Sonneberg is in the south of Thuringia. It is famous for the
so-called Sonneberger toys. For centuries Sonneberg belonged to
Saxe-Coburg and is geographically, linguistically and culturally (they
speak Franconian and not Thuringian) closer to Franconia than to the
rest of Thuringia.
The city bears the unofficial title World Toy
City. Before the First World War, 20 percent of all dolls and toys in
the world were produced here. Many representative buildings that were
built in the city center during the Weimar Republic, such as the town
hall and the AOK building, still bear witness to the city's former
prosperity. The production of toys in Sonneberg came to an abrupt end
with the world economic crisis in 1929, the city was hit harder than any
other city in Germany by the strongly export-oriented economy, at times
unemployment was 50 percent.
After the Second World War,
Sonneberg was separated from Franconia by the Iron Curtain and was
subject to strict travel restrictions due to its proximity to the
inner-German border. In the GDR, attempts were made to continue the old
toy tradition, but other industrial companies also settled here. Many of
these companies did not survive the turnaround. Some have survived to
this day, such as the model railway manufacturer Piko, which was able to
successfully hold its own against West German competition. After
reunification, Sonneberg was able to grow together economically with
Franconia and benefited from its proximity and good transport links to
the metropolitan areas of Coburg and Nuremberg.
Today's inner city, also known as the lower town, was created on the
drawing board after the old upper town was completely destroyed by a
fire in 1840. It is therefore the only planned city complex in Thuringia
that dates back to the 19th century.
The original city center was
in the Upper City, north of today's city center in the narrow valley of
the Röthen. The urban center of the new complex in the lower town was
initially the Juttaplatz (named after Jutta von Henneberg, who certified
Sonneberg's town rights in 1349) not far from the town church.
In
the 1920s, the station square with its representative buildings was
added as a point of reference. The inner city of Sonneberg is therefore
characterized above all by architecture from the period between 1840 and
1930, which today still forms a largely closed ensemble.
The most famous museum in Sonneberg is the German Toy Museum. It was
created in 1901 and, as the oldest toy museum in Germany, shows a
selection from the pool of around 100,000 objects. The building was
erected in 1901 in the neo-baroque style. It initially served as an
industrial school for toy and porcelain design, which was headed by the
well-known artists Reinhard Möller and Karl Staudinger; since 1938 it
has been used entirely as a museum.
In the city there is also the
German Teddy Bear Museum.
The Astronomy Museum Sonneberg is located
in the rooms of the observatory and was founded in the late 1990s. The
museum also provides information about the life of the observatory
founder Cuno Hoffmeister.
The ten rooms of the Somso Museum of the
Somso company run by the Sommer family are also open to the public by
appointment. She has been making models in Sonneberg since 1876,
primarily for teaching medicine and biology.
In Sonneberg there is a
show aquarium and a home zoo.
The neo-Gothic town church of St. Peter was built between 1843 and
1845 by Carl Alexander Heideloff. The model was the Lorenz Church in
Nuremberg. The church has a three-aisled nave and a south-west
twin-tower facade. Sandstone was used as the building material, and
primarily plastered wood in the interior. The interior decoration is
mainly from the 19th century. Above the town church is the cemetery.
The city's Catholic church is the parish church of St. Stephen. It
is a neo-Romanesque basilica from 1902/1903, which was built under the
direction of the Berlin architects Reimarus & Hetzel. A mighty tower
facing the street and a small tower facing the garden are attached to
the church. The original magnificent interior painting from 1913 is no
longer preserved, as is most of the old inventory.
Also of
importance are some buildings from the 1920s around the station square.
Sonneberg's main train station itself dates from 1907. Opposite it is
the New Town Hall, a magnificent neoclassical building from 1928 that
dominates the cityscape. It was built according to plans by Karl Dröner.
The town hall is towered over by the 45 meter high central tower. The
facade is structured by columns. Next to the town hall is the AOK house
from 1927. At that time, the warehouse built in 1922 was converted by
Walter Buchholz into an office building with an Expressionist character.
The facade of the five-storey building is decorated with various
sculptures. Behind the AOK house is the Sonneberger Post, which was
built in 1932 in the New Objectivity style. Of the once numerous trading
houses in Sonneberg, the trading house Kresge is worth mentioning, which
the American company had designed by Franz Boxberger and Ernst Herbart
in 1921. The octagonal, expressionist tower structure in the middle part
of the building, which was created during an extension in 1927/28
according to plans by Walter Buchholz, is characteristic. The largest of
the trading houses in Sonneberg had been operated by Woolworth since
1926 and was located on the station square opposite the AOK building. It
had around 4,200 m² of floor space and around 100,000 m³ of enclosed
space and was one of the largest warehouses in Thuringia. It was
destroyed in World War II.
International Sonneberg Jazz Days (annually in November)
Sonneberg
bird shooting (every year at the beginning of July)
Puppet Theater
Days
International Puppet Festival (together with Neustadt bei
Coburg)
City and Museum Festival (annually in September)
Comptoir
art magazine – the Municipal Gallery (permanently updated exhibitions)
Events in the Society House (weekly)
Lectures in the observatory
(every first Monday of the month)
Sonneberger Rostbratwurst (in Itzgründisch: Sumbarcher Broudwörscht)
Sonneberger dumplings – a variant of the Thuringian dumplings (in
Itzgründisch: Sumbarcher Arpflsklüeß)
Vegetable soup (Itzgrundisch:
Süßa Schniedla or Saura Schniedla)
Fleck (in a nutshell: Flack)
In Sonneberg (Sumbarch), as in the surrounding towns, the
itzgründische dialect is spoken as a sub-form of Main Franconian. The
"Sumbarcher dialect" is still cultivated today as a variation of
Itzgründisch. As early as the 19th century, the Sonneberg dialect was
described by the linguist August Schleicher in his work Volkstümliches
aus Sonneberg in the Meininger Oberlande.
The Sonneberg dialect
became nationally known through the appearance of the "Sumbarcher
washerwomen" Doris Motschmann and Silvia Otto at the carnival in
Franconia 2013 in Veitshöchheim.
By train
Sonneberg station is the terminus of the electrified
Coburg–Sonneberg railway line. Regional trains run every two hours and
regional express trains every two hours. The latter come directly from
Nuremberg. Paradoxically, this means that Sonneberg is better connected
to Franconia by rail than to the rest of Thuringia, since the two rail
routes from Meiningen and Neuhaus am Rennweg are only minor lines.
On the street
Sonneberg is located on the federal highway 89
Meiningen-Sonneberg-Kronach.
The German Toy Road runs through the
town.
