Saalfeld / Saale is a city in Thuringia. It is the district town of the Saalfeld-Rudolstadt district in the south-east of the state and is located in an approximately 250 km² area with 75,000 inhabitants, which also includes the cities of Rudolstadt and Bad Blankenburg. The three cities cooperate with each other within the framework of the “Saalebogen city triangle”. Saalfeld is located on the Saale in the middle of the Saale arch. The Thuringian Slate Mountains begin southwest of the city. The most famous attractions are the fairy grottoes. The city is also a major rail hub. Saalfeld is classified as a middle center with partial functions of an upper center. Together with Rudolstadt and Bad Blankenburg, it forms a tripolar center.
Official prison "hat box"
The tower-like rotunda in the courtyard
of the town hall was built as a prison between 1857 and 1859 according
to the plans of the Meiningen master builder Carl Rudolf Tröger and cost
14,500 guilders. On November 25, 1859, it was handed over to the Duchy
of Saxe-Meiningen as an official prison. It was still used as a prison
by the National Socialists and later by the Soviet military
administration until 1950. In 1973, the city of Saalfeld took over the
building and used it as a city archive after the conversion.
The largest church in the city and one of the largest hall churches
in Thuringia is the Gothic Johanneskirche. In the course of the
Reformation in 1524, it became the evangelical town church of Saalfeld.
The former Franciscan monastery was founded around 1250. The church with
its wooden roof truss and the adjoining sacristy date from the time when
the monastery was built. From 1490 to 1500 further conversion and
expansion measures were taken. From this second construction phase, the
east and west cloisters, the chapter house, the former monastery kitchen
and the monastery library were preserved. After the monastery was
dissolved in the course of the Reformation (1534), the monastery complex
was used as a school, mint and malt house. The Saalfeld City Museum has
been housed there since 1904.
The Roman Catholic Church also has its
own church in Saalfeld, the Corpus Christi church built in 1905/1906.
The city fortifications were first mentioned in 1363. The wall is
largely intact, the four gates are complete. The wall was partially
demolished from 1832. The Blankenburger Tor is the northern exit of the
old town and dates back to 1739 in its baroque design. The Darrtor
towards the castle is accessible today as a lookout tower and is older
than the Blankenburger Tor. The hall gate to the east towards the Saale
bridge is similar in design to the Darrtor. The upper gate from 1738
forms the southern entrance to the old town.
The castle is now the
district office. It was created after the Benedictine monastery was
demolished in 1676. It was built by Christian Wilhelm Gundermann between
1677 and 1679 and was the residence of Sachsen-Saalfeld between 1680 and
1745. The associated castle chapel was built from 1704 and was
consecrated in 1720.
Wetzelstein Castle, a neo-Romanesque building
from 1878 to 1880, formerly owned by the chocolate manufacturer Hüther.
The Hoher Schwarm, the ruins of a castle complex from around 1300,
towers over the steep banks of the Saale on the eastern edge of the old
town. At that time it was built by the Counts of Schwarzburg to control
the city and the Saale valley.
Kitzerstein Castle from 1435 is not
far from the castle ruins. Today the music school is housed there.
The town hall on the market square was built after the town fire of 1517
between 1529 and 1537 and is considered one of the most important
Renaissance town halls in Thuringia. In the courtyard is the former
official prison in Saalfeld, known as the "hat box", today's city
archive.
The former church of St. Nikolai
The Gothic
Martinskapelle is the oldest building in the city.
Other
attractions are
the town pharmacy, a Renaissance building from
1618/20,
the market pharmacy, owned by the Arndt family until 1992,
in a massive residential tower from 1468,
the patrician house in
Saalstrasse
the Gertrudiskirche in the Graba district, part of the
Saalfeld royal palace
Stadtmuseum Saalfeld in the Franciscan monastery: The Stadtmuseum
Saalfeld has been located in the former Saalfeld Franciscan monastery
since 1904. It collects, preserves, researches and conveys objects and
information on the town and regional history of Saalfeld in its
exhibitions. The museum has housed the entire building complex since
1999. The historic structure of the former monastery complex, with its
cloisters and Gothic roof truss, is therefore also part of the
exhibition. The exhibition area is around 2700 m² in total.
Adventure
museum Grottoneum of the Saalfeld fairy grottoes
The most important sights are the Feengrotten, a former alum slate
mine, in which stalactites and multicolored minerals can be seen. The
colors and reflections are particularly effective due to the subsequent
installation of small water basins in the grotto. They are listed in the
Guinness Book of Records as "the most colorful show caves in the world".
The fairy grottoes are also one of the oldest tourist caves in the
world. Guided tours were held here even before the First World War.
