Saxony is a state in the east of the Federal Republic of Germany.
With more than four million inhabitants, Saxony is the seventh
largest federal state in terms of population, and with an area of
around 18,450 square kilometers it is the tenth largest federal
state, ranking in the middle among the 16 German federal states. The
state capital is Dresden, while the most populous city is Leipzig as
the center of the cross-state metropolitan region of Central
Germany, and the state's third major city is Chemnitz.
In the
south, the Free State has shares in several low mountain ranges such
as the Ore Mountains, Elbe Sandstone Mountains and the Lausitzer
Bergland. In the north, lowlands such as the Leipzig lowlands and
northern Upper Lusatia determine the landscape, while in the middle
hills characterize the landscape as a characteristic landform.
Its constitutional order is based on the constitution of the
Free State of Saxony. Saxony has been called a free state since 1918
when it was proclaimed a republic and the associated end of the
Kingdom of Saxony. After the dissolution of the states in the
territory of the GDR in 1952, Saxony was re-established as a federal
state on October 3, 1990 and, like the state of the Weimar Republic,
adopted the designation as a free state in the state constitution.
Since the district reform in 2008, the Free State of Saxony has
been divided into ten administrative districts and three urban
districts. Neighboring countries within Germany are Bavaria in the
southwest, Thuringia in the west, Saxony-Anhalt in the northwest and
Brandenburg in the north. In the east it borders with the Republic
of Poland, in the south with the Czech Republic.
Saxony can be divided into these tourist regions or landscapes:
West Saxony
with the Pleissenland, the Saxon part of the
Osterland
Vogtland - an idyllic hilly landscape intersected by river
valleys, known for its handicraft traditions such as lace making and
musical instrument making
Elster Mountains
Erzgebirge - Saxony's
highest low mountain range (with peaks of up to 1215 meters) with a
centuries-old mining tradition, hiking and winter sports destination as
well as "Christmas land"
Western Ore Mountains · Middle Ore Mountains
· Eastern Ore Mountains
Leipzig lowland bay – mostly flat cultural
landscape around Leipzig, former opencast mines recultivated into a lake
landscape
Mittelsächsisches Hügelland - Saxony's "Burgenland" with
numerous fortresses, palaces, churches and monasteries; pretty small and
medium-sized towns
Saxon Elbland - the historical and political heart
of Saxony with magnificent baroque buildings and vineyards on the Elbe
Elbe basin
Saxon Switzerland - sandstone mountains with often bizarre
rock shapes, a paradise for climbers (up to the level of difficulty XIc)
and hikers; a special tradition is the "Boofen", i. H. the night under a
ledge in the open air
Upper Lusatia - home of the Sorbs with their
own culture and traditions, diverse landscapes with mountains, hills,
heath and moor areas, historic cities
Ostlausitzer Hügelland · Zittau
Mountains
The largest cities in Saxony are:
Dresden - the state capital with over half a
million inhabitants, baroque old town "Florence on the Elbe" with
Frauenkirche, Brühlsche Terrasse, Residenzschloss, Zwinger and
Semperoper,
Leipzig - Industrial
and commercial center in northern Saxony with over half a million
inhabitants, Monument to the Battle of the Nations, passages with
Auerbachs Keller and exhibition center,
Chemnitz
- traditional industrial and working-class city, a landmark of the
former Karl-Marx-Stadt is still the monumental bust of the communist
philosopher,
Zwickau, Robert Schumann town and cradle of the Saxon
automotive industry, scratches the threshold of a big city with almost
100,000 inhabitants.
Other important tourist places:
Meissen -
in the middle of the Saxon wine-growing region, in the Middle Ages the
political center of today's Saxony, the oldest porcelain manufactory in
Europe and a picturesque old town
Görlitz - the easternmost city in
Germany on the border with Poland and one of four corner communities;
Very well preserved historic old town - from the Middle Ages to Art
Nouveau
Bautzen- the center of Upper Lusatia,
worth seeing old town with numerous medieval towers
Freiberg - halfway between Dresden
and Chemnitz, important cathedral and renowned engineering academy
Plauen - the center of the Vogtland
in southwest Saxony, world-famous for its lace
Oberwiesenthal -
winter sports resort on the Fichtelberg (1214 m), the highest elevation
in Saxony
Pirna - the "gateway to Saxon Switzerland", picturesque
cityscape
Radebeul - center of the Saxon wine-growing region; the
district of Altkötschenbroda forms a very well-preserved, typically
Saxon city green
Riesa - medium-sized industrial city with a great
sporting tradition
Torgau - former residence of the Saxon dukes,
stronghold of the Reformation
Grimma - historic old town with
wonderful buildings
Moritzburg Castle
Blankenhain Castle
Festung
Königstein
Gnandstein Castle
Osterstein Castle
Saxon Switzerland National Park
Today's Saxony was inhabited by Slavs until the early Middle Ages, to
whom many place and field names also go back. In the 10th century, the
Margraviate of Meissen was established and colonized by German settlers.
At that time, the name "Saxony" was still associated with a region in
northern Germany, which largely corresponds to what is now Lower Saxony.
The Saxon title of duke fell to the Margraves of Meissen in the 15th
century, and the name of Saxony was also transferred to their land and
people.
In 1485 the ruling house of the Wettins split into an
Albertine line (after their progenitor Duke Albrecht) and an Ernestine
line (after Elector Ernst). While the Ernestines ruled from then on in
Thuringia (that is why most Thuringian princely states also had "Saxony"
in their names, e.g. Sachsen-Weimar-Eisenach or Sachsen-Coburg-Gotha),
the Albertines built up their rule in the Electorate of Saxony. Saxony
was one of the first countries to accept the Reformation and after the
Peace of Augsburg, since the electors were Protestant, their subjects
had to be too.
Especially in the 17th and 18th centuries, Saxony
was one of the richest states in Germany, thanks in part to the
productive silver mines in the Ore Mountains and brisk trade. This
prosperity can be seen, for example, in the baroque representative
buildings in Dresden and the immeasurable treasures of the Green Vault.
The electorate was made a kingdom by Napoleon in 1806, but had to
cede Lower Lusatia (today in Brandenburg) and the south of today's
Saxony-Anhalt to Prussia at the Congress of Vienna in 1815. In the 19th
century, Saxony was a pioneer of industrialization in Germany. Above
all, the textile industry, mechanical engineering and printing in
Leipzig and Chemnitz boomed enormously and allowed the Saxon cities to
grow rapidly. The Leipzig-Dresdner Eisenbahn-Compagnie operated the
first long-distance railway line in Germany from 1839. The many
industrial workers made Saxony a cradle of social democracy and gave it
the nickname "Red Kingdom". With Horch in Zwickau (a precursor to Audi),
Saxony was one of the early centers of German automobile production
alongside Württemberg.
With the end of the German Empire in 1918,
King Friedrich August III. abdicate. He is said to have done this with
the sentence "Nu da machd doch eiern Dregg alleene!" (Well then do your
dirt alone!), which is known in Saxony, but which is not historically
proven. Saxony was a free state until 1933 and a state within the Soviet
occupation zone from 1945 to 1952. It was then divided into the three
districts of Leipzig, Dresden and Karl-Marx-Stadt (the name of Chemnitz
until 1990). In autumn 1989, Plauen and Leipzig were two of the earliest
starting points for the peaceful revolution in the GDR. Since 1990,
Saxony has once again been a free state and the easternmost federal
state of the Federal Republic of Germany. Of the new federal states,
Saxony is the most populous and economically strongest. After the
interim collapse of Saxon industry, Saxony is now again an automotive
(VW in Zwickau, BMW and Porsche in Leipzig) and high-tech location (e.g.
Infineon in Dresden).
The official language throughout Saxony is German; in the communities
with a Sorbian population in Lusatia, Sorbian is also used, a Slavic
language that is related to Polish and Czech (however, all Sorbs are
bilingual and also speak fluent German).
Contrary to what most
non-Saxons assume, hardly any dialect is spoken in Saxony. What is now
referred to as "Saxon" or "Sächseln" is actually just a regional
colloquial language. The "real" Saxon died out in most parts of Saxony
100 years ago, only in the Erzgebirge and Vogtland dialect is still
spoken by broad sections of the population. The degree of Saxon coloring
varies from speaker to speaker and ranges from a slightly "Saxon"
pronunciation of High German to barely understandable. However, since it
is not a real dialect, but merely a variant of High German (the latter,
by the way, developed mainly from the office language of Saxon officials
- that should also surprise Hannover & Co.!), you should "listen to it"
quite quickly. Many Saxons also make an effort to speak more clearly
when they realize that the person they are talking to is from "outside".
By plane
Leipzig Halle Airport (IATA: LEJ) and Dresden Airport
(IATA: DRS) are the two international airports in Saxony. From Dresden
Airport you can take the S-Bahn to the city center at the city rate.
Leipzig-Halle Airport is located between the two cities that give it its
name. S-Bahn trains and long-distance trains stop at the associated
airport station.
The train journey to the international hub
Frankfurt Airport (IATA: FRA) takes four to six hours. Depending on the
destination, Prague Airport (IATA: PRG) can also be a convenient
alternative.
By train
Dresden with its two long-distance train
stations is connected to IC/EC connections from Hamburg, Berlin, Vienna
and Budapest, as well as ICE connections from Wiesbaden/Frankfurt am
Main.
Leipzig is the larger railway hub in Saxony with regular
ICE connections from Frankfurt am Main via Erfurt, Munich and Berlin as
well as IC trains from Cologne/Ruhr area or Bremen, Hanover and
Magdeburg. As part of the German Unity 8 transport project (VDE8), the
ICE connection from Leipzig to Nuremberg and Berlin was expanded by
2017. With the timetable change in December 2015, the section to Erfurt
went into operation and has reduced the ICE travel time between Erfurt
and Leipzig by 27 minutes.
RegionalExpress trains run from Hof
with connections from Nuremberg via Zwickau and Chemnitz to Dresden.
