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69-396: Laupheim ( German: [ˈlaʊphaɪm] ; Swabian : Laoba ) is a major district town in southern Germany in the state of Baden-Württemberg . Laupheim was first mentioned in 778 and gained city rights in 1869. One of the main trading routes, from Ulm to Ravensburg and then on towards Lake Constance ran through Laupheim. Having developed from a rural settlement into

138-540: A Swabian Alb Biosphere Reserve of 852.69 km (330 sq. mi.). The geology of the Swabian Jura is mostly limestone , which formed the seabed during the Jurassic period. The sea receded 50 million years ago. Three layers of different limestones are stacked over each other to form the range: Black Jurassic , Brown Jurassic , and White Jurassic . White Jurassic may be as pure as 99% calcium carbonate . Since limestone

207-469: A market town , and also the privilege of inflicting high justice , which gave him the right to hold a criminal court inflicting bodily punishment, including the death penalty. The local ruler was now master of life and death. Due to the weekly market and the annual Gallus -market, Laupheim quickly developed into a commercial centre. During the course of the German Peasants' War 1525, Laupheim Castle

276-482: A "luxury outlet town", with people from all over Europe coming to buy expensive clothes cheaper). From this, machine building and advanced engineering developed. With the invention of cars and the founding of Daimler-Benz nearby, the car industry and later also electronics and computer industries developed. The " Neckar-Alb " region is the third largest industrial zone in Germany, and the most stable. The best known company

345-584: A contract, protecting the Jews . The Jews were made to settle in an area of the town soon to be called Judenberg (literally Jews' mountain or Jews' hill ). Subsequently, a Jewish quarter evolved, with a cemetery, synagogue, school and a Rabbi 's office. During the 18th century, the Welden dynasty had the old castle, Großlaupheim Castle , restored, and subsequently renewed in Baroque -style in 1752. Between 1766 and 1769,

414-401: A few kilometers apart, some of the oldest signs of human artifacts were found. Best known are: a mammoth, a horse head, a water bird, and two statues of a lion man all of surprising quality and all more than 30,000 years old. The oldest known musical instruments have been found here, too: flutes made from the bones of swans and griffon vultures, some 35,000 years old, and in 2004

483-613: A flute carved from the tusk of a mammoth dating from the Ice Age, around 37,000 years ago, and the oldest representation of the human body, the Venus of Schelklingen . This region, located south of the limes , was part of the Roman Empire from around the first to third century A.D. A Roman road ran along the Neckar river and over the plateau. In Hechingen-Stein a Roman outpost along this road

552-587: A proper noun referring more or less exclusively to the Swabian and the Franconian Jura ( German : Fränkische Alb ) areas however, and as such has no direct translation into most other languages. It is perhaps for this reason that Schwäbische Alb has sometimes been translated into English as 'Swabian Alps', thus avoiding the lesser-known name Jura . However, the area is not part of the Alps (despite its proximity), nor

621-449: A small private museum, called Urwelt-Museum Hauff, provides visitors with the opportunity to "dig" for fossils in their shale deposits. The Urwelt-Museum Hauff houses the world's largest petrified crinoid (sea-lily) colony with a size of 18 m × 6 m (59 ft × 20 ft) and an age of about 180 million years. In a number of caves (including Vogelherd, Hohlenstein-Stadel , Geißenklösterle and Hohle Fels ), all just

690-461: A small urban area, Laupheim is home to a number of small to medium-sized industries and businesses. One of the largest employers are the German Armed Forces which maintain an airbase close to Laupheim, Laupheim Air Base . Laupheim was the administrative centre of the district of Laupheim from 1842 until 1938 when the district was abolished. The southern parts of it were incorporated into

759-470: A stronger Fasnet tradition. A Swabian Fasnet celebration in any case has little or nothing in common with the simultaneous celebrations along the Middle Rhein, which are well known across Germany because they are televised every year. Swabians generally are expected to go to work as normal on Rose Monday and Fat Tuesday, unlike their neighbors to the northwest. Since raising crops was not easy, raising sheep

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828-520: A tectonically active region) sometimes causes mild earthquakes. The Nördlinger Ries is a large meteorite crater (15 million years old). Tertiary relicts can be found in the southern part of Swabian Jura. Famous locations are known in the Ulm area (e.g., Turritellenplatte of Ermingen). Constant rain and other weather influences are slowly dissolving the entire range. Each year, it recedes approximately 2 mm (0.08 in). Some millions of years ago,

