{{Infobox German location |name = Dillingen |type = Stadt |image_photo = DillingenSaar von Siersburg.jpg |image_coa = DEU Dillingen COA.svg |image_flag=Flag of Dillingen.svg|coordinates = {{coord|49|21|N|6|44|E|format=dms|display=inline,title}} |image_plan = Dillingen in SLS.svg |state = Saarland |district = Saarlouis |elevation = 183 |area = 22.05 |postal_code = 66744–66763 |area_code = 06831 |licence = SLS |Gemeindeschlüssel = 10 0 44 111 |divisions = 3 |website = [https://www.dillingen-saar.de/ www.dillingen-saar.de] |mayor = Christian Finkler<ref>[https://www.saarland.de/stat/DE/_downloads/aktuelleTabellen/Wahlen/Direktwahlen/Gew%C3%A4hlte_B%C3%BCrgermeister_und_Landr%C3%A4te_im_Saarland.pdf?__blob=publicationFile&v=11 Gewählte Ober-/Bürgermeister*innen, Landrät*innen und Regionalverbandsdirektor*in im Saarland], Statistisches Amt des Saarlandes, 12 June 2024.</ref> |leader_term = 2024–34 |party = CDU }}
'''Dillingen''' ({{IPA|de|ˈdɪlɪŋən}}; officially '''Dillingen/Saar'''; {{langx|fr|Dillange}}) is a town in the district of Saarlouis, in Saarland. It has about 20,000 inhabitants and is divided into the three districts Dillingen-city center, Pachten and Diefflen. The city is located on the edge of the Saar-Hunsrück Nature Park at the mouth of the Prims in the Saar and is located about 10 km from the French border. Dillingen is located about 60 km from Luxembourg City and Trier, 50 km from Metz and 30 km from Saarbrücken and is directly adjacent to the urban area of Saarlouis. In terms of population, it is the second largest municipality in the district of Saarlouis. The Dillinger Hütte steelworks is located here.
==Geography== thumb|Panoramic map of the surroundings of Dillingen
===Geographical location=== Dillingen lies to the right of the Saar in the northern part of the Basin of Saarlouis and thus in the Saar-Nahe Basin. The Basin of Saarlouis is bounded on the northwest, north and northeast by the heights of the Buntsandstein. They belong to the eastern edge of the Paris Basin and lead into the basin of the Prims. The Prims coming from the Schwarzwälder Hochwald and emanates above the district of Pachten in the Saar. A few kilometers north of the territorial entity of Pachten the Saar unites with the Nied coming from Lorraine. The alluvial deposits in the basin allow good agricultural use.<ref>Aloys Lehnert: Geschichte der Stadt Dillingen Saar, Dillingen 1968, S. 23–25.</ref>
===Geology=== ====Large-scale overview==== thumb|Mouth of the Prims (left) into the Saar (right) The rock strata of the coal-saddle of Saarbrücken (Carboniferous) dive to the northwest and it comes to a superposition of younger rocks of the Rotliegend and the Triassic. Dillingen lies on a plaice of the middle Buntsandstein. The rectangular plaice is stretched towards southeast-northwest and bounded to the south by the Carboniferous line of the municipalities of Ensdorf, Hülzweiler and Schwarzenholz. In the southwest and northwest of this plaice of Buntsandstein lie the ridges of the upper Buntsandstein (Röt Formation) and the Muschelkalk between Berus, Siersburg and the valley of Haustadt. The rocks of the lower Rotliegend and the carbon form the northeastern border area.<ref>Aloys Lehnert: Geschichte der Stadt Dillingen Saar, Dillingen 1968, S. 23–25.</ref>
====Narrower room==== thumb|View of the Limberg-massif from Saarfels The extended valley of the area Dillingen and Saarlouis lies in the area of the middle Buntsandstein, in which the valleys of the Saar and the Prims dug. The left flank of the Saar at Dillingen, the Limberg, is formed by a steep of Grès à Voltzia, while a right flank of the valley is missing. On this bas-relief with overlaying younger gravel blankets, the development area of Dillingen and Pachten spreads.<ref>Heinz Quasten: Naturräumlicher Abriß (sic). in: Fred Oberhauser: Das Saarland. Kunst, Kultur und Geschichte im Dreiländereck zwischen Blies, Saar und Mosel. (Dumont-Kunstreiseführer), Köln 1992, S. 340–353, hier S. 346.</ref>
In the middle Buntsandstein mainly crumbly, easily erodible sandstone formations are developed. Above is the upper Buntsandstein (Röt Formation), which is made up of firmer sandstones bound to parts of clay or carbonate. These were won in earlier times in numerous quarries as building material. Above are Muschelkalk-Layers: The lowest shell limestone layer form sandy-clayey-limestone rocks. The middle limestone layer contains marl with gypsum and anhydrite. The upper shell limestone layer is composed of massive limestones and platy limestones with layers of marl-layers.