By bus
Several long-distance bus lines lead to Dresden and
Leipzig, for example from the direction of Berlin or Frankfurt am Main.
The development of the long-distance bus market is currently subject to
rapid change, both in terms of providers and routes.
In the
street
From the direction of Thuringia, the A 4 leads to Saxony. On
Saxon territory, it has been expanded to six lanes from the state border
to Dresden. From Bavaria, the A 72 leads from Hof to Saxony. It crosses
the A 4 near Chemnitz and then continues in the direction of Leipzig.
Anyone coming from north-west Germany will probably take the A 14
from Magdeburg in the direction of Leipzig and Dresden. Berliners and
Brandenburgers can travel to Dresden via the A 13 or to Leipzig via the
A 9, and from the Czech Republic you can get to Dresden via the Czech D
8 motorway from the direction of Prague, on the German side it becomes
the A 17.
With the Sachsen-Ticket, one person can travel through Saxony,
Thuringia and Saxony-Anhalt on all local trains for €24 (Dec. 2017). 4
additional people each pay an additional €6. Your own
children/grandchildren up to the age of 14 travel free of charge. At
least in Saxony, the ticket is valid on all local and regional trains as
well as on buses and trams, Monday to Friday from 9 a.m., on weekends
and public holidays all day until 3 a.m. the following day.
For
single travelers there is the Regio120 ticket up to 120 km, Regio 120
plus up to 150 km in Saxony, Thuringia and Saxony-Anhalt as well as
selected routes in Brandenburg, Berlin, Bavaria, Hesse and Lower Saxony
for €17 or €22.50. These tickets are only valid on regional/local trains
on weekdays from 9 a.m. or Sat./Sun. Full-time. With the Regio 120
ticket you can e.g. B. drive from Leipzig to Dresden or Zwickau or from
Chemnitz to Dresden or Hof; with the Regio 120plus even from Leipzig or
Dresden to Berlin.
A hopper ticket (flat rate for journeys under
50 km) similar to Thuringia or Saxony-Anhalt is only available in Saxony
in the MDV fare zone and there only as a mobile phone ticket for 9.50
euros (return trip up to a maximum of 6 zones).
Sightseeing
features
World Heritage in Saxony
Fürst-Pückler-Park in Bad
Muskau, the largest English landscape park in continental Europe, UNESCO
World Heritage
The cultural landscape of the Dresden Elbe Valley with
the magnificent baroque buildings in Dresden's old town and the Elbe
Castles was part of the World Heritage from 2004 to 2009, but was then
removed from the list because of the construction of the Waldschlösschen
Bridge - it has not become any less worth seeing
The mining and
cultural landscape of the Ore Mountains with numerous technical
monuments and buildings and facilities associated with the centuries-old
history of mining was nominated by Germany and the Czech Republic for
inclusion in the World Heritage List
More top sights in Saxony
Old town of Bautzen - shaped by the Middle Ages, with the cathedral used
simultaneously by the Catholic and Protestant churches, Ortenburg,
numerous towers
Old town of Görlitz - in hardly any other German city
can you read the historical development as well as here, from late
Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque town houses to Wilhelminian style
quarters and Art Nouveau buildings; hardly destroyed during the war and
in recent years reconstructed in an exemplary manner as a monument;
hence a popular film set
Leipzig city center with numerous historic
trading houses, trade fair courtyards and arcades
Monument to the
Battle of the Nations in Leipzig – at 91 meters high, one of the largest
monuments in Europe
Cathedral and Albrechtsburg in Meissen
Moritzburg Castle north of Dresden – a fairytale hunting and pleasure
palace, surrounded by a pond landscape, you can travel there by historic
narrow-gauge steam train
Hartenfels Castle in Torgau with the castle
chapel - the first new Protestant church in the world
Greifensteine
near Ehrenfriedersdorf in the Middle Ore Mountains - distinctive granite
rock formation with a fantastic view and a natural stage with regular
theater and musical performances
Pfaffenstein - table mountain in
Saxon Switzerland with a magnificent view and "Barbarine", a bizarre
rock needle and landmark of this landscape
Bastei Bridge near Rathen
- 76 meter long sandstone bridge from the mid-19th century over a
labyrinth of gorges and towering rocks, one of the most beautiful
vantage points in Saxon Switzerland
Meissen State Porcelain
Manufactory in Meissen. Very nice exhibition of porcelain art from the
entire production period. Informative tour of the production of the
porcelain objects. Shops and a nicely furnished café, which of course
serves coffee and cake on Meissen porcelain.
Winter sports in the Ore Mountains, Vogtland and Zittau Mountains
numerous beautiful hiking areas: e.g. Saxon Switzerland, Ore
Mountains, Dahlener and Dübener Heide, Oberlausitz
Climbing in
Saxon Switzerland (from beginner to difficulty level XIc or 10+
(UIAA))
Cycling along the Elbe, Oder-Neisse or Muldental cycle
path
Water sports in the Lusatian or Leipzig Lake District, on
the Pirk or Pöhl dams
High culture with the Saxon State Opera,
Staatsschauspiel, Staatskapelle and Kreuzchor in Dresden as well as
Gewandhaus, opera, theater and Thomanerchor in Leipzig or Theater
Chemnitz
In summer, drama, musicals and opera performances in the
open-air rock stage in Rathen against an impressive mountain
backdrop
Festivals and regular events
January: Dresden
Opera Ball
March: Leipzig Book Fair, one of the two major German
book fairs, numerous reading-related events, at the same time manga
comic convention
Easter: Easter riding of the Sorbs in Upper
Lusatia
May: International Dixieland Festival Dresden
Pentecost: Wave-Gotik-Treffen in Leipzig, international festival of
the "black scene"
May/June: Dresden Music Festival, festival of
classical music
June: Annaberger Kät in Annaberg-Buchholz,
largest folk festival in the Ore Mountains and one of the largest in
Germany with over 100 showmen
June: Leipzig Bach Festival,
international music festival
June: Bunte Republik Neustadt,
left-alternative district festival in Dresden-Neustadt
June:
Kosmonaut Festival, large music festival at the Oberrabenstein
reservoir near Chemnitz with a varied program from (indie) pop to
punk rock, hip hop and rap with numerous well-known headliners
(2016: 35,000 visitors)
July: With Full Force, big metal,
hardcore and punk festival at the Roitzschjora glider airfield near
Löbnitz
August: Highfield Festival at Störmthaler See in
Großpösna, largest indie rock festival in the new federal states
(average of 25,000 visitors)
August: Görlitz Old Town Festival
September: Day of the Saxons, large folk and homeland festival at a
different location every year
December: The Dresden Striezelmarkt
and Leipzig Christmas market are among the largest and most
beautiful Christmas markets in Germany; the Ore Mountains are
transformed into a “Christmas country” – many villages are
elaborately decorated with carvings and lights; most places in the
Ore Mountains also hold their mountain parade during Advent.
Especially in Leipzig, Dresden and Chemnitz there is a wide range of
shopping opportunities, both in malls and large department stores as
well as in smaller, individual shops. Even in the medium-sized cities,
there is usually still a satisfactory offer. In some small towns and
villages, however, shops are dying, as the residents go to the big city
or to shopping centers on the green field to shop or order on the
Internet. Here you have to be happy to find a small shop at all.
Typical specialties of Saxony, which are worth taking with you, are, for
example, the well-known Plauener lace, which can be purchased
particularly cheaply in Plauen, Christmas carvings from the Ore
Mountains or the Dresdner Stollen, which can also be purchased locally
very cheaply during the Christmas season.
State Porcelain
Manufactory Meissen in Meissen is a traditional flagship company in
Saxony. If you want a stylish souvenir from Saxony, then it has to come
from this manufactory. Porcelain of various qualities (1st and 2nd
quality) can be purchased at the production site in Meissen. There is
also a Meissen shop and a Meissen outlet in Dresden.
The typical Saxon cuisine is predominantly hearty, similar to that of
Thuringia. These include e.g. B. the Saxon potato soup and the
sauerbraten. Dumplings or dumplings are served with many dishes. You
should also try the Leipziger Allerlei, a vegetable dish made from young
peas, carrots, asparagus and morels.
But Saxony is also a “sweet
paradise”, e.g. B. Quarkkäulchen (fried dumplings made from a potato and
quark dough with raisins, sugar and cinnamon) or (Dresdner) Eierschecke
(three-layer sheet cake: thin base made of yeast dough, quark pudding
layer in the middle, wide layer of fluffy egg yolk cream on top). No
German state is so synonymous with cakes and tarts - Gaffee un Guchn is
a necessary meal for many "coffee Saxons".
Of course, the local
cuisine varies from place to place, especially in the Lower Silesian
part of the country in the east, in the Ore Mountains and in the
Vogtland there are very own cooking traditions that can differ
significantly from the rest of Saxony, see the respective regional
articles.
Especially in Leipzig, Dresden and Chemnitz there is a large number
of pubs, bars and discotheques, so that all wishes can be covered. In
rural areas, on the other hand, as in most regions, there are fewer
options.
Security
As is generally the case in Germany, the
general security situation is good.
The main exceptions are
events in the big cities, e.g. B. in the context of football games (here
especially Lok Leipzig and Dynamo Dresden have gained sad national fame;
Chemnitzer FC also has an obviously problematic fan structure), as well
as due to political demonstrations and counter-demonstrations, which can
certainly lead to injuries and arrests .
Especially in rural
parts of Saxony, often in small towns, open neo-Nazi scenes have
developed locally and right-wing extremist violence against people with
an apparently foreign or “alternative” appearance occurs again and
again. In individual cases, so-called "normal citizens" are also
involved, so that a problematic environment cannot be identified solely
from the typical scene outfits. After incidents involving US citizens,
the U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE published travel advice that describes the
situation well: Hooligans, most often drunken “skinheads,” have harassed
and attacked perceived foreigners or members of rival groups. Seemingly
racially-motivated assaults (because of a “foreign” appearance) against
U.S. citizens have occurred.