897-493: A tributary to the Rhine . The soil is not very fertile, the humus is often as thin as 10 cm (4 in). Many small limestone pebbles are found on the surface. Much of the Swabian Jura consists of gentle to moderate hills often covered with forest or cleared for small-scale agriculture . The traditional landscape was grass fields with juniper bushes . Today this has become a comparatively rare sight. However, in certain places it

966-479: Is soluble in water, rain seeps through cracks everywhere, forming a karst landscape, featuring subterranean rivers which flow through a large system of caves before they emerge. As a result there are hardly any rivers, lakes or other forms of surface water on the plateau. In some places, former volcanic activity has left traces, such as maars and hills. In the west, the Zollerngraben (a geological depression in

1035-467: Is Catholic, and Swedish , their Protestant opponents. A massive outbreak of the bubonic plague in 1635 further diminished the population. At the close of the Thirty Years' War, Laupheim had lost two-thirds of its pre-war population, so that ultimately towards the end of the 17th century, Laupheim had sunk to the status of an unimportant, impoverished village. As a consequence of the Thirty Years' War,

1104-568: Is a mountain range in Baden-Württemberg , Germany , extending 220 km (140 mi) from southwest to northeast and 40 to 70 km (25 to 43 mi) in width. It is named after the region of Swabia . It is part of the Table Jura ( Tafeljura ). The Swabian Jura occupies the region bounded by the Danube in the southeast and the upper Neckar in the northwest. In the southwest it rises to

1173-654: Is protected by the government of Baden-Württemberg. The highest elevations reach just over 1,000 metres (3,300 ft). They are all in the southwestern part of the Jura, in the region of the Großer Heuberg . There are many other peaks in the Alb, such as the Hornau , Ochsenberg , and Achalm . Fossils can be found everywhere in the Swabian Jura. Many large and important fossils were found here. At Holzmaden, outside of Weilheim unter Teck,

1242-498: Is still Daimler-Benz, today known simply as Daimler AG , followed by Robert Bosch . The region has one of the highest patents-to-population ratios in the world. Many products fall into the high-tech category. The small and medium enterprise sector (100-5,000 employees) predominates. Perhaps as a result, the unemployment rate is low. In general, products are expensive but compete through high quality. Several districts are recognised as especially attractive to business, e.g. Reutlingen as

1311-523: Is the educational centre for the surrounding rural areas particularly with regards to secondary education. Laupheim is situated in the region of Upper Swabia approximately 20 km north of Biberach and 20 km south of Ulm on the Bundesstraße 30 . Laupheim is the second largest city in the district of Biberach. The original settlement of Laupheim was located close to the Rottum which still runs through

1380-548: The Austrian House of Habsburg . The Habsburgs mortgaged Laupheim in 1334 to the barons von Ellerbach and enfeoffed this baronial family in 1407 with castle, town and patronage of the church. The village was badly affected by the crisis of the mid 14th century, caused by the Black Death and other factors. The population shrunk and as a consequence the hamlet of Ringelhausen , situated between Laupheim and Bronnen ,

1449-604: The Gründerzeit until the Nazis came to power, this development came to a halt. The stagnation and eventual decrease in population was due to increasing persecution of the Jews, as a result of which many Jewish inhabitants left Laupheim or, after 1940, were deported and subsequently murdered. Since 1945, the population of Laupheim has almost doubled. This is due to the fact that a great number of refugees from formerly German territories east of

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1518-673: The Jura mountains , of which the Swabian and Franconian plateaux are geographically part. In German, at least outside geological circles, the word Alb is used almost universally in place of Jura . The origin of the word is uncertain. One theory is that it derives form the Latin albus ("white"). Another is that it is from a pre-Indo-European word albhros ("hill"). It is related to the German words Alpe , Alm or Alp (from Old High German alpâ ), meaning an " upland pasture ". The word Alb functions as

1587-638: The Oder-Neisse line were settled in Laupheim. The establishment of a German Army Aviation Corps airbase in 1964 further contributed to the growth in population. After the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, an influx of ethnic Germans from the Commonwealth of Independent States added to the population growth. As of 31 December 2019, the number of non-German inhabitants of Laupheim totals 3,269 (14.58% of