1 Kaufland, Bettelhecker Str. 155, 96515 Sonneberg. Tel.: +49 (0)3675
75400. Open: Mon – Fri 7 a.m. – 10 p.m., Sat 7 a.m. – 8 p.m.
2
Marktkauf, Neustadter Str. 199, 96515 Sonneberg. Tel.: +49 (0)3675 8820.
Open: Mon – Wed + Sat 7 a.m. – 8 p.m., Thu + Fri 7 a.m. – 9 p.m.
The first written dumpling recipe, dated 1808, comes from the parish
of Effelder near Sonneberg.
1 Restaurant – Café Kesselhaus, Cuno
Hoffmeister Strasse 5, 96515 Sonneberg. Phone: +49(0)3675 4263502,
email: kesselhaus.sonneberg@web.de. Mainly Thuringian cuisine. Open: Mon
is closed, Tue – Thu 11 a.m. – 10.30 p.m., Fri 11 a.m. – midnight, Sat 3
p.m. – midnight, Sun 11 a.m. – 9 p.m.
2 Restaurant Rhodes,
Bettelheckerstr. 82, 96515 Sonneberg. Tel: +49(0)3675 703189, email:
info@restaurantrhodos.net. Greek kitchen. Open: Wed – Mon 11.30 a.m. –
2.30 p.m. + 5.30 p.m. – midnight, Tue is closed.
3 Hasenhütt
restaurant, Steinweg 16, 96515 Sonneberg. Phone: +49(0)3675 4697385,
fax: +49 (0)3675 401945, email: mail@hasenhuett.de. Open: Mon, Wed – Fri
5 p.m. – 11 p.m., Sat 5 p.m. – midnight, Sun 5 p.m. – 10 p.m., Tuesday
is closed.
4 Försterquelle, Kirchstrasse 14, 96515 Sonneberg. Phone:
+49(0)3675 703291, fax: +49(0)3675 425441, email:
info@foersterquelle.de. German cuisine, large selection of various
schnitzel and steak dishes, low prices. Open: Mon + Tue are days of
rest, Wed + Thu 11 am – 2 pm + 5 pm – 11 pm, Fri 11 am – 2 pm + 5 pm –
midnight, Sat 10 am – 2 pm + 5 pm – midnight, Sun 11 am – 3 pm.
5
Alter Fritz, recovery road 2, 96515 Sonneberg. Tel.: +49(0)3675 743264.
Open: Tue – Sun 11 a.m. – 11 p.m., closed on Mondays.
6 Restaurant
"Zum Tiegela", Ortsstrasse 42, 96515 Sonneberg OT Unterlind. Phone:
+49(0)3675 745192, email: zumtiegela@gmail.com. Good home-style
Thuringian cuisine. Open: Mon + Tues are days of rest, Wed – Fri 5 p.m.
– 10 p.m., Sat 1 p.m. – 6 p.m., Sun 10 a.m. – 2 p.m. + 5 p.m. – 10 p.m.
Café Metropol, Gustav-König-Strasse 42, 96515 Sonneberg. Tel: +49(0)3675 741512. Cafe and bar.
1 Hotel-Gasthof Waldblick, Mönchsberger Str. 13 A, 96515 Sonneberg.
Tel.: +49(0)3675 744749, Fax: +49 (0)3675 744448. Beer garden available.
Open: Associated restaurant: Mon 5pm - 10.30pm, Tue 11am - 2pm + 5pm -
10.30pm, Wed 5pm - 10.30pm, Thu 11am - 2pm + 5pm - 10.30pm, Fri 5pm -
12am, Sat 1 1:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m + 5 p.m. – midnight, Sun 11 a.m. – 8
p.m. Price: Single room from €49, double room from €75 (each including
breakfast).
2 Hotel Schöne Aussicht, Schöne Aussicht 24, 96515
Sonneberg. Phone: +49(0)3675 804040, fax: +49(0)3675 804041, email:
info@hotelschoeneaussicht.de. Restaurant and beer garden available.
Price: Single room from €54, double room from €76, family room from
€115.
3 Toy Hotel Sonneberg, Wiesenstrasse 4, 96515 Sonneberg. Phone:
+49(0)3675 4204999, fax: +49(0)3675 4204998, e-mail:
info@toyhotel-sonneberg.de. The toy hotel is located near the city
center and only a five-minute walk from the train station. Price: Single
room from €69, double room from €89 (each including breakfast).
4
Green Tree Hotel and Restaurant, Neustadter Strasse 195, 96515
Sonneberg. Phone: +49(0)3675 802949, fax: +49(0)3675 702014, email:
info@gruener-baum-sonneberg.de. Beer garden available. The restaurant
offers regional cuisine as well as international dishes. Open:
Restaurant: Mon 2 p.m. – 10 p.m., Tue 5 p.m. – 10 p.m., Wed is closed,
Thu + Fri 5 p.m. – 10 p.m., Sat 11 a.m. – 10 p.m., Sun + public holidays
11 a.m. – 8 p.m. Price: Single room from €40, double room from €60 (each
including breakfast).
5 Schlossberg Sonneberg, Schlossbergstrasse 1,
96515 Sonneberg. Phone: +49(0)3675 73300, fax: +49(0)3675 733012, email:
info@schlossberg-sonneberg.de. Price: double room for single use from
€59, double room from €85.
6 Hotel Gasthof Hüttensteinach, Steinacher
Str. 118, 96515 Sonneberg. Tel.: +49(0)3675 4080-0, fax: +49(0)3675
4080-44, e-mail: info@hotel-huettensteinach.de. The restaurant offers
typical Thuringian and international cuisine. Open: Restaurant: Tue –
Sun from 11.00 a.m. non-stop hot meals, Monday is a day off. Price:
Prices: Hotel: SR from 50 €, double room from 70 €; Inn single room from
€20, double room from €40; HB €12 per person, FB €20 per person; Sauna
€5 per person.
7 "Blockhütte" mountain inn, Waldstrasse 60, 96515
Sonneberg. Phone: +49(0)3675 702840, fax: +49(0)3675 428844, email:
info@berggasthof-blockhuette.de. In the dining room there is a
home-style kitchen based on the original Thuringian style. Feature:
Boarding house. Open: Gaststube: Mon + Tue are days off, Wed + Thu 11
a.m. – 8 p.m., Fri + Sat 11 a.m. – midnight, Sun 10 a.m. – 7 p.m. Price:
Single room from €45, double room from €65 (each including breakfast).
8 Pension Kiesewetter, An der Müß 163, 96515 Sonneberg OT Oberlind.
Tel.: +49(0)3675 745166, Fax: +49(0)3675 745166. Feature: Pension.
