Saxony-Anhalt is a parliamentary republic and as a state a partially
sovereign member state of the Federal Republic of Germany. The flat
country has about 2.17 million inhabitants. The two largest cities in
the state are the state capital of Magdeburg and Halle (Saale), and
Dessau-Roßlau is another regional center.
The state was created
on July 21, 1947 through the unification of the Free State of Anhalt
with the Prussian provinces of Magdeburg and Halle-Merseburg, which the
Free State of Prussia had created on July 1, 1944 by dividing its
province of Saxony. The state of Saxony-Anhalt was divided into
districts with the GDR administrative reform and has existed in its
current form since German reunification on October 3, 1990. It is
divided into eleven districts and three urban districts. Neighboring
states are Lower Saxony, Brandenburg, Saxony and Thuringia, and from
1990 to 1992 also Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania.
Saxony-Anhalt is
located in the center of Germany and Central Europe. It is crossed by
one of the most important west-east connections in Europe (A 2) and one
of the most important north-south connections of the continent (A 9,
once Via Imperii). The southern part of Saxony-Anhalt belongs to the
metropolitan region of central Germany. The state borders on the
metropolitan regions of Hamburg, Berlin-Brandenburg and Hanover and due
to its large north-south extent (around 210 kilometers), the
southernmost part is only around 60 kilometers (as the crow flies) from
the border with Bavaria.
Saxony-Anhalt has five UNESCO World
Heritage Sites - the Bauhaus, the Dessau-Wörlitz Garden Realm, the
Luther memorials in Eisleben and Wittenberg, the old town of Quedlinburg
and Naumburg Cathedral. The country has a variety of castles, palaces
and churches as well as other valuable cultural monuments. With several
universities and research institutes, Halle and Magdeburg are scientific
centers.
Saxony-Anhalt can be roughly divided into eight travel regions:
In the north of the state are the rather sparsely populated, largely
agricultural Altmark west of the Elbe and the Jerichower Land in the
east of the Elbe, both of which are part of the Elbniederung natural
area.
The Magdeburger Börde south of it is fertile farmland between
the Altmark, Elbe and Mansfelder Land and with the state capital
Magdeburg the central region of Saxony-Anhalt.
The low mountain range
landscape of the Harz with the Brocken as the highest mountain in the
country lies in the west.
Anhalt-Wittenberg in the east with the
cultural landscape of the Dessau-Wörlitz Garden Kingdom and the
transition area to the elongated Fläming mountain range on the border
with Brandenburg, the "Vorfläming".
The Lower Saale Valley Slightly
hilly landscape between Calbe and Halle.
The central German chemical
triangle is the conurbation and industrial region around the largest
city in the state of Halle in the border area with Saxony.
The
Mansfeld region between the Harz Mountains and the greater Halle area is
characterized by mining for copper and other metals that dates back to
the Middle Ages.
In the south of the state, the Saale-Unstrut region
reproduces a landscape of strata and a wine-growing area in transition
1
Magdeburg. It is the state capital
of Saxony-Anhalt with around 235,000 inhabitants. Magdeburg is one of
the oldest cities in the region and was of national importance as an
imperial residence and bishopric as early as the Middle Ages; many
cities in eastern Central Europe and Eastern Europe, as far as Minsk and
Kiev, were founded under Magdeburg law. The city was almost completely
destroyed twice in history: in the Thirty Years' War by Catholic troops
and in World War II by Allied air raids. Magdeburg, with its cathedral
in the center, has changed its character several times from a medieval
residential and commercial city to a Prussian fortress to a green city
with a wide variety of architecture.
2
Halle. Although scarce, the
university town on the Saale is the largest city in the state in terms
of population, with just over 235,000 inhabitants. The city, which
became rich through salt production, has been able to largely preserve
its historic city center around the market square and Hallmarkt, which
today, freshly renovated, radiates a lively urbanity. The socialist
planned city of Halle-Neustadt on the west bank of the Saale was the
largest new building project in the GDR outside of Berlin.
Dessau, Bauhaus building
3 Dessau-Roßlau. It
is the third largest city in the country and with the Bauhaus building,
the Masters' Houses and the grounds and palaces of the Dessau-Wörlitz
Garden Kingdom, it is one of the few cities in the world that can boast
two UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
4 Wittenberg. The Lutherstadt,
cradle of the Reformation, still shows numerous original scenes from the
work of Martin Luther and his comrades-in-arms with its intact old town.
The city has been decked out in a rare splendor since the 500th
anniversary of Martin Luther's posting of his theses in 1517.
Other cities:
are:
5 Bernburg. The pearl of the Saale valley and former residence
of the princes of Anhalt-Bernburg.
6
Eisleben. In the mining region
of the Mansfelder Land, where Luther was born and died.
7
Halberstadt. Already an important bishop's seat in the Middle Ages.
8
Merseburg. Cathedral city on the Saale and bishopric.
9
Naumburg
(Saale). Cathedral city on the Saale.
10
Quedlinburg. Romantic
half-timbered town and once an important monastery.
11 Wernigerode.
Half-timbered town on the edge of the Harz Mountains.
Osterwieck
Stendal
Stolberg
Thale
Lutherstadt Wittenberg
Falkenstein Castle
Huysburg
Rudelsburg
Stecklenburg
Dessau-Wörlitz Garden Realm
Giebichenstein Castle
UNESCO World Heritage Sites Saxony-Anhalt is the German
state with the largest number of UNESCO World Heritage Sites. These
include the old town of Quedlinburg, the Garden Kingdom of
Dessau-Wörlitz, the Bauhaus in Dessau, the Luther sites in Wittenberg
and Eisleben, and Naumburg Cathedral.
Middle Elbe biosphere reserve:
Large parts of the Elbe and Mulde rivers are specially protected as a
biosphere reserve. Visitor centers are located in Kapen near Dessau, in
Magdeburg and Havelberg.
Water sports: is possible on the calm waters
of the Arendsee in the Altmark, the Süßen See in the Mansfelder Land as
well as the opencast mining lakes Geiseltalsee near Merseburg, the
Goitzschesee near Bitterfeld and some dams in the Harz Mountains,
including the Rappbodetalsperre. Waters of tourist interest are grouped
together in the Blue Belt themed route.
Themed routes: The Romanesque
Road, which leads to around 60 Romanesque-style buildings, from the
cathedrals in Magdeburg, Halberstadt or Naumburg to village stone
churches, is being developed for tourism. Around 30 historic parks are
grouped together in the Garden Dreams themed route. Skyways lead to the
Bronze and Stone Age astronomical sites in the south of the country,
including the Nebra Sky Disc.
The rich history of the region from the
Middle Ages and the Reformation is revealed, among other things, by:
Fürstenstraße of the Wettins
Luther Trail Saxony-Anhalt
Prince-Franz-Weg
Saxony-Anhalt is not
an established territory. As with other "hyphenated countries", a common
identity has only recently emerged. The federal state consists of parts
of the former Prussian province of Saxony and the former Duchy of
Anhalt. The Prussian province of Saxony was in turn made up of the
Altmark, Prussian heartland, the former Duchy of Magdeburg, which became
Prussian after the Thirty Years' War, and areas in the south that were
Saxon and became Prussian in 1815 as a result of the Congress of Vienna.
Since the former Duchy of Anhalt was often fragmented in its history,
Saxony-Anhalt has an amazing diversity and numerous residence cities. An
administrative unit of Saxony-Anhalt was first created in 1946 after the
defeat of Prussia, but was divided into the districts of Halle and
Magdeburg in 1952.