In the district of the incorporated Obernitz district, the Gleitsch
protrudes as a pointed spur from the north into the Saale valley and
thus changes the course of the Saale to a sharp bend to the south, then
to the west and north. The mountain forms a prominent natural point
there. There is also the Devil's Bridge with a cave opening to the
south. Palaeolithic stone drawings were also found here. In addition,
finds from the later Bronze Age and the pre-Roman Iron Age were
recovered. Above this settlement area there was a rampart with a
sacrificial place on the summit.
The slope of this mountain
towards the Saale forms a 600 meter long and around 120 meter high rock
face, the so-called Bohlenwand. Because of the geological features of
this rock face, where numerous tectonic, stratigraphic and
paleontological features are visible, the Bohlenwand was included in the
list of national geotopes in 2006.
There is the Saalfeld athletics club, which is successful at state
level, the football clubs FC Saalfeld and TSG "Bau" Remschütz and, since
2011, the 1st women's football club in Saalfeld, the sports clubs 1st
SSV Saalfeld and MTV 1876 Saalfeld, Saalfeld swimming club, with the
Saalfeld Titans an American Football club, the rifle club Saalfeld a. p.
1446 e. V., in the field of martial arts the Judo-Sport Club Saalfeld e.
V. (1990) and the Budokan Saalfeld e. V. (1996) and many other smaller
sports clubs.
In 2014, FC Saalfeld e. V. is a new football club
that takes up the traditional lines of FC Lok Saalfeld and VFL 06
Saalfeld.
In 2021, the city applied together with Rudolstadt and
Bad Blankenburg as host town for the design of a four-day program for an
international delegation of the Special Olympics World Summer Games 2023
in Berlin. In 2022 she was selected to host Special Olympics Sudan. This
made it part of the largest municipal inclusion project in the history
of the Federal Republic with more than 200 host towns.
An Easter egg tree decorated with 10,000 eggs attracts media attention every year. From 1965 to 2015 it stood on the Kraft family property. In 2016, the tree stood in the city park in front of the district office. In 2017, a tree in the pedestrian zone on Blankenburger Strasse was selected for this.
Church music has a long tradition at the Saalfeld Johanneskirche. The
foundations were laid by cantor Wilhelm Köhler (1852-1924), on which
Walter Beauty (1927-1985) built and with the founding of the "Saalfeld
Oratorio Choir" on February 28, 1950, the "Thuringian Boys' Choir" on
March 22, 1950 and the " Mädelchors Saalfeld” on March 25, 1950, ensured
regular church music based on the model of Johann Sebastian Bach. At the
same time, he placed the entire choral work under his motto: Soli Deo
Gloria – “Alone for the glory of God”. With the help of these three
choirs, it was now possible to perform church music of the present and
the past.
After the early death of Walter Beauty, his son Michael
Beauty took over the direction of all three choirs from 1985 to 1991. He
was followed by church music director Wolfram Otto from 1991 to 2001 and
Dietrich Modersohn from 2003 to 2011. Since January 2013 Andreas
Marquardt, himself a former "Thuringian Boys' Choir", has been cantor
and organist at the Johanneskirche in Saalfeld and thus also in charge
of directing the choirs.
From the ranks of former "Thuringian
Boys' Choir", ensembles have formed time and again, which perform
locally, nationally and internationally. Including the male double
quartet, the Saalfeld Vocalists, who undertook concert tours through
South Africa and Japan, but also numerous appearances in German-speaking
countries.
In addition to the church music at the Saalfeld
Johanneskirche, there are also choirs at other churches and chapels in
the Saalfeld area. This also applies to the "Chamber Choir of the
Schlosskapelle Saalfeld", which carries out a multi-day concert tour
every year and takes part in services in the Saalfeld Johanneskirche.
By train
The Saalfeld train station is a stop for regional trains
on the Saalbahn Halle - Nürnberg. Since the Erfurt-Nuremberg high-speed
line was put into operation, only a few long-distance trains have
stopped in Saalfeld. The nearest long-distance stops are Leipzig,
Nuremberg and Erfurt. There are other train connections from Leipzig,
Nuremberg, Gera, Erfurt, Bad Lobenstein and Katzhütte in the
Schwarzatal. FSU Jena students can use the semester ticket (their
student ID) to travel free of charge on local trains to Saalfeld.
By bus
Flixbus drives to Saalfeld from Berlin via Jena once a
day. The Saalfeld long-distance bus stop is at the bus station on the
station forecourt.
On the street
The nearest motorway junction
is on the A9 and is more than 40km away in Symbol: AS 26 Triptis. The
travel time on the B281 has been reduced somewhat since the opening of
the Neustadt (Orla) bypass.
REWE, Rathenaustrasse 5-7, 07318 Saalfeld/Saale. Tel.: +49 (0)3671 672180. Open: Mon – Fri 7 a.m. – 10 p.m., Sat 7 a.m. – 8 p.m.
