Dillingen (; officially Dillingen/Saar; ) is a town in the district of Saarlouis, in

Saarland Saarland (, ; ) is a state of Germany in the southwest of the country. With an area of and population of 990,509 in 2018, it is the smallest German state in area apart from the city-states of Berlin, Bremen, and Hamburg, and the smallest in ...

. It has about 20,000 inhabitants and is divided into the three districts Dillingen-city center, Pachten and

Diefflen Diefflen (pronounced: Dieflen, in the local, Moselle-Franconian dialect Dejfeln) is a district of Dillingen, Saarland, Dillingen/Saar in the Saarlouis (district), district of Saarlouis (Saarland) and has about 4700 inhabitants. It is located on th ...

. The city is located on the edge of the Saar-Hunsrück Nature Park at the mouth of the

Prims The Prims is a 91 km long river in western Germany, right tributary of the Saar. It rises in the Hunsrück mountains, near the village Malborn. It flows generally south through the towns Nonnweiler, Wadern and Schmelz. It flows into the ...

in the

Saar Saar or SAAR has several meanings: People Given name * Sarr Boubacar (born 1951), Senegalese professional football player * Saar Ganor, Israeli archaeologist * Saar Klein (born 1967), American film editor Surname * Ain Saar (born 1968), E ...

and is located about 10 km from the French border. Dillingen is located about 60 km from

Luxembourg City Luxembourg (; ; ), also known as Luxembourg City ( or ; ; or ), is the capital city of Luxembourg and the Communes of Luxembourg, country's most populous commune. Standing at the confluence of the Alzette and Pétrusse rivers in southern Luxe ...

and

Trier Trier ( , ; ), formerly and traditionally known in English as Trèves ( , ) and Triers (see also Names of Trier in different languages, names in other languages), is a city on the banks of the Moselle (river), Moselle in Germany. It lies in a v ...

, 50 km from

Metz Metz ( , , , then ) is a city in northeast France located at the confluence of the Moselle (river), Moselle and the Seille (Moselle), Seille rivers. Metz is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Moselle (department), Moselle Departments ...

and 30 km from

Saarbrücken Saarbrücken (; Rhenish Franconian: ''Sabrigge'' ; ; ; ; ) is the capital and largest List of cities and towns in Germany, city of the state of Saarland, Germany. Saarbrücken has 181,959 inhabitants and is Saarland's administrative, commerci ...

and is directly adjacent to the urban area of

Saarlouis Saarlouis (; , ; formerly Sarre-Libre and Saarlautern) is a town in Saarland, Germany, capital of the district of Saarlouis (district), Saarlouis. In 2020, the town had a population of 34,409. Saarlouis is located on the river Saar (river), Saar. ...

. In terms of population, it is the second largest municipality in the district of Saarlouis. The

Dillinger Hütte Dillinger Hütte is a steel producer in Dillingen, in the German Federal State of Saarland, and has a history stretching back more than three hundred years. The plant was founded in 1685, and was Germany's first Aktiengesellschaft, or joint stock ...

steelworks is located here.

Geography

Geographical location

Dillingen lies to the right of the

in the northern part of the Basin of Saarlouis and thus in the Saar-Nahe Basin. The Basin of Saarlouis is bounded on the northwest, north and northeast by the heights of the

Buntsandstein The Buntsandstein (German for ''coloured'' or ''colourful sandstone'') or Bunter sandstone is a lithostratigraphy, lithostratigraphic and allostratigraphy, allostratigraphic unit (a sequence of rock strata) in the Subsurface (geology), subsurface ...

. They belong to the eastern edge of the

Paris Basin The Paris Basin () is one of the major geological regions of France. It developed since the Triassic over remnant uplands of the Variscan orogeny (Hercynian orogeny). The sedimentary basin, no longer a single drainage basin, is a large sag in ...

and lead into the basin of the

. The Prims coming from the Schwarzwälder Hochwald and emanates above the district of Pachten in the Saar. A few kilometers north of the territorial entity of Pachten the Saar unites with the

Nied The Nied (; ) is a river in Lorraine, France, and Saarland, Germany. It is a left tributary of the Saar. It is formed where two streams converge: the ''Nied allemande'' ("German Nied") and the ''Nied française'' ("French Nied"), which join in C ...

coming from

Lorraine Lorraine, also , ; ; Lorrain: ''Louréne''; Lorraine Franconian: ''Lottringe''; ; ; is a cultural and historical region in Eastern France, now located in the administrative region of Grand Est. Its name stems from the medieval kingdom of ...

