Feldafing

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Basic Details
State:	Bavaria
Adm. region:	Oberbayern
District:	Starnberg
Altitude:	650 m (2130 feet) a.s.l.
Area:	3.53 square miles
Population:	4,364 (December 31st 2003)
Population density:	1,240 persons/square miles
Postal code:	82340
Telephone code:	08157-08158
Number plate:	STA
Address of Town Administration:	Possenhofener Straße 5 82340 Feldafing
Website:	www.feldafing.de
Email address:	gemeinde@feldafing.de
Politics
Mayor:	Sontheim Bernhard (Citizen's Group)

Feldafing is a town in Starnberg district, Bavaria, Germany, and is located on the west shore of Lake Starnberg, located southwest of Munich.

[edit] History

The history of Feldafing begins on the Roseninsel (German for Rose Island, the only island in Lake Starnberg. This area has been inhabited since as early as the Neolithic Period. Feldafing is also well known for the Hotel Kaiserin Elisabeth. Both places (Roseninsel and Kaiserin Elisabeth) were favorite vacation spots for the Austrian Kaiserin Elisabeth of Bavaria ("Sissi.")

During the Nazi era, Feldafing was the site of an "Eliteschule" of the Nazi Party, the "Reichsschule Feldafing." At the end of World War II, Feldafing belonged to the American zone of occupation. The military administration converted the former Reichsschule into a Displaced Persons Camp for Jewish Holocaust survivors.

The name Feldafing is presumably of Bavarian origin. The earliest record of the use of Feldafing is from 1116. At that time, Feldafing was ruled by Ruodolfus de Veldovingen, a member of the Berthold von Andechs family. Since the middle of the 14th century, Feldafing and the Rose Island have belonged to the Dukes of Wittelsbacher. Feldafing was, at that time, the largest fishing village on Lake Starnberg.

At the beginning of the 15th century (1401), Feldafing's Catholic Church was constructed. This church was located most probably on the same site where the Catholic St. Peter and Paul Church stands today.

The 1600s brought a series of changes for Feldafing, mostly including territorial disputes between various patrician families. In 1850, Kind Maximilian II, who had known the area of Feldafing since his childhood, acquired the Rose Island, where he built a Villa in Pompeii-style and a garden haus. It was through the planning of the magnificent rotunda of roses in the Villa's garden that the Rose Island earned its name.

King Ludwig II. adored the Rose Island and visited it often. The island was also told to have served as a meeting point for King Ludwig II and his cousin, the Austrian Kaiserin Elisabeth of Bavaria. Today the island is host to a Villa museum, the beautiful preserved gardens, and various musical and cultural events.

The more recent history of Feldafing begins with the construction of the Railroad line in 1864. The former fishing and farming village was transformed into a foreign place. Around the turn of the century, a Villa quarter arose in Feldafing. In 1890 there were approximately 70 houses in Feldafing, and in 1933 there were more than 170. Between 1890 and 1933 the population more than doubled, totaling in 1933 1,185 people. Another population boom took place after World War II through influx of refugees and displaced persons.

After World War I, a golf course was built in Feldafing, one of the first in Germany. Afterwards, other recreation centers such as a beach and tennis club were built. Since 1910, Feldafing has been a well-loved vacation and recreation spot. The park and the Rose Island are currently being restored by the Bavarian Administration for state Villas, Gardens and Lakes to their original condition.