Gera is an independent university town in the east of Thuringia.
After the state capital Erfurt, Gera ranks second in terms of area
and third behind Jena in terms of population in the Free State of
Thuringia. Gera is located in the north of the Vogtland on the White
Elster in the eastern Thuringian hill country at an altitude of
about 200 meters and belongs to the metropolitan region of Central
Germany. Leipzig is about 60 kilometers to the north, Erfurt 80
kilometers to the west, Zwickau about 40 kilometers to the southeast
and Chemnitz about 70 kilometers to the east.
Gera is of
historical importance as the state capital of the Principality of
Reuss Younger Line (1848 to 1918) and of the People's State of Reuss
(1918 to 1920). With the onset of industrialization in the middle of
the 19th century, the city experienced great economic and population
growth. At the heyday of the fabric and cloth industry, Gera was one
of the richest cities in Germany. Over 100 city villas, some of
which are very important (for example Villa Schulenburg), bear
witness to the splendor and wealth of bygone times. The city also
became a transport hub during the 19th century, as numerous railway
lines meet at the main train station.
During the Second World
War, from May 1944 to April 1945, Gera was partially destroyed by
air raids. After the founding of the GDR, the city became the seat
of the newly created district of Gera in 1952. Since 1990 it has
been part of Thuringia again for administrative purposes and is one
of three regional centers here. The city is the seat of the
Gera-Eisenach Cooperative State University (until 2016 Gera
University of Applied Sciences) and the private SRH University of
Health Gera and was the venue for the 2007 Federal Horticultural
Show. Since January 2017, the city has officially been named
"University City".
The most famous sights are concentrated either in the old town or in the Untermhaus district.
On the Nikolaiberg above the market is the baroque, three-aisled
Salvatorkirche, the city's best-known sacred building. The church was
built in 1717/20 according to plans by David Schatz, the Saxon state
architect. The tower was not added until 1775/78. Only two years later
the great fire in the city also destroyed the church, but it was soon
rebuilt. Since then it has been the only remaining church in the city
center. Bus lines 10, 17 and 19, Schillerstrasse stop.
The
Johanniskirche on Clara-Zetkin-Strasse. This neo-Gothic brick building
can be seen from afar. The Johanniskirche is the largest church in the
city and replaced a previous building that burned down in 1780. Heinrich
II (1572-1635), the founder of the younger Reuss line, and his second
wife Magdalena lie in the crypt. In the Heinrichstraße the
Trinitatiskirche, an essentially Gothic building from the 14th century.
On the western outer wall is a tombstone for Nicolaus de Smit, a Dutch
exile who laid the foundation for the textile industry in Gera.
The late Gothic Marienkirche, the landmark of the Untermhaus district,
is right next to the Otto-Dix-Haus on Mohrenplatz, the old center of
Untermhausen.
After the bombings in 1945 and the subsequent demolition, only the keep remained of the Osterstein Castle above the Untermhaus district. Bus line 20 in the direction of Harpersdorf, bus stop Untermhäuser Straße. In the run-up to the Buga 2007, clearings were carried out here, so that you now have a clear view of the Hofwiesen from the Osterstein.
Structures within the former city walls:
The old town hall on
the market square is the city's landmark. It was built in the
Renaissance style between 1573 and 1575 and replaced a previous Gothic
building that was destroyed in 1450 during the Fratricidal War in
Saxony. At the tower the main portal with many decorations. A political
cabaret is located in the basement of the town hall. Also on the market
is the city pharmacy with its striking, richly decorated Renaissance bay
window. The Simson fountain (1685/ 86, C. Junghans) in the middle of the
market square.
From the market, head east to the Nikolaiberg,
where the Schreibersche Haus is located right next to the
Salvatorkirche. When the great city fire raged in 1780, the
Schreibersche house was the only building within the city walls that
remained undamaged. Today it houses the Natural History Museum.
In addition to the Schreibersche Haus, there are many other surviving
town houses, including the Ferbersche Haus, which houses the Museum of
Applied Arts.
The last surviving city wall tower is located on
the southern edge of the historic old town.
Buildings outside the
old town:
Haus Schulenburg, Straße des Friedens 120. Tel.: (0)365
82641 0, Fax: (0)365 8264131, E-Mail: kontakt@haus-schulenburg-gera.de
The Schulenburg House on the western edge of the city is a masterpiece
of the Architect and designer Henry van de Velde. He had the Art Nouveau
house built in 1913/14 for the Gera industrialist Schulenburg. The
neighboring villas and the Villa Jahr in the north of the Heinrichsgrün
district were also built for industrialists and bear witness to the
town's former wealth.
The new theater, built in 1902 and
dedicated to the musis sacrum (muses), and the adjacent orangery (cf.
museums) can be found between the main station and the Untermhaus.
Personalities such as Ludwig Devrient and Albert Lortzing acted on the
stages of Gera.
If you drive/walk from the old town area via
Schillerstraße z. B. to the southeast, you reach the Ferber Tower. This
is the direction in which the city expanded the least during the period
of industrialization. In addition to the Bergfried Osterstein, the
Ferber Tower is another important vantage point. On the mountains to the
left of the Elster there are two more lookout towers - the Gladitsch and
the Fuchsturm (Kaiser Wilhelm Tower).
The Pushkin monument at the courthouse on Schlossstrasse (pedestrian
zone) commemorates the Russian national poet Alexander Sergeyevich
Pushkin.
Gera does not have too many classical monuments, but
numerous sculptures were erected in the area around the old town in the
1980s. In addition, plaques telling the history of the city have been
placed above many of the entrances to the prefab buildings that match
the silhouette of the old town.
A package ticket can be purchased for all Gera museums: Adults €9,
reduced (children from 6 years, young people up to 18 years, students,
seniors, unemployed, severely disabled) €6.
The Orangery, built
between 1729 and 1732, houses part of the
Gera Art Collection,
Orangerieplatz 1 (tram line 1 towards Untermhaus, stop Otto Dix). Tel.:
+49 (0)365 8384250. around 10,000 works in total. It includes paintings
and sculptures from the 16th century to the present, including the
medieval winged altar at Hirschfeld, created by Peter Breuer around
1500. Open: otherwise Wed - Sun/holidays 12pm - 5pm. Price: adults €4,
family ticket: €7.50, "package ticket" (Orangerie + Otto Dix Haus) €6,
reduced: €3.50.
The other part of the art collection is in the
Otto-Dix-Haus, Mohrenplatz 4 (bus line 20 in the direction of
Harpersdorf, bus stop Untermhäuser Straße). Tel.: (0)365 8324927 400
works by Otto Dix, who was born in Gera, are on display here, with the
“Saint Christopher IV” from 1939 and the fifty etchings for the famous
war cycle from 1924 being highlighted. Otto Dix, who initially worked
voluntarily reported for military service, impressively incorporated his
experiences of the horror of war here. Open: Wed - Sun/Holidays 12pm -
5pm.
What remains striking for the cityscape - even after the
redesign of the outer facade into a dull gray - is that
Stadtmuseum,
Museumsplatz 1. Tel.: +49 (0)365 8381470, fax: (0)365 8381473, e-mail:
stadtmuseum@gera.de. The focal points of the collection are: prehistory
and early history from the Paleolithic to the Slavic era, urban
development, the bourgeoisie, crafts and industry (Geraer Zeugdruck) and
history as the residence of Reuss J. L. Open: Tue 1 p.m. - 8 p.m., Wed -
Fri 10 a.m - 5 p.m., Sat, Sun and public holidays 11 a.m. - 6 p.m.
Price: adults €3, concessions €2.
Museum of Natural History,
Nicolaiberg 3 (in the Schreibersches Haus). Tel.: +49 (0)365 52003, fax:
+49 (0)365 52025, e-mail: naturkundemuseum@gera.de The natural history
museum also includes cave no. 188 (see Miscellaneous) and the botanical
garden. In contrast to the cave museum, the opening times of the
botanical garden vary seasonally for understandable reasons. May to
September: Mon - Fri 8 a.m. - 5 p.m., Sat, Sun + public holidays 11 a.m.
- 5 p.m. October to April: Mon - Fri 8 a.m. - 3.30 p.m., Sat, Sun +
public holidays closed. Open: Tue 1 p.m. – 8 p.m., Wed – Fri 10 a.m. – 5
p.m., Sat, Sun + public holidays 11 a.m. – 6 p.m. Price: adults €3,
concessions €2.
Museum of Applied Arts. The museum is located in the
Ferbersches Haus on Greizer Strasse on Nikolaiberg (between the
multi-storey car park and the city wall tower). The focal points of the
collection are "Art Deco & Functionalism", handicrafts from the 20th
century to the present and contemporary photography. Open: Tue 1 p.m. –
8 p.m., Wed – Fri 10 a.m. – 5 p.m., Sat, Sun + public holidays 11 a.m. –
6 p.m.
Historical Bahnbetriebswerk Gera, Theaterstrasse 50, 07545
Gera (from Theaterstrasse via the access road to STRABAG). Tel.: +49
(0)365 77 30 08 25, mobile: +49 (0)178 6742467, fax: +49 (0)365 77 30 08
29, e-mail: info@gebaco.de . The historic railway depot in Gera is a
living railway museum, where visitors can get a close-up impression of
locomotive operation in past decades on days when the railway is in
operation. In addition to the locomotive shed, turntable, water tower
and water crane, you can also see steam locomotives, a rotary railway
crane and baggage wagons for freight trains and axles of the steam
locomotives.
The two most important streets for city life are Sorge and
Heinrichstrasse. These two streets show the main interior of Gera.
Special emphasis is placed on the shopping opportunities. Both streets
are closed to private motor traffic, with Heinrichstraße serving public
transport (buses and trains). Schlossstraße, also a shopping and
car-free street, runs as a transverse axis to the concern. It continues
south of the concern as Johannisstrasse, crossing the tracks of tram
line 3. The tram line passes under the Elsterforum, a shopping center,
and on the other side a row of houses. Laid out by the concern at this
point in the 1980s, the tram now runs through a rear house street,
called Hinter der Mauer due to its location in front of the former city
wall. This caused politically incorrect controversies in the GDR, since
the tram stopped “behind the wall” from then on.
Outside of the
city center, the Wiesestraße should be mentioned, which opens up the
Debschwitz district and runs to the Lusan prefabricated building
district. The street is named after the Rerussian vice chancellor Georg
Walter Vincent von Wiese, who represented the small principality in 1815
at the Congress of Vienna. The tram runs the full length of Wiesestraße,
which still shares the route here with motor vehicle traffic. A traffic
separation is - as has already happened almost everywhere in Gera - also
planned here, but this will be quite difficult due to the limited space;
The plans also prompted protests from the neighboring traders.
