Freiburg Totally Explained

Everything about Freiburg totally explained

Freiburg is a city in Baden-Württemberg, Germany (where it's officially known by its full name, Freiburg im Breisgau), on the western edge of the southern Black Forest (German: Schwarzwald). Popular opinion has it that Freiburg is the warmest city in Germany. It straddles the Dreisam river, on the foothills of the Schlossberg. The city is surrounded by the Black Forest mountains Rosskopf and Bromberg in the east, and in the south and west by the Schönberg, Tuniberg and the Kaiserstuhl.

History

Freiburg was founded in the 12th century (1120) by Duke Konrad of Zähringen as a free market town; hence its name, which translates to "free (or independent) town"--the word Burg, like the modern English word borough, was used in those days for an incorporated city or town, usually one with some degree of autonomy. The town was strategically located at a junction of trade routes between the Mediterranean and North seas, and the Rhine and Danube rivers. In the year 1200, Freiburg's population numbered around 6,000 people. At about this time, under the rule of Bertold V, the last duke of Zähringen, the city began construction of its Minster (Münster in German) on the site of an older parish church. Begun in the Romanesque style, it was continued and completed 1513 for the most part as a Gothic cathedral. In 1218, when Bertold V died, the counts of Urach assumed the title of Freiburg's count. The city council didn't trust the new nobles and wrote down their established rights in a document. At the end of the 13th century there was a feud between the citizens of Freiburg and their lord, Count Egino II of Freiburg. Egino raised taxes and sought to limit the citizens' freedom, after which the Freiburgers used catapults to destroy the count's castle atop Schloßberg, a hill that overlooks the city center. The furious count called on his brother-in-law the bishop of Strasbourg, Konradius von Lichtenberg, for help. The bishop answered by marching with his army to Freiburg. An old legend in Freiburg tells that a butcher named Hauri stabbed the Bishop of Strasbourg to death on July 29, 1299. A Pyrrhic victory, since henceforth the citizens of Freiburg had to pay an annual expiation of 300 marks in silver to the count of Freiburg until 1368. In 1366 the counts of Freiburg made another failed attempt to occupy the city during a night raid. Eventually the citizens were fed up with their lords, and in 1368 Freiburg purchased its independence from them. The city turned itself over to the protection of the Habsburgs, who allowed the city to retain a large measure of freedom. Most of the nobles of the city died in the battle of Sempach (1386). The patrician family Schnewlin took control of the city until the guildsmen revolted. The guilds became more powerful than the patricians in 1389.
   The silver mines in Mount Schauinsland (which means "look into the country") provided an important source of capital for Freiburg. This silver made Freiburg one of the richest cities in Europe, and in 1327 Freiburg minted its own coin, the Rappenpfennig. In 1377 the cities of Freiburg, Basel, Colmar, and Breisach entered into an alliance known as the Genossenschaft des Rappenpfennigs (Rappenpfennig Collective). This alliance facilitated commerce between the cities, and Freiburg's Rappenpfennig was in use from the upper Rhine region to northern Switzerland. The alliance lasted until the end of the 16th century. There were 8,000-9,000 people living in Freiburg between the 13th and 14th centuries, and 30 churches and monasteries. At the end of the 14th century, the veins of silver were dwindling and by 1460, only around 6,000 people still lived within Freiburg's city walls. A university city, Freiburg evolved from its focus on mining to become a cultural centre for the arts and sciences. It was also a commercial centre. The end of the Middle Ages and the dawn of the Renaissance was a time of both advances and tragedy for Freiburg.
   In 1457, Duke Albrecht VI established Albert-Ludwigs-Universität, one of Germany's oldest universities. In 1498, Emperor Maximilian I held Reichstag in Freiburg. In 1520, the city ratified a set of legal reforms, widely considered the most progressive of the time. The aim was to find a balance between city traditions and old Roman Law. The reforms were well received, especially the sections dealing with civil process law, punishment and the city's constitution.
   In 1520, Freiburg decided not to take part in the Reformation and became an important center for Catholicism on the Upper Rhine. In 1536, a strong and persistent belief in witchcraft led to the city's first witch-hunt. The need to find a scapegoat for calamities such as the Black Plague, which claimed 2,000 area residents (25% of the city population) in 1564, led to an escalation in witch-hunting that reached its peak in 1599. A plaque on the old city wall marks the spot where burnings were carried out.
   The 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries were turbulent times for Freiburg. Through battles in the Thirty Years' War (at the beginning of this war there were 10,000-14,000 citizens in Freiburg; by its end only 2,000) and other conflicts, the city belonged at various times to the Austrians, the French, the Swedish, the Spanish, and various members of the German Confederacy. In the period between 1648 and 1805, it was the administrative headquarters of Further Austria, the Habsburg territories in the southwest of Germany, when the city wasn't under French occupation. In 1805, the city, together with the Breisgau and Ortenau areas, became part of Baden.
   In 1827, when the Archdiocese of Freiburg was founded, Freiburg became the seat of a Roman Catholic archbishop.
   In 1889, the entire city had to be evacuated when the noxious compound thioacetone was produced in a laboratory.
   On October 22 1940, the Nazi Gauleiter of Baden ordered the deportation of all Baden's Jews, and 350 Jewish citizens of Freiburg were deported to the southern French internment camp of Gurs in the Basses-Pyrénées. They remained there under poor conditions until the majority of the survivors were sent to their deaths at Auschwitz on July 18, 1942. The cemetery for German Jews who died at Gurs is maintained by the town of Freiburg and other cities of Baden. A memorial stands outside the modern synagogue in the town centre. The pavements of Freiburg carry memorials to individual victims in form of brass plates outside former residences, including that of Edith Stein.
   The city was heavily bombed during World War II. In 1940 German planes mistakenly dropped approximately 60 bombs on Freiburg near the train station. A raid by more than 300 bombers of RAF Bomber Command on 27 November 1944 destroyed a large portion of the city centre, with the notable exception of the Münster, which was only lightly damaged. After the war, the city was rebuilt on its medieval plan. It became for a short time the site of government for the German state Badenia, which was merged into Baden-Württemberg soon after. It was occupied by the French Army in 1945. They maintained a presence in the city until 1991, when the last tank division left the city.
   On the site of the former French army base, a new neighborhood for 5,000 people, Vauban, was begun in the late 1990s as a "sustainable model district". Solar power is used to power many of the households in this small community.