The newly founded state of Saxony-Anhalt has
been part of the Federal Republic of Germany since 1990. Since then,
together with Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, it has been one of the
economically weakest federal states on the one hand, but on the other
hand it has enormous cultural wealth from the Middle Ages as well as the
Reformation and later, making it a federal state that is rarely visited
and that does not come close to exhausting its tourist potential .
However, the history of the areas belonging to Saxony-Anhalt is much older than today's member state. Traces of human settlement can be traced far back. The settlement was favored by fertile loess soils on the northern edges of the low mountain range. Evidence of an early cultural development is, for example, the Neolithic circular ditch at Goseck (presumed "solar observatory") from the early 5th millennium BC. BC, the megalithic tomb Langeneichstädt from 3500-2800 BC. or the Bronze Age Nebra Sky Disc from around 2000 BC.
In the early Middle Ages, the north and west of today's
state (up to the Elbe and Saale) belonged to the tribal duchy of Saxony
(together with today's Lower Saxony, Westphalia and Schleswig-Holstein).
Halberstadt became a bishopric in the 9th century. Also in the 9th
century, the Merseburg spells, which are important in terms of
linguistic and cultural history, were recorded. During the reign of the
Ottonians as East Franconian-German kings and Roman emperors (10th to
11th centuries), one of the most important political and cultural
centers of the empire was here. The four Ottonian rulers from Heinrich I
to Otto III. often stayed in the royal or imperial palace of Memleben.
Otto I (the Great) had one of his favorite imperial palaces in Magdeburg
and founded the Archdiocese of Magdeburg in 969. From the 10th to the
12th century, the Roman-German rulers regularly spent Easter in their
palace in Quedlinburg. In this city - since it was hardly destroyed
during the war - the medieval city layout and historical buildings can
still be viewed very well. During this time, numerous Romanesque
churches, monasteries, cathedrals and castles were built throughout the
region. The most important are lined up along the Romanesque Route. No
other German country has such a high density of Romanesque monuments.
In the High Middle Ages, a number of hilltop castles were built
along the Saale, the ruins of which later appeared to the poets and
artists of the Romantic era as downright ideal - think of the folk song
"On the Saale bright beach, castles stand proud and bold". The most
famous example is the Rudelsburg in Bad Kösen. The donor figures by the
anonymous "Naumburg Master" from the 13th century in Naumburg Cathedral
are among the most important sculptures of the European Middle Ages and
were ahead of their time with their individual, realistic facial
features. The figure of the founder Uta is sometimes described as the
"most beautiful woman of the Middle Ages".
Saxony-Anhalt can also be described as a homeland of the
Reformation in Germany. The most important German reformer, Martin
Luther, was born in Eisleben in 1483 (and died there in 1546). He
studied at the University of Wittenberg, founded in 1502, and later
became a professor there. He also published his famous 95 theses in
Wittenberg in 1517, thereby setting the Reformation in motion. In the
years that followed, students flocked from all over Europe to hear
Luther's lectures. The Electorate of Saxony, which included much of what
is now Saxony-Anhalt, was one of the first territories to officially
embrace the Reformation. Up until the 20th century, the vast majority of
the population of Saxony-Anhalt was Protestant (today, however, around
80% do not belong to any religious community at all).
During the
Thirty Years' War (1618-1648), the area in the center of Germany was
repeatedly traversed by changing armies and suffered greatly as a
result. The evangelical Magdeburg was completely devastated by imperial
troops in 1631 during the so-called blood wedding. The word
"magdeburgize" entered the German language with the meaning "completely
destroy, wipe out" or "spread the greatest possible terror".
At
the same time, the region was a stronghold of education and science. As
early as 1540, there was a renowned princely school in Schulpforta. From
1617 to 1650, the “Fruit-bearing Society” for the cultivation of the
German language and culture had its headquarters in Köthen, the
residence of the small principality of Anhalt Findings about air
pressure and vacuum could be demonstrated. August Hermann Francke
founded the Francke Foundation in Halle in 1698, which developed from a
school for the poor into a comprehensive collection of cultural,
scientific, educational and social institutions.
The ruling house
of Anhalt successfully participated in European marriage policy: the
Dutch royal family has connections to Oranienbaum and the Russian
Tsarina Catherine the Great was originally a princess of Anhalt-Zerbst.
The famous composer Johann Sebastian Bach lived and worked in Köthen
from 1717 to 1723. Johann Joachim Winckelmann, who came from Stendal,
laid the foundation for the Classicist era with his work on archeology
and art history in antiquity. Prince Leopold III. Friedrich Franz von
Anhalt-Dessau, a model of an enlightened and art-loving monarch, had the
Dessau-Wörlitz Garden Kingdom designed from 1769.
Today's Saxony-Anhalt was traditionally in the middle of Germany (due to
the loss of the eastern territories and the shift of focus to the west
after 1945, this is no longer entirely true). With the fertile black
soil of the Börde area, it was one of Germany's breadbaskets.
Significant branches of industry also developed. Hugo Junkers is
probably one of the most important names in the industrial history of
Saxony-Anhalt. He initially founded an engine factory in Magdeburg in
1913, but the aircraft factory founded in Dessau in 1919 with the
legendary model Ju 52 (“Tante Ju”), which was produced from 1932, is
particularly well known.
The State Bauhaus, at the time the most
important and pioneering school of art, design and architecture, moved
from Weimar to Dessau in 1925. The Bauhaus Dessau built for this school
is an icon of modern architecture. With the Masters' Houses and the
Törten settlement, further early examples of this new architectural
style emerged in Dessau. The first tubular steel furniture, above all
the well-known cantilever chair, was also developed here.
Bitterfeld, Wolfen, Schkopau and Leuna (near Merseburg) played an
important role in the development of Germany's chemical industry. From
1916, BASF synthesized ammonia in Leuna. Agfa in Wolfen developed modern
color film in 1936. Rubber was synthesized in the Buna works in Schkopau
from 1937. In the GDR era, there was massive pollution of the
environment in the "chemical triangle" Leuna, Buna and
Bitterfeld/Wolfen.
Since there was a lack of the classic raw
material petroleum, both the Nazis and the GDR promoted the manufacture
of chemical products based on lignite. In addition, this raw material
was the number one energy supplier in the GDR. Brown coal is also found
in large quantities in the south and east of Saxony-Anhalt (around
Merseburg, Querfurt, Bitterfeld). The opencast mines with their
bucket-wheel excavators transformed large areas into “lunar landscapes”.
In more recent times, these have been renatured and turned into lakes
and recreation areas (Central German Lake District). In Ferropolis, the
"City of Iron", near Gräfenhainichen, on the other hand, the huge
excavators were left behind to commemorate the mining heritage and to
serve as a backdrop for concerts.
In the north, Saxony-Anhalt is characterized by flat land. In the
sparsely populated Altmark there are old Hanseatic towns such as
Salzwedel, Gardelegen, Stendal and Tangermünde. The Colbitz-Letzlinger
Heide and the Drömling form the transition from the Altmark to the
Elbe-Börde-Heide region with the fertile, sparsely forested Magdeburger
Börde. In the Magdeburg Börde are the cities of Haldensleben,
Oschersleben (Bode), Wanzleben-Börde, Schönebeck (Elbe), Aschersleben
and Magdeburg, from which the region derives its name.
In the
southwest lies the Harz Mountains with the cross-border Harz National
Park, the Harz Foreland and the Mansfelder Land as well as the cities of
Halberstadt, Quedlinburg, Wernigerode, Thale, Lutherstadt Eisleben and
Sangerhausen.