Anyone who carefully strolls through the city and perhaps looks down
will discover stumbling blocks here and there that have been set into
the pavement in front of the last residential building of a citizen who
was not agreeable to the Nazi regime to remind them of the fate of these
persecuted people.
In addition to the youth park on Heinrichstraße (colloquially known
as bone park, as it was a former cemetery) and various smaller parks in
the city center, Leninpark near the main train station is one of the
most popular meeting places for young people. There is a lot of
boisterous celebration here, especially on the weekends. Lenin Park owes
its name to a former statue of Lenin.
The center of the Federal
Horticultural Show 2007 was the new landscape Ronneburg and the
Hofwiesenpark, which was fundamentally redesigned in the years 2004 to
2006. It has been open to visitors again since March 2008. Some of the
Buga's exhibits, including the tree nursery garden, have been retained.
The baroque pleasure garden between the orangery and the theater is
called the kitchen garden.
Also part of the Buga was the dahlia
garden on the Straße des Friedens (in the direction of the Klinikum, not
far from the Schulenburg building). It was laid out in 1928 on the
initiative of the gardener employed at Haus Schulenburg and in autumn is
an exhibition area for the dahlias cultivated in the dahlia town of Bad
Köstritz.
The Geraer Höhler are located in the old town area. The caves were
created in the early modern period to store beer. During the Second
World War they served as an air raid shelter. Between 1986 and 1989, ten
caves with a total length of 250 meters were expanded to suit the
museum, so that they can be visited today.
Historic trams are
also maintained by the Gera transport company. The flagship vehicle is
undoubtedly number 29 from 1905, formerly on the Plauen tram line. The
number 12 from 1928 has always been in Gera; since 1982 it has also been
a museum vehicle. The Gotha trams from the 1950s are somewhat more
recent. They formed the backbone of tram operations up until the 1980s,
only to be replaced by the Tatras from Prague, which are still in
service today. Number 16, which was first used in Zwickau and later in
Gera, has been preserved as a museum vehicle.
In Gera, four houses are used (big house, stage in the park, small theater in the center and the TheaterFABRIK in the Tonhalle). The Great House was built according to a design by the architect Heinrich Seeling and inaugurated on October 20, 1902. The theater has a 550-seat auditorium and an 812-seat concert hall with a Sauer organ.
The German children's film and television festival Goldener Spatz has
been held in Gera every other year since 1977. Since 2003, the city has
had to share hosting with Erfurt. The culture and congress center on
Museum Square is used for larger events.
The Hofwiesenbad in the
Untermhaus district, which opened in 1974, was originally purely a
sports pool, but was expanded after 2000 to include a leisure pool
section with a 65m tube slide and sauna. It is not far from the
Orangery. The pool is open until 10 p.m. on weekdays and until 6 p.m. on
weekends and public holidays. The sports pool is occasionally closed
during swimming events. The day pass costs €7.50 and reduced €6. What
will become of the closed summer pool (see the city map) not far from
the Hofwiesen cannot be foreseen at the moment. Despite the competition
from the surrounding fun and leisure pools, efforts are being made to
set up an outdoor pool for Gera again. Until then, you have to switch to
the small natural pool in Kaimberg (bus line 18 from the Zwötzen tram
terminus).
In the GDR, Gera was a stronghold of sports. While
football clubs are now somewhere in the lower leagues, cycling and
equestrian sports remain a showcase for the city. The equestrian center
in Gera-Milbitz has been the venue for the German championships in
dressage and show jumping several times. From December to February, an
ice arena for skating will be set up on Museum Square.
The zoo,
founded in 1962, is located on the outskirts of the Debschwitz district
in the west of the city. Visitors will primarily find domestic animals,
but also exotic ones. A total of 500 animals from around 80 different
species live on an area of 20 hectares. There is a petting zoo for
younger visitors. An 800m long park railway runs through the park, which
was laid out by young pioneers in the GDR. Even today, the operation
between the two stations Martinsgrund and Wolfsgehege is carried out by
children and young people under the supervision of railway workers.
Contact:
Tierpark Gera, Straße des Friedens 85. Tel.: +49 (0)365
810127, fax: (0)365 810185, e-mail: tierpark@gera.de Open: daily from 9
a.m. to 6 p.m.; Dec/Jan daily 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.; Nov/Feb daily 9 a.m. to
5 p.m.
By plane
The nearest international airport is Leipzig Halle
Airport (IATA: LEJ) , which is approximately 80km away. From there it is
quite easy to get to Gera via the A14 to the Schkeuditz junction, the A9
to the Hermsdorfer junction and then the A4. It takes four hours by car
or train to get to Frankfurt Airport (IATA: FRA).
The
Gera-Leumnitz airfield (ICAO: EDAJ) in the east of the city is only
intended for sports aircraft and small feeder flights.
By train
In GDR times, Gera was an important transport hub. Today, Gera, still
without an overhead line, is largely only served by regional trains.
Since December 2018, individual IC trains have been running in the RE 1
timetable via Erfurt and Kassel to Düsseldorf, which can also be used
with local transport tickets up to Erfurt. The following local transport
routes touch the city:
RE 1
Glauchau/Greiz-Gera-Jena-Erfurt-Göttingen and
EB 21
Gera–Jena–Weimar–Erfurt (stops everywhere, is operated by the private
Erfurter Bahn (EB))
RE 3 Altenburg-Gera-Jena-Erfurt, individual
trains to Würzburg
EBx 12 Leipzig-Gera-Saalfeld (operated by the
private Erfurter Bahn (EB)) and
EB 22 Leipzig–Gera–Saalfeld (stops
everywhere, is operated by the private Erfurter Bahn (EB))
EBx 13
Hof–Zeulenroda-Triebes–Gera (operated by the private Erfurter Bahn (EB))
VL 4 Wei Schlitz–Plauen–Gera (operated by the private Vogtlandbahn
(VBG))
Gera is in the tariff area of the Verkehrsverbund
Mittelthüringen (VMT) and forms tariff zone 40. Offers from the
Verkehrsverbund Vogtland also apply on the Elstertalbahn in the
direction of Plauen, in particular a "Touren-Ticket" for €8 with
unlimited travel on the railway lines of the Vogtland.
By bus
The central bus station is located opposite the main train station and
can be reached from the south exit of the station without getting your
feet wet. The intercity buses in regional traffic are mostly operated by
Regionalverkehr Gera/Land GmbH (RVG). Line 212 from Friedmannsdorf and
line 213 from Zwickau via Werdau are maintained by the Piehler bus
company.
Long-distance buses run to Berlin, Kassel, Essen,
Saarbrücken, Dresden and Prague (Flixbus from the central bus station).
On the street
The federal autobahn A4 has been expanded to six
lanes from the west for several years. The expansion to the Ronneburg
exit has also been completed to the east. When arriving from the west,
the former main exit Symbol: AS 58a is still a sensible option, but you
can also quickly get to the city via the new cross Symbol: AS 58b Gera
and the subsequent Osttangente.
From the east, in addition to the
cross Symbol: KN Gera, there is also the exit Symbol: AS 59
Gera-Leumnitz just a few kilometers before. From here turn right to a
roundabout that leads to the former federal highway B7, then via
Leumnitz into the city.
Approaching from the south on the A9 does
not necessarily have to be via the symbol: KN Hermsdorfer Kreuz. Simply
take the symbol: AS 26 Triptis exit and from there take the B281 to
Mittelpöllnitz, where you meet the B2 federal road, which leads to Gera
via the Triptis by-pass. It is even cheaper to take the young Symbol: AS
25b Lederhose, especially if the destination is in the southern
districts of Lusan, Debschwitz or Zwötzen (via Weida) or if you want to
go to the hospital.
With the completion of the Zeitz bypass, a
journey from the north via the federal roads B91 and B2 from the exit
symbol: AS 20 Weißenfels from the A9 motorway is a real alternative to
driving via the Hermsdorfer Kreuz, in any case in terms of km and often
also in terms of time, especially if the destination is in Leumnitz or
in the Ostviertel. However, one should reconsider this alternative on
Friday afternoons and at peak times, since many truck drivers also use
this mostly single-lane route.
By boat
Since the Weiße Elster
is not navigable, Gera, like the other cities in Thuringia, cannot be
reached by ship.
By bicycle
The Elster cycle path (250 km)
leads through Gera in a north-south direction, sometimes to the left,
sometimes to the right of the Elster. The long-distance cycle route
through the Thuringian chain of towns (225 km) crosses the city and the
country in a west-east direction. (Note: The Gera cycle path has nothing
to do with the city of Gera, it runs along the river Gera.)
Local public transport is maintained by Geraer Verkehrsbetrieb mbH
(GVB). In addition to bus lines, the GVB operates the second-oldest tram
in Germany after Halle's. It was opened in 1892, but has nothing in
common with today's network. The network currently consists of three
lines:
Line 1 Zwötzen–Heinrichstraße–main station–Untermhaus
(every 15 minutes)
Line 2 Lusan/Zeulsdorf–footbridge–Zwötzen train
station (every 30 minutes)
Line 3
Lusan/Zeulsdorf–footbridge–Südbahnhof–Heinrichstraße–Duale
Hochschule–Bieblach-Ost (every 5 minutes)
In the future, line 3
is to fork at the Cooperative State University and merge into a new
branch to Langenberg in the north. Tatra trams from the 1980s are used
on lines 2 and 3. Some vehicles have been modernized and equipped with a
low-floor section suitable for the disabled; these run every 20 minutes
on line 3. For line 1, completely new vehicles have been purchased from
Alstom.
The central transfer point between the tram (lines 1, 3)
and the buses is on Heinrichstraße. Each tram stop is equipped with a
ticket machine, which is validated on the tram or bus. The bus lines
usually run every 20 minutes and are usually concentrated in the inner
city area, resulting in a 10-minute cycle. The following bus lines open
up the city area in addition to the tram (interval in brackets):
Line 10 (30 min.) Reuss-Park-Leumnitz-Heinrichstraße-Klinikum main
entrance-Hammelburg
Line 11 (120 min.)
Heinrichstrasse–Martinshöhe–Weissig
Line 12 (60 min.)
Heinrichstraße–Zschippern
Line 13 (single journeys)
Eiselstraße–Lusan/Laune–Schafpreskeln
Line 14 (120 min.)
Heinrichstraße–Ferberturm
Line 15 (30 min.) Commercial Park
Keplerstrasse–Lusan/Laune
Line 16 (30 min.) Liebschwitz–Zwötzen (to
line 1)–Zwötzen train station (to line 2)
Line 17 (30 min.)
