German districts, cities and communities
From current rent levels to the appropriate registration office, these portals offer you useful statistics, official addresses and citizen services.
Aachen
When the locals greet one another here it is common to see them extend their pinkie fingers, which were once used to sort needles – after all, Aachen is the center of the German needle industry. And the name of the city comes from the Germanic word for “water”: Aachen is home to the hottest springs north of the Alps.
Augsburg
Virtually every child in Germany knows the name of this city: after all, the adventures of the marionettes from the “Augsburger Puppenkiste”, a famous puppet show, have been on television for over 60 years. A visit to this city is also worthwhile for anyone interested in history. In the Middle Ages, Augsburg became a cosmopolitan city through the trade of the Fugger and Welser families.
Baden-Baden
Thermal springs, a casino, horseracing and the festival theater lend a special flair to the spa and congress city on the edge of the Black Forest. The landed gentry and famous artists that gathered in Baden-Baden in the 19th century made it the place to see and be seen and the summer vacation capital of Europe at that time. Baden-Baden is also home to the first German tennis club.
Bamberg
Just like Rome, Bamberg was built on seven hills. This town, situated in Upper Franconia, has almost as many canals as Venice and – so people say – can easily match the beauty of the old town of Prague. Because of its wealth of sights, “Germany’s largest old town ensemble” has earned a place on the UNESCO list of World Heritage sites.
Bayreuth
The name Bayreuth is music to the ears of Wagner fans: the five-week-long Richard Wagner Festival delights visitors from around the world year after year. The Festival Theater on the “Grüner Hügel” (Green Hill) has become the city’s trademark.
Bergisch Gladbach
Don’t let the name of this city fool you: “Berg” means mountain in English, but there are no mountains in Bergisch Gladbach. The word “Bergisch” originates from the Earls of Berg, who settled here in the 12th century. This city in North Rhine-Westphalia, which incorporated Bensberg in 1975, is the seat of administration for the Rhinish-Bergisch district and is situated on the eastern coast of the Bay of Cologne.
Bielefeld
Frequently under siege, but never taken: Sparrenburg Castle, Bielefeld’s trademark, has never been conquered. This indefatigable spirit is often attributed to the people of eastern Westphalia as well. Visit the official Bielefeld website to find out more about the town of the linen weavers on the edge of the Teutoburg Forest. Today the city has a reputation of being very pro-business.
Bochum
Bochum lies at the heart of the Ruhr industrial area, and this former mining town’s official website offers a great way to discover it. At www.bochum.de, you can conveniently contact the city administration, find out when the City Council is scheduled to meet, plan a tour of the city and discover more about studying in Bochum or the regional business promotion programmes.
Bonn
From the capital city of Germany to the German seat of the United Nations (UNO): UNO organizations are now working under one roof in the “Langer Eugen”, the former parliamentary building. The home of Ludwig van Beethoven radiates its charm as an old royal residence. You'll find western history everywhere you go in Bonn - even the old Romans came to settle here on the banks of the Rhine River.
Bottrop
The history of Bottrop, the smallest big city in the Ruhr district, is closely entwined with the coal and steel industry. Today, it’s the city’s business community is made up mostly of small and medium-sized enterprises. A symbol of the structural change in the Ruhr district and the trademark of the city is the “Tetraeder”, an approximately 50-meter-high construction of steel pipe and welded joints that you can actually walk into and is transformed into a lighting experience at night.
Brunswick
The Cathedral, the castle and the statue of the lion all remind us of Brunswick’s past as an important city in the Middle Ages. This medieval center of trade went on to develop into an important cultural center during the Age of Enlightenment; Lessing’s “Emilia Galotti” and Goethe’s “Faust I” celebrated their premieres here.
Bremerhaven
From Bremerhaven to the Arctic and the Antarctic: ships regularly go out to sea from the Alfred-Wegener Institute to explore the polar regions and the oceans. You can pay a visit to three ports on the official Bremerhaven website, and then use the links to find out what’s happening at local institutes, organizations, and businesses.