The metropolitan area of Halle
(Saale)/Merseburg/Bitterfeld-Wolfen (also known as the "Chemical
Triangle") is located on the border with Saxony and extends as far as
Leipzig in Saxony. The chemical industry has been based here with its
economic focus in Leuna since the end of the 19th and beginning of the
20th century.
Zeitz, Naumburg (Saale), Weißenfels and Freyburg
(Unstrut) are located on the Saale, the Weißen Elster and the Unstrut in
the south of the state, where the Saale-Unstrut region is located.
Finally, Saxony-Anhalt also includes the region of Anhalt-Wittenberg in
the east, with Dessau-Roßlau, the third-largest city in the state, which
emerged from the old Anhalt residential city of Dessau, Lutherstadt
Wittenberg and part of Fläming.
Altmark
Anhalt-Wittenberg
chemistry triangle
Magdeburg
region
Mansfeld country
East Westphalia
Saale-Unstrut region
The following rivers and/or streams flow through Saxony-Anhalt in
whole or in part. Well-known watercourses (with their total length) are:
Elbe (1094 km)
Saale (413 km)
Havel (325 km)
Mulde (124 km,
with Zwickauer Mulde 290 km)
All (263 km)
White Magpie (257 km)
Unstrut (192 km)
Black Magpie (188 km)
Bode (140 km, with Rappbode
169 km)
Oker (128 km)
Ears (110 km)
Milde-Biese-Aland (97 km)
Wipper (85 km)
Jeetze (73 km, in Lower Saxony Jeetzel)
Helmets (65
km)
Fuhne (59 km)
Großer Graben/Schiffgraben (46 km)
Ehle (40
km)
Use (40 km)
Tangier (33 km)
Saxony-Anhalt originally only had a few lakes. Where salts occur in
the subsoil, representatives such as the Arendsee in the Altmark and the
Mansfeld lakes, sweet and salty lakes, were formed as a result of
subsidence. The majority of the larger lakes in Saxony-Anhalt, on the
other hand, are man-made. Most of them were created by the renaturation
of old opencast mines left over from lignite mining. The following list
provides an overview of the largest lakes in Saxony-Anhalt:
Geiseltalsee (1840 ha)
Big Goitzschesee (1332 ha)
Gremmin Lake
(544 ha)
Arendsee (514 ha)
Lake Concordia (350 ha)
Wallendorfer
See (338 ha)
Raßnitz Lake (310 ha)
Sweet Lake (238 ha)
Bergwitzsee (172 ha)
Lake Barleber (100 ha)
Horseshoe Lake (70 ha)
Lake Neustadt (60 ha)
Ddams
Mulde
reservoir, Rappbode dam, Kelbra dam, Wipper dam
The regional geology of Saxony-Anhalt is characterized by repeated
occurrences of Hercynian and Variscan trending faults, which separate
various fault blocks from one another. This allows zones with outcrops
of rocks of different age groups to be separated laterally. The
following should be mentioned as significant fracture blocks.
In
the south is the Halle-Merseburg floe, in which there are mainly
Mesozoic sedimentary rocks (Zechstein, Buntsandstein, Muschelkalk),
which are covered by younger loose sediments.
In the adjacent
Halle-Wittenberg floe to the north-east, there are predominantly Permian
Rotliegend sedimentites and volcanic rocks such as rhyolite, which are
covered by younger loose sediments such as Tertiary lignite and
Pleistocene boulder clay.
In the Harz floe, which is located in the
west of the federal state, there is a large area of Paleozoic, Variscan
folded basement with clay slate, greywacke, limestone, granite and
others. open minded.
In Subhercyn, which adjoins to the north, the
sedimentary rocks of the Mesozoic and younger are again present. Salt
domes and salt pillows of Permian age also occur there in the deeper
subsoil be dismantled in Stassfurt and Bernburg.
In the
Flechtingen-Roßlau floe, which connects to the north again, the Variscan
bedrock is again present in connection with Rotliegend sediments.
To
the north, in the Altmark-Fläming-Schelle, there are thick tertiary and
quaternary loose sediments. Salt domes and salt cushions are also
present in the deeper underground.
Saxony-Anhalt is a mining area for
tertiary lignite, with which a relevant share of the electricity mix is
generated.
The LAGB and the Institute for Geosciences and
Geography at the Martin Luther University in Halle (Saale) are important
geoscience institutions in Saxony-Anhalt.
Ethnic groups
In the 7th century AD, the
population in what is now Saxony-Anhalt was made up of people from Lower
Saxony (East Westphalia) and Thuringia. In addition, there were the Elbe
Slavs who had been Christianized in the course of the German
Ostsiedlung. Descendants of the Flemings and Huguenots who immigrated in
the past centuries as well as other persecuted ethnic groups who found
refuge with the early modern sovereigns in today's Saxony-Anhalt also
live in Saxony-Anhalt. After the Second World War, displaced persons and
refugees from the former eastern German territories and Czechoslovakia
settled here. From 1990, Russian-German late resettlers moved to
Saxony-Anhalt. The proportion of foreign immigrants is comparatively
small; the proportion of foreigners was 4.5% at the end of March 2017.
The Vietnamese are the largest group, followed by Russians and
Ukrainians.
The historically correct term for the residents of
the state, supported by the state authorities, is Sachsen-Anhalt, the
corresponding adjective Sachsen-Anhaltisch. In addition, the terms
Sachsen-Anhaltiner and the expression Sachsen-Anhaltinisch listed in the
dictionary are incorrectly used in colloquial language, although
'Anhaltinisch' means a reference to the noble family of the Anhalt line
of the Ascanians.
Saxony-Anhalt belongs to both the Low German and the Central German language area. A colored High German is spoken in the state today, which has a large number of specific phrases from Mark-Brandenburg, but is also influenced by Thuringian-Upper Saxon, especially in the southern parts of the state. In the northern part, in the Altmark and in the Börde, older speakers still speak Low German. The Mansfäller dialect can be found in the Mansfelder Land, a dialect that is difficult for non-locals to understand.
About 80% of the citizens are non-denominational. At the end of 2021,
14.3% of the residents in Saxony-Anhalt belonged to one of the two major
Christian denominations. Of these, 11.1% of the population were members
of the Protestant state churches and 3.2% of Saxony-Anhalt were Roman
Catholic. In 2018, 15.3% of residents belonged to one of the two major
Christian denominations. Of these, 11.9% of the population were members
of the Evangelical regional churches, of which the Evangelical Church in
Central Germany and the Evangelical Church of Anhalt have the most
members; 3.3% of Saxony-Anhalt were Roman Catholic and mainly assigned
to the Diocese of Magdeburg and, to a lesser extent, to the Archdiocese
of Berlin (town of Havelberg).
As early as the first half of the
20th century, the region of Saxony-Anhalt was one of the areas with a
comparatively high proportion of people without a religious affiliation.
This can also be attributed to the fact that the GDR promoted the
dissolution of church ties.
Even after the peaceful revolution in
1989, the trend continued to decline for the evangelical and catholic
regional churches. The number of Protestant and Catholic Christians in
Saxony-Anhalt is falling continuously. On average, their number fell by
0.4 percentage points per year between 2001 and 2018. Saxony-Anhalt
currently has the lowest rate of church-bound residents in Germany.
80,000 residents belong to other denominations, around 11,000 of them to
the New Apostolic Church and 45,000 to other religions (Judaism,
Jehovah's Witnesses, Islam). Compared to many other German countries,
the proportion of Muslim citizens is very small.