. The

alluvial deposits Alluvium (, ) is loose clay, silt, sand, or gravel that has been deposited by running water in a stream bed, on a floodplain, in an alluvial fan or beach, or in similar settings. Alluvium is also sometimes called alluvial deposit. Alluvium is ...

in the basin allow good agricultural use.

Geology

Large-scale overview

The rock strata of the coal-saddle of Saarbrücken (

Carboniferous The Carboniferous ( ) is a Geologic time scale, geologic period and System (stratigraphy), system of the Paleozoic era (geology), era that spans 60 million years, from the end of the Devonian Period Ma (million years ago) to the beginning of the ...

) dive to the northwest and it comes to a superposition of younger rocks of the

Rotliegend The Rotliegend, Rotliegend Group or Rotliegendes () is a lithostratigraphic unit (a sequence of rock strata) of latest Carboniferous to Guadalupian (middle Permian) age that is found in the subsurface of large areas in western and central Europe ...

and the

Triassic The Triassic ( ; sometimes symbolized 🝈) is a geologic period and system which spans 50.5 million years from the end of the Permian Period 251.902 million years ago ( Mya), to the beginning of the Jurassic Period 201.4 Mya. The Triassic is t ...

. Dillingen lies on a plaice of the middle Buntsandstein. The rectangular plaice is stretched towards southeast-northwest and bounded to the south by the Carboniferous line of the municipalities of Ensdorf, Hülzweiler and Schwarzenholz. In the southwest and northwest of this plaice of Buntsandstein lie the ridges of the upper Buntsandstein (

Röt Formation The Röt Formation or Rötton Formation (German for Röt Shale), or Upper Buntsandstein, is a geologic formation of the Buntsandstein in Germany. It preserves fossils dating back to the Middle Triassic Epoch (Anisian or Aegean or Bithynian in the ...

) and the

Muschelkalk The Muschelkalk (German for "shell-bearing limestone"; ) is a sequence of sedimentary rock, sedimentary rock strata (a lithostratigraphy, lithostratigraphic unit) in the geology of central and western Europe. It has a Middle Triassic (240 to 230 m ...

between Berus, Siersburg and the valley of Haustadt. The rocks of the lower Rotliegend and the carbon form the northeastern border area.

Narrower room

The extended valley of the area Dillingen and Saarlouis lies in the area of the middle

, in which the valleys of the Saar and the Prims dug. The left flank of the Saar at Dillingen, the Limberg, is formed by a steep of

Grès à Voltzia The Grès à Voltzia is a geologic formation in France. It preserves fossils dating back to the Triassic period, more specifically the Anisian stage of the Middle Triassic epoch. It represents a lagerstatte that is well known for its palaeoflor ...

, while a right flank of the valley is missing. On this bas-relief with overlaying younger gravel blankets, the development area of Dillingen and Pachten spreads. In the middle Buntsandstein mainly crumbly, easily erodible sandstone formations are developed. Above is the upper Buntsandstein (

), which is made up of firmer sandstones bound to parts of

clay Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolinite, ). Most pure clay minerals are white or light-coloured, but natural clays show a variety of colours from impuriti ...

carbonate A carbonate is a salt of carbonic acid, (), characterized by the presence of the carbonate ion, a polyatomic ion with the formula . The word "carbonate" may also refer to a carbonate ester, an organic compound containing the carbonate group ...

. These were won in earlier times in numerous quarries as building material. Above are

-Layers: The lowest shell limestone layer form sandy-clayey-limestone rocks. The middle limestone layer contains

marl Marl is an earthy material rich in carbonate minerals, Clay minerals, clays, and silt. When Lithification, hardened into rock, this becomes marlstone. It is formed in marine or freshwater environments, often through the activities of algae. M ...

with

gypsum Gypsum is a soft sulfate mineral composed of calcium sulfate Hydrate, dihydrate, with the chemical formula . It is widely mined and is used as a fertilizer and as the main constituent in many forms of plaster, drywall and blackboard or sidewalk ...

and

anhydrite Anhydrite, or anhydrous calcium sulfate, is a mineral with the chemical formula CaSO4. It is in the orthorhombic crystal system, with three directions of perfect cleavage parallel to the three planes of symmetry. It is not isomorphous with the ...

. The upper shell limestone layer is composed of massive limestones and platy limestones with layers of marl-layers. Above these solid subsoil rocks,

sediment Sediment is a solid material that is transported to a new location where it is deposited. It occurs naturally and, through the processes of weathering and erosion, is broken down and subsequently sediment transport, transported by the action of ...