Even if these are by no means just
isolated cases, one cannot (yet) speak of no-go areas and if you look at
Saxony as a whole, the individual risk of becoming a victim of such an
attack is only low. Nevertheless, increased attention is appropriate.
Saxony is located in the east of central Germany and borders on the
states of Bavaria (length of the border 41 km), Thuringia (274 km),
Saxony-Anhalt (206 km), Brandenburg (242 km), the Republic of Poland
(123 km) and the Czech Republic (454km). Like Thuringia and parts of
Saxony-Anhalt, the Free State of Saxony belongs to the region of Central
Germany. The position of its center is now assigned to different
localities depending on the underlying calculation method.
From a
topographical point of view, it makes sense to divide Saxony into
lowlands, hills and low mountain ranges. The lowlands mainly include the
Leipzig lowlands bay and northern Upper Lusatia. Both are characterized
by younger deposits from the glacial Pleistocene and the river valleys,
and in particular by their underground lignite occurrences. The
Mittelsächsisches Hügelland further south with its extensive loess
deposits (loess hill country) and the associated high soil quality goes
back to the terminal moraine formation.
The Saxon low mountain
ranges are divided from west to east by rather blurred borders. In the
south-west of Saxony, the Vogtland stretches as far as Bavaria,
Thuringia and Bohemia, with the Ore Mountain Basin as the northern
border and the Elster Mountains in the south-east. To the east follows
the Pultscholle of the Ore Mountains, which are mostly divided into the
Western and Eastern Ore Mountains (divided by the Flöha Valley), and
more rarely also into the Central Ore Mountains. The altitudes slowly
decrease from west to east, which is why the highest elevation in
Saxony, the 1215 meter high Fichtelberg, also belongs to the western and
central Ore Mountains. South of the state border, the Ore Mountains drop
steeply to the Egertalgraben. The Erzgebirge/Vogtland Nature Park
occupies the southern part of the Ore Mountains along the ridges. To the
east of the Ore Mountains, the Elbe breaks through the low mountain
range and formed the Elbe Sandstone Mountains through deep indentations.
On the north-eastern edge of the Elbe valley, the Lusatian fault forms
the sharp border to the Lusatian mountains, which finally merges into
the Lusatian mountains in the extreme south-east of Saxony, which reach
far into the Czech Republic. In addition to these landscape units, there
are numerous other distinctions and nuances that are recorded in the
list of landscapes in Saxony.
Saxony can be further subdivided according to hydrological aspects.
The most important, largest and only navigable river is the Elbe. It
runs through the Free State from south-east to north-west. Important
source rivers are the Mulde, the Weisseritz, the Zschopau, the Weisse
Elster and the Spree, whose general direction of flow is north and which
also belong to the Elbe river system. In the east, the Free State is
bordered by the Lausitzer Neisse, which flows into the Oder.
Nowhere in Germany are the bodies of water in a worse condition than in
Saxony. The high quantities of manure from factory farming are causing
problems for the water bodies.
Forest
With a total of 520,539
hectares, the Saxon forests account for 28.2% of the state's forest
cover. Among the different types of ownership, the private and trust
residual forest has the highest share with 45.6% and the state forest
with 39.4%. Other forms of ownership are the corporate forest (8.2%),
the federal forest (4.7%) and the church forest (2.0%). Overall, 70% of
the forests are made up of coniferous species.
The most common
tree species are spruce with 35% and pine with 31%. The most common
deciduous tree species are birch with 7%, oak with 6% and beech with 3%.
In Saxony, 72% of all stocks are younger than 80 years.
The
forest areas in Saxony are distributed inhomogeneously. The Ore
Mountains and Saxon Switzerland in the south as well as the
north-eastern parts of Saxony are rich in forests. The loess areas of
Saxony, which are used intensively for agriculture, are less forested or
even very sparsely forested in places, with a focus on the north-western
part of the Free State. With 46.7% forest cover, the Erzgebirge district
is the most densely forested district and the Leipzig district is the
least covered with only around 15% forest.
According to the 5th
forest report, the stock of wood in the forests of Saxony increased by
more than 20% or 25.88 million m³ to 156.62 million m³ by the end of
2017 within ten years. For comparison: in January 2007, hurricane Kyrill
caused approx. 1.82 million m³ of thrown and broken wood.
Saxony is located in the temperate climate zone of Central Europe
with prevailing westerly winds. Since there are already some protective
low mountain ranges between the western seas and the Free State, the
climate is more continental than in western and northern Germany. This
is reflected above all in colder winters and drier summers than in other
parts of the Federal Republic.
There are major climatic
differences within Saxony. The average annual temperature in the
northern flat and central hilly regions is between 8.5 and 10 degrees
Celsius (period 1991-2005) with Dresden city center being the warmest
region in Saxony with an annual average of 10.4°. In the low mountain
ranges, the average temperature is about 6 to 7.5 degrees Celsius, on
the Fichtelberg, the coldest region, it is about 4 degrees Celsius. The
same applies to the average annual precipitation, at 500 to 800
millimeters in the lowlands (period 1991-2005) and around 900 to 1200
millimeters in the low mountain range (around 1250 millimeters on the
Fichtelberg).
Today, an area on the upper Middle Elbe, in southern Lusatia and in
the Ore Mountains is called Saxony. It was never part of the much older
tribal duchy of Saxony, the settlement area of the historical Saxon
people in northern Germany. The name of the country only passed to the
above-mentioned areas, which were mostly Germanized in the late Middle
Ages, as a result of various dynastic shifts. The inhabitants of the
Free State are therefore not in the direct tradition of those Saxons who
were referred to in ancient and late antiquity with the Latin expression
Saxones (Greek: Σάξονες). From 1247 to 1485, the history of Saxony
largely coincided with that of Thuringia. For historical delimitation,
today's Saxony is also called Upper Saxony, in contrast to Lower Saxony
or Old Saxony.
Even in prehistory, today's Saxony was an
important area for those who wanted to travel across the low mountain
ranges. Archaeological traces indicate that the area was settled by
Linear Pottery cultures around 5500 BC. Chr. from later Bohemia out
after. The preferred settlement area was the wide river meadows of the
Elbe, Mulde and Spree in the foothills of the mountains.
Up until
the 6th century, parts of what later became the Free State were under
the influence of the Thuringians, who lost their kingdom to the Franks
in 531, but some of their settlements lasted until the 8th/9th century.
century existed. From the 7th to the 10th century, Slavic peoples
(Sorbs) settled what later became Saxony's territory from the east.
The Margraviate of Meissen, founded in 929 with the construction of
the castle in Meissen, can be seen as the forerunner of today's Saxony.
Since 1100, the further history of the margraviate has been
characterized by settlement and land acquisition by immigrants, most of
whom came from Franconia (high medieval eastern settlement), who took
over existing Slavic castles, villages and town-like facilities and
developed them further and founded new places. A large number of place
names and water body names in Saxony (e.g. those with the place name
suffix -itz) are of Sorbian origin.
Especially in the Ore
Mountains, prosperity and the founding of cities came about as a result
of ore mining and trade. In 1089 the margraviate and its population came
into the possession of the Wettins, who already ruled over possessions
in Thuringia.
From 1423 the Wettins increased their dominions.
The most important gain they received was the former Ascanian duchy of
Saxe-Wittenberg. It was connected with the electoral dignity. As a
result of the historical change of name, the term "Saxony" became common
for the entire dominion of the Wettin family. The previous Ascanian coat
of arms was also continued. With the division of Leipzig in 1485, Saxony
separated from Thuringia in further development. As a result, Dresden
was expanded to become the residence of the Saxon duke.
With the
Reformation triggered by Martin Luther in 1517, Ernestine Electoral
Saxony increasingly fell into catholic-imperial disfavour. The Ernestine
Elector converted to Lutheranism in 1525. The Albertine duke followed in
1539.
After the Schmalkaldic War, which Ernestine Electoral
Saxony lost in the Schmalkaldic League, the electoral dignity passed
from the Ernestine to the Albertine line of the Wettins with the rule
over parts of Electoral Saxony in 1547. However, the denomination in
both countries remained Lutheran.
In the Thirty Years' War,
Saxony was on the side of the Catholic Habsburgs and moved against
Bohemia. Electoral Saxony occupied Lusatia and initially received it as
a pledge to cover its own war costs. Saxony then behaved neutrally, but
later switched to the Protestant side when it saw its neutrality
violated by looting in Lusatia. In the Battle of Breitenfeld (1631),
Saxony and Sweden succeeded for the first time in defeating imperial
troops. In 1635, in the so-called separate peace treaty of Prague,
Saxony finally gained control of both Lusatia, while at the same time
being obliged to be neutral and guaranteeing the continued existence of
the denominational relationships there.
The will of Johann Georg
I, opened on October 8, 1656, provided for parts of Electoral Saxony to
be bequeathed to his three sons August, Christian and Moritz and to set
them up as independent duchies in an Electoral Saxon secundogeniture.
The duchies of Saxe-Weißenfels, Saxe-Merseburg and Saxe-Zeitz came into
being. In the decades that followed, Saxony emerged from the war
comparatively strong and was one of the principalities that was able to
recover the fastest. Saxony behaved loyal to the emperor and, for
example, provided troops for the victorious Battle of Kahlenberg against
the Turks in 1683. Under Friedrich August I (known as August the
Strong), Electoral Saxony tried to expand its rule and position in the
Holy Roman Empire. The country experienced a "golden era" that led to
economic and cultural prosperity known as the Augustan Age. The Wettin
electors Friedrich August I and his son Friedrich August II temporarily
ruled Poland as king and Saxony as elector in the personal union of
Saxony and Poland. The personal union of Saxony and Poland was
devastated in the Great Northern War. The electorate was denied
territorial gains, while its northern neighbor and competitor Prussia
was strengthened.