1656-519: The district of Biberach (including Laupheim itself) whereas the remainders were allocated to the district of Ulm. In the second half of the 19th century Laupheim was home to the largest Jewish community in the Kingdom of Württemberg . After World War II , Laupheim became part of the French occupation zone in 1945 and became part of the newly founded state of Württemberg-Hohenzollern in 1947. Laupheim

1725-480: The valley of the river Iller respectively, Laupheim developed into a major settlement. In 853, it was elevated to the status of town when a court responsible for the Rammachgau (also spelled Rammagau ) was set up there. During the 9th century, parts of Laupheim came into the possession of the monastery of Weißenburg which was afterwards passed on to successive minor Swabian aristocratic houses. As early as

1794-469: The 10th century, Laupheim possessed a parish church with subsidiaries. In 926, Laupheim and its surroundings were destroyed by the Hungarians . A castle is mentioned around the year 1100. Laupheim appears to have been home of an indigenous noble family, whose members used the suffix von Laupheim. They were attested for the first time in 1110 with Landoldus de Lobhein and seemed to have been in service of

1863-411: The 1960s, Laupheim began to renew and modernize its appearance. New schools were built: a grammar school , a realschule and a new town hall. From the 1980s onwards, these projects were followed by a new district hospital, a public in-doors swimming pool, a renovated stadium, named after Gretel Bergmann who was born in Laupheim, and an omnibus interchange . Additionally, several industrial estates on

1932-572: The German dubbing of the 2001 movie Monsters Inc. , the Abominable Snowman , played by John Ratzenberger in the original English version and Walter von Hauff in the German version, speaks in the Swabian dialect. Swabian Alb The Swabian Jura ( German : Schwäbische Alb [ˈʃvɛːbɪʃə ˈʔalp] , more rarely Schwäbischer Jura [ˈʃvɛːbɪʃɐ ˈjuːʁa] ), sometimes also named Swabian Alps in English,

2001-500: The Swabian Jura includes regions just around the mountain range. It is a popular recreation area. The whole Schwäbische Alb area is a UNESCO global geopark covering 6,688 km (2582 sq mi.); it was designated as a National Geopark in Germany in 2002 and became a member of the European Geoparks Network in 2004; in 2015 it was included in the newly established scheme of UNESCO Global Geoparks. In its central area it comprises

2070-467: The Swabian dialect is spoken with a unique intonation that is also present when native speakers speak in SHG. Similarly, there is only one alveolar fricative phoneme /s/ , which is shared with most other southern dialects. Most Swabian-speakers are unaware of the difference between /s/ and /z/ and do not attempt to make it when they speak Standard German. The voiced plosives, the post-alveolar fricative, and

2139-535: The Upper Market Square. Following the Reichsdeputationshauptschluss , the mediatisation and secularisation of numerous secular and ecclesiastical principalities within the former Holy Roman Empire , both parts of Laupheim were annexed by the newly formed Kingdom of Württemberg in 1806. The last ruler of Laupheim was Constantin von Welden. Laupheim first became administratively part of

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2208-509: The appointment of Adolf Hitler as Chancellor of Germany in 1933 and the systematic deprivation and subsequent suppression of Jews in Germany, also had their effects on Laupheim, culminating in the destruction by fire of the synagogue during Kristallnacht 1938. Due to the programme of aryanization , many businesses in Laupheim originally owned by Jews , were expropriated and transferred into German ownership. 126 of 312 Jewish inhabitants of Laupheim managed to flee abroad, most of them after

2277-411: The branch of the Welden dynasty that ruled Kleinlaupheim had their residence renewed in Baroque -style by architect Johann Georg Specht . This castle is now called Schloss Kleinlaupheim ( Kleinlaupheim Castle ). This makes Laupheim unique in that it has two castles within its city boundaries, as a result of once having been two independent states. In 1778, a town hall and the granary were built in

2346-404: The city but since 1950 the city has expanded and sprawls onto the surrounding slopes. With effect of 1 Januar 2016 Laupheim has been awarded the status of major district town. The elevation within the city confines ranges from 509 m (1670 ft) above sea level at the bottom of the valley to 539 m (1768 ft) in the outlying suburban areas. Apart from the city of Laupheim itself,

2415-621: The countryside. From ca. 2000 BCE onwards, Celts inhabited this area. From the first century CE until around the year 260 CE, it was part of the Roman province of Raetia , after which the Alamanni invaded the Agri Decumates , eventually also settling in the area that was to become Laupheim. During archaeological excavations in 1840-1842 graves dating from the Merovingian period were discovered in

