Bad Tölz (; Bavarian: ''Däiz'') is a

town A town is a type of a human settlement, generally larger than a village but smaller than a city. The criteria for distinguishing a town vary globally, often depending on factors such as population size, economic character, administrative stat ...

Bavaria Bavaria, officially the Free State of Bavaria, is a States of Germany, state in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the list of German states by area, largest German state by land area, comprising approximately 1/5 of the total l ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

and the administrative center of the Bad Tölz-Wolfratshausen district.

History

Archaeology has shown continuous occupation of the site of Bad Tölz since the retreat of the glaciers at the end of the

Ice Age An ice age is a long period of reduction in the temperature of Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental and polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers. Earth's climate alternates between ice ages, and g ...

. For example, there are finds from the

Hallstatt culture The Hallstatt culture was the predominant Western Europe, Western and Central European archaeological culture of the Late Bronze Age Europe, Bronze Age (Hallstatt A, Hallstatt B) from the 12th to 8th centuries BC and Early Iron Age Europe (Hallst ...

as well as from Roman Raetia, or at least occupation by romanized

Celts The Celts ( , see Names of the Celts#Pronunciation, pronunciation for different usages) or Celtic peoples ( ) were a collection of Indo-European languages, Indo-European peoples. "The Celts, an ancient Indo-European people, reached the apoge ...

. The name " Tölz" (as "Tolnze") appears relatively late in documentation at the end of the 12th century. The name "Reginried" appears as that of a settlement belonging to the monastery at

Tegernsee Tegernsee () is a Town#Germany, town in the Miesbach (district), Miesbach district of Bavaria, Germany. It is located on the banks of Tegernsee (lake), Lake Tegernsee, which is 747 m (2,451 ft) AMSL, above sea level. A spa town, it is su ...

in earlier texts, which is probably the same as Reid in the western part of Mühlfeld. Hainricus de Tolnze built a castle on the site, which controlled the river and road traffic in the region but which no longer exists. In 1331, Louis IV made Tölz a

market town A market town is a settlement most common in Europe that obtained by custom or royal charter, in the Middle Ages, a market right, which allowed it to host a regular market; this distinguished it from a village or city. In Britain, small rura ...

. The 14th century saw Tölz become a crossroads for the salt and lumber traffic on the

Isar The Isar () is a river in Austria and in Bavaria, Germany. Its source is in the Karwendel mountain range of the Alps. The Isar river enters Germany near Mittenwald and flows through Krün, Wallgau, Bad Tölz, Munich, and Landshut before reaching ...

. In 1453, the market street, church, and castle were destroyed by fire. Duke Albrecht III enabled the city to rebuild, but this time in stone. He also built a palace which stood until 1770, when it fell into disrepair and was eventually undermined by the Ellbach. The

Thirty Years' War The Thirty Years' War, fought primarily in Central Europe between 1618 and 1648, was one of the most destructive conflicts in History of Europe, European history. An estimated 4.5 to 8 million soldiers and civilians died from battle, famine ...

(1618–1648) brought plague and destruction to the region. During the

War of the Spanish Succession The War of the Spanish Succession was a European great power conflict fought between 1701 and 1714. The immediate cause was the death of the childless Charles II of Spain in November 1700, which led to a struggle for control of the Spanish E ...

things began to turn around again, with trade in lime and wood products, among other items. During this war, in 1705, the vintner Johann Jäger of Tölz led a band of farmers to battle at

Sendling Sendling is a borough of Munich. It is located south-west of the city centre and spans the city boroughs Sendling and Sendling-Westpark. Sendling is subdivided into Obersendling, Mittersendling, and Untersendling. Untersendling and Mittersend ...

(south of

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

). The town also became known as a

pilgrimage A pilgrimage is a travel, journey to a holy place, which can lead to a personal transformation, after which the pilgrim returns to their daily life. A pilgrim (from the Latin ''peregrinus'') is a traveler (literally one who has come from afar) w ...

site; every November 6, there is a festival to

Saint Leonard of Noblac Leonard of Noblac (also Leonard of Limoges or Leonard of Noblet; also known as Lienard, Linhart, Lenart, Leonhard, Léonard, Leonardo, Annard; died 559) is a Franks, Frankish saint closely associated with the town and abbey of Saint-Léonard-de- ...

. In 1718, a chapel was built in his honor on the Calvary hill. In the middle of the 19th century, Tölz changed direction with the discovery of natural springs. The town began to focus on the healing properties of these springs and became a cure and

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, Ba ...

