Rosenheim
Rosenheim is a town in Bavaria, Germany. It is an independent city located in the centre of the district of Rosenheim, and is also the seat of its administration. It is located on the west bank of the Inn at the confluence of the rivers Inn and Mangfall, in the Bavarian Alpine Foreland. It is the third largest city in Upper Bavaria with over 63,000 inhabitants. Rosenheim is the economic centre and the busiest place in the region.
Geography
The population of the town proper is approximately 60,000 inhabitants with up to 125,000 in the surrounding area. Rosenheim is situated in the Upper-Bavarian Alpine Foothills, above sea level and covers an area of. The capital of Bavaria, Munich, is away in North-West direction from Rosenheim. Rosenheim station is at the junction of the Munich–Rosenheim, the Rosenheim–Salzburg and the Munich–Innsbruck lines.The landscape around Rosenheim was formed during the last ice age from the advancement of the Inn Valley Glacier and later from the Rosenheim lake. The lake existed about 10,000 years ago, covering the whole Inn valley as far as Wasserburg am Inn, about north of Rosenheim.
Even today in many places around the town the former shoreline can be recognised where the former flat lake bed changes suddenly into relatively steep embankment.
History
Rosenheim's development can be traced from its location on intersecting major trade routes. Even in early times, the town's intersecting traffic stimulated its development as a market town. It subsequently evolved from a market to a salt trade and then railway town to today's wood and college town.Pons Aeni
Crucial to the establishment of Rosenheim were the Inn and the corresponding Inntal. The Romans arrived in the year 15 BC under the leadership of Drusus and Tiberius. They founded to the East right of the Inn the province Noricum and to the west of the Inn Rhaetia. The colonizers built a road through the Brenner to Castra Regina, and one running east–west road from Iuvavum to Augusta Vindelicum. The intersection of these two enormously important trade routes were protected by a military station whose name was "Pons Aeni". Less frequently used terms were "Ponte Aoni", "Ad enum" or "stations Enensis". The Romano Celtic settlement existed for some 500 years with that name. Pons was between Aeni Isinisca and , as shown on the Roman road map Tabula Peutingeriana from the 4th century. The name "Pons Aeni" can still be recognised in local place names, "Pfunzen" in the name of the district "Langenpfunzen" and "Leonhardspfunzen".Origin of the town's name
The origin of the town's name is not completely clear. First mentioned in 1234, Rosenheim castle is on the eastern bank of the Inn, on today's castle hill, overlooking a new bridge over the Inn. Perhaps the name comes from the Rosenheim Rose emblem of the Wasserburger Earl Hall, who built the castle. Another theory is that originally the name Ross was derived from the Rössern steeds that were used in medieval times to pull the river transport vessels, and for which there were large stables in Rosenheim. Still in use today the street names Am Esbaum or Am Roßacker are possible indications.Another theory suggests that there could be a kindred word Roas, Roze oder Ried, that used to mean swamp and peat bogs, which are still to be found around Rosenheim – evident also by the name of the neighboring town of Rosenheim Kolbermoor. An example of the old names, the nearby village of Riedering. Maybe the name is also derived from Rosenheim personal names Roso/Hrodo.
The most beautiful word for word theory is that formerly 'Rose' used to mean a beautiful girl. It was well known among the Inn boatmen that there were many beauties to admire in this town. The sailors of the town liked to control what was called "home of the Rose" – in other words Rosenheim.
Development of Rosenheim
At about the time the first mention of Rosenheim castle in 1234, a settlement of boatmen developed on the western shore. The area around the Inn Bridge was not developed for a long time due to marshy soil at the proximity of the mouth of the river Mangfall, so the settlement was located several hundred meters away. The centre of Rosenheim is therefore not directly on the riverside.Market Rosenheim
The town quickly grew in importance as a hub for all types of goods that were transported to the Inn, and received the 1328 Markets status. The Rosenheim ship masters made Rosenheim very wealthy during this era through the transport of goods, due to the location between Hall in Tirol the Inn and onwards to the Danube down to Vienna and Budapest. Until about 1600 the settlement had grown into one of the largest and most important markets in Bavaria, even though town privileges were only attained in 1864 from the Bavarian King Ludwig II.Rosenheim experienced economic decline during the 17th century in the wake of the decline of Inn Shipping Company and the consequences of the Thirty Years' War. There were also a plague epidemic and a market fire.
In the 19th century Rosenheim developed as an economic centre in the Southeast of Bavaria due to brine. In 1810 an early type of wooden pipeline brought brine from the salt mines in the area Reichenhall and Traunstein to Rosenheim. Boiling the salt made Rosenheim the centre of Bavarian salt production until 1958.