2484-667: The counts of Kirchberg . The last known member of this family was Berchtolt von Laupheim who was a citizen of Ulm 1372, long after his family has lost possession of any rights in Laupheim around 1310. After the collapse of the Empire of the Staufers during the 13th century, the castle and parish of Laupheim came into the possession of the Truchsessen von Waldburg who, in 1331, sold Laupheim together with their other possessions in Upper Swabia to

2553-436: The difference in the formation of the past participle of 'sein' (to be) into gwäa and gsei. The Gsei group is nearer to other Alemannic dialects , such as Swiss German . It can be divided into South-East Swabian , West Swabian and Central Swabian . The Danube Swabians from Hungary, Romania, and former Yugoslavia have been speaking several different Swabian dialects, called locally Schwowisch , some being similar to

2622-560: The discharge of the water from subterranean rivers can be spectacular, too, e.g. the Blautopf , a source for a tributary of the Danube. Also because of the porous limestone, the Danube nearly disappears near Immendingen (in 1911, 1921, 1928 and 1943 it disappeared completely), only to reappear several kilometers further down. Most of the water lost by the Danube resurfaces in the Aachtopf , a spring for

2691-565: The district of Wiblingen , but in 1845 the district administration was moved to Laupheim, creating the district of Laupheim. The district as abolished in 1938 when Laupheim became part of the district of Biberach. Due to laws based on the ideas of the enlightenment , servitude in the Kingdom of Württemberg was abolished in 1836. During the same period, laws forcing Jews to live in separate quarters and excluding them from most business activities were revoked. This enabled them to contribute enormously to

2760-466: The economic upturn Laupheim was experiencing, even though complete civil rights were not granted until 1864. In 1848, with the arrival of civil servants from the original Duchy of Württemberg ( Altwürttemberg ), a Protestant parish was founded. In 1850, a train station opened two kilometers west of Laupheim, on the railway line Ulm-Friedrichshafen from Ulm to Friedrichshafen , this station therefore being named as Laupheim-West . In 1869, Laupheim

2829-671: The exact traditions vary from village to village, creating a fantastic variety of heroes, villains and good and evil creatures. It is also often the case that, while in one town a strong tradition of celebrating Fasnet has survived, the neighboring town will have almost no tradition. This is in many instances linked to the after-effects of the Protestant Reformation and the later influence of the Calvinistic Pietists, who more or less strictly opposed such frivolous - even heathen - behaviour. Catholic regions to this day tend to have

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2898-455: The feudal lords attempted to increase taxation and extend the amount of socage the peasants had to do for them. This led to legal conflicts between the two parties, which lasted for decades. In order to stimulate the local economy and income generated by taxation, Carl Damian von Welden allowed the first Jewish families to settle in Großlaupheim in the 1720s. This which was made possible by

2967-414: The first school in 1584. From 1582 until 1806, Laupheim was a Lordship ( Reichsritterschaft ) ruled by the heir of the Welden family, whose title was " Imperial Knight " ( Reichsritter ). In 1596, the right to bear a coat of arms was given to Laupheim, showing the colours of green, white and red together with three leaves on a three hills, thereby incorporating the coat-of-arms of the family of Welden with

3036-492: The following once autonomous villages nowadays belong administratively to Laupheim: Baustetten (population 2121), Obersulmetingen (population 1389), Untersulmetingen (population 2082) and Bihlafingen (population 853), which, with an elevation of 580 m (1903 ft), has the highest elevation of the administrative area. The area in and around Laupheim has been settled from very early times onwards. Archaeological evidence shows that 15000 years ago nomadic tribes roamed

3105-494: The foreland of the Swabian Jura officially don't belong to it. There are many castles, monasteries, churches, ruins and old towns. Here is a small selection. A good way for tourists to get to know the Swabian Jura is to travel on the Schwäbische Albstraße , a "National Scenic Byway", leading from Tuttlingen or Trossingen to Nördlingen or Aalen . The name German : Jura (related to Jurassic ) derives from

3174-530: The frequent use of diminutives based on " l " suffixes gives the dialect a very "soft" or "mild" feel, often felt to be in sharp contrast to the harder varieties of German spoken in the North. Swabian is categorized as an Alemannic dialect, which in turn is one of the two types of Upper German dialects (the other being Bavarian ). The Swabian dialect is composed of numerous sub-dialects, each of which has its own variations. These sub-dialects can be categorized by

