. In 1946 the camp housed 7,645 people, mostly of Jewish heritage. It was disbanded in 1949. The Rottal area to which Pocking belongs is famous for its

horse breeding Horse breeding is reproduction in horses, and particularly the human-directed process of selective breeding of animals, particularly purebred horses of a given Horse breed, breed. Planned matings can be used to produce specifically desired chara ...

. That is also why the

coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldry, heraldic communication design, visual design on an escutcheon (heraldry), escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the last two being outer garments), originating in Europe. The coat of arms on an escutcheon f ...

of Pocking includes the head of a horse. The other symbols relate to the history of the town and the different villages that formed the political community of Pocking.

Mayors

Since the election in 2008 Franz Krah (Independent citizens) is the mayor of Pocking. His predecessor was Josef Jakob (CSU). Krah was reelected in March 2014 with 82.01% of the votes.

Solarpark

In April 2006, Pocking Solar Park, the at this time world's largest connected solar power plant, was opened in Pocking. The plant produces 10 megawatt peak, has 62,500

photovoltaic cells A solar cell, also known as a photovoltaic cell (PV cell), is an electronic device that converts the energy of light directly into electricity by means of the photovoltaic effect.

and cost approximately 40 million

euro The euro (currency symbol, symbol: euro sign, €; ISO 4217, currency code: EUR) is the official currency of 20 of the Member state of the European Union, member states of the European Union. This group of states is officially known as the ...

Sport

The Rottalstadion is a 10,000-capacity

motorcycle speedway Motorcycle speedway, usually referred to simply as speedway, is a motorcycle sport involving four and sometimes up to six riders competing over four clockwise, anti-clockwise laps of an oval circuit. The motorcycles are specialist machines that ...

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

and athletics stadium located in the southern area of Pocking. It hosts the speedway team MSC Pocking and the football team SV Pocking 1892.

Education

Schools include: *

Wilhelm-Diess-Gymnasium Wilhelm-Diess-Gymnasium Pocking (short form of the official designation WDG Pocking; unofficially also referred to as simply Wilhelm-Diess-Gymnasium; frequently abbreviated colloquially as WDG) is a Germany, German state school, state-recognized ...

Sons and daughters of the town

Michael Ammermüller Michael Ammermüller (born 14 February 1986) is a racing driver from Germany. After competing in various junior formulae, he became a test and reserve driver for the Red Bull Racing Formula One team in the 2007 Formula One World Championship, ...

(born 1986), race car driver

References

External links

* {{Authority control Passau (district)