The town was first mentioned in 1034 with the name
Ammenberg. It became an important trading centre in the
Middle Ages, exporting mainly
iron ore and iron products. In 1269, together with
Bamberg, the town became subordinate to the
Wittelsbach dynasty which ruled Bavaria. In 1329, the town and the entire region fell to the Palatinate branch of the
Wittelsbach family. The region adopted the name Upper Palatinate. It was no longer part of the duchy of Bavaria politically, though in geographic terms it was regarded as Bavarian and the region was part of the Bavarian circle in the organization of the
Imperial Circles. In the 16th century, the rulers of Upper Palatinate turned to
Protestantism. The town turned to
Lutheranism. Later attempts of the ruling family to introduce the more radical
Calvinism failed due to the reluctance of its citizens. In 1628, Amberg and the Upper Palatinate became part of the electorate of Bavaria. The inhabitants were given the choice to return to
Catholicism or emigrate. Many families left the town and moved to the
Free Imperial Cities of
Regensburg and
Nuremberg. On 24 August 1796, during the
French Revolutionary Wars, a major battle, the
Battle of Amberg was fought in the city and its environs at which 35,000 French, under the command of
Jean Baptiste Jourdan fought with 40,000 Austrians under the command of
Archduke Charles; the French suffered significantly more losses in the Austrian victory. Amberg was the regional capital of
Upper Palatinate until 1810 when power was transferred to the larger city of
Regensburg. After
World War II, when Bavaria fell into the American Sector, Amberg was home to Pond Barracks, a
United States Army post.
I. F. Stone writes about it in his book
Underground to Palestine (pp. 31ff). The post was closed in 1992 and the facility turned over to the local community for housing, most of it for social housing. In late 2018, the town was the site of the Amberg attacks resulting in
Rainer Wendt asking the federal government to take a stand on the case. The city was reported to be "in a state of emergency."
Joachim Herrmann, the Bavarian minister of the Interior, visited Amberg for consultations.
Horst Seehofer, the federal minister of the Interior, said "the violent attacks (were) worrisome."
Jewish history Jews had settled in Amberg before 1294, when the first documentation can be found. Shortly after, in 1298, thirteen of the town Jews died during the
Rindfleisch massacres. Nevertheless, in 1347 six families received permission to settle in Amberg and twenty years after, in 1367, a
Yeshivah was opened in it, although the Jewish community was expelled from Amberg in 1403. Twelve Jews remained in town in 1942. The few survivors returned to the town after 1945, and a
displaced persons camp named Amberg-near the town-housed mostly
Jewish refugees and survivors. As a result of immigration from the former
USSR to
Germany, the
Jewish population grew to about 275 in 2003. == Subdistricts ==