Prussian-Saxon relations deteriorated from the
1740s and Saxony was occupied by Prussia during the Seven Years' War. It
later fought against Prussia and Great Britain in an alliance of
Austria, Russia and France and was liberated from this alliance in 1759.
In 1760 Prussia unsuccessfully besieged Dresden, but for the first time
caused great damage in the capital. As a result, Silesia, which could
have become a territorial connection between Saxony and Poland, went to
Prussia. The electorate was gradually restored.
According to the
Pillnitz Declaration, Saxony was one of the countries that fought
alongside Prussia against the French Revolution. After Napoleon later
penetrated far into Germany in 1806, the Saxon and Prussian troops
opposed him together, but were defeated in the battles of Jena and
Auerstedt. The French then occupied Saxony as well as Prussia. After
soon joining the Confederation of the Rhine, the Electorate was raised
to the Kingdom of Saxony in 1806. In the wars of liberation in 1813,
which were particularly supported by Prussia, Saxony was the main
theater of war and continued to fight alongside France until it was
occupied by Prussia and Russia after the Battle of the Nations near
Leipzig in October. Therefore, Prussia wanted to take over Saxony at the
Congress of Vienna, which was only prevented by the protection of
Austria and also the French position; the compromise was the division of
the kingdom of Saxony. Saxony remained a kingdom afterwards, but had to
cede 40% of its inhabitants in the north and thus around 60% of its area
to Prussia. The revolution of 1848/1849 was crushed in Saxony when
Prussian troops, on behalf of the Reich execution, made it possible for
the king, who had fled during the Dresden May Uprising, to return to
Dresden.
In the German War of 1866, Saxony and Austria were again
on the losing side. As in 1815, Prussia intended the complete annexation
of Saxony, which could only be prevented by the express intercession of
Emperor Franz Joseph on behalf of the ally. Saxony subsequently became a
member of the North German Confederation and took part in the
Franco-Prussian War in 1870/71. The Kingdom of Saxony had been a federal
state of the German Empire since 1871, which was shaped by Prussia as a
small German nation state.
The last time a separate Saxon army
took part in the First World War was part of the German army. In the
course of the November Revolution, Saxony became a free state in the
German Reich in autumn 1918, which was now called the Weimar Republic
after the constitution of 1919 (see: History of Saxony → Free State of
Saxony (1918 to 1933)). When the federal states were brought into line
in 1934, the Free State of Saxony lost most of its political powers in
favor of the NSDAP district structure, which was territorially congruent
in Saxony. However, like the other federal states in the Reich, it was
not officially dissolved. After the Second World War, the country was
reconstituted by the Soviet occupying power and expanded to include the
parts of the Prussian province of Silesia that remained German. In 1952
the states were dissolved as part of the GDR administrative reform. On
October 3, 1990, at the same time as German reunification, the federal
state of Saxony came into being. It included the districts of Dresden,
Karl-Marx-Stadt/Chemnitz and Leipzig (without the districts of Altenburg
and Schmölln, but plus the districts of Hoyerswerda and Weißwasser) of
the former GDR.
State people
According to Art. 5 of the
Saxon constitution, the people of the Free State of Saxony include
citizens of German, Sorbian and other nationalities. The Sorbs are
explicitly mentioned again in Article 6 as an equal part of the national
population.
Population development
The population of Saxony had been declining from around 1950 to 2013,
after which it grew again on balance. Rural areas, various medium-sized
centers and also some upper-central places lost population due to
emigration and low birth rates. In the 2010s, the number of inhabitants
in the cities of Dresden, Leipzig and Chemnitz was able to record
significant growth, as was their environs. Dresden experienced an
increase in population of almost 52,000 between 2000 and 2011, Leipzig
an increase of more than 38,600 in the same period and Chemnitz between
2011 and 2015 of a good 8,000 inhabitants (in each case without changing
the territorial status). Further growth is forecast for these cities.
The large district towns of Radebeul as a residential district for
Dresden and Markkleeberg on the outskirts of Leipzig also grew
significantly during this time.
The proportion of foreigners in
Saxony was 5.3 percent at the end of 2020, which corresponded to around
216,000 foreigners among a good four million inhabitants.
The
population figures refer to the respective territorial status of the
Saxon state. Until 1927 this was approx. 14,993 km². As a result of an
exchange of territory with Thuringia, this shrank to around 14,986 km².
After the Second World War, the parts of the Prussian province of Lower
Silesia west of the Neisse were added to Saxony. The Saxon territory was
thus about 17,004 km². Between 1952 and 1990 there was no Saxon state,
but the districts of Dresden, Leipzig and Karl-Marx-Stadt (Chemnitz) in
large parts of its territory. The information relates to the current
area, which has covered around 18,450 km² since 1990 and the
reintegration of some Vogtland municipalities into Saxony in 1992. The
increase resulted predominantly from the allocation of the northern
areas of the former district of Leipzig around the towns of Torgau,
Eilenburg and Delitzsch, which had not belonged to Saxony since 1815.
In 2014, 3,819 people left Saxony, but a total of 14,387 more people
moved to the Free State than left it. The average age of the Saxons is
46.6 years (2014). The youngest population lived in the Sorbian
community of Ralbitz-Rosenthal (39.7 years), the oldest in Bad Brambach
(50.7 years).
The average number of children in Saxony in 2014
was 1.57 per woman and thus ranks first among the federal states in
Germany. When their first child was born in 2015, Saxon mothers were on
average 28.9 years old (German average: 29.6). In 2019, the number of
children was 1.56 children per woman.
The average life expectancy
in 2015/17 was 77.8 years for men and 83.8 years for women. Men thus
rank 10th among the German federal states, while women rank 2nd.
Regionally, in 2013/15 Dresden (total population: 82.30 years), Meissen
(81.35) and Saxon Switzerland-Eastern Ore Mountains (80.86) had the
highest, as well as Görlitz (80.12), Vogtlandkreis (80.08) and Zwickau
(80.01) the lowest life expectancy. In Germany, the life expectancy of
women in Dresden (84.89) was exceeded only by Breisgau-Hochschwarzwald
(84.96).
On April 19, 2016, the Free State published the 6th
regionalized population projection with two variants. In variant V1, a
recent immigration (meaning the time when the forecast was made) was
given special consideration. Variant V2 is based on assumptions from the
13th coordinated population projection of the Federal Statistical Office
(variant G1-L1-W2).
East Central German dialects are predominantly spoken in the Free
State of Saxony. These are Meißnische and Osterlandische, which together
form the core group of Upper Saxon and thus belong to the
Thuringian-Upper Saxon dialect group, as well as Lusatia. A
characteristic of all these dialects is the lenization of the voiceless
consonants. So the word "Koffer" is pronounced as "Goffer". For Martin
Luther, the Saxon chancellery language, a late-medieval compensatory
language of the predominantly East-Central German dialects in the Wettin
dominion, formed the basis of New High German.
A total of around
700,000 speakers of Vogtland and Erzgebirge also live in the low
mountain ranges of southern Saxony. Both are independent dialects
related to East Franconian and North Bavarian. The Southern Vogtland in
the southernmost tip of the Vogtland is in fact a (meanwhile) isolated
Old Bavarian language area. This can be explained by the fact that until
1945 it was the northernmost part of a closed language area from Old
Bavaria via the Sudetenland (Ascher Zipfel) to just here.
Several
dialects of Upper Sorbian and transitional dialects between Upper and
Lower Sorbian are also spoken in Lusatia. The Sorbian language belongs
to the West Slavic language group; In the Free State of Saxony, an
estimated 15,000 to 20,000 people speak Sorbian as their everyday
language. Upper Sorbian is also the second official language, but is
still only actively used by a minority in the Sorbian settlement area.
An exception is the Upper Sorbian core settlement area, the only area in
Germany where a non-German language is primarily spoken in everyday life
in several communities. The Upper Lusatia dialect is widespread in
southern Upper Lusatia.
A regional or colloquial language, which
is commonly referred to as "Saxon", probably already developed with the
formation of New High German, starting from the larger cities and
favored by a relatively high population density and density of
infrastructure in Central Germany. This Saxon is spoken in a blurred
area that also includes parts of Saxony-Anhalt, Thuringia and
Brandenburg.
The majority of the Saxon population is non-denominational.
Most congregations belong to the Evangelical Church, represented in the
Free State of Saxony by the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Saxony, the
Evangelical Church of Berlin-Brandenburg-Silesian Upper Lusatia, the
Evangelical Church in Central Germany and the Moravian Church in
Moravia. At the end of 2019, there were 663,525 people in the
Evangelical Lutheran Church of Saxony.
The Roman Catholic Church
is also represented in many places and is the most numerous denomination
in some predominantly Sorbian communities between Bautzen, Kamenz and
Hoyerswerda; most of their congregations belong to the diocese of
Dresden-Meissen, as well as to the dioceses of Görlitz and Magdeburg. In
the Catholic Diocese of Dresden-Meißen with congregations in Saxony and
East Thuringia, 140,363 members were counted in 2019.
The Old
Catholic Church is only represented in a few places.
There are
around 60 Evangelical Free Church congregations (mainly smaller Baptist
and Brethren congregations) in the country.
Congregations of the
United Methodist Religious Society belong to the United Methodist Church
in Germany.
Seventh-day Adventist congregations belong to the
Free Church of Seventh-day Adventists in Saxony, K. d. O.R.
There
are a number of other free churches, including the Evangelical Lutheran
Free Church (ELFK) that emerged in Saxony and other Christian
communities.
There are three Jewish communities in Saxony, each
with its own synagogue. The number of parishioners has steadily
increased from 190 in 1992 to 2,524 in 2018, mainly due to immigration
from Eastern Europe. The number of people of Muslim faith in Saxony in
2015 was around 0.48 percent.
According to the 2011 population
census, 0.3 percent also feel they belong to the Orthodox Church; Only a
few Saxons belong to the Jewish and Muslim minorities (approx. 0.4
percent in autumn 2014), as well as communities and groups of other
denominations or religions.