Price: Single room €14.50, double room from €28 (surcharge for just one
day €2 per person, surcharge for 1 to 3 days €1 per person).
Police Station Sonneberg, Bismarckstraße 52, 96515 Sonneberg. Phone: +49 (0)3675 8750.
Hospitals
1 REGIOMED Klinikum Sonneberg, Neustadter Str. 61, 96515
Sonneberg. Phone: +49 (0)3675 821-0, Fax: +49 (0)3675 821-2000.
Pharmacies
2 Pharmacy in Marktkauf, Neustadter Str. 199, 96515
Sonneberg. Phone: +49 (0)3675 406013, fax: +49 (0)3675 406016, e-mail:
apotheke-sonneberg@arcor.de. Open: Mon - Sat 8 a.m. - 8 p.m.
3
Stadt-Apotheke, Gustav-König-Str. 15, 96515 Sonneberg. Phone: +49
(0)3675 428686, fax: +49 (0)3675 428687, email:
info@stadtapotheke-sonneberg.de. Open: Mon - Fri 8 a.m. - 6 p.m., Sat 8
a.m. - 12 p.m.
4 New Pharmacy, Bahnhofstr. 64, 96515 Sonneberg. Tel.:
+49 (0)3675 806010, fax: +49 (0)3675 406862, e-mail:
info@neue-apotheke-sonneberg.de. Open: Mon - Fri 8 a.m. - 6 p.m., Sat 8
a.m. - 12 p.m.
5 Rosen-Apotheke, Friedrich-Ludwig-Jahn-Str. 31, 96515
Sonneberg. Tel.: +49 (0)3675 803870, fax: +49 (0)3675 803869, e-mail:
info@rosenapotheke-sonneberg.de. Open: Mon - Fri 8.30 a.m. - 6.30 p.m.,
Sat 8.30 a.m. - 12.00 p.m.
6 Town Hall Pharmacy, Bahnhofsplatz 1,
96515 Sonneberg. Phone: +49 (0)3675 702720, fax: +49 (0)3675 702345,
e-mail: service@rathausapotheke-son.de. Open: Mon - Fri 8 a.m. - 6.30
p.m., Sat 8 a.m. - 12 p.m.
7 Hütten-Apotheke, Steinacher Str. 74,
96515 Sonneberg. Phone: +49 (0)3675 401315, fax: +49 (0)3675 400748,
email: a-apotheke@t-online.de. Open: Mon - Fri 8 a.m. - 6 p.m., Sat 8.30
a.m. - 12 p.m.
8 Oberlinder Pharmacy, Pfarrgasse 25, 96515 Sonneberg.
Phone: +49 (0)3675 745512, fax: +49 (0)3675 808532, email:
mail@oberlinder-apotheke.de. Open: Mon - Fri 7.30 a.m. - 6 p.m., Sat
8.30 a.m. - 12 p.m.
Miscellaneous
9 Sonneberg Medical Center,
Gustav-König-Strasse 15-17, 96515 Sonneberg. Phone: +49(0)3675 8944-0,
Fax: +49(0)3675 8944-11. Open: Mon + Tue 7.30 a.m. – 6 p.m., Wed + Thu
7.30 a.m. – 12 p.m., Fri 7.30 a.m. – 3 p.m., Sat by appointment.
Tourist Information Sonneberg, Bahnhofsplatz 3, 96515 Sonneberg. Tel.: +49(0)3675 702711. Open: Mon – Thu 9 a.m. – 5 p.m., Fri 9 a.m. – 3 p.m., Sat 9 a.m. – 12 p.m.
“Sonneberg Castle was also referred to as Sonneberg Castle or the
Haus zu Sonneberg in old documents. In the year 480 Süne or Süno, Duke
of Franconia, built this castle because of the Thuringian incursions..."
it says on page 64 in the topography of the
ducal-Saxony-Koburg-Meiningen share in the Duchy of Coburg from the year
1781. This is not free of criticism The depiction is based on the
history of the Franks by Abbot Johannes Trithemius from 1514.
Although there is no reliable evidence of the Frankish military leader
Sunno in the Upper Mainland and the construction of a castle as a
defense against the invading Thuringians, this refers to the first
settlements in this area from the 5th century. The so-called Cella
Antiqua, a monk's cell hewn in sandstone behind the property
atgerichtssteig 1, which supposedly dates back to the 9th century, is
often regarded as the oldest cultural monument in the urban area of
Sonneberg. The only evidence for this interpretation is an entry in a
fief register dated March 13, 1361. After that, a lower nobleman
received "kempnatam antiquam et camerum super cellam in castro
Sunneberg" - i.e. the old bower and a living room above a cella in the
castle of Sonneberg - as a fief. This cella was therefore within the
walls of the castle, not in the old town where the so-called "Cella
Antiqua" is located. Also, the word "cella" in contemporary usage does
not necessarily mean a single monastic cell. The entry could also refer
to a chapel or a small monastery. In this context, Thomas Schwämmlein
points out that a smaller monastic community was also secured on the
Coburg Castle Hill from the 13th century. There could therefore have
been a small monastery at the Sonneberg Castle, which was referred to as
"cella" in the fief register. The so-called "Cella Antiqua" in the old
town of Sonneberg is more of a storage room of much younger date. Beer
was probably stored in the cool sandstone cellar, which the citizens of
the city were allowed to brew from the late Middle Ages. A raised relief
cross, as can be found in the Cella Antiqua, could also be found in
another cellar complex in the old town until 1994. There it was probably
intended to beg God's blessing for the beer stored in the sandstone
cave.
The name Sonneberg was first mentioned in 1207. It goes
back to the noble family of the Lords of Sonneberg, which is documented
in the 12th and 13th centuries and founded a settlement below the
Sonneberg Castle, which originally consisted of the manor and two
hamlets, the village "Alt-Rötin" supposed to be in the Herrnau ' and the
'Stätlein zu Rötin under Sonneberg Castle'. The Lords of Sonneberg were
ministerials in the service of the Dukes of Andechs-Merania, who, as a
Bavarian noble family, set up a stately administration in the region
around Sonneberg and Coburg. After the end of the Duchy of Merania,
Heinrich II von Sonneberg acquired extensive property in the surrounding
area and in 1252 he founded the Sonnefeld monastery. In the further
course of the 13th century, this high point of the sex also heralded the
decline, until 1310 the sex died out in the male line.