Frankenthal-Klinikum-Heinrichstraße-Leumnitz-Reuss-Park
Line 18 (60
min.) Kauern-Zwötzen-Liebschwitz-Kleinfalke-Großfalka
Line 19 (60
min.) Thränitz-Naulitz-Leumnitz-Heinrichstraße
Line 20 (30/60 min.)
Harpersdorf–Töppeln–Friedrich-Naumann-Platz (to line 1)
Line 22 (120
min.) Cooperative State University–Langenberg–Hain
Line 24 (30 min.)
Bieblach–Untermhaus (to line 1)–Cooperative State University–Langenberg
Line 25 (30 min.) Zwötzen train station–Ochsenbrücke–Heinrichstraße
Line 26 (60 min.) Bieblach-Ost, Kaufpark-Leumnitz-Heinrichstrasse
Line 27 (60/120 min.) Cooperative State University - Roschütz -
Wernsdorf
Line 28 (60 min.) Cooperative State
University–Langenberg–Großaga
Line 29 (60 min.) Cooperative State
University - Langenberg - Kleinaga - Hermsdorf
If you are looking
for free parking, you should look for parking spaces on the railway
embankment or in the vicinity of the Südbahnhof, with luck you will find
a gap. There are Park+Ride areas in Untermhaus (terminus of line 1), at
Hofwiesenpark (formerly Buga car park near the Otto Dix stop) and at
Zwötzen train station. There are multi-storey car parks in the arcades
(cf. shopping; those who shop here can have the parking fee refunded at
the information desk), on Nikolaistraße, in the UCI cinema (cf.
nightlife) and between the city library and the congress center.
Car Rentals:
Europcar, Leibnizstrasse 74, 07548 Gera. Phone: +49
(0)365 823390.
Hertz, Ebelingstraße 12, 07545 Gera (near the main
station/theater). Phone: +49 (0)365 824010.
AVIS, Bahnhofstrasse 20,
07545 Gera. Phone: +49 (0)365 7106485.
SIXT, Leibnizstrasse 70, 07548
Gera. Phone: +49 (0)89 66060060.
The city center has two notable shopping centers: The Gera Arcaden on
Heinrichstrasse and the Elster-Forum, through which the tram runs
between the Sorge/Markt and Heinrichstrasse stops.
1 Gera
Arcaden, Heinrichstr. 30. Tel.: +49 (0)365 773130, Fax: +49 (0)365
7731399. Open: Mon – Thu 10 a.m. – 8 p.m., Fri 10 a.m. – 10 p.m., Sat 10
a.m. – 8 p.m.
2 Elster-Forum, Museumsplatz 2. Tel.: +49 (0)365
5514735, Fax: +49 (0)365 5514736. Open: Mon – Sat 9.30 a.m. – 8 p.m
In addition, there is the classic shopping street, to which the
Amthorpassage with its glass domed roof and the Schloßstraße with other
retailers are connected. Supermarkets and discounters (Lidl, Aldi) are
practically omnipresent. Outside of the built-up area, between the
village of Trebnitz and the roundabout to the B 7/Autobahn (see
Arrival/Car) there is a Globus branch (bus line 10). There is a
department store in each of the prefab districts of Lusan and
Bieblach-Ost.
Souvenirs can be purchased at the tourist
information office on Heinrichstrasse.
Gera offers a variety of restaurants of different nationalities and
prices throughout the city. It is advisable, especially on weekends, to
ask for a reservation by telephone in advance.
As elsewhere,
there are a particularly large number of dining and fast food options in
the city center and in the Gera arcades.
The following list is by
no means exhaustive, it is only intended to serve as a guide.
Cheap
Downtown
Anadolu Fast Food Restaurant, Altenburger Str. 20.
Tel.: +49 (0)365 28489.
Alzarro Mixtaurant, Christian Schmidt Str. 2.
Tel.: +49 (0)365 2576 5906. Doner kebab, pasta, burgers, the greatest
hits of international fast food cuisine around the clock. Open: 24h.
Louis Diner, Reichsstrasse 37, 07545 Gera. Tel.: +49 (0)365 5523807.
Open: Mon - Thu 08:00 - 00:00, Fri 08:00 - 02:00, Sat 08:00 - Sun 24:00
continuously open.
Tinz
McDonald's on the A4, Siemensstrasse
55, 07546 Gera. Tel.: +46 (0)365 412135. When leaving the premises, turn
right twice in the direction of the motorway and follow the road loop to
the main road.
Debschwitz
Burger King, Keplerstrasse 1a, 07549
Gera. Phone: +49 (0)365 5516755.
Medium
Downtown
Aposto
Gera, Parkstrasse 10, 07548 Gera. Tel.: +49 (0)365 83200832. Open: Mon -
Sun 11:30 a.m. - 10:00 p.m. Price: Main menus €7.90 to €13.90.
1
Mai-Linh Restaurant, Gagarinstr. 30, 07545 Gera. Phone: +49 (0)365
4206550 . Traditional Vietnamese specialty cuisine. Open: Mon-Sun
17:00-22:00, Thu-Sun 11:30-14:30.
2 Frank's Burger-Licious BBQ,
Erfurtstr. 19, 07545 Gera (in the former Saxon train station). Tel.: +49
(0)365 51335744. Open: Mon–Thu 10:30–21:00, Fri–Sat 10:30–22:00, Sun
12:00–21:00.
3 Downtown, Friedrich-Engels-Str. 1, 07545 Gera. Phone:
+49 (0)365 5511250, email: downtown-gera@gmx.de. Restaurant & Bar. Open:
Mon-Thu 4pm-1am, Fri 4pm-2am, Sat 4pm-3am, Sun 4pm-12am.
Podium,
Schlossstr. 1, 07545 Gera. Tel.: +49 (0)365 8302000. Open: daily from
11:00 a.m. Price: Main menus €5.90 to €13.90 (XXL schnitzel), rump
steaks €15.50 to €18.50.
Burg-Keller, Schuhgasse 2. Tel.: +49 (0)365
5511831. Open: Mon-Sat 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. and 5 p.m. to 10 p.m., Sun
closed. Price: Main menus €6.65 to €14.90.
Café Graf Zeppelin,
Rudolf-Diener-Straße 17. Tel.: +49 (0)365 824260. Open: Mon-Sat 9 a.m.
to 8 p.m., Sun 1 p.m. to 8 p.m. Price: Main menus €4 to €10.
Tinz
DALA-THAI, Berliner Straße 157. Tel.: +49 (0)365 4378127. Wide range of
around 130 Thai dishes. Open: 11am to 2pm, 5.30pm to 11.30pm.
Upscale
Downtown
Ambiente, Schlossstraße 1. Tel.: +49 (0)365
619283. International cuisine, steaks, salads and coffee. Open: daily
from 9.30 a.m. to midnight. Price: Main menus €7.60 to €22.20. Accepted
payment methods: EC Card, Visa Card, Master Card, American Express.
Paulaner Keller, Clara-Zetkin-Strasse 14. Tel.: +49 (0)365 200127. Open:
daily from 10 a.m. to 1 a.m. Price: Main menus €8 to €18.
Royal Gera,
concern no. 19 (pedestrian zone in the center). Phone: +49 (0)365 51374,
fax: (0)365 51901, e-mail: royalgera@web.de. In the smallest and oldest
house on the Sorge, Thuringia's largest wine cellar. French cuisine and
Thuringian specialties. Open: Monday to Saturday from 10 a.m. to
midnight, Sundays by arrangement. Price: Menu prices between €15 and
€35. Accepted forms of payment: Euro, Visa.
Untermhaus
Piazzetta, Gutenbergstrasse 2a (at the Courtyard by Marriott Gera).
Tel.: +49 (0)365 2909414. Price: Prices: main courses €5 to €19, menus
€13.50 to €70. Accepted payment methods: American Express, Diners Club,
MasterCard, Visa, JCB, EC card.
Gates
4 EBLA (formerly
OMAYYA), Pfortener Str. 13a, 07545 Gera. Tel.: +49 (0)365 20211614,
mobile: +49 178 3662236, email: ebla.gera@gmail.com . Syrian cuisine
restaurant. Open: Tue-Sun 17:00-22:00 (kitchen).
Gera is not a very attractive city for young people. However, there
are different ways to have fun.
1 Trash Gera, Bahnhofstrasse 6,
07545 Gera. chilled pub with an outdoor area and opportunities for a
campfire and cozy get-togethers in an old train compartment.
2
Studio31, Rudolf-Diener-Str. 4, 07545 Gera. Mobile: +49 172 5738783.
With an unparalleled ambience and quite acceptable prices, this address
has always been an insider tip for nightlife. The predominantly
intellectual clientele ensures a pleasant, informal flair. Definitely
worth a visit.
The ultimate place for those who still want to go
out after 30 is the COMMA not far from the city center with the Gera
Arcaden and in the immediate vicinity of the Südbahnhof (each about 5
minutes on foot). The monthly Yesterday parties with music from the
1970s, 1980s and 1990s are currently recommended. There is often a live
band and disco at the same time, there is something for every taste.
Pleasant ambience and moderate drink prices.
The UCI Kinowelt
Gera is located on Reichsstrasse, a new building from 1997 with
integrated shops, restaurants and a multi-storey car park. The other two
cinemas have been closed, although film nights are still occasionally
held in the Metropol cult cinema (Leipziger Str. 24, line 3/ Leipziger
Straße stop). The above-mentioned cabaret in the Rathauskeller is the
faux pas founded in 1973 with performances usually starting at 8 p.m.
Bars in Gera:
Dark Angel Bar-Nachtcafé-Club, Grosse Kirchstr. 14.
Tel.: +49 (0)365 8310715.
The shop, Wiesestr. 213 (Debschwitz
district, from the Lusan pedestrian bridge, walk 50m along Wiesestraße
in the direction of the city center). Tel.: +49 (0)365 7112590. Small
pub.
Cheap
Pension platform 7 in the southern railway station. Tel.:
+49 (0)365 77316930. Price: Overnight stay for €18, with breakfast €22.
Apartment tester, Ruckdeschelstr. 26 (near Zwötzen train station). Tel.:
+49 (0)365 37173. Price: overnight stay from €30.
Apartment Brembach,
Langengrobsdorfer Straße 21 (outskirts). Phone: +49 (0)365 4212521,
email: e.brembach@gmx.net. Absolutely quiet location in the countryside,
art nouveau villa, large garden, children's playground, barbecue
facilities, sleeping in the hay, pick-up possible. Price: Overnight stay
for 35 € per night with occupancy by 2 people, each additional person /
extra bed plus 10 €.