1 Ratskeller Saalfeld, Markt 1, 07318 Saalfeld/Saale. Phone: +49
(0)3671 2988, email: info@ratskeller-saalfeld.de. Open: Mon – Thu 5 p.m.
– 11 p.m., Fri – Sat 11.30 a.m. – midnight, Sun 11.30 a.m. – 10 p.m.
2 Restaurant Alte Post, Blankenburger Str. 9, 07318 Saalfeld/Saale.
Phone: +49 (0)3671 516661, fax: +49 (0)3671 5286880, e-mail:
alte-post-saalfeld@t-online.de. Traditional Thuringian dishes and
Croatian cuisine. Open: daily 10 a.m. – 1 a.m.
3 Schlutius, Green
Center 6, 07318 Saalfeld/Saale. Phone: +49 (0)3671 4553330, email:
info@das-schlutius.de. Restaurant with bar, café and roof terrace with a
view over Saalfeld. Open: daily 11:30 a.m. – 10:00 p.m.
4 K*Star,
Brudergasse 10, 07318 Saalfeld/Saale. Phone: +49 (0)3671 457668, fax:
+49 (0)3671 6298487, email: info@kstar.de. Mediterranean restaurant.
Open: Tue – Thu 4 p.m. – 1 a.m., Fri + Sat 4 p.m. – 2 a.m., Sun 3 p.m. –
midnight, closed on Mondays.
5 Golden Goose, Markt 25, 07318
Saalfeld. Tel.: +49(0)3671 599103. Upscale cuisine with regional
classics and international specialties.
6 Pizzeria Peperoncino,
Darrtorstrasse 13, 07318 Saalfeld/Saale. Tel.: +49 (0)3671 629956, fax:
+49 (0)3671 6270577, e-mail: info@pizzeria-peperoncino.eu. Open: Thu –
Tue 11 a.m. – 2 p.m. + 5 p.m. – 10 p.m., Wed is closed.
7 Restaurant
Athens, Bahnhofstrasse 1, 07318 Saalfeld/Saale. Tel: +49 (0)3671 521340.
Greek restaurant. Open: Mon 5.30 p.m. – 11 p.m., Tue – Sun 11.30 a.m. –
2 p.m. + 5 p.m. – 11.30 p.m.
8 McDonald's On the B 281 in the
direction of Neuhaus.
9 Klosterstübl, Barfussergasse 1, 07318
Saalfeld/Saale. Tel.: +49 (0)3671 469632. German restaurant. Open: Tue –
Thu 5 p.m. – 11 p.m., Fri + Sat 5 p.m. – midnight, Sun 5 p.m. – 11 p.m.,
closed on Mondays.
10 Bavarian pubs, Schloßstrasse 12, 07318
Saalfeld/Saale. Tel.: +49 (0)3671 4579595. German restaurant. Open: Wed
– Sat 4.00 p.m. – 11.30 p.m., Sun 11.00 a.m. – 2.30 p.m., Mon + Tues are
days off.
11 Ngoclan, Auf dem Graben 1, 07318 Saalfeld/Saale. Tel:
+49 (0)3671 458419. Asian restaurant. Open: Tue 11 a.m. – 2.30 p.m., Wed
– Mon 11 a.m. – 2.30 p.m. + 5 p.m. – 11 p.m.
12 Bistro Helin,
Saalstrasse 4, 07318 Saalfeld/Saale. Tel.: +49 (0)3671 455905. Open:
daily from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.
13 Café Cozy, Friedensstrasse 10, 07318
Saalfeld/Saale. Tel.: +49 (0)3671 513745. Open: Tue – Sat 8 a.m. – 9
p.m., closed Sun + Mon.
Confectionery Fairy Grottoes. Handmade
chocolate with fragrant coffee.
1 Johannisklause, Johannisgasse 10, 07318 Saalfeld/Saale. Tel:
(0)3671 2680. Pub. Open: Mon – Thu 6 p.m. – 4 a.m., Fri + Sat 7 p.m. – 5
a.m., closed on Sun.
2 Forty One, Saalstrasse 41, 07318
Saalfeld/Saale. Bar.
1 Waldhotel Mellestollen, Wittmannsgereuther Strasse, 07318
Saalfeld/Saale. Phone: (0)3671 8200, Fax: (0)3671 820222, Email:
info@mellestollen.de. Feature: ★★★. Open: Restaurant: Mon – Fri from 3
p.m., Sat, Sun + public holidays from 11.30 a.m.
2 Hotel Am Hohen
Schwarm, Schwarmgasse 18, 07318 Saalfeld/Saale. Phone: +49 (0)3671 2884,
fax: +49 (0)3671 510185, e-mail: Saalfeld@Schwarmhotel.de. The hotel has
a restaurant. Feature: ★★★. Price: Single room from €53, double room
from €75.
