Sigmaringen

Sigmaringen is a town in southern Germany, in the state of Baden-Württemberg. Situated on the upper Danube, it is the capital of the Sigmaringen district.

Sigmaringen is renowned for its castle, Schloss Sigmaringen, which was the seat of the principality of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen until 1850 and is still owned by the Hohenzollern family.

Geography
Sigmaringen lies in the Danube valley, surrounded by wooded hills in the south of the Swabian Alb around 40 km away from Lake Constance.

The surrounding towns are on the north, Winterlingen (in the district of Zollernalb) and Veringenstadt, on the east, Bingen, Sigmaringendorf, and Scheer, on the south, Mengen, Krauchenwies, Inzigkofen, and Meßkirch, and on the west, Leibertingen, Beuron, and Stetten am kalten Markt.
The city is made up from the following districts: Sigmaringen (inner-city), Gutenstein, Jungnau, Laiz, Oberschmeien and Unterschmeien.

History
Sigmaringen was first documented in 1077 and was in the principality of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen until 1850, after which it became the Prussian Province of Hohenzollern.

Prehistory and early history
The history of settlement in the territory of the present town Sigmaringen dates back to the Paleolithic.

Middle Ages
In the 11th century, the end of the Early Middle Ages, the first castle was built on the rock that protected the valley. The first written reference is from 1077, when King Rudolf of Rheinfelden tried in vain to conquer Sigmaringen castle. The official city foundation was in 1250. In 1325 the city was sold to Ulrich III, Count of Württemberg. In 1460 and 1500, the castle was rebuilt into a chateau. About the county of Werdenberg Sigmaringen came in 1535 to the high noble family of the Hohenzollern.

Modern times

In 1632 the Swedes occupied the castle during the Thirty Years' War.

From 1806 to 1849 Sigmaringen was the capital of the sovereign Principality Hohenzollern and residence of the princes of Hohenzollern. 
As a result of the Revolution in Sigmaringen of 1848, the Princes of Hechingen and Sigmaringen waived on their rule, whereby both principalities in 1850 fell to Prussia. From 1850 to 1945 Sigmaringen was the seat of Prussian Government for the Province of Hohenzollern. Karl Anton von Hohenzollern was 1858-1862 Prime Minister of Prussia. 
From 1914 to 1918 around 150 men from the town lost their lives during World War I. 
In the Nazi era a Gestapo office was in Sigmaringen. From 1937 it belonged to the Gestapo Stuttgart.

Between 1934 and 1942 more than 100 men were sterilized because of "hereditary diseases". During the Nazi medical experiments, the "T4", became on 12 December 1940 for the first time 71 mentally handicapped and mentally ill patients victims of Nazi injustice. The deportation led them into the Grafeneck Euthanasia Centre, where the men and women were killed as "unworthy of life". After the closure of Grafeneck in December 1940, on 14 March 1941 a further deportation to the Hadamar Euthanasia Centre was made.

Vichy French enclave (1944–1945)
See also Commission gouvernementale de Sigmaringen (in French).

On September 7, 1944, following the Allied invasion of France, Philippe Pétain and members of the Vichy government cabinet were relocated to Germany. A city-state ruled by the government in exile headed by Fernand de Brinon was established at Sigmaringen. There were three embassies in the city-state, representing each of Vichy-France's allies: Germany, Italy, and Japan. 

French writers Louis-Ferdinand Céline, Lucien Rebatet and Roland Gaucher, fearing for their lives because of their political and anti-Semitic writings, fled along with the Vichy government to Sigmaringen. Céline's novel D'un château l'autre (English: Castle to Castle) describes the fall of Sigmaringen. The city was taken by Free French forces on April 22, 1945. Pétain returned to France, where he stood trial for treason.

Religions
The following religions are present in Sigmaringen:
 Roman Catholic Church
 Evangelische Landeskirche in Württemberg
 Evangelische Militärkirchengemeinde
 Pentecostalism
 Jehovah's Witnesses
 New Apostolic Church

Transportation infrastructure
Three railways meet in Sigmaringen, the Danube Valley Railway leading from Donaueschingen to Ulm, the Tübingen–Sigmaringen railway from Tübingen to Aulendorf, and the line operated by the Hohenzollerische Landesbahn from Sigmaringen to Hechingen.

Sigmaringen lies in the serving area of Verkehrsverbund Neckar-Alb-Donau (NALDO).

Notable residents
Sigmaringen was the birthplace of Saint Fidelis of Sigmaringen, a Roman Catholic martyr of the Counter-Reformation in Switzerland, and Ferdinand of Romania, King of Romania. It was one of the residences of deceased Prince Friedrich Wilhelm of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, the late representative of the house, who was the first in the line of succession to the throne of Romania, by Salic law. Frederick Miller, founder of the Miller Brewing Company, was living in Sigmaringen during the start of his brewing career.

People who worked locally

 Louis-Ferdinand Céline (1894–1961), pro-Nazi and antisemitic French writer, fled in 1944 to Sigmaringen, as well as the Vichy government had been housed there. 
 Lucien Rebatet (1903–1972), pro-Nazi and antisemitic French writer, fled in 1944 to Sigmaringen, as well as the Vichy government had been housed there.
 Winfried Kretschmann (born 1948), politician, Minister-President of Baden-Württemberg (The Greens), lives in the district of Laiz.

Notable people
 Richard Lauchert (1825–1868), painter and professor
 Theodor Bilharz (1825–1862), physician and scientist
 Carol I of Romania (1839-1914), King of Romania
 Ferdinand I of Romania (1865-1927), King of Romania
 Max Giese (1879–1935), contractor, inventor of the concrete pump
 Josef Henselmann (1898–1987), sculptor and longtime head of the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich
 Johann Georg of Hohenzollern (1932–2016), art historian and museum director
 Karl Lehmann (born 1936), Cardinal and Bishop of Mainz, from 1987 to 2008 chairman of the German Bishops' Conference
 Lothar Späth (1937–2016), politician (CDU), former Prime Minister of Baden-Württemberg
 Pascal Wehrlein (born 1994), Formula 1 racing driver

Bibliography

References

External links

 Official website
 Sigmaringen castle
 Erster Farbfotos aus Sigmaringen 1936

Category:Populated places on the Danube
Category:Towns in Baden-Württemberg
Category:Vichy France
Category:Sigmaringen (district)
Category:Province of Hohenzollern