Lörrach

Template:Foreignchar Template:Infobox Town DE Lörrach is a city in south-west Germany, in the valley of the Wiese, close to the French and the Swiss border. It is the capital of the district Lörrach in Baden-Württemberg. The biggest industry is the chocolate factory Milka. The city had a population of 10,794 in 1905, and now 47,169 (2006).

Nearby is the castle of Rötteln on the Wiesental, whose lords became the counts of Hachberg and a residence of the margraves of Baden; this was destroyed by the troops of Louis XIV in 1678, but was rebuilt in 1867. Lörrach received market rights in 1403, but did not obtain the privileges of a city until 1682.

After the Napoleonic epoch the town was included in the Grand Duchy of Baden. On 21 September 1848 Gustav Struve made an attempt to start a revolutionary uprising in Lörrach as part of the Revolutions of 1848-49. It failed, and Struve was caught and imprisoned.

Lörrach is the hometown of Ottmar Hitzfeld, one of the most successful and most popular football managers in Germany.

Geography

Surrounding areas of Lörrach

Lörrach is located in the most southern part of the Rhine rift. The depression is created by tectonic movements and the area has a high earthquake risk. Several times at the year Lörrach is afflicted by slight and medial earthquakes.

The city is located in a valley of the Quaternary period. Lörrach is double-sided surrounded by slopes. The slopes create the southern part of the Wiesental. The river of the same name (Wiese) flows through the valley.

Geographical locations of the subdistrict Lörrach:

• Elevation of the deepest place: 272 m (In the valley Wiesental at the border to Switzerland)
• Elevation of the highest place: 570 m (In the forest of Rötteln)

The extension of the urban area from south to north is 6.0 km and from east to west 4.6 km. Lörrach is also the capital city of Markgräflerland and a part of the trinational agglomeration area of Basel. Stuttgart is 220 km away from Lörrach and you must drive one hour to Berne and Zürich. The city has several forested hills along the valley Wiesental: Schädelberg, Homburg, Röttler Wald and Tüllinger Berg.

Lörrach is bounded by many municipalities and the city of Basel. In addition it is located at the foothills of the Black Forest and at the border of Switzerland.

Binzen	Rümmingen	Steinen
Weil am Rhein		Rheinfelden
Basel	Riehen	Grenzach-Wyhlen

Climate

Lörrach is situated in a mild climate and in summertimes there is often a hot climate. The region of Marktgräflerland is the warmest of whole Germany because of the mediterranean air current from the valley of Rhône River. Because of the numerous sunny days the region get the moniker of the German Tuscany (German: Die Toskana Deutschlands).

Boroughs and districts

Lörrach is subdivided into 3 boroughs and 3 districts. In sum the three boroughs have an area of 18,6 km².

Year of incorporation	Boroughs and districts	Area (km²)
1935	Borough Tumringen
1935	Borough Tüllingen	18,6
1908	Borough Stetten
1974	District Haagen	3.6
1975	District Brombach	9.8
1975	District Hauingen	7.4

The three districts have an own administration with an own chief magistrate (Ortsvorsteher). Every five years the citizens of Lörrach elect the council of the districts. The satellite city Salzert has been developed in 1963. Inlinzigen close to Lörrach is an independent municipality, but Lörrach undertakes the administration.