3 Hotel Asterra, Am Sperberhoelzchen 34, 07318
Saalfeld/Saale. Phone: +49 (0)3671 45700, fax: +49 (0)3671 457070,
e-mail: info@hotelasterra.de. The hotel has a restaurant. Feature: ★★★.
Price: Single room from €56, double room from €76.
4 Hotel Tanne,
Saalstrasse 35, 07318 Saalfeld/Saale. Phone: +49 (0)3671 8260, fax: +49
(0)3671 826400, email: info@tanne-saalfeld.de. The hotel has a
restaurant. Price: Single room from €59, double room from €79.
5
Hotel Weltrich, Saalstrasse 44, 07318 Saalfeld/Saale. Phone: +49 (0)3671
2732, fax: +49 (0)3671 457745, email: hotel_weltrich@yahoo.de. The hotel
has a restaurant with traditional Thuringian cuisine. Price: Single room
from €40, double room from €62.
6 Hotel Anker, Markt 25/26, 07318
Saalfeld/Saale. Tel.: +49 (0)3671 5990, fax: +49 (0)3671 512924, e-mail:
info@hotel-anker-saalfeld.de. The hotel has a restaurant. Price: Single
room from €57, double room from €85.
7 Hotel Restaurant Bergfried,
Zum Fuchsturm 5, 07318 Saalfeld/Saale. Phone: +49 (0)3671 55440, Fax:
+49 (0)3671 35303.
8 Landgasthof Bohlenblick,
Geschwister-Scholl-Strasse 7, 07318 Saalfeld/Saale. Phone: +49 (0)3671
670267, fax: +49 (0)3671 672506, email: info@bohlenblick.de. Feature:
★★★. Price: Single room from €36, double room from €50.
9 guest house
and café restaurant Eschenstübel, Alte Gehegstr. 38, 07318
Saalfeld/Saale. Phone: +49 (0)3671 33263, fax: +49 (0)3671 461537,
e-mail: info@eschenstuebel.de. Feature: pension. Price: Overnight stay
from €45.
10 Restaurant "Zum Pappenheimer", Fleischgasse 5, 07318
Saalfeld/Saale. Phone: +49 (0)3671 33089, fax: +49 (0)3671 33089,
e-mail: zum-pappenheimer@gmx.de. Feature: pension. Price: Single room
from €45, double room from €65.
State Police Inspectorate Saalfeld, Promenadenweg 9, 07318 Saalfeld/Saale. Phone: +49 (0)3671 560.
Hospital
1 Thuringia Clinic "Georgius Agricola", Rainweg 68, 07318
Saalfeld/Saale. Phone: +49 (0)3671 54-0, fax: +49 3671 35074, email:
kontakt@thueringen-kliniken.de.
Pharmacies
2 Pharmacy from
Hirschhausen, Obere Str. 1a, 07318 Saalfeld. Tel.: +49 (0)3671 2163,
Fax: +49 (0)3671 516025. Open: Mon – Fri 7.30 a.m. – 7 p.m., Sat 8 a.m.
– 2 p.m.
3 Pharmacy of Hirschhausen, Melanchthonstr. 34, 07318
Saalfeld. Tel.: +49 (0)3671 57890, Fax: +49 (0)3671 578919. Open: Mon –
Fri 8 a.m. – 6.30 p.m., Sat 8 a.m. – 12.30 p.m.
4 Pharmacy from
Hirschhausen, Sonneberger Str. 8, 07318 Saalfeld. Tel.: +49 (0)3671
455433, Fax: +49 (0)3671 455434. Open: Mon, Tue, Thu, Fri 8 a.m. - 6
p.m., Wed 8 a.m. - 2 p.m.
State Police Inspectorate Saalfeld, Promenadenweg 9, 07318
Saalfeld/Saale. Phone: +49 (0)3671 560.
Tourist Information Saalfeld,
Markt 6, 07318 Saalfeld. Tel.: +49 (0)3671 522181, fax: +49 (0)3671
522183, e-mail: info@saalfeld-tourismus.de. Open: Mon – Fri 9 a.m. – 6
p.m., Sat 9 a.m. – 1 p.m., Sun closed, public holidays 10 a.m. – 1 p.m.
Saalfeld was first mentioned in a document in 899 and is one of
the oldest foundations in East Thuringia. There was a Carolingian
royal palace here, the chapel of which is the church of the Graba
district. The later Emperor Heinrich II gave the area around
Saalfeld in 1012 to the Count Palatine Ezzo of Lorraine, whose
daughter Richeza gave it to the Archdiocese of Cologne in 1056. When
in 1071 (other information: 1074) the Archbishop of Cologne, Anno
II. Founded the Benedictine monastery of St. Peter and Paul here,
the place quickly developed into the ecclesiastical center of power
in eastern Thuringia. The monastery led the Christianization and
settlement of the area. The historian Lampert von Hersfeld, who
stayed in the Saalfeld monastery for several weeks, reports on the
founding of the monastery. For many years his chronicles are the
only written sources on regional history. The monastery existed
until after the Reformation (until 1526).