Culture

Because of its scenic beauty, relatively warm and sunny climate and easy access to the Black Forest, Freiburg is a hub for regional tourism. The longest cable car run in Germany, which is 3.6 km, or about long runs from Günterstal up to a nearby mountain called Schauinsland. The city has an unusual system of gutters (called Bächle) that run throughout its centre. These Bächle, once used to provide water to fight fires and feed livestock, are constantly flowing with water diverted from the Dreisam. These Bächle were never used for sewage, as such usage could lead to harsh penalties, even in the Middle Ages. During the summer, the running water provides natural cooling of the air, and offers a pleasant, gurgling sound. It is said that if you step in a Bächle, you'll marry a Freiburger, or 'Bobbele'.
   The Augustinerplatz is one of the central squares in the old city. Formerly the location of an Augustine monastery which became the Augustinermuseum in 1921, it's now a popular social space for Freiburg's younger residents. It has a number of restaurants and bars, including the local brewery 'Feierling', which has a Biergarten. On warm summer nights, hundreds of students gather here.
    At the centre of the old city is the Münsterplatz, its largest square. A farmers' market takes place here every day except Sundays. This is the site of Freiburg's Münster, a gothic Minster Cathedral constructed of red sandstone, built between 1200 and 1530. The Freiburg Münster is noted for its towering spire.
   The Historisches Kaufhaus, or historical marketplace, is a Renaissance building constructed between 1520 and 1530 which was once the center of the financial life of the region. Its façade is decorated with the coat of arms of the Habsburgs.
   The Altes Rathaus, or old city hall, was completed in 1559 and has a painted façade.
   The Platz der alten Synagoge "Old Synagogue Square" is one of the more important squares on the outskirts of the historic old city. The square was the location of a Synagogue until it was destroyed on the Night of Broken Glass in 1938. St. George is the Patron Saint of Freiburg.