After the
Sonnebergs died out, the small rule fell to the Counts of Henneberg in
1317. In 1349 the new ruler, the regent Jutta von Henneberg, confirmed
and expanded the municipal rights of Sonneberg with a document. In 1353
Sonneberg, along with nearby Coburg, fell to the House of Wettin. The
council and mayor held the lower courts. The town with the
Johanniskirche on the road from Coburg to Saalfeld was walled.
The Catholic parish has always belonged to the Diocese of Würzburg.
In 1526 the Reformation was introduced in Sonneberg. The Latin school
opened soon after.
After the "Leipzig Division" in 1485, the care
of Coburg (as the area to which Sonneberg belonged was called) came to
the Ernestine line of this house. After Coburg and thus Sonneberg had
already been Ernestine secundogeniture between 1542 and 1553 under Duke
Johann Ernst of Saxony, this territory was separated from the Ernestine
state in 1572, and a principality of Saxe-Coburg came into being, which
was jointly ruled by Dukes Johann Casimir and Johann was ruled in
earnest. In 1596 both divided this principality into Saxe-Coburg and
Saxe-Eisenach. After the death of Johann Casimir in 1633, it was briefly
reunited under Johann Ernst, after his death in 1638 it went to
Saxe-Altenburg and in 1672 to Saxe-Gotha. In the course of the "Gotha
Division" in 1680, another principality of Saxe-Coburg was created under
Duke Albrecht, which was, however, considerably smaller than its
predecessor.
Albrecht von Sachsen-Coburg died without heirs in
1699, and protracted inheritance disputes ensued. In 1735 the town of
Sonneberg was granted to the Duchy of Saxe-Meiningen, but it remained
with the Duchy of Coburg as a part of the Duchy of
Saxe-Coburg-Meiningen. Incorporation into Sachsen-Meiningen did not take
place until 1826.
The mining of whetstones and slate for shingles
and slates has been documented since 1500. From the 16th century, the
long-established manufacture of wooden goods developed into the
manufacture of the Sonneberg toys, known as "Nuremberg Tand". Around
1700, the largest manufacturer and exporter of toys was founded in
Sonneberg with the Dressel company, from 1873 the company Cuno & Otto
Dressel. From 1805 onwards, with the introduction of papier-mâché,
especially in the manufacture of dolls, Sonneberg developed into a
world-renowned toy production center (see also: F. M. Schilling). In
1840 a city fire destroyed the old city center around the market place
in today's upper city. In 1883, the industrial school was opened in
Mühlgasse 4, where artistic porcelain, glass and toy design was taught.
Due to the high proportion of Sonneberg production on the world
market, the term "world toy city" was coined around 1913. Before the
First World War, around 20% of the toys traded on the world market were
mainly home-made in the Sonneberg area. In addition to the term world
toy city, Sonneberg became the "workshop of Santa Claus".
From
the 1870s onwards, the toy industry did not react to the increasing
demand and simultaneously falling sales prices with a transition to
industrial production in larger factories using innovative techniques.
Even though exports to the United States increased by about 600% between
1865 and 1885, in 1880 85% of factories had no more than four employees.
It was the number of these traditional small and micro-enterprises that
increased tremendously in response to the increased demand. In 1880
there were a total of 321 companies. In 1899, almost 20 years later,
2395, an increase of 746%. In close cooperation with many small and
specialized companies and affiliated home workers, the most important
local product at the time, dolls, could be manufactured in various forms
effectively and inexpensively without the use of expensive capital
goods. However, the distribution of market power in this system burdened
workers in small businesses and – above all – homeworkers and their
families with brutal cost pressures that determined living conditions.
Since there were large numbers of skilled craftsmen looking for work,
publishers and manufacturers did not have to compete for workers. In
order to be able to earn what was absolutely necessary for subsistence,
the entire family of the homeworkers usually had to work long hours
every day until they were completely exhausted. There are several
indications of the desperate situation of large parts of the population
at this time. Despite various attempts by the authorities to get the
rampant child labor under control, it was never possible to combat the
widespread, permanent disregard for compulsory schooling in Sonneberg.
The homeworkers were forced to raise their children to contribute to the
family income. At the same time, they denied them the opportunity to
gain access to education themselves. In 1905, 50% of adult workers
earned less than 600 marks a year and thus remained tax-exempt as
recipients of minimal income. The unhealthy working environment, the
extremely cramped living conditions and the bad, inadequate nutrition
contributed significantly to the fact that the number of tuberculosis
sufferers in Sonneberg was a third higher than in the rest of the
empire. As a rule, a family of homeworkers lived in a room in which they
cooked, slept and – often with substances that were harmful to health –
worked. In various parts of the city that were predominantly inhabited
by homeworkers, the prevalence of tuberculosis was three times higher
than the national average. A third of all deaths there were caused by
the lung disease.
As a result, social democrats and later communists received an above-average number of votes in Sonneberg. In 1913 there were violent clashes between protesting homeworkers and the police, who attacked the demonstrators with drawn sabers. Nevertheless, the living conditions of many homeworkers hardly changed until the late 1920s.
In 1901 the toy museum was opened, which was expanded in 1953. Since
1919, the surrounding suburbs have been incorporated.
There have
been rail connections to Coburg since 1858, towards Lauscha since 1886
(both via the Coburg–Ernstthal am Rennsteig railway), since 1901 to
Stockheim (Sonneberg–Stockheim railway) and since 1910 to Eisfeld
(Eisfeld–Sonneberg railway). In 1921, Siemens-Schuckertwerke opened its
Kleinbauwerk II in Sonneberg, which in 1939 produced installation
material such as fuse elements and switches with 987 employees.
One last heyday of the toy industry in the 1920s led to the construction
of representative buildings on the station square. First, the US company
Halbourn built a six-story trading house, which has belonged to AOK
since 1925. Opposite, in 1926, the US department store company F. W.
Woolworth Company, which had been shopping locally since 1880, built a
trading and warehouse store for the purchase and export of toys and
Christmas tree decorations. The five-storey building made of reinforced
concrete with its own siding was built according to the plans of the
Sonneberg architect Walter Buchholz. The building, used as a warehouse
by the Luftwaffe clothing office during World War II, was set on fire on
April 11, 1945, before US troops marched in, after it had just been
opened up for the public to loot. At the end of the 1950s, a park with a
memorial to the day of liberation and to German-Soviet friendship was
established on the rubble site. The memorial was leveled after
reunification. In 1927/1928, opposite the train station, the city built
its new town hall with a 40 meter high town hall tower based on plans by
Karl Dröner. At the same time, the new department store of the US
company S. S. Kresge & Co. from New York City on Gustav-König-Strasse
with its expressionist architecture and Cuno Hoffmeister founded the
Sonneberg observatory in the Neufang district in 1925.