. In 1899, it became known as Bad Tölz. In 1937, SS-Junker School Bad Tölz (an SS officer candidate training camp) was established near the town. The school operated until the end of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

in 1945. A subcamp of the Dachau concentration camp was located in the town. It provided labour for the school and the ''Zentralbauleitung'' (Central Administration Building). Bad Tölz would also be the last town to be "passed through" by the Holocaust death march from Dachau to the Austrian border, that would be halted by '' Nisei'' U.S. Army artillery soldiers on 2 May 1945, just two kilometers short of the next village to the east of it, Waakirchen. The former SS-Junker school was the base of the U.S. Army's 1st Battalion, 10th Special Forces Group until 1991. It was in Bad Tölz that Amon Göth, commandant of the

Nazi concentration camp From 1933 to 1945, Nazi Germany operated more than a thousand concentration camps (), including subcamp (SS), subcamps on its own territory and in parts of German-occupied Europe. The first camps were established in March 1933 immediately af ...

in Płaszów, in German-occupied Poland during

, was arrested and sent for trial in Poland. Today, Bad Tölz is known for its spas, historic

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with the fall of the West ...

town, and its views of the

Alps The Alps () are some of the highest and most extensive mountain ranges in Europe, stretching approximately across eight Alpine countries (from west to east): Monaco, France, Switzerland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Germany, Austria and Slovenia. ...

. On the western bank of the

River lies the Kurverwaltung, or modern spa, whose

iodine Iodine is a chemical element; it has symbol I and atomic number 53. The heaviest of the stable halogens, it exists at standard conditions as a semi-lustrous, non-metallic solid that melts to form a deep violet liquid at , and boils to a vi ...

-rich waters are known for their soothing and healing powers. A major attraction was the Alpamare, Europe's first indoor water park with long water slides, wave pool, a surf wave, and a range of thermal outdoor pools with iodine water, until it closed in 2015. Another major attraction is Stadtpfarrkirche, a church built in 1466, which is an example of German late–

Gothic architecture Gothic architecture is an architectural style that was prevalent in Europe from the late 12th to the 16th century, during the High Middle Ages, High and Late Middle Ages, surviving into the 17th and 18th centuries in some areas. It evolved f ...

Geography

Bad Tölz sits on the

River, 670 metres above sea level. It occupies 30.8 square kilometres.

Climate

In Bad Tölz, the average annual high temperature is , and the annual low temperature is . Winters are cool to cold, and summers are moderately warm, thanks to its location that close to the Alps. It classifies as humid continental (''Dfb'').

Transport

Bad Tölz is served by the

to Lenggries line of the

Bayerische Oberlandbahn The Bayerische Oberlandbahn GmbH (BOB) is a private railway company based in Holzkirchen, Germany, and owned by Transdev Germany (formerly known as ''Veolia Verkehr''). Since June 2020 its services are operated under the brand Bayerische Regi ...

railway (Green Line).

International relations

Twin towns and sister cities

Bad Tölz is twinned with: * Vichy,

Allier Allier ( , , ; ) is a Departments of France, department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Regions of France, region that borders Cher (department), Cher to the west, Nièvre to the north, Saône-et-Loire and Loire (department), Loire to the east, Pu ...

Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes (; AURA) or ; or ; . is a Regions of France, region in southeast-central France created by the 2014 territorial reform of French regions; it resulted from the merger of Auvergne and Rhône-Alpes. The new region came into e ...

, France (since 1965)

Notable people

* Konrad Abeltshauser (born 1992), hockey player * Sebastian Horn (born 1970) musician and TV presenter * Eusebius Amort (1692-1775), a Catholic theologian * Hans Carossa (1878-1956), poet and author * Annemarie Gerg (born 1975), alpine skier * Michaela Gerg (born 1965), alpine skier * Rita Kapfhammer (born 1964), mezzo-soprano * Johann Nepomuk Sepp (1816-1909), historian, keeper of the monastery Wessobrunn, organizer of Winzerer monument

Notables who have worked locally

* Franz Hanfstaengl (1804-1877), painter, lithographer and photographer *

Thomas Mann Paul Thomas Mann ( , ; ; 6 June 1875 – 12 August 1955) was a German novelist, short story writer, social critic, philanthropist, essayist, and the 1929 Nobel Prize in Literature laureate. His highly symbolic and ironic epic novels and novell ...

(1875-1955), writer, possessed here from 1906 to 1917 a summer villa, today '' Villa man '' * Hans von Hentig (1887-1974), criminologist * Grethe Weiser (1903-1970), actress, died after a traffic accident in the city hospital Bad Toelz * Norbert Schultze (1911-2002), composer and conductor * Marie-Luise Schultze-Jahn (1918-2010), a member of the White Rose * Gregor Dorfmeister (born 1929) journalist and writer, grew up in Tolz; he talked about his time in the Hitler Youth and the Volkssturm in partially autobiographical book '' The Bridge '' * Kristian Schultze (1945-2011), composer, arranger, keyboardist and music producer, lives in Bad Tölz since 2002 * Ottfried Fischer (born 1953), comedian and actor, as the main character in '' Der Bulle von Tölz '', he increased with many other actors awareness of Bad Tölz nationwide and internationally

Notes

References

External links

Town Web site

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bad Tolz Bad Tölz-Wolfratshausen Spa towns in Germany