1.
Aalen
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Aalen is a former Free Imperial City located in the eastern part of the German state of Baden-Württemberg, about 70 kilometres east of Stuttgart and 48 kilometres north of Ulm. It is the seat of the Ostalbkreis district and is its largest town and it is also the largest town in the Ostwürttemberg region. Since 1956, Aalen has had the status of Große Kreisstadt and it is noted for its many half-timbered houses constructed from the 16th century through the 18th century. With an area of 146.63 km2, Aalen is ranked 7th in Baden-Württemberg and 2nd within the Government Region of Stuttgart, with a population of about 66,000, Aalen is the 15th most-populated settlement in Baden-Württemberg. The west of Aalens territory is on the foreland of the eastern Swabian Jura, the south-west is part of the Albuch, the east is part of the Härtsfeld, these two both being parts of the Swabian Jura. The Kocher enters the territory from Oberkochen to the south, crosses the district of Unterkochen, then enters the town centre. The Aal is a river located only within the towns territory. Next, the Kocher crosses the district of Wasseralfingen, then leaves the town for Hüttlingen, rivers originating near Aalen are the Rems and the Jagst, both being tributaries of the Neckar, just like the Kocher. The elevation in the centre of the square is 430 metres relative to Normalhöhennull. The territorys lowest point is at the Lein river near Rodamsdörfle, as a result, the town advertises itself as a Geologists Mecca. Most parts of the territory are on the Opalinuston-Formation of the Aalenian subdivision of the Jurassic Period, on the Sandberg, the Schnaitberg and the Schradenberg hills, all in the west of Aalen, the Eisensandstein formation emerges to the surface. On the other hills of the city, sands, gravel, the historic centre of Aalen and the other areas in the Kocher valley are founded completely on holocenic floodplain loam and riverbed gravel that have filled in the valley. They are at last followed by the Trossingen Formation already belonging to the Late Triassic, until 1939 iron ore was mined on the Braunenberg hill. The maximum extent of the towns territory amounts to 18 kilometres in a dimension and 25 kilometres in an east-west dimension. The area is 14,662.8 hectares, which includes 42. 2%6,186.2 hectares agriculturally used area and 37. 7%5,534.9 hectares of forest. 11. 5%1,692.3 hectares are built up or vacant,6. 4%932.8 hectares is used by traffic infrastructure, sporting and recreation grounds and parks comprise 1%152.7 hectares, other areas 1. 1%163.9 hectares. The following municipalities border on Aalen, Aalens territory consists of the town centre and the municipalities merged from between 1938 and 1975. The town centre itself and the former municipalities consist of numerous villages, mostly separated by open ground from each other and having their own independent
2.
Ellwangen
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Ellwangen an der Jagst, officially Ellwangen, in common use simply Ellwangen is a town in the district of Ostalbkreis in the east of Baden-Württemberg in Germany. It is situated about 17 kilometres north of Aalen, Ellwangen is situated in the valley of the river Jagst, between the foothills of the Swabian Alb and Virngrund forest, the latter being part of the Swabian-Franconian Forest. The Jagst runs through Ellwangen from south to north, the town developed in the 7th century as an Alemanic settlement in the Virgunna forest next to the Franconian-Swabian border. In 764 the Frankish noble Hariolf, Bishop of Langres, founded a Benedictine monastery, Ellwangen Abbey, the monastery was mentioned in a document of Louis the Pious as Elehenuuwang in 814. It became a Reichsabtei in 817, from 870 to 873 the Byzantine Greek Apostle of the Slavs Saint Methodius was imprisoned in Ellwangen, after he had been arrested by Ermanrich, bishop of Passau. He was set free in 873 thanks to the intervention of Pope John VIII, the monastery was exempt from 1124 on, which means it was directly responsible to the pope. The abbots were granted Reichsfreiheit in 1215, the office of Vogt was first held by the counts of Oettingen, from 1370 on by the counts of Württemberg. In 1460 the abbey was converted into a house of secular canons, led by a prince-provost. Initially its territory included the districts of Ellwangen, Tannenberg and Kochenburg, the district of Rötlen was acquired in 1471, Wasseralfingen in 1545, and Heuchlingen in 1609. In 1588 and from 1611 to 1618 about 450 people in Ellwangen were killed in witch-hunts, after the German Mediatisation of 1802, Ellwangen became a part of the duchy of Württemberg. At first it was the government seat of Neuwürttemberg, the