Endingen am Kaiserstuhl, Baden-Württemberg, Germany

🇩🇪 Endingen (Ändinge am Kaiserstuehl) is a small German town located in south-west Germany, at the border with France. It lies at the northern border of a former volcano area called Kaiserstuhl.

Geography The town of Endingen with the winegrowing villages Amoltern, Kiechlinsbergen and Königschaffhausen is located in the north of the Kaiserstuhl. The highest point of the community is lying in the south of the city core, the Katharinenberg, on top of which stands a chapel. With 492.4 m above sea level it is the third highest peak of the Kaiserstuhl.

Neighbouring municipalities Neighboring communities are (clockwise from the west): Sasbach, Wyhl, Forchheim, Riegel, Bahlingen, Vogtsburg.

City structure In addition to the town of Endingen itself, the three districts Amoltern, Kiechlinsbergen and Königschaffhausen belong to Endingen. At the same time, these form localities within the meaning of the Baden-Württemberg municipal code with their own town councils and mayors. In each of the localities administration offices are set up with the name "Ortschaftsamt". The official designation of the districts is preceded by the name of the city and connected by hyphen adjusted the names of the neighborhoods. The neighborhoods are spatially identical to the former municipalities of the same name. The urban area is also divided into the four residential districts within the meaning of the Baden-Württemberg municipal code. These are residential district I (Endingen), residential district II (Amoltern), residential district III (Kiechlinsbergen) and residential district IV (Königschaffhausen). The districts each include only the villages of the same name.

History Endingen is first found in sources in the year 862. It belonged to the Lords of Endingen for several centuries and then to the Lords of Üsenberg. In 1285 or 1286, Endingen received city rights. When the Lords of Üsenberg died out in 1379, the town passed to the Habsburgs and was eventually incorporated into Vorderösterreich. For a short time in the 15th century, Endingen held the status of an Imperial City (Reichsstadt) of the Holy Roman Empire.

In 1751, Endingen was the site of one of the last Witch Trials in Europe. On 24 April Anna Schnidenwind was burned as a witch. After the Peace of Pressburg (1805), Endingen was assigned with the rest of the Breisgau to Baden. At the same time, Endingen also became part of the Landkreis Emmendingen. The exception is Kiechlinsbergen, which belonged to the former administrative district of Freiburg before its incorporation.

In 1843, 358 citizens emigrated from the Kaiserstuhl area via Le Havre to Colonia Tovar, Venezuela, mainly from Endingen am Kaiserstuhl, Forchheim, Wyhl and Oberbergen. There they were settled after some turmoil at their present location. The farmers planted vegetables and fruits and also brewed Venezuela's first beer; they built their houses in half-timbered style.

Sites of interest • Kaiserstühler Heimatmuseum • Cheese museum Endingen • Further Austria museum

Economy Viticulture plays, as everywhere in the Kaiserstuhl, a prominent role. There is a wine cooperative in every town and in the city center. Furthermore, several independent wineries are located in the community. Königschaffhausen is especially known for its cherry cultivation. Several industrial and retail companies are located in Endingen.

Education For preschoolers there are three kindergartens in the city centre (Regenbogen, St. Elisabeth and Maria Quell) and in the winegrower villages one kindergarten each. The Endinger school centre comprises an elementary school, the classes 5 to 7 of the Werkrealschule "Nördlicher Kaiserstuhl" (Werkrealschule together with the municipality Wyhl) as well as the Stefan Zweig- secondary school. The Maria Sibylla Merian Primary School in Kiechlinsbergen and Königschaffhausen welcomes elementary school students from the villages of Kiechlinsbergen and Königschaffhausen. There is also a primary school class. In addition, there is the Albert Schweitzer-Förderschule, which cares for pupils with learning difficulties and whose education has been extended since the year 2005 to full-time school.

Courts The city Endingen belongs to the jurisdiction of the District Court Kenzingen.

Transport Endingen is located south of the state road L113. The city is 5 km away from the A5 Frankfurt am Main - Basel motorway. Its train station lies at the Kaiserstuhl Railway. Direct trains leave to Riegel-Malterdingen (with connection to the Rhine Valley Railway), Breisach, and Gottenheim (both with connection to the Freiburg–Breisach railway. The nearest airport is the EuroAirport Basel-Mulhouse-Freiburg, about 70 km south of Endingen.