Wertach
market municipality in the district of Oberallgäu, Bavaria, Germany
Wertach (German pronunciation: [ˈveːɐ̯tax]) is a small town in the Oberallgäu district, southern Bavaria, Germany. It is located in the German Alps, situated on the river Wertach, southeast of Kempten. The town was the childhood home of the writer W. G. Sebald.
History
Wertach was first mentioned in 955 and received in 1423 the town privileges. The market Wertach belonged to the Prince-Bishopric of Augsburg. Since the German mediatization and the secularization of 1803 the place belongs to Bavaria. As part of the administrative reforms in the Kingdom of Bavaria and the Gemeindeedikt of 1818 the current municipality was formed. In 1893 a fire destroyed most of the town, with only a few houses surviving.
Coat of arms
Blazon (description): "In green an obliquely left silver wave beam which is occupied by three black mill wheels."
Population development
Politics
Result of the local elections in March 2014
Mayor Eberhard Jehle (independent)
Deputy Mayor: Norbert Gebhart (Free electorate Wertach)
Third Mayor Alex Wittwer (Christian Social Union in Bavaria, CSU)
The council of Wertach has 14 members.
Christian Social Union in Bavaria (CSU): 32.45%, 5 seats
Independents electorate and tourism: 21.49%, 3 seats
Electorate of employees: 17.90%, 2 seats
Independent Women's Group Wertach: 14.39%, 2 seats
Free electorate Wertach: 13.77%, 2 seats
Buildings
St.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Wertach” is market municipality in the district of Oberallgäu, Bavaria, Germany. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Wertach, market and municipality, not as a finished interpretation.
Why this record matters
The phrase “market municipality in the district of Oberallgäu, Bavaria, Germany” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
Place names and jurisdictional language are key evidence: both can reveal earlier catalogue descriptions and overlooked record series. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 17, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q549138. The first chronological checks are 1423, 1803, 1818 and 1893.
Modern boundaries and familiar names can conceal earlier jurisdictions or structures that do not align with the present site. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
- Historic place names
- Jurisdictional context
- Routes into maps and plans
Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Wertach”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Wertach primary sources, Wertach archive and Wertach research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Wertach”?
- What physical evidence or contemporary plan supports the description?
- Which authority defined the place, boundary or structure at the relevant date?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Wertach” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.