Riedlingen () is a town in the district (''Kreis'') of Biberach,

Baden-Württemberg Baden-Württemberg (; ), commonly shortened to BW or BaWü, is a German state () in Southwest Germany, east of the Rhine, which forms the southern part of Germany's western border with France. With more than 11.07 million inhabitants across a ...

, in the south-west of

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwee ...

. It is one of the destinations of the Upper Swabian Baroque Route. Riedlingen has approximately 10,000 inhabitants.

Geography

The town is situated on the river

Danube The Danube ( ; ) is a river that was once a long-standing frontier of the Roman Empire and today connects 10 European countries, running through their territories or being a border. Originating in Germany, the Danube flows southeast for , pa ...

. Furthermore, there it lies in a dale which is created by the extensions of the Swabian Alps. Around Riedlingen there are seven villages which are part of the urban district. These are called Neufra, Daugendorf, Grüningen, Pflummern, Zwiefaltendorf, Zell and Bechingen.

History

Riedlingen is probably an

Alemanni The Alemanni or Alamanni, were a confederation of Germanic tribes * * * on the Upper Rhine River. First mentioned by Cassius Dio in the context of the campaign of Caracalla of 213, the Alemanni captured the in 260, and later expanded into pres ...

c foundation. The first written reference dates back to 835. The medieval city was built 1247–1255, situated east of the hamlet of the Earl of Veringen. It was a typical town with its foundations kept in rectangular and square roads with the market place as the centre. Even in the late 13th Century the city was in possession of the

Habsburg The House of Habsburg (), alternatively spelled Hapsburg in Englishgerman: Haus Habsburg, ; es, Casa de Habsburgo; hu, Habsburg család, it, Casa di Asburgo, nl, Huis van Habsburg, pl, dom Habsburgów, pt, Casa de Habsburgo, la, Domus Hab ...

s, but which they pledged later. In 1314 the city belonged to the Counts of Hohenberg, later to the lords of 1384 and finally to the Steward of

Waldburg Waldburg is a town in the district of Ravensburg in Baden-Württemberg in Germany. It is the home of Waldburg Castle, a medieval castle that sits atop the large hill in the town. The castle dates from the twelfth century, when Waldburg was a ...

The

Reformation The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and in ...

in the 16th Century initially found strong support by the urban population. However, it could not prevail against the Catholic Church's

Counter Reformation The Counter-Reformation (), also called the Catholic Reformation () or the Catholic Revival, was the period of Catholic resurgence that was initiated in response to the Protestant Reformation. It began with the Council of Trent (1545–1563) a ...

. From 1654-58 Riedlingen a Capuchin monastery was built. In 1680 the city was claimed by

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

Culture

In Riedlingen there are many sports clubs, such as the

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly ...

club TSV Riedlingen which plays in the German "Kreisliga A". The carnival group called "Gole" has many followers. In the town centre there are several bakeries, cafes, and a cinem

which acts as a theatre, stage and cafe within the same building. The writer Ernst Jünger used to live close to Riedlingen in the Jünger-Haus Wilflingen.

Economy

The main employers in Riedlingen are the metalworking companies "Silit" and " Feinguss Blank".

Transportation

Train transportation is served by the

Ulm–Sigmaringen railway The Ulm–Sigmaringen railway is a 92.670-kilometre-long railway in Baden-Württemberg in south-western Germany, which is largely single-tracked and for the most part not electrified. It runs from Ulm via Blaubeuren and Riedlingen to Sigmaringe ...

Famous people from Riedlingen

In the history of the city of Riedlingen, eleven people have been honoured so far. Wilfried Steuer and Winfried Aßfalg are the current living honorary citizens."A stroke of luck for Riedlingen". Honorary citizen Winfried Aßfalg
retrieved on 4 December 2010 * 1914: Adolf Gröber (1854–1919), Member of the Reichstag and Landtag (Centre Party) * 1917: Carl Buz (1853–1919), professor * 1926: Franz Xaver Maier (1859–1931), mayor * 1953: Theodor Selig (1874–1967), priest * 1959: Josef Kohler (1879–1967), tax official * 1964: Kilian Fischer (1886–1975), mayor * 1967: Franz Zeller (1879–1953), teacher * 1967: Odilo Burkart (1899–1979), general director * 1981: Albert Burkart (1898–1982), painter * 1992: Wilfried Steuer (born 1933), former district counsilior, politician (CDU) and former manager in the energy industry * 2010: Winfried Aßfalg, museum director, author, photographer, local historian

Notable people

* Schweikhard of Helfenstein (1539–1599), president of the

Reichskammergericht The ''Reichskammergericht'' (; ; la, Iudicium imperii) was one of the two highest judicial institutions in the Holy Roman Empire, the other one being the Aulic Council in Vienna. It was founded in 1495 by the Imperial Diet in Worms. All legal ...

and there imperial governor of Tyrol, also author, publicist and promoter of the Catholic Reform * Andreas von Jerin (1541–1596), Bishop of Breslau * Agatha Mahler (born 1604), was the last woman executed in a

witch-hunt A witch-hunt, or a witch purge, is a search for people who have been labeled witches or a search for evidence of witchcraft. The classical period of witch-hunts in Early Modern Europe and Colonial America took place in the Early Modern pe ...

* Franz Joseph Christian (1739–1798), sculptor * Joseph Anton Sauter (1742–1817), religious law expert and university teacher *

Conrad Graf Conrad Graf (17 November 1782 in Riedlingen, Further Austria – 18 March 1851 in Vienna) was an Austrian-German piano maker. His pianos were used by Beethoven, Chopin, and Robert and Clara Schumann, among others. Life and career Graf began his ...

