Villingen-Schwenningen

Villingen-Schwenningen
Town
View of Villingen
Coat of arms
Location of Villingen-Schwenningen within Schwarzwald-Baar-Kreis district
Villingen-Schwenningen Villingen-Schwenningen
Coordinates: 48°03′37″N 08°27′31″E
Country	Germany
State	Baden-Württemberg
Admin. region	Freiburg
District	Schwarzwald-Baar-Kreis
Subdivisions	2 Stadtbezirke
Government
• Mayor (2018–26)	Jürgen Roth (CDU)
Area
• Total	165.47 km2 (63.89 sq mi)
Elevation	704 m (2,310 ft)
Population  (2022-12-31)
• Total	88,213
• Density	530/km2 (1,400/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+01:00 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+02:00 (CEST)
Postal codes	78001–78056
Dialling codes	07721, 07720, 07425, 07705
Vehicle registration	VS
Website	www.villingen-schwenningen.de

Villingen-Schwenningen (German pronunciation: [ˈfɪlɪŋən ˈʃvɛnɪŋən] ; Low Alemannic: Villinge-Schwenninge) is a city in the Schwarzwald-Baar district in southern Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It has 89,126 inhabitants (as of September 2023).

History

Villingen

In the Middle Ages, Villingen was a town under Austrian lordship. During the Protestant Reformation it remained Catholic. Villingen came to international attention when it was besieged by Marshal of France Camille d'Hostun, duc de Tallard on 17 July 1704. Colonel Von Wilstorff put up a stout defence of the outdated fortifications, and after six days the siege failed.

Schwenningen remained a village until the 19th century. In 1858, the first watch factory was established, and watchmaking and precision mechanics have been important industries ever since. The town styled itself "the greatest watch city in the world" at one time, and the Kienzle Uhren watchmaking company was founded there in 1822 and remained until moving to Hamburg in 2002. The Museum of Clockmaking celebrates the town's clock and watchmaking history.

As part of the Baden-Württemberg territorial reform of 1972, Villingen and Schwenningen were merged with a number of surrounding villages to form the city of Villingen-Schwenningen. Nevertheless, the two halves of the city are separated by a plateau and remain distinct. Villingen is a former part of Baden, while Schwenningen is a former part of Württemberg.

Villingen is a major center of German carnival celebrations. The traditional Narros represent the old citizens of Villingen: Alt Villingere, Morbili, Narro, Suribbel.

Schwenningen – Janusz Korczak School

Villingen Romäus tower

Münster Villingen West side

Villingen-Schwenningen Watch factory Bürk Museum of watch industry

Geography

Villingen-Schwenningen lies on the eastern edge of the Black Forest about 700 m (2,300 ft) above sea level. The source of the River Neckar is in Schwenningen (Schwenninger Moos) whereas Villingen is traversed by the river Brigach which is the shorter one of the two headstreams of the Danube.

Boroughs

• Villingen
  • Villingen
  • Pfaffenweiler
  • Marbach
  • Tannheim
  • Rietheim
  • Herzogenweiler

• Schwenningen
  • Schwenningen
  • Obereschach
  • Weigheim
  • Weilersbach
  • Mühlhausen

Mayors and Lord mayors

Villingen

• 1912–1930: Guido Lehmann
• 1931–1933: Adolf Gremmelspacher
• 1933: Gutmann, temporary
• 1933–1937: Hermann Schneider
• 1937–1940: Karl Berckmüller
• 1940–1945: Hermann Riedel
• 1945–1946: Walter Bräunlich
• 1946: Edwin Hartmann
• 1946–1950: Edwin Nägele
• 1950–1972: Severin Kern

Schwenningen

• 1797–1816: Erhard Bürk
• 1816–1819: (Vogt)
• 1819–1821: Thomas Wegler
• 1821–1825: ?
• 1825–1835: Matthias Rapp
• 1835–1841: Johann Georg Koch
• 1841–1852: Andreas Bürk
• 1852–1857: Christian Strohm
• 1857–1887: Erhard Müller
• 1887–1912: David Würth
• 1912–1925: Emil Braunagel
• 1925–1930: Ingo Lang von Langen
• 1930–1948: Otto Gönnenwein
• 1949–1962: Hans Kohler
• 1962–1972: Gerhard Gebauer

Villingen-Schwenningen

• 1972–1994: Gerhard Gebauer (SPD)
• 1994–2002: Manfred Matusza (CDU)
• 2002–2019: Rupert Kubon (SPD)
• since 2019: Jürgen Roth (CDU)