Saxony-Anhalt
pays around 35 million euros in state benefits to the Evangelical and
Roman Catholic Churches each year. Although Saxony-Anhalt has the lowest
proportion of members of these churches in a comparison of the federal
states, the highest amount of state benefits is paid there per
inhabitant. Even if the state benefits are apportioned to the church
members, Saxony-Anhalt leads the state comparison with 108 euros per
church member per year.
In 2005, 1,270,763 vaccinations were carried out by 1,949 resident
doctors in Saxony-Anhalt. In addition, there are a small number of
vaccinations by the health authorities. 824,064 people were vaccinated
against influenza (“real flu”), the proportion of the population who are
vaccinated against influenza is estimated at 33 percent.
Since
2008, Saxony-Anhalt has been struggling with a shortage of doctors in
both the outpatient and inpatient areas, which is being counteracted by
hiring doctors from Eastern Europe and Austria. In 2000 there were 1654
general practitioners, in 2007 there were 1437. The number of working
doctors increased - almost exclusively due to the increase in the number
of foreign, working doctors - from 9200 (2016) to 9499 (2019), with the
average age among other things of both practicing doctors and patients
has continued to rise and more and more doctors only work part-time,
which is why the increasing number of doctors – from the point of view
of the Medical Association – is far from sufficient to compensate for
the shortage of doctors. Although the density of doctors in
Saxony-Anhalt (one doctor per 236 inhabitants) is higher than in
Brandenburg (249 inhabitants per doctor) and Lower Saxony (242
inhabitants per doctor), many Brandenburgers use the offers in Berlin
and many Lower Saxony visit practices in Hamburg and Bremen, the average
age of working doctors and patients in Saxony-Anhalt – and thus the
“burden of illness” per inhabitant – is higher. The chairs for general
medicine that have been set up at the universities in Halle and
Magdeburg since 2010, the quota for rural doctors implemented for the
first time in 2020 and better organization of specialist training are
measures that are intended to counteract the threat of a further
worsening of the shortage of doctors - especially with regard to family
doctors in rural areas.
Average life expectancy in 2015/17 was
76.2 years for men and 82.5 years for women. Men thus rank 16th among
the German federal states, while women rank 14th. Both values are below
the national average, but significantly – by almost seven and almost six
years respectively – above the values of 1990. Regionally, in 2013/15
Magdeburg (total population: 80.07 years), Dessau-Roßlau (79.88) and the
Saalekreis (79.78) has the highest life expectancy and Altmarkkreis
Salzwedel (78.79), Stendal district (78.77) and Salzlandkreis (78.41)
have the lowest life expectancy.
On December 31, 2019, Saxony-Anhalt had almost 2.2 million
inhabitants. The population has been declining for a long time. This
trend began even before German reunification. The reasons for this are
the small number of newborns and the migration from Saxony-Anhalt to
other regions, with a positive migration balance since 2014 and since
2019 also with regard to the internal migration of the German
population.
In 2015, the population grew by 9,922 people. Despite
a slight increase in the number of births since 1994, the net
reproduction rate has only reached about 50 percent.
The
proportion of foreigners (residents without German citizenship; dual
nationals do not count as foreigners) was 2.8 percent in Saxony-Anhalt
on December 31, 2014, making it the third lowest in comparison to the
other German states – after Thuringia and Brandenburg.
The
fertility rate per woman was 1.61 children in 2017, slightly above the
national average of 1.57 children.
Constitution
The constitution of the state of Saxony-Anhalt was
passed by the state parliament of Saxony-Anhalt in 1992. It is divided
into four main parts.
Choose
In the first free elections after
the state was (re)founded in 1990, the CDU (39.0 percent) and the FDP,
which at 13.5 percent achieved their best result in East Germany to
date, formed a black-yellow coalition led by Prime Minister Gerd Gies
(CDU). Gies resigned in July 1991, and was succeeded by Werner Münch
(CDU), who had previously been finance minister. When Münch also
resigned in November 1993, Christoph Bergner (CDU) was elected Prime
Minister. High unemployment and the poor economic situation in the
former focus area of the chemical industry and heavy engineering led to
a high level of dissatisfaction among voters with the black-yellow
coalition. In the state elections of 1994, the SPD drew almost level
with the CDU (34.4 percent) with 34 percent. However, since the FDP left
the state parliament with 3.6 percent, the CDU lost its coalition
partner. The SPD's top candidate, Reinhard Höppner, was initially able
to form a red-green minority coalition with the Greens, with the PDS'
tolerance. After the Greens left the state parliament in the 1998 state
elections, Höppner formed an SPD minority government tolerating the PDS.
This became known as the Magdeburg model. The success of the DVU, which
is considered right-wing extremist, also caused a sensation in this
election, which achieved 12.9 percent.
With the elections to the
fourth state parliament of Saxony-Anhalt in March 2002, the previously
governing SPD fell behind the CDU and PDS with double-digit losses and
only became the third-strongest party in the state parliament. The DVU
was broken up by internal disputes and left the state parliament again.
On the other hand, the FDP was able to re-enter the state parliament
with a result of 13.3 percent. The CDU and FDP formed the government
under the new Prime Minister Wolfgang Böhmer. In the 2006 state
elections, the FDP suffered losses of 6.7 percent, and it was no longer
enough to form a new coalition with the CDU (36.2 percent). Therefore,
the CDU formed a grand coalition with the SPD under the renewed Prime
Minister Böhmer. In the 2011 state election, the Greens were able to
re-enter the state parliament for the first time since 1998, after
failing to clear the five percent hurdle in 2006. The FDP left the state
parliament with renewed losses and a result of 3.8 percent. A
mathematically possible red-red coalition led by the left (23.7 percent)
was strictly ruled out by the SPD (21.5 percent) with its top candidate
Jens Bullerjahn, since the left claimed the post of prime minister.
Thus, the CDU and SPD again formed a grand coalition under the new Prime
Minister Reiner Haseloff (CDU). Incumbent Böhmer did not stand for
re-election for reasons of age. From 1994 to 2016, Saxony-Anhalt had a
four-party parliament with changing participation.
In the state
elections on March 13, 2016, the majorities changed significantly: the
AfD, which was running for the first time, achieved 24.3 percent of the
votes and replaced the left as the second strongest force in the state
parliament. The Left Party itself took third place with significant
losses and 16.3 percent, while the SPD fell from 21.5 percent of the
votes to 10.6 percent and thus only managed fourth place. Furthermore,
the CDU was the strongest with 29.8 percent, the Greens were fifth.
For the first time in the country's history, the CDU and SPD failed
to achieve an independent majority, so that Prime Minister Rainer
Haseloff formed the first nationwide "Kenya coalition" made up of the
CDU, SPD and Bündnis 90/Die Grünen.
President of the State
Parliament of Saxony-Anhalt
1946–1948 Bruno Böttge, SED
1948-1950
Adam Wolfram, SED
1950-1952 Michael Schroeder, SED
1990-1998 Klaus
Keitel, CDU
1998-2002 Wolfgang Schaefer, SPD
2002-2006 Adolf
Spotka, CDU
2006-2011 Dieter Steinecke, CDU
2011-1 December 2015
Detlef Gürth, CDU
December 9, 2015-2016 Dieter Steinecke, CDU
April 12, 2016 to August 21, 2016 Hardy Güssau, CDU
September 1, 2016
to July 6, 2021 Gabriele Brakebusch, CDU
since July 6, 2021 Gunnar
Schellenberger, CDU
The state capital of Magdeburg is the seat of the Saxony-Anhalt state radio station, which belongs to Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk. The media authority of Saxony-Anhalt is based in Halle (Saale). In some areas there are private television channels such as Magdeburger Fernsehen 1, RAN 1, Harz regional television or TV Halle. The largest daily newspapers are the Volksstimme, which appears in Magdeburg, and the Mitteldeutsche Zeitung in Halle (Saale), each with a circulation of around 190,000 copies.