Even before the outbreak of the global economic crisis, the town of Sonneberg was insolvent in 1929 and placed under receivership. The global economic crisis then brought drastic changes, not only for municipal budgets. In particular, the export-oriented toy industry experienced a rapid decline in sales. Declining purchasing power in the USA, which was also hit hard economically, growing competition from the cheaper and more efficiently producing Japanese toy industry and finally management mistakes - one failed to adapt production to changing demand - led to a radical deterioration in the economic situation. Towards the end of the Weimar Republic, the town of Sonneberg had the highest unemployment rate in Thuringia, at a horrendous 50%. The economic emergency made parts of the population in the region particularly vulnerable to the political propaganda of the National Socialists. At the beginning of the republic, almost two-thirds of those entitled to vote voted for social democracy, but the NSDAP was regularly able to win the absolute majority of the votes in elections after the onset of the crisis. In addition to the camp of national and Protestant bourgeois, who sympathized with the NSDAP throughout the Reich, it was now also the previously social-democratic and communist workers in the formerly predominantly “red Thuringian Forest” who voted National Socialist in large numbers.
At the beginning of the National Socialist period, residents were persecuted for political, racist and religious reasons, sentenced to prison and penitentiary or deported to concentration camps. Among them was the co-founder of the KPD local group Otto Bergner in Köppelsdorf, who was arrested several times, transferred to the Buchenwald concentration camp and finally transferred to the Annener Gußstahlwerk subcamp, where he died in March 1945. A street name reminds him of him. Until 1990, a street commemorated the worker Adolf Wicklein, who was sentenced to death by the People's Court and executed in the courtyard of the Weimar District Court because he provided humanitarian aid to escaped Soviet prisoners of war. Since then, it has been renamed Marienstraße. In Köppelsdorf there was also resistance from Protestant church circles against the Nazi regime, especially against the German-Christian church leadership. Pastor Reinhard Metz campaigned for disciplined pastors with sermons and letters. A member of the Confessing Church (BK) provided a room in its factory building at Friedrichstrasse 38 for denominational church youth work. Some of the city's Jews escaped anti-Semitic persecution by emigrating, others were deported, and only a few of them survived the Holocaust. Between 1934 and 1943, 687 women and men from Sonneberg and the surrounding area were victims of forced sterilization.
As part of the rearmament of the Wehrmacht, armaments factories were
established from 1935. Among them was the Thüringerzahnwerke GmbH
Sonneberg in Bettelhecken, a subsidiary of the Leipzig mechanical
engineering company G. E. Reinhardt. From 1937 the toy factory Robert
Hartwig Cargo glider (DFS 230, later Gotha Go 242) and the Stuttgart J.
C. Eckardt AG manufactured on-board instruments for the Air Force in a
newly established branch factory. The Spindler company became a leading
manufacturer of Bakelite molded parts for aircraft construction and
electrical apparatus construction.
In 1937 the Air Force Clothing
Office (LBA (S)) came to Sonneberg, for which a large building complex
was built in the city center. The building was built from 1935 in the
neoclassical style typical of the time, had a large inner courtyard, its
own railway connection, an officers' mess and was particularly
representative in the large entrance hall with marble stairs and wall
tiles. With orders from the Air Force Clothing Office, the company Cuno
& Otto Dressel was able to replace the declining toy production with
uniform tailoring. From 1948, the Air Force Clothing Office was used as
the city and district authority building. The striking building complex,
which belonged to VEB Piko from 1962, was not listed as a monument,
unlike the steering plant in Bielefeld that was built at the same time.
In 2003, the city acquired the dilapidated, vacant, five-story structure
and had it torn down.
During the Second World War, around 4,300 women and men, mainly from the Soviet Union, but also from many other German-occupied nations, had to do forced labor, primarily in armaments production: in the Thuringian gear works, in the Siemens-Schuckertwerke (SSW) in Oberlind, in the Louis company Siegel, J. C. Eckardt and Kopp & Solonot. An average of 400 prisoners, mostly Jewish-Polish/Hungarian, worked under inhumane conditions in the Sonneberg concentration camp outside the Buchenwald concentration camp, which was opened in September 1944 on the Reinhardt factory premises (Hallstraße 39). Many prisoners died in April 1945 on the death march towards what is now the Czech Republic. In 1982, at the instigation of the SED district leadership in Sonneberg, metal plaques were placed along the two routes to commemorate them.
On February 16, 1945, 23 US B-17 bombers dropped 800 bombs (half of
them incendiary bombs, the other half high-explosive bombs) on
Sonneberg. The goods station and a residential area bordering the
railway facilities received the most hits. 28 civilians died and dozens
were seriously injured. Had not many bombs fallen on open ground, there
would have been even more casualties.
In 1946/1947 Soviet
military tribunals sentenced 21 young people (aged 15 and over) to death
or to long-term labor camp sentences in Sonneberg on charges of being
“werewolves”. Three death sentences were carried out. Ten of the young
people perished in Soviet special camps. A total of 77 young people from
the area of today's Sonneberg (including the incorporations that took
place) were convicted, eight of them were shot, 30 died in camps. The
verdicts of the military tribunals did not correspond to the fundamental
requirements of the rule of law. The retaliation for the cruel crimes of
the Wehrmacht often played a role in criminal prosecution and
sentencing. However, the activities of the military tribunals were not
always an expression of baseless Stalinist terror. Particularly in the
first few years after the war, people who were very much involved in the
crimes of the Nazi regime also stood trial. The three young men who were
born in 1928, 1927 and 1926 and who were sentenced to death for being
members of the Werwolf organization were rehabilitated by the Soviet
authorities in the early to mid-1990s. Pensioner Martin Albin, who had
been sentenced to death in 1946 at the age of 67 for allegedly producing
and distributing leaflets and attending anti-Soviet meetings, was also
rehabilitated. Further death sentences must be considered with a high
probability of being arbitrary. The victims were no longer juveniles at
the time of sentencing. The tool turner Bernd Schilling was born in
1921, the former lieutenant Arno Lotz in 1924, the locksmith Hermann
Gemmer in 1899. Adolf Greuling, who was born in 1892, met the former
local group leader of the NSDAP in Oberlind. Erich Wacher, born a year
earlier, was accused of taking part in the economic exploitation of
Soviet territory occupied by German troops.
