Ellwangen an der Jagst, officiallyEllwangen (Jagst), in common use simplyEllwangen (German pronunciation:[ˈɛlˌvaŋən]^ⓘ) is a town in the district ofOstalbkreis in the east ofBaden-Württemberg in southernGermany. It is situated about 17 kilometres (11 mi) north ofAalen.

Ellwangen
Town
General view of the town
Coat of arms
Location of Ellwangen within Ostalbkreis district
Ellwangen Show map of Germany Ellwangen Show map of Baden-Württemberg
Coordinates:48°57′40″N10°7′50″E / 48.96111°N 10.13056°E /48.96111; 10.13056
Country	Germany
State	Baden-Württemberg
Admin. region	Stuttgart
District	Ostalbkreis
Subdivisions	Kernstadt and 4Stadtteile
Government
• Lord mayor(2019–27)	Michael Dambacher[1] (Ind.)
Area
• Total	127.4 km2 (49.2 sq mi)
Elevation	440 m (1,440 ft)
Population  (2022-12-31)[2]
• Total	25,678
• Density	200/km2 (520/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+01:00 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+02:00 (CEST)
Postal codes	73479
Dialling codes	07961, 07965
Vehicle registration	AA
Website	www.ellwangen.de

Ellwangen has 25,000 inhabitants.

Ellwangen is situated in the valley of the riverJagst, between the foothills of theSwabian Alb andVirngrund (ancient Virgundia) forest, the latter being part of theSwabian-Franconian Forest. The Jagst runs through Ellwangen from south to north.

The town developed in the 7th century as anAlemannic settlement in the Virgunna forest next to theFranconian-Swabian border. In 764 the Frankish nobleHariolf,Bishop of Langres, founded aBenedictine monastery,Ellwangen Abbey, on a hill next to the settlement. The monastery was mentioned in a document ofLouis the Pious asElehenuuwang in 814. It became aReichsabtei in 817.

From 870 to 873 theByzantine Greek "Apostle of the Slavs"Saint Methodius was imprisoned in Ellwangen, after he had been arrested byErmanrich, bishop of Passau. He was set free in 873 thanks to the intervention ofPope John VIII.

The monastery was "exempt" from 1124 on (maybe earlier), which means it was directly responsible to the pope. Theabbots were grantedReichsfreiheit in 1215. The office ofVogt was first held by the counts ofOettingen, from 1370 on by the counts ofWürttemberg. In 1460 the abbey was converted into an exempt house ofsecular canons, led by aprince-provost and a chapter consisting of 12 noblecanons and 10vicars. Initially its territory included the districts of Ellwangen, Tannenberg and Kochenburg. The district of Rötlen was acquired in 1471,Wasseralfingen in 1545, andHeuchlingen in 1609.

In 1588 and from 1611 to 1618 about 450 people in Ellwangen were killed inwitch-hunts.

After theGerman Mediatisation of 1802, Ellwangen became a part of theduchy of Württemberg. At first it was the government seat of Neuwürttemberg, the territories Württemberg had acquired by mediatisation. In 1803 the town became centre of a district (Oberamt), which in 1806 was included into the newKingdom of Württemberg. In 1807 Ellwangen became seat of theJagstkreis (Jagst District), until the district was merged into a larger unit in 1924. The king of Württemberg, who had acquired large areas with a predominantlyRoman Catholic population, wanted Ellwangen to become the seat of a Roman Catholicdiocese. To achieve this, in 1812 he founded anordinary and aseminary, as well as a Roman Catholic theologicalfaculty. The faculty was soon moved toTübingen, where it became part ofEberhard Karls University. In 1817, the seminary and the ordinary went toRottenburg am Neckar, which in 1821 became the seat of the newly formed diocese for Württemberg.

DuringWorld War I, in 1916–1917, Germany operated a specialprisoner-of-war camp for ethnicPolish officers from the Russian Army, with the aim of subjecting them to propaganda and conscripting them into a planned German-controlled Polish army to fight against Russia (Poland was partitioned between Germany, Russia and Austria at the time).^[3]

After World War II members of the17th SS Panzergrenadier Division were convicted of a number of war crimes, involving the shooting of foreignconcentration camp prisoners in Ellwangen during the war.^[4][5][6]

In April 1945,US Army troops occupied Ellwangen and until 1946, stationed various Army units at thekaserne — the former German Tank School. From 1946 theInternational Refugee Organization (IRO) used the kaserne as adisplaced persons' camp for 3,000 Ukrainian refugees until 1951. In 1951, the US Army — the combat engineer battalion and medical battalion of the28th Infantry Division again took over the facility. In September 1955 the Americans returned the kaserne to the German government.^[7]

In April and May 2018,two police raids at a migrant shelter in the town led to national and international media attention and a public debate about legal deportations.

Ellwangen is served by theUpper Jagst Railway which is operated by bothGoAhead andDeutsche Bahn. There are also several regional bus lines operated byFahrBus Ostalb. Ellwangen also is a "City Stop" for theInter-City Train line ofDeutsche Bahn. Since 2014, a so calledStadtbus Ellwangen was established. A Stadtbus only stops if requested by the passengers and was established for older residents and the population surrounding the historic center of the town.

Sights of the city are the medieval town centre with its churches, notably Ellwangen Basilica. Also well known are theBaroque pilgrimage church,Schönenberg, and the castle, both on hills near to the city.

Ellwangen istwinned with:

• Langres (Haute-Marne,France)
• Abbiategrasso (Province of Milan,Italy)

• Wolfgang Benz (born 1941), historian and head ofCenter for Research on Antisemitism atTechnische Universität Berlin 1990–2011
• Thomas Geisel (born 1963), politician (SPD), from 2014 till 2020; Lord mayor ofDüsseldorf
• Bernd Grimm (born 1962), product designer, architectural model builder and artist.
• Philipp Jenninger (1932–2018), politician (CDU), president of theBundestag from 1984 till 1988, diplomat
• Johann Sebastian von Drey (1777–1853), Catholic theologian and professor at theEllwangen university.^[8]
• Bernardin Schellenberger (born 1944), Catholic theologian, priest and formerTrappist
• Paul Wengert (born 1952), from 2002 till 2008 lord mayor ofAugsburg
• Patrizius Wittman (1818-1883), a Catholic journalist.^[9]
• Magnoald Ziegelbauer (1689–1750), a Benedictine monk and ecclesiastical historian.^[10]

• Erwin Hadewicz (born 1951), retired footballer, played over 250 games
• Stefan Kohn (born 1965), former footballer who played 305 games
• Florian Lechner (born 1981), former footballer who played 200 games

• Official website of Ellwangen(in German)
• Schoenenberg: imagesArchived 2016-03-03 at theWayback Machine
• Ellwangen Basilica: images
• "Ellwangen" .Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). 1911.
• "Ellwangen" .New International Encyclopedia. 1905.