Friedrichshafen - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

This article is about a German
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...

town. For the Danish
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...

town, see Frederikshavn
Frederikshavn
This article is about a Danish town. For the German town, see Friedrichshafen, and for the Finnish town, see Fredrikshamn .Frederikshavn is a Danish town in Frederikshavn municipality, Region Nordjylland on the northeast coast of the Jutland peninsula in northern Denmark. Its name translates to...

, and for the Finnish
Finland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...

town, see Fredrikshamn (Finnish: Hamina).
Friedrichshafen is a university city on the northern side of Lake Constance

Lake Constance

Lake Constance is a lake on the Rhine at the northern foot of the Alps, and consists of three bodies of water: the Obersee , the Untersee , and a connecting stretch of the Rhine, called the Seerhein.The lake is situated in Germany, Switzerland and Austria near the Alps...

(the Bodensee) in Southern Germany

Southern Germany

The term Southern Germany is used to describe a region in the south of Germany. There is no specific boundary to the region, but it usually includes all of Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg, and the southern part of Hesse...

, near the borders with Switzerland

Switzerland

Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....

and 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...

.
It is the district capital (Kreisstadt) of the Bodensee district (Landeskreis) in the federal state

States of Germany

Germany is made up of sixteen which are partly sovereign constituent states of the Federal Republic of Germany. Land literally translates as "country", and constitutionally speaking, they are constituent countries...

(Bundesland) of Baden-Württemberg

Baden-Württemberg

Baden-Württemberg is one of the 16 states of Germany. Baden-Württemberg is in the southwestern part of the country to the east of the Upper Rhine, and is the third largest in both area and population of Germany's sixteen states, with an area of and 10.7 million inhabitants...

. Friedrichshafen has a population of c. 58,000.

19th century

Friedrichshafen was established in 1811 as part of the new Kingdom of Württemberg

Kingdom of Württemberg

The Kingdom of Württemberg was a state that existed from 1806 to 1918, located in present-day Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It was a continuation of the Duchy of Württemberg, which came into existence in 1495...

, an ally of 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...

during the Napoleonic Wars

Napoleonic Wars

The Napoleonic Wars were a series of wars declared against Napoleon's French Empire by opposing coalitions that ran from 1803 to 1815. As a continuation of the wars sparked by the French Revolution of 1789, they revolutionised European armies and played out on an unprecedented scale, mainly due to...

. It was named for King Frederick I of Württemberg

Frederick I of Württemberg

Frederick I William Charles of Württemberg was the first King of Württemberg. He was known for his size: at and about , he was in contrast to Napoleon, who recognized him as King of Württemberg.-Biography:...

, who privileged it as a free port and transshipment point for the kingdom's Swiss

Switzerland

trade. Friedrichshafen was created from the former city of Buchhorn, whose coat of arms it adopted. The new city also incorporated the former village of Hofen

Hofen

Hofen may mean:* Hofen, Switzerland, a municipality in the Canton of Schaffhausen* Höfen, Tyrol, in Austria* Hofen, a former community incorporated into modern Friedrichshafen, Germany...

, whose monastery was refurbished to serve as the summer residence of the Württemberger kings.

King William I continued improving the city, including the purchase of the steamship Wilhelm. Ministers and senior officials built villas around the royal castle, and many foreign tourists visited the city as well, including Tsar Alexander II of Russia

Alexander II of Russia

Alexander II , also known as Alexander the Liberator was the Emperor of the Russian Empire from 3 March 1855 until his assassination in 1881...

. The first track laid by the Royal Württemberg State Railways

Royal Württemberg State Railways

The Royal Württemberg State Railways were the state railways of the Kingdom of Württemberg between 1843 and 1920...

connected the port to Ravensburg

Ravensburg

Ravensburg is a town in Upper Swabia in Southern Germany, capital of the district of Ravensburg, Baden-Württemberg.Ravensburg was first mentioned in 1088. In the Middle Ages, it was an Imperial Free City and an important trading centre...

in 1847. Heilbronn

Heilbronn

Heilbronn is a city in northern Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is completely surrounded by Heilbronn County and with approximately 123.000 residents, it is the sixth-largest city in the state....

was connected in 1850, and a ferry to Romanshorn

Romanshorn

Romanshorn is a municipality in the district of Arbon in the canton of Thurgau in Switzerland.-History:Romanshorn was probably settled in the 7th Century, and is first mentioned in 779 as Rumanishorn in a land grant from Waldrata to the Abbey of St. Gall. During the Late Middle Ages and until...