Chemnitz
With its thriving tool, textile machine, and locomotive industries, Chemnitz was once considered the “Manchester of Saxony”. Despite recent fluctuations in high-tech production, the former industrial metropolis north of the Erz Mountains with its factories and workers’ quarters dating from the late19th century is also a cultural mecca. Its Wagner productions have earned Chemnitz the nickname the “Bayreuth of Saxony”. Use this official website to explore Chemnitz from the comfort of your desk.
Cottbus
The signs in the university and park-like city on the edge of the Spree Forest are bilingual: West Slavs have lived here for close to one thousand five-hundred years. They call themselves “Serby” or “Serbja”, and are also known as Sorbs or Wends.
Cuxhaven
Dort, wo die Elbe endet, steht die Kugelbake – die einst wichtige Orientierungs- und Navigationsmarke für Schiffer ist heute ebenso ein Wahrzeichen der Hafenstadt Cuxhaven wie das Semaphor, das anzeigt, woher hier der Wind weht. In Deutschlands größtem Nordseeheilbad stehen Erholung, Kuren und Wellness auf dem Programm.
Darmstadt
The number and renown of its institutes of science and research give Darmstadt its reputation as a city of science. The local music and literature institutes in particular provide for cultural stimuli by regularly hosting competitions and awarding literature prizes. One of these institutes, the Literature House, serves as a literary center.
Dortmund
The region used to be called the “Ruhrpott“, and everything was black with coal dust. But in the past 25 years the Ruhr Region, and with it the city of Dortmund, has undergone a fundamental structural transformation. The heart of Westphalia is green!
Duisburg
Located on the Rhine and the Ruhr, Duisburg not only possesses Europe’s largest river port, it also has a yacht harbor where you can start a tour along the rivers and canals of this surprisingly verdant conurbation.
Emden
The people of Emden call out a cheery “Moin Moin” (good morning) no matter what time of day they meet. Here, in the heart of East Friesland, you can chance to meet Otto, northern Germany’s star comedian, and his “Ottifants” in the “Otto-Huus”. The business community in the seaport of Emden has been shaped by its universal docks, shipbuilding and automotive industry. Cultural life centers around the Johannes á Lasco Library and the Emden Hall of Art.
Erlangen
When the French Huguenots settled in Erlangen in the 17th century, they established an ideal baroque city, much of which still remains today. Today Erlangen is home to the second-largest university in Bavaria and the company Siemens, and is an important European center for microelectronics.
Essen
From the largest mining town in Europe to the “Cultural Capital of Europe in 2010”: the last coal mine in Essen, “Zeche Zollverein”, was finally shut down in 1986. Meanwhile, it has become a trademark of the Ruhr industrial region and was added to the UNESCO list of World Cultural Heritage sites in 2001. Based on the motto “Change through Culture”, Essen has developed a widely diverse program of cultural events.
Flensburg
Flensburg was under the reign of Denmark for more than 400 years, and today the Baltic seaport on the German-Danish border is still marked by the meeting of these two cultures. In addition, every car driver in Germany knows this city as the place where their points can pile up when they get too many speeding or parking tickets.
Frankfurt (Oder)
Bridges are being built in Frankfurt (Oder), Germany’s eastern-most university city, on the banks of the Oder River, the border to Poland. Viadrina University, a European university founded in 1991, stands for cultural and academic efforts to transcend national borders.
Frankfurt am Main
“Mainhattan” – that’s what the city of Frankfurt on the banks of the Main River is often fondly called, not least because of the many skyscrapers and the glittering towers of glass you’ll find here. The city, which is home to approximately 700,000 people, is world-famous for its stockmarket and as a tradefair location. Frankfurt is one of the major traffic hubs in Europe and, because the headquarters of the European Central Bank are located here, it also has an important political function.
Freiburg
Its average of 1,800 hours of sunshine a year have earned Freiburg in Breisgau – the region where France, Switzerland and Germany meet – the fitting nickname “Solar City”. And its sunny disposition is also what predestined Freiburgto become one of Germany’s leading cities in research and practical use of solar energy.