The gear works were
completely destroyed and abandoned after dismantling in 1946. Other
former armaments factories switched production and continued to exist
under a new company. For example, the uniform tailoring of the Dressel
business became a manufacturer of high-quality men's clothing as VEB
Herko, the Hartwig company manufactured wooden housings for radio and
television sets, folding boats and wooden toys as VEB Radiogehäuse, the
Siemens-Schuckertwerke began as VEB IKA Oberlind with the production of
electrical household appliances or the former company J. C. Eckardt
manufactured clocks and fine mechanical devices as VEB Feinmechanik.
In 1952 the state of Thuringia was dissolved and the district of
Sonneberg was assigned to the district of Suhl. From 1953 the district
of Wolkenrasen was created as a housing estate on the former Oberlinder
Flur. In 1952 the VEB Stern-Radio Sonneberg (formerly
Elektro-Apparatefabrik Köppelsdorf) and in 1956 the VEB United
Spielwarenwerke Sonneberg "sonni" (from 1981 VEB sonni Sonneberg, parent
company) were established. In 1971, four state-owned companies were
merged to form the "Kombinat Spielwaren Sonneberg - sonni". In 1978
there were eleven "state-owned" toy companies and three combines in the
district of Sonneberg, the "Plasta Werke Sonneberg" (formerly Spindler),
the "Elektro-Keramisches Kombinat Sonneberg" and from 1974 to 1981 the
"Kombinat Piko Sonneberg", then "VEB Combine Toys Sonneberg".
During the GDR period, the location directly on the inner-German border
had a negative impact on the development of the city, especially between
1961 and 1972, when the city area was a restricted border area. The
ordered separation of Sonneberg from the regions of northern Upper
Franconia, which had previously been closely connected in many ways, was
not accepted by large parts of the population without coercion.
A significant number of Sonneberg citizens were forcibly resettled
from their homeland during the existence of the GDR. A total of 381
people were taken to the district of Jena on June 6, 1952 as part of the
so-called vermin operation. The reasons given by the authorities for the
selection of the persons concerned often seem bizarre and were probably
often colored by the personal animosity of the local decision-makers.
The immediate family members of those selected - spouses and children -
were also expelled from the circle. Specifically, 87 people in the
district of Sonneberg were resettled because of an alleged "negative
attitude". 29 was accused of being “smugglers and border crossers”.
Compared to the GDR average, a large number of people, 23, had to leave
their homeland because the authorities classified them as unreliable
because they belonged to Jehovah's Witnesses. Initially, 985 people were
to be deported, but after the list was shortened at the urging of
higher-ranking authorities, 850 people were to be deported.
Many
Sonnebergers escaped by fleeing to the West. 500 people from the
district left their homeland for West Germany at the beginning of June.
The coercive measures triggered outrage among the population and led to
spontaneous protests. A large number of Sonneberg citizens demonstrated
on the demarcation line.
In October 1961, residents of what was
then the district of Sonneberg fell victim to planned deportations. The
measures, carried out in a raid by a so-called "action group" made up of
eight to twelve representatives from different groups of the executive
branch, were carried out with unyielding severity. In principle, little
consideration was given to the medical emergencies of the victims, the
large number of children or other obstacles. 33 people were affected in
the city and 22 people in the villages of the district.
On February 18, 1990, the workers' welfare organization was
reestablished in Sonneberg - for the first time in the territory of the
still existing GDR - 57 years after it was banned by the National
Socialists. In the run-up to German reunification, the Interior
Ministers Peter-Michael Diestel for the GDR and Wolfgang Schäuble for
the FRG signed the treaty on the abolition of border controls at the
inner-German border on July 1, 1990 at the burnt bridge.
After
reunification, toy companies were privatized or re-privatized if they
still existed.
In 2002 the Thuringia Day took place in Sonneberg. The 14th Day of
the Franconians was celebrated on July 6th and 7th, 2019 by the district
of Upper Franconia together with the Bavarian state government and the
two host cities of Sonneberg and Neustadt near Coburg under the motto
"Together.Franconian.Strong" with over 25,000 visitors for the first
time.
Sonneberg is closely networked with hydrogen initiatives in
the central German metropolitan region and is a member of the Nuremberg
metropolitan region. Thus, Sonneberg has a "hinge function" to the
important economic areas between the Main and Elbe. The HySon Institute
for Applied Hydrogen Research emerged in February 2021 from a network of
actors from business and science. There are 50 partners in total. Their
common goal is to close the gap between research and application. In
addition, the shortage of scientifically and technically qualified
specialists is a structural problem. With a consistent STEM approach,
Sonneberg counteracts this trend. The "MINT-friendly city of Sonneberg"
initiative promotes a positive attitude towards MINT among young people,
parents, teachers and the general public. The Federal Ministry of
Education and Research (BMBF) has been funding the best regional STEM
clusters since November 2020. Sonneberg has also received such an award
with its “MINT-friendly Sonneberg – MINT-SON” cluster. With the MINT
approach and the hydrogen initiative, Sonneberg is once again becoming a
science location.
The city lies in the valleys of the Röthen and Steinach, which flow south from the Thuringian Slate Mountains towards Upper Franconia, on the northern edge of the Obermainisches Hügelland (south of the Franconian Line) and extends over the Linder Plain in front of it right up to the Thuringian-Bavarian state border.
Clockwise, starting from the north: Gräfenthal (Saalfeld-Rudolstadt district), Tettau (Kronach district), Föritztal (Sonneberg district), Neustadt bei Coburg (Coburg district), Frankenblick, Steinach, Lauscha, Neuhaus am Rennweg (all in the Sonneberg district)
According to the main statutes of the city of Sonneberg, the urban
area is divided into the districts Altstadt (upper city), Bettelhecken,
Hönbach, Hüttensteinach, city center (lower city), Köppelsdorf, Malmerz,
Mürschnitz, Neufang, Oberlind, Steinbach, Unterlind, Wehd, Wolkenrasen,
Spechtsbrunn, Hasenthal , Vorwerk, Haselbach, Schneidemühle,
Friedrichsthal, Eschenthal, Georgshütte, Blechhammer and Hüttengrund.
The urban area consists of the districts of Sonneberg, Bettelhecken,
Hönbach, Hüttensteinach, Köppelsdorf, Malmerz, Mürschnitz, Neufang,
Oberlind, Steinbach, Unterlind, Spechtsbrunn, Hasenthal, Haselbach,
Hohenofen, Eschenthal and Hüttengrund.
Neighborhoods are the
Upper Town and the Lower Town.
1919: Begging hedges
1922: Honbach
1923: New start
1950,
July 1: Köppelsdorf (created in 1923 through the merger of
Hüttensteinach, Köppelsdorf and Steinbach), Malmerz, Mürschnitz and
Oberlind.