Guest apartment Simone Böhme, Colliser Str. 21
(gates, in the Gessental towards Collis /Kaimberg). Tel.: +49 (0)365
7109713. Price: overnight stay from €35.
Apartment Am Zaufensgraben,
Meuselwitzer Str. 103 A (gates). Tel.: +49 (0)365 7120029. Price:
overnight stay from €38.
1 Frankenthal Inn and Pension, Frankenthaler
Str. 74, 07548 Gera. Phone: +49 (0)365 826660, fax: +49 (0)365 8266634,
email: fthal@gmx.de. Features: ★★★, Pension. Open: Restaurant: Mon – Fri
5 p.m. – 9 p.m., Sat 4 p.m. – 9 p.m., Sun 11.30 a.m. – 2 p.m. Price:
Single room from €35, double room from €51, plus €7 breakfast per
person.
Medium
2 Apart Hotel Gera, Hofer Straße 12 d (on the
edge of the city forest). Tel.: +49 (0)365 82150, Fax: (0)365 8215200.
Three-star hotel with 65 rooms about 5 km from the center. Check-in:
3:00 p.m. to 12:00 a.m. Check-out: 07:00 - 12:00. Price: Prices
including breakfast: single room from €40.50 to €59.90, double room from
€54.50 to €74.90, triple room from €75. Accepted payment methods: EC,
EuroCard, Master, Visa, American Express, Diners Club.
3 City Partner
Service Hotel Gewürzmühle, Clara-Viebig-Str. 4. Tel.: +49 (0)365 824330,
fax: (0)365 8243344, e-mail: info@hotel-gewuerzmuehle-gera.de. 29 rooms.
Check-in: 2:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. Check out: 12:00 p.m. Price: Prices
(breakfast €9): single room €39 to €44, double room €50 to €55,
three-bed room €56, four-bed room €57.
4 Hotel Restaurant
Zwergschlösschen, Untermhäuser Straße 67/ 69 (on the outskirts, road to
Bad Köstritz). 23 rooms. Check-in: 2:00 p.m. to 12:00 a.m. Check out:
07:00 to 11:00. Price: Overnight stays from €46.
5 Hotel am
Galgenberg, Laasener Strasse 108, 07546 Gera. Phone: +49 (0)365 8370,
fax: +49 (0)365 8372616, email: info@hotel-galgenberg.de. Restaurant
with beer garden available. Price: Single room from €44.50, double room
from €73 (each including breakfast buffet).
6 The Royal Inn Regent
Gera, Schülerstraße 22 (between Heinrichstraße and Südbahnhof; tram line
1, Schmelzhüttenstraße stop). Tel.: +49 (0)365 91810, fax: (0)365
9181100, email: regent@the-royal-inn.de. 102 rooms and 6 meeting rooms.
Check-in: 2:30 p.m. to 12:00 a.m. Check out: 07:00 to 11:00. Price:
Overnight stays from €48.90.
Upscale
Courtyard Gera,
Gutenbergstraße 2a (good traffic connections to the A4/A9 motorways, 5
minutes to the main train station, to be reached via the Naumannplatz
tram stop). Tel: +49 (0)365 29090, Fax: (0)365 2909100, Email:
Petra.Schubert@courtyard.com. Price: Single/double room from 65 euros
(weekend), during the week 82/92 euros, including breakfast.
7
Novotel Gera (formerly Hotel Dorint), Berliner Str. 38 (accessible via
the Herderstrasse tram stop). Tel: +49 (0)365 43440, Fax: (0)365
4344100, Email: h5386@accor.com. Since the demolition of the Interhotel
near today's arcades, the largest hotel in Gera with 260 rooms and 16
conference rooms; Swimming pool, sauna, steam bath and solarium. Price:
Prices for single rooms from €149, for double rooms from €170.
Gera does not have a university, but since June 2007 it has had a
university of applied sciences with the University of Applied Sciences
for Health.
The Berufsakademie Gera (path of friendship 4A; tram
line 2 in the direction of Bieblach Ost, stop Berufsakademie) offers the
following fields of study:
Welfare: Rehabilitation, Social Services.
Technology: electrical engineering/automation technology, practical
computer science.
Economy: trade, industry, management in health
care, management in public companies and institutions, business
informatics, housing and real estate management.
The city's main
library is located on Puschkinplatz, easily accessible on foot from the
Sorge via the Schlossstraße pedestrian zone in the direction of the main
station.
City and Regional Library Gera, Puschkinplatz 7. Tel.:
+49 (0)365 8384301, fax: +49 (0)365 8384310, e-mail:
info@biblio-gera.de. The stock of books is adequate, but for a larger
selection, reference is made to the University Library in Jena. There
are also four branches. Open: Mon 10am - 6pm, Tue 10am - 7pm, Wed
closed, Thu 10am - 6pm, Fri 10am - 6pm, Sat 10am - 1pm.
District
Library Bieblach-Ost, Robert-Havemann-Str. 5-11 (tram line 3 to
Bieblach-Ost). Tel.: +49 (0)365 4207713. Open: Mon, Tue, Thu + Fri 9
a.m. – 12 p.m. + 2 p.m. – 6 p.m., Sat 9 a.m. – 12 p.m., Wed closed.
District Library Langenberg, Turnerstr. 1. Tel.: +49 (0)365 7734499.
Open: Tue 2 p.m. – 6 p.m., Thu 10 a.m. – 12 p.m. + 2 p.m. – 6 p.m.
District Library Lusan I, Lusaner Str. 8. Tel.: +49 (0)365 31340. Open:
Mon – Tue 2 p.m. – 6 p.m., Thurs 10 a.m. – 6 p.m.
Lusan II district
library, Werner-Petzold-Str. 10. Tel.: +49 (0)365 7732810. Open: Mon,
Tue, Thu, Fri 10 a.m. - 6 p.m., Sat 9 a.m. - 12 p.m., Wed closed.
Gera is not exactly what you would describe as a labor market paradise. More information about job offers is available from the employment agency.
Gera initially remains a small neo-Nazi stronghold. On October 20,
2006, a large number of organized, masked neo-Nazis attacked various
left-wing anti-fascists. But the police were always on the spot and were
able to break it up again.
Lenin Park is one of the safest parks
due to its proximity to the police headquarters. In contrast to the Park
der Jugend on Heinrichstrasse, you can safely party here even after dark
and into the early hours of the morning. Elsewhere, violent attacks on
passers-by are unfortunately increasing at this time. These are often
politically motivated, which gives the otherwise extensive nightlife a
bitter aftertaste.
1 Police Headquarters and Inspectorate
(central), Theaterstr. 3. Tel: +49 (0)365 8290.
2 Police Inspectorate
North and Criminal Police Inspectorate Gera, Amthorstr. 6. Tel: +49
(0)365 82340.
3 Police Inspectorate South, Zoitzbergstr. 1a. Phone:
+49 (0)365 73310.
Women in Need, Tel. +49 (0)365 51390
Pediatric emergency service Gera, Ernst-Toller-Straße 15. Tel.: +49
(0)365 24929, +49 (0)365 412176. Open: emergency service 7 p.m. – 9 p.m.
Emergency service center Gera, Ernst-Toller-Straße 15. Tel.: +49 (0)365
24929, +49 (0)365 412176. Open: emergency service 7 p.m. – 9 p.m.
Wald-Klinikum Gera GmbH, Straße des Friedens 122. Tel.: +49 (0)365 8280
Germany's first cultural hospital. Open: 24-hour emergency service.
Poison Control Line, Tel. +49 (0)361 730730.
What is a "Griebs", what does a Geraer mean when he describes someone
with ooh the sow, or where is actually "Korbsen"? This is the Gersche
Fettguschen dialect, which is quite similar to Saxon.
A regional
daily newspaper, the Ostthüringer Zeitung (OTZ), is published in Gera.
Local sections of this newspaper are published for several locations in
eastern Thuringia. The Thuringian State Newspaper (TLZ) from Weimar has
an office in Gera. The open channel Gera is the local television
station.
Gera Information (tourist information), Markt 1a, 07545
Gera. Phone: +49 (0)365 8381111, email: info@gera-tourismus.de. Open:
Mon-Fri 09:00-15:00.
Addresses of various laundromats:
Launderette Heika, Untermhäuser Str. 33. Tel.: +49 (0)365 8006935. Open:
Mon – Thurs 8 a.m. – 5 p.m., Fri 8 a.m. – 4 p.m.
SB Laundromat,
Leibnizstr. 13. Open: Mon - Fri 8am - 9pm, Sat 8am - 8pm, Sun 9am - 6pm.
VHF Frequencies:
radio TOP 40 - 95.3MHz
MDR 1 Radio Thuringia
- 97.8 MHz (transmitter Ronneburg/ Rückersdorf)
Jump - 100.9 MHz
(transmitter Ronneburg/Rueckersdorf)
Antenna Thuringia - 102.5 MHz
(transmitter Ronneburg/ Rückersdorf)
State wave Thuringia - 105.8 MHz
(transmitter Gera)
Historical overview
The name Gera originally referred to the
section of the Elstertal where the city is located today. It was
probably built before the Migration Period and was adopted by the
Slavs who had lived there since the 8th century. In 995 the name
Gera was first mentioned in a border description. In 999 the
provincia Gera came into the possession of the Quedlinburg
monastery.
In 1209, the Quedlinburg abbess Sophia I von
Brehna appointed Heinrich II "the rich" von Weida (* around
1164/1165; † around 1209) from the Weida family to be the
administrator of the area, which gave him the title of Vogt, which
was then transferred to his descendants as a family name. While his
older son Heinrich III. the dominions Weida and Ronneburg received,
the second son, Heinrich IV. "the middle" († 1249/1250) got the
bailiwick of Gera with the care of Reichenfels and the city of
Plauen. In 1238 he called himself “Vogt von Gera”. His two sons
founded the lines of the Bailiffs von Gera and the Bailiffs von
Plauen. Later there were numerous inheritance divisions. In 1562,
after the bailiffs of Gera died out, Gera fell to the Reuss Princely
House, which descended from the bailiffs of Plauen. Gera thus became
the capital of the Principality of Reuss younger line.
After
a settlement with the same name was established in the center of the
Gera area in the 12th century, it was granted city status in the
early 13th century (before 1237). At first the city developed
slowly. In 1450 it was almost completely destroyed in the Saxon
civil war.
From 1564 Gera was the royal seat of the younger
Reuss line. This time meant a boom for Gera, when the textile
industry had gained in importance since the 15th century. Under the
sovereign Heinrich Posthumus Reuss the importance of the city
increased further. In 1686 and 1780 the city was largely destroyed
by fires.