With the division of the federal
states into districts, the area of today's Saxony-Anhalt was essentially
divided into the two districts of Halle and Magdeburg in 1952. In the
planned economy of the GDR, the district of Halle was developed into a
chemical location, characterized by large chemical factories in Leuna
(Leunawerke), Schkopau (Buna-Werke) and Bitterfeld/Wolfen, which still
form the so-called Central German Chemical Triangle today. Tens of
thousands of workers were also employed in the Central German lignite
mining area, which includes the Geiseltal and Bitterfeld mining areas,
as well as copper ore mining in the Mansfeld region and around
Sangerhausen. The economy in the district of Magdeburg, on the other
hand, was characterized on the one hand by large-scale agriculture in
the Börde and Altmark, and on the other hand by heavy machinery combines
such as SKET, the VEB Schwermaschinenbau "Karl Liebknecht" or the VEB
Schwermaschinenbau Georgi Dimitroff in Magdeburg, in which the numerous
mechanical engineering companies from the time before 1945 were
summarized.
Saxony-Anhalt dealt
with the economic structural change after 1990 with both success and
setbacks. The large combines had serious structural difficulties in the
transition to the social market economy, since their technical systems
were mostly completely outdated, were characterized by a high use of
labor and caused serious environmental damage. In particular, the
combines in mechanical engineering, the chemical triangle and mining
collapsed quickly after reunification, resulting in the loss of tens of
thousands of jobs. Unemployment rose from 10.3% (167,127 people) in 1991
to 16.5% (208,149 people) in 1995 to a high of 21.7% in 1998/1999 and
remained at this level, which was the highest in Germany at the time
over several years until 2005. From 2005, unemployment fell slowly and
continuously to 7.1% in October 2022. There is a gap within the federal
state: the rate in the Börde district was 4.7% in October 2022 and was
within the district Mansfeld-Südharz with 9.4 percent twice as high.
Overall, the country has enjoyed a slow but relatively steady
economic recovery since 1990. The gross domestic product (GDP) doubled
in seven years from 20.3 billion euros in 1991 to 42.7 billion euros in
1998. The next seven years up to 2005 were characterized by less
dynamics, the GDP only grew to 47.4 billion euros, which corresponds to
around ten percent growth. In 2006, growth picked up again and GDP rose
to 52.7 billion euros by 2008, which corresponds to around eleven
percent in three years. With a setback due to the financial and economic
crisis in 2009, the GDP in 2010 was 52.1 billion euros, which puts it in
12th place in a country comparison. In comparison with the GDP of the
EU, expressed in purchasing power standards, Saxony-Anhalt achieved an
index of 87.0 in 2014 (EU 28: 100 Germany: 126.0). The prosperity of
Saxony-Anhalt is below the national average, not only in terms of GDP
but also in terms of other indicators. With a wealth rate of 3.0%,
Saxony-Anhalt and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania took last place in a
comparison of the federal states in 2015 (national average 7.5%). In
contrast, in 2019 Saxony-Anhalt had the second highest poverty rate
after Bremen at 21.4% and the highest among the non-city states, almost
on a par with Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. However, if the calculation
of the at-risk-of-poverty rate is based on the median income of the
respective state (state median), i.e. if each federal state is
considered individually, Saxony-Anhalt is almost on par with Bavaria
(14.7%) and Bavaria with a rate of 14.8% better than the national
average (15.9%).
In 2020, Saxony-Anhalt was the federal state in
which economic output fell the least and thus showed the best economic
development nationwide.
In April 2021 - in the midst of the
COVID-19 pandemic - the unemployment rate in Saxony-Anhalt was 7.7%,
lower than in Hamburg (8%) and at the same level as in North
Rhine-Westphalia (7.7% ).
The region between Halle and Leipzig in Saxony is a key economic region that benefits in particular from good transport accessibility (motorways A 9, A 14, A 38, A 143, Leipzig-Halle Airport, Halle railway junction). Traditionally, the area with the "chemical triangle" is a focal point of the chemical and petroleum industry in Germany. The largest foreign investments in all of East Germany have been made in Leuna in recent years. The region north and west of Magdeburg, with its favorable location between Berlin and Hanover at the junction of the A2 and A14 and the waterway junction, has increasingly become a focal point for investment and settlement.
Saxony-Anhalt's food and beverages industry is characterized by nationally known brands such as Rotkummel, Hasseröder, Halloren, Kathi, Zetti, Argenta and Wikana. In addition, margarines (Rama, Lätta, Becel) and toast and bread brands (Golden Toast, Lieken Urkorn) are produced in Lutherstadt Wittenberg in Germany. Rotkummel-Mumm from Freyburg (Unstrut) is Germany's largest sparkling wine producer, Halloren from Halle is the oldest chocolate factory in the Federal Republic. Germany's largest mineral water producer (MEG Group) and the slaughterhouse in Tönnies are located in Weißenfels. The basis for the strong food industry is, among other things, the productive soil in the Magdeburg Börde.
Various raw materials were and are mined in Saxony-Anhalt. These include energy raw materials such as lignite near Bitterfeld, Halle, Weißenfels and Zeitz, which is mined in large open-cast mines (see Central German lignite mining area). Up until the 1980s, there was significant copper metallurgy in the state in the Mansfeld and Sangerhausen mining areas (see Mansfeld (company)). In Bernburg and in Morsleben there are mines for rock and potash salt. Iron ore was mined in the Harz Mountains. In addition, limestone is distributed throughout the country, e.g. for the production of concrete, as well as hard stone gravel for the construction industry.
The most important sectors
of the economy today are above all the chemical, mineral oil and
pharmaceutical industries (Dow Olefinverbund, Total Raffinerie
Mitteldeutschland, SKW Piesteritz, Salutas), the automotive supply
industry (IFA, Thyssenkrupp), mechanical engineering (FAM, EMAG, KSB),
the metal industry ( MKM, Novelis, Salzgitter, Trimet), health care
(Ameos, Salus) and tourism, supported by a publicly funded research
landscape. In addition to the traditional sectors, the service sector
and new industries such as the automotive industry, biotechnology,
information and communication technology, media, the wood industry,
renewable raw materials, wind energy and photovoltaics have also
established themselves as sectors. However, the country's relative
structural weakness remains, since new settlements of industrial
companies with tens of thousands of employees are unusual in highly
developed industrial countries such as Germany today.
In the
chemical industry in Saxony-Anhalt, fertilizers and nitrogen compounds
worth 808.6 million euros were produced in the state in 2017, which
corresponds to a 26 percent share of total production in Germany.
The pharmaceutical industry includes the plants of Bayer, Hexal, Dermapharm/Mibe, Klocke Group/IDT Biologika. For example, Bayer Bitterfeld is the site where aspirin is manufactured for the German market - about 10 billion tablets annually and more than 120 billion since 1995. In addition, a significant part (about 30%) of German vaccine production comes from Dessau-Roßlau (IDT biologics) and Brehna (Dermapharm/Mibe). Vaccines from AstraZeneca, Johnson and Johnson/Janssen and Biontech, among others, are produced here to combat the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Volkswagen
factory in Wolfsburg, a few kilometers west of the state border in Lower
Saxony, is one of the major employers for people in northern
Saxony-Anhalt.