Above these solid subsoil rocks, sediment-terraces of the rivers Saar and Prims are deposited. The different altitudes of these terraces bear testimony to different stages of the depression of the two rivers and the deposit of entrained crushed stones. The youngest deposits form the meadow-clay of the two river valleys.<ref>Aloys Lehnert: Geschichte der Stadt Dillingen Saar, Dillingen 1968, S. 23–25.</ref>
===Morphology=== In the territory of Dillingen is the confluence of the two river valleys of Saar and Prims. The Prims finish their 91 kilometer run here. The terrain height at the mouth is 177 m above sea level. East of the Saar occurs on both banks of Prims the middle Buntsandstein. It is widely worn and forms a flat wavy stepped landscape. The areas are covered by broad terraced fields of gravel and clay.<ref>Aloys Lehnert: Geschichte der Stadt Dillingen Saar, Dillingen 1968, S. 23–25.</ref>
===Mineralogy=== Almost all rocks occurring in the Dillingen area can be used economically. The friable rocks of the middle Buntsandstein were mined as sand in pits or slope edges. The firmer sandstones of the upper Buntsandstein (Röt Formation) provided breakage and quarry stones. Gravel was extracted from the terraces. Loam was used as brick material.<ref>Aloys Lehnert: Geschichte der Stadt Dillingen Saar, Dillingen 1968, S. 23–25.</ref>
===Climate=== The climate in Dillingen is moderately oceanic, but warm (Köppen: ''Cfb''; Trewartha: ''Dobk''). There is significant rainfall throughout the year. Even the driest month still shows high rainfall. The average annual temperature is {{convert|9.3|C|F}}.
The Kiel weather station has recorded the following extreme values:<ref name=sklima/> * Highest Temperature {{convert|37.5|C|F}} on 13 August 2003. * Warmest Minimum {{convert|20.8|C|F}} on 19 July 1976. * Coldest Maximum {{convert|-17.9|C|F}} on 7 January 1985. * Lowest Temperature {{convert|-27.2|C|F}} on 7 January 1985.<ref name=wetterzentrale/> * Highest Daily Precipitation {{convert|99.6|mm|in|abbr=on}} on 6 June 2021. * Wettest Month {{convert|219.6|mm|in|abbr=on}} in June 2021. * Wettest Year {{convert|1095.1|mm|in|abbr=on}} in 2002. * Driest Year {{convert|463.2|mm|in|abbr=on}} in 1972. * Earliest Snowfall: 27 October 1950. * Latest Snowfall: 30 April 1970. * Longest annual sunshine: 2,185.7 hours in 2022. * Shortest annual sunshine: 1,477.8 hours in 2013.