After it came back
into imperial possession, Saalfeld received city rights in 1208 as
the fourth place in Thuringia. At the same time, Emperor Friedrich
Barbarossa commissioned the construction of an urban settlement to
be built south of the old village (Altsaalfeld). The town charter
was confirmed in 1208 by the Schwarzburgers, who were the feudal
lords of the Saalfeld area at the time. The city wall was erected in
1363, there was a first town hall in 1389, and the first Saale
bridge is mentioned in 1373. Around 1250, a Franciscan monastery was
added to the Benedictine monastery, which existed until 1534. It was
located in what is now the city museum. The Saale rafting and from
the late 13th century mining are known as economic sectors. In 1346
the city finally received the right to fish in the Saale, which the
barbel in the city coat of arms still stands for today. Another
right was added in 1482, when the Saalfelder received high
jurisdiction over neck and hand. An economic boom set in. In 1389,
Saalfeld passed from the Schwarzburgers to the Wettins, who owned it
until the abolition of the monarchy in 1918. When Erfurt was
partitioned in 1572, Saalfeld came to Saxe-Weimar, 1603 to
Saxe-Altenburg and 1673 to Saxe-Gotha.
In 1514, after almost
150 years of construction, the Johanneskirche was completed.
However, a city fire destroyed large parts of Saalfeld as early as
1517. During the subsequent reconstruction, the city received its
present-day image, which is characterized by Renaissance buildings.
Among other things, today's town hall (1529 to 1537), the mint
(1551) as well as many town houses and a little later also the city
pharmacy (1617 to 1620) were built.
Duke Albrecht made
Saalfeld his residence in 1675 and began building Schloss Saalfeld
in 1677, which was then taken over by his younger brother Johann
Ernst in 1680 and completed by 1726. It was created on the area of
the former Benedictine monastery, which was demolished for this
purpose. The necessity of a residential palace arose from the
prospect of an inheritance division of the Ernestines from 1675 and
finally carried out in 1680, during which the Duchy of
Saxony-Saalfeld was created, which only existed until 1745 and then
became the property of Saxony-Coburg (then as Saxony-Coburg
-Saalfeld designated) passed over. After the line Saxe-Gotha and
Altenburg died out in 1825, Saxe-Gotha came to Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld
(therefore renamed Saxe-Coburg and Gotha), which gave Saalfeld and
most of Saxe-Hildburghausen to Saxe-Meiningen. Friedrich von
Sachsen-Hildburghausen became Duke of the re-founded
Sachsen-Altenburg.
On October 10, 1806, the battle took place near Saalfeld, which
ended with a victory for 14,000 French soldiers over a 9,000-strong
Prussian army and in which the Prussian Prince Louis Ferdinand was
killed. In the 19th century, industrialization began in Saalfeld,
which took its greatest boom after the opening of the Leipzig – Gera
– Saalfeld railway in 1871. In the decades that followed, Saalfeld
developed into an important railway junction between Leipzig and
Nuremberg, with further connections to Hof and Gera in the east,
Jena in the north, Nuremberg in the south and Erfurt and Sonneberg
in the west. Local railway lines also led via Rottenbach to Königsee
and Katzhütte. The steep Frankenwald Railway was electrified for the
first time in 1939, before the Soviet Union had the contact wire
removed as reparations in 1945, as was the case with the Saalbahn.
The re-electrification of the line between Probstzella and Camburg
did not take place until 1995 after German reunification. During
industrialization, the Saalfeld mining industry, which had been in
operation since the Middle Ages, developed into the Maxhütte
Unterwellenborn, a branch of the Upper Palatinate Maxhütte founded
in 1872. The rafting of the Saale, which had also been in operation
since the Middle Ages, was only discontinued in 1938 after the Saale
Cascade was built.
In 1914 the fairy caves were made
accessible to the public after they had been discovered in old mine
tunnels in 1910. After the First World War, the monarchies were
abolished and the new Free State of Thuringia was founded. Saalfeld
now became the district town of the Saalfeld district, which existed
until 1994. Before that, the city had been the administrative seat
of the Saalfeld district in the Duchy of Saxony-Meiningen since
1868, which, however, had a much different regional layout than its
successor.
During the time of National Socialism, people were
subjected to persecution for racist, political and religious
reasons, which began in 1933 when they were brought to the local
court prison, popularly known as hat boxes. People were also
persecuted for eugenic reasons, such as the 571 people who were made
victims of forced sterilization by the Hereditary Health Court. The
Jewish citizens of Saalfeld were forced to emigrate and from 1941
were put to death in ghettos or extermination camps.