Fürth
Fürth, the “cloverleaf” city, was under the reign of three different rulers and an important center of Judaism in Europe for hundreds of years. It is a city rich in history and customs. The Fürth Michaelis Fair is held here each year, one of the traditional large events of Central Franconia.
Gelsenkirchen
Mines, blast furnaces and headframes – in Gelsenkirchen industrial monuments document 150 years of industrialization. Go to Gelsenkirchen’s official website to get to know this city in the Ruhrpott, the affectionate nickname for Germany’s largest industrial region around the Ruhr River and its inhabitants. The local soccer team, Schalke 04, now plays just as important a role in the day-to-day lives of Gelsenkirchen residents as coal mining and cast steel once did.
Gera
A true labyrinth of underground passageways, some up to ten meters deep, run underneath the center of the old downtown area. The “Gera Caverns” were first excavated as underground storage for the brewing industry at the beginning of the 18th century. The former capital and residence city of the Principality of Reuß is now the second-largest city in Thuringia.
Gießen
Are you a plant lover? The roots of Giessen’s “hortus medicus” – the oldest botanical university gardens in Germany, go back to the year 1609. Its historical plants are still part of the gardens today. Giessen was an agricultural town for a long time; using mineral fertilizer in farming can be traced back to the Giessen-based professor of chemistry Justus Freiherr von Liebig.
Görlitz
The Gothic period, the Renaissance, or the Baroque: Görlitz is known as the “picture book of urban architecture” in “Oberlausitz”, the triangle between Germany, the Czech Republic and Poland. In 1998 it merged with its Polish twin city to form “Görlitz/Zgorzelec, City of Europe” after having been divided along the Neisse River following World War II.
Göttingen
Göttingen is known as “the city that creates knowledge”: in this university city and scientific research center steeped in tradition, close to 20 percent of the population are students. The university is one of the ten largest in Germany and attracts many prospective students to southern Lower Saxony every year. More than 40 Nobel laureates have lived, taught and researched here.
Greifswald
Caspar David Friedrich, a well-known German romantic painter, made the “meadows by Greifswald” and the ruins of the Eldena monestary famous the world over. His motifs can still be found in the Hanseatic university town in West Pommerania in the “Greifswalder Bodden”, between the islands of Usedom and Rügen.
Hagen
You won’t exactly be able to reach for the moon here, but at the Public Observatory in Hagen you can at least sponsor a star. The city has a “hotline to the universe”, and as you can read on the official website, the city boasts the world’s first model of the solar system that you can actually walk through and touch.
Halle
The first woman in Germany to receive a German doctorate’s degree did so in Halle and it was also in Halle that the first electric streetcar in Europe drove down city streets. The birthplace of Georg Friedrich Händel introduces itself here on its official website as a progressive cultural and university city as well as a modern center of technological and scientific research.
Hameln
“The Pied Piper of Hameln” is one of Germany’s most famous legends and it has been translated into more than 30 different languages. If you have never heard the tale, you can read it at the city website, even in Chinese or Russian.
Heidelberg
The castle, the old city and the river, all surrounded by mountains – Heidelberg is as pretty as a picture in the heart of the Rhine-Neckar triangle. The City of Science looks back on a long tradition; the Ruperto Carola University founded here in 1386 is the oldest in Germany.
Heilbronn
Known for Käthchen, wine, and the Neckar River, the city was made famous through a play by Heinrich von Kleist entitled “Käthchen von Heilbronn”. Württemberg’s third-largest wine-producing region is also known as the red wine metropolis. The Neckar River, which runs like a pulsing artery through the heart of the city, helped the citizens of Heilbronn to achieve economic prosperity as early as in the Middle Ages.
Herne
All the Herne city coats-of-arms since 1900 bear irons and mallets – mineworkers’ tools – in some form because Herne’s history is inextricably linked with the history of mining. The current coat-of-arms has also borne a horse rearing up on its hind legs since 1975 to symbolize the incorporation of Wanne-Eickel and the wild horses that once lived in the wild regions in that area (Emscherbruch).