{{Weather box |location = Dillingen, 1991–2020 normals, extremes 1947–present{{efn|Temperature data for Dillingen have been recorded since 1947. The weather station data used from 1 May 1947 to 30 November 2006 came from Dillingen/Donau, and temperature data from 1 December 2006 to the present are from Dillingen/Donau-Fristingen.}} |metric first = Y |single line = Y |Jan record high C = 16.5 |Feb record high C = 19.8 |Mar record high C = 23.9 |Apr record high C = 30.5 |May record high C = 32.0 |Jun record high C = 36.0 |Jul record high C = 37.0 |Aug record high C = 37.5 |Sep record high C = 32.0 |Oct record high C = 27.0 |Nov record high C = 20.5 |Dec record high C = 16.0 |year record high C = 37.5 |Jan avg record high C = 10.6 |Feb avg record high C = 13.1 |Mar avg record high C = 18.7 |Apr avg record high C = 24.2 |May avg record high C = 28.2 |Jun avg record high C = 31.4 |Jul avg record high C = 33.0 |Aug avg record high C = 32.4 |Sep avg record high C = 27.3 |Oct avg record high C = 22.1 |Nov avg record high C = 15.2 |Dec avg record high C = 11.4 |year avg record high C = 34.1 |Jan high C = 2.8 |Feb high C = 4.9 |Mar high C = 10.0 |Apr high C = 15.3 |May high C = 19.6 |Jun high C = 23.1 |Jul high C = 25.1 |Aug high C = 24.9 |Sep high C = 19.6 |Oct high C = 13.6 |Nov high C = 7.0 |Dec high C = 3.5 |year high C = 14.1 |Jan mean C = 0.2 |Feb mean C = 1.0 |Mar mean C = 4.9 |Apr mean C = 9.4 |May mean C = 13.8 |Jun mean C = 17.4 |Jul mean C = 18.9 |Aug mean C = 18.4 |Sep mean C = 13.7 |Oct mean C = 9.1 |Nov mean C = 4.2 |Dec mean C = 1.0 |year mean C = 9.3 |Jan low C = -2.6 |Feb low C = -2.6 |Mar low C = 0.4 |Apr low C = 3.6 |May low C = 8.0 |Jun low C = 11.4 |Jul low C = 13.0 |Aug low C = 12.7 |Sep low C = 8.8 |Oct low C = 5.3 |Nov low C = 1.5 |Dec low C = -1.5 |year low C = 4.8 |Jan avg record low C = -11.2 |Feb avg record low C = -10.5 |Mar avg record low C = -6.0 |Apr avg record low C = -2.6 |May avg record low C = 1.9 |Jun avg record low C = 5.8 |Jul avg record low C = 8.1 |Aug avg record low C = 7.2 |Sep avg record low C = 3.0 |Oct avg record low C = -1.0 |Nov avg record low C = -4.9 |Dec avg record low C = -10.1 |year avg record low C = -14.5 |Jan record low C = -27.2 |Feb record low C = -27.0 |Mar record low C = -21.8 |Apr record low C = -6.3 |May record low C = -3.3 |Jun record low C = 0.0 |Jul record low C = 4.2 |Aug record low C = 2.6 |Sep record low C = -2.4 |Oct record low C = -7.5 |Nov record low C = -15.6 |Dec record low C = -22.0 |year record low C = -27.2 |precipitation colour = green |Jan precipitation mm = 49.3 |Feb precipitation mm = 37.8 |Mar precipitation mm = 49.2 |Apr precipitation mm = 46.2 |May precipitation mm = 80.7 |Jun precipitation mm = 82.5 |Jul precipitation mm = 89.7 |Aug precipitation mm = 83.0 |Sep precipitation mm = 58.2 |Oct precipitation mm = 55.3 |Nov precipitation mm = 54.0 |Dec precipitation mm = 56.2 |year precipitation mm = 741.9 |unit precipitation days = 0.1 mm |Jan precipitation days = 15.5 |Feb precipitation days = 14.0 |Mar precipitation days = 14.6 |Apr precipitation days = 12.7 |May precipitation days = 14.5 |Jun precipitation days = 15.0 |Jul precipitation days = 14.8 |Aug precipitation days = 13.8 |Sep precipitation days = 12.9 |Oct precipitation days = 15.2 |Nov precipitation days = 15.5 |Dec precipitation days = 16.7 |year precipitation days = 175.2 |Jan snow depth cm = 6.0 |Feb snow depth cm = 6.0 |Mar snow depth cm = 3.7 |Apr snow depth cm = 0.1 |May snow depth cm = 0 |Jun snow depth cm = 0 |Jul snow depth cm = 0 |Aug snow depth cm = 0 |Sep snow depth cm = 0 |Oct snow depth cm = 0.1 |Nov snow depth cm = 1.6 |Dec snow depth cm = 5.4 |year snow depth cm = 11.2 |humidity colour = green |Jan humidity = 84.9 |Feb humidity = 81.7 |Mar humidity = 76.3 |Apr humidity = 69.9 |May humidity = 70.7 |Jun humidity = 71.1 |Jul humidity = 71.7 |Aug humidity = 74.4 |Sep humidity = 80.4 |Oct humidity = 85.6 |Nov humidity = 88.3 |Dec humidity = 87.3 |year humidity = 78.6 |Jan sun = 51.4 |Feb sun = 87.1 |Mar sun = 152.4 |Apr sun = 202.2 |May sun = 214.7 |Jun sun = 232.3 |Jul sun = 256.5 |Aug sun = 232.4 |Sep sun = 162.9 |Oct sun = 99.8 |Nov sun = 50.9 |Dec sun = 44.6 |year sun = 1787.3 |source 1 = DWD Open Data<ref name=wetterzentrale> {{cite web |url = https://www.wetterzentrale.de/extremes_y.php?station=983&extreem=RH&order=1&country=1 |title = Extremwertanalyse der DWD-Stationen, Tagesmaxima, Dekadenrekorde, usw. |publisher = DWD |language = de |access-date = 30 October 2024}}</ref><ref name=sklima>{{cite web |url = http://sklima.de/datenbank_auswertung.php?tab=2 |title = Monatsauswertung |website = sklima.de |publisher = SKlima |language = de |access-date = 30 October 2024}}</ref> }} ====Note==== {{notelist}}
===Neighboring communities=== The city of Dillingen has six neighboring municipalities. Clockwise are these Beckingen, Nalbach with the districts Bierbach and Nalbach, Saarwellingen, Saarlouis (with the district of Roden), Wallerfangen and Rehlingen-Siersburg.