(1782–1851), piano maker *

Frederick Miller Frederick Edward John Miller (November 24, 1824 – May 11, 1888) was a brewery owner in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Born as ''Friedrich Eduard Johannes Müller'' in Riedlingen, Württemberg, he founded the Miller Brewing Company at the Plank Road Br ...

(1824–1888), founder of the national brewer '' Miller Brewing Company '' in Milwaukee * Adolf Gröber (1854–1919), politician, leader of the Centre Party in the Reichstag * Gustav Merk (1874–1954), Catholic priest and archivist * Maria Caspar-Filser (1878–1968), painter * Willy Missmahl (1885–1964), surgeon * Wilhelm Broeckel (1887–1957), bank and association director * Josef Keller (1887–1981), confectioner, considered one of the inventors of the

Black Forest gateau Black Forest gâteau or Black Forest cake (American English) is a chocolate sponge cake with a rich cherry filling based on the German dessert (), literally "Black Forest Cherry-torte". Typically, Black Forest gateau consists of several laye ...

* Emil Münch (1891–1961), local politician, District Chief Executive in Tettnang (1947–1957) * Albert Burkart (1898–1982), artist * Ludwig Walz (1898–1989), mayor and

Righteous Among the Nations Righteous Among the Nations ( he, חֲסִידֵי אֻמּוֹת הָעוֹלָם, ; "righteous (plural) of the world's nations") is an honorific used by the State of Israel to describe non-Jews who risked their lives during the Holocaust to sa ...

* Franz Freiherr von Bodman (1908–1945),

Obersturmführer __NOTOC__ (, ; short: ''Ostuf'') was a Nazi Germany paramilitary rank that was used in several Nazi organisations, such as the SA, SS, NSKK and the NSFK. The rank of ''Obersturmführer'' was first created in 1932 as the result of an expa ...

and camp doctor in several

concentration camp Internment is the imprisonment of people, commonly in large groups, without charges or intent to file charges. The term is especially used for the confinement "of enemy citizens in wartime or of terrorism suspects". Thus, while it can simpl ...

s * Hans-Peter Missmahl (1920–2008), internist * Helmut Schlegel OFM (born 1943),

Franciscans , image = FrancescoCoA PioM.svg , image_size = 200px , caption = A cross, Christ's arm and Saint Francis's arm, a universal symbol of the Franciscans , abbreviation = OFM , predecessor = , ...

Priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in partic ...

meditation Meditation is a practice in which an individual uses a technique – such as mindfulness, or focusing the mind on a particular object, thought, or activity – to train attention and awareness, and achieve a mentally clear and emotionally calm ...

teacher,

author An author is the writer of a book, article, play, mostly written work. A broader definition of the word "author" states: "''An author is "the person who originated or gave existence to anything" and whose authorship determines responsibility f ...

and

lyricist A lyricist is a songwriter who writes lyrics (the spoken words), as opposed to a composer, who writes the song's music which may include but not limited to the melody, harmony, arrangement and accompaniment. Royalties A lyricist's incom ...

of new sacred songs * Hans-Peter Mayer (1944), European delegate of the CDU for

Niedersachsen Lower Saxony (german: Niedersachsen ; nds, Neddersassen; stq, Läichsaksen) is a German state (') in northwestern Germany. It is the second-largest state by land area, with , and fourth-largest in population (8 million in 2021) among the 16 ...

* Eugen Münch (born 1945), entrepreneur, founder of the Rhön-Klinikum *

Franz Schmidberger Franz Schmidberger (born 19 October 1946) is a priest of the Society of St. Pius X, founded by Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre. Biography Graduated in 1972 in the university of Munich, in the same year he entered the seminary of Écône where he was o ...

(born 1946), Catholic priest and Superior of the

Society of Saint Pius X The Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX) ( la, Fraternitas Sacerdotalis Sancti Pii X; FSSPX) is an international fraternity of traditionalist Catholic priests founded in 1970 by Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, a leading traditionalist voice at the S ...

* Wolfgang Schneiderhan (born 1946), officer, former Inspector General of the Bundeswehr * Peter Schneider (CDU) (born 1958), politician (CDU), Member of Parliament, President of the Savings Banks Association of Baden-Württemberg * Wolfgang Amann (born 1959), mayor of Geislingen (1998–2014) * Thomas Tress (born 1966), CEO of

Borussia Dortmund Ballspielverein Borussia 09 e. V. Dortmund, commonly known as Borussia Dortmund (), BVB (), or simply Dortmund (), is a German professional sports club based in Dortmund, North Rhine-Westphalia. It is best known for its men's professional fo ...

, finance and organization * Mario Gómez (born 1985),

VfB Stuttgart Verein für Bewegungsspiele Stuttgart 1893 e. V., commonly known as VfB Stuttgart (), is a German sports club based in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg. The club's football team is currently part of Germany's first division, the Bundesliga. VfB S ...

and

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

football player

Those associated with the city

* Kaspar of Carp to Pflummern and Talheim (1580), the feudal lord of Pflummern * Richard Lohrmann (1896–1970), forester and conservationists, led from 1946 to 1961, the Forestry Office Riedlingen * John Zwick ( 1496–1542), pastor in Riedlingen 1522 Reformation attempt * Ernst Jünger (1895–1998), writer, philosopher, officer and entomologist; died in the district hospital Riedlingen

References

{{Authority control Biberach (district) Württemberg