Hildesheim
Starting from the historical market square, white roses painted on the streets and paths of the city lead you to historical buildings and churches. The “Rose Route” also takes visitors to two World Heritage Sites, St. Michael’s Church, and the Hildesheim Cathedral. Hildesheim has been a cultural center between the Harz Mountains and the Heath for more than 1,200 years.
Hof
“Hof in Bavaria - as high as you can get!” is the motto of this city in northeastern Bavaria – where the three Free States of Bavaria, Saxony and Thuringia meet. The city of Hof is situated at an altitude of 470 m above sea level, surrounded by nature between the low-mountain region of the Fichtelgebirge and the Franconian Forest on the banks of the Saxon Saale River.
Ingolstadt
Dukedom, university city, fortress, industrial center – go to Ingolstadt’s official Web pages to find out more about its past and present. And be sure not to miss the virtual tour of the city.
Jena
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and Friedrich Schiller became friends here. The many plaques around Jena honor such other great Germans as Fichte, Hegel and Schelling. First and foremost an important center of the German Romantic movement and philosophy, Jena was also the cradle of the optical and glass industries.
Kaiserslautern
Kaiserslautern - a city balanced between nature and technology. On the one hand, there is the ""Pfälzer Wald"" conservation area, which is a popular destination for day trips with the whole family, and on the other, the industry, where Kaiserslautern has a respected international reputation for its technical university and many research centers.
Karlsruhe
In Karlsruhe, the streets and avenues radiate out from the Baroque Castle, the central focus of the city, like rays of sunshine. Not unlike the view from the castle tower, where the entire city spreads out like a fan before you, this official city website offers you a prime vantage point of Karlsruhe on the Internet.
Kassel
Every five years, the documenta art exhibition turns Kassel into a Mecca for contemporary art. But even in the years in-between, the wide variety of different museums in the north Hessian city offer inhabitants as well as visitors a wealth of cultutral experiences. Situated at the halfway point along the German Fairy Tale Road, Kassel offers you the opportunity to wander along the same paths taken by the Brothers Grimm through castles and parklands.
Koblenz
When someone from Koblenz says “Biere”, he probably means “Birne”, the German word for pear, rather than beers. The Mosel-Franconian dialect spoken in Koblenz favors broad, long drawn-out sounds. There at the German Corner, where the Rhine and the Mosel Rivers meet, lies Koblenz, one of the oldest cities in Germany.
Cologne
The Cathedral in Cologne might be Germany’s most popular tourist attraction, but the Carnival, the “Fastelovend”, also attracts millions of guests to the cultural metropolis on the banks of the Rhine River each year. Cologne was founded more than 2000 years ago by a Roman general and was known as “Colonia” at that time. Today, there is still a lot of evidence of the old Roman origins to be found throughout the downtown area.
Constance
Spices, linen and furs were objects of trade in Constance – in the Middle Ages, the city was an important marketplace, largely owing to its favorable location on the trade routes to Upper Italy, France and Eastern Europe. Today, the narrow, medieval streets and lanes downtown encourage visitors to stop and browse.
Krefeld
Each year in September, the inhabitants of Krefeld get a “sneak peek” at the creations of great fashion designers before the rest of the nation at the world´s largest street fashion show. And this isn´t the only attraction the city of cloth and silk manufacturers offers to the fashion-conscious. There are also the old weaving mills and the German Textile Museum.
Leipzig
“Paris in Miniature” – that’s what Johann Wolfgang von Goethe liked to fondly call Leipzig. Today, the city in Saxony is famous as a tradeshow venue and for its old, well-established university. The opera, cabarets and jazz pubs promise art and cultural entertainment. A walk around the city reveals architectural gems from the Baroque and Renaissance periods.
Leverkusen
The old village charm of Leverkusen can still be felt in the picturesque fishers’ cottages on the banks of the Rhine, medieval buildings and half-timbered houses: after all, just one hundred ago, this was all rural countryside. More than one quarter of the city area is still covered with parks, gardens and fields.