The basis of the Saxon political system is the constitution of the
Free State of Saxony of May 27, 1992. When the GDR entered the area of
application of the Basic Law of the Federal Republic of Germany, the
state of Saxony became the Free State of Saxony, one of the 16 member
states of the Federal Republic since then. This free state, which issued
its state constitution on May 26, 1992, is a parliamentary republic and
the first democratic Saxon state with its own constitutional
jurisdiction and three divided state powers. As a German state, the Free
State of Saxony is an original constitutional subject. On November 9,
1990, the Free State of Saxony was represented at a meeting of the
Bundesrat for the first time and has since been able to participate in
federal legislation and administration again through this representation
of the member states.
The Saxon constitution has only been
amended once to include a debt brake. This was also adhered to as a
result of the corona pandemic. At 5.053 billion euros, Saxony has both
the lowest total debt and the lowest per capita debt (1,244 euros). With
an average of 575 euros per capita, this also applies to the
municipalities.
The Saxon state government is led by a prime minister who is elected
by the state parliament. The seat of government is the Saxon State
Chancellery in Dresden's Inner Neustadt.
The CDU has been by far
the strongest party in Saxony since reunification and has provided the
prime minister ever since. Kurt Biedenkopf ruled from 1990 to April 2002
in a CDU sole government. He was succeeded by Georg Milbradt, who
entered into a black-red coalition with the SPD after the 2004 election.
After Milbradt's resignation in May 2008, Stanislaw Tillich took over as
prime minister and continued the CDU-SPD coalition until the 2009 state
elections. Between September 2009 and 2014 Tillich governed in a
black-yellow coalition together with the FDP, since the state elections
in 2014 with the exit of the FDP from the state parliament again with
the SPD. Michael Kretschmer took over the office of Prime Minister in
December 2017. After the 2019 state elections, Kretschmer has governed
with a coalition of CDU, Greens and SPD since December 2019.
Composition of the incumbent state government (see also Cabinet
Kretschmer I and Cabinet Kretschmer II):
Prime Minister: Michael
Kretschmer (CDU)
Saxon State Ministry for Energy, Climate Protection,
Environment and Agriculture, State Minister and Deputy Prime Minister:
Wolfram Günther (Greens)
Saxon State Ministry for Economics, Labor
and Transport, State Minister and Second Deputy Prime Minister: Martin
Dulig (SPD)
Saxon State Ministry of Finance, Minister of State:
Hartmut Vorjohann (CDU)
Saxon State Ministry of Justice and for
Democracy, Europe and Gender Equality, Minister of State: Katja Meier
(Greens)
Saxon State Ministry of the Interior, Minister of State
(designated from April 25, 2022): Armin Schuster (CDU)
Saxon State
Ministry for Culture, Minister of State: Christian Piwarz (CDU)
Saxon
State Ministry for Social Affairs and Social Cohesion, Minister of
State: Petra Köpping (SPD)
Saxon State Ministry for Science, Culture
and Tourism, Minister of State for Science: Sebastian Gemkow (CDU),
Minister of State for Culture and Tourism: Barbara Klepsch (CDU)
Saxon State Ministry for Regional Development, Minister of State: Thomas
Schmidt
Saxon State Chancellery, Minister of State for Federal
Affairs and Media and Head of the State Chancellery: Oliver Schenk (CDU)
The main buildings of the state government are located in Dresden -
spatially separated from the legislature - in the government district in
the inner Neustadt.
The legislature of the Free State of Saxony is the Saxon State Parliament. In the seventh electoral term, it consists of 119 MPs (regularly 120). After the election in autumn 2019, these were divided as follows: CDU 45 seats, AfD 38 seats, Linke 14 seats, Greens 12 seats and SPD 10 seats. In the meantime, three MPs have left the AfD parliamentary group and are now members of parliament as non-attached MPs. The President of the State Parliament has been Matthias Rößler (CDU) since 2009. There are three vice presidents: Andrea Dombois (CDU), André Wendt (AfD) and Luise Neuhaus-Wartenberg (left). The chairman of the CDU parliamentary group is Christian Hartmann, the AfD parliamentary group Jörg Urban, the Left parliamentary group Rico Gebhardt, the Green parliamentary group Wolfram Günther and the SPD parliamentary group Dirk Panter.
The Constitutional Court of the Free State of Saxony is located in
Leipzig. In addition to the state government and the state parliament,
this is a supreme state body that is independent in terms of the
separation of powers.
The other courts in Saxony are subordinate
to the Saxon State Ministry of Justice. The judiciary is independent and
only subject to the law.
The Dresden Higher Regional Court is the
highest court of ordinary jurisdiction in Saxony. Five district courts
in Chemnitz, Dresden, Görlitz, Leipzig and Zwickau are subordinate to
it.
There are also specialized courts in Saxony. The seat of the
Saxon Higher Administrative Court is the Ortenburg in Bautzen. The Saxon
State Social Court and State Labor Court are located in Chemnitz. The
Saxon Finance Court is located in Leipzig.
The Office of the
Public Prosecutor is based in Dresden. These subordinate public
prosecutor's offices exist at the locations of the regional courts. The
Free State of Saxony runs ten correctional facilities. The State
Judicial Examination Office at the Saxon State Ministry of Justice is
the Saxon examination office for the legal state examination.
In
Saxony there are institutions of the federal judiciary that are
subordinate to the Federal Ministry of Justice. The Federal
Administrative Court and the 5th Criminal Senate of the Federal Court of
Justice with part of the office of the Federal Public Prosecutor are
located in Leipzig.
Many decisions of the European institutions have a direct influence
on the people and organizations in the regions of Europe, including in
Saxony. Saxon European policy is shaped by a large number of actors and
institutions. The interests of the Free State in the European Union are
represented in various ways. The Saxon State Chancellery coordinates
Saxony's European policy in the state government.
At federal
level, the state government is also involved in European legislation via
the Bundesrat, the representation of the Free State of Saxony to the
federal government and the Conference of Ministers for European Affairs.
In Brussels, the state government maintains the Saxony liaison
office in Brussels. monitors the current developments and decisions of
the European institutions, then identifies topics that are relevant for
the Free State and forwards them to the responsible bodies in the state
government and the state parliament. Saxony is represented in the
Committee of Regions by Europe Minister Jürgen Martens and member of the
state parliament Heinz Lehmann (CDU). Six MPs currently represent the
citizens of Saxony in the European Parliament: Anna Cavazzini (Greens),
Cornelia Ernst (Left), Andreas Glück (FDP), Peter Jahr (CDU), Maximilian
Krah (AfD) and Matthias Ecke (SPD).
For cooperation with the
immediate European neighbors, the Free State has maintained two other
foreign representations in the Czech Republic and Poland since 2012 -
the liaison office in Prague (in the baroque building of the Wendish
Seminary) and the liaison office in Wroclaw.
In the Saxon state
parliament, the constitutional, legal and European committees, chaired
by Marko Schiemann (CDU), deal with fundamental European policy issues.
In April 2011, the state parliament and state government concluded a
subsidiarity agreement that regulates the government's obligation to
provide information to parliament and the state parliament's right to
participate in the state's European policy positions.
Political extremism
Both right-wing and
left-wing extremism are regularly listed in the Saxon Office for the
Protection of the Constitution. A 2021 report indicated that about 4,350
right-wing extremists and 850 left-wing extremists were active in
Saxony. There were also about 450 Islamists.
The Sachsen-Monitor 2016 study published by the Saxon government in
2016 states: “Resentment against people because of their group
affiliation – especially against foreigners and Muslims – is widespread
in parts of the Saxon population. A majority of Saxons believe that
Germany is dangerously ‘overwhelmed’ because of the foreigners living
here.” According to research by the Tagesspiegel, the population is
“significantly more xenophobic than the average population in the rest
of the republic”.
In 2014, by far the most racially motivated
physical injuries against refugees happened in Saxony. In 2015, too,
there were above-average racist attacks on foreigners and refugees, in
absolute numbers the second most frequent in a comparison of the federal
states after the significantly more populous North Rhine-Westphalia. In
2015, a fifth of all attacks on asylum seeker homes in Germany were
committed in Saxony.
Organized right-wing populism and right-wing
extremism also have an above-average presence in Saxony. Ethnic, racist
organizations like Pegida developed in Saxony and are stronger there
than in any other federal state. No other federal state has so many
properties that are permanently used by right-wing extremists for
political purposes. In 2012, by far the most neo-Nazi concerts took
place in Saxony, almost a quarter alone in a single inn in Staupitz in
northern Saxony.
The eight members of the right-wing terrorist
group Freital, who had carried out several bomb attacks on refugee
accommodation and political opponents in Freital and Dresden and were
sentenced to several years in prison by the Dresden Higher Regional
Court for forming a terrorist organization and attempted murder or
aiding and abetting it, were active in Saxony.
In 2004 and 2009,
the far-right NPD entered the Dresden state parliament. In the 2017
federal election, the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) became the
strongest force in Saxony, winning three of Saxony's sixteen federal
constituencies directly. In the 2021 federal election, the party was
able to improve this result to 10 constituencies, becoming the strongest
force in all 12 area constituencies after second votes.
In
February 2016, the political scientist Hans Vorländer explained based on
his studies: "According to what we know from surveys, Saxony is no more
xenophobic or Islamophobic than the residents of other federal states in
the west or east." The sometimes aggressive attitudes towards Immigrants
are rather an expression of a petty-bourgeois dissatisfaction with
political decisions. The state government is not enforcing the state's
monopoly on the use of force with the necessary "decisiveness" or "a
sense of proportion".
In the major cities of Saxony, three quarters of all crimes are
committed with a left-wing extremist background. According to Saxony's
Interior Minister Armin Schuster, Leipzig in particular is developing
into a meeting place for left-wing extremists from all over Germany.
