Editing Ansbach (section)

==History==
According to folklore, towards the end of the 7th century a group of Franconian peasants and their families went up into the wilderness to found a new settlement. Their leader Onold led them to an area called the "Rezattal" (Rezat valley). This is where they founded the "Urhöfe" (meaning the first farms: Knollenhof, Voggenhof and Rabenhof). Gradually more settlers, such as the "Winden-Tribe" came, and the farms grew into a small village. Many villages around Ansbach were founded by the "Winden" during that period (even today, their settlements can easily identified by their names, like Meinhardswinden, Dautenwinden or Brodswinden). A [[Benedictine Order|Benedictine monastery]] was established there around 748 by the [[Franks|Frankish]] noble [[Gumbertus|St&nbsp;Gumbertus]]. The adjoining village of Onoltesbach was first noticed as a proper town in 1221.<ref>Werner Bürger: ''Heimatgeschichte der Stadt Ansbach'' (eng: "The history of Ansbach"), Oldenburg Verlag, [[Munich]] 1990, (in German)</ref>

The counts of [[County of Öttingen|Öttingen]] ruled over Ansbach until the [[Hohenzollern]] burgrave of [[Burgraviate of Nürnberg|Nürnberg]] took over in 1331. The Hohenzollerns made Ansbach the seat of their dynasty until their acquisition of the [[Margraviate of Brandenburg]] in 1415. After the 1440 death of [[Frederick I, Elector of Brandenburg|Frederick&nbsp;I]], a cadet branch of the family established itself as the [[Brandenburg-Ansbach|margraves of Ansbach]]. [[George, Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach|George the Pious]] introduced the [[Protestant Reformation]] to Ansbach in 1528, leading to [[St. Gumbertus, Ansbach|Gumbertus Abbey's]] secularization in 1563.{{Citation needed|date=June 2024}}

The [[Markgrafenschloß]] was built between 1704 and 1738.<ref name="Spaltro2005">{{cite book|last1= Spaltro |first1= Kathleen |last2= Bridge |first2= Noeline |display-authors=1 |title= Royals of England: A Guide for Readers, Travelers, and Genealogists |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UUOzgLiyd54C&pg=PA262 |access-date=16 September 2012 |year=2005 |publisher= iUniverse |isbn=9780595373123 |page=262}}</ref> Its gardens continued to be a notable attraction into the 1800s.{{sfnp|EB|1878}} In 1791, the last margrave sold his realm to the [[Kingdom of Prussia]].{{sfnp|EB|1878}} In 1796, the [[Palatine Zweibrücken|Duke of Zweibrücken]], [[Maximilian I Joseph of Bavaria|Maximilian Joseph]] — the future Bavarian king— was exiled to Ansbach the French took Zweibrücken. In Ansbach, [[Maximilian von Montgelas]] wrote an elaborate concept for the future political organization of Bavaria, which is known as the Ansbacher Mémoire.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.hdbg.de/montgelas/pages/hmv33.htm|title=Montgelas}}</ref> Napoleon forced Prussia to cede Ansbach and its principality to [[Kingdom of Bavaria|Bavaria]]{{sfnp|EB|1878}} in the [[Treaty of Schönbrunn (1805)|Franco-Prussian treaty of alliance]] signed at [[Schönbrunn Palace]] on 15 December 1805 at the end of the [[Third Coalition]]. Ansbach became the capital of the {{lang|de|[[Rezatkreis]]}} ('Circle of the [[Franconian Rezat|Rezat]]'). Bavarian ownership was confirmed by the 1815 [[Congress of Vienna]];{{sfnp|EB|1878}} Prussia was compensated with the Bavarian [[Duchy of Berg]].{{citation needed|date=June 2015}} In 1837 the {{lang|de|Rezatkreis}} became the circle of Middle Franconia. Following the [[unification of Germany]] Ansbach had a population of 12,635.{{Sfnp|EB|1878}}

Jewish families were resident in Ansbach from at least the end of the 18th century. They set up a Jewish Cemetery in the Ruglaender Strasse, which was vandalised and razed under the Nazi regime in the [[Kristallnacht]]. It was repaired in 1946, but it was damaged several times more. A plaque on the wall of the cemetery commemorates these events. The Jewish Congregation built its synagogue at No 3 Rosenbadstrasse, but it too was damaged by the SA, though it was not burnt down for fear of damaging the neighbouring buildings. It serves today as a "Symbolic House of God". A plaque in the entrance serves as a memorial to the synagogue and to Jewish residents who were murdered during the Holocaust.{{citation needed|date=January 2017|reason=German Wikipedia is not a reliable source}} In 1940, at least 500 patients were deported from the Heil- und Pflegeanstalt Ansbach [''Ansbach Medical and Nursing Clinic''] to the extermination facilities Sonnenstein and Hartheim which were disguised as psychiatric institutions, as part of the [[Action T4]] euthanasia action. They were gassed there. At the clinic in Ansbach itself, around 50 intellectually disabled children were injected with the drug [[Phenobarbital|Luminal]] and killed that way. A plaque was erected in their memory in 1988 in the local hospital at No. 38 Feuchtwangerstrasse.{{citation needed|date=January 2017|reason=German Wikipedia is not a reliable source}}