In the 19th century Gera developed into an
industrial center. In 1882 Oscar Tietz founded the shop with the
money of his rich uncle Hermann Tietz, which over the years would
become one of the most successful department store chains - Hertie.
Ten years later, in 1892, the Gera tram started operating.
After the abdication of the last prince in the November Revolution
of 1918, Gera came to the state of Thuringia in 1920 and formed its
largest city.
During the Second World War, from May 1944 to
April 1945, Gera experienced a total of ten air raids by the
American Air Force. The heaviest attack took place on April 6, 1945,
and large parts of the city fell victim to it. A total of 514 people
were killed in the attacks.
As of April 14, 1945, Gera, like
the rest of Thuringia, was first occupied by the US Army, then by
the Soviets from July 2, 1945 and thus became part of the GDR in
1949. In 1952 it became the district capital.
Gera was a
focus of the popular uprising on June 17, 1953, which was overthrown
by the declaration of a state of emergency using Soviet tanks.
During the GDR era, Gera became a major city through uranium ore
mining near Ronneburg, and in 1989 it had the highest population in
its history with around 135,000 people. After the reunification, the
population fell rapidly and has been below the 100,000 mark since
2009, making Gera a "large medium-sized town".
In 2005 and
2009 the city won gold in the national competition “Our city is in
bloom”. From April 27, 2007 to October 14, 2007 the Federal Garden
Show 2007 took place in Gera and Ronneburg. It was the first Federal
Horticultural Show that took place at two locations at the same
time. There were many changes in the cityscape in connection with
the Federal Garden Show. In November 2006, the tram line 1 from
Untermhaus to Zwötzen went into operation. Gera's historic
Hofwiesenpark, the kitchen garden as well as the adjoining orangery
and the theater were redesigned or modernized and handed over to
their intended use immediately before the Federal Garden Show.
The following communities and districts were incorporated into Gera:
October 1, 1905: Bieblach
April 1, 1912: Debschwitz
January 1,
1919: Untermhaus with Cuba incorporated in 1897, as well as Pforten,
Zwötzen, Leumnitz, Tinz, Milbitz, Thieschitz, Rubitz, Lusan and
Oberröppisch (Oberröppisch was incorporated again on April 1, 1925)
October 1, 1922: Ernsee and Unterröppisch (Unterröppisch was demarcated
again on April 1, 1925)
October 1, 1923: Windischenbernsdorf,
Frankenthal and Scheubengrobsdorf as well as Töppeln and Laasen (both
places were demerged again on October 1, 1924)
1929: Tinz State
Estate
1933: Parts of Poris-Lengefeld
1935: Cossenforst
1936:
Manors Hain and Roschütz
July 1, 1950: Dürrenebersdorf, Kaimberg,
Langenberg (town), Langengrobsdorf, Liebschwitz, Lietzsch,
Poris-Lengefeld, Roschütz, Röppisch, Taubenpreskeln, Zeulsdorf and
Zschippern
April 1, 1994: Aga (with Großaga, Kleinaga, Lessen,
Reichenbach and Seligenstädt), Cretzschwitz, Söllmnitz (with Lauenhain
and Wernsdorf), Roben (with Rusitz and Steinbrücken), Hermsdorf and
Falka (with Großfalka, Kleinaga, Wüstfalke, Niebra and Ottica)
July
1, 1994: Röpsen (with Dorna and Negis), Thränitz (with Collis and Am
Stern), Trebnitz (with Laasen), Hain (with juniper tree and Gera pioneer
barracks), Weißig (with Gorlitzsch and Schafpreskeln) and Naulitz,
reorganized from Ronneburg
The map with the borders of the
incorporations after Gera shows some deviations.
According to official data from the 2011 census, 9.9 percent of Gera's residents were Protestant and 2.6 percent Catholic at that time. 87.4 percent did not belong to either of the two major Christian denominations - the highest figure among all rural districts and cities in Germany.
The population of the city of Gera initially belonged to the
diocese of Naumburg. Quedlinburg Abbey issued a church ordinance for
the city well before 1200. Gera was the seat of a deanery within the
Archdeaconate Zeitz. In 1533 the Reformation was introduced, after
which the city was almost exclusively a Protestant city for many
centuries, with the Lutheran creed predominating. The church shared
the fortunes of the rulers of Reuss: The small "Evangelical Lutheran
Church of the Principality of Reuss Younger Line", whose seat was in
Gera, merged with six other regional churches in Thuringia to form
the "Thuringian Evangelical Church", from which later the
Evangelical Lutheran Church in Thuringia developed. Gera has been
part of the merged Evangelical Church in Central Germany since 2009.
Within this regional church, Gera is the seat of a regional bishop
for the provost district of Gera-Weimar and within it also the seat
of a superintendent for the parish of Gera. The 13 Evangelical
Lutheran parishes and parishes that exist today all belong to the
Superintendentur Gera.
In the 19th century, Catholics
returned to the city. In 1894 they again founded their own parish
and built the Church of St. Elisabeth, to which the Catholics of
neighboring towns and communities also belonged. As early as 1903,
the factory hall at Nicolaistraße 4 in Gera was converted into a
church and consecrated. The church received Saint Elisabeth of
Thuringia as the patron saint. 100 years after the inauguration of
the “St. Elisabeth “Church, the structure of the former factory hall
could no longer be renovated. So the community decided to acquire a
nearby plot of land with a Wilhelminian-style parish hall that could
be renovated and the building site for a new church. After complex
renovations, the parish hall was inaugurated in November 2000; the
newly built church was consecrated in November 2003. Today, in
addition to the main church, the parish of St. Elisabeth also
includes the chapels of St. Jakobus in Gera-Langenberg and the Birth
of Mary in Ronneburg. There is also the parish of St. Maximilian
Kolbe in Gera with the church of the same name in Lusan, consecrated
in 1985. Today the city is the seat of a deanery within the diocese
of Dresden-Meißen.
There are also congregations that belong
to free churches, including the Evangelical Free Church Congregation
(Baptists), the Evangelical Methodist Church Congregation, the Free
Evangelical Congregation, the Adventist Church (Adventist), the
Evangelical Christian Congregation (Pentecostal Church), the
Benjamin Congregation (Forum Life) and the Christian Community.
A New Apostolic congregation, a congregation of the Apostolic
Community and Jehovah's Witnesses are also represented in Gera.
Non-Christian religions are hardly represented in Gera. There is
an association-run mosque and a Diamond Way Buddhist Center. About
500 people belonged to Judaism during the Weimar Republic; there was
a synagogue in the hotel "Kronprinz" on Schülerstrasse and an
orthodox synagogue on Hospitalstrasse (today
Karl-Liebknecht-Strasse). After 1945, a Jewish community was founded
again in Gera, which, however, dissolved after a few years due to
the low membership. Today Gera belongs to the Jewish State Community
of Thuringia.
Geographical location
Gera is located in the east of the Free
State of Thuringia in the valley of the river Weisse Elster and is
almost completely enclosed by the district of Greiz; in the north
the city borders on Saxony-Anhalt. The border with Saxony is not far
either. At the southern city limits (near Wünschendorf) the river
emerges from its narrow valley on the eastern edge of the Thuringian
Slate Mountains and flows into a wide valley landscape in which the
city of Gera spreads. While the western edge of the valley drops
relatively steeply, the eastern edge rises gradually. In addition,
the outskirts of the city in the west as well as in the south-east
of the city area are cut by the valleys of numerous smaller
tributaries of the White Elster such as the Gessenbach.
Gera
is between 180 m above sea level. NN (bed of the White Elster) and
354 m (near Gera-Falka in the extreme southeast). The height of
Geras is 205 m above sea level. NN mostly indicated the height of
the market place.
With the Gera city forest in the west of
the city area, Gera has the largest contiguous forest area of all
Thuringian cities. Another large forest area - an extension of the
woodland - is located in the far northwest of the city. In the
northeast - behind Aga - is the Zeitzer Forest (Saxony-Anhalt).
The main types of rock represented are limestone and red
sandstone. The oldest rock types are found in the east of the city
and tend to taper to the west. On a line between Niebra, Kaimberg
and Naulitz there are mainly Devonian slates. This is followed by
two Rotliegend zones, especially around Collis and Laasen. While
Zechstein formations are predominantly to be found on the eastern
slopes of the actual core city, the area beyond the Elstertal in the
west of the city is characterized by the Lower Buntsandstein. In the
extreme south-east of the city, the red sandstone area runs across
the Elstertal to Falka and further towards Letzendorf and Pohlen. In
the north of the urban area there are small deposits of brown coal,
which were mined in the 19th century. Nevertheless, the red
sandstone predominates on the slopes east of the Elster, while the
flat areas are mostly covered with loess.
Neighboring
communities
The following communities border the city of Gera.
They are called clockwise starting in the northeast:
in the
district of Greiz (Thuringia): Pölzig, Hirschfeld, Brahmenau,
Schwaara and Korbußen (all administrative community Am Brahmetal),
Ronneburg, Kauern, Hilbersdorf, Linda b. Weida, Endschütz and
Wünschendorf / Elster (all administrative community Wünschendorf /
Elster), Zedlitz, Hundhaupten and Saara (all administrative
community Münchenbernsdorf), Kraftsdorf (unitary community),
Hartmannsdorf and Bad Köstritz
in the Saale-Holzland-Kreis
(Thuringia): Silbitz (administrative community
Heideland-Elstertal-Schkölen)
in the Burgenlandkreis
(Saxony-Anhalt): Wetterzeube and Gutenborn (Verbandsgemeinde
Droyßiger-Zeitzer Forst)
City structure
The urban area is
divided into 40 districts, which are combined into 12 statistical
districts. Some of the districts are also localities or form a
locality with other districts. There are 15 localities in Gera with
their own local council and a local mayor.
In addition to the old town, which is demarcated by the remains of the city wall and the alley behind the wall, the city center also includes the east quarter and is bordered by the Weißen Elster in the west and by the main train station in the north-west. In the east, the contiguous urban area already closes off with the Leumnitz district bordering the east quarter. In the south, on the east bank of the White Elster, the city center merges into the Pforten district in the winter garden area; To the south is the Zwötzen, which is structurally separated by floodplains and railway embankments. From Zwötzen, a thin, built-up strip leads along the Salzstrasse to Liebschwitz, which belonged to Saxony until 1928. West of the White Elster, across from the city center, begins the elongated district of Debschwitz, which stretches along Wiesestrasse one and a half kilometers south to the prefabricated building district that was built in the 1970s and is still the most populous district of Lusan. The contiguous urban area is completed by Zeulsdorf in the southwest and Röppisch in the south. The Untermhaus district, located on both sides of the White Elster, extends northwest of the main train station and, due to its proximity to the former royal residence, is one of the most elegant districts of Gera. To the east of the railroad tracks, Bieblach, with its distinctive residential developments from the 1950s and 1960s, and Tinz, which extends to the motorway and consists of industrial and commercial areas, are connected to the north of the city center. Bieblach is followed by the village of Roschütz and the Bieblach-Ost prefabricated building area from the 1980s; north of the motorway, the contiguous urban area is closed with Langenberg.