With regard to left-wing extremist attacks, Leipzig's mayor Burkhard
Jung even spoke of "terror" directed against things. The Connewitz
district of Leipzig is particularly well-known for riots, where a
potpourri of squatter scene, Antifa and so-called autonomists is active,
especially on Labor Day or at political meetings such as the G20 summit.
The police are also attacked. The police station in Connewitz in
particular has often been damaged or vandalized during riots.
In
2019, the Special Commission on Left-wing Extremism (SoKo LinX) was
founded.
State Directorate of Saxony
In 2012, the previous three districts
of Chemnitz, Dresden and Leipzig were merged into the Saxony State
Directorate with its headquarters in Chemnitz. It contains a total of
ten rural districts and three urban districts.
The ten Saxon
districts:
Bautzen (Budyšin)
Erzgebirge district
Gorlitz
(Zhorjelc)
Leipzig
Meissen
Central Saxony
north saxony
Saxon Switzerland Eastern Ore Mountains
Vogtland district
Zwickau
The three independent cities of Saxony:
Chemnitz
Dresden
Leipzig
Counties
Most of the
counties that existed until July 31, 2008 were formed in the county
reforms of 1994 and 1996. As part of the administrative reform of the
state authorities, ten new districts were created on August 1, 2008
through another district reform. The number of urban districts was
reduced from seven to three. 2,832,288 people live in the state's
district municipalities and 1,304,763 in the urban districts (December
2011).
Saxony consists of a total of 419 politically independent cities and
municipalities (as of January 1, 2021). These are divided into 169
cities, including three urban districts and 50 large district cities as
well as 250 non-urban communities. Some of the municipalities belonging
to the district have merged to form administrative communities in order
to carry out their administrative business. 160 municipalities are
integrated into 65 administrative communities and 21 municipalities in
six administrative associations.
After reunification, a large
number of cities initially lost population quickly. The cities of
Leipzig, Dresden, Chemnitz and also the former city of Zwickau, where
the consequences of suburbanization and emigration to the old federal
states had the greatest impact, were hardest hit. Since reunification in
1990, the number of inhabitants in the Free State of Saxony has fallen
by 600,000 due to emigration and excess deaths due to low birth rates.
Since the turn of the millennium, however, this development began to
differentiate, which intensified in the years that followed. Since about
2000, Leipzig and Dresden, as well as their immediately neighboring
cities of Markkleeberg and Radebeul, have been able to grow continuously
again thanks to a slight excess of births and positive net migration,
thus counteracting the trend towards shrinkage. The Saxon state capital
has even been one of the cities with the highest average population
growth in the Federal Republic in recent years. In Chemnitz, the
shrinkage has largely decreased and stronger stabilization is beginning.
Zwickau, on the other hand, has not been a big city since 2003 and is
gradually losing population.
All other cities in the Free State,
especially those in rural areas, are affected by a greater or lesser
degree of emigration (spatial population development) and birth deficit
and the resulting aging (natural population development). There are also
regional differences, for example areas in eastern and southern Saxony
are more affected by the population decline than areas in central and
western Saxony. In particular, cities with a large and diverse number of
educational, research and cultural institutions as well as strong trade
and industry benefit from population growth.
The following table
lists all medium-sized and large cities in Saxony, sorted according to
their population on December 31, 2018.
The buildings (e.g. Residenzschloss, Zwinger and Semperoper Dresden,
Pillnitz pleasure palace, Moritzburg and Hubertusburg hunting lodges)
and collections (e.g. Green Vault, picture gallery of old and new
masters, armory) of the Saxon electors are regarded by the people of
Saxony as perceived Saxon cultural assets. The Free State of Saxony
operates this as a successor to the Wettin noble family. At folk
festivals, this is personified with the court of August the Strong,
including Prime Minister Heinrich von Brühl, mistress Countess Cosel and
court jester Fröhlich, although other electors also contributed to the
buildings and collections. The focus on August the Strong is mainly due
to the films The Gallant King - August the Strong (1920) and Saxony's
Glory and Prussia's Gloria (1985-1987), the latter based on the books of
the Saxony trilogy by Józef Ignacy Kraszewski.
The paintings in
the Dresden art galleries are being sold because the Electors i. A.
counted as part of Saxon culture, even if the artists only spent part of
their lives in Saxony. This applies in particular to paintings with
typical Saxon landscape motifs, e.g. B. the depictions of Dresden and
Pirna by the Italian painter Canaletto and Saxon Switzerland by Caspar
David Friedrich, who was born in Greifswald.
Several festivals are held in Saxony, with festivals such as the
International Dixieland Festival Dresden, Kosmonaut Festival, Leipzig
Jazz Days, Highfield Festival, Leipzig Bach Festival, Th!nk?,
Nachtdigital, Dresden Guitar Festival, Dresden Days of Contemporary
Music, Wave Gothic Meeting and the Endless Summer Open Air served many
different music genres.
In terms of music, the performances of
the world-famous Saxon State Orchestra in the Semperoper and the
Kreuzchor in the Kreuzkirche should be emphasized in Dresden. The organ
landscape of Saxony is characterized by the work of Gottfried
Silbermann, the perfector of the Central German baroque organ. 31 of his
famous instruments are still preserved, almost all of them are in
Saxony.
Leipzig is widely known as a music city. The composer
Johann Sebastian Bach was the best-known Thomaskantor of the Leipzig St.
Thomas Choir, which had existed since 1212. The Leipzig Bach Festival is
a festival for classical music. Like the Leipzig Opera, the Leipzig
Gewandhaus Orchestra is a civil foundation. The Museum of Fine Arts
shows, among other things, the painting Christ in Olympus, which was
still controversial at the Saxon-Thuringian trade exhibition in 1897,
and Max Klinger's Beethoven sculpture.
Other cultural assets
Other cultural assets of Saxony that are known beyond its borders are
the Meissen porcelain, which is the first European porcelain, and the
Ore Mountain wood carving art, which is particularly native to Seiffen.
The festivals and customs of the Sorbs in Lusatia are known nationally
and have been registered as intangible cultural heritage since 2014.
Cultural monuments
The cultural
monuments in the cities and municipalities of the Free State are made
accessible via the list of cultural monuments in Saxony.
In addition to the nationwide public holidays of New Year, Good
Friday, Easter, Labor Day, Ascension Day, Pentecost, German Unity Day
and Christmas, the Reformation Festival and the Day of Repentance and
Prayer are public holidays in Saxony (§ 1 Para. 1 SächsSFG). In certain
communities and parts of the district of Bautzen (Catholic parts of the
Sorbian settlement area) Corpus Christi is a public holiday (§ 1 Corpus
Christi Ordinance). In the other parishes and parts of parishes, Corpus
Christi (as well as the Feast of the Apparitions, Spring Penitential
Day, Maundy Thursday, St.
Saxon citizen price
The Free State
of Saxony, together with the Frauenkirche Dresden Foundation and the
Dresden Cultural Foundation, awards the Dresdner Bank the Saxon
Citizens' Prize. It is awarded in the categories of social commitment
and cultural-spiritual commitment and is endowed with 5000 euros each.
The first award took place in 2011.
In 2021, the State Sports Association of Saxony registered 656,189
members in 4,436 clubs, which corresponds to 16.11 percent of the
population
american football
The American Football Team,
founded as Saxonia Monarchs at the beginning of 1992, was renamed
Dresden Monarchs in mid-1992 and has been successfully playing in the
German Football League since 2003.
Basketball
The Niners Chemnitz play in the first basketball league and the Dresden
Titans in the second highest basketball league. The ChemCats Chemnitz
basketball players played in the 1st women's basketball league from 2013
to 2019, but withdrew to the 2nd Bundesliga in the 2019/2020 season to
promote young talent.
Floorball/Floorball
The teams of Floor
Fighters Chemnitz and MFBC Leipzig play in the floorball federal league,
the teams of Unihockey Igels Dresden and SC DHfK Leipzig in the 2nd
floorball federal league.
football
Football is the sport with
the highest spectator response, so in the 2022/23 season RB Leipzig are
in the 1st Bundesliga, FC Erzgebirge Aue, SG Dynamo Dresden and FSV
Zwickau in the 3rd division and Chemnitzer FC, the 1st .FC Lokomotive
Leipzig and BSG Chemie Leipzig represented in the Regionalliga Nordost.
Handball
The women's team of HC
Leipzig, multiple German champions and cup winners, had to be relegated
from the women's handball Bundesliga to the 3rd division in 2017 due to
insolvency. In return, the women of HC Rödertal from Großröhrsdorf moved
up to the 1st Bundesliga for the 2017/18 season. Both women's teams will
compete in the second handball Bundesliga from the 2019/20 season. The
men of the DHfK Leipzig have been playing in the Handball Bundesliga
since 2015. In addition, EHV Aue has been playing in the 2nd Bundesliga
since the 2012/13 season. With HC Elbflorenz from Dresden, another Saxon
team was promoted to the 2nd Bundesliga for the 2017/18 season.
Tennis
The first women's team of TC
Blau-Weiß Dresden-Blasewitz was promoted to the 2nd Bundesliga in 2016
and has been playing in the 1st Bundesliga since 2019.
The first
men's team played in the 2nd Bundesliga in 2007 and from 2014 to 2016
and in the Southeast Regional League (3rd division) since 2019.
volleyball
The women's teams from Dresdner SC are in the 1st
Bundesliga, the women's teams from VC Olympia Dresden and VV Grimma are
in the 2nd Bundesliga South, and the men's teams from L.E. Volleys from
Leipzig, GSVE Delitzsch and VC Dresden represented in the 2nd Bundesliga
South.
ice Hockey
Ice hockey is also one of the most common
sports in Saxony. The teams of the Ice Pirates from Crimmitschau, the
Lausitzer Foxes from Weißwasser/Upper Lusatia and the Dresden Ice Lions
take part in the 2nd national ice hockey league.
In the third
division, the Icefighters Leipzig are represented in the Oberliga Nord.