During [[World War II]], a subcamp of [[Flossenbürg concentration camp]] was located here.<ref>[http://www.tartanplace.com/tartanhistory/concentrationcamps.html Christine O'Keefe. ''Concentration Camps.'']</ref> Also during the Second World War the Luftwaffe and Wehrmacht had bases here. The nearby airbase was the home station for the Stab & I/KG53 (Staff & 1st Group of Kampfgeschwader 53) operating 38 [[Heinkel He 111]] bombers. On 1 September 1939 this unit was one of the many that participated in the [[Invasion of Poland|attack on Poland]] that started the war. All of its bridges were destroyed during the course of the war. During the [[Western Allied invasion of Germany]] in April 1945, the airfield was seized by the [[United States Third Army]], and used by the [[USAAF]] [[354th Fighter Wing|354th Fighter Group]] which flew [[P-47 Thunderbolts]] from the aerodrome (designated [[Advanced Landing Ground|ALG R-82]]) from late April until the German capitulation on 7 May 1945.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.afhra.af.mil/factsheets/factsheet.asp?id=9966 |title=Factsheets : 354 Operations Group (PACAF) |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130104172433/http://www.afhra.af.mil/factsheets/factsheet.asp?id=9966 |archive-date=2013-01-04 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.skylighters.org/history/airfields|title=Skylighters, The Web Site of the 225th AAA Searchlight Battalion: USAAF Airfields in the ETO|access-date=2008-11-04|archive-date=2008-12-04|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081204033026/http://www.skylighters.org/history/airfields/|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.eucmh.com/2008/08/10/aaf-airfields-fr-be-nl-lu-deprocessing/ |title=AAF Airfields |url-status=bot: unknown |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090106021147/http://www.eucmh.com/2008/08/10/aaf-airfields-fr-be-nl-lu-deprocessing/ |archive-date=2009-01-06 }}</ref> At the end of the war, 19-year-old student [[Robert Limpert]] tried to get the town to surrender to the US Forces without a fight. He was betrayed by [[Hitler Youth]] and was hanged from the portal of the City Hall by the city's military commander, Col. (''Oberst'') Ernst Meyer. Several memorials to his heroic deed have been erected over the years, despite opposition from some residents — in the Ludwigskirche, in the Gymnasium Carolinum and at No 6 Kronenstrasse.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Gedenkstätten für die Opfer des Nationalsozialismus. Eine Dokumentation. |publisher=Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung |isbn=978-3-89331-208-5 |edition=Band 1 |location=Bonn |pages=113 |language=de}}</ref> After the Second World War, Ansbach belonged to the American Zone. The American Military authorities established a displaced persons (DP) camp in what used to be a sanatorium in what is today the Strüth quarter.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Strüth – Der Kinder-Kibbuz von Ansbach – Jüdische DP Lager und Gemeinden in Westdeutschland |url=https://www.after-the-shoah.org/strueth-der-kinder-kibbuz-von-ansbach/ |access-date=2023-07-02 |language=de-DE}}</ref>

[[Bachwoche Ansbach]] has been held in Ansbach since 1947. Since 1970, Ansbach has enlarged its municipal area by incorporating adjacent communities. Ansbach hosts several units of the U.S. armed forces, associated with German units under [[NATO]]. There are five separate U.S. installations: Shipton Kaserne, home to [[412th Aviation Support Battalion]], Katterbach Kaserne, formerly the home of the [[1st Infantry Division (United States)|1st Infantry Division's]] [[4th Combat Aviation Brigade]], also home of 501st M.I. Bn and 501st Avn Bn. which has been replaced by the [[12th Combat Aviation Brigade (United States)|12th Combat Aviation Brigade]] as of 2006, as part of the 1st Infantry Division's return to [[Fort Riley]], Kansas; Bismarck Kaserne, which functions as a satellite post to Katterbach, hosting their Post Theater, barracks, Von Steuben Community Center, Military Police, and other support agencies, Barton Barracks, home to the USAG Ansbach and Bleidorn Barracks, which has a library and housing, and Urlas, which hosts the [[Post Exchange]] as well as a housing area opened in 2010. Ansbach was also home to the headquarters of the [[1st Armored Division (United States)]] from 1972 to the early 1990s.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20100423213040/http://www.ridinthewave.com/thinkytees/1stArmorDivision.html A Summary History of the 1st Armored Division]</ref>

On 24 July 2016 [[2016 Ansbach bombing|a bomb was detonated]] in a restaurant in the city, killing only the bomber himself and injuring few people. The perpetrator was reported to be a Syrian refugee whose asylum application had been rejected but who had been given exceptional leave to remain until the security situation in Syria returned to a safe condition. Witnesses reported he had tried to enter a nearby music festival but had been turned away, before detonating his device outside a nearby wine bar.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.welt.de/politik/deutschland/article157265491/27-Jaehriger-sprengt-sich-in-die-Luft-zwoelf-Verletzte.html|title=Seehofer fordert Überprüfung aller Flüchtlinge|first=Robert|last=Tannenberg|newspaper=Die Welt|date=26 July 2016|via=Welt Online}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-36880758|title=Ansbach explosion: Syrian asylum seeker blows himself up in Germany|work=BBC News}}</ref>