1994, June 30: Unterlind
2013, December 31: Oberland am
Rennsteig (created on January 1, 1997 through the merger of Engnitzthal
and Haselbach)
The city is the seat of the district court of Sonneberg, which belongs to the district of the district court of Meiningen.
Toys (e.g. Piko, Simba Dickie Group, Plüti-Nova, therapeutic toys),
paper, ceramics and automotive supply industry, furniture production,
formerly also production of electrical appliances (EIO; RFT: Sternradio
combine), clothing (VEB Herko Sonneberg), technical plastic parts (VEB
Plasta Werke, part of the combine plastic and elastic processing - today
Mann + Hummel), electro-ceramics (VEB Elektrokeramische Werke EKS -
today Elektrokeramik Sonneberg), mechanical engineering for the ceramics
industry (VEB Thuringia) formerly machine factory formerly Georg Dorst
AG and construction industry ( VEB agricultural combine)
The private
brewery Gessner GmbH & Co. KG was founded in 1858 in Steinach. She moved
to Sonneberg in 1997.
Street
Sonneberg is on the federal highway 89 from Kronach via
Sonneberg to Meiningen, which was developed as a bypass. There is a
shared motorway junction on the A 73 with the town of Neustadt near
Coburg, about 15 kilometers from Sonneberg near Coburg (see B 4).
Sonneberg is on the German Toy Road.
Train
Sonneberg main
station is on the Coburg–Ernstthal railway line on the Rennsteig. The
electrified section to Coburg offers a connection to the ICE stop there
and on to Lichtenfels, Bamberg and Nuremberg. In the other direction,
the route runs via Lauscha to Ernstthal, from where the trains continue
to Neuhaus am Rennweg via the Probstzella–Neuhaus am Rennweg railway
line. The connection from Ernstthal to Probstzella is closed today. In
addition, Sonneberg is the starting point of the Eisfeld–Sonneberg
railway line from Sonneberg to Eisfeld and on as the Werra Railway in
the direction of Hildburghausen–Meiningen–Eisenach. From 1901 to 1945
there was a railway line to Stockheim (Upper Franconia) with a
connection in Pressig to the Franconian Forest Railway, which, however,
was closed after the Second World War due to the fact that it crossed
the inner-German border from Neuhaus-Schierschnitz. The
Sonneberg–Neuhaus-Schierschnitz section was operated until 1967 and
dismantled in 1972.
Since April 2008, Sonneberg has been the only
city in the "New Federal States" that can be reached with the Bayern
ticket.
SRF (Südthüringer Regionalfernsehen) for southern Thuringia with
regional magazines and teletext information on opening times, on-call
services, sports results, among other things
In Sonneberg, the Freie
Wort appears as a daily newspaper with a local edition.
The district
newspaper “Wolkenrasen” is published in the largest district of
Sonneberg.
Basic and standard care hospital: Regiomed clinics in
Sonneberg/Neuhaus
Regiomed clinics: rescue station next to the
hospital
Like the district of Sonneberg, Sonneberg is the only
district town outside of Bavaria that belongs to the Erlangen
NeuroRegioN – TelemedNordbayern health region
The city of Sonneberg is the venue for the cross-state trade fair FAMOS (skilled workers and training fair for Upper Franconia and southern Thuringia) of the association Economy - Innovation - Region (WIR) between Rennsteig and Main (2013: 3,800 visitors; 2014: 4,500 visitors; 2015: 5800 visitors).
The city's most important football club is 1. FC Sonneberg, which plays its home games in the Sonneberg stadium.
Crato Bütner (1616–1679), composer
Johann Martin Steiner
(1738–1805), mayor and chronicler
Johann Georg Steiner (1746–1830),
painter and song collector
Johann Christoph Greiling (1765–1840),
Protestant theologian
Georg Karl Wilhelm Philipp von Donop
(1767-1845), Chancellor and District President in the Duchy of
Saxe-Meiningen
Paul Schelhorn (1792–1880), painter
Louis Müller
(1812–1889), entrepreneur and politician
Albert Schmidt (1841–1913),
architect
Edmund Steiner (1858–after 1905), artist, doll designer
Peter Eduard Wehder (1852–1923), politician (SPD)
Otto Keller
(1861–after 1929), architect and editor
Oskar Dressel (1865–1941),
chemist
Reinhold von Walther (1866–1945), chemist, rector of the
Bergakademie Freiberg
Anna Müller (1875–1954), politician (SPD)
Hermann Pistor (1875–1951), founder of modern ophthalmic optics
Edmund Meusel (1876–1960), sculptor
Otto Pilz (1876–1934), sculptor
Wilhelm Sollmann (1881–1951), journalist and politician (SPD)
Fritz
Richter-Elsner (1884–1970), visual artist
Paul Schnabel (1887–1947),
ancient historian and ancient orientalist
Armin Reumann (1889–1952),
painter
Cuno Hoffmeister (1892–1968), astronomer
Edmund Adam
(1894–1958), correspondence chess player and chess official
Hans
Sauer (1894–1934), politician (NSDAP)
Erich R. Döbrich (1896–1945),
German military painter
Walter Franck (1896–1961), actor
Walter
Schubart (1897–1942), cultural philosopher
Olga Brückner (1899-1980),
politician (SPD, SED), mayor of Sonneberg, District Administrator of
Sonneberg and MdL
Else Feldkeller (1900-1977), craftswoman, toy
designer, dialect poet
Franz Bauer (1901–1945), resistance fighter
against the Nazi regime, murdered by the SS in Weimar in 1945
Armin
Alfred Scheler (1901–1986), sculptor
Karl Müller (1902–1976), painter
and graphic artist
Theo Gundermann (1904–1974), local politician
(SPD, SED) and party functionary (SED)
Kurt Hanf (1912–1987), painter
and graphic artist
Dietrich Schulz-Köhn (1912–1999), jazz expert
Gerhard Fickel (1920–1990), doctor and member of the People's Chamber
Peter Heilbut (1920–2005), music teacher and composer
Ernst Bauer
(1921–1967), painter and graphic artist
Ulrich Hess (1921–1984),
archivist and state historian
Fred Delmare (1922–2009), actor
Hanns Arthur Schoenau (1922-2002), historian, toy manufacturer, local
politician
Horst Herold (1923–2018), lawyer and former President of
the Federal Criminal Police Office
Walter Scheler (1923–2008),