-terraces of the rivers Saar and Prims are deposited. The different altitudes of these terraces bear testimony to different stages of the depression of the two rivers and the deposit of entrained

crushed stone Crushed stone or angular rock is a form of construction aggregate, typically produced by mining a suitable rock deposit and breaking the removed rock down to the desired size using crushers. It is distinct from naturally occurring gravel, whi ...

s. The youngest deposits form the meadow-clay of the two river valleys.

Morphology

In the territory of Dillingen is the confluence of the two river valleys of Saar and Prims. The Prims finish their 91 kilometer run here. The terrain height at the mouth is 177 m above sea level. East of the Saar occurs on both banks of Prims the middle Buntsandstein. It is widely worn and forms a flat wavy stepped landscape. The areas are covered by broad terraced fields of gravel and clay.

Mineralogy

Almost all rocks occurring in the Dillingen area can be used economically. The friable rocks of the middle Buntsandstein were mined as sand in pits or slope edges. The firmer sandstones of the upper Buntsandstein (

) provided breakage and quarry stones.

Gravel Gravel () is a loose aggregation of rock fragments. Gravel occurs naturally on Earth as a result of sedimentation, sedimentary and erosion, erosive geological processes; it is also produced in large quantities commercially as crushed stone. Gr ...

was extracted from the terraces.

Loam Loam (in geology and soil science) is soil composed mostly of sand (particle size > ), silt (particle size > ), and a smaller amount of clay (particle size < ). By weight, its mineral composition is about 40–40–20% concentration of sand–si ...

was used as brick material.

Climate

The

climate Climate is the long-term weather pattern in a region, typically averaged over 30 years. More rigorously, it is the mean and variability of meteorological variables over a time spanning from months to millions of years. Some of the meteoro ...

in Dillingen is moderately oceanic, but warm (

Köppen Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Bernd Köppen (1951–2014), German pianist and composer * Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan * Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author ...

: ''Cfb''; Trewartha: ''Dobk''). There is significant rainfall throughout the year. Even the driest month still shows high rainfall. The average annual temperature is . The Kiel weather station has recorded the following extreme values: * Highest Temperature on 13 August 2003. * Warmest Minimum on 19 July 1976. * Coldest Maximum on 7 January 1985. * Lowest Temperature on 7 January 1985. * Highest Daily Precipitation on 6 June 2021. * Wettest Month in June 2021. * Wettest Year in 2002. * Driest Year in 1972. * Earliest Snowfall: 27 October 1950. * Latest Snowfall: 30 April 1970. * Longest annual sunshine: 2,185.7 hours in 2022. * Shortest annual sunshine: 1,477.8 hours in 2013.

Note

Neighboring communities

The city of Dillingen has six neighboring municipalities. Clockwise are these Beckingen, Nalbach with the districts Bierbach and Nalbach, Saarwellingen, Saarlouis (with the district of Roden), Wallerfangen and Rehlingen-Siersburg.

History

The importance of the Dillingen-Wallerfangen area on both banks of the middle Saar in the prehistoric and early historic eras is attested by a number of finds: rich bronze caskets of the late

Urnfield The Urnfield culture () was a late Bronze Age culture of Central Europe, often divided into several local cultures within a broader Urnfield tradition. The name comes from the custom of cremating the dead and placing their ashes in urns, which ...

period (9th century BC), a multi-tiered partial defensive wall ( :de:Abschnittsbefestigung) of 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 ...

(8th-6th century BC) on the nearly -high, peninsula-like massif of the Limberg overlooking the Saar, and a cemetery with a "princely" grave containing a golden

torc A torc, also spelled torq or torque, is a large rigid or stiff neck ring in metal, made either as a single piece or from strands twisted together. The great majority are open at the front, although some have hook and ring closures and a few hav ...

and arm rings from late Hallstatt period (around 500 BC). The

Gallo-Roman Gallo-Roman culture was a consequence of the Romanization (cultural), Romanization of Gauls under the rule of the Roman Empire in Roman Gaul. It was characterized by the Gaulish adoption or adaptation of Roman culture, Roman culture, language ...

settlement of Contiomagus stood at the intersection of the highways from

Mainz Mainz (; #Names and etymology, see below) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate, and with around 223,000 inhabitants, it is List of cities in Germany by population, Germany's 35th-largest city. It lies in ...

and

Straßburg Strasbourg ( , ; ; ) is the prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est region of eastern France, in the historic region of Alsace. It is the prefecture of the Bas-Rhin department and the official seat of the European Parliament. The cit ...

in today's district of Pachten. Around 275/276, during the

Migration Period The Migration Period ( 300 to 600 AD), also known as the Barbarian Invasions, was a period in European history marked by large-scale migrations that saw the fall of the Western Roman Empire and subsequent settlement of its former territories ...