, Switzerland, began operating in 1869. Despite their previous opposition to Prussia

Kingdom of Prussia

The Kingdom of Prussia was a German kingdom from 1701 to 1918. Until the defeat of Germany in World War I, it comprised almost two-thirds of the area of the German Empire...

, under the federal structure of the German Empire

German Empire

The German Empire refers to Germany during the "Second Reich" period from the unification of Germany and proclamation of Wilhelm I as German Emperor on 18 January 1871, to 1918, when it became a federal republic after defeat in World War I and the abdication of the Emperor, Wilhelm II.The German...

, Württemberg and Friedrichshafen continued to enjoy some special privileges following their incorporation into Germany following the Franco-Prussian War

Franco-Prussian War

The Franco-Prussian War or Franco-German War, often referred to in France as the 1870 War was a conflict between the Second French Empire and the Kingdom of Prussia. Prussia was aided by the North German Confederation, of which it was a member, and the South German states of Baden, Württemberg and...

Aviation

Ferdinand von Zeppelin

Ferdinand Adolf Heinrich August Graf von Zeppelin was a German general and later aircraft manufacturer. He founded the Zeppelin Airship company...

established his famous dirigible factory at the end of the 19th century. The 128m-long LZ1 rose from its mooring on July 2, 1900. Other aviation companies, including Maybach

Maybach

Maybach-Motorenbau GmbH is a German luxury car manufacturer. It was founded in 1909 by Wilhelm Maybach and his son. The company was originally a subsidiary of Luftschiffbau Zeppelin GmbH and was itself known as Luftfahrzeug-Motorenbau GmbH until 1912.Today, the ultra-luxury car brand is owned by...

, also arose in Friedrichshafen to help service the industry, which received a major impetus from the First World War. Following the Treaty of Versailles

Treaty of Versailles

The Treaty of Versailles was one of the peace treaties at the end of World War I. It ended the state of war between Germany and the Allied Powers. It was signed on 28 June 1919, exactly five years after the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. The other Central Powers on the German side of...

, the Kingdom of Württemberg was dissolved but the deposed royal family continued in their possession of their castle in Friedrichshafen, despite a workers' revolution there in November, 1918.

In the aftermath of the war, Maybach and many other aviation companies turned to automobile construction, while Claudius Dornier

Claudius Dornier

Claude Honoré Desiré Dornier born in Kempten im Allgäu was a German airplane builder and founder of Dornier GmbH...

purchased Theodor Kober

Theodor Kober

Theodore Kober was a twentieth century German aviation engineer who contributed to the building of the first Zeppelin. As an engineer Kober had worked for a balloon manufacturer and in the 1890s Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin enlisted him to produce designs for his airship concept. After several...

's failed Flugzeugbau Friedrichshafen

Flugzeugbau Friedrichshafen

Flugzeugbau Friedrichshafen GmbH was a German aircraft manufacturing company. It was founded in 1912 in Friedrichshafen, Germany by Theodor Kober who had previously worked for the Zeppelin company. The town, which was located by the Bodensee, was already famous in aviation circles as the place...

and established Dornier Flugzeugwerke

Dornier Flugzeugwerke

Dornier Flugzeugwerke was a German aircraft manufacturer founded in Friedrichshafen in 1914 by Claudius Dornier. Over the course of its long lifespan, the company produced many notable designs for both the civil and military markets.-History:...

. Because of the provisions of the Versailles treaty, many of the planes were initially produced in Italy

Kingdom of Italy (1861–1946)

The Kingdom of Italy was a state forged in 1861 by the unification of Italy under the influence of the Kingdom of Sardinia, which was its legal predecessor state...