In Saxony-Anhalt itself, around 270 automotive
suppliers employ around 26,000 people. One of the country's largest
automotive suppliers is the Haldensleben-based IFA Group, Europe's
largest manufacturer of cardan shafts. The automotive supply industry in
Saxony-Anhalt is organized in the MAHREG Automotive cluster.
The
largest commercial vehicle manufacturer in the world, Daimler Truck,
wants to build a new global logistics center with up to 600 new jobs
near Halberstadt by 2026.
The photovoltaic company Hanwha Q Cells has its technology
and innovation headquarters in Thalheim in the Solar Valley.
Saxony-Anhalt also has numerous companies active in electronic commerce.
Some of the first German internet pharmacies came from the country.
The startups Tesvolt and Ecosia were founded by Wittenbergers.
In the spring of 2022, the US semiconductor manufacturer Intel
announced that it would build two chip factories by 2026 on Eulenberg,
southwest of Magdeburg. With a volume of more than 17 billion euros,
this is the largest investment in a production facility in Germany in
decades.
Universities and research institutions
A distinctive research and
science landscape has developed in Saxony-Anhalt since 1990. In addition
to the Otto von Guericke University in Magdeburg and the Martin Luther
University in Halle-Wittenberg, the state of Saxony-Anhalt has nine
other universities:
Anhalt University
Harz University
University of Merseburg
Magdeburg-Stendal University of Applied
Sciences
Burg Giebichenstein University of Art and Design Halle
Evangelical University for Church Music Halle
Friedensau Theological
University
University of Applied Sciences Police Saxony-Anhalt
Steinbeis University Berlin, private technical college
Research
facilities of the large German research institutes have settled around
the two universities in particular. Today there are five institutes of
the Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Science Association, three Max Planck
Institutes, one Max Planck Research Center, two Fraunhofer facilities
and the locations of two large research facilities of the Helmholtz
Association. There is also the Julius Kühn Institute based in
Quedlinburg. Furthermore, the Robert Koch Institute maintains a property
with a focus on infectious diseases in Wernigerode.
Leibniz
Association
Leibniz Institute for Economic Research Halle
Leibniz
Institute for Agricultural Development in Transition Economies in Halle
Leibniz Institute for Neurobiology in Magdeburg
Leibniz Institute for
Plant Biochemistry in Halle
Leibniz Institute for Plant Genetics and
Crop Plant Research in Gatersleben
Max Planck Society
Max
Planck Institute for Dynamics of Complex Technical Systems in Magdeburg
Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology in Halle
Max Planck
Institute for Microstructure Physics in Halle
Max Planck Research
Center for Enzymology of Protein Folding in Halle
Fraunhofer
Society
Fraunhofer Institute for Factory Operation and Automation in
Magdeburg
Fraunhofer Institute for Mechanics of Materials in Halle
Fraunhofer Center for Silicon Photovoltaics in Halle
Fraunhofer
Institute for Cell Therapy and Immunology, Project Group Molecular Drug
Biochemistry and Therapy Development, Halle
Helmholtz Association
Helmholtz Center for Environmental Research - UFZ in Leipzig, Halle and
Magdeburg
German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases in Magdeburg
With partly explicit districts and locations for research institutes
such as the Science Port in Magdeburg and the Weinberg Campus in Halle,
the cities are trying to particularly support further establishments of
technology and research-related institutions.
With the German
Academy of Natural Sciences Leopoldina, the oldest permanently existing
natural research academy in the world is based in Saxony-Anhalt. On July
14, 2008, the Leopoldina was declared Germany's National Academy of
Sciences. It has been based in Halle since 1878.
In GDR times, the Stendal nuclear power plant was to be the largest
of its kind and would have become the largest nuclear power plant in
Germany with a total output of 4000 megawatts. The Schkopau power plant
is currently the largest power plant operated with fossil fuels and has
an output of 900 megawatts. The country's largest wind farm is located
between the towns of Biere and Borne; it has an output of 109 megawatts.
In the federal state comparison "Renewable Energy" in 2012,
Saxony-Anhalt was the winner in the category "Economic Engine". In the
overall ranking, although only in 5th place, the country is in a
particularly good position in terms of the economic and employment
effects of the renewable energy sector. The regional added value through
wind, sun and biomass is promoted through production facilities from
companies in the industry, but also through our own intensive use of
renewable energies. According to the state government's Energy Concept
2020, renewable energies should account for 20% of primary energy
consumption by 2020.
Wind energy is particularly important. In
2012, the wind turbines installed in Saxony-Anhalt were able to cover
around 55% of the state's net electricity requirements. This puts the
state in fourth place in Germany after Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. In
mid-2016, 2,731 wind turbines with a total output of 4,689 megawatts
were installed. In Anhalt in particular, the tradition of increased use
of wind power dates back to the 19th century.
The Saxony-Anhalt
State Statistical Office regularly publishes data on electricity
generation and consumption. In 2020, 24.7 billion kilowatt hours of
electricity were generated in Saxony-Anhalt. Of these, 15.5% were
generated by lignite (3.7 billion kilowatt hours) and 15.8% by natural
gas (3.9 billion kilowatt hours). Renewable energies (15.3 billion
kilowatt hours) accounted for the lion's share of electricity generation
at 62%. These 62% can be divided into 37.2% wind power (9.2 billion
kilowatt hours), 12.3% biomass (3.0 billion kilowatt hours), 11.1%
photovoltaics (2.7 billion kilowatt hours) and 8, 1% others such as
hydropower, waste incineration, sewage and landfill gas.
One of the first railway lines in Germany was opened in 1840 between
Köthen and Dessau. After the section-by-section expansion of the
so-called Anhalter Bahn via Wittenberg and Jüterbog, this route ended at
the Berlin Anhalter Bahnhof. Köthen became Germany's first railway
junction, since it was already on the Magdeburg-Leipzig railway. Their
route reached Köthen in June 1840, after traffic had started between
Magdeburg and Schönebeck in 1839.
Today, the most important
railway lines in the state are the line from Berlin to Hanover via
Stendal, known as the Lehrter Bahn, the Berlin–Halle railway as a
connection between Berlin and Munich, the Berlin–Magdeburg line, the
Magdeburg–Brunswick line with connections to Hanover, and the railway
line Magdeburg–Leipzig, which connects Magdeburg and Halle. In addition,
there is a network of other main and branch lines that connect the
cities of the state, for example from Magdeburg and Halle to the Harz
suburbs and the Harz Mountains. These routes are mainly served by the
Abellio Rail Mitteldeutschland transport company, which in Saxony-Anhalt
has the second most train kilometers after Deutsche Bahn. The Harz
Narrow Gauge Railways (HSB) serve primarily tourist purposes.
The
most important railway junctions are Halle and Magdeburg, and the
stations in Stendal, Halberstadt, Köthen, Dessau, Lutherstadt
Wittenberg, Bitterfeld, Weißenfels, Naumburg and Sangerhausen are also
important.
In the metropolitan areas of Magdeburg and Halle there
are S-Bahn trains (S-Bahn Mittelelbe, S-Bahn Mitteldeutschland).