territories Württemberg had acquired by mediatisation, in 1803 the town became centre of a district, which in 1806 was included into the new Kingdom of Württemberg. In 1807 Ellwangen became seat of the Jagstkreis, until the district was merged into a unit in 1924. The king of Württemberg, who had acquired large areas with a predominantly Roman Catholic population, to achieve this, he founded in Ellwangen in 1812 an ordinary and a seminary, as well as a Roman Catholic theological faculty. The faculty was moved to Tübingen, where it became part of Eberhard Karls University. The seminary and the ordinary went in 1817 to Rottenburg am Neckar, in April 1945, US Army troops occupied Ellwangen and until 1946, stationed various Army units at the kaserne — the former German Tank School. From 1946 the International Refugee Organisation used the kaserne as a displaced persons camp for 3,000 Ukrainian refugees until 1951, in 1951, the US Army — the combat engineer battalion and medical battalion of the 28th Infantry Division again took over the facility. In September 1955 the Americans returned the kaserne to the German government, sights of the city are the medieval town centre with its churches, notably Ellwangen Basilica. Also well known are the Baroque pilgrimage church, Schönenberg, and the castle, both on hills near to the city
3.
Heubach
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Heubach is a town in the Ostalbkreis district, in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is located 10 km east of Schwäbisch Gmünd, and 13 km southwest of Aalen, the town finds itself at the edge of the Rems River Valley and at the base of the Swabian Alps. Heubach is located in the Swabian region of Germany, residents speak the Swabian German dialect. The town is bordered to the north by Böbingen an der Rems and Mögglingen, to the east Essingen, the south by Bartholomä, Heubach was first mentioned in 1234 in association with knight Hainricus de Hôbach. Rosenstein Castle which is located on Rosenstein mountain was first mentioned in 1282, at the end of the 13th century, Heubach and Rosenstein came into possession of the Counts of Oettingen, before it fell to the Counts of Württemberg from 1358 onwards. Subsequent to the victory of Emperor Charles IV over Eberhard II, Count of Würtemberg, in 1360 Heubach, however it was transferred back to Württemberg in 1377. In 1413 Heubach was enfeoffed to the Barons of Woellwarth fiefdom, georg von Woellwarth left the spur castle on Rosenstein mountain in 1524 and built a castle in Heubach. In 1579 Duke Ludwig von Wuerttemberg purchased Heubach and Rosenstein and chartered Heubach by granting town privileges, the town hall was built in 1581. On April 25,1807 Oberamt Heubach was merged with Oberamt Gmünd, with the municipal reform of 1938 Oberamt Gmünd was transformed into Landkreis Schwäbisch Gmünd. In the course of the reform of 1973, Heubach now belongs to the Ostalbkreis district. Above the town of Heubach, the remains of Rosenstein Castle are still visible, the castle ruin on top of the Rosenstein mountain can be considered Heubachs landmark and is a popular tourist spot due to its impressive views over the region. On Glasenberg there is a tower of reinforced concrete with an observation deck that also gives nice views over the area. Heubach is located on the edge of the Swabian Alb scenic drive. Since 1974 there is an undergarment museum that was set up in cooperation with the companies Triumph and Susa-Werke GmbH, at Heubachs police station there is a Police Museum, which originated from a private collection of a police officer. There, items from the police are displayed that date back to 1853. The museum opens by appointment only, maier was in office from 1986 to 2011. Brütting started his time on January 1,2012. Heubach is the seat of the Rosenstein municipal association, the municipalities of Bartholomä, Böbingen on the Rems, Heuchlingen, and Mögglingen are members
4.
Neresheim
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Neresheim is a town in the Ostalbkreis district, in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is situated 16 kilometres northeast of Heidenheim, and 20 kilometres southeast of Aalen and its the home of the famous Neresheim Abbey, which still hosts monks, was Reichsfrei until the German Mediatisation and was built by Balthasar Neumann. Neresheim is listed on the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, France, Oscar F. Mayer, founder of the Oscar Mayer meat production company, was born in Kösingen, today a borough of Neresheim. Andreas Zeyer, retired German football player Michael Zeyer, retired German football player Karl Bonhoeffer, psychiatrist and neurologist, father of theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer
5.