, Spain

Spain under the Restoration

The Restoration was the name given to the period that began on December 29, 1874 after the First Spanish Republic ended with the restoration of Alfonso XII to the throne after a coup d'état by Martinez Campos, and ended on April 14, 1931 with the proclamation of the Second Spanish Republic.After...

, the Netherlands

Netherlands

The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...

, or Japan

Empire of Japan

The Empire of Japan is the name of the state of Japan that existed from the Meiji Restoration on 3 January 1868 to the enactment of the post-World War II Constitution of...

, but resumed work at its Friedrichshafen and other German factories following the rise of the Nazi regime

Nazi Germany

Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...

. The 1937 Hindenburg disaster

Hindenburg disaster

The Hindenburg disaster took place on Thursday, May 6, 1937, as the German passenger airship LZ 129 Hindenburg caught fire and was destroyed during its attempt to dock with its mooring mast at the Lakehurst Naval Air Station, which is located adjacent to the borough of Lakehurst, New Jersey...

and a subsequent embargo of American helium to Germany, however, effectively ended the production of German dirigibles.

World War II

Friedrichshafen served the Nazis as a resort for workers. The presence of Zeppelin, Maybach, Dornier, and Zahnradfabrik

ZF Friedrichshafen

ZF Friedrichshafen AG, also known as ZF Group, and commonly abbreviated to ZF, is a German public company headquartered in Friedrichshafen, in the south-west German region of Baden-Württemberg....

also made it an important industrial center for Germany

Nazi Germany

during World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

. Between 1942 and 1945, these factories employed hundreds of concentration camp

Nazi concentration camps

Nazi Germany maintained concentration camps throughout the territories it controlled. The first Nazi concentration camps set up in Germany were greatly expanded after the Reichstag fire of 1933, and were intended to hold political prisoners and opponents of the regime...

prisoners from Dachau and Dora-Mittelbau

Mittelbau-Dora

Mittelbau-Dora was a Nazi Germany labour camp that provided workers for the Mittelwerk V-2 rocket factory in the Kohnstein, situated near Nordhausen, Germany....

. They were housed first at Zeppelin's hangar and then, following its destruction during a raid, the V2 factory Raderach. The prisoners were also used to dig underground tunnels near Friedrichshafen to protect production sites from the repeated bombing.

Between June 1943 and February 1945, the city was the site for eleven Allied bombing attacks. The most serious took place on April 28, 1944, and destroyed most of the old town center. Approximately two-thirds of the city was destroyed over the course of the war.

Modern Germany

Following World War II, Friedrichshafen was part of the French occupation zone before its incorporation into Baden-Württemberg

Baden-Württemberg

, West Germany

West Germany

West Germany is the common English, but not official, name for the Federal Republic of Germany or FRG in the period between its creation in May 1949 to German reunification on 3 October 1990....

. The German aeronautics industry was again banned for many years after the war, and companies again failed or shifted production. The city's principal recovery dates to its establishment as the administrative seat of the Bodenseekreis

Bodenseekreis

Bodenseekreis is a district in the south-east of Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Neighboring districts are Konstanz, Sigmaringen, Ravensburg and Lindau...

district of, West Germany

West Germany

West Germany is the common English, but not official, name for the Federal Republic of Germany or FRG in the period between its creation in May 1949 to German reunification on 3 October 1990....

, in 1973.

The last French troops withdrew from their "Durand de Villers" Quarter (Quartier Durand de Villers) in 1992.

Economy

Airship construction in the first third of the 20th century attracted considerable industry and contributed significantly to Friedrichshafen's relative prosperity. Friedrichshafen is best known for having been home to the Zeppelin

Zeppelin

A Zeppelin is a type of rigid airship pioneered by the German Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin in the early 20th century. It was based on designs he had outlined in 1874 and detailed in 1893. His plans were reviewed by committee in 1894 and patented in the United States on 14 March 1899...

Airship

An airship or dirigible is a type of aerostat or "lighter-than-air aircraft" that can be steered and propelled through the air using rudders and propellers or other thrust mechanisms...

Company, the Dornier Flugzeugwerke
Dornier Flugzeugwerke
Dornier Flugzeugwerke was a German aircraft manufacturer founded in Friedrichshafen in 1914 by Claudius Dornier. Over the course of its long lifespan, the company produced many notable designs for both the civil and military markets.-History:...