3243-585: The higher mountains of the Black Forest . The highest mountain in the region is the Lemberg (1,015 m (3,330 ft)). The area's profile resembles a high plateau, which slowly falls away to the southeast. The northwestern edge is a steep escarpment (called the Albtrauf or Albanstieg, rising up 400 m (1,300 ft), covered with forests), while the top is flat or gently rolling. In economic and cultural terms,

3312-462: The highest rents in Germany, while land on the plateau itself is considered cheap (by south German standards). Many town names end in -ingen . There were several military training grounds, some also used by NATO troops. On the Münsingen training ground which existed for over 100 years, a biosphere reserve is in the making. The region has several larger and many small nature reserves. The towns in

3381-473: The hills are not steep or high) and numerous small resorts can be found. It is often windy and a bit colder than the rest of Germany. Because of a special micro climate, a small weather station near the town of Stetten am kalten Markt is known as the "coldest spot in Germany". The Swabian Jura are not densely populated by German standards. Most of the larger towns are outside the region, though they are often counted as part of it. These towns often have some of

3450-513: The house of Welden, the market town was divided into two different territories, Großlaupheim and Kleinlaupheim ( Great Laupheim and Little Laupheim ), in 1621, at the beginning of the Thirty Years' War (1618–1648), each territory being ruled by its own dynasty. As a consequence economic growth slowed down. During the Thirty Years' War , Laupheim repeatedly fell victim to the ravages of war, mainly due to marauding troops, both imperial , that

3519-538: The most beautiful Swabian word , well ahead of any other term. The expression is used in an ironic way to describe a small unit of measure and is deemed appropriate to use in front of small children (compare Bubenspitzle ). German broadcaster SWR 's children's website, Kindernetz , explained the meaning of Muggeseggele in their Swabian dictionary in the Swabian-based TV series Ein Fall für B.A.R.Z. In many regions,

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3588-614: The mountains reached as far as Stuttgart . In some places, the limestone was more resistant to decay and thus the recession of the main range has left small mountains (called "Zeugenberge"—"witness mountains" or outliers ; e.g. the Achalm or the Hohenstaufen ) which testify to the former territory of the range. The omnipresent caves are great tourist spots, beautiful and not very crowded. Many different types can be found, from dry dripstone caves to caves that can only be entered by boat. Sometimes

3657-516: The northern part of the town. Laupheim was first mentioned as Louphaim in a charter dated 778. The charter is still kept in the archives of the monastery of St Gallen , Switzerland. This reference is the earliest of any city in Upper Swabia and any parish in the district of Biberach. Situated in the vicinity of two major trade routes between the Lake of Constance and Ulm and the Swabian Alb and

3726-857: The original Swabian dialect, but also the Bavarian dialect, mostly with Palatine and Hesse mixed dialects. In this regard, the Banat Swabians speak the Banat Swabian dialect . The Baden-Württemberg Chamber of Commerce launched an advertising campaign with the slogan "Wir können alles. Außer Hochdeutsch." which means "We can [do] everything. Except [speak] Standard German" to boost Swabian pride for their dialect and industrial achievements. However, it failed to impress Northern Germans and neighboring Baden. Dominik Kuhn ( Dodokay ) became famous in Germany with Swabian fandub videos, dubbing among others Barack Obama with German dialect vocals and revised text. In

3795-485: The outskirts of the city were established in order to attract trade and industry. As a consequence, companies from outside Laupheim established offices and production facilities there, as well as companies that formerly had been operating from the city centre. Having developed from a rural market town into a city, predominated by industry, trade and the service industries, the demographics of Laupheim have changed as well. After growing continuously from 1871 until 1933, from

3864-411: The poor quality of the soil made it a backward region. For many villages fetching water required a long journey by horse. Since water often needed to be stored over a long time, it was often stagnant. Thus disinfection via alcohol was very popular: "Most" ( cider ) was mixed with water and even given to babies. A modern water supply system (outstanding for its time) was built in the late 1880s, which eased

3933-455: The situation. Locals in the areas speak the distinct German dialect known as Swabian German , which varies even throughout the Jura and is difficult to understand for speakers of Standard German. The dialect at the top of the plateau ( German : Albschwäbisch ) is markedly different from, and stronger than, even the broadest Swabian of the lowland areas. Across the whole Swabian region, many phrases and grammar are highly localized, even down to

