Ansbach ( ANZ-bak, German: [ˈansbax] ; East Franconian: Anschba) is a city in the German state of Bavaria. It is the capital of the administrative region of Middle Franconia. Ansbach is 40 kilometers (25 miles) southwest of Nuremberg and 140 kilometers (90 miles) north of Munich, on the river Fränkische Rezat, a tributary of the river Main. In 2020, its population was 41,681.
Developed in the 8th century as a Benedictine monastery, it became the seat of the Hohenzollern family in 1331. In 1460, the Margraves of Brandenburg-Ansbach lived here. The city has a castle known as Margrafen–Schloss, built between 1704 and 1738. It was not badly damaged during the World Wars and hence retains its original historical baroque sheen. Ansbach is now home to a US military base and to the Ansbach University of Applied Sciences.
The city has connections via autobahn A6 and highways B13 and B14. Ansbach station is on the Nürnberg–Crailsheim and Treuchtlingen–Würzburg railways and a station of line S4 of the Nuremberg S-Bahn.
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Name origin
Ansbach was originally called Onoltesbach (about 790 AD), a term composed of three parts.
The individual word elements are "Onold" (the city founder's name), the Suffix "-es" (a possessive ending, like "-'s" in English) and the Old High German expression "pah" or "bach" (for brook). The name of the city has slightly changed throughout the centuries into Onoltespah (837 AD), Onoldesbach (1141 AD), Onoldsbach (1230 AD), Onelspach (1338 AD), Onsbach (1508 AD) and finally Ansbach (1732 AD).
It was also formerly known as Anspach.
History
According to folklore, towards the end of the 7th century a group of Franconian peasants and their families went up into the wilderness to found a new settlement. Their leader Onold led them to an area called the "Rezattal" (Rezat valley). This is where they founded the "Urhöfe" (meaning the first farms: Knollenhof, Voggenhof and Rabenhof). Gradually more settlers, such as the "Winden-Tribe" came, and the farms grew into a small village. Many villages around Ansbach were founded by the "Winden" during that period (even today, their settlements can easily identified by their names, like Meinhardswinden, Dautenwinden or Brodswinden). A Benedictine monastery was established there around 748 by the Frankish noble St Gumbertus. The adjoining village of Onoltesbach was first noticed as a proper town in 1221.
The counts of Öttingen ruled over Ansbach until the Hohenzollern burgrave of Nürnberg took over in 1331. The Hohenzollerns made Ansbach the seat of their dynasty until their acquisition of the Margraviate of Brandenburg in 1415. After the 1440 death of Frederick I, a cadet branch of the family established itself as the margraves of Ansbach. George the Pious introduced the Protestant Reformation to Ansbach in 1528, leading to Gumbertus Abbey's secularization in 1563.
The Markgrafenschloß was built between 1704 and 1738. Its gardens continued to be a notable attraction into the 1800s. In 1791, the last margrave sold his realm to the Kingdom of Prussia. In 1796, the Duke of Zweibrücken, Maximilian Joseph — the future Bavarian king— was exiled to Ansbach the French took Zweibrücken. In Ansbach, Maximilian von Montgelas wrote an elaborate concept for the future political organization of Bavaria, which is known as the Ansbacher Mémoire. Napoleon forced Prussia to cede Ansbach and its principality to Bavaria in the Franco-Prussian treaty of alliance signed at Schönbrunn Palace on 15 December 1805 at the end of the Third Coalition. Ansbach became the capital of the Rezatkreis ('Circle of the Rezat'). Bavarian ownership was confirmed by the 1815 Congress of Vienna; Prussia was compensated with the Bavarian Duchy of Berg. In 1837 the Rezatkreis became the circle of Middle Franconia. Following the unification of Germany Ansbach had a population of 12,635, which by 1925 had risen to 21,923.
Jewish families were resident in Ansbach from at least the end of the 18th century. They set up a Jewish Cemetery in the Ruglaender Strasse, which was vandalised and razed under the Nazi regime in the Kristallnacht. It was repaired in 1946, but it was damaged several times more. A plaque on the wall of the cemetery commemorates these events. The Jewish Congregation built its synagogue at No 3 Rosenbadstrasse, but it too was damaged by the SA, though it was not burnt down for fear of damaging the neighbouring buildings. It serves today as a "Symbolic House of God". A plaque in the entrance serves as a memorial to the synagogue and to Jewish residents who were murdered during the Holocaust. In 1940, at least 500 patients were deported from the Heil- und Pflegeanstalt Ansbach [Ansbach Medical and Nursing Clinic] to the extermination facilities Sonnenstein and Hartheim which were disguised as psychiatric institutions, as part of the Action T4 euthanasia action. They were gassed there. At the clinic in Ansbach itself, around 50 intellectually disabled children were injected with the drug Luminal and killed that way. A plaque was erected in their memory in 1988 in the local hospital at No. 38 Feuchtwangerstrasse.
