Au (Schwarzwald)
Au is a municipality in Breisgau-Hochschwarzwald, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is located a few kilometres south of Freiburg im Breisgau, in the south-western part of Baden-Württemberg. The municipality belongs to the administrative region of Hexental based in the neighbouring town of Merzhausen. Geography. Location. Au lies in the northern part of Hexental between Schönberg in the west and Black Forest to the east. Local communities. The village of Au, Schönberg, Hof and the Hägenhof houses, and the Burghöfe, Finsterbach, Hasgelhöfe, Heimbachof, Kaischenhof, Kopfackerhof and Schwabenhöfe all belong to the municipality of Au. In the  local area, there also are the abandoned village of Witraha and the abandoned castle of Obhusen. The naming of the place "Niderhusun" in 861, probably refers to "Niederhausen", a place in the municipality of Rheinhausen (Breisgau) in the district of Emmendingen. Neighbouring communities. Neighbouring communities include Horben in the southeast, Wittnau, Baden-Württemberg in the southwest, Ebringen in the west and Merzhausen in the north, as well as Freiburg im Breisgau to the east. All of these communities are in the district of Breisgau-Hochschwarzwald. Geology. The Upper Rhine Plain fault line runs through Au. The Schönberg side is  shaped by the remains of large landslides. History. Au was firstly recorded in print by the Cloister of St Gallen in 861. In the Middle Ages, there was very likely a castle, but the remains no longer exist. The name "Burghöfen" makes this assumption more likely. In the Thirty Years' War, Au was the battleground for the Battle of Freiburg for two days. Politics. After the local elections on the 25th May, 2014, the following results came in. The turnout was at 68.9%, up from 2009 (68.4%) <nowiki>*</nowiki>Wählergemeinschaft für Bürgernähe und Umweltschutz Economy and Infrastructure. Economy. Because  almost half of the local land is agriculturally useful, the economic sector still plays a significant role. Among that, the local area also makes wine.