Penzberg (;

Central Bavarian Central or Middle Bavarian form a subgroup of Bavarian dialects in large parts of Austria and the German state of Bavaria along the Danube river, on the northern side of the Eastern Alps. They are spoken in the ' Old Bavarian' regions of Upper ...

: ''Benschberg'') is a

city A city is a human settlement of a substantial size. The term "city" has different meanings around the world and in some places the settlement can be very small. Even where the term is limited to larger settlements, there is no universally agree ...

(although some see it as a town) in the Weilheim-Schongau district, in

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 ...

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 located about 50 km south of

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

, and had a population of around 17,000 in 2020. A historic

coal mining Coal mining is the process of resource extraction, extracting coal from the ground or from a mine. Coal is valued for its Energy value of coal, energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to Electricity generation, generate electr ...

town, Penzberg today is known for its pharmaceutical industries.

History

The settlement was first mentioned as ''Poennesperch'' in a 1275 contract, when it was sold to the Benediktbeuern Abbey. Surface coal mining had already started in the 16th century, though it was ended by the

Thirty Years' War The Thirty Years' War, fought primarily in Central Europe between 1618 and 1648, was one of the most destructive conflicts in History of Europe, European history. An estimated 4.5 to 8 million soldiers and civilians died from battle, famine ...

and the industrial exploitation of coal did not begin until 1800. In 1919 Penzberg received

town privileges Town privileges or borough rights were important features of European towns during most of the second millennium. The city law customary in Central Europe probably dates back to Italian models, which in turn were oriented towards the traditio ...

World War 2

An allied air raid on 16 November 1944 severely damaged the town, including the parish church, but did not affect the local coal mine, the heart of the town's economic life. In order to follow Hitler's "scorched earth" policy ( Nero Decree), the local Nazi leaders wanted to blow up the coal mine which was the economic life blood of the town ('' The End: Hitler's Germany 1944–45'' by

Ian Kershaw Sir Ian Kershaw (born 29 April 1943) is an English historian whose work has chiefly focused on the social history of 20th-century Germany. He is regarded by many as one of the world's foremost experts on Adolf Hitler and Nazi Germany, and is ...

– p344), so, on 28 April 1945 (the

social democratic Social democracy is a Social philosophy, social, Economic ideology, economic, and political philosophy within socialism that supports Democracy, political and economic democracy and a gradualist, reformist, and democratic approach toward achi ...

mayor of Penzberg until the Nazi takeover in 1933) and others deposed the

Nazi Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

mayor. However, it was not long before the officer commanding a local Wehrmacht unit had the leaders of the revolt arrested. When, on the evening of the same day,

Gauleiter A ''Gauleiter'' () was a regional leader of the Nazi Party (NSDAP) who served as the head of a ''Administrative divisions of Nazi Germany, Gau'' or ''Reichsgau''. ''Gauleiter'' was the third-highest Ranks and insignia of the Nazi Party, rank in ...

Paul Giesler heard about the incident, he gave orders that the leaders were to be shot immediately without trial. To achieve this, a Werwolf group, around 100 strong, was dispatched, storming the town hall. They arrested and shot Rummer and seven fellows. During the night, a further eight suspected resistance fighters were hanged by a " drumhead court-martial" under SA brigade leader . Among the victims were two women, one of them pregnant. The very next day, the Americans arrived. The massacre is known as the ' (Night of Penzberg Murder). The mine was not destroyed, and remained open until 1966 when it closed for economic reasons; the adjacent

power plant A power station, also referred to as a power plant and sometimes generating station or generating plant, is an industrial facility for the electricity generation, generation of electric power. Power stations are generally connected to an electr ...

was also shut down in 1971.

Transport

The town is served by Penzberg station on the Kochelsee Railway.

Important buildings

* Post office by Robert Vorhoelzer in the then dominant "Heimatstil", 1922-1923

Notable people

* Verena Eberle (born 1950), former German swimmer * Ludwig Kögl (born 1966), soccer players including FC Bayern München and

TSV 1860 München , commonly known as TSV 1860 München (; ''sechzig'' locally ; lettered as ) or 1860 Munich, is a sports club based in Munich. The club's association football, football team plays in the 3. Liga, the third tier of German football league system ...

* Max Kruse (author) (1921-2015), children's books author ('' Urmel aus dem Eis '') *

Norbert Reithofer Norbert Reithofer (born 29 May 1956 in Penzberg, West Germany) is a German businessman and former chairman of the board of management (CEO) of BMW. He served as chairman of the supervisory board from 2015 to 2025. Early life and education Af ...

(born 1956), former chairman of the board of managing directors and current supervisory board of

BMW Bayerische Motoren Werke AG, trading as BMW Group (commonly abbreviated to BMW (), sometimes anglicised as Bavarian Motor Works), is a German multinational manufacturer of vehicles and motorcycles headquartered in Munich, Bavaria, Germany. Th ...

* Helmut Schlesinger (1924–2024), former president of the

Bundesbank The Deutsche Bundesbank (, , colloquially Buba, sometimes alternatively abbreviated as BBk or DBB) is the national central bank for Germany within the Eurosystem. It was the German central bank from 1957 to 1998, issuing the Deutsche Mark (DM). ...

* Jochen Schümann (born 1954), sailor and winner of the

America's Cup The America's Cup is a sailing competition and the oldest international competition still operating in any sport. America's Cup match races are held between two sailing yachts: one from the yacht club that currently holds the trophy (known ...

with * Karl Wald (1916-2011), football matchmaker and inventor of the penalty shoot-out * Klaus Wolfermann (born 1946), former German athletic track (spearhead)

References

{{Authority control Weilheim-Schongau