The average annual precipitation from 1961 to 1990 at the Gera-Leumnitz measuring station is 591 mm and is therefore below the German average except in April. The driest month is February, with the most rainfall in June and August.
The city's population passed the 100,000 mark around 1959, making it a major city. Before the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, it peaked at around 135,000. During this time, the Lusan development area was largely complete, and Bieblach-Ost was under construction. The population has been declining rapidly since the early 1990s and exceeded 90,000 in the mid-2010s. Both the forecasts of the Thuringian State Office for Statistics based on the 12th coordinated population projection, the city of Gera's own population and household forecast for 2009 and the forecast by the Bertelsmann Foundation assume that the population will fall by a further 15% by 2030. consequently to around 85,000. The decline in population is determined far less by emigration than by a birth deficit.
According to official data from the 2011 census, 9.9 percent of the
residents in Gera were Protestant and 2.6 percent Catholic. 87.4 percent
did not belong to either of the two major Christian denominations – the
highest figure among all rural districts and urban districts in Germany.
The population of the city of Gera initially belonged to the Diocese
of Naumburg. Quedlinburg Abbey probably issued a church ordinance for
the city before 1200. Gera was the seat of a deanery within the
Archdeaconate of Zeitz. In 1533 the Reformation was introduced, after
which the city was for many centuries an almost exclusively Protestant
city, with the Lutheran faith predominating. The church shared the
fortunes of the sovereigns of Reuss: the small "Evangelical Lutheran
Church of the Principality of Reuss Younger Line", which was based in
Gera, merged with six other regional churches in Thuringia in 1920 to
form the "Thuringian Evangelical Church", from which later developed the
Evangelical Lutheran Church in Thuringia. Since 2009, Gera has been part
of the merged Evangelical Church in Central Germany. Within this state
church, Gera is the seat of a regional bishop for the provost district
of Gera-Weimar and within this also the seat of a superintendent for the
church district of Gera. The 13 Evangelical-Lutheran parishes and
parishes that exist today all belong to the superintendency of Gera.
In the 19th century, Catholics moved back into the city. In 1894
they founded their own parish again and built the Church of St.
Elisabeth, which also included the Catholics from neighboring towns and
communities. As early as 1903, the factory building at Nicolaistraße 4
in Gera was converted into a church and consecrated. The church received
Saint Elizabeth of Thuringia as its patron saint. 100 years after the
inauguration of the “St. Elisabeth" church, the structure of the former
factory building could no longer be renovated. So the congregation
decided to purchase a nearby plot of land with a Gründerzeit parish hall
that could be renovated and the building site for a new church. The
parish hall was inaugurated in November 2000 after complex renovations,
and the newly built church was inaugurated in November 2003. Since 2018,
in addition to the main church, the St. Maximilian Kolbe Church in
Lusan, consecrated in 1985, as well as the churches of the Annunciation
(Eisenberg), St. Joseph (Hermsdorf), St. Nicholas (Kahla), and the
Nativity of Mary have belonged to the parish of St. Elisabeth
(Ronneburg) and St. Jakobus (Stadtroda). The St. James Church in
Langenberg from 1989 was profaned in 2021. Today the city is the seat of
a deanery within the Diocese of Dresden-Meissen.
There are also
congregations that belong to free churches, including the Evangelical
Free Church (Baptists), the United Methodist Church, the Free
Evangelical Church, the Adventist Church (Adventists), the Evangelical
Christian Church (Pentecostal Church), and the Benjamin Church (Forum
Leben) and the Christian community.
A New Apostolic congregation,
a congregation of the Apostolic Community and Jehovah's Witnesses are
also represented in Gera.
Non-Christian religions are hardly
represented in Gera. There is a mosque run by an association and a
Buddhist Diamond Way center. About 500 people belonged to Judaism during
the Weimar Republic; there was a synagogue in the Hotel "Kronprinz" on
Schülerstrasse and an orthodox synagogue on Hospitalstrasse (today
Karl-Liebknecht-Strasse). After 1945, another Jewish community was
founded in Gera, which, however, dissolved after a few years due to the
low number of members. Today Gera belongs to the Jewish community of
Thuringia.
In the 13th century, the city of Gera was headed by a cultetus of the
Quedlinburg Abbey, to which the city belonged at the time. In 1306 the
mayor's office was transferred to the bailiffs and lords of Gera. Since
1360 a council is detectable. In the 15th century there were several
councils, each with a mayor. The ruling council took care of day-to-day
administration, the sitting council was responsible for the judiciary,
and the dormant or old council was consulted on important matters. From
1618 there were two more colleges, later three again, and towards the
end of the 18th century there were two mayors, of whom the legal mayor
was appointed by the sovereign. In 1832 Gera received a new city
constitution. At the top there was a mayor who was appointed by the
NSDAP from 1933. After the Second World War, the Soviet occupiers formed
the city council with a mayor. There were no free elections in the time
of the Soviet occupation zone and the GDR until 1989.
Only since
the local elections in 1990 was the body known as the city council after
the reunification of Germany freely elected again. It is led by the
"City Council Chairman" and initially also elected the Lord Mayor.
Some districts also have a district council chaired by a district
mayor.
Since 1994, the Lord Mayor has been elected directly by the people
for six years; If no candidate receives an absolute majority in the
first ballot, a run-off election is held between the two best-placed
candidates. The first directly elected mayor was Ralf Rauch
(independent; 1994-2006), who was the only one to be re-elected six
years later. He was followed by Norbert Vornehm (SPD; 2006-2012), Viola
Hahn (independent; 2012-2018) and Julian Vonarb (independent; since
2018).
For a list of mayors, see the history of the city of Gera.
In state elections in Thuringia, Gera is divided into the
constituencies Gera I (northern parts of the city) and Gera II (southern
parts of the city). Since the state elections in 2004, Die Linke (or its
predecessor party PDS) has always been able to win direct mandates for
Gera I. The direct mandate for Gera II went to the AfD candidate in
2019.
At the federal level, Gera has belonged to the federal
constituency 194 Gera – Greiz – Altenburger Land since the 2017 federal
election; previously it was part of the federal constituency Gera - Jena
- Saale-Holzland-Kreis. In the 2021 federal election, Stephan Brandner
received the most first votes with 29.0 percent. The second votes were
distributed among the AfD (28.1%), the SPD (21.9%), the CDU (16.4%), Die
Linke (11.2%), the FDP (9.8%) and to other parties (12.6%).
In
the eight federal elections since 1994, the CDU, SPD, Linke and AfD each
achieved the best second vote result in the city of Gera twice.
The coat of arms of the city of Gera is that of the bailiffs of Weida, a noble coat of arms with shield, helmet and crest. Blazon: "On a leaning triangular shield in black, a double-tailed, red-armored and -tongued golden lion. On the golden bucket helmet in side view with (both sides) black and gold covers eight green feathers arranged in a fan shape, the right four with notched tips, the left four as peacock feathers with double peacock eyes in a gold border and with a red pupil at the tip and middle.” The lion is the Plauen lion; it was adopted as a heraldic animal by the former territorial lords, the bailiffs of Weida. It has been detectable since the 14th century. Today's coat of arms was last defined in 1995 in the main statute of the city of Gera.
The large sports facilities in Gera are mainly concentrated on the
former "Hofwiesen" on the Weißen Elster between the city center and the
Heinrichsgrün and Untermhaus districts. Here you will find the stadium
of friendship, the Hofwiesenbad (indoor leisure pool), a roller hockey
arena and the tennis courts of TC 90 Gera, which were completely
renovated in 2005. In 2004 a new four-field sports hall was completed,
replacing the old Panndorf Hall. The name has been retained.
The
summer pool located at the southern end of the Hofwiesenpark had to be
closed due to dilapidation and was integrated into the exhibition
grounds of the 2007 Federal Horticultural Show. Natural pools are
currently only outside the city center in the districts of Kaimberg and
Aga.
Other smaller sports facilities are spread all over the
city. Worth mentioning are the traditional stadium am Steg, the riding
stadium in Milbitz, the Karl-Harnisch stadium in Zwötzen and the
high-speed roller skating track on the site of the former thermal power
station.
The leading football club in Geras is the BSG Wismut Gera in the
Thuringia League. The previously most successful club in the city played
in the NOFV Oberliga until 1996 and in the 1999/2000 season, but had to
withdraw to the district league in 2003 after bankruptcy proceedings.
Since 2008, the 1st team has played in the Thuringia League again; In
2015, they were promoted to the Oberliga, from which the club withdrew
in 2019.
The greatest success in the club's history to date is
the 2nd place of the predecessor team BSG Gera-Süd, which narrowly lost
to Waggonbau Dessau in the final of the FDGB Cup in 1949. In 2007, the
football department of the club, renamed 1. SV Gera, joined the newly
founded FV Gera Süd. According to a resolution of the general meeting of
June 3, 2009, the club has been running under the traditional name BSG
Wismut Gera since the beginning of the 2009/10 season.
Until
January 2012, 1. FC Gera 03 was another club that temporarily played in
the NOFV Oberliga. This club was formed in 2003 through the merger of
the football departments of TSV 1880 Gera-Zwötzen and SV 1861
Liebschwitz. In 2007, the club succeeded in winning the Thuringian State
Cup. The stay in the Oberliga lasted only a short time, because the
history of the club was accompanied by several bankruptcy applications,
which ultimately culminated in a withdrawal of the 1st men's team during
the current 2011/12 season.
The football club Dynamo Gera, which
was also successful in the past, withdrew its teams from the game after
the 1989/90 season. All other clubs in Geras play at district and city
level.
The women's team of FFC Gera represents the city in the
highest state division, the Thuringia League. As a merger of the women's
soccer departments of BSG Wismut Gera and 1. FC Gera 03, the team plays
in the tradition of TSV Modedruck/1880 Gera-Zwötzen, which was
represented nationally in the Regionalliga Nordost for many years.
One of the most important sports in Gera has been cycling for many
years. Between 1967 and 2001, the city was a stop on the International
Peace Journey 14 times. Gera also has a cycle track that dates back to
1934. One of the most important road cycling races for women, the
International Thuringia Tour, takes place every year in the vicinity of
Gera. Cycling in Gera is particularly well-known for having participated
in numerous World Championships and the success of the junior teams (LV
Team HFB Gera). Important former racing cyclists such as Olaf Ludwig,
Hanka Kupfernagel and Jens Heppner come from the city. With the SSV Gera
1990, the city still has one of the most successful cycling clubs in the
Association of German Cyclists, which can look back on a long tradition.