, Tognum

Tognum

Tognum AG is the name of a German industrial concern, formed when private equity fund EQT IV acquired several divisions of DaimlerChrysler. All units are to assume the corporate brand, but will otherwise operate independently....

AG and its commercial internal combustion engine manufacturing subsidiary - MTU Friedrichshafen

MTU Friedrichshafen

MTU Friedrichshafen GmbH is a manufacturer of commercial internal combustion engines founded by Wilhelm Maybach and his son Karl Maybach in 1909...

Gmbh as well as ZF Friedrichshafen AG, a manufacturer of transmission systems. Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin

Ferdinand von Zeppelin

Ferdinand Adolf Heinrich August Graf von Zeppelin was a German general and later aircraft manufacturer. He founded the Zeppelin Airship company...

, who was born in Konstanz

Konstanz

Konstanz is a university city with approximately 80,000 inhabitants located at the western end of Lake Constance in the south-west corner of Germany, bordering Switzerland. The city houses the University of Konstanz.-Location:...

(Constance), originally had his airships built in a floating airship hangar

Airship hangar

Airships are sheltered in airship hangars during construction and sometimes also for regular operation, particularly at bad weather conditions. Rigid airships always needed to be based in airship hangars because weathering was a serious risk.- History :...

on the lake which could be aligned with the wind to support the difficult starting procedure. There is a large Zeppelin Museum

Zeppelin Museum Friedrichshafen

The Zeppelin Museum in Friedrichshafen at Lake Constance chronicles the history of the Zeppelin airships in the city where they were born. The museum, housed inside the former Hafenbahnhof , opened in 1996....

sited near the lake shore. In recent years a number of small Zeppelin airships have been constructed using modern technology (Zeppelin NT
Zeppelin NT
The Zeppelin NT is a class of airships being manufactured since the 1990s by the German company Zeppelin Luftschifftechnik GmbH in Friedrichshafen. The initial model is the NT07...

) and these can be booked for sightseeing tours. There is also a Dornier Museum, located at the Friedrichshafen airport, which displays restored Dornier aircraft and technology.

Apart from industry and tourism, various regular commercial exhibitions, such as Aero (aviation

Aviation

Aviation is the design, development, production, operation, and use of aircraft, especially heavier-than-air aircraft. Aviation is derived from avis, the Latin word for bird.-History:...

technology), InterBoot (water sports) and EuroBike are important economical factors. Furthermore, the Graf-Zeppelin-Haus cultural centre has become a popular location for congresses, conferences, and other events.

Education

Zeppelin University

Zeppelin University is a highly-selective, top-ranked, privately-funded research university in Friedrichshafen, Germany. The university was founded in 2003.- Overview :...

, a private research university, is the only private university in the state of Baden-Württemberg to have received the rare right to confer PhD titles to its students. Only founded in 2003, its Cultural & Communication Management programme has been already ranked the best university programme in that field in German speaking countries, according to the prestigious CHE ranking. The programme in Public Management & Governance was ranked 4th while the programme in Corporate Management & Economics was ranked 6th among all examined German, Austrian, Swiss and Dutch universities (figures from 2011). Zeppelin University holds the title of the 'most committed' university in Germany with regard to civil society issues (Stifterverband für die deutsche Wissenschaft/Stiftung Mercator 2011).

Transport

The town enjoys regular-interval train services to Lindau

Lindau

Lindau is a Bavarian town and an island on the eastern side of Lake Constance, the Bodensee. It is the capital of the Landkreis or rural district of Lindau. The historic city of Lindau is located on an island which is connected with the mainland by bridge and railway.- History :The name Lindau was...

and Ulm

Ulm

Ulm is a city in the federal German state of Baden-Württemberg, situated on the River Danube. The city, whose population is estimated at 120,000 , forms an urban district of its own and is the administrative seat of the Alb-Donau district. Ulm, founded around 850, is rich in history and...

