Bad Aibling () is a

spa town A spa town is a resort town based on a mineral spa (a developed mineral spring). Patrons visit spas to "take the waters" for their purported health benefits. Thomas Guidott set up a medical practice in the English town of Bath, Somerset, B ...

and former district seat in

Bavaria Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total l ...

on the river

Mangfall The Mangfall is a river of Upper Bavaria, Germany. The Mangfall is the outflow of the Tegernsee lake and discharges in Rosenheim from the left into the Inn. It is long. Towns and villages on the Mangfall * Gmund am Tegernsee * Valley * We ...

, located some southeast of

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and ...

. It features a luxury health resort with a peat pulp bath and mineral spa.

History

Bad Aibling and its surroundings were settled by

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language *Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Foo ...

tribes from about 500BC until 15BC. After

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: * Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lett ...

occupation, it was finally settled by

Bavarii The Baiuvarii or Bavarians (german: Bajuwaren) were a Germanic people. The Baiuvarii had settled modern-day Bavaria (which is named after them), Austria, and South Tyrol by the 6th century AD, and are considered the ancestors of modern-day Bavar ...

tribes in the 5th century AD. In 804 Bad Aibling was mentioned for the first time as "Epininga". In mediaeval times, it was an administrative centre in the lordship of the Counts of Falkenstein. In 1166 it was mentionead in the Codex diplomaticus Falkensteinensis as "Aibilingen". After the obliteration of the Neuburg-Falkenstein dynasty, it became part of the realm of the Wittelsbach family. In 1845 the first treatments with peat pulp were offered by the physician Desiderius Beck. Bad Aibling received the title "Bad" (spa or springs) in 1895. In the year 1933, Bad Aibling officially became a town. After the

Second World War 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 opposi ...

, Bad Aibling was the site of POW Discharge Center #26, where German POWs were released from captivity to civilian status. In 1946, a

DP camp DP may refer to: In arts and entertainment Film, television, and theatre * '' Danny Phantom'', an animated television series * David Production, a Japanese animation studio * Director of photography, a job in filmmaking * Digital Playground, a ...

housing former members of the Royal Yugoslav Army was set up on the grounds of the town's airbase. The camp was first operated by

UNRRA United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA) was an international relief agency, largely dominated by the United States but representing 44 nations. Founded in November 1943, it was dissolved in September 1948. it became part o ...

, and later by the IRO. From 1948 onwards, the area was home to the ''IRO Children's Village'', a DP camp for unaccompanied children and youth belonging to more than 20 nationalities. Over 2,300 inhabitants passed through this facility (the largest of its kind in the US Zone) before it was closed in late 1951. Later, the area evolved into a major centre for intelligence organizations and secret services. In 2005 the American Bad Aibling ECHELON station (

Field Station 81 The Bad Aibling Station (BAS), also known as the 18th United States Army Security Agency Field Station, Field station 81, and Hortensie III is a satellite tracking station operated by the German SIGINT agency BND from nearby ''Mangfall Barracks' ...

) closed after several decades of operation. After the departure of the

NSA The National Security Agency (NSA) is a national-level intelligence agency of the United States Department of Defense, under the authority of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI). The NSA is responsible for global monitoring, collec ...

, parts of the station have been used by the

Bundesnachrichtendienst The Federal Intelligence Service (German: ; , BND) is the foreign intelligence agency of Germany, directly subordinate to the Chancellor's Office. The BND headquarters is located in central Berlin and is the world's largest intelligence h ...

(BND), with NSA employees moving to the Mangfall barracks. The radomes are still used intensively. The station is used in cooperation with the NSA, which provides the BND with search terms (such as email addresses), which then forwards the results back to the NSA. The Thermae opened in 2007, complementing the traditional peat pulp baths with mineral water ( Desiderius-Quelle). In the same year, the historical

Ludwigsbad The former spa hotel Ludwigsbad in Bad Aibling was Bavaria’s first peat pulp spa and the world’s first saline peat pulp health resort. Its origins date back to a "Soolen- und Moorschlamm-Badeanstalt" founded by the royal Bavarian court physi ...

spa hotel, the nucleus of Bad Aibling's health resort business, burned down due to arson. On 9 February 2016, a serious railway accident occurred near the town when two passenger trains collided, causing 11 fatalities.

Geography and demographics

The town of Bad Aibling, with about 18,000 inhabitants, is at

above sea level Height above mean sea level is a measure of the vertical distance ( height, elevation or altitude) of a location in reference to a historic mean sea level taken as a vertical datum. In geodesy, it is formalized as '' orthometric heights''. Th ...

and covers an area of . Bad Aibling consists of the neighborhoods ( Stadtteile) of Abel, Adlfurt, Bad Aibling Mitte, Berbling, Ellmosen, Fachendorf, Gröben, Harthausen, Haslach, Heimathsberg, Heinrichsdorf, Holzhausen, Köckbrunn, Markfeld, Mietraching, Mitterham, Moos, Natternberg, Thalacker, Thürham, Unterheufeld, Weg, Westen, Westerham, Willing, and Zell. File:Bad aibling glonn.png, Glonn river in downtown File:Bad aibling kirchzeile.png, Kirchzeile with Hofberg File:Bad aibling kirchzeile_2.png, Obere Kirchzeile File:Bad aibling klein_venedig.png, "Klein Venedig" (Little Venice) File:Bad aibling moorabbau.png, Peat mining in the Schuhbräu-Filze File:Bad aibling rosenheimer_str.png, Inner Rosenheimer Straße File:Bad aibling sebastianik.png, St. Sebastian's church File:Radomes of Bad Aibling Station 1.jpg, ECHELON station File:Bad aibling station 2.jpg, ECHELON station File:Bad aibling station 3.jpg, ECHELON station File:Bad aibling station 4.jpg, ECHELON station File:Bad Aibling Theresienmonument-1.jpg, Theresienmonument File:Bad aibling zentralfriedhof.png, Italian style central cemetery File:Bad Aibling, straatzicht langs het water 2012-08-06 15.05.JPG, Water through the town File:Bad Aibling, straatzicht2 Bahnhofstrasse-Sedanstrasse 2012-08-06 14.51.jpg, Bahnhofstrasse-Sedanstrasse File:Bad Aibling, straatzicht3 Bahnhofstrasse 2012-08-06 14.55.jpg, View to a street: die Bahnhofstrasse File:Klafferer_hofberg.png, View from the Klafferer to Hofberg

