Murnau am Staffelsee
Encyclopedia
Murnau am Staffelsee is a market town in the district of Garmisch-Partenkirchen
Garmisch-Partenkirchen (district)
Garmisch-Partenkirchen is a district in Bavaria, Germany. It is bounded by the districts of Ostallgäu, Weilheim-Schongau and Bad Tölz-Wolfratshausen, and by the Austrian state of Tyrol.-History:...

, in the Oberbayern
Upper Bavaria
Upper Bavaria is one of the seven administrative regions of Bavaria, Germany.- Geography :Upper Bavaria is located in the southern portion of Bavaria, and is centered around the city of Munich. It is subdivided into four regions : Ingolstadt, Munich, Bayerisches Oberland , and Südostoberbayern...

 region of Bavaria
Bavaria
Bavaria, formally the Free State of Bavaria is a state of Germany, located in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the largest state by area, forming almost 20% of the total land area of Germany...

, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

.

Murnau is situated on the edge of the Bavarian alps
Alps
The Alps is one of the great mountain range systems of Europe, stretching from Austria and Slovenia in the east through Italy, Switzerland, Liechtenstein and Germany to France in the west....

, approx. 70 km south of Munich
Munich
Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...

. Directly to its west is the Staffelsee lake.

History

Murnau was first documented in 1150. It received the right to hold markets from Louis V, Duke of Bavaria
Louis V, Duke of Bavaria
Louis V, Duke of Bavaria, called the Brandenburger was Duke of Bavaria and as Louis I also Margrave of Brandenburg and Count of Tyrol. Louis V was the eldest son of Emperor Louis IV and his first wife Beatrix of Świdnica...

, in 1350 and retains the title of "Markt" ("market") until today.

The town suffered a major fire in the year of 1835 and was subsequently almost completely rebuilt. During World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

 a Nazi POW camp for Polish officers
Oflag VII-A Murnau
Oflag VII-A Murnau was a German Army POW camp for Polish Army officers and generals during World War II. It was located in the Bavarian town of Murnau am Staffelsee....

 was located there.

Infrastructure

Murnau is a minor train hub, since it is the place where the Munich-Garmisch-Partenkirchen
Garmisch-Partenkirchen
Garmisch-Partenkirchen is a mountain resort town in Bavaria, southern Germany. It is the administrative centre of the district of Garmisch-Partenkirchen, in the Oberbayern region, and the district is on the border with Austria...

 and the Oberammergau
Oberammergau
Oberammergau is a municipality in the district of Garmisch-Partenkirchen, in Bavaria, Germany. The town is famous for its production of a Passion Play, its woodcarvers, and the NATO School.-Passion Play:...

 train lines intersect. The first electrical signal box
Signal box
On a rail transport system, signalling control is the process by which control is exercised over train movements by way of railway signals and block systems to ensure that trains operate safely, over the correct route and to the proper timetable...

 of the Deutsche Bundesbahn
Deutsche Bundesbahn
The Deutsche Bundesbahn or DB was formed as the state railway of the newly established Federal Republic of Germany on September 7, 1949 as a successor of the Deutsche Reichsbahn-Gesellschaft '...

 was installed here. Also, the A95
Bundesautobahn 95
is a motorway in southern Germany, supposed to connect Munich with Garmisch-Partenkirchen.- General :The A 95 is on the entire length of part of the European route E533. The northern part, to the 3-way Starnberg interchange adapted to the needs of a large city...

 motorway and the B 2 Bundesstrasse run through or near Murnau.

Another major feature is the Berufsgenossenschaftliche Unfallklinik, a hospital specializing in trauma
Physical trauma
Trauma refers to "a body wound or shock produced by sudden physical injury, as from violence or accident." It can also be described as "a physical wound or injury, such as a fracture or blow." Major trauma can result in secondary complications such as circulatory shock, respiratory failure and death...

 surgery.

Murnau is used as a health resort by many guests.

Murnau has two elementary schools, the "James-Loeb-Grundschule" and the "Emmanuel-von-Seidl-Schule", the gymnasium "Staffelsee-Gymnasium" and the general school
Hauptschule
A Hauptschule is a secondary school in Germany and Austria, starting after 4 years of elementary schooling, which offers Lower Secondary Education according to the International Standard Classification of Education...

 "Max-Dingler-Hauptschule".

Notable persons

For such a small town, Murnau has attracted quite a few noteworthy citizens over the years. Gabriele Münter
Gabriele Münter
Gabriele Münter was a German expressionist painter who was at the forefront of the Munich avant-garde in the early 20th century. Artists and writers associated with German Expressionism shared a rebellious attitude toward the materialism and mores of German imperial and bourgeois society...

 and Wassily Kandinsky
Wassily Kandinsky
Wassily Wassilyevich Kandinsky was an influential Russian painter and art theorist. He is credited with painting the first purely-abstract works. Born in Moscow, Kandinsky spent his childhood in Odessa. He enrolled at the University of Moscow, studying law and economics...

 of the Blaue Reiter
Der Blaue Reiter
Der Blaue Reiter was a group of artists from the Neue Künstlervereinigung München in Munich, Germany. The group was founded by a number of Russian emigrants, including Wassily Kandinsky, Alexej von Jawlensky, Marianne von Werefkin, and native German artists, such as Franz Marc, August Macke and...

artistic collective lived there for several years. Ödön von Horvath
Ödön von Horváth
Edmund Josef von Horváth was a German-writing Austro-Hungarian-born playwright and novelist...

 spent a large part of his youth and young adulthood there and based some of his most well-known works (e.g. Jugend ohne Gott, Italienische Nacht) on happenings during the Third Reich in Murnau. Christoph Probst
Christoph Probst
Christoph Hermann Probst was a German student of medicine and a member of the White Rose resistance group.-White Rose:...

, executed by the Gestapo
Gestapo
The Gestapo was the official secret police of Nazi Germany. Beginning on 20 April 1934, it was under the administration of the SS leader Heinrich Himmler in his position as Chief of German Police...

 for being a member of the White Rose
White Rose
The White Rose was a non-violent/intellectual resistance group in Nazi Germany, consisting of students from the University of Munich and their philosophy professor...

 resistance group during the Third Reich, was born in Murnau. Filmmaker F.W. Murnau probably took his assumed name from the town, though there is no real factual evidence for this. Contemporary luthier Michael Koeberling lives and works in Murnau.

External links

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