Population

Number of inhabitants

Date Inhabitants 31 December 1972 78,436 31 December 1980 78,904 31 December 1990 78,218 31 December 1995 80,734 31 December 2005 81,778 31 December 2015 84,674 31 December 2017 84,818 31 December 2018 85,181 31 December 2019 85,922 31 December 2020 85,866 31 December 2021 86,619

Source: State Statistical Office of Baden-Württemberg

Largest communities of foreigners

Italy
Turkey
Croatia
Romania
Syria
Serbia
Greece
Poland
Kosovo
Bosnia

Business and education

Precision Motors Deutsche Minebea GmbH is a subsidiary of Minebea corporation and developing electric DC motors in Villingen-Schwenningen. Villingen-Schwenningen is the European HQ for the Japanese corporation.

Villingen-Schwenningen is the home of State University for Applied Science for policing (Hochschule für Polizei Baden-Württemberg) of Baden-Württemberg Police. The University was established in 1979 and has a capacity of 1.300 students.

Sights

Minster of Our Lady

• Town wall
• Municipal Art Gallery
• Franciscan Monastery Museum
• Schwenningen Clock Museum
• Minster of Our Lady
• Theater am Ring
• Wanne Observation Tower, one of the oldest towers built of iron
• Internationales Luftfahrt-Museum, aviation museum

Sports

Since 1904, Villingen-Schwenningen has also been home to the ice hockey team the Schwenninger Wild Wings, which competes in the Deutsche Eishockey Liga.

The town's football club is FC 08 Villingen, who in the 2021/22 season are competing in the Oberliga Baden-Württemberg at the fifth tier of the German league system.

Twin towns – sister cities

See also: List of twin towns and sister cities in Germany

Villingen-Schwenningen is twinned with:

• Pontarlier, France
• La Valette du Var, France
• Tula, Russia
• Savona, Italy
• Zittau, Germany
• Friedrichsthal, Germany

Notable people

• Georg Pictorius (c. 1500–1569), physician and mystic-magical author of the Renaissance
• Trudpert Neugart (1742–1825), professor of oriental languages
• Johannes Benzing (1913–2001), Turkologist and diplomat
• Martin Barner (1921–2020), mathematician
• Kurt Leichtweiss (1927–2013), mathematician
• Hartmann von der Tann (born 1943), journalist
• Horst Ludwig Meyer (1956–1999), presumed member of the Red Army Faction (RAF)
• Veit Heinichen (born 1957), writer
• Gundolf Köhler (1959–1980), right-wing extremist
• Andreas K. Engel (born 1961), brain researcher
• Markus Kemmelmeier (born 1967), social psychologist and sociologist
• Robert Prosinečki (born 1969), Croatian footballer and coach
• Michelle (born 1972), singer
• Thorsten Schmitt (born 1975), Nordic combiner
• Oliver Roggisch (born 1978), handball player
• Martin Schmitt (born 1978), ski jumper
• Andreas Lang (born 1979), curler
• Dennis Seidenberg (born 1981), ice hockey player
• Ivana Brkljačić (born 1983), Croatian hammer thrower
• Jochen Schöps (born 1983), volleyball player
• Marco Caligiuri (born 1984), German-Italian footballer
• Yannic Seidenberg (born 1984), ice hockey player
• Adem Sarı (born 1985), Turkish footballer
• Daniel Caligiuri (born 1988), German-Italian footballer
• Florian Rudy (born 1989), footballer
• Sebastian Rudy (born 1990), footballer
• Domenic Weinstein (born 1994), cyclist
• Kai Wissmann (born 1996), ice hockey player

In 2004 the former Bosnian boxer Armin „Boki“ Ćulum founded the motorcycle-like gang United Tribuns in Villingen-Schwenningen. The gang owned two bordellos and had a great influence on the prostitution scene in Villingen-Schwenningen. The gang called itself a group of bodybuilders, martial art athletes and bouncers. The United Tribuns grew fast and led to rivalry with the Hells Angels and Bandidos. United Tribuns had chapters in München, Augsburg, Nürnberg and Ingolstadt, and from 2014 also in the north in Hannover and later in Osnabrück. In Austria there was a chapter in Linz, Klagenfurt and Vienna. In September 2022 the Federal Minister for the Interior (BMI) prohibited the gang; and their money was confiscated.

External links

• Official website (in German)
• Villingen-Schwenningen: history & pictures (in German)
• The siege of Villingen in 1702