Lübeck
Just like the Palace of Versailles or the Egyptian pyramids, downtown Lübeck is also on the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites. The official website of the Hanseatic city will take you through Germany’s most famous city gate dating from the late Middle Ages to all the other magnificent buildings in Lübeck.
Ludwigshafen
Ludwigshafen, the “Chemistry City”, is not even 200 years old. Along with Mannheim and Heidelberg, it is one of the three largest cities in the Rhine-Neckar Triangle and if you want to find out what this industrial city has to offer, just go to its official website.
Lüneburg
Lüneburg can actually challenge Berlin for the dubious title of the city with the most pubs per square meter. The official portal of the “City of Salt”, nestled between the Heath and the Elbe River, shows what Lüneburg has to offer in terms of culture, tourism and business.
Wittenberg the City of Martin Luther
As you stroll through the old part of the city, you’ll suddenly find yourself directly in front of the Castle Church with the world-famous door to which Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses in1517. The city is full of impressive Renaissance buildings. Wittenberg was officially made the “City of Martin Luther” in 1938; in 1996, the places where Luther lived and worked were added to the UNESCO list of World Cultural Heritage sites.
Mannheim
It’s “virtually” impossible to get lost here: Mannheim is divided up into blocks of buildings, all of which are approximately the same size. The city’s design, which was laid out in a checkerboard pattern in 1600 with its blocks designated as “C4” or “S6”, is unique in Germany.
Marburg
In 1228 Duchess Elisabeth von Thuringia had a hospital built in Marburg and nursed the sick and infirm there. One of the most beautiful Gothic buildings in Germany, Elisabeth Church, reminds us of this saint today. In 1527, the Philipps University, the first Protestant university in Germany, was founded in the Central Hessian city. One in four residents of Marburg are now in some way connected with university, either as employees or as students.
Moers
Drusus, a stepson of Augustus, the first Roman emperor, is said to have founded Asciburgium – Moers-Asberg. Or was it Odysseus on his wanderings about one thousand years earlier? Today, this historical site on the left bank of the Lower Rhine River is a city where you can enjoy culture or just go shopping on the western edge of the Ruhr industrial area.
Mönchengladbach
Your first impression of Mönchengladbach-Rheindahlen may be deceiving: it seems like a very young city, but actually it’s where some of the most important evidence of the Old Stone Age has been found in western Germany, some even dating back to the time of Neanderthal man.
Mülheim on Ruhr
The Ruhr River flows like an artery of life through this city in the heart of the “Pott”. It courses some 14 kilometers through the downtown and other areas of the city, surrounded by meadows that offer natural recreational areas. Mülheim on Ruhr has a long mining tradition.
Münster
Münster is also known as the “Bicycle Capital of Europe”: there are twice as many bikes here as people. A city Promenade for cyclists only, a bicycle parking garage and an automatic “bike washer” are just some of the unique things you’ll find in this student center and bishopric in Westphalia. Both geographically and business-wise, Münster is the center of the “Müsterland” region in the north-west of North Rhine-Westphalia.
Neuss
Don’t let the name fool you: Novaesium, known today as Neuss, is not “new” at all, but in fact one of the oldest cities in Germany. It´s the more than 2000-year history of this city in the Rhine region goes back to days of the Romans.
Nuremberg
The best place to enjoy gingerbread and fried sausage in Nuremberg is at the famous “Christkindlmarkt”, the Christmas Market. The Kaiserburg, or Imperial Castle – one of the most important imperial palaces dating from the Middle Ages – is the city’s most famous landmark. Today, the old historical downtown area is a bustling place, filled with pubs, bars and restaurants.
Oberhausen
Oberhausen is a city that stands for structural change: it is home not only to the oldest workers’ village dating from the age of industrialization in the Ruhr industrial area, but has also played host to the International Short Film Festival for almost 60 years.
Offenbach
Thanks to its central location, Offenbach is ideal as the starting point for excursions into the Rhine-Main region to Taunus, Spessart and Odenwald. Downstream on the Main, you will be enticed by the wines of the Rhine, while upstream you´ll find baroque Franconia.