Boroughs
Eyb bei Ansbach, part of Ansbach since 1 October 1970
Bernhardswinden, part of Ansbach since 1 July 1972
Brodswinden, part of Ansbach since 1 July 1972
Claffheim, part of Ansbach since 1 July 1972
Elpersdorf bei Ansbach, part of Ansbach since 1 July 1972
Hennenbach, part of Ansbach since 1 July 1972
Neuses bei Ansbach, part of Ansbach since 1 July 1972
Strüth
Wasserzell
Schalkhausen, part of Ansbach since 1 July 1972
Geisengrund
Dornberg
Neudorf
Steinersdorf
Lord mayors
1877–1905: Ludwig Keller (1839–1911)
1905–1919: Ernst Rohmeder
1919–1934: Wilhelm Borkholder (1886–1945)
1934–1945: Richard Hänel (NSDAP) (1895-date of death unknown)
1945: Hans Schregle (1890–1970), (SPD), introduced by the Office of Military Government, United States
1945–1950: Ernst Körner (SPD)
1950–1952: Friedrich Böhner
1952–1957: Karl Burkhardt (CSU)
1957–1971: Ludwig Schönecker (CSU)
1971–1990: Ernst-Günther Zumach (CSU) (1926–2012)
1990–2008: Ralf Felber (SPD)
2008-2020: Carda Seidel (independent)
since May 2020: Thomas Deffner (CSU)
Sights
Castle of the Margraves of Brandenburg-Ansbach
Museum Retti Palais
Margrave museum
Kaspar Hauser Monument
St. Gumbertus and St. Johannis churches, both 15th century
Theater Ansbach
Ansbacher Kammerspiele
LOFT – projectspace for contemporary art
Climate
Ansbach has a transitional temperate-continental climate (Köppen climate classification: Cfb/Dfb), with a small diurnal air temperature variation between day and night during winter, and with a moderate annual precipitation.
Economy
Around the time of the unification of Germany in 1871, the chief manufactures of Ansbach were woollen, cotton, and half-silk goods; earthenware; tobacco; cutlery; and playing cards. A considerable trade in grain, wool, and flax was also supported. By the onset of the First World War, it also produced machinery, toys, and embroidery.
Today there is a large density of plastics industry in the city and rural districts around Ansbach.
The city is known for making Peperami pork sausages and jerky.
Transport
Ansbach lies on the Treuchtlingen-Würzburg railway. The nearest airport is Nuremberg Airport, located 81 km (50 mi) about an hour drive north east of Ansbach. Munich Airport is also located 196 km (122 mi) which is a 2 hour drive south east of the city.
Notable people
Public service
Elisabeth von Brandenburg-Ansbach (1451–1524), Princess of Brandenburg, by marriage Duchess of Württemberg
Frederick I, Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach (1460–1536), Margrave of Ansbach & Margrave of Kulmbach
Albert, Duke of Prussia (1490–1568), Grand Master of the Teutonic Order and the first duke of Prussia.
Margravine Eleonore Juliane of Brandenburg-Ansbach (1663–1724), Princess of Brandenburg-Ansbach, by marriage Duchess of Württemberg-Winnental
Caroline of Ansbach (1683–1737), Queen of Great Britain and Ireland, wife of George II of Great Britain.
Christian Friedrich Carl Alexander (1736–1806), the last Margrave of Ansbach
Karl Heinrich Ritter von Lang (1764–1835), a historian and statesman, lived mainly in Ansbach.
Moritz Ritter von Spies (1805–1862), Bavarian Major General and War Minister
John James Maximilian Oertel (1811–1882), a Lutheran clergyman, converted to Roman Catholicism and moved to the United States
Maximilian Wolfgang Duncker (1811–1886), a historian and politician, died in Ansbach.
Kaspar Hauser (1812–1833), lived in Ansbach from 1830 to 1833, stabbed in the palace gardens
Henry Hochheimer (1818–1912), rabbi
George H. Brickner (1834–1904), U.S. Representative from Wisconsin
Arts & science
Leonhart Fuchs (1501–1566), botanist and physician to margrave Georg Friedrich
Simon Marius (1573–1625), astronomer lived in Ansbach, he observed Jupiter's moons from the castle's tower, which led to a dispute with the true discoverer, Galileo Galilei
Georg Ernst Stahl (1659–1734), chemist, physician and metallurgist.
Matthias Buchinger (1674–1740), a German artist, magician and illustrator, born without hands or legs
Johann Uz (1720–1796), a German poet.
Marcus Eliezer Bloch (1723–1799), ichthyologist.
Georg Christian Oeder (1728–1791), pre-Linnean botanist
Ludwig von Förster (1792–1863), architect: Ringstrasse, 3 & synagogues in Vienna and Budapest
August von Platen-Hallermünde (1796–1835), poet.
Georges Oberhaeuser (1798–1868), optician
Oskar Freiherr von Redwitz (1823–1891), a poet from nearby Lichtenau.
Ferdinand Christian Gustav Arnold (1828–1901), lichenologist and taxonomist
Wilhelm Hecht (1843–1920), wood engraver and etcher
Fritz Hommel (1854–1936), orientalist
Theodor Escherich (1857–1911), pediatrician and bacteriologist
Sport
Helga Matschkur (born 1943), gymnast, competed in six events at the 1968 Summer Olympics.
Georg Volkert (1945–2020), footballer, played 410 games in Bundesliga and won 12 caps for West Germany
Sebastian Preiss (born 1981), handball player
Dominik Farnbacher (born 1984), racing driver
Alex King (born 1985), basketball player
Mario Farnbacher (born 1992), racing driver
Danilo Dittrich (born 1995), football player
Twin towns – sister cities
Ansbach is twinned with:
Anglet, Nouvelle-Aquitaine, France
Bay City, Michigan, United States
Fermo, Marche, Italy
Jingjiang, Jiangsu, China
In popular culture
In the novel The Schirmer Inheritance (1953) by Eric Ambler (1909–1998), Sergeant Franz Schirmer of the Ansbach Dragoons is wounded in the battle of Preussisch-Eylau in 1807. He returns to Ansbach to settle but changes his name as he has been posted as a deserter. The bulk of the novel concerns efforts by an American law firm to trace his descendants to claim an inheritance.