==History== thumb|Office Siersberg-Dillingen in the oldest Lorraine map of 1508 thumb|Ruin of the Lorraine castle Siersberg with donjon The importance of the Dillingen-Wallerfangen area on both banks of the middle Saar in the prehistoric and early historic eras is attested by a number of finds: rich bronze caskets of the late Urnfield period (9th century BC), a multi-tiered partial defensive wall (:de:Abschnittsbefestigung) of the Hallstatt culture (8th-6th century BC) on the nearly {{convert|389|m|ft}}-high, peninsula-like massif of the Limberg overlooking the Saar,<ref>Herbert Liedtke, Karl-Heinz-Hepp, Christoph Jentsch: ''Das Saarland in Karte und Luftbild. Ein Beitrag zur Landeskunde.'' hrsg. vom Landesvermessungsamt des Saarlandes, Neumünster 1974, S. 73.</ref> and a cemetery with a "princely" grave containing a golden torc and arm rings from late Hallstatt period (around 500 BC).
The Gallo-Roman settlement of Contiomagus stood at the intersection of the highways from Metz-Mainz and Trier-Straßburg in today's district of Pachten. Around 275/276, during the Migration Period, Contiomagus was destroyed and rebuilt. The oldest written mention of "Dillingen" and "Pachten" can be found in a document of Albero von Montreuil, Bishop of Trier (1131–1152). 1324 sees the first written mention of "Diefflen", and 1357 the first mention of the Old Castle in Dillingen (Altes Schloss).
The area was devastated by the Thirty Years War between 1618 and 1648, and again in 1672-1678/79 in the Franco-Dutch War. In 1685, the feudal ruler of Dillingen received permission from King Louis XIV of France to build an ironworks, the Dillinger Hütte.
The French Revolution ended the rule of the local nobility. In 1815, the region was annexed to the Kingdom of Prussia in the Second Treaty of Paris. With the fall of the Hohenzollern dynasty in 1918 Dillingen became part of the Free State of Prussia. Between 1920 and the Saar Referendum of 1935, by the provisions of the Treaty of Versailles, Dillingen was part of the Territory of the Saar Basin administered by the League of Nations. After the referendum of 1935 Dillingen returned to the German Reich, but without again becoming part of Prussia. In 1936 Pachten was incorporated. During the Second World War, especially during the fierce fighting in the winter of 1944/1945, war between the German Wehrmacht and the United States Army caused heavy destruction, commemorated by the Westwall Bunker Museum. In 1947 Dillingen became part of the Saarland, which, in 1957, joined the Federal Republic of Germany politically and on 5 July 1959 also economically. In 1949, Dillingen was granted city rights by the Saar state government under Prime Minister Johannes Hoffmann. In 1969 Diefflen was incorporated in 1969.
In the year 1990 Dillingen-Pachten celebrated two thousand years of settlement in Contiomagus.