4002-501: The so-called Kristallnacht . In 1939, the remaining Jews in Laupheim were resettled within the city, only to be deported to concentration and extermination camps in 1941 and 1942. After the last of four transports, the Jewish community in Laupheim ceased to exist on 19 August 1942. Sixty-two Jewish citizens of Laupheim were murdered in the Shoah , only two survived. After World War II, in

4071-574: The three leaves, referring to the name of the town on the hills of the valley of the river Rottum. The last member of the House of Ellerbach, Anna von Freyberg , founded the Hospital of the Holy Spirit in 1601, the building of which still exists and now functions as a retirement home . Between 1623 and 1661, the church St. Peter and Paul was built in the vicinity of the castle. Due to the inheritance laws of

4140-487: The total population). The city council consists of 27 members. Swabian language Swabian can be difficult to understand for speakers of Standard German due to its pronunciation and partly differing grammar and vocabulary. In 2009, the word Muggeseggele (a Swabian idiom ), meaning the scrotum of a housefly , was voted in a readers' survey by Stuttgarter Nachrichten , the largest newspaper in Stuttgart , as

4209-400: The town in Germany where it is simplest to open a new business. Educational resources are at a high level. The schools and universities of the region all enjoy top rankings within Germany. The Swabian Jura and the neighbouring region have developed from one of the poorest regions of Germany to one of its richest within the past 150 years. In winter it often snows. Skiing is popular (though

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4278-426: The village level; however, the Swabian dialect of the highland regions is characterised by a sing-song melody, and some of the verb forms are also distinct, not only from Standard German , but also from those of the rest of Swabia . In former times, Yiddish , Pleißne and Romani was also spoken. The Pleißne was spoken by hawkers selling items such as baskets, brushes, and whips, and belongs to Rotwelsch . It

4347-499: The whole Kingdom of Württemberg. In 1904, the city was connected to the railway line Ulm-Friedrichshafen by a branch line , linking the railway artery with the city itself. At the same time a train station was built in the city. This extension of the railway line went on for a further 16 km, terminating at the village of Schwendi . Before World War I , Laupheim had one of the largest Jewish communities in Württemberg. However,

4416-416: Was abandoned and eventually lost in the 15th century. Only the name of a street and a development area in the city of Laupheim nowadays hints at the existence of this hamlet. The Herren von Ellerbach had St Leonhard's Chapel built in 1448, which soon became a place of pilgrimage . In 1430, Emperor Sigismund bestowed upon Burkhard von Ellerbach the right to hold regular markets, Laupheim thereby becoming

4485-654: Was destroyed by the Baltringer Haufen , an army of peasants named after the nearby village of Baltringen , where approximately 12.000 farmers gathered to form an army. After the suppression of the revolt, the peasants were forced to rebuild the castle. After the agnatic line of the Ellerbach dynasty became extinct in 1570, Laupheim passed through Hans Pankraz von Freyberg to the Herren von Welden in 1582. They turned Laupheim into their permanent residence and established

4554-459: Was discovered in the 1970s and has been turned into an outdoor museum. The limes actually cuts across the plateau at Aalen , which gets its name from the original Roman cavalry post, or ala , on the outskirts of the modern town. Here too, the Roman ruins are being excavated and a museum has been open to the public since the late 1980s. Life was extremely hard in the Swabian Jura. The lack of water and

4623-476: Was granted a city charter by King Karl I. of Württemberg . In the same year, the first institute of further education, a Lateinschule , was established in Laupheim. In 1871, Laupheim, being part of the Kingdom of Württemberg, was incorporated into the German Empire . During the steep economic growth of the Gründerzeit , the period between 1871 and 1914, Laupheim had the highest density of public houses in

4692-408: Was popular. This yielded the development of a strong textile industry. In the 1950s, Reutlingen was the German town with the highest number of millionaires, until the decline of the German textile industry hit them as well. Still, many high quality textile companies can be found, such as Hugo Boss , Merz b. Schwanen , Trigema , Reusch, Groz-Beckert and others (the town of Metzingen is widely known as

4761-658: Was used as a code. The " Swabian – Alemannic " carnival is an important tradition in many of the villages, called variously " Fastnacht ", "Fasnacht", "Fasnet", or "Fasching". Of particular cultural importance is the Fasnet celebration in Rottweil. Typical of the Allemannic tradition are the witches and forest- or well-spirits, who typically signify Winter or the forces of nature coming to drive Winter out. The various roles are often claimed to have been defined in pre-Christian times and here

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