As early
as 1939, Jews were deployed as part of the closed labor deployment
in the construction of the Hohenwarte Dam and housed in a camp near
Saalfeld. During the Second World War, 1,491 prisoners of war as
well as women and men from the countries occupied by Germany, mainly
from the Soviet Union, had to do forced labor: at Optische Anstalt
99, at SAG 99, at Mecano-Werke, at Mitteldeutsche Elektro, at Max
Schaede, at Auerbach & Scheibe, at the Saaletalsperre working group
in Hohenwarte, at Paschold, Döger & Co., at the Mauxion chocolate
factory, at Adolf Knoch, at Paul Eberlein Söhne, at Gustav
Bodenstein and at Reichsbahn. A Soviet memorial with 68 gravestones
and three memorial plaques was built in the cemetery in 1947. To
commemorate the victims of the Buchenwald concentration camp death
march in April 1945, a stele was erected in 1985 at the Schloßstraße
/ Auf dem Graben intersection. In 2008, 10 stumbling blocks for
Jewish victims of National Socialism were laid in Saalfeld.
From 1936 to 1945 Saalfeld was the location of the Wehrmacht (the
Prinz-Louis-Ferdinand-Kaserne was outside the city area, in the
municipality of Beulwitz).
The city was badly damaged in bombing towards the end of the
Second World War, the main focus of the attack was the extensive
railway facilities. In an American air raid on Monday, April 9,
1945, at least 208 people died in the hail of bombs and gunfire from
the 52 missions (around eight waves with six to seven aircraft each)
that started shortly before 9 a.m. and lasted until 7 p.m. The
victims were mostly women and children, military personnel, wounded
from a hospital train standing in the train station and railway
personnel. There were also countless seriously injured people.
Surveys by the city administration show that 22 houses were
completely destroyed, 146 apartments were bombed and 573 were
damaged in this attack. There was damage of 7.5 million Reichsmarks
caused by more than 1,300 bombs with an explosive force of 500 to
1,000 pounds as well as the fires. Were heavily bombed u. a. the
train station, an important traffic junction, and the industrial
area (Altsaalfeld) near the train station. An air raid at around
8:20 a.m. also brought production in the Maxhütte to a standstill
because the energy supply center was hit hard. Architectural
monuments in the old town were also affected: the Johanneskirche,
the Franciscan monastery (city museum), Saalfeld Castle, Kitzerstein
Castle, the hall gate and the town hall.
On April 12, US
troops stood on the outskirts, and on the morning of April 13,
Saalfeld was handed over to the Americans by the incumbent mayor.
Before that - on April 12th and 13th - all the bridges across the
Saale in and around the city had been blown up by the Wehrmacht. 819
inhabitants of Saalfeld were killed in World War II.
Like all
of Thuringia, Saalfeld was handed over by the Americans to the Red
Army at the beginning of July 1945 and thus part of the Soviet Zone,
and from 1949 of the GDR.
On August 16, 1951, a large number
of enraged bismuth miners stormed the city's prison and police
station, demanding the release of imprisoned pals. The background to
this was the dissatisfaction with the poor social conditions brought
about by the rapid influx of many miners to promote uranium ore
mining for the Soviet nuclear weapons program. In May 1952, the
Thuringian State Court sentenced twelve alleged ringleaders to eight
to 15 years in prison. The mining of uranium ore in the area around
Saalfeld proved to be unprofitable and has been discontinued.
In 1994 the districts of Saalfeld and Rudolstadt, which were
established in 1952, were merged to form the district of
Saalfeld-Rudolstadt, the district of which became Saalfeld. In 1999
the Thuringian Day took place in Saalfeld.
On July 1, 1950, the previously independent communities of Obernitz and Remschütz were incorporated. Gorndorf followed on January 1, 1963. Beulwitz on April 6, 1994 and Arnsgereuth on December 1, 2011. Saalfelder Höhe and Wittgendorf were added on July 6, 2018, and Reichmannsdorf and Schmiedefeld on January 1, 2019.
Saalfeld is located in the Saale valley, which once gave the town its
name, at an altitude of around 235 metres. Southwest of the city begins
the Thuringian Slate Mountains with mountains over 500 meters high on
the outskirts. To the south lies the valley of the Saale and its
tributaries Loquitz and Sormitz. These valleys are deep, narrow valleys
that are very scenic. In addition, in the southeast of the city is the
"Saalekaskade" dam system, which stretches along the Saale to Bad
Lobenstein and, with the Bleilochtalsperre and the Hohenwarte Dam,
contains the largest dams in Thuringia and two of the largest dams in
Germany. To the east of the city begins the Orlasenke, a fertile, wide
valley that stretches 35 kilometers to the east of the city of Triptis.
