Alb-Donau-Kreis named after the Danube River (German "Donau") and the Swabian Alb ("Schwäbische Alb") mountains. The Danube enters the district in the southwest, runs through the southern parts of the district and leaves eastwards to Ulm. North of the Danube banks the hills of the Swabian Alb rise. The hill chain extends from southwest to northeast parallel to the course of the Danube River and is continued on either side of the district. An affluent of the Danube, the Iller River, forms the southeastern border of the Alb-Donau district, before it meets the Danube in Ulm. The coat of arms is
SS Donau (1929) SS Donau (1929) SS "Donau" was a Norddeutscher Lloyd refrigerated cargo ship. In the Second World War the Kriegsmarine used it as a transport ship between Germany and Norway. She became known as the "slave ship" after the SS and Gestapo transported 540 Jews from Norway to Stettin, from where they were taken by train to Auschwitz. Only nine of those deported on the "Donau" survived. "Donau" was built in Hamburg for Norddeutscher Lloyd of Bremen and completed in 1929. At gross she was large for her time, and she was unusual amongst cargo ships for being powered by both