Friedberg is a city in the district Aichach-Friedberg

Aichach-Friedberg

Aichach-Friedberg is a district in Bavaria, Germany. It is bounded by the districts of Augsburg, Donau-Ries, Neuburg-Schrobenhausen, Pfaffenhofen, Dachau, Fürstenfeldbruck and Landsberg, as well as by the city of Augsburg....

, Bavaria

Bavaria

Bavaria, formally the Free State of Bavaria is a state of Germany, located in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the largest state by area, forming almost 20% of the total land area of Germany...

, Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

, with some 30,000 inhabitants. It is located next to Augsburg

Augsburg

Augsburg is a city in the south-west of Bavaria, Germany. It is a university town and home of the Regierungsbezirk Schwaben and the Bezirk Schwaben. Augsburg is an urban district and home to the institutions of the Landkreis Augsburg. It is, as of 2008, the third-largest city in Bavaria with a...

 at the Lech river. The city was founded in the 13th century in order to collect a toll from people using the bridge across the Lech River.

The city lies almost entirely on the western edge of the hills along the Lechleite, where the river Lech has formed a wide bed from glacial melt water.

History

Settlements in the area of Friedberg can be traced to Roman times through archeological findings of pottery and brickworks in the Hügelshart, Rohrbach (dating from the last third of the 3rd Century AD), Stätzling (late 3rd Century to 4th Century AD) and Wulfertshausen districts.

The town is mentioned in historical documents for the first time in letter of protection from Conrad of the House of Hohenstaufen

Hohenstaufen

The House of Hohenstaufen was a dynasty of German kings in the High Middle Ages, lasting from 1138 to 1254. Three of these kings were also crowned Holy Roman Emperor. In 1194 the Hohenstaufens also became Kings of Sicily...

 together with Duke Ludwig II

Louis II, Duke of Bavaria

Duke Louis II of Bavaria was Duke of Bavaria and Count Palatine of the Rhine from 1253. Born in Heidelberg, he was a son of duke Otto II and Agnes of the Palatinate...

, also called "the Strict", of Bavaria and the Burgher of Ausberg, in 1264. The Fridberch castle was subsequently built to serve as a border security and customs post for the Duchy of Bavaria and Swabia

Swabia

Swabia is a cultural, historic and linguistic region in southwestern Germany.-Geography:Like many cultural regions of Europe, Swabia's borders are not clearly defined...

, but put the town in opposition to the free city of Ausberg. The castle was the cause of the first burning of Friedberg by Ausberg in 1396. The town was subject to the many frequent wars between Swabia, Bavaria and Ausberg.

In 1485 Balthasar Hubmaier

Balthasar Hubmaier

Balthasar Hubmaier was an influential German/Moravian Anabaptist leader. He was one of the most well-known and respected Anabaptist theologians of the Reformation.- Early life and education:...

, a leading figure of the Baptist Reformation, was born in the town.

A revival in the town's fortunes came when, in 1568, the Duchess Christine chose Friedberg castle as her seat following her husband's death. The town became the centre of Bavarian court life, but was short lived when the town was ravaged by the plague

Bubonic plague

Plague is a deadly infectious disease that is caused by the enterobacteria Yersinia pestis, named after the French-Swiss bacteriologist Alexandre Yersin. Primarily carried by rodents and spread to humans via fleas, the disease is notorious throughout history, due to the unrivaled scale of death...

 in 1599. More suffering came as the town was sacked twice by the Swedes during the Thirty Years War. After the war only the town hall, castle and city walls were left standing. The town was soon flourishing again as the Dukes of Bavaria encouraged artisans to settle in the area with the establishment of guilds in neighbouring Ausberg. Due to overcrowding, Friedberg offered accommodation to those displaced artisans who could not find rooms in Ausberg, and were not yet Master Craftsmen.

The Pilgrimage church of "Our Lord's Rest", the Herrgottsruh, was built in 1753, is considered one of the most beautiful churches of the Bavarian rococo.

The town survived World War II virtually unscathed.

