Sonthofen is the southernmost

town A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world. Origin and use The word "town" shares an ori ...

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 ...

, located in the Oberallgäu region of the

Bavarian Alps The Bavarian Alps (german: Bayerische Alpen) is a collective name for several mountain ranges of the Northern Limestone Alps within the German state of Bavaria. Geography The term in its wider sense refers to that part of the Eastern Alps that ...

. Neighbouring

Oberstdorf Oberstdorf ( Low Alemannic: ''Oberschdorf'') is a municipality and skiing and hiking town in Germany, located in the Allgäu region of the Bavarian Alps. It is the southernmost settlement in Germany and one of its highest towns. At the&nb ...

is situated 14 km farther south but is not classified as a town. In 2005, Sonthofen was awarded "Alpenstadt des Jahres" (Alpine city of the year). The town has 21,300 inhabitants (as of 31 December 2015). Sonthofen is widely known for its

milk Milk is a white liquid food produced by the mammary glands of mammals. It is the primary source of nutrition for young mammals (including breastfed human infants) before they are able to digestion, digest solid food. Immune factors and immune ...

and

cheese Cheese is a dairy product produced in wide ranges of flavors, textures, and forms by coagulation of the milk protein casein. It comprises proteins and fat from milk, usually the milk of cows, buffalo, goats, or sheep. During production, ...

products and as a tourist destination.

History

Findings show that the Sonthofen area was already inhabited from the Stone Age to the Roman Empire. In the 6th/7th century, Germanic

Alamans The Alemanni or Alamanni, were a confederation of Germanic tribes * * * on the Upper Rhine River. First mentioned by Cassius Dio in the context of the campaign of Caracalla of 213, the Alemanni captured the in 260, and later expanded into pres ...

settled in the area at the foot of the Kalvarienberg. On the top of the hill, one suspects an old Thing site. Sonthofen was first mentioned in a document in 1145. It had held the market right with important proprietary rights since 1429. In 1803, when the Prince-Bishopric of Augsburg was mediatised, Sonthofen came to Bavaria. In 1804 Sonthof Castle becomes the seat of a Bavarian Landgericht (regional court) responsible for justice and administration. In 1963 the previous market town of Sonthofen is given the town charter. In 1972 Sonthofen becomes the county seat of the newly formed district of Oberallgäu. In

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

Sonthofen was bombed twice because

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...

had built the ''

Ordensburg Sonthofen The Ordensburg Sonthofen is one of the NS-Ordensburgen built during the Third Reich in Sonthofen (Oberallgäu). Currently it belongs to the Bundeswehr and is named ''Generaloberst-Beck-Kaserne''. History The complex was built in 1934 as ''NS ...

'', where young boys were trained for service in Nazi Party organizations. The "''Ordensburg''" was not destroyed in the war. From 1946 to 1948 it was home to the United States Constabulary school, from May 1951 through February 1952, was used by the United States Air Force in Europe as a basic training center, and from 1956-2009 the German ''

Bundeswehr The ''Bundeswehr'' (, meaning literally: ''Federal Defence'') is the armed forces of the Federal Republic of Germany. The ''Bundeswehr'' is divided into a military part (armed forces or ''Streitkräfte'') and a civil part, the military part con ...

'' located its Military Police ''(

Feldjäger The ''Feldjäger'' () are Germany's military police. The term ''Feldjäger'', literally meaning field huntsmen (military), huntsmen or field Jäger (military), Jäger, has a long tradition and dates back to the mid-17th century. Hi ...

)'' and Staff Service School there. The German Army's NBC Defence School (''ABC-Abwehr- und Selbstschutzschule'') is located in another barracks in Sonthofen.

Main sights

;Green areas * Ökokurpark (ecological spa park): Next to the Kalvarienberg is the ecological spa park on a steep terrain. It houses a wetland

biotope A biotope is an area of uniform environmental conditions providing a living place for a specific assemblage of plants and animals. ''Biotope'' is almost synonymous with the term "habitat", which is more commonly used in English-speaking countrie ...

, native plants and information boards on flora and fauna. * Another park is located in the so-called G'hau an der Iller, where there is also a

miniature golf Miniature golf, also known as minigolf, mini-putt, crazy golf, or putt-putt, is an offshoot of the sport of golf focusing solely on the putting aspect of its parent game. The aim of the game is to score the lowest number of points. It is played ...

course and a playground. ;Buildings * Burgruine Fluhenstein (castle ruin), 1361 and around 1500/01 * The Catholic church St. Michael is located below the Kalvarienberg. Predecessor buildings probably already existed in the 9th century. * The Old School was turned into a town hall by the prince-bishop of

Augsburg Augsburg (; bar , Augschburg , links=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swabian_German , label=Swabian German, , ) is a city in Swabia, Bavaria, Germany, around west of Bavarian capital Munich. It is a university town and regional seat of the ' ...

in 1472. Today it is used as a music school and public library. ;Natural monuments * The Starzlachklamm (a gorge) near the district Winkel, since 1932 accessible for hikers ;Museum * Heimathaus Sonthofen: history and culture of the region

Gallery

SonthofenKurpark.jpg, Ökokurpark Burg Fluhenstein 2.jpg, Burgruine Fluhenstein SonthofenKircheVonOben.jpg, Catholic church St. Michael SonthofenAlteSchule.jpg, The Old School Die Starzlachklamm.jpg, The Starzachklamm Sonthofen Heimathaus (29).jpg, Heimathaus Sonthofen

Economy

Dairy farming and tourism are of supraregional importance. Major employers are also the Bundeswehr (German Armed Forces) and various medium-sized, mainly metalworking industrial companies.

Notable people

Eugen Albrecht Eugen Albrecht (21 June 1872, in Sonthofen – 18 June 1908, in Frankfurt am Main) was a German pathologist. His research largely dealt with the physical-chemical status of cells under normal and pathological conditions.

(1872–1908), pathologist *

Philip Bester Philip Bester (born October 6, 1988) is a Canadian former professional tennis player from North Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Bester was a finalist at the 2006 junior French Open. In doing so he became the first Canadian male to reach ...

, Canadian tennis player, born in Sonthofen *

Michael Buthe Michael Buthe (1 August 1944 – 15 November 1994) was a German artist who lived and worked between Germany and Morocco. He exhibited widely throughout Europe during his life and is known for his eclectic and prolific oeuvre which encompasses pa ...

, artist *

Michael Endres Michael Endres (born 1961) is a German pianist. He was professor for piano from 1993 to 2004 at the Hochschule fuer Musik in Cologne, until 2009 at the Hochschule Hanns Eisler in Berlin—since autumn 2009 at the University of Canterbury i ...

, pianist * Josef Enzensberger, (1914–1975), Luftwaffe Fighter Ace 1939–1945, born in Sonthofen * Herbert Knaup, actor, born in Sonthofen * Hardy Krüger, actor, spent his childhood in Sonthofen * Robert Schraudolph, artist * Winfried G. Sebald, writer, lived in Sonthofen from 1948 to 1963

Awards and associations

With other Alpine towns, Sonthofen engages in the

Alpine Town of the Year The Alpine Town of the Year award is given to towns which have made exceptional efforts for the realization of the Alpine Convention and for sustainable development. The ''Alpine Towns of the Year'' are members of the international association of ...

Association for the implementation of the Alpine Convention to achieve sustainable development in the Alpine Arc. Sonthofen was awarded Alpine Town of the Year 2005.

References

External links

* *
Official Sonthofen websitePostal History of Sonthofen

History of Sonthofen, in GermanAlpine city of the year, Sonthofen, 2005
{{Authority control Ski areas and resorts in Germany Oberallgäu