Above all, five federal motorways that run through the state are of
supra-regional importance. The A 2 Berlin-Hanover runs in an east-west
direction in northern Saxony-Anhalt past Magdeburg, in the eastern part
of the state the A 9 Berlin-Munich runs in a north-south direction and
opens up the cities of Dessau, Bitterfeld, and Halle Weissenfels. The A
14 runs straight through Saxony-Anhalt from Dresden via Halle to
Magdeburg, touching on Bernburg, Stassfurt and Schönebeck. An extension
of this autobahn to the north via Stendal, Osterburg (Altmark) and
Wittenberge (Brandenburg) to the Dreieck Schwerin (Altmark autobahn) is
planned. The A 36 begins near Bernburg, which opens up the towns of
Aschersleben, Quedlinburg, Thale, Blankenburg (Harz) and Wernigerode
north of the Harz Mountains and leads to Braunschweig. In the south of
Saxony-Anhalt, the A 38 (Leipzig-Göttingen) runs in an east-west
direction, touches on Sangerhausen and opens up the southern Harz. This
autobahn is connected to the A 14 by the still unfinished A 143, which
runs west around the city of Halle and, after completion, will become
the Mitteldeutsche Loop, a double autobahn ring around the cities of
Halle and Leipzig. However, its completion has been prevented for
several years by environmental groups.
From Magdeburg, northern
Saxony-Anhalt is primarily accessible via the B 71 and B 189, which have
a high volume of traffic due to the lack of a motorway in this area. The
B 71 connects Haldensleben, Gardelegen and Salzwedel, the B 189 the
towns of Stendal, Osterburg (Altmark) and Seehausen (Altmark). The B 190
from Salzwedel to Seehausen connects the north of Saxony-Anhalt. The
continuation of the B 6 from the Bernburg motorway junction on the A 14
to the A 9 south of Dessau is already in operation as far as Köthen. The
last section between Köthen and the A 9 south of Dessau should be
completed in 2022.
Leipzig/Halle International Airport is located in Saxony between
Halle and Leipzig. Magdeburg Airport is located in Magdeburg and is
primarily used by sports and private pilots. Near the town of
Aschersleben there is Cochstedt Airport, which was idle for several
years and was used by Ryanair from March 30, 2011 until the end of 2013.
In January 2016, the airport filed for bankruptcy.
Waterways
Important waterways run through
Saxony-Anhalt with the Elbe, the Saale, the Mittelland Canal and the
Elbe-Havel Canal, which meet at the waterway junction in the state
capital of Magdeburg. Inland ports include with the port of Magdeburg
and the port of Halle (Saale).
In contrast to the neighboring states of Brandenburg, Saxony or
Thuringia, the cultural landscape of Saxony-Anhalt is extremely
different from region to region and has relatively few similarities.
First of all, the old German farming area west of the Saale and Elbe,
which had been settled since 700, differs from the Slavic settlement
areas east of the two rivers, which were Germanized during the German
colonization of the east in the 12th century.
From 700 AD, a
settlement area developed between Magdeburg and the Harz Mountains,
which – like neighboring southern Lower Saxony – is counted as part of
East Westphalia. At the same time, a Thuringian-influenced area emerged
south of the Harz mountains between Zeitz and Sangerhausen. In the north
of the state, the settlement area of the Altmark formed around the year
1000, which is very similar to today's Brandenburg. The same applies to
the Jerichower Land between the Elbe and Fläming. In the southeast of
the state, between Halle and Wittenberg, a region developed from 1100
that has close cultural ties to Saxony. In the middle of the state, the
Anhalt region stretches in a narrow strip from the Harz Mountains to
Dessau, which is a mixed region with cultural influences from East
Westphalia, Thuringia, Saxony and Brandenburg.
This means that
today's state of Saxony-Anhalt can be divided into the cultural areas of
Altmark in the north, Jerichower Land in the east, Ostfalen/Magdeburger
Börde in the west, Thuringian areas in the south-west and Saxon areas in
the south-east. In between lies Anhalt in the middle of the state.
The area of today's state of Saxony-Anhalt was one of the cultural focal points in the German-speaking area in the early Middle Ages. At that time, today's state capital Magdeburg was one of the political centers in the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation. The well-preserved monuments from the Romanesque and Gothic periods that are typical for the region (see also: Romanesque Road), such as the cathedrals in Magdeburg and Halberstadt, the old town of Quedlinburg and many castles, bear witness to the earlier importance of the entire region and churches. According to the state marketing company, Saxony-Anhalt is the federal state with the highest density of UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Germany. These include the Bauhaus Dessau in Dessau-Roßlau, the Luther memorials in Wittenberg and Eisleben, the old town of Quedlinburg, the Dessau-Wörlitz Garden Realm with the Wörlitzer Park and the Naumburg Cathedral. In addition to the winding half-timbered old towns and densely built-up villages, often with half-timbered architecture and old village churches worth seeing, the local towns and cities are also characterized by buildings from the time of the Prussian province of Saxony, which was considered the richest province in the country at the time.
On December 31, 2020, 1,179,170 of 2,180,684 people lived in cities with more than 20,000 inhabitants, which corresponds to a relatively low degree of urbanization of 54.07%. Although most cities have been shrinking since 1940, they are the country's cultural centers. This applies in particular to the two largest cities of Magdeburg and Halle, as well as to the Bauhaus town of Dessau-Roßlau and Lutherstadt Wittenberg. Due to the cultural differences between the parts of the country, the townscapes also differ considerably. The cities of Stendal, Salzwedel, Tangermünde, Gardelegen and Burg, for example, are characterized by the brick Gothic of the North German Middle Ages. The towns in the Harz region, such as Halberstadt, Wernigerode, Sangerhausen, Aschersleben and, in particular, Quedlinburg and Eisleben, are particularly characterized by Romanesque and Gothic architecture. Even Naumburg, Merseburg, Zeitz and Schönebeck still bear a medieval character in their soft image. The following stylistic epochs of the Renaissance and the Baroque are represented in many cities. The Renaissance buildings in Wittenberg, which experienced a heyday at this time, are particularly noteworthy here. The residence towns of Köthen, Bernburg and Weißenfels also have a large number of baroque buildings today. The country's largest city, Halle, has a very mixed cityscape from Gothic to modern architecture. The town of Bitterfeld-Wolfen in particular has an industrial character. Due to the heavy destruction in the Second World War, the inner cities of Magdeburg and Dessau-Roßlau are characterized above all by the socialist post-war architecture and buildings of recent times. Large parts of Wolfen and Halle-Neustadt, the largest prefabricated town in the GDR, were built in GDR times according to the ideal of the socialist city. Overall, the townscapes in Saxony-Anhalt are characterized by an enormous variety that reflects the rich and eventful history of the region and the entire state.
Castles
Most of the castles in
Saxony-Anhalt date from the Renaissance and Baroque periods. There are
many city palaces in the Harz Mountains that emerged from castles and
are located above the medieval old towns. The most famous of these
castles is Wernigerode Castle, but Stolberg Castle, Blankenburg Castle
and Mansfeld Castle can also be classified in this category. These are
often mixed forms of castle and chateau.
There are also some
residential palaces in Saxony-Anhalt. These include Bernburg Palace
(Principality of Anhalt-Bernburg), the Johannbau in Dessau (Principality
of Anhalt-Dessau), Moritzburg Palace (Saxony-Zeitz), Neu-Augustusburg
Palace (Saxony-Weissenfels) and Wittenberg Palace (Electorate of
Saxony). A third group is made up of country and summer residences such
as Mosigkau Castle near Dessau or the entire Dessau-Wörlitz Garden
Kingdom with several small castles. Oranienbaum Castle and Zerbst Castle
(Catherine the Great) also belong to this group. An example of a hunting
lodge is the Spiegelsberge hunting lodge from 1782 near Halberstadt.