, Contiomagus was destroyed and rebuilt. The oldest written mention of "Dillingen" and "Pachten" can be found in a document of Albero von Montreuil,

Bishop of Trier The Diocese of Trier (), in English historically also known as ''Treves'' () from French ''Trèves'', is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Catholic church in Germany.Altes Schloss). The area was devastated by 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 European history. An estimated 4.5 to 8 million soldiers and civilians died from battle, famine, or disease, whil ...

between 1618 and 1648, and again in 1672-1678/79 in the

Franco-Dutch War The Franco-Dutch War, 1672 to 1678, was primarily fought by Kingdom of France, France and the Dutch Republic, with both sides backed at different times by a variety of allies. Related conflicts include the 1672 to 1674 Third Anglo-Dutch War and ...

. In 1685, the feudal ruler of Dillingen received permission from King

Louis XIV of France LouisXIV (Louis-Dieudonné; 5 September 16381 September 1715), also known as Louis the Great () or the Sun King (), was King of France from 1643 until his death in 1715. His verified reign of 72 years and 110 days is the List of longest-reign ...

to build an

ironworks An ironworks or iron works is an industrial plant where iron is smelted and where heavy iron and steel products are made. The term is both singular and plural, i.e. the singular of ''ironworks'' is ''ironworks''. Ironworks succeeded bloome ...

, the

. The French Revolution ended the rule of the local nobility. In 1815, the region was annexed to the

Kingdom of Prussia The Kingdom of Prussia (, ) was a German state that existed from 1701 to 1918.Marriott, J. A. R., and Charles Grant Robertson. ''The Evolution of Prussia, the Making of an Empire''. Rev. ed. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1946. It played a signif ...

in the Second Treaty of Paris. With the fall of the

Hohenzollern The House of Hohenzollern (, ; , ; ) is a formerly royal (and from 1871 to 1918, imperial) German dynasty whose members were variously princes, electors, kings and emperors of Hohenzollern, Brandenburg, Prussia, the German Empire, and Romania. ...

dynasty in 1918 Dillingen became part of the

Free State of Prussia The Free State of Prussia (, ) was one of the States of the Weimar Republic, constituent states of Weimar Republic, Germany from 1918 to 1947. The successor to the Kingdom of Prussia after the defeat of the German Empire in World War I, it cont ...

. Between 1920 and the Saar Referendum of 1935, by the provisions of the

Treaty of Versailles The Treaty of Versailles was a peace treaty signed on 28 June 1919. As the most important treaty of World War I, it ended the state of war between Germany and most of the Allies of World War I, Allied Powers. It was signed in the Palace ...

, Dillingen was part of the

Territory of the Saar Basin The Territory of the Saar Basin (, ; ) was a region occupied and governed by the United Kingdom and France from 1920 to 1935 under a League of Nations mandate. It had its own flag (adopted on 28 July 1920): a blue, white, and black horizontal t ...

administered by the

League of Nations The League of Nations (LN or LoN; , SdN) was the first worldwide intergovernmental organisation whose principal mission was to maintain world peace. It was founded on 10 January 1920 by the Paris Peace Conference (1919–1920), Paris Peace ...

. After the referendum of 1935 Dillingen returned to the German Reich, but without again becoming part of Prussia. In 1936 Pachten was incorporated. During the

Second World War 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 ...

, especially during the fierce fighting in the winter of 1944/1945, war between the German

Wehrmacht The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the German Army (1935–1945), ''Heer'' (army), the ''Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmac ...

and the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...

caused heavy destruction, commemorated by the Westwall Bunker Museum. In 1947 Dillingen became part of the

, which, in 1957, joined the

Federal Republic of 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 constituent states have a total population of over 84 ...

politically and on 5 July 1959 also economically. In 1949, Dillingen was granted city rights by the Saar state government under Prime Minister Johannes Hoffmann. In 1969 Diefflen was incorporated in 1969. In the year 1990 Dillingen-Pachten celebrated two thousand years of settlement in Contiomagus. Dillingen is the place of origin for the

toponymic surname A toponymic surname or habitational surname or byname is a surname or byname derived from a place name,

"Dillinger".