Oldenburg
How well do you know the northwest of Germany? To find out what you need to know, be sure to visit the official website of the university city of Oldenburg, the economic, administrative and cultural center of the Weser-Ems region.
Osnabrück
The end of the Thirty-Years’ War was officially proclaimed in Osnabrück in 1648 and the Peace of Westphalia is among one of the most important dates in European history. Today, history buffs can still explore the past in Osnabrück’s Town Hall. The forth-largest city in Lower Saxony also attracts visitors with its medieval architecture, the Teutoburg Forest nearby and its rich museum landscape.
Paderborn
Paderborn does not only have the river Pader to thank for its name, but also for a great deal of its urban charm. The official website of the Westphalian city on the boundary between the North German Plain and Germany’s Mittelgebirge enables you to find out more about the city’s Oberstadt and Unterstadt districts.
Passau
With 17,774 pipes and 233 stops, the organ in Passau’s St. Stephan’s Cathedral is the most impressive Catholic church organ in the world – and a “must-see” for every visitor to Bavaria’s three-river city, situated on the banks of the Danube, the Inn and the Ilz. You will find more tourist attractions at
Pforzheim
Gold rush: it all started with the production of pocket watches in 1767 – and today, approximately 75 percent of the turnover in the German jewelry and silver goods industry is earned in the golden city of Pforzheim.
Quedlinburg
The historic center of the city of Quedlinburg was named a UNESCO World Cultural Heritage site in December 1994: 1200 half-timbered buildings dating from six centuries and the Medieval plan of the city make Quedlinburg an extraordinary example of an European Medieval town.
Recklinghausen
In the north the fields of Münsterland, in the south the mining pits of the Ruhr industrial region: these are two of Recklinghausen’s faces. The new philharmonic orchestra, Ruhr festival productions, and the Icon Museum described on Recklinghausen’s official website will give you a few more reasons to visit the city.
Regensburg
The title of “Italy’s most northern city” is extremely popular in Germany. In addition to the people of Regensburg, the inhabitants of Cologne and Munich also claim this title for their city. In any event, architectural links with the south and Regensburg’s undoubted vitality disseminate a feeling of Italian flair. Anyone who visits Bavaria’s fourth largest city will soon lose track of time in the narrow alleyways of its old town, which became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2006.
Remscheid
If you would like to be on top of the world, then just take the train to Remscheid: at 107 meters, the Müngsten Bridge is the highest railway bridge in Germany, and it connects Remscheid with Solingen. And then after that surge of adrenaline, enjoy a relaxing walk around the Eschbach reservoir, Germany’s first drinking water reservoir.
Reutlingen
Reutlingen is situated at the foot of the Achalm, a beautiful mountain pasture, in the Swabian Mountains – medieval half-timbered houses, Gothic religious architecture and modern structural design are characteristic of the cityscape. Once a cloth-producing town in the Middle Ages, Reutlingen is now the largest economic center between Stuttgart and Lake Constance.
Rostock
“Brick and more brick everywhere you look”: in Rostock, an old university city on the Baltic coast, you’ll experience the flair of a Hanseatic town along with the Gothic brick architecture typical of northern Germany. In the summer, the “Hanse Sail Rostock”, a huge maritime event, attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors to Rostock and its many nearby health resorts on the Baltic Sea.
Salzgitter
The ancient Teutonic people already used smelting ovens to produce iron in the region around Salzgitter hundreds of years ago. Iron ore and its economic exploitation are integral in shaping the history of the city, which grew up during the Third Reich, when a gigantic iron and steel works was built there. Today, Salzgitter is the third-largest industrial location in Lower Saxony and a spa with one of the strongest natural thermal salt water springs in Germany.
Siegen
Built on the River Sieg, a tributary of the Rhine, the city of Siegen lies between the Rothaar Mountains and the Westerwald Forest. The university town and economic hub of southern Westphalia has been shaped by the traditions of mining and metal working. The deepest iron ore mines in Europe were worked in the Siegerland region up until 1962.