Saxony-Anhalt is rich in high medieval churches and monasteries of
Ottonian architecture, Romanesque and Gothic. The Romanesque Road
contains a large number of old sacred buildings, the density of which is
probably unique in Germany.
cathedrals and city churches
There
are several cathedrals (Magdeburg Cathedral, Merseburg Cathedral,
Naumburg Cathedral, Zeitz Cathedral, Halberstadt Cathedral, Halle
Cathedral and Havelberg Cathedral) as well as a large number of large
city churches (e.g. St. Stephani in Aschersleben, St. Stephani in Calbe,
the Marienkirche , the Johanniskirche in Dessau, the Martinikirche in
Halberstadt, the Marktkirche in Halle, St. Jakob in Köthen, St. Wenzel
in Naumburg, the Nikolaikirche in Quedlinburg, St. Jakobi in Schönebeck,
St. Marien in Stendal, St. Stephan in Tangermünde and the town church in
Wittenberg).
In Magdeburg, the Magdeburg Cathedral, the monastery
of Our Lady and the churches of St. Petri, St. Sebastian, St. Johannis
and St. Nicolai have survived from the numerous churches in Magdeburg.
Collegiate and monastery churches
Ottonian and Romanesque
monastery churches are still preserved, such as the collegiate churches
in Quedlinburg, Walbeck, Gernrode, Halberstadt and Jerichow. Also worth
seeing are the Huysburg, the Drübeck monastery, the Gröningen monastery,
the Hadmersleben monastery, the Hamersleben monastery, the Hillersleben
monastery and other former monasteries. The former Cistercian monastery
Pforta, in which the local state school has produced numerous important
personalities of culture and politics since the 16th century, is of
cultural and historical significance.
Since most of the
monasteries and monasteries were dissolved after the Reformation, some
of the medieval architecture has survived to this day.
In the cities of Halle and Magdeburg there is a large number of
different theaters and playhouses. There are also two theaters in
Dessau-Roßlau. There are also two opera houses in Saxony-Anhalt, the
Halle Opera and the Magdeburg Theater.
Other small venues are
spread across the state.
Saxony-Anhalt has an extensive prehistory and early history. Numerous
finds are exhibited in the State Museum for Prehistory in Halle. Among
them is, for example, the Nebra Sky Disc from the 2nd millennium BC. In
recent years, a visitor center has also been built near the site in the
Burgenland district.
The Bauhaus Museum Dessau presents
collection material from the Bauhaus school of art, design and
architecture, which originated in the region and was important in the
20th century.
The Francke Foundations in Halle, founded in 1698,
are home to a large number of cultural, social and scientific
institutions.
There is also an extensive collection of other
museums in the cities of Magdeburg and Halle, in Dessau and in various
small towns.
There are a number of libraries with important historical
publications, for example
the Marienbibliothek in Halle an der
Saale
the library of the Francke Foundation in Halle
the
historical library of the Landesschule Pforta
the Francisceum Library
in Zerbst
the library of Johann Wilhelm Ludwig Gleim and his friends
in the Gleimhaus
in the University and State Library of
Saxony-Anhalt.
handball
Saxony-Anhalt is a stronghold of handball. The
traditional SC Magdeburg plays in the 1st, the Dessau-Roßlauer HV in the
2nd handball Bundesliga. The second team of SC Magdeburg and SV Anhalt
Bernburg also play in the third division. In the 2017/2018 season, the
Halle handball women "Wildcats - SV Union Halle Neustadt" managed to get
promoted to the 1st Bundesliga.
basketball
One of the most
successful basketball clubs in East Germany is located in southern
Saxony-Anhalt. The Mitteldeutscher Basketball Club (MBC) from Weißenfels
played for five years - from 1999 to 2004 - in the 1st Basketball
Bundesliga BBL. In 2004 the team won the FIBA Europe Cup Men's European
Cup. After a few years in the 2nd Bundesliga Pro A and runners-up in
2006 and 2007, the MBC again managed to get promoted to the 1st League
in the 2008/2009 season. In the 2010/11 season, however, the club rose
again, but managed direct resurgence. In 2016, the Weißenfels team had
to leave the BBL for the third time, and in the following year they were
promoted to the top division.
With the SV Halle Lions,
Saxony-Anhalt also has a women's basketball team in the 1st Bundesliga
DBBL.
football
Saxony-Anhalt is home to former (1974) European
Cup winners 1. FC Magdeburg, who will be playing in the 2nd Bundesliga
in the 2022/23 season. Hallesche FC competes in the 3rd division.
Magdeburger FFC plays in the women's Regionalliga Nordost.
Motorsports
In Oschersleben (Bode) is the Motorsport Arena
Oschersleben, where national and international car and motorcycle races
take place. In Teutschenthal there is a motocross race track, on which
the motocross world championships have taken place several times.
ice Hockey
The Saale Bulls ice hockey club plays in Halle in the
Oberliga Nord (season 2017/2018). The Saale Bulls have been playing in
the Sparkassen-Eisdom since the 2014/15 season, as the Volksbank Arena
was badly damaged by flooding in 2013 and finally demolished from spring
2016.
Other statistics
Saxony-Anhalt had the lowest suicide
rate of all German states in 2006 and the highest rate in 2017. The
suicide rate was significantly lower in 2006, 2017 and 2019 than in
1990.
In the “Mitte Study” from 2015, approval of xenophobic
statements in individual German federal states was examined. When
comparing the federal states, the highest level of agreement with
xenophobic statements was in Saxony-Anhalt at 42.2% (national average:
24.3%, Bavaria: 33.1%), with anti-Semitic attitudes in Bavaria (12.6%)
and Thuringia (12.2%) were far more widespread than in Saxony-Anhalt
(8.3%), which had less pronounced anti-Semitic attitudes than North
Rhine-Westphalia (9.4%) and Berlin (9.0%).
Saxony-Anhalt
regularly occupies one of the top places in Germany when it comes to
vaccination rates.
Stefanie Haertel, Michael Schwibbe, Hagen Koenigseder, Andreas
Stephainski: Saxony-Anhalt – a country on the move. Saale
Verlagsgesellschaft, Halle 2006, ISBN 3-00-019787-7.
Everhard
Holtmann (ed.): State politics in Saxony-Anhalt. A manual.
Mitteldeutscher Verlag, Halle 2006, ISBN 3-89812-398-7.
Regional
bibliography Saxony-Anhalt.
Robert of Lucius: Jubilee without
celebration. Sixty years of Saxony-Anhalt. In: Frankfurter Allgemeine
Zeitung. April 23, 2007, No. 168, p. 4.
Frank Mangelsdorf (ed.): Then
and now: Saxony-Anhalt. Culturcon Medien, Berlin 2011, ISBN
978-3-941092-74-7.
Steffen Rassloff: Central German history. Saxony -
Saxony-Anhalt - Thuringia, Leipzig 2016, revised new edition, Sax
Verlag, Markkleeberg 2019, ISBN 978-3-86729-240-5.
Steffen Rassloff:
Saxony-Anhalt. 55 highlights from history. Sutton, Erfurt 2020, ISBN
978-3-96303-162-5.
Hendrik carrier, Sonja Priebus (ed.): Politics and
government in Saxony-Anhalt. Springer VS, Wiesbaden 2017, ISBN
978-3-658-13688-8.
Mathias Tullner (ed.): Personalities in the
history of Saxony-Anhalt. Fly head, Halle 1998, ISBN 3-910147-58-5.