History

Year	Event
1102	Lörrach was first mentioned as settlement Lorracho.
1403	Declared a market town by means of Rupert of Germany.
1678	The castle of Rötteln was destroyed by the French.
1682	Lörrach got the German town law by Frederik VII of Baden-Durlach.
1702	Battle of Käferholz against the French.
1756	The town got a new town law and the first town hall.
1783	Johann Peter Hebel becomes a teacher at the boarding school.
1803	Stetten is now a part of Baden (Before it belonged to Austria).
1808	In Lörrach numerous classicist buildings have been built (synagogue, Stadtkirche and Fridolinskirche)
1835	The country Baden joins the Zollverein.
1848	In September Gustav Struve declared the new German Republic from the town hall of Lörrach after the failed revolution. Some days later he is arrested.
1862	The Wiesentalbahn between Basel, Lörrach and Schopfheim is opened. A railway connection to Weil and Säckingen receives Lörrach then in the year 1890.
1863	Lörrach becomes a district town.
1871	The first elementary school is opened.
1880	Philippe Suchard creates a chocolate factory in Lörrach.
1908	Incorporation of the local part Stetten, later follow Tüllingen und Tumringen (1935), Haagen (voluntary 1974), Brombach und Hauingen (1975).
1945	Attack of aeroplanes on Brombach and Lörrach. On 24 April French troops occupy the city.
1963	Start of the construction work of the district Salzert.
1983	The fourth Landesgartenschau of Baden-Wuerttemberg (a national horticultural show) in the new park area in the Grütt.
1984	The finished motorway section between High Rhine and Upper Rhine relieves the heavy traffic of the city.
1991	Inauguration of the new pedestrian precinct and the transformation of the city center.

Population development

year population year population 1870 9.103 1975 44.179 1890 11.475 1981 40.064 1914 16.293 1990 42.500 1938 20.041 1992 43.976 1950 22.698 1996 44.756 1960 30.546 2000 45.679 1965 31.324 2001 46.272 1973 33.885 2002 46.741 1974 36.231 2004 46.754

Population development

source: Statistisches Landesamt Stuttgart, Statistischer Jahresbericht der Stadt Lörrach.

Coat of arms

Castle ruin of Rötteln in Lörrach

Lörrach received city rights in 1682 when it became the capital of the Oberamt Rötteln-Sausenberg. At the same time the arms were granted. The arms show a canting lark (Lerche). In 1756 both the city rights and the arms were re-granted by Count Karl Friedrich of Baden. The colours are also the colours of Baden. Even though the arms have not changed since, the shape and size of the lark have changed considerably. The present arms are used since the early 1960s and show a very modern variation of the lark. After the municipal reforms the arms were reconfirmed on November 11, 1975.

Religion

Christianity

Lörrach belonged at first to the diocese Konstanz and was subordinated to the archdiocese Breisgau. In 1529, after the reformation had been introduced there, the parsonage of Lörrach was occupied from Basel. The reformation in the city was introduced in 1556. After that Lörrach was over many centuries a predominantly protestant city. In Rötteln existed since beginning of the 15th century an archdiocese, that at the end of the 17th century shifted to Lörrach. The protestant parson of Lörrach was from 1682 on an intendant, too. The Stadtkirche (english: Church of the city) is the main church of Lörrach (first mentioned in the 12th century). In addition Lörrach have a few parishes: Johannespfarrei (founded in 20th century), Pauluspfarrei for the nothern city (founded in 1906), Matthäuspfarrei for the eastern city and Inzlingen (founded in 1949), Markuspfarrei (founded in 1956), Salzertgemeinde (founded in 1969), Friedensgemeinde for the settlement Homburg (founded in 1974).

The borough of Stetten was controlled by Further Austria until 1803. Therefore Stetten has a catholic tradition, although the reformation was introduced a few years before. Because of a contract with Austria Stetten became again catholic. At first the parish Stetten looked also after the resident catholics of Lörrach. They celebrated their church services in the new church, the Fridolinskirche (1822). The original church of Stettens was founded in the 13th century. Between 1864 and 1867 in Lörrach its own parish church (St Bonifatius) was built, at which a curate were created, which was raised in 1882 to a parsonage. A second catholic church (St Peter) was built in 1964. In Brombach they already built in 1900 a church (St Josephskirche), which is since 1911 a parsonage. All catholic parishes of Lörrach form today together with the neighbour parishes St. Peter and Paul in Inzlingen a cure of souls inside the deanery Wiesental of the archbishopric Freiburg.

Today there is a slight predominance of the Evangelist denomination. In the borough Stetten exists a relative catholic majority.