Since the 2017/18 season, EHV Schönheide 09 has been relegated to
the Regionalliga Ost under the new name Schönheider Wölfe due to
insolvency. The teams from SV Rot-Weiss Bad Muskau, Chemnitz Crashers,
Dresdner Eislöwen 1b, ELV Tornado Niesky and ESC Black Panther Jonsdorf
are chasing points in the fourth-rate ice hockey regional league.
para ice hockey
In 1998, the Dresden para ice hockey team
Dresdner Eislöwen Sledge was founded, which is organized as a department
in ESC Dresden. The team has been playing in the German Para Ice Hockey
League since the 2000/01 season and became German champions in the
2019/20 season.
Judo
A women's team
from the Leipzig Judo Club is represented in the 2nd German Judo
Bundesliga.
The men's team of VFL Riesa competes in the 1st Judo
Bundesliga, the men of JC Leipzig compete in the 1st and 2nd Judo
Bundesliga. Before the forced relegation of JV Ippon Rodewisch, the club
won three bronze medals in the Judo Bundesliga from 2001 to 2003.
Motorsports
Motor sports have a long tradition, since 1995 the
International German Championship (IDM) in Supermoto has been held at
the airport in Grossenhain, and the German Motorcycle World Championship
Grand Prix has been held at the Sachsenring in Hohenstein-Ernstthal in
July every year since 1998. In the off-road sector, the auto and
rallycross, enduro, motocross and speedway sections have been
traditional for many years in various regions of the Free State. Ice
speedway races are also held in various ice stadiums and halls.
Other regional competitions
winter sports
Here is the Olympic
center around Oberwiesenthal with bobsleigh and luge tracks as well as
ski jumps and cross-country ski runs. Talented athletes are often
sponsored by well-known companies.
Three Dam Marathon
Since
1995, the Eibenstock sports club has been organizing a marathon for the
Saxon authorities, which is held as part of the Saxon authorities'
championship. The runners cover the usual marathon route, which runs on
the dam walls of the Eibenstock, Carlsfeld and Sosa dams.
Overview
At the end of the Second World
War, many branches of industry were restructured into state-owned
enterprises (VEB) on behalf of the Soviet military administration in
Germany from 1946 and until the law on the privatization and
reorganization of state-owned assets (Treuhand Law) of June 17, 1990,
Saxony had its own economic development within the GDR.
After
German reunification, the Saxon economy experienced a major structural
change. Many of the mostly backward industrial companies were closed.
Opencast lignite mines and power plants were shut down or replaced by
new ones. Numerous former opencast mining holes are being recultivated.
Today, Saxony is ahead of Thuringia in a top position in the East
German economy. In December 2018, around 118,000 people in Saxony were
unemployed, which corresponds to an unemployment rate of 5.6%.
With growth rates in individual industrial sectors of between eight and
ten percent, Saxony has the highest growth rates in Germany and is
already catching up with the western federal states in terms of
important indicators of prosperity. The disposable income of the age
group from 20 to 35 is above the national average, but the overall
result is compensated by the low income of the groups over 40. Overall,
the structural change is not yet complete. In comparison with the gross
domestic product of the European Union (EU-27: 100) expressed in
purchasing power standards, Saxony achieved an index of 85.9 in 2004. In
2010, an index of 86 was determined, with Dresden reaching 87, Chemnitz
83 and Leipzig 91 broken down by administrative districts. It should be
noted, however, that with these figures the commuter flows e.g. B. to
Bavaria are disregarded.
In 2016, economic output in Saxony,
measured in terms of gross domestic product, was around 118.5 billion
euros.
The level of debt in the Free State of Saxony is EUR 2,656
per inhabitant, which is the lowest figure nationwide alongside Bavaria.
In comparison with the gross domestic product of the European Union,
expressed in purchasing power standards, Saxony achieved an index value
of 94.0 (EU-28: 100.0 Germany: 126.0) in 2014. This puts Saxony slightly
below the EU average, however well below Germany's.
In 2014, 139
income millionaires lived in Saxony, with 36 living in the city of
Dresden, 30 in the city of Leipzig and 21 in the district of Leipzig.
Measured in terms of gross domestic product, the Dresden metropolitan
area is the economically strongest area in Saxony. Dresden plays an
important role in microtechnology due to the settlement of
Globalfoundries and Infineon as well as many suppliers. In addition, the
metropolitan areas of Leipzig-Halle and Chemnitz-Zwickau are also
drivers of the Saxon economy. Leipzig, Zwickau and Chemnitz belong to
the metropolitan region of central Germany.
There are also
densely populated rural areas in southern Lusatia, the Vogtland and the
Ore Mountains, which contrast with sparsely populated areas in northern
Saxony.
Autobahn 4 runs through Saxony on a west-east axis. The
most important sections of the line were built in the 1930s. They were
modernized after 1990. At the same time, a gap in the European motorway
network was closed with the expansion from Bautzen to the border town of
Görlitz. An important motorway construction project is the connection of
the A 72 between Chemnitz and Leipzig. The A 17 between Dresden and
Prague and the A 38 as the southern bypass of Leipzig have already been
completed.
In the first half of the 20th century, Saxony had the
densest railway network in Europe. At the turn of the 19th to the 20th
century, hardly any place in Saxony was more than 15 km away from a
train station or halt. The narrow-gauge railways in the lowlands around
Mügeln, around Wilsdruff and in the Ore Mountains played an important
role. Even today, seven narrow-gauge railways are in operation in
Saxony, mainly for tourist purposes. However, a large number of routes
have been closed.
The Leipzig-Riesa-Dresden and Dresden-Berlin
routes are currently being expanded for express traffic. In December
2015, the new Leipzig/Halle–Erfurt line was completed. The construction
of the Leipzig City Tunnel, which is the basis for the new Central
German S-Bahn network, was completed at the end of 2013. Another S-Bahn
network exists in the greater Dresden area.
Despite the dense
railway network, Saxony is the state with the fewest long-distance train
stations in the new federal states (six train stations compared to seven
in Thuringia, eight in Brandenburg, nine in Saxony-Anhalt and 13 in
Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania). Four of these stations are in or near
Dresden and Leipzig. The Chemnitz-Zwickau conurbation is one of the
metropolitan regions with the worst rail connections in Germany. Leipzig
Central Station is the largest terminal station in Europe in terms of
area.
Dresden and Leipzig have international airports, as well as
a number of commercial airfields and special airfields (see map).
In international traffic, the connections to the Czech Republic are
important, while most of the traffic towards Poland passes through
Görlitz.
In terms of tourism, the Free State can be divided into six regions:
Ore Mountains in the south, Burgenland and Heathland in the north-west,
Elbland in the north, Saxon Switzerland in the south-east, Upper Lusatia
in the east and the Vogtland in the south-west.
In particular,
the Erzgebirge, the Vogtland, Saxon Switzerland and the Zittau Mountains
are Saxon landscapes shaped by tourism. The main travel destination in
Saxony is Dresden with around 4.5 million overnight stays (2018), other
city tourism destinations are Leipzig, Bautzen, Görlitz and Chemnitz. In
addition to recreational and sports opportunities, the tourism industry
is based in particular on the architecture and the cultural conditions,
especially in the large and small towns. Likewise, the culinary (Saxon
cuisine) and craft products (Ore Mountain folk art) of the Free State
are a key branch of the tourism industry.
The number of overnight
stays in Bavaria has been steadily increasing since reunification. The
number of overnight stays and lodging establishments almost tripled
between 1992 and 2012. While in 1992 6,749,402 vacationers in Saxony
stayed in 862 accommodation establishments, in 2012 there were already
18,355,248 guests in 2,182 accommodation establishments. The number of
beds offered in June 2012 was 120,929, with an average occupancy rate of
41.3%.
In 2012, 75.4% of the total of 779,239 foreign guests were
Europeans, 10.8% Asians, 10.7% Americans, 1.3% tourists from Oceania and
0.5% Africans (no data available for 1.4%). .
Not least because
of the many cultural and historical sights, Saxony led the ranking of
domestic cultural holiday destinations at the end of 2007, ahead of
Bavaria, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and North Rhine-Westphalia. City
tourism in the country is often combined with shopping, and the large
shopping centers can act as a driving force.
Since 1990, several
tourist cycle routes have been designed in Saxony and implemented on
existing or newly built infrastructure.
Final energy consumption in the country has fallen sharply since
reunification and reached a temporary low of 320.7 petajoules in 1992.
In 1990 it was 544.1 petajoules. Since then, however, consumption has
risen again somewhat, but has been at a fairly constant level since 1996
at 365.1 petajoules in 2010. Energy productivity, i.e. the ratio of
economic productivity to energy used, has changed only slightly in
recent years: Although the value has risen rapidly due to the
reunification and reached its previous peak in 1999 at 230.96% compared
to the base year 1991. Since then, energy productivity has fallen
slightly and then risen again, but is on a smaller scale and reached 217
in 2010, 22%
In power generation in Saxony, the use of lignite
dominates with the actual absence of hard coal: At almost 78.8%, lignite
accounted for by far the largest share of gross power generation in
2010. On a national average, this energy source only contributed 23.2% ,
together with hard coal, the national average is 41.8%. In second place
is the use of natural gas, which contributes 9.1% to gross electricity
generation. The nationwide average is only slightly higher at 13.8%. The
use of renewable energies is below average, which had a share of 8.6% in
2010 - the national average share was 16.4%. Pumped storage water
contributes 2.8%, petroleum products 0.1% and others 0.5%.
The
largest energy consumers in 2010 are private households, which account
for 33.1% of final energy consumption. The transport sector accounts for
almost as large a share, consuming 30.6% of final energy. Industry lags
behind somewhat with 21.9%. However, it is ahead of trade, commerce,
services and other consumers, who require a total of 14.3% of final
energy.
