Have you ever felt the weight of history beneath your feet? Right here in Sankt Georgen you stand on ground trod by people for millennia. Sankt Georgen a Freiburg suburb boasts a history stretching back to the 8th century BC. Evidence of settlements predating the Roman era exists in Uffhausen one of Sankt Georgen’s three founding villages. Roman roads and wells dating to around 50 BC mark the arrival of Roman influence. Yet long before the Romans Wendlingen another of Sankt Georgen’s core villages first appeared in 786 AD. This marks the area’s true beginning. Uffhausen a later addition to the story joined the narrative in 873 AD.
These villages nestled at the foot of Schonberg a prominent hill formed a community. In 1178 a church dedicated to Saint George was built solidifying the area’s identity. The name Sankt Georgen itself first surfaced in 1302. It grew into a double village Wendlingen and Uffhausen governed by a Vogt starting in 1306. By 1390 Sankt Georgen became a fiefdom under the Johanniter Order. Wine and forestry shaped its economy.
Sankt Georgen’s story is not without conflict. The Peasants’ War in 1525 saw Uffhausen’s residents besieging Freiburg. The ensuing battles damaged both villages significantly. The Schneeburg a hilltop fortress above Uffhausen was destroyed. The Thirty Years’ War brought further devastation with Franz von Mercy stationing troops there in 1644. The battles around Schonberg left Sankt Georgen practically depopulated. Reconstruction was slow. By the 18th century Sankt Georgen had become the dominant name.
Napoleon’s secularization in 1806 transferred Sankt Georgen from the Johanniter Order to the Grand Duchy of Baden. The arrival of the Freiburg-Schliengen railway line in 1859 sparked a minor economic boom. Freiburg’s westward expansion caused friction. In 1890 Freiburg seized parts of Sankt Georgen’s communal forest and private land. Construction of a water pipeline soon followed. The Georgsbrunnen a fountain built in 1895 commemorates this event.
The construction of a freight railway line in 1905 caused significant protest. In 1936 during the Nazi era Eisenerz low yield iron ore was mined on Schonberg. This mining along with the opening of the Schlageter Barracks in the area of present-day Vauban sealed Sankt Georgen’s fate. Robert Wagner Baden’s Gauleiter ordered Sankt Georgen’s annexation to Freiburg in 1937. This annexation was completed on April 1 1938 after unsuccessful appeals.
Post-war Sankt Georgen grew rapidly. New housing and industrial areas replaced farmland. The population swelled to thousands. The evangelischen Lukasgemeinde Protestant church was founded in 1955. The Eugen-Keidel-Thermalbad was opened in 1978. The Haid industrial area spurred economic growth. Despite its size Sankt Georgen retains a distinct identity. Its history is rich its future remains unwritten. Let us now leave Sankt Georgen but remember its enduring story.