district provides three vocational schools and three additional special schools. Finally, six non-state schools of various types exist. The German Esperanto Library (German: Deutsche Esperanto-Bibliothek, Esperanto: Germana Esperanto-Biblioteko) has been located in the building of the town library since 1989. TV and radio transmission tower The Südwestrundfunk broadcasting company operates the Aalen transmission tower on the Braunenberg hill. The tower was erected in 1956, it is tall and made of reinforced concrete. Things named after Aalen The following vehicles are named "Aalen": The Lufthansa Boeing 737-500 D-ABJF The Deutsche Bahn ICE 3 Tz309 (since 2 June 2008) Notable people Honorary citizens Ruland Ayßlinger, composer Erwin Rommel (1891–1944), Field Marshal of World War II, grew up in Aalen Paul Edel Wilhelm Jakob Schweiker (1859–1927), founder of the Aalen Historical Society (Geschichts- und Altertumsverein Aalen) and name giver of the Wilhelm Jakob Schweiker Award Ulrich Pfeifle, Mayor of Aalen from 1976 until 2005 Persons born in Aalen Johann Christoph von Westerstetten (1563–1637), Bishop of Eichstätt and counter-reformer Karl Joseph von Hefele (1809–1893), Roman Catholic theologian, clerical historian and bishop Karl Wahl (1892–1981), Gauleiter of Swabia, Obergruppenführer Kurt Jooss (1901–1979), born in Wasseralfingen; dancer, choreographer and dance educator August Zehender (1903–1945), SS Brigade Commander and Major General of the Waffen-SS Paul Buck (1911–2006), piano teacher Bruno Heck (1917–1989), politician of the CDU, former minister of the federal government and CDU secretary general Hermann Bausinger (1926-2021), cultural scientist Alfred Bachofer (born 1942), former Lord Mayor of Nürtingen Walter Adams (born 1945 in Wasseralfingen), middle-distance runner Ivo Holzinger (born 1948), politician (SPD), Lord Mayor of Memmingen (since 1980) Werner Sobek (born 1953), architect and structural engineer Ludwig Leinhos (born 1956), major general of the Bundesluftwaffe Bernd Hitzler (born 1957), politician, (CDU), Member of Landtag Martin Gerlach (born 1965), independent politician, mayor of Aalen (2005-2013) Thomas Zander (born 1967), wrestler, winner of Olympic silver medal and world champion (1994) Carl-Uwe Steeb (born 1967), retired tennis player Katrin Bauerfeind (born 1982), radio and TV-presenter Manuel Fischer (born 1989), footballer Patrick Funk (born 1990), footballer Cro (born 1990), Carlo Waibel, singer Other Christian Friedrich Daniel Schubart (1739–1791), poet, organ player, composer and journalist; lived in Aalen as a child and adolescent Rudolf Duala Manga Bell (1873–1914), King of Duala and resistance leader in the German colony of Kamerun, lived in Aalen from 1891 until 1896. Georg Elser (1903–1945), opponent of Nazism, worked in 1923 as an apprentice carpenter