Dischingen is a municipality in the district of Heidenheim in

Baden-Württemberg Baden-Württemberg ( ; ), commonly shortened to BW or BaWü, is a states of Germany, 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 i ...

in southern

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 ...

. The municipality consists of several smaller villages that have been absorbed into Dischingen, Ballmertshofen, Demmingen, Dunstelkingen, Eglingen, Frickingen, and Trugenhofen.(German) City of Dischingen Website

Demographics

Dischingen has 4,484 inhabitants (as of January 18, 2007), of which 1,811 live in Dischingen with the rest in the surrounding communities. The total land area in the community is , of which is buildings, is forest, is farm land and is water.

History

Dischingen is first mentioned in 1049. During the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...

it belonged to the county of Dillingen. When the counts of Dillingen died out in 1258, the county was inherited by the

House of Wittelsbach The House of Wittelsbach () is a former Bavarian dynasty, with branches that have ruled over territories including the Electorate of Bavaria, the Electoral Palatinate, the Electorate of Cologne, County of Holland, Holland, County of Zeeland, ...

. Following the

Landshut War of Succession The War of the Succession of Landshut (''Landshuter Erbfolgekrieg'' in German) resulted from a dispute between the Duchies of Bavaria-Munich (''Bayern-München'' in German) and Bavaria-Landshut (''Bayern-Landshut''). Background George, Duk ...

, in 1505 Dischingen became part of the duchy of

Palatinate-Neuburg Palatinate-Neuburg () was a territory of the Holy Roman Empire, founded in 1505 by a branch of the House of Wittelsbach. Its capital was Neuburg an der Donau. Its area was about 2,750 km2, with a population of some 100,000. History The Du ...

(German: Pfalz-Neuburg). In 1734 the town became the property of the

Princely House of Thurn and Taxis The Princely House of Thurn and Taxis (, ) is a family of German nobility that is part of the ''Briefadel''. It was a key player in the mail, postal services in Europe during the 16th century, until the end of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806, and ...

. During the

German Mediatisation German mediatisation (; ) was the major redistribution and reshaping of territorial holdings that took place between 1802 and 1814 in Germany by means of the subsumption and Secularization (church property), secularisation of a large number of ...

Dischingen became part of

Bavaria Bavaria, officially the Free State of Bavaria, is a States of Germany, state in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the list of German states by area, largest German state by land area, comprising approximately 1/5 of the total l ...

, though a few years later, in 1810, it became part of

Württemberg Württemberg ( ; ) is a historical German territory roughly corresponding to the cultural and linguistic region of Swabia. The main town of the region is Stuttgart. Together with Baden and Province of Hohenzollern, Hohenzollern, two other histo ...

Religion

Dischingen was generally untouched by the

Reformation The Reformation, also known as the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation, was a time of major Theology, theological movement in Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the p ...

and remained solidly

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

. The members of the Lutheran Evangelical Church in Württemberg in Dischingen belong to the

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christianity, Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest#Christianity, priest, often termed a parish pries ...

of Fleinheim-Dischingen.

Expansion

On 1 January 1972, the village of Trugenhofen joined Dischingen. Two years later, on 1 January 1974, the villages of Ballmertshofen, Demmingen, Dunstelkingen, Eglingen, Frickingen became part of Dischingen.

Politics

Mayor

* 1986–2006 Bernd Hitzler * Since 2006: Alfons Jakl

Town Council

There are currently 18 seats on the town council. In the town election of 13 June 2004 members of the following two political parties ran with these results:

Coat of arms

The coat of arms is a divided shield, on the left a red background with an upright golden (yellow) key and on the right a gold (yellow) background with three horizontal knives. The three knives come from the coat of arms of Melchior von Tischingen, dating from 1465. The meaning of the key is unknown.

Coat of arms of the villages

Image:Wappen_Ballmertshofen.png, Ballmertshofen Image:Wappen_Demmingen.png, Demmingen Image:Wappen_Dunstelkingen.png, Dunstelkingen Image:Wappen_Dischingen-Eglingen.png, Eglingen Image:Wappen_Frickingen.png, Frickingen Image:Wappen_Trugenhofen.png, Trugenhofen

References

{{Authority control Heidenheim (district)