Expansion of the railways brought early connection to the railway. In 1858 Rosenheim station was inaugurated, which however would soon be too small and prove a hindrance for further urban development, in 1876 the station moved to its present site. The old railway line was the straight through road, the roundhouse of the first station now serves as an exhibition center, the old station is directly opposite the 1878 City Hall – and is used in the ZDF evening series "Die Rosenheim-Cops" as the backdrop of the police headquarters.
The economic boom of the late 19th and early 20th century made the Gründerzeit – and Art Nouveau the most important architectural style, which now determines the townscape. It was built in the emerging civic centre to the present Town Hall and the Lutheran Church of the Redeemer in Rosenheim for rare Gothic Revival-style brick for the widening Evangelical Lutheran Church.
At the beginning of the 20th century, Rosenheim had nine breweries which are still preserved in the names of some restaurants. The only survivors being "" and "" and supply, among others, the "Märzen" for the "", as well as the Bierbichler Weißbräu.
Rosenheim in the Nazi era
The number of Jews living in Rosenheim was high compared to other Bavarian cities. However, at the start of the 20th century, the Jewish community consisted of about 50 people. The request to the city council for establishment of a separate Jewish religious association, with reference to the Bavarian-Jewish legislation, was refused, so the Rosenheim Jews remained attached to the state capital, where their dead also had to be buried. Even the funeral of the First World War fallen son of a Jewish merchant based in Rosenheim at the city cemetery was refused and was "the biggest disappointment and the bitterest pain" for the father.With the creation of the first local Nazi group outside of Munich in 1920, the Rosenheim Jews saw increasing hostility. Centre of hate campaigns was the Rosenheim School. A scandal occurred in June 1920, after a reader accused the writer of a letter titled "Rosenheimer Jews" in the local press, who wanted to repeal the provisions of the Versailles Treaty and held military exercises at the Rosenheim School. Seven members of the high school and a member of the "Chiemgau" then raided a villa inhabited by Jews in the Herbststrasse. The college of the town of Rosenheim, on 29 July 1920 came to the conclusion that "... it was regrettable that the people's movement to fight exploitative Jews, which certainly was justified in its nature, has been discredited." Protests of the Bavarian Jewish Central Association were unsuccessful, only an unmistakable message of the Bavarian Interior Ministry September 1920 was able to maintain peace.
On 1 April 1933, shortly after the Nazi seizure of power, guards were set up in front of Jewish shops, warning against buying in these stores, but to desist assault and criminal damage. A large proportion of the population ignored these calls. The shops were therefore still frequented, much to the annoyance of Nazi activists who acted with the backing of then-Mayor Gmelch. Despite the support of the population, six of the eleven Jewish business owners gave up their businesses by 1937.
The assassination of German diplomat vom Rath by the Jew Herschel Grynszpan on 7 November 1938 in Paris was taken as a final opportunity to strike against the Jews. The SA came with 8 to 10 men on 10 November at 3–4 o'clock in the morning to the last two Jewish shops and destroyed their inventory and merchandise.
The fate of many Rosenheim Jews is documented. Those who could, emigrated, mostly to the United States. However, many failed entry and exit applications, and many died in concentration camps.
Bombing during the Second World War
From the beginning of bombing raids on German cities in the spring of 1942, Rosenheim was not spared. In November 1943 there were shelters for only 650 people for a population of approximately 22,000. However, by February 1944 shelters had been built for about 6400 people and in conjunction with other shelters a total of 10,525 people could be protected.During 14 bomb attacks, 201 people were killed and 179 injured. The focus of the air attacks was the railway station and the railway tracks, as Rosenheim was an important transportation hub between Munich, Salzburg and Innsbruck. The neighbouring communities of Ziegelberg, Stephanskirchen, Westerndorf St. Peter and Oberpfaffenhofen were also hit. The first air attack was on 20 October 1944 at lunch time from 12:47 to 13:17 o'clock with over a hundred aircraft dropping 1,000 bombs, leaving 27 dead and 59 wounded. The heaviest air raid took place on 18 April 1945. From 14:40 to 14:55 around 200 to 1300 aircraft dropped bombs in the area around the station, resulting in 53 dead and 36 injured, in addition, this attack also made 800 people homeless. The station building was almost completely destroyed and railway tracks were destroyed over a length of 20 kilometers. The last air attacks were made on 19 and 21 April 1945. During the war the majority of at least 173 unexploded bombs were recovered. In 1964, the Oberbayerisches Volksblatt reported that the approximate location of 38 undiscovered unexploded ordnance was known.
Historical timeline
Population growthThe population growth rate in the last 10 years was about 3 Percent.
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