Bavaria
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Bavaria is a free state and one of 16 federal states of Germany. Located in the German southeast with an area of 70,548 square kilometres and its territory comprises roughly a fifth of the total land area of Germany, and, with 12.9 million inhabitants, it is Germanys second most populous state. Munich, Bavarias capital and largest city, is the third largest city in Germany, the Duchy of Bavaria dates back to the year 555. In the 17th century CE, the Duke of Bavaria became a Prince-elector of the Holy Roman Empire, the Kingdom of Bavaria existed from 1806 to 1918, when Bavaria became a republic. In 1946, the Free State of Bavaria re-organised itself on democratic lines after the Second World War, Bavaria has a unique culture, largely because of the states Catholic majority and conservative traditions. Bavarians have traditionally been proud of their culture, which includes such as Oktoberfest. The state also has the second largest economy among the German states by GDP figures, modern Bavaria also includes parts of the historical regions of Franconia, Upper Palatinate and Swabia. The Bavarians emerged in a north of the Alps, previously inhabited by Celts. The Bavarians spoke Old High German but, unlike other Germanic groups, rather, they seem to have coalesced out of other groups left behind by Roman withdrawal late in the 5th century. These peoples may have included the Celtic Boii, some remaining Romans, Marcomanni, Allemanni, Quadi, Thuringians, Goths, Scirians, Rugians, the name Bavarian means Men of Baia which may indicate Bohemia, the homeland of the Celtic Boii and later of the Marcomanni. They first appear in written sources circa 520, a 17th century Jewish chronicler David Solomon Ganz, citing Cyriacus Spangenberg, claimed that the diocese was named after an ancient Bohemian king, Boiia, in the 14th century BCE. From about 554 to 788, the house of Agilolfing ruled the Duchy of Bavaria and their daughter, Theodelinde, became Queen of the Lombards in northern Italy and Garibald was forced to flee to her when he fell out with his Frankish overlords. Garibalds successor, Tassilo I, tried unsuccessfully to hold the frontier against the expansion of Slavs. Tassilos son Garibald II seems to have achieved a balance of power between 610 and 616, after Garibald II little is known of the Bavarians until Duke Theodo I, whose reign may have begun as early as 680. From 696 onwards he invited churchmen from the west to organize churches and his son, Theudebert, led a decisive Bavarian campaign to intervene in a succession dispute in the Lombard Kingdom in 714, and married his sister Guntrud to the Lombard King Liutprand. At Theodos death the duchy was divided among his sons, at Hugberts death the duchy passed to a distant relative named Odilo, from neighbouring Alemannia. He was defeated near Augsburg in 743 but continued to rule until his death in 748, saint Boniface completed the peoples conversion to Christianity in the early 8th century. Bavaria was in ways affected by the Protestant Reformation in the 16th century
6.