accountant, victim of the uprising of June 17, 1953, honorary citizen of
Jena
Wolfram Gramowski[58] (1924–1995), editor, literary editor and
translator
Tankred Dorst (1925–2017), writer
Karl-Heinz
Gramowski[59] (1928–2008), doctor, professor of medicine at the
Friedrich Schiller University
Franz Kürschner (1929–1973), painter
Wolfgang Wenzel (1929–2021), astronomer, worked at the Sonneberg
Observatory
Johanna Hoffmann (1930–2015), writer
Irma Munch (born
1930), actress
Walter Schilling (1930–2013), theologian
Werner
Stötzer (1931-2010), sculptor and draftsman
Ursula Am Ende (born
1933), actress
Diether Huhn (1935–1999), lawyer and university
lecturer
Christel Taube (* 1936), university lecturer for
pharmacology and toxicology
Gerhard Bätz (* 1938), visual artist
Raimund-Ekkehard Walter (born 1939), lawyer and legal librarian
Almuth Beck (born 1940), teacher and politician (SED, PDS)
Dagmar
Huelsenberg (* 1940), scientist, President of the Chamber of Technology
Werner Bernreuther (born 1941), actor and songwriter
Peter Pechauf
(born 1941), teacher and politician (SED, PDS)
Hubert Baer
(1942–2015), writer
Freddy Breck (1942–2008), crooner
Volker
Löffler (* 1942), track and field athlete, Olympic participant in 1964
Heinz Schunk (* 1942), violinist and conductor, professor at the Music
Academy in Weimar
Karl-Heinz Kunckel (1944–2012), engineer and
politician (SPD)
Renate Müller (born 1945), designer and toy producer
Hans-Jürgen Kotzur (* 1946), art historian and monument conservator
Monika Debertshäuser (born 1952), cross-country skier
Reinhard Häfner
(1952–2016), soccer player
Günther Thomae (born 1953), volleyball
player
Alfred Muller (born 1955), politician
Detlef Ultsch (*
1955), judo world champion
Sibylle Abel (1956–2016), politician and
mayor of Sonneberg
Frank Dundr (born 1957), Olympic rowing champion
Eva-Maria Siegel (born 1957), literary scholar
Thomas Boller (born
1958), astrophysicist
Matthias Bauer (born 1959), jazz musician
Andreas Oschkenat (born 1962), track and field athlete
Simone Opitz
(born 1963), cross-country skier
Peter Ralf Hofmann (born 1965),
writer
Jürgen Köpper (* 1966), local politician (CDU)
Raimund
Litschko (born 1967), ski jumper
Silke Kraushaar-Pielach (born 1970),
luger
Dirk Seliger (born 1970), writer
Katrin Stump (born 1972),
archaeologist and historian
Robert Stuhlmann (* 1973), lawyer and
politician (AfD)
André Florschütz (born 1976), luger
Thomas
Florschütz (born 1978), bob pilot
Sebastian Lang (born 1979), cyclist
Jan Lieder (born 1979), legal scholar, university lecturer and judge
Daniel Schultheiss (born 1980), Lord Mayor of Ilmenau
Jan Eichhorn
(born 1981), luger
Marcel Lorenz (born 1982), luger
René Meusel
(born 1982), choreographer
David Möller (born 1982), luger
Julia
Eichhorn (born 1983), skeleton pilot
Fabian Franke (born 1988),
basketball player
Jana Burmeister (born 1989), soccer player
Felix
Loch (born 1989), luger
Lisa Seiler (born 1990), soccer player
Lina-Marie Lieb (born 2001), volleyball and beach volleyball player
Georg Hartmann von Erffa (1649-1720), imperial general field marshal
of the Franconian district, lived on the manor in the district of
Unterlind
Karl Wilhelm Wolfgang von Donop (1740-1813), real privy
councilor and senior bailiff of the Meininger Oberland
Karl Wilhelm
August (Saxony-Meiningen) (1754–1782), Duke of Saxony-Meiningen, died in
Sonneberg
Friedrich Eduard Oberländer (1807–1879), honorary citizen
of Sonneberg
Moritz Hensoldt (1821-1903), pioneer of optics, lived
for a time in Sonneberg
August Schleicher (1821–1868), linguist, grew
up in Sonneberg
Karl Baumbach (1844–1896), politician (NLP), District
Administrator of Sonneberg
Reinhard Möller (1855–1912), visual
artist, director of the industrial school in Sonneberg
Armand
Marseille (1856-1925), doll manufacturer
Karl Staudinger (1874–1962),
painter, graphic artist, director of the industrial school in Sonneberg
Carl Melville (1875–1957), sculptor
Wilhelm Vershofen (1878–1960),
economist, head of the Sonneberg Chamber of Commerce
Albin Tenner
(1885–1967), politician (KPD), passed his Abitur in Sonneberg
Adolf
Wicklein (1886–1945), communist and resistance fighter against the Nazi
regime.
Paul Oswald Ahnert (1897–1989), astronomer, active in
Sonneberg from 1938
Fritz Houtermans (1903–1966), German physicist,
graduated from high school in Sonneberg
Rudolf Brandt (1905–1975),
astronomer, worked for many years at the Sonneberg Observatory
Helene
Haeusler (1904–1987), toy designer
Friedrich Knorr (1904-1978),
politician (CSU), passed his Abitur in Sonneberg
Otto Keil
(1905-1984), visual artist, art teacher, director of the Industrial
School and the German Toy Museum
Eva Ahnert-Rohlfs (1912–1954),
astronomer, worked in Sonneberg from 1945
Alfred Jensch (1912–2001),
astronomer, worked at the Sonneberg Observatory
Georg Klaus
(1912–1974), philosopher and cybernetician, worked in Sonneberg before
starting his academic career
Karl Rothammel (1914–1987), non-fiction
author and radio amateur
Karl Kassel (1918-2006), German painter,
ceramic designer and art teacher
Werner Scheler (1923-2018),
pharmacologist, graduated from the Realgymnasium in Sonneberg
Hans
Huth (1925–1988), astronomer, worked at the Sonneberg Observatory
Gerold A. Richter (* 1929), astronomer, worked at the observatory in
Sonneberg
Gerhard Bondzin (1930–2014), painter and graphic artist
Manfred Kiedorf (1936–2015), stage designer, illustrator and miniaturist
Georg Hirschbrich (1939-2012), Roman Catholic minister, grew up in
Sonneberg
Roland Neudert (* 1939), pop singer, received his singing
training in Sonneberg
Conny Bauer (* 1943), trombonist, grew up in
Sonneberg
Joachim Kern (1953-2016), honorary citizen of the city of
Sonneberg, bearer of the Medal of Merit of the Federal Republic of
Germany
There is a minor planet in the asteroid belt named after Sonneberg. He was discovered on November 24, 1924.