The Elster cycle path runs through the city from south to north. It
was severely damaged by the flooding of the Weißen Elster at the
beginning of June 2013, but is now largely available again in the city
area.
A developing sports facility is the Langenberg sports park in the former summer swimming pool. The local archers gained national fame through their club chairman and trainer Mario Oehme. Oehme, who originally came from the shooting disciplines, was dependent on a wheelchair after an accident at work and switched to bow and arrow. Since that time he has played a decisive role in shaping the archery landscape in Germany. He crowned his sporting career with 3 participations in the Summer Paralympics.
In the field of handball, Post SV Gera has made a name for itself with good youth development. The 1st men's team is currently playing in the state league of Thuringia. The riding stadium Gera-Milbitz is a center of equestrian sport in Germany. Gera has already hosted the German championships in dressage and show jumping four times. The Gera speed skaters of the RSV Blau-Weiss Gera belong to the international elite; In 2008, the city hosted the European Speed Skating Championships. Gera is also a center for skydiving with the Gera-Leumnitz airfield. In 2006 the world championship in skydiving took place in Gera. In roller hockey, Gera was East German champion eight times, and the Blue Lions of RSC Gera are currently playing in the 2nd Bundesliga.
In 2021, the city applied to host a four-day program for an international delegation to the Special Olympics World Summer Games 2023 in Berlin. In 2022 she was selected to host Special Olympics Malta. This made it part of the largest municipal inclusion project in the history of the Federal Republic with more than 200 host towns. When welcoming the Maltese guests, Mayor Julian Vornab expressed the following wish: "Beyond the inclusion project of the host towns, the problem solving of people with disabilities here in Gera should be shaped in the long term".
Various art and culture festivals take place in Gera throughout the
year. One of the nationally most well-known events is the German
Children's Media Festival Goldener Spatz, which has been organized
together with Erfurt since 1979 and since 2003. Related events are the
video/film days Rhineland-Palatinate/Thuringia, which take place
alternately in Gera and Koblenz, and the GERAmedia trade fair with a
symposium and events in Thuringia as a media location.
The city
awards the Aenne Biermann Prize every two years.
The
international fireworks festival Flaming Stars has also been held
annually in Gera at the Gera-Leumnitz airfield since 2005. The Gera
Ballet Days have been held annually in March since 1979. The theater
days in Gera are referred to as “Everything Theater”. As part of the
Museum Night, the city's museums open their doors on a night in
September. A zoo safari takes place annually in May.
From 2006 to
2009, the GERiljA Festival was a nationwide amateur band festival for
young bands. Since 2014, the roof damage festival has taken the place of
this festival. This takes place once a year on the roof of the
Braumanufaktur Sächsischer Bahnhof Gera and offers regional bands a
special platform. From 2003 to 2014, the annual neo-Nazi festival Rock
for Germany took place in Gera.
Seasonal city festivals are the
Hofwiesenparkfest on the last weekend in April, the spring folk festival
that takes place at about the same time, the children's and family
festival "Summer Night's Dream" (city park festival) at the end of May
or early June, the zoo and dahlia festival in September, the Höhlerfest
and the autumn folk festival in October and the Geraer Christmas market
called fairytale market. Gera-Lusan has its own district festival with
the Lusanfest, which takes place every two years.
The
Eis-Arena-Gera is a 900 m² ice rink in the central square, which can be
used from the beginning of December to mid-February every year.
Gera is located in the middle of the "Thuringian black beer region" and has the largest and most important German black beer brewery, the Köstritzer brewery in the neighboring town of Bad Köstritz. Also typical are the Thuringian grilled sausages (or roster for short) and the Thuringian dumplings. What is really typical for Gera is the Gersche Fettbemme - a slice of bread (Bemme) spread with lard. The real people of Gera (Gersche) are also called “Gersche Fettguschen” because of them. An allusion to earlier times, to the usually slightly greasy rim around the mouth that develops when you bite into the Bemme heartily.
In 2016, Gera, within the city limits, generated a gross domestic product (GDP) of 2.613 billion euros. In the same year, GDP per capita was EUR 27,391 (Thuringia: EUR 27,674, Germany: EUR 38,180) and thus below the regional and national average. In 2022, 22,544 people were employed full-time in Gera with a median income of EUR 2,595.34. The median wage in Gera is 10% lower compared to eastern Germany.
Traditionally, most industrial companies were located in the south of
the city, after 1945 a new industrial area was added in the north along
the autobahn. The most important economic sectors before 1990 are of
little or no importance in Gera today: machine tool construction (VEB
Wema Union), textile industry (VEB Modedruck), textile machine
construction (VEB Textima), electronics and device construction (VEB
Elektronik Gera) no longer exist or only exist in a greatly reduced
form. There were also branch offices of VEB Carl Zeiss Jena and a
brewery in Gera. An important economic factor was also the uranium ore
mining of SDAG Wismut in neighboring Ronneburg. From 1990, numerous jobs
were also lost in Gera. At its peak in 1998, the annual average
unemployment rate was 22.7%. In June 2021, the unemployment rate was
8.0%.
The manufacturing industry in the city is characterized
today by Dagro Eissmann Automotive GmbH, Iseo Deutschland GmbH,
POG-Präzisionsoptik Gera GmbH, Electronicon Condensers GmbH and Othüna
(margarine production), as well as the Kaeser compressor factory, ixxact
Präzisionsmechanik GmbH and a branch of Max Bögl. AGA Zerspanungstechnik
Gera GmbH, a company of the SAMAG Group, is also based in Gera. The
sports data service provider Sportradar has had one of its locations in
Gera since 2003. In 2008, D+S Europe opened a larger service center that
now has several hundred employees, while Rittal relocated its delivery
and information center from neighboring Bad Köstritz to Gera. In 2012,
Lidl Stiftung & Co. KG opened a newly built central warehouse for
Thuringia and Saxony in Gera. Deutsche Post AG operates one of its 82
mail centers in Germany in the Tinz district.
About 450,000
people live in the catchment area of the East Thuringian regional
center; as a result, Gera has regional importance as a shopping town.
Since the late 1990s, three large shopping centers have been built in
the city center (1998: Gera-Arcaden, 2000: Amthor-Passage, 2003:
Elster-Forum).
The privately run SRH Waldklinikum is a center of
primary care and a teaching hospital of the University of Jena. With
more than 1700 employees, it is one of the largest employers in the city
and is in a prominent location in the middle of Gera's city forest. By
2013, it had been renovated as the largest hospital building project in
the new federal states since reunification. The design as a cultural
hospital is another unique selling point. The Waldklinikum operates the
only private university in Gera.
Sportwetten Gera GmbH is also
based in the city, which draws attention to itself with perimeter
advertising at numerous major sporting events and is one of the largest
betting providers in Germany. The license to offer sports betting, which
the company received together with other providers in May 1990 under GDR
law, has often given rise to controversy about its validity. In a
landmark ruling by the Federal Administrative Court of June 22, 2006,
the court confirmed the validity of the license for the new federal
states, but declared the activities of these companies illegal in the
old federal states because they violate the state betting monopoly
there. On August 19, 2009, the company announced on its website that it
would no longer accept or offer bets on the Internet.
The city is
also a member of the nationwide Healthy Cities Network.
The Ostthüringer Zeitung and the Thüringische Landeszeitung (TLZ)
appear as daily newspapers in Gera and produce a joint local section for
the city. Both newspapers are published by the newspaper group
Thüringen, which belongs to the Essen-based Funke media group. Other
regional dailies as well as tabloids could not keep up in the market.
Thus, the third largest city in Thuringia lacks a pluralistic press
landscape.
The Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk (MDR) maintains a
broadcasting studio in Gera. From 1992 to 1994, the Thuringia
broadcasting center of MDR television was located on
Hermann-Drechsler-Straße in Gera-Untermhaus (today's Kammerspiele). The
Thuringian private radio Antenne Thüringen operates the local studio for
East Thuringia in Gera.
Local television stations are
Ostthüringen TV and the Offene Kanal Gera (OKG), which is financed by
the Thuringian state media authority. A part of the OKG is the PiXEL
television, which was the only open channel for children and young
people in Germany when it was founded. In the meantime, children and
young people are an integral part of almost all open channels.
In
Gera, the Thüringen newspaper group publishes the weekly advertising
paper Allgemeine Anzeiger as a local edition for Gera. The advertising
paper Neues Gera has been published in Gera since 1993 by Verlag Dr.
Frank GmbH. In addition to advertising, it also has an editorial section
with announcements from the city of Gera, notifications from the parties
represented on the city council, reports on local events and voluntary
work in Gera.
Gera is the seat of a district court and a regional court as well as
a labor court and an administrative court. The first two courts are an
essential part of the Justice Center Gera, which was inaugurated on
April 22, 2010 and is located in the center of the city in the district
of Amthorstrasse/Schlossstrasse/Rudolf-Diener-Strasse. In addition,
until October 2017, Gera housed one of the former seven Thuringian
correctional facilities.
Since January 1999, one of the four
offices of the German Pension Insurance Association (formerly BfA) has
been located in Gera, along with Berlin, Stralsund and Brandenburg an
der Havel, currently employing around 750 people. In the immediate
vicinity of the main station there is a location for the Federal Office
for Central Services and open property issues and the district
administrations of the mining trade association and the trade and goods
logistics trade association.
The Federal Ministry of the
Interior, Building and Community announced in a press release on July
17, 2020 that the Federal Agency for Civic Education will have a new
branch in Gera in addition to the headquarters in Bonn and the
subsidiary in Berlin.
Public corporations include the East
Thuringia Chamber of Industry and Commerce in Gera and the East
Thuringia Chamber of Crafts.
Gera has a long tradition as a
garrison town. In 1905, the units of the two Reuss formed the 7th
Thuringian Infantry Regiment No. 96 together with the troops of the
Principality of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt. In 1961, the Pioneer Regiment 3
of the NVA was stationed in Gera. In 1991 the Bundeswehr Engineer
Battalion 701, or today's Panzer Engineer Battalion 701, was set up and
stationed in the Gera-Hain Engineer Barracks.
A special facility
is the youth station in Gera. The police, youth court services and
public prosecutor's office work together under one roof in their own
building. The aim of this inter-agency cooperation is an appropriate
response to the crimes committed by young people. This reaction can take
place promptly, educationally and preventively in the youth ward in Gera
and is part of crime prevention.