Germany
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Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a federal parliamentary republic in central-western Europe. It includes 16 constituent states, covers an area of 357,021 square kilometres, with about 82 million inhabitants, Germany is the most populous member state of the European Union. After the United States, it is the second most popular destination in the world. Germanys capital and largest metropolis is Berlin, while its largest conurbation is the Ruhr, other major cities include Hamburg, Munich, Cologne, Frankfurt, Stuttgart, Düsseldorf and Leipzig. Various Germanic tribes have inhabited the northern parts of modern Germany since classical antiquity, a region named Germania was documented before 100 AD. During the Migration Period the Germanic tribes expanded southward, beginning in the 10th century, German territories formed a central part of the Holy Roman Empire. During the 16th century, northern German regions became the centre of the Protestant Reformation, in 1871, Germany became a nation state when most of the German states unified into the Prussian-dominated German Empire. After World War I and the German Revolution of 1918–1919, the Empire was replaced by the parliamentary Weimar Republic, the establishment of the national socialist dictatorship in 1933 led to World War II and the Holocaust. After a period of Allied occupation, two German states were founded, the Federal Republic of Germany and the German Democratic Republic, in 1990, the country was reunified. In the 21st century, Germany is a power and has the worlds fourth-largest economy by nominal GDP. As a global leader in industrial and technological sectors, it is both the worlds third-largest exporter and importer of goods. Germany is a country with a very high standard of living sustained by a skilled. It upholds a social security and universal health system, environmental protection. Germany was a member of the European Economic Community in 1957. It is part of the Schengen Area, and became a co-founder of the Eurozone in 1999, Germany is a member of the United Nations, NATO, the G8, the G20, and the OECD. The national military expenditure is the 9th highest in the world, the English word Germany derives from the Latin Germania, which came into use after Julius Caesar adopted it for the peoples east of the Rhine. This in turn descends from Proto-Germanic *þiudiskaz popular, derived from *þeudō, descended from Proto-Indo-European *tewtéh₂- people, the discovery of the Mauer 1 mandible shows that ancient humans were present in Germany at least 600,000 years ago. The oldest complete hunting weapons found anywhere in the world were discovered in a mine in Schöningen where three 380, 000-year-old wooden javelins were unearthed
7.
States of Germany
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Germany is a federal republic consisting of sixteen federal states. Since todays Germany was formed from a collection of several states, it has a federal constitution. The remaining 13 states are called Flächenländer, the creation of the Federal Republic of Germany in 1949 was through the unification of the western states created in the aftermath of World War II. West Berlin, while not part of the Federal Republic, was largely integrated and considered as a de facto state. In 1952, following a referendum, Baden, Württemberg-Baden, in 1957, the Saar Protectorate rejoined the Federal Republic as the Saarland. Federalism is one of the constitutional principles of Germany. After 1945, new states were constituted in all four zones of occupation, in 1949, the states in the three western zones formed the Federal Republic of Germany. This is in contrast to the development in Austria, where the Bund was constituted first. The use of the term Länder dates back to the Weimar Constitution of 1919, before this time, the constituent states of the German Empire were called Staaten. Today, it is common to use the term Bundesland. However, this term is not used officially, neither by the constitution of 1919 nor by the Basic Law of 1949, three Länder call themselves Freistaaten, Bavaria, Saxony, and Thuringia. He summarizes the arguments for boundary reform in Germany. The German system of dual federalism requires strong Länder that have the administrative and fiscal capacity to implement legislation, too many Länder also make coordination among them and with the federation more complicated. But several proposals have failed so far, territorial reform remains a topic in German politics. Federalism has a tradition in German history. The Holy Roman Empire comprised many petty states numbering more than 300 around 1796, the number of territories was greatly reduced during the Napoleonic Wars. After the Congress of Vienna,39 states formed the German Confederation, the new German Empire included 25 states and the imperial territory of Alsace-Lorraine. The empire was dominated by Prussia, which controlled 65% of the territory, after the territorial losses of the Treaty of Versailles, the remaining states continued as republics of a new German federation
8.
Tannhausen
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Tannhausen is a municipality in the German state of Baden-Württemberg, in Ostalbkreis district. Next to the village of Tannhausen, six more communities belong to the municipality, Riepach, Bleichroden, Sederndorf, Hagenbucherhof, Bergheim. Tannhausen was first documented in 1100, at this time the local Nobility, the Lords of Thannhausen had already resided in their castle and are still present there today. It is assumed that the famous mediaeval minnesinger and poet Tannhäuser was an offspring of this family, next to the local Nobilility, Tannhausen had also several clerical and worldly dignitaries, which had the use of some authority in the village. During German mediatisation in 1806, Tannhausen belonged to the State of Bavaria, however, Tannhausen is not only a living community, but it also offers 300 local jobs. Even though, approximately 500 people are having to go to work outside of the village, regardless, Agriculture is still playing a big part. Tannhausen has one retirement home, offering living accommodations and geriatric care for 130 elderly people, the municipality is headquarters of the administrative association of Tannhausen, Stödtlen, and Unterschneidheim. Tannhausen has only one primary school, all of the other schools used by children of the locality are located in Unterschneidheim, Bopfingen or Ellwangen