North of Saalfeld is the Vordere Heide, the most south-western foothills
of the Thuringian timber region with the 481 meter high Kulm, the town's
local mountain, on which there is a steel truss tower from which you can
see the entire surrounding area. The Buntsandstein deposits begin near
Saalfeld and extend north to Rothenstein. The Saale leaves the city to
the northwest; there are also the neighboring towns of Rudolstadt and
Bad Blankenburg, the beginning of the Schwarza Valley.
The city
itself lies on the western, mountainous bank of the Saale. The old town
is on a hill not far from the river. It is surrounded by other
residential areas, while industrial and commercial areas dominate on the
eastern side of the Saale around the Saalfeld train station. Here is
also the district of Gorndorf with the town's prefab construction area.
While this prefabricated housing estate was considered unattractive and
a social hotspot after reunification, Saalfeld has managed to
significantly upgrade this part of the city with its own urban
development concept.
The average annual temperature in Saalfeld is 8.6 °C. The precipitation totals 841 mm over the course of a year.
Neighboring communities are Rudolstadt, Unterwellenborn, Kaulsdorf, Probstzella, Graefenthal, Neuhaus am Rennweg, Rohrbach, Döschnitz, Schwarzburg and Bad Blankenburg.
The following districts belong to Saalfeld, with district numbers
according to the main statute:
Saalfeld
Altsaalfeld
Garnsdorf
Graba
Koeditz
Obernitz
Remschutz
Gorndorf
Beulwitz with
Aue am Berg, Beulwitz, Crösten and Wöhlsdorf
Arnsgereuth
Saalfeld
Heights with Bernsdorf, Birkenheide, Braunsdorf, Burkersdorf,
Dittersdorf, Dittrichshütte, Eyba, Hoheneiche, Kleingeschwenda,
Knobelsdorf, Lositz-Jehmichen, Reschwitz, Unterwirbach, Volkmannsdorf,
Wickersdorf, Wittmannsgereuth and Witzendorf
Wittgendorf
Reichmannsdorf with Gösselsdorf and Schlagetal
Schmiedefeld with
Taubenbach
Mayor is Steffen Kania (CDU). In the mayoral election on April 15, 2018, 43.5% of the votes cast went to the current mayor. Steffen Lutz (SPD) reached 32.3%, Oliver Brömel (independent) 14.0%, Sebastian Sussek (independent) 7.9% and Roland Beyer (independent) 2.2%. In the run-off election on April 29, 2018, Kania won against his competitor Lutz with 52%. Voter turnout was 45.3% in the first ballot and 37.9% in the run-off.
Blazon: "In green, two erect averted silver barbels, accompanied by
two hexagonal silver stars."
Justification for the coat of arms: The
town derived its name from its location on the Saale, which is why fish
are predominant in the coat of arms. When choosing the colors, the green
and silver national colors of the Saxon duchies in Thuringia were
probably of importance. Saalfeld belonged to Sachsen-Meiningen until
1918 and in 1921 the coat of arms was established by a local law in
accordance with what was then customary in the new Free State of
Thuringia.
Version of the city coat of arms according to the council
decision of September 30, 1948.
The city's colors are
green-silver.
Saalfeld maintains town partnerships with:
Stains (France) since
1964
Sokolov (Falkenau an der Eger) (Czech Republic) since 1974
Kulmbach (Bavaria) since 1988
Samaipata (Bolivia) since 1996
Zalewo (Saalfeld) (Poland) since 2001
By the way: In Lünen an der
Lippe, after the Second World War, a settlement (sideline jobs) for
people who had been expelled from there and refugees called “Saalfeld”
was built in reminiscence of Saalfeld.
City triangle Saalebogen
The cities of Saalfeld/Saale, Rudolstadt and Bad Blankenburg have been
working together since 1997 as the city triangle at the Saalebogen. A
public discussion about a possible permanent merger of the three cities
into a new large city quickly petered out. At administrative level,
however, sensible possible partial cooperation is still being discussed.
A result is i.a. the merging of the city's business development offices
into a regional business development agency in July 2007. There are also
plans to set up a higher quality educational institution. Various
properties were presented to the Ministry of Science as a location for a
technical college or vocational academy.
The city of Saalfeld is a member of a municipal working group for economic development, which operates an economic development agency together with the district of Saalfeld-Rudolstadt and the cities of Rudolstadt and Bad Blankenburg.
The economy of Saalfeld is dominated by small and medium-sized
businesses that cover almost the entire spectrum of industries. The
city's largest employer is Samag Saalfelder Werkzeugmaschinen GmbH, a
mechanical engineering company with a total of around 740 employees. The
second largest company in Saalfeld is Trumpf Medizin Systeme GmbH, which
has around 310 employees and manufactures medical devices. The Maxhütte
Unterwellenborn in the neighboring town of Unterwellenborn is also
historically significant, where many people from Saalfeld found and
still find work. It operates today as Stahlwerke Thüringen and employs
around 650 people.