City Structure

The municipality reform in 1978 that divided the city of Friedberg in the following 14 districts:

Friedberg, consisting of:

• Friedberg-center
• Friedberg-South
• Friedberg-East
• Friedberg-West
• Friedberg-St. Afra

Also

• Bachem
• Derching with Dickelsmoor
• Haberskirch
• Harthausen
• Hügelshart
• Ottmaring

• Paar
• Rederzhausen
• Rinnenthal
• Rohrbach
• Stätzling
• Wiffertshausen
• Wulfertshausen

Neighboring communities

Adjacent to the city are Augsburg, Affing, Obergriesbach, Dasing, Adelzhausen, Eurasburg, Ried and Kissing .

Governance

The Town council is constituted by a non-party Mayor, as of 2011 Dr. Peter Bergmair, and thirty Aldermen.

The break down of votes in the 2008 elections was as follows:

• CSU (Christlich Soziale Union in Bayern) - 39.1%
• SPD (Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands Bayern) - 37.7%
• Grüne (Bundis 90/Die Grünen) - 7.9%
• Freie Wähler - 7.4%
• Unabhängige - 4.7%
• FDP (Freien Demokratischen Partei in Bayern) - 3.1%

Economy and infrastructure

The economic situation in Friedberg currently relies mainly on the retail trade as well as the furniture store Segmüller, which maintains its principal office and upholstered furniture factory in Friedberg.

Local transport links

• Autobahn A8 Stuttgart-Ulm-Augsburg-Munich
• Highway 2 (Romantic Road)
• Highway 300-Augsburg-Regensburg-Schrobenhausen Aichach

Public transport

• Friedberg is on the railway line from Augsburg to Ingolstadt (Valley Railway).
• Since 12 December 2010, the Tram line No' 6 of the Augsberg Transport Company runs from the Augsburg Main Station to the Augsberg textile district, Herrenbach and Hochzoll to Friedberg West.
• The bus route 200 connects the inner city (Friedberg East - South Friedberg - Friedberg station - Friedberg West) with both the Valley Railway and the tram line No' 6.
• In addition, many regional bus lines are run by the GCU Friedberger Stadtbegiet in the neighborhoods and the surrounding region.

Schools

• 2 Elementary schools
• One Special school
• 1 Middle School
• One High school(Konradin school)
• One Grammar school(Wernher von Braun Grammar School)
• A Technical secondary school
• A Vocational secondary school

Buildings

• Friedberg castle (built in 1257, 99% of the current building is from the 16th century)
• Town Hall (c. 1680), built by a disciple of Elias Holl
  Elias Holl
  Elias Holl was the most important architect of early German Baroque architecture.-Life:...
  
  
• Parish Church of St. Jacob (1871–1872)
• Pilgrimage Church "Our Lord's Rest" (1731–1753), a Bavarian rococo structure.
• Marian fountain on Marienplatz commemorating the Plague (1600)
• Church of St. Stephen, (1698)
• Church of St. Afra in the Field (1710). At this place it is said St Afra was martyred.
• Pilgrimage chapel Maria Alber (1686)
• Historical city walls (1409)
• Pallottine Church with a plaque for the pacifists and Pallottiner Father Franz Reinisch, who refused the oath to Hitler and was therefore murdered in 1942 in Brandenburg-Gorden

Regular events

• Friedberger time (also called Old Town Festival), a historical event in Swabia. Held every three years, next due date is 2013th.
• Skatertag (each on a Sunday, late May)
• Christmas market "Friedberger Advent"
• Friedberger folk and folk festival, beginning of year to mid-August at the Festival Square
• Friedberger music competition in the "Friedberger School of Music," sponsored by the Lions Club
• Open market sale Sunday, 4 times a year (March Judikamarkt, June Johannimarkt, September: Matthew market, November: Martin's Market) in the old Friedberger
• Soap Box Derby
• Friedberger Half Marathon in September, first performed in 2003

Sports

• The men's team of volleyball players of TSV Friedberg plays in the second German Volleyball League.
• The men's team handball players of the TSV Friedberg plays in the third Liga.
• Since 2009, the TSV Friedberg an extremely successful sports acrobatics group.
• On the outskirts of Friedberg is the Friedberger Stretch (Size: 450 x 430 m, surface water: about 18 ha) with water skiing, parking, large lawns, beach volleyball, children's beach, toilets, restaurant, kiosk and lifeguard station are available.
• In addition, there are two local football teams Friedberg: TSV Friedberg and Sportfreunde Friedberg.