Solingen
Internationally known as the “City of Blades”, the name of Solingen is also a registered trademark for quality knives and scissors. The city is situated geographically in the “Bergische” countryside, belongs politically to North Rhine-Westphalia, and has its cultural roots in Rhineland.
Wolfenbüttel
Did you know that Gotthold Ephraim Lessing wrote his famous novel ""Nathan"" in Wolfenbüttel? Or that the famous philosopher Leibniz was once the director of the well-known ""Herzog August Library""? The portal for the old residence city of dukes in Lower Saxony has some surprising information in store for even knowledgeable locals.
Stralsund
“And even if the city is chained to the stars, I will bring it back down to Earth” General Albrecht von Wallenstein is rumored to have said as he besieged Stralsund in vain during the Thirty Years’ War. With Sweden and Denmark as its allies, Stralsund was able to withstand the siege, and was then under the Swedish crown for almost 200 years until 1815.
Trier
The oldest city in Germany was founded as “Augusta Treverorum” by the Romans in 16 B.C. And Trier is certainly not on the UNESCO list of World Cultural Heritage for no reason: this is where you can expect to find an open-air museum of architecture with stony reminders of the Roman, Romantic and Gothic periods as well as the Renaissance, the Baroque and the Classical eras. This modern university town and Catholic diocese is the center of the major wine-producing regions on the Mosel, Saar and Ruwer Rivers.
Tübingen
The “ingen” ending in the name of this city indicates that it was founded by the Alemannic people approximately thousand five hundred years ago. The town was mentioned in records for the first time in the year 1078.
Ulm
The official website operated by Ulm and Neu-Ulm will divulge the secrets of why fishermen from the Württemberg and Bavarian banks of the Danube fought duels in the middle of the river and what the “Ulm Guilder”, a square silver coin, is all about.
Weimar
“Noble be man, helpful and good!“ This is the first line of Johann Wolfgang Goethe’s poem entitled “The Godlike”, describing the awareness of life at the time of the Weimar Classic. The city is world-famous as a venue for literature, music and art; in 1999 it was honored as the “European City of Culture”. Many a visitor here today may hope to be kissed by the muse, as Goethe, Schiller, Wieland or Cranach once were.
Wilhelmshaven
In the district of Siebethsburg a number of streets are named after pirates, because they were among the founders of the seaport. Today, regular naval vessels are anchored here. Wilhelmshaven is Germany’s largest naval base with the only deepwater port on the German Bight.
Witten
According to legend, a swineherd in the Muttental valley discovered the black coal that made Witten the centre of the Ruhr mining industry in the 19th century. The former mining town, which lies in the Ennepe-Ruhr district on the south-eastern edge of the Ruhr region, is part of the central Ruhr area and the seat of the Witten-Herdecke private university.
Wolfsburg
The Volkswagen plant and Wolfsburg belong together: the foundation stone of Volkswagen’s home town was laid in 1938 to create a complex producing affordable practical cars in huge numbers. Today it is the headquarters of Europe’s largest automobile producer.
Worms
This is where Siegfried, the dragon slayer, met the proud Kriemhild: most of the scenes in the medieval Nibelungenlied are set in and around Worms. The festival of the same name and the Nibelungen Museum keep the saga of the city alive today.
Wuppertal
In Wuppertal, you can ride the monorail every day if you like. And this official website will tell you what else the largest city in the “Bergisch” region has to offer.
Würzburg
Inquiring minds may already know that the laboratory where Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen once discovered X-rays is in Würzburg. But the Marienberg Fortress or the “Castle above all other castles”, which is on the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites, and the baroque Würzburg Residence also make it well worth your while to visit this city on your next vacation. And of course there’s also the Main River.
Zwickau
The Trabant, a car fondly referred to as a “speedy cardboard box”, first went into full-scale production in Zwickau in 1958, and the last Trabi rolled off the production lines in April 1991 and straight into the Automobile Museum. The city in the Free State of Saxony is also known as the Robert Schumann City in honor of the famous composer born here.
