Rheinfelden (; , ) is a town in the district of Lörrach in

Baden-Württemberg Baden-Württemberg ( ; ), commonly shortened to BW or BaWü, is a states of Germany, 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 i ...

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 ...

. It is situated on the right bank of the

Rhine The Rhine ( ) is one of the List of rivers of Europe, major rivers in Europe. The river begins in the Swiss canton of Graubünden in the southeastern Swiss Alps. It forms part of the Swiss-Liechtenstein border, then part of the Austria–Swit ...

, across from Rheinfelden,

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

, and 15 km east of

Basel Basel ( ; ), also known as Basle ( ), ; ; ; . is a city in northwestern Switzerland on the river Rhine (at the transition from the High Rhine, High to the Upper Rhine). Basel is Switzerland's List of cities in Switzerland, third-most-populo ...

. The population is 32,919 as of 2020, making it the second most populated town of the district after

Lörrach Lörrach () is a city in southwest Germany, in the valley of the Wiese, close to the French and the Swiss borders. It is the district seat of the district of Lörrach in Baden-Württemberg. It is the home of a number of large employers, inclu ...

Geography

Rheinfelden is located on the Swiss-German border, between the

High Rhine High Rhine (, ; kilometres 0 to 167 of the Rhine) is the section of the Rhine between Lake Constance () and the city of Basel, flowing in a general east-to-west direction and forming mostly the Germany–Switzerland border. It is the first of fo ...

to the south and the Dinkelberg hills to the north in the district of Lörrach. It borders the Swiss town of the same name across the Rhine river, and the towns of Grenzach-Wyhlen, Inzlingen, Steinen, Maulburg,

Schopfheim Schopfheim () is a town in the Lörrach (district), district of Lörrach in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is situated on the river Wiese (river), Wiese, 10 km north of Rheinfelden (Baden), Rheinfelden, and 13 km east of Lörrach. The ...

, and Schwörstadt in Germany.

Communities

Rheinfelden consists of a relatively young town core (founded in the late 19th century), two formerly independent villages ( Nollingen and Warmbach), and seven villages which were incorporated into the town between 1972 and 1975. These are: * Degerfelden ( alem. ''Degerfälde''). * Minseln (alem. ''Meisele''). * Herten (alem. ''Herte''). * Nordschwaben (alem. ''Nordschwoobe''). * Adelhausen (alem. ''Adelhuuse''). * Eichsel (alem. ''Eiggsle'') * Karsau (alem. ''Charsau'') and its community of Beuggen (alem. ''Büügge''). Apart from the town core, the villages forming Rheinfelden date from the early Middle Ages. Partly because of this, a teasing animosity exists between the villages with their longer history and traditions, and the industrial town core with its diverse population of recent origin.

Twin towns – sister cities

Rheinfelden (Baden) is twinned with: * Fécamp, France *

Mouscron Mouscron (; Dutch language, Dutch and , ; Picard language, Picard and Walloon language, Walloon: ''Moucron'') is a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality and City status in Belgium, city of Wallonia located in the Belgium, Belgian Hainaut Provinc ...

, Belgium * Neumarkt, Italy *

Vale of Glamorgan The Vale of Glamorgan ( ), locally referred to as ''The Vale'', is a Principal areas of Wales, county borough in the South East Wales, south-east of Wales. It borders Bridgend County Borough to the west, Cardiff to the east, Rhondda Cynon Taf t ...

, Wales

Notable people

* Hans Blum (1841–1910), journalist and writer, lived in Rheinfelden from 1865. * Jürgen Untermann (1928–2013), linguist, indoeuropeanist and epigraphist * Anne-Sophie Mutter (born 1963), violinist * Jochen Böhler (born 1969), historian, specializing in the military history of World War II *

Dietmar Dath Dietmar Dath (born 3 April 1970) is a German author, journalist and translator. Life Born in Rheinfelden, Dath grew up in Schopfheim, West Germany, and finished high school in Freiburg. After civilian service he studied German studies and phys ...

(born 1970), author, journalist and translator * Lars Halter (born 1973), German-American journalist

Sport

* Thomas Süss (born 1962), former footballer who played 286 games * Monique Riesterer (born 1971), weightlifter * Ruwen Faller (born 1980), 400 metre sprinter * sisters

Alisa Vetterlein Alisa Vetterlein (born 22 October 1988) is a German former Women's association football, football Goalkeeper (association football), goalkeeper, who played for various teams in the Fußball-Bundesliga (women), Bundesliga. She is the older sister ...

(born 1988) & Laura Vetterlein (born 1992), footballers * Philipp Hercher (born 1996), footballer who has played over 230 games * Raoul Petretta (born 1997), Italian footballer, played over 190 games

References

Twin cities Lörrach (district) Germany–Switzerland border crossings Divided cities {{Lörrach-geo-stub