Government

Freiburg is known as an "eco-city". In recent years it has attracted solar industries and research; the Greens have a stronghold here (the strongest in any major German city; up to 25% of the votes city-wide, in some neighbourhoods reaching 40% or more in the 2002 national elections). The newly built neighbourhoods of Vauban and Rieselfeld were developed and built according to the idea of sustainability. The citizens of Freiburg are known in Germany for their love of cycling and recycling.
The Oberbürgermeister, Dr. Dieter Salomon, (elected in 2002), is the only member of Bündnis 90/Die Grünen who holds such an office in a city with more than 100,000 inhabitants. However, his deputy, Otto Neideck, is a member of the conservative party, the CDU.
In June 1992, the Freiburg city council adopted a resolution that it would only permit construction of "low energy buildings" on municipal land, and all new buildings must comply with certain "low energy" specifications. Low energy housing uses solar power passively as well as actively. In addition to solar panels and collectors on the roof, providing electricity and hot water, many passive features use the sun’s energy to regulate the temperature of the rooms.

Pop culture references

The title of the first track on the Hamburg based band Tocotronic's debut LP Digital ist Besser is Freiburg and seems to reflect the bands angst-driven dislike of the city.

Notable residents

Friedrich von Hayek, economist

Hans F. K. Günther, Nazi eugenicist

Dany Heatley, player for the Ottawa Senators NHL team

Martin Heidegger, philosopher (originally not from Freiburg, taught in Freiburg)

Edmund Husserl, philosopher

Boris Kodjoe, model and actor

Benjamin Lebert, author and newspaper columnist

Joachim Löw, coach of the German national football team.

Karl Rahner, Catholic theologian

Wolfgang Schäuble, Minister of the Interior, 1989 - 1991, in Helmut Kohl and, 2005 - current, Angela Merkel governments.

Jürgen Schrempp, former head of DaimlerChrysler

Berthold Schwarz, fabled alchemist who supposedly introduced gunpowder to Germany

Til Schweiger, actor and director

Hermann Staudinger, Nobel Prize in chemistry "for his discoveries in the field of macromolecular chemistry"

Edith Stein, Saint of the Roman Catholic Church, martyred by the Nazis, member of the Freiburg faculty; her residence is marked by a plaque.

Martin Waldseemüller, the inventor of the name America

August Weismann, biologist

Bernhard Witkop, organic chemist

Gallery

Image:Muenster gegenlicht 1.jpg|The Freiburger Münster Image:Octagonal_belfrey.jpg|Inside the belfry of the Freiburger Münster Image:Freiburg Landschaft vom schlossberg aus.jpg|Landscape seen from the Schlossberg Image:Freiburg Martinstor.jpg|The Martinstor Image:Freiburg Schwabentor.jpg|The Schwabentor Image:Freiburg Muensterplatz Kaufhaus.jpg|The Historic Marketplace (Historisches Kaufhaus) at the Münsterplatz Image:Freiburg Schlossberg Aussichtsturm.jpg|Observation tower on the Schlossberg Image:Freiburg Rathaus.jpg|Freiburg's town-hall Image:Freiburg_Hauptbahnhof.JPG|Freiburg's main train station (Hauptbahnhof) Image:Konzerthaus_Freiburg.JPG|The Konzerthaus (concert hall) Image:Freiburger_Stadttheater.JPG|Stadttheater Image:Friburgo Ruscelli nel Centro -- Freiburg with the city center streams.jpg|A Bächle in the centre of Freiburg Image:Friburgo - Freiburg.jpg|View of Freiburg Image:Haus_zum_Walfisch_2.jpg|Haus zum Walfisch Image:Colombi_Palace_2.jpg|Colombi Palace Image:Fischbrunnen_Freiburg.jpg|Fischbrunnen or Fish Fountain Further Information

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