Honorary citizen of the town of Friedberg

• 1860: Aries Caesar, Queen's county judge
• 1913: Kaspar Wieland, First Mayor and Member of Parliament
• 1916: Josef Probst, Royal. Parish priest and spiritual advice
• 1920: Charles focal spot, the district magistrate
• 1930: Robert Hartl, honorary mayor and district Fire Chief
• 1957: Karl Lindner, first Mayor and District Alderman
• 1972: Christian Wall Reiter, director of the Bavarian Radio
• 1991: Georg Fendt, Member of Parliament and 2 Mayor
• 2004: Albert Kling, a former first Mayor

Notable residents

• Afra of Augsburg († 304), Christian martyr (in the area of ​​the city, the birth was not actually in Friedberg).
• Balthasar Hubmaier (1485–1528), former Catholic priest, Waldshuter reformer and leading figure of the Baptist movement
• Ginther Anton (1655–1725), Catholic author and dean of sacred works.
• Anna Maria Peter (1670–1718), (not physical), grandmother of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
• Klocker, Karl (1748–1805), Benedictine monk and abbot of the monastery last Benediktbeuern
• Hans Segmüller, founder of the eponymous company facility.
• Anton Losinger (* 1957), Bishop
• Michael Fuchs Gamböck (b. 1965), editor and author
• Firat Arslan (born 1970), a German of Turkish origin boxer and former WBA world champion boxer in the cruiserweight division.

Town twinning

La Crosse, Wisconsin

La Crosse, Wisconsin

La Crosse is a city in and the county seat of La Crosse County, Wisconsin, United States. The city lies alongside the Mississippi River.The 2011 Census Bureau estimates the city had a population of 52,485...

 (USA) Völs am Schlern, South Tyrol

South Tyrol

South Tyrol , also known by its Italian name Alto Adige, is an autonomous province in northern Italy. It is one of the two autonomous provinces that make up the autonomous region of Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol. The province has an area of and a total population of more than 500,000 inhabitants...

 (Italy

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

) Friedberg, Styria (Austria

Austria

Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...

) Bressuire

Bressuire

Bressuire is a commune in the Deux-Sèvres department in France. The town is situated on an eminence overlooking the Dolo, a tributary of the Argenton.-Notable buildings:...

 (France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

) Chippenham

Chippenham

Chippenham may be:* Chippenham, Wiltshire* Chippenham * Chippenham, Cambridgeshire-See also:* Virginia State Route 150, also known as Chippenham Parkway, USA* Cippenham, Berkshire, UK...

 (United Kingdom

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

)

Sources

• Franz Schaffer, Horst Güttler: Sozialtopographie der Altstadt: die Bevölkerungsentwicklung bei Deutschen und Ausländern, eine Kartendokumentation über den Altstadtbereich von Friedberg, Bayern. Augsburg 1982.
• Karen Eva Noetzel: Friedberg im Nationalsozialismus: ein Stadtführer. Friedberg 2005.
• Karen Ostertag, Manfred Dilling: Stadt-Ansichten Friedberg. Text: Hubert Raab, Augsburg 1986.
• Regine Nägele: Die Friedberger Mozartin. Friedberg 2005.
• Sebastian Hiereth: Die Landgerichte Friedberg und Mering. Historischer Atlas von Bayern / Teil Schwaben, 1. München: Kommission für bayerische Landesgeschichte 1952.
• Wolfgang Wüst: Friedberg als bayerische Landstadt, in: Stadtbuch Friedberg, Bd. 1, hrsg. v. Stadt Friedberg, Friedberg/Bayern 1991, S. 192-211.

External links

• Friedberg city website (German)
• Friedberg online-marketplace (German)