Rastatt
Town
Coat of arms of Rastatt
Coat of arms
Location of Rastatt within Rastatt district
Rastatt is located in Germany
Rastatt
Rastatt
Rastatt is located in Baden-Württemberg
Rastatt
Rastatt
Coordinates: 48°51′N 8°12′E / 48.850°N 8.200°E / 48.850; 8.200
CountryGermany
StateBaden-Württemberg
Admin. regionKarlsruhe
DistrictRastatt
Government
 • Mayor (2023–present) Monika Müller (SPD)
Area
 • Total59.02 km2 (22.79 sq mi)
Elevation
115 m (377 ft)
Population
 (2021-12-31)[1]
 • Total50,441
 • Density850/km2 (2,200/sq mi)
Time zoneUTC+01:00 (CET)
 • Summer (DST)UTC+02:00 (CEST)
Postal codes
76401-76437
Dialling codes07222, 07229
Vehicle registrationRA
Websiterastatt.de

Rastatt (German: [ˈʁaʃtat]) is a town with a Baroque core, District of Rastatt, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is located in the Upper Rhine Plain on the Murg river, 6 km (3.7 mi) above its junction with the Rhine and has a population of around 50,000 (2011). Rastatt was an important place of the War of the Spanish Succession (Treaty of Rastatt) and the Revolutions of 1848 in the German states.

History

Schloss Rastatt
The fortress of Rastatt in 1849
Mercedes-Benz factory in Rastatt

Until the end of the 17th century, Rastatt held little influence, but after its destruction by the French in 1689, it was rebuilt on a larger scale by Louis William, Margrave of Baden, the Imperial General in the Great Turkish War known popularly as Türkenlouis.

It then remained the residence of the Margraves of Baden-Baden until 1771. It was the location of the First and Second Congress of Rastatt, the former giving rise to the Treaty of Rastatt while the second ended in failure in 1799. In the 1840s, Rastatt was surrounded by fortifications to form the Fortress of Rastatt. For about 20 years previous to 1866, it was occupied by the troops of the German Confederation.[2]

The Baden revolution of 1849 began with a mutiny of soldiers at Rastatt in May 1849 under Ludwik Mieroslawski and Gustav Struve, and ended there a few weeks later with the capture of the town by the Prussians. (See The Revolutions of 1848 in the German states and History of Baden.) For some years, Rastatt was one of the strongest fortresses of the German empire, but its fortifications were dismantled in 1890.

In the same year, the town's railway station was relocated closer to the centre of Rastatt, from a location formerly outside the town walls, in what is now an industrial area.

Between 1946 and 1954, about twenty major criminal proceedings (known as the Rastatt Trials) for crimes against foreign workers and prisoners in smaller camps in the National Socialist camp system in south-west Germany took place in front of the French Military Administration's Tribunal Général on the basis of Control Council Law No. 10, along with more than 2000 defendants.

In 1992, a new Mercedes-Benz car factory started production in Rastatt.[3]

Local attractions

Rastatt and the surrounding area is home to a variety of historical buildings, includes palaces and castles such as Schloss Rastatt and Schloss Favorite. It lies in the vicinity of the Black Forest and the French border.

Twin towns – sister cities

Rastatt is twinned with:[4]

Notable people

Luise Adolpha Le Beau in 1872

In literature

The plot of the historical novel The Lenz Papers by Stefan Heym (published London 1964) is set in 1849 Rastatt, during the failed revolutions in Germany in 1848.

References

  1. ↑ "Bevölkerung nach Nationalität und Geschlecht am 31. Dezember 2021" [Population by nationality and sex as of December 31, 2021] (CSV) (in German). Statistisches Landesamt Baden-Württemberg. June 2022.
  2. ↑ Gilman, D. C.; Peck, H. T.; Colby, F. M., eds. (1905). "Rastatt" . New International Encyclopedia (1st ed.). New York: Dodd, Mead.
  3. ↑ "Rastatt passenger car assembly plant inaugurated". mercedes-benz-publicarchive. Retrieved 11 June 2022.
  4. ↑ "GewachseneStädtefreundschaften über viele Grenzen hinweg". rastatt.de (in German). Rastatt. Retrieved 2021-03-12.

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