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Offingen | |
|---|---|
 Coat of arms | |
Location of Offingen within Günzburg district  | |
 Location of Offingen | |
  Offingen  Offingen | |
| Coordinates:48°28′N10°22′E / 48.467°N 10.367°E /48.467; 10.367[1] | |
| Country | Germany |
| State | Bavaria |
| Admin. region | Schwaben |
| District | Günzburg |
| Government | |
| • Mayor(2020–26) | Thomas Wörz[2] (SPD) |
| Area | |
• Total | 14.91 km2 (5.76 sq mi) |
| Elevation | 440 m (1,440 ft) |
| Population (2023-12-31)[3] | |
• Total | 4,429 |
| • Density | 297.0/km2 (769.4/sq mi) |
| Time zone | UTC+01:00 (CET) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC+02:00 (CEST) |
| Postal codes | 89362 |
| Dialling codes | 08224 |
| Vehicle registration | GZ |
| Website | www.offingen.de |
Offingen (German pronunciation:[ˈɔfɪŋən]) is amunicipality in theSwabian administrative districtGünzburg inBavaria inGermany.[4]
As of 2023, Offingen a population of 4,429.
Offingen lies in theDonauried betweenUlm andDonauwörth on theDanube andMindel. TheUlm–Augsburg railway line crosses the town. Neuoffingen station was an important interchange for decades.[5]
"Offingen is, as can be derived from the name ending-ingen, the foundation of anAlemannicclan. The place name is derived from a clan leaderOffo. The village developed as astreet village at the intersection of theRoman road fromGünzburg toAugsburg with the valley path leading along theKammeltal. The village was first mentioned in a document dated 4 September 1186, in whichPope Urban III confirmed, among other things, that it was owned by theAugsburg bishop Udalschalk."[5] At that time, the local government was exercised by Augsburgministers. One of these ministerials was Konrad Schoberlin, whose gift of goods from the year 1209 has given an early mention of the town.
At the beginning of the 14th century Offingen became part of the margraviate of Burgau together with the neighbouring castle Landstrost by an area exchange. The town and its citizens were then pledged several times to securemonetary claims againstcreditors. From 1380 the lords of Westernach appeared in Offingen over such pledged possessions and partly also fief possessions. In 1518 Eustachius von Westernach sold his fief and pledged property to the lords of the Stain zu Rechtenstein at Reisensburg. Around 1550, they found themselves in an economic emergency and sold the Offingen estate to the lords of Schellenberg zu Hüfingen in 1599. However, they also became indebted with the property and transferred the fiefdoms back to the barons of Freyberg-Eisenberg inHaldenwang in 1659, who held the local sovereignty until the redemption of the feudal rights in the 19th century.
No major incidents occurred in Offingen during theGerman Peasants' War of 1525. Rather, the Offingen peasants seemed to have held back, since in March 1525 the Leipheimer Haufen moved to Offingen in order toforce Offingen peasants into its alliance. After the defeat of the peasant uprising only two Offingen ringleaders were punished; the village got off lightly with a fine. From theThirty Years' War from 1618 to 1648 little is known about Offingen. A tax register from 1627 still mentions numerous wealthy people in the town. Until 1680 any records about the general development of the village are missing.[6]
From 1696 to 1700 a new castle was built in Landstrost by the barons of Freyberg. Around 1748 a castle (today's parsonage) was also built in Offingen.
Around 1800 Offingen had the status of an Obervogtamt. Since 1806 the place belongs to Bavaria. The trigger was the Rheinbundakte, an alliance of southern German states with France's EmperorNapoléon Bonaparte. This agreement determined, among other things, that the noble principalities as well as the knightly possessions, which up to then had been directly linked to the empire, were subordinated to the respective sovereign (mediatisation).
The castle in Offingen was inhabited by the barons of Freyberg until 1858 and then sold for lack of further use. After the farmer Johann Haupeltshofer became the new lord of the castle in 1862, the community and the church foundation acquired the property in 1878 and used it as a school and parsonage. The castle in Landstrost was severely damaged in 1871 by severallandslides and finally demolished in 1872.
After theSecond World War, the community took in about 1,000expellees. In neighbouring Schnuttenbach, today a district of Offingen, around 75 Hungarian-Germans and around 250 displaced persons from theSudetenland were accommodated in a barracks camp.
The municipality of Schnuttenbach was incorporated into Offingen on 1 May 1978. At the same time, the newly founded administrative community of the towns of Offingen,Gundremmingen andRettenbach began its work, which is based in the new Offingen town hall.
The village was first mentioned in a document in 1298. Its special jewel is the chapel ofSaint Ursula. It is decorated withfrescoes from the 12th century. The attached Church of St. Ursula has artistically remarkable stained glass windows by Munich professor Josef Oberberger.
Schnuttenbach was the site of a labour camp during the National Socialist era. The documentary filmVerborgen in Schnuttenbach by Thomas Gerhard Majewski is dedicated to this camp.
Mayor Thomas Wörz (SPD) has been in office since the 2008 local elections. He was re-elected in March 2014 with 57.3% of the votes.
 | This section needs to beupdated. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information.(July 2021) |
The Market Community Council has 16 members. Since the local elections in 2014, they have distributed their seats on the following lists:
There are faction communities between the CSU and the Free Voters' Association Schnuttenbach as well as the Free Voters Offingen and the Young Citizens.
Until the middle of the 20th century, Offingen was a strongly rural community. The bronze memorial to the dairy farmer reminds us that the village enabled more than 100 dairy farmers to make a living.
The Augsburg entrepreneurs Johannes and Wilhelm Lembert as well as Franz Baptist Silbermann built thefelt factory in 1896. It developed into the economically strongest company in the town. In the 21st century, the BWF Group, which emerged from it, had worldwide business contacts and subsidiaries in several countries. Industrial settlements such as the paper factory, the fertilizer factory or a furniture factory lost importance after a temporary heyday.
Since 1950, two markets have been held annually in Offingen. On July 14, 1971, the Bavarian State Government awarded the town the official designationMarkt (market). The market Offingen is not to be confused withMarktoffingen, which lies about 50 km further north.
TheOffingen station is on theUlm–Augsburg line. The official opening of this railway line on 1 May 1854 promoted passenger and freight traffic. The express mail wagon connection fromDillingen an der Donau to Günzburg was shortly thereafter routed viaLauingen and Gundremmingen to Offinger Bahnhof.
A Bavarian law of 29 April 1869 commissioned the construction of a railway link between Günzburg an der Donau and Donauwörth, now part of theIngolstadt–Neuoffingen railway. The Neuoffingen railway station was built between Günzburg and Offingen. On 15 August 1876, rail traffic was officially launched on the new route. Passenger trains stopped there until 1988. Neuoffingen is one of the last brick stations in Bavaria to be listed.
Offingen is connected to several long-distance cycle routes, including the Danube cycle route (runs from the source to the mouth of the Danube)[8] and, within the EuropeanEuroVelo network, the EV 6 long-distance cycle route (runs from the Atlantic to the Black Sea over more than 6000 km along six European rivers).[9]