Mayors

* April 1945-May 1945: Benedikt Hoffmann * May 1945-September 1945: Heinrich Scherer * November 1945-September 1946: Theodor Okon * October 1946-May 1956: Peter Lamar * October 1956-February 1974: Eduard Jakobs, CDU * March 1974-March 1994: Gerhard Leonardy, CDU * March 1994-March 2004: Erwin Planta, SPD * since March 2004: Franz-Josef Berg, (born 1957), CDU

Municipal Council

The City Council with 39 seats after local elections on 25 May 2014http://www.statistikextern.saarland.de/wahl/internet_saar/GR_SL/gemeindeergebnisse/k00044/g44111/grafik_sitze_44111.html Auf: www.statistikextern.saarland.de, retrieved 9 June 2014. * Persons entitled to vote: 16.357 * Voters: 7.364 Wählern * Rejected votes: 204 * Valid votes: 7.160

Coat of arms of Dillingen

Blazon In heraldry and heraldic vexillology, a blazon is a formal description of a coat of arms, flag or similar emblem, from which the reader can reconstruct an accurate image. The verb ''to blazon'' means to create such a description. The visual d ...

: In blue a growing silver, pinned and black grooved wall, surmounted by a silver, gold-crowned and -supported and red-tongued seated Lorraine eagle, in the wall a tall, red-lined golden gate, covered with a red zigzag bar, surmounted by a three-rowed, blue tournament collar. The coat of arms is based in its design on the coat of arms of the noblemen of Siersberg, barons of Dillingen (red zigzag beam and blue tournament collar on gold background) and the official coat of arms of the former Prévôté (Bailiwick) Siersberg (silver tower with eagle on a blue background). The coat of arms of the noblemen is reinterpreted in the coat of arms of Dillingen to the gate in a city wall.

Transport

Dillingen (Saar) station is on the Saar Railway, which connects Saarbrücken Central Station and

Trier Central Station Trier Hauptbahnhof is a railway station for the city of Trier, in the Germany, German state of Rhineland-Palatinate. It is a through station, about east of the inner city and the Porta Nigra. History The station was opened in together with th ...

. Iron ore comes to the steelworks by Germany's heaviest trains 6000T trains.

Castle

Dilingen's Old Castle is a medieval building. Around 1699 it was developed into a Renaissance castle. In 1789 the architect Balthsar Wilhelm Stengel created a grand residential space. The castle has a yearly arts and crafts market.

Notable people

* Siegfried Alkan (1858–1941), composer * Peter Jost (born 1960), musicologist * Michael Müller (born 1981), opera singer (tenor) *

Andreas Rothkopf Andreas Rothkopf (born 10 October 1955 in Dillingen, Saarland) is a German organist, pianist and music educator. Life After his first piano lessons with his father, Rothkopf studied Catholic church music and music education with Robert Leonard ...

(born 1955), organist, pianist * Rudolf Schmidt (1875–1943), Brandenburg journalist, local historian and regional historian Rathaus Dillingen1.jpg, Town Hall Dillingen Bahnhof 01.JPG, Train station DillingenSaarL1100598 (2).jpg, Pedestrian zone Stummstraße SaardomHL1080244 (2).jpg, Statue of Odile of Alsace in front of Saardom StJohann Dillingen1.jpg, Church St. John the Baptist Dillingen Pachten Kirche1.jpg, Church St. Maximin and the Fourteen Holy Helpers, Pachten Dillinge Maria Trost (13).jpg, Church of Our Lady (Maria Consolatrix Afflictorum), Pachtener Heide StJosefStWendelinAnsichtZippL1050071 (2).jpg, Church Saint Joseph and Saint Wendelin, Diefflen DillingenSaarL1100566 (2).jpg, Church of the Blessed Sacrament ( Saardom) Dillingen Evangelische Kirche1.jpg, Protestant Church Pachten RömerTurn1.JPG, Roman fortress, Reconstruction, Pachten Odilienbrunnen DillingenSaarL1050247.JPG, Odile of Alsace Fountain Hochofen (2044401426).jpg, Steelworks "Dillinger Hütte", Blast furnace AltesSchlossDillingenSaarVorburgL1040718 (2).JPG, Old Castle DiefflenJüdischerFriedhofL1010392.JPG, Jewish Cemetery KircheJosefWendelinDorfbrunnenL1050078 (2).jpg, Diefflen, Village Centre

References

{{Authority control Saarlouis (district)