Great economic importance is ascribed to the energy
industry. In 2008, the entire economic sector “energy and water supply”
accounted for 3.7% of gross value added in the state and was therefore
above average (German average: 2.7%). The state is in third place in
Germany behind Brandenburg (5.1%) and North Rhine-Westphalia (4.0%). In
2009, around 15,000 people worked in the energy industry, including
lignite mining. This area thus includes about five percent of the
employees in the entire manufacturing industry. With the exit from
coal-fired power generation in Germany, the shutdown of the Saxon power
plants is planned for 2035 and 2038.
In Saxony there are 79 hospitals with approx. 26,300 hospital beds.
With around 45,000 employees, the hospitals, represented by the Hospital
Society of Saxony, are one of the most important employers in the Free
State. Approximately 945,000 inpatients are treated annually. These
include the Chemnitz Clinic, the Carl Gustav Carus Dresden University
Clinic and the Leipzig University Clinic as maximum care providers, as
well as nine main care providers, the municipal clinics in Dresden
Clinic, Görlitz Clinic, St. Georg Clinic in Leipzig and
Heinrich-Braun-Klinikum in Zwickau, and the partially privatized ones in
Freiberg and Hoyerswerda (both Sana Kliniken) and the two Helios
Kliniken in Aue and Plauen.
The Elblandkliniken are the largest
municipal hospital group in Saxony with locations in Riesa, Meißen,
Radebeul and Grossenhain. The clinic group has over 1000 beds in the
somatic and psychiatric areas. Around 2500 people are employed for this
purpose.
The largest hospital in Saxony is the Klinikum Chemnitz
with 1765 beds (as of 2017); with its three locations, it is also the
largest municipal building of its kind in eastern Germany. It is also
involved in the Schneeberg Hospital.
The Saxon Hospital
Rodewisch, which specializes in psychiatry and neurology, is located in
Rodewisch. There is also another hospital in town.
Health
expenditure in Saxony rose by 3.7% in 2009. At EUR 3,328 per capita
health expenditure in 2009 was only 2% below the national average, in
2006 it was 8%.
The health goal of Saxony is a pioneer in Germany
with the goal "Active aging - aging in health, autonomy and shared
responsibility".
Many well-known physicians studied and worked in
Saxony, such as Heinrich Braun (Braunsche Schiene), Carl Gustav Carus,
Paul Ehrlich (Nobel Prize 1908), Paul Flechsig, Hermann Hartmann
(founder of the Hartmannbund), Johann Christian August Heinroth (holder
of the world's first professorship in psychiatry), Wilhelm His, Bernard
Katz (Nobel Prize 1970), Carl Ludwig, Moritz Schreber (“Allotments”),
Carl Thiersch and Friedrich Trendelenburg.
Universities and research institutions
The Free State of Saxony
has four traditional and powerful universities, including Dresden as one
of the eleven German universities of excellence and the only one in East
Germany. The Dresden, Leipzig, Chemnitz and Freiberg locations are
characterized by a wide range of subjects from engineering, natural
sciences, humanities, social sciences, economics and law:
Technical
University of Dresden
University of Leipzig
Technical University
of Chemnitz
Freiberg Mining Academy and Technical University
The five universities of applied sciences in Saxony are suitable for
practical studies:
HTWK Leipzig
HTW Dresden
University of
Mittweida
West Saxon University of Applied Sciences in Zwickau
University of Zittau/Goerlitz
There is also the Berufsakademie
Sachsen.
Research facilities of the large German research
institutes have settled in Dresden and Leipzig in particular. Today
there are eight institutes of the Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Scientific
Association, six institutes of the Max Planck Society, 17 institutions
of the Fraunhofer Society and three research facilities of the Helmholtz
Association of German Research Centers.
The Free State of Saxony has a lively media landscape consisting of
print media, state-wide and local radio and television programs.
newspapers
Several daily newspapers with their regional editions are
published in Saxony. Among the highest-circulation and best-selling are
the Sächsische Zeitung and Dresdner Latest News in the area of the city
and the former district of Dresden, the Leipziger Volkszeitung in the
Leipzig region and the Freie Presse in the Chemnitz area. There are also
the Lausitzer Rundschau and the Serbske Nowiny, the only daily newspaper
in Upper Sorbian for the East Saxon region. The daily tabloids are the
Bild-Zeitung and the Morgenpost with their respective regional editions.
In addition, several free advertising papers, such as WochenSpiegel or
BLICK, are published weekly.
radio
In the transmission area,
broadcasting takes place via VHF and increasingly via DAB+.
Public radio broadcaster
MDR current
MDR Jump
MDR Classic
MDR culture
MDR Saxony (incl. Sorbian Broadcasting)
MDR Sputnik
Free radios
radio blue
coloRadio
radio t
mephisto 97.6
Private radio broadcasters
Apollo radio
Hit radio RTL Saxony
R.SA
Radio PSR
Energy Saxony
Lausitz wave
Radio Chemnitz
Radio Zwickau
Radio Erzgebirge
Radio Leipzig
Radio Lausitz
Radio Dresden
Vogtland Radio
SecondRadio
TV
Public
television station
MDR television
Private TV stations
Saxony television
Dresden television
Leipzig TV
TV Zwickau
Vogtland regional television
Lausitzwelle TV
oreTV
Central
Erzgebirge television
Karlheinz Blaschke: Population history from Saxony to the industrial
revolution. Böhlau Verlag, Weimar 1967.
Karlheinz Blaschke: History
of Saxony in the Middle Ages. CH Beck, Munich 1990, ISBN 3-406-31722-7.
Reiner Groß: History of Saxony. Edition Leipzig, Berlin 2001 (4th,
expanded and updated edition, Edition Leipzig, Leipzig 2012, ISBN
978-3-361-00674-4).
as Braille edition/Braille, German: Reiner Groß:
History of Saxony. pdf 6 (= 3rd ed.). ZDB, Leipzig 2007, OCLC 213396645.
Wolfgang Ismayr, Klemens H. Schrenk: Free State of Saxony. In: Uwe
Andersen, Wichard Woyke: Hand dictionary of the political system of the
Federal Republic of Germany. 6th edition, VS-Verlag, Wiesbaden 2009,
ISBN 978-3-531-15727-6, pp. 394-399.
Rainer Karlsch, Michael Schäfer:
Economic history of Saxony in the industrial age. Edition Leipzig,
Dresden/Leipzig 2006, ISBN 3-361-00598-1.
Hartmut Kowalke (ed.):
Saxony (= series Perthes country profiles). Klett-Perthes-Verlag,
Gotha/Stuttgart 2000, ISBN 3-623-00672-6 (23 overviews and 115 tables;
in the appendix a colored image section with comments).
Shore leave
in Saxony e. V. (ed.), Nebelschütz 2022
Karl Mannsfeld, Olaf Bastian:
Saxon landscapes. Between the Düben Heath and the Zittau Mountains.
Edition Leipzig, Leipzig 2012, ISBN 978-3-361-00678-2.
Joachim
Menzhausen: Cultural History of Saxony. Addendum and update New edition,
Edition Leipzig, Leipzig 2007, ISBN 978-3-361-00628-7; (as a special
edition for the Saxon state center for political education) added and
updated new edition, Saxon state center for political education,
Dresden/Leipzig 2008.
Carl Friedrich Mosch: Saxony
historical-topographical-statistical and with natural historical
comments. Dresden/Leipzig 1816 (2 volumes; digital copy).
Friedrich
Ludwig Müller, Angela Pfotenhauer, Elmar Lixenfeld, Florian Monheim:
Baroque in Saxony (= Monument Edition). Monuments publication of the
German Foundation for Monument Protection, Bonn 2000, ISBN
3-935208-01-4.
Norman Pohl, Mathias German: Environmental History of
Saxony. Edition Leipzig, Leipzig 2013, ISBN 978-3-361-00686-7.
Steffen Rassloff: Small history of Saxony. Rhino, Ilmenau 2018 (2nd
edition 2019), ISBN 978-3-95560-062-4.
Steffen Rassloff: Central
German history. Saxony – Saxony-Anhalt – Thuringia. Leipzig 2016,
revised new edition by Sax Verlag, Markkleeberg 2019, ISBN
978-3-86729-240-5.
Michael Richter: The formation of the Free State
of Saxony. Peaceful revolution, federalization, German unity 1989/90 (=
writings of the Hannah Arendt Institute for research into
totalitarianism. Volume 24). Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Goettingen 2004,
ISBN 3-525-36900-X.
Saxon state center for political education/state
association Saxon home protection e. V. (ed.): Saxony. Local history,
folklore, preservation of monuments, village design, nature and
landscape. Dresden 2007, OCLC 254068271.
Albert Schiffner: Handbook
of Geography, Statistics and Topography of the Kingdom of Saxony. 2
volumes, Leipzig 1839/40.
Ulrich Walz, Frank Ueberfuhr, Peter
Schauer, Esther Halke: Historical Cultural Landscapes of Saxony. In:
Series of publications by the State Office for the Environment,
Agriculture and Geology. ISSN 1867-2868, issue 33/2012, Dresden 2012
(abstract in German; full text (PDF; 2 MB); annex volume; PDF; 6.1 MB).
Reiner Zimmermann: More reality than appearance. Cultural policy in
Saxony after 1990. Donatus-Verlag, Niederjahna 2022, ISBN
978-3-946710-51-6.
Frank-Lothar Kroll (ed.): The rulers of Saxony,
margraves, electors, kings. 1089-1918. CH Beck, Munich 2007, ISBN
978-3-406-54773-7; etc. Frederick the Wise pp. 56-65, Johann Georg III,
pp. 160-167, August the Strong pp. 173-191.
Prince Ernst Heinrich of
Saxony: My life from the royal castle to the farm. Paul List Verlag,
Munich 1968, pp. 115-152; Son of Friedrich August III, reports in
memoirs about his father and about his experiences during the Wilhelmine
era, First World War, November Revolution, Weimar Republic, Third Reich,
Second World War, Ireland.