Ostrach is a municipality in the district of

Sigmaringen Sigmaringen ( Swabian: ''Semmerenga'') 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 ...

Baden-Württemberg Baden-Württemberg (; ), commonly shortened to BW or BaWü, is a German state () in Southwest Germany, east of the Rhine, which forms the southern part of Germany's western border with France. With more than 11.07 million inhabitants across a ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

Geography

Ostrach lies between the

Danube The Danube ( ; ) is a river that was once a long-standing frontier of the Roman Empire and today connects 10 European countries, running through their territories or being a border. Originating in Germany, the Danube flows southeast for , pa ...

and

Lake Constance Lake Constance (german: Bodensee, ) refers to three Body of water, bodies of water on the Rhine at the northern foot of the Alps: Upper Lake Constance (''Obersee''), Lower Lake Constance (''Untersee''), and a connecting stretch of the Rhine, ca ...

, about halfway between

and

Ravensburg Ravensburg ( Swabian: ''Raveschburg'') is a city in Upper Swabia in Southern Germany, capital of the district of Ravensburg, Baden-Württemberg. Ravensburg was first mentioned in 1088. In the Middle Ages, it was an Imperial Free City and an impo ...

. It lies on the

brook A brook is a small river or natural stream of fresh water. It may also refer to: Computing *Brook, a programming language for GPU programming based on C *Brook+, an explicit data-parallel C compiler *BrookGPU, a framework for GPGPU programming ...

of the same name, which passes through a narrow pass between the glacial

moraine A moraine is any accumulation of unconsolidated debris (regolith and rock), sometimes referred to as glacial till, that occurs in both currently and formerly glaciated regions, and that has been previously carried along by a glacier or ice shee ...

s left by the

Rhine Glacier The Rhine Glacier was a glacier during the last glacial period and was responsible for the formation of the Lake Constance. References Glaciers of Switzerland Rhine {{switzerland-glacier-stub ...

at the end of the last ice age. The landscape is hilly and wooded. Abandoned quarries to the north and south of the village of Jettkofen have created small lakes.

History

The first mention of Ostrach occurs in 851. In the 13th century, the area passed gradually from the

Holy Roman Empire The Holy Roman Empire was a Polity, political entity in Western Europe, Western, Central Europe, Central, and Southern Europe that developed during the Early Middle Ages and continued until its Dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire, dissolution i ...

into the hands of the monastery of Salem. On March 21, 1799, the

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

n and French troops fought a

battle A battle is an occurrence of combat in warfare between opposing military units of any number or size. A war usually consists of multiple battles. In general, a battle is a military engagement that is well defined in duration, area, and force ...

at Ostrach. In 1803, in the

German Mediatisation German mediatisation (; german: deutsche Mediatisierung) was the major territorial restructuring that took place between 1802 and 1814 in Germany and the surrounding region by means of the mass mediatisation and secularisation of a large number ...

, Ostrach and Bachhaupten passed into the hands of the house of

Thurn und Taxis The Princely House of Thurn and Taxis (german: link=no, Fürstenhaus Thurn und Taxis ) is a family of German nobility that is part of the ''Briefadel''. It was a key player in the postal services in Europe during the 16th century, until the end ...

, and in 1806 they were incorporated into the lands of the house of

Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen ( en, Nothing without God) , national_anthem = , common_languages = German , religion = Roman Catholic , currency = , title_leader = Prince , leader1 ...

. The railway line Altshausen-Ostrach-Pfullendorf opened in 1875. The last freight train passed through Ostrach on July 31, 2002. On January 1, 1975, the surrounding villages of Burgweiler (with Dichtenhausen, Hahnennest, Ochsenbach, Waldbeuren, Ulzhausen, Egelreute), Einhart, Habsthal (with Bernweiler), Jettkofen, Kalkreute, Laubbach, Levertsweiler, Magenbuch (with Lausheim), Spöck, Tafertsweiler (with Bachhaupten, Eschendorf, and Gunzenhausen), Wangen, and Wirnsweiler were incorporated into Ostrach.

Mayors

* 1975–2007: Herbert Barth (CDU) * since 2007: Christoph Schulz (CDU)

Sons and daughters of the town

Eduard Schmid Eduard Schmid (born October 15, 1861 in Ostrach, Province of Hohenzollern, died 8 June 1933 in Munich) was Lord Mayor of Munich from 1919 to 1924. He was the first SPD politician to hold this position. Apprenticeship and work as an editor A j ...

(1861-1933), politician (SPD), 1919-1924 Lord Mayor of Munich *

Reinhold Frank Reinhold Frank (23 July 1896 – 23 January 1945) was a German lawyer. He did work for the resistance to Hitler's rule in Nazi Germany. He was sentenced to death in connection with the failed 20 July Plot. Life Reinhold Frank was born the young ...

(born 1896-1945), born in today's district Bachhaupten, lawyer, resistance fighter against national socialism, executed after the failed Hitler assassination of 20 July 1944

References

Sigmaringen (district) {{Sigmaringen-geo-stub