Beside the two large churches there are also parishes, which belong to free churches. For example the Freie evangelische Gemeinde or FeG Lörrach (English: Free Evangelist community).

Judaism

In Lörrach exists a Jewish municipality, which goes back to the year 1660. At first the Jews were occupied predominantly in the cattle trade. Later numerous companies and shops belonged to Jewish families. Also many craftsmen and university graduate were among the Jewish inhabitants. The Jews partaked at the political and cultural life of Lörrach, but during the Kristallnacht in November 1938 the Sturmabteilung devastated the synagogue of Lörrach from the year 1808 completely. This synagogue was nearby the market place. Today there reminds a commemorative plaque (from the year 1976) at this place. During the National Socialism at least 47 of the 162 Jews, who lived in Lörrach, was murdered.

In the year 1995 the Israelitische Kultusgemeinde (English: The Israeli cultural community) in Lörrach was created. The catchment area of the new community with approx. 350 members extent from Badenweiler to Waldshut. Many of the Jews came from the states of the former Soviet Union. The community grows further and the new synagog, whose building is at present prepared, is appropriate for the needs of 600 members.

Politics

Political proportion

Town Hall of Lörrach (cognomen: Langer Egon)

The municipal council of Lörrach consists 32 honorary aldermen and alderwomen, whose chairman is the Oberbürgermeisterin (mayor). The municipal council is elected for a period of five years by the citizenry.

The last election from 13 June 2004 had a percentage of voting of 41.2 % and resulted in the following allocation of seats in the city hall of Lörrach:

Party	Proportion	*	Seats	*
CDU	33.3%	-5.0%	11	-7
SPD	21.0%	-2.5%	7	-4
Freie Wähler	15.8%	+1.7%	5	-3
GRÜNE	15.7%	+4.0%	5	±0
FDP	8.0%	+5.1%	2	+1
KUL (1)	6.1%	-0.5%	2	-1
Gesamt	100%		32	-14

Source:
(1) Kommunale Unabhängige Liste (English: Municipal autonomous list)
* variance to the municipal council elections of 1999.

Heads of city

The chronicle of Lörrach reports of a Johann von Schallbach in the year 1366 as first Vogt. The office designation of mayors was reserved for the local chiefs of the cities. As first mayor of Lörrach is Marx Christoph Leibfried called in the year of the first German town law of the city in 1682. He was employed by the Markgraf. Since 1956 the city head is the Oberbürgermeister, who are selected directly by the citizens.

Mayors since 1804

Amtszeit	Name		Amtszeit	Name
1804 - 1807	Johann Martin Strohmeier		1861 - 1863	Karl Wenner
1807 - 1810	Johann Jakob Grether		1863 - 1869	Paul Feldkirchner
1810 - 1814	Johann Kaspar Schöffel		1869 - 1871	Karl Robert Gebhardt
1814 - 1820	Johann Georg Grether		1872 - 1906	Johann Josef Grether
1820 - 1826	Jakob Rupp		1906 - 1927	Dr. Erwin Gugelmeier *
1826 - 1831	Friedrich Hüglin		1927 - 1933	Dr. Heinrich Graser
1831 - 1832	Ernst Schultz		1933 - 1945	Reinhard Boos
1832 - 1835	Johann Georg Grether		1945 - 1948	Joseph Pfeffer
1835 - 1841	Ernst Schultz		1948 - 1960	Arend Braye *
1841 - 1844	Friedrich Hüglin		1960 - 1984	Egon Hugenschmidt *
1844 - 1849	Karl Wenner		1984 - 1995	Rainer Offergeld *
1849 - 1861	Johann Ludwig Calame		1995 - 2024	Gudrun Heute-Bluhm *

Source:
* Oberbürgermeister

External links

• Official website (German)
• Template:De icon Lörrach:History and images
• Lörrach Civic Heraldry
• Newspaper of the area
• Burg Rötteln: Picture Gallery