Economy and infrastructure

In Bad Aibling there are several large spa hotels and rehabilitation hospitals that rely on

peat Peat (), also known as turf (), is an accumulation of partially Decomposition, decayed vegetation or organic matter. It is unique to natural areas called peatlands, bogs, mires, Moorland, moors, or muskegs. The peatland ecosystem covers and ...

pulp as a basic treatment. Additionally, in 2007 the new thermae were opened.

Companies based in Bad Aibling

Several companies in the pharmaceutical industry, textile manufacturing,

electrical engineering Electrical engineering is an engineering discipline concerned with the study, design, and application of equipment, devices, and systems which use electricity, electronics, and electromagnetism. It emerged as an identifiable occupation in the l ...

, plastics manufacturing, and dairy processing are located in Bad Aibling.

Administration and public institutions

* Municipal institutions * Employment office Bad Aibling * Institutions of the Rosenheim district office (veterinary office, motor vehicle registration authority) * Local

court A court is any person or institution, often as a government institution, with the authority to adjudicate legal disputes between parties and carry out the administration of justice in civil, criminal, and administrative matters in acco ...

* Bundesnachrichtendienst (BND), Federal Intelligence Service

Mayors

Education

* German football boarding school (Deutsches Fußballinternat Bad Aibling) * Gymnasium Bad Aibling (

high school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

for

secondary education Secondary education or post-primary education covers two phases on the International Standard Classification of Education scale. Level 2 or lower secondary education (less commonly junior secondary education) is considered the second and final ph ...

) * Wilhelm-Leibl-Realschule (secondary school) * Wirtschaftsschule Alpenland (secondary school for economics) * Grund- und Hauptschulen ( primary and secondary education) * Sonderschule (primary and secondary education for children with special needs) * Volkshochschule Bad Aibling ( adult evening classes)

Number of inhabitants

* 1840: 2.597 * 1871: 3.479 * 1900: 5.181 * 1925: 6.218 * 1939: 7.764 * 1950: 10.908 * 1961: 9.991 * 1970: 10.860 * 1987: 12.583 (census) * 2000: 16.437 * 2010: 18.272 * 2015: 18.408

Culture and attractions

Echelon festival

The Echelon Open Air & Indoor Festival is an electro-, techno and house-festival that has taken place in Bad Aibling annually in August since 2009. With about 25.000 visitors in 2015 it is the largest festival of its kind in Bavaria. It is located on the abandoned Bad Aibling Station which was used for the festival's eponymous global surveillance network ECHELON.Info – Echelon Open Air & Indoor Festival
. In: echelon-openair.de. Retrieved 6 August 2012.

Twin town

Bad Aibling has been twinned with * Cavaion Veronese,

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

, since 2006.

People affiliated with Bad Aibling

Julian Weigl Julian Weigl (born 8 September 1995) is a German professional footballer who plays as a defensive midfielder for Bundesliga club Borussia Mönchengladbach, on loan from Benfica. He also represents the Germany national team. Club career 1860 Mu ...

(born 1995), German footballer for Sport Lisboa e Benfica *

Eleonore Baur Eleonore Baur (7 September 1885 – 18 May 1981), also known as Sister Pia, was a senior Nazi Party figure and the only woman known to have participated in the Munich Beer Hall Putsch.''The Adelaide Advertiser'', "Pioneer Nazi", 2 September 1 ...

(18851981), also known as Sister Pia, a senior

Nazi Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...

figure * Desiderius Beck(), was a Bavarian court physician. In 1845, he opened the first Bavarian brine and peat mud baths in Bad Aibling in Rose Street, later Ludwig bathroom. * Eduard Dietl(18901944), German general of World War II * Amelie Kober(born 1987), German Federal Police officer and Olympic medalist in snowboarding * Wilhelm Leibl(18441900), German realist painter of portraits and scenes of peasant life * Johann Sperl(18401914), German painter * Friedrich Meggendorfer(18801953), German psychiatrist and neurologist * Joseph Maximilian von Maillinger (1820-1901), General of Infantry of Bavarian Army *

Franz Osten Franz Osten (23 December 1876 in Munich – 2 December 1956) was a Bavarian filmmaker who along with Himansu Rai was among the first retainers of Bombay Talkies. Osten partnered with Rai on a number of India's earliest blockbuster films lik ...

(1876-1956), German film director, who lived after the Second World War in the town *

Klaus Wennemann Klaus Wennemann (18 December 1940 – 7 January 2000) was a German television and film actor. Wenneman was born in Oer-Erkenschwick, North Rhine-Westphalia. He is perhaps best known for his leading roles as the Chief Engineer, (the LI), in ''D ...

(1940-2000), actor

References

External links

*
The health and cure administration

{{authority control Rosenheim (district) Spa towns in Germany Towns in Bavaria