Floß

Floss
Coat of arms of Floss Coat of arms
Floss
Location of Floss within Neustadt a.d.Waldnaab district 250px
Coordinates:
Country	Germany
State	Bavaria
District	Neustadt a.d.Waldnaab
Government
• Mayor	Guenter Stich (SPD)
Area
• Total	54.41 km2 (21.01 sq mi)
Population (2013-12-31)
• Total	3,487
• Density	64/km2 (170/sq mi)
Time zone	CET/CEST (UTC+1/+2)
Postal codes	92685
Dialling codes	09603
Vehicle registration	NEW
Website	www.floss.de

Floß is a municipality in the district of Neustadt (Waldnaab) in Bavaria in Germany, Europe.

Geography

Town Subdivision

The civil parish Floß is composed of 35 official named districts.:

Bergnetsreuth Boxdorf Diebersreuth Diepoltsreuth Ellenbach Fehrsdorf Floß Gailertsreuth Geiermühle

Gollwitzerhof Gösen Grafenreuth Hardt Hardtheim Haupertsreuth Höfen Kalmreuth Konradsreuth

Kühbach Meierhof Niedernfloß Oberndorf Pauschendorf Plankenhammer Ritzlersreuth Schlattein Schnepfenhof

Schönberg Schönbrunn Steinfrankenreuth Weikersmühle Welsenhof Wilkershof Würnreuth Würzelbrunn

Characteristics

History

The origin of settlement goes expected back to friars. The first mention is found from 948: "Occisio paganorum ad flozzun", which is translated to the Hungarians were conquered by the duke near Floß. The town was in possession of House of Hohenstaufen and was awarded to market town by its sovereigns, Markgraf Friedrich von Brandenburg and Pfalzgraf Johann, in 1421. Since 1438/39 the market town was under control of Wittelsbacher. 1556 Protestantism is firstly mentioned, 1648 a Jewish community. Subsequently it was part of Duchy of the Wittelsbacher Pfalz-Sulzbach, which belonged since 1777 to Kingdom of Bavaria. It has its own market tribunal with municipal rights. Between 1802 and 1809 Floß lost the most of its rights in the course of diverse land reforms. The formally commercial relevance faded. A large fire in 1813 almost burned the town to the ground. Baron von Lichtenstein rebuilt it in its current form. From 1885 to 1992 there was a connection to the rail network between Weiden and Eslarn with the railway stations Gailertsreuth, Floß, Haupertsreuth and Grafenreuth. At 22 April 1945 Floß was taken, after more than twenty years under influence of the NS party, by the American Allies.

Coat of Arms

Blazon: In Gold aus blauen Wellen wachsend ein rot gekrönter schwarzer Adler.
Heraldic animal is a in gold out from blue waves rising red crowned black spread eagle. The emblem is known since the 14th century.

Places of Interest

• The Synagogue, built 1817, vandalised at Crystal Night 1938 and renovated 1980. These days only occasionally used for religious service by Jewish community of Weiden.
• The Jewish Cemetery, with oldest decipherable granite headstone from 1692. There are 33 concentration camp victims laid to rest.
• Saint Nikolaus church of pilgrimage on Nikolaus hill.
• Saint John Baptist Church (Lutheran), partially from 16th century.
• Saint John The Baptist Church (Roman Catholic), built from 1910 to 1912.
• Cemetery with 121 victims of the neighbouring concentration camp Flossenbürg
• The Doost, a geotope with round ice-aged granite boulder in the middle of the forest.
• Castle ruin Haselstein, built by 1400, at Floß's backyard mountain.
• In the middle of nature reserve Upper Palatine Forest, well known for its castle ruins, quarries and a European network of rambling trails.

Nowadays Floß is on the Castle Route from Mannheim to Prague and the Golden Route from Nuremberg to Prague as well it is one station of the 1570 km Paneuropa-Bike Path from Prague in the Czech Republic to Paris in France.

Cultural Events

• once a year happening four days long church consecration festival at the last Sunday in August, the Bartholomew Sunday. It is nowadays called Kirwa and known as a far beyond its borders village fair organised on an annually rotating basis by local fellow's association Cylinder Club and by local rural fellow's Association Ländlicher Burschenverein

List of People

• Lazar Horowitz (1803–1868), Rabbi in Vienna
• Joseph Lindner (1825–1879), church minister, member of Landtag and Reichtstag
• David Ludwig Bloch (1910–2002), expressionistic painter in New York
• Richard Baer (1911–1963), National Socialist and commander of extermination camp Auschwitz
• Petra Horneber (* 21. April 1965), sport shooter

Gallery

• Floß (Gemeinde) 1.jpg

  Floß

• Floß (Gemeinde) 2.jpg

  Floß

• Floß (Gemeinde) 3.jpg

  Side Door of Saint John Baptist

• Dost.jpg

  The Doost

External links

• official online presence