There are 44 general and vocational schools in Gera.
Of the
originally six municipal grammar schools, only three have existed since
the 2007/08 school year: the Goethe-Gymnasium/Rutheneum since 1608, the
oldest grammar school in Gera, with its own special classes for music,
the Zabel-Gymnasium in the city center and the Karl-Theodor-
Liebe-Gymnasium in the district of Bieblach. The
Georg-Christoph-Lichtenberg-Gymnasium was closed in 2005, the
Albert-Schweitzer-Gymnasium in 2007. The former
Friedrich-Schiller-Gymnasium was merged with the Zabel-Gymnasium in
2002. A fourth grammar school, the Osterlandgymnasium, is also in Gera,
but belongs to the district of Greiz and is therefore mainly attended by
students from the surrounding area. As one of only three cities in
Thuringia, Gera has an integrated comprehensive school.
In
addition, there is a private primary school (BIP Creativity Elementary
School Gera), a comprehensive school (Free Waldorf School Gera), a free
regular school and a special needs school (school for individual coping
with life) in Gera with special concepts.
In addition to an adult
education center in Gera, there is also a dual university (until 2016
vocational academy) and the state study seminar for teacher training. In
the spring of 2007, the private SRH University of Applied Sciences for
Health Gera (today: SRH University of Applied Sciences for Health Gera)
went into operation. Since the 2007/2008 winter semester, it has been
possible to take courses in physiotherapy, ergotherapy,
interdisciplinary early intervention and medical education. On January
26, 2017, the Thuringian state parliament officially awarded the title
of "university town" to the city of Gera.
There are several
higher vocational schools in Gera. In the Kaimberg training center
(located in the district of the same name) social assistants, educators,
curative education nurses and geriatric nurses are trained; In addition,
further training courses for curative teachers are offered. In the
Friedericistraße there is a location of the Grundig Academy for
Economics and Technology non-profit foundation e. V. Here, among other
things, training takes place in the commercial area, in the IT area and
in the area of automation.
The city and regional library in Gera,
with a main office on Puschkinplatz in the city center and a branch in
Lusan, offers a wide range of literature.
In the district of
Ernsee there is a youth forest home as a forest experience school.
The federal autobahn A 4 (Aachen-Görlitz) with the junctions
Gera-Langenberg and Gera-Leumnitz runs through the northern part of the
city in a west-east direction. The Geraer Kreuz junction in between was
opened to traffic on April 21, 2007 by Federal Transport Minister
Wolfgang Tiefensee (SPD). Furthermore, the federal roads B 2, B 7 and B
92 lead through Gera. Before the local elections in 2004, it was decided
to build an eastern bypass around the city, which branches off the B 2
in the north of the city near the Cretzschwitz district, then crosses
the A 4 at the new Gera junction and finally flows into the south-east
tangent near the Leumnitz district. The bypass road was handed over in
2007 together with the Geraer Kreuz. Other new roads were built in
connection with the Federal Garden Show 2007 in the city center.
Gera is part of the "Reußische Fürstenstraße" holiday route.
There are four train stations or stops in Gera, the main train station
and the train stations Gera Süd, Gera-Zwötzen and Gera-Langenberg. Only
regional trains from/to Leipzig stop at the latter. At the stations of
Gera Ost (formerly Zwötzen Ost) and Gera-Liebschwitz, there has been no
rail service since October 24, 2016, since the traffic on this route
leads to Greiz and on to Weischnitz via the Gera-Zwötzen station.
Thieschitz station was abandoned in 1996, followed by Gera-Gessental
with the timetable change in December 2010. From 1901 to 1969 the
meter-gauge Gera-Meuselwitz-Wuitzer railway ran from Gera to
Wuitz-Mumsdorf near Meuselwitz Urban area also had intermediate stations
in Leumnitz and Trebnitz.
Gera is currently the second largest
German city without an electrified railway connection after Remscheid in
the Bergisches Land. In long-distance traffic, the InterConnex from Gera
via Berlin to Rostock started operating in 2002, but stopped again on
December 10, 2006. Since December 9, 2018, there has been a
long-distance connection from Gera via Erfurt and Kassel to the Ruhr
area and to Cologne (IC 50). Regional Express lines run to Greiz,
Altenburg and Göttingen, and also run at regular intervals (hourly) to
the nearby ICE train stations Leipzig Hauptbahnhof and Erfurt
Hauptbahnhof. The regional express line from Göttingen runs east to
Glauchau. Further connections lead to Saalfeld (Saale) and Wei slot.
The following local transport lines in the state of Thuringia
operate in Gera:
As of December 2021.
RE 1 Göttingen - Mühlhausen
(Thür) - Erfurt - Jena-Göschwitz - Gera - Ronneburg (Thür) - Glauchau on
a section of the Central Germany connection
RE 3 Erfurt - Weimar -
Jena-Göschwitz - Gera - Greiz / - Ronneburg (Thür) - Altenburg
RE 12
/ RB 22 Leipzig - Zeitz - Gera - Weida - Pößneck ob Bf - Saalfeld
(Saale)
RB 13 Gera - Weida - Zeulenroda unt Bf - Mehltheuer - Hof
RB 21 Gera - Hermsdorf-Klosterlausnitz - Jena-Göschwitz - Weimar
RB 4
Gera - Berga (Elster) - Greiz - Plauen (Vogtl) Mitte - Weischnitz -
Adorf
In the east of the city is the Gera-Leumnitz airfield for a
maximum take-off weight of 5.7 t, which is also used for sport flying.
Leipzig/Halle, Erfurt and Hof/Plauen airports are all around 90
kilometers away. The nearest airport is Leipzig-Altenburg, about 40
kilometers away, which has not been served by scheduled flights since
March 2011.
Local public transport (ÖPNV) is served by three tram
lines and 15 city bus lines from Verkehrs- und Betriebsgesellschaft Gera
GmbH (GVB) and 2 city bus lines from RVG Regionalverkehr Gera/Land. The
city lines only go to destinations within the city area, with the
exception of line 18 (municipality of Kauern) and line 20 (municipality
of Kraftsdorf). A trolleybus also operated from 1939 to 1977. The buses
in the city center and to Liebschwitz, the Lusan ring road and tram line
2 run every half hour (due to line overlapping with the buses in some
cases every 7.5 or 15 minutes), in the north of the city every hour and
in the other supplementary network every two hours. Tram line 1 runs
every 10 minutes and line 3 every 7.5 minutes. The current length of the
tram network is 20.1 km and that of the bus network is 235.4 km. There
are 234 stops in Gera. The GVB transports about 60,500 people daily, in
2010 18 million passengers were counted. As a special feature, the
so-called "Spatzenbahn" for children and the "Partybahn" operate
according to a fixed timetable.
In addition to the city buses,
Gera is also served by the regional bus lines of the PRG Greiz, the RVG
Gera and some other companies. Most regional buses depart from the bus
station next to the main train station, but many also use the
"Heinrichstraße" stop, which is also the central city transport transfer
point.
Since December 2010, Gera has been part of the Central
Thuringia Transport Association.
Gera is a member of the Water / Waste Water Association of the Middle Elster Valley. This is why he takes over the drinking water supply and waste water disposal.
1956: Curt Böhme, Lord Mayor
1966: Otto Dix, painter
1969:
Mikhail Andreyevich Zheltovsky, former commander of the Soviet garrison
Gera
1974: Alexei Mironovich Rybakov, 1st Secretary of the CPSU of
the Pskov region
1995: Olaf Ludwig, cyclist
1998: Werner Simsohn,
author (Jews in Gera, 3 volumes)
1999: Bernhard Sahler, Dean i. R
2004: Karl Weschke, painter
2005: Heike Drechsler, athlete
2016:
Ulli Wegner, boxer and boxing trainer
2019: Roland Geipel, head
pastor i. R. and civil rights activists
Johann Spies (around 1540–1623), book printer, publisher of the
Historia by D. Johann Fausten (Faust folk book)
Thomas Reinesius
(1587–1667), physician and philologist; Personal physician, professor
and inspector in Gera
Johann Adam Tresenreuter (November 3, 1676 in
Neustadt am Kulm – 1754); Magister and Evangelical-Lutheran theologian,
father of Johann Ulrich Tresenreuter, attended high schools in Hof and
Gera
Johann Wilhelm Bartsch (1750–1828), teacher at the Rutheneum,
polymath and landowner
Georg Walter Vincent von Wiese (1769-1824),
Vice-Chancellor and Privy Councilor of the House of Reuss zu Gera
Johann Ernst Daniel Bornschein (1774–1838), playwright and novelist
Johann Karl Immanuel Buddeus (1780-1844), political scientist, mayor,
police and tax director of Gera
Moritz Rudolph Ferber (1805-1875),
Gera merchant and mineralogist
Auguste Zabel (1808-1884), founder of
today's Zabel Gymnasium in Gera
Adolf Lorey (1813-1877), educator and
member of the state parliament of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach, first director
of the public school on Nicolaiberg
Karl Theodor Liebe (1828–1894),
geologist and ornithologist
Gustav Hartig (1843–1919), German
watchmaker and politician, councilor in Gera
Rudolf Schmidt
(1862-1945), architect of numerous historicist villas in Gera
Henry
van de Velde (1863–1957), Belgian architect and designer
Wilhelm
Leven (1867–1929), German journalist and politician (SPD, USPD), First
Deputy in Gera
Hermann Paschold (1879–1965), painter
Alex Braune
(1880–1942), operator of the Tonhalle since 1926
Thilo Schoder
(1888–1979), architect
Ernst Moritz Engert (1892–1986), silhouette
artist
Alexander Wolfgang (1894–1970, painter and graphic artist)
Lucie Neupert (1896-1978), deputy and parliamentary group leader
Aenne Biermann (1898–1933), photographer
Hans Otto (1900–1933), actor
at the Gera City Theater
Johanna König (1921–2009), actress
Günther Grewe (* 1924) deputy mayor 1953/54, member of the Volkskammer
(CDU)
Horst Salomon (1929–1972), writer
Ulli Wegner (born 1942),
boxing trainer
Theo Zwanziger (* 1945), lawyer and ex-president of
the German Football Association, owns a law firm in Gera
Hans Thiers
(born 1946), author and criminalist
Konstanze Lauterbach (born 1954),
director
Birgit Pohl (1954–2022), multiple Paralympics winner and
world champion in disabled sports/track and field (shot put, discus and
javelin throw)
Leander Haussmann (* 1959), actor, stage of the city
of Gera
Michael Schindhelm (* 1960), theater director in Gera
Bianca Schmidt (born 1990), soccer player
Kay Kuntze (* 1966),
theater director since 2011