Dillingen is the place of origin for the toponymic surname "Dillinger". {{Further|Museum Pachten}}
== Mayors ==
* April 1945-May 1945: Benedikt Hoffmann * May 1945-September 1945: Heinrich Scherer * November 1945-September 1946: Theodor Okon * October 1946-May 1956: Peter Lamar * October 1956-February 1974: Eduard Jakobs, CDU * March 1974-March 1994: Gerhard Leonardy, CDU * March 1994-March 2004: Erwin Planta, SPD * since March 2004: Franz-Josef Berg, (born 1957), CDU
=== Municipal Council === The City Council with 39 seats after local elections on 25 May 2014<ref>http://www.statistikextern.saarland.de/wahl/internet_saar/GR_SL/gemeindeergebnisse/k00044/g44111/grafik_sitze_44111.html Auf: www.statistikextern.saarland.de, retrieved 9 June 2014.</ref>
* Persons entitled to vote: 16.357 * Voters: 7.364 Wählern * Rejected votes: 204 * Valid votes: 7.160
{| class="wikitable sortable" |- class="hintergrundfarbe5" ! Party!!Votes!!in %!!city council seat |- |CDU||style="text-align:right"|3.131||style="text-align:right"|43,7 %||style="text-align:right"|18 |- |SPD||style="text-align:right"|2.344||style="text-align:right"|32,7 %||style="text-align:right"|13 |- |Linke||style="text-align:right"|751||style="text-align:right"|10,5 %||style="text-align:right"|4 |- |Grüne||style="text-align:right"|283||style="text-align:right"|4,0 %||style="text-align:right"|1 |- |FDP||style="text-align:right"|211||style="text-align:right"|2,9 %||style="text-align:right"|1 |- |Ökologische Bürgerliste Dillingen||style="text-align:right"|440||style="text-align:right"|6,1 %||style="text-align:right"|2 |- |colspan="3"| Total || align=right | 39 |}
== Coat of arms of Dillingen == [[File:StadtflaggeDillingenSaarL1020686 (2).JPG|thumb|City flag of Dillingen in the Lorraine colors red and yellow]] Blazon: In blue a growing silver, pinned and black grooved wall, surmounted by a silver, gold-crowned and -supported and red-tongued seated Lorraine eagle, in the wall a tall, red-lined golden gate, covered with a red zigzag bar, surmounted by a three-rowed, blue tournament collar. The coat of arms is based in its design on the coat of arms of the noblemen of Siersberg, barons of Dillingen (red zigzag beam and blue tournament collar on gold background) and the official coat of arms of the former Prévôté (Bailiwick) Siersberg (silver tower with eagle on a blue background). The coat of arms of the noblemen is reinterpreted in the coat of arms of Dillingen to the gate in a city wall.
== Transport ==
Dillingen (Saar) station is on the Saar Railway, which connects Saarbrücken Central Station and Trier Central Station.
Iron ore comes to the steelworks by Germany's heaviest trains 6000T trains.
==Castle==
Dilingen's Old Castle is a medieval building. Around 1699 it was developed into a Renaissance castle. In 1789 the architect Balthsar Wilhelm Stengel created a grand residential space.
The castle has a yearly arts and crafts market.
==Notable people== * Siegfried Alkan (1858–1941), composer * Andreas Rothkopf (born 1955), organist, pianist
<gallery perrow="8" caption="Impressions of Dillingen"> Rathaus Dillingen1.jpg|Town Hall Dillingen Bahnhof 01.JPG|Train station DillingenSaarL1100598 (2).jpg|Pedestrian zone Stummstraße SaardomHL1080244 (2).jpg|Statue of Odile of Alsace in front of Saardom StJohann Dillingen1.jpg|Church St. John the Baptist Dillingen Pachten Kirche1.jpg|Church St. Maximin and the Fourteen Holy Helpers, Pachten Dillinge Maria Trost (13).jpg|Church of Our Lady (Maria Consolatrix Afflictorum), Pachtener Heide StJosefStWendelinAnsichtZippL1050071 (2).jpg|Church Saint Joseph and Saint Wendelin, Diefflen DillingenSaarL1100566 (2).jpg|Church of the Blessed Sacrament (Saardom) Dillingen Evangelische Kirche1.jpg|Protestant Church Pachten RömerTurn1.JPG|Roman fortress, Reconstruction, Pachten Odilienbrunnen DillingenSaarL1050247.JPG|Odile of Alsace Fountain Hochofen (2044401426).jpg|Steelworks "Dillinger Hütte", Blast furnace AltesSchlossDillingenSaarVorburgL1040718 (2).JPG|Old Castle DiefflenJüdischerFriedhofL1010392.JPG|Jewish Cemetery KircheJosefWendelinDorfbrunnenL1050078 (2).jpg|Diefflen, Village Centre </gallery>
== References == {{Reflist}}
{{Commons category|Dillingen/Saar}} {{Cities and towns in Saarlouis (district)}}
{{Authority control}}
Category:Saarlouis (district) Category:Duchy of Lorraine