ORTENAUKREIS

'Ortenaukreis' is a district (''Kreis'') in the west of Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Neighboring districts are (clockwise from north) Rastatt, Freudenstadt, Rottweil, Schwarzwald-Baar and Emmendingen. To the west it borders the French Bas-Rhin ''département''.

Contents

History

Geography

Partnerships

Coat of arms

Cities and towns

External links

History

The district was created in 1973 by merging the districts Kehl, Lahr, Offenburg, Wolfach and the southern part of the district Bühl.

Geography

The western part of the district is located in the upper Rhine valley, the east is part of the northern Black Forest. The highest elevation of the district, the Hornisgrinde (1164 m), is located in the north-east of the district. The lowest elevation (124.3 m) is in the Rhine valley to the north.

Partnerships

The district has a friendship with the Altenburger Land district in Thuringia. Offenburg district already had a city partnership with Altenburg so, after German reunification in 1990, Ortenaukreis chose to help modernize the Altenburger Land administration to the west German standard.
France and Germany are negotiating the creation of a Eurodistrict straddling the Rhine and combining Ortenaukreis and Greater Strasbourg, with an overall population of 860,000.

Coat of arms

The coat of arms is identical with that of the former Offenburg, and is based on the coat of arms of the Ortenau canton of the League of Imperial Knights. It shows an imperial eagle with two heads, which also stands for the free imperial cities of Offenburg, Gengenbach and Zell. In an escutcheon on the breast of the eagle is the patron Saint George, depicted killing the dragon.

Cities and towns

Cities	Administrative districts	Towns
#Achern#Ettenheim#Gengenbach#Haslach (Kinzigtal)#Hausach#Hornberg#Kehl#Lahr (Schwarzwald)#Mahlberg#Oberkirch#Offenburg#Oppenau#Renchen#Rheinau (Baden)#Wolfach#Zell am Harmersbach	#Achern#Ettenheim#Gengenbach#Haslach#Hausach#Kappelrodeck#Lahr#Oberes Renchtal#Oberkirch#Offenburg#Seelbach#Schwanau#Wolfach#Zell	#Appenweier#Bad Peterstal-Griesbach#Berghaupten#Biberach (Lahr)#Durbach#Fischerbach#Friesenheim#Gutach (Schwarzwaldbahn) #Hofstetten#Hohberg#Kappel-Grafenhausen#Kappelrodeck#Kippenheim#Lauf (Baden)#Lautenbach#Meißenheim#Mühlenbach#Neuried	Nordrach Oberharmersbach Oberwolfach Ohlsbach Ortenberg Ottenhöfen Ringsheim Rust (Baden) Sasbach Sasbachwalden Schuttertal Schutterwald Schwanau Seebach Seelbach Steinach Willstätt

External links

★ Official website (German)