| Main | Births etc |
|---|
Sigmaringen | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Country | Germany |
| State | Baden-Württemberg |
| Admin. region | Tübingen |
| District | Sigmaringen |
| Subdivisions | 6 |
| Government | |
| • Mayor | Thomas Schärer |
| Area | |
• Total |
92.85 km2 (35.85 sq mi) |
Sigmaringen is a town in southern Germany, in the state of Baden-Württemberg. Situated on the upper Danube, it is the capital of the Sigmaringen District.
Geography[]
Sigmaringen lies in the Danube valley, surrounded by wooded hills in the south of the Swabian Alb around 40 km away from the Lake of Constance.
The surrounding towns are on the north, Winterlingen (in the district of Zollernalb) and Veringenstadt, on the east, Bingen, Sigmaringendorf, and Scheer, on the south, Mengen, Krauchenwies, Inzigkofen, and Meßkirch, and on the west, Leibertingen, Beuron, and Stetten am kalten Markt. The city is made up from the following districts: Sigmaringen (inner-city), Gutenstein, Jungnau, Laiz, Oberschmeien and Unterschmeien.
History[]
Sigmaringen was first documented in 1077 and was in the principality of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen until 1850, after which it became a province of Prussia's Province of Hohenzollern.
Vichy French enclave (1944-1945)[]
The Castle of Sigmaringen - Photograph: Roland Nonnenmacher, D-72516 Scheer
On September 7, 1944, following the Allied invasion of France, Philippe Pétain and members of the Vichy government cabinet were relocated to Germany. A city-state ruled by the government in exile headed by Fernand de Brinon, was established at Sigmaringen. There were three embassies in the city-state, all of Vichy-France's allies: Germany, Italy and Japan.
Pétain returned to France in April 1945. French writers Céline, Lucien Rebatet and Roland Gaucher, fearing for their lives because of their political and anti-Semitic writings, fled along with the Vichy government to Sigmaringen. Céline's novel D'un château l'autre (English: Castle to Castle) describes the fall of Sigmaringen. The city was taken by the French army on April 22, 1945.
Religions[]
The following religions are present in Sigmaringen:
Roman Catholic Church
Evangelische Landeskirche in Württemberg
Evangelische Militärkirchengemeinde
Freie Christengemeinde
Jehovah's Witnesses
New Apostolic Church
Infrastructure[]
Traffic and public transportation
Three railroads currently meet in Sigmaringen, the Danube Valley Railway leading from Donaueschingen to Ulm, the Zollern Valley Railway from Tübingen to Aulendorf and the line operated by the Hohenzollerische Landesbahn from Sigmaringen to Hechingen.
Public transport is organized by Verkehrsverbund Neckar-Alb-Donau (NALDO).
Notable residents[]
Sigmaringen was the birthplace of Saint Fidelis of Sigmaringen, a Roman Catholic martyr of the Counter-Reformation in Switzerland and Ferdinand of Romania, King of Romania. It was one of the residences of deceased Prince Friedrich Wilhelm of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, the late representative of the house, who was the first in the line of succession to the throne of Romania, by Salic law. Frederick Miller, founder of the Miller Brewing Company, was living in Sigmaringen during the start of his brewing career.
References[]
- ^ "Bevölkerung und Erwerbstätigkeit" (in German). Statistisches Landesamt Baden-Württemberg. 31 December 2009. http://www.statistik-bw.de/Veroeffentl/Statistische_Berichte/3126_10001.pdf.
External links[]
| |||||||||||||||||||
Template:Cities and towns in Sigmaringen (district)
| This page uses content from the English language Wikipedia. The original content was at Sigmaringen. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with this Familypedia wiki, the content of Wikipedia is available under the Creative Commons License. |