, as well as to Basel

Basel

Basel or Basle In the national languages of Switzerland the city is also known as Bâle , Basilea and Basilea is Switzerland's third most populous city with about 166,000 inhabitants. Located where the Swiss, French and German borders meet, Basel also has suburbs in France and Germany...

in Switzerland.

A car ferry

Ferry

A ferry is a form of transportation, usually a boat, but sometimes a ship, used to carry primarily passengers, and sometimes vehicles and cargo as well, across a body of water. Most ferries operate on regular, frequent, return services...

service links Friedrichshafen to Romanshorn

Romanshorn

in Switzerland, and various other towns around the lake can also be reached by ferry. Since 2005 a fast ship connection has been in service between Friedrichshafen and Konstanz.

Friedrichshafen has an expanding local airport which offers, amongst other services, daily international connections provided by low-cost airlines Condor Flugdienst and Germanwings

Germanwings

Germanwings GmbH is a low-cost airline based in Cologne, Germany, and is wholly owned by Lufthansa. Cologne Bonn Airport, Stuttgart Airport and Berlin-Schönefeld Airport are the important hubs in the airline's network of approximately 70 destinations...

. It also acts as the hub for the airline carrier InterSky

InterSky

Intersky Luftfahrt GmbH is an airline headquartered in Bregenz, Austria, operating scheduled services from its base at Friedrichshafen Airport, Germany, to major cities in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, as well as seasonal holiday flights to the Mediterranean.- History :Intersky was established...

, which is a factor that has contributed to recent growth in the town.

The nearest big cities are Konstanz

Konstanz

, St. Gallen

St. Gallen

St. Gallen is the capital of the canton of St. Gallen in Switzerland. It evolved from the hermitage of Saint Gall, founded in the 7th century. Today, it is a large urban agglomeration and represents the center of eastern Switzerland. The town mainly relies on the service sector for its economic...

, Ravensburg

Ravensburg

, Ulm

Ulm

, Munich

Munich

Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...

, Zurich

Zürich

Zurich is the largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is located in central Switzerland at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich...

, and Bregenz

Bregenz

-Culture:The annual summer music festival Bregenzer Festspiele is a world-famous festival which takes place on and around a stage on Lake Constance, where a different opera is performed every second year.-Sport:* A1 Bregenz HB is a handball team....

Twin towns – Sister cities

Friedrichshafen is twinned

Town twinning

Twin towns and sister cities are two of many terms used to describe the cooperative agreements between towns, cities, and even counties in geographically and politically distinct areas to promote cultural and commercial ties.- Terminology :...

with the following cities:

Delitzsch Delitzsch Delitzsch is a large district and also an important regional center in Saxony. With over 26,300 inhabitants Delitzsch is the largest city in the northern district of Saxony... , Germany Peoria Peoria, Illinois Peoria is the largest city on the Illinois River and the county seat of Peoria County, Illinois, in the United States. It is named after the Peoria tribe. As of the 2010 census, the city was the seventh-most populated in Illinois, with a population of 115,007, and is the third-most populated... , USA Polatsk Polatsk Polotsk , is a historical city in Belarus, situated on the Dvina river. It is the center of Polotsk district in Vitsebsk Voblast. Its population is more than 80,000 people... , Belarus Belarus Belarus , officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe, bordered clockwise by Russia to the northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Its capital is Minsk; other major cities include Brest, Grodno , Gomel ,...	Saint-Dié-des-Vosges Saint-Dié-des-Vosges Saint-Dié-des-Vosges, commonly referred to as Saint-Dié, is a commune in the Vosges department in Lorraine in northeastern France.It is a sub-prefecture of the department.-Geography:... , 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... Sarajevo Sarajevo Sarajevo \|Bosnia]], surrounded by the Dinaric Alps and situated along the Miljacka River in the heart of Southeastern Europe and the Balkans.... , Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina , sometimes called Bosnia-Herzegovina or simply Bosnia, is a country in Southern Europe, on the Balkan Peninsula. Bordered by Croatia to the north, west and south, Serbia to the east, and Montenegro to the southeast, Bosnia and Herzegovina is almost landlocked, except for the...

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19th century

Aviation

World War II

Modern Germany

Economy

Education

Transport

Twin towns – Sister cities

See also

External links