Another well-known company from the GDR era
was the chocolate manufacturer Rotstern (including Schlager-Süßtafel).
The brothers Alfred and Felix Mauxion bought the Saalfeld Neumühle in
1901 and opened a modern chocolate factory here. In 1917 Ernst Hüther
took over the company and led Mauxion to its heyday. The company
employed up to 1,800 people in the production of cocoa powder, chocolate
bars, pralines, desserts, chocolate milk and cocoa drinks. Today, the
city's confectionery industry is represented by the Feengrotten
chocolate factory and a Stollwerck factory, and Scho-Ka-Kola is also
produced in Saalfeld. There is also the brewery "Bürgerliches Brauhaus
Saalfeld" in the city. Since 1673 the Wiedemannsche printers have been
based in Saalfeld.
In the field of health, the Dr. Ebel
Fachklinik Bergfried specializes in psychosomatics and psychotherapy.
Street
Saalfeld is connected to the federal highway network via
federal highways 85 (Weimar-Kronach) and 281 (Eisfeld-Gera). The B 88
(Ilmenau-Jena) and the B 90 to Hof also run near the city. A bypass as
an expressway north of the city has been completed. It is part of the
expansion of the B 85/B 281 Rudolstadt-Saalfeld-A 9 AS Triptis. The city
is not connected to the motorway network, the construction of a feeder
motorway to the A 71 to Arnstadt was discussed, but then rejected.
Instead, the construction of the federal highway 90n
Rudolstadt-Stadtilm-A 71 is planned. The A 9 is 35 km to the east, the A
4 runs 40 km north and the A 71 30 km west of Saalfeld.
railroad
Saalfeld is a railway junction. The city has the Saalfeld (Saale) train
station as the most important junction in East Thuringia.
RegionalExpress trains run from Saalfeld to Jena, Leipzig, Gera and
Nuremberg, as well as regional trains to Erfurt, Naumburg, Gera, Bad
Lobenstein-Blankenstein and Lichtenfels. The railway line to Sonneberg
via Probstzella was closed in 1997 and the railway line to Hof was
interrupted by the inner-German border in 1945. Today it is only used as
far as Blankenstein, but the reconstruction of a five-kilometer section
of the Höllentalbahn is under discussion.
In December 2017,
Saalfeld lost its ICE stop, as high-speed traffic has since been handled
via the new Nuremberg-Erfurt high-speed line.
long-distance
Saalfeld is on the Saale cycle path, the Saale-Orla path, the
Eisenach-Budapest mountain hiking path and the Feengrotten-Kyffhäuser
path.
In Saalfeld, the Ostthüringer Zeitung is published as a daily
newspaper with a local edition.
With SRB, Saalfeld has a regional
citizens' media station that operated purely as a television station
until May 2009 and from then on as a radio station with a smaller
television component for the entire region. The carrier of the SRB as an
open channel is a registered association. In addition to the program,
the sponsoring association is particularly involved in the area of
teaching media skills. The supporting association of the SRB, the Offene
Kanal Saalfeld e. V., is made up primarily of social and societal
service providers. This achieves a broad anchoring of the idea of
community media in the region. The city of Saalfeld itself is a member
of the sponsoring association. Mathias Moersch has been the chairman of
the association from the start. In terms of status, the open channel in
Saalfeld can be assigned to public broadcasting.
The SRB only
operates television for the purposes of training, for the deaf editorial
team and for regional events. The main focus is on the radio program on
the VHF frequency 105.2 MHz and in the regional cable networks.
A
regional studio of MDR radio is also present in Saalfeld.
Another
transmitter is the Saale Info Channel (SIK for short). Its program
consists of still images and videos of events and classified ads by the
city's citizens and companies. According to the Thuringian state media
law, distribution is limited to the local cable network and thus reaches
around 9,000 households in and around Saalfeld.
The Thuringia clinics "Georgius Agricola" are a network of public
hospitals with locations in Pößneck, Rudolstadt and Saalfeld.
Saalfeld is the seat of one of the seven police departments of the
Thuringian police.
There are two high schools in Saalfeld, the Heinrich-Böll-Gymnasium and the Erasmus-Reinhold-Gymnasium in Gorndorf. There are also two state schools, three elementary schools and two state support centers with a focus on mental development and learning support. The district town is also the location of the SBBS medical technical school in Saalfeld "Georgius Agricola" as well as several independently run schools (primary, regular and vocational schools). Furthermore, since 1995, the Saalfeld training center of the ver.di trade union has been located near the keep, the only one in the new federal states.