Saxony
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Saxony (German: Sachsen [ˈzaksn̩] ⓘ; Upper Saxon: Saggsn; Upper Sorbian: Sakska), officially the Free State of Saxony (German: Freistaat Sachsen [ˈfʁaɪʃtaːt ˈzaksn̩]; Upper Saxon: Freischdaad Saggsn; Upper Sorbian: Swobodny stat Sakska [ˈswɔbɔdnɨ ˈstat ˈsakska]), is a landlocked state of Germany, bordering the states of Brandenburg, Saxony-Anhalt, Thuringia, Bavaria, as well as the countries of Poland and the Czech Republic. Its capital is Dresden, and its largest city is Leipzig. Saxony is the tenth largest of Germany's sixteen states, with an area of 18,413 square kilometres (7,109 sq mi), and the sixth most populous, with more than 4 million inhabitants.
Free State of Saxony
| |
---|---|
Anthem: Sachsenlied [de] | |
Coordinates: 51°1′37″N 13°21′32″E | |
Country | Germany |
Capital | Dresden |
Largest city | Leipzig |
Government | |
• Body | Landtag of Saxony |
• Minister-President | Michael Kretschmer (CDU) |
• Governing parties | CDU / Greens / SPD |
• Bundesrat votes | 4 (of 69) |
• Bundestag seats | 38 (of 736) |
Area | |
• Total | 18,415.66 km2 (7,110.33 sq mi) |
Population (31 December 2018) | |
• Total | 4,077,937 |
• Density | 220/km2 (570/sq mi) |
Demonym | Saxon |
GDP | |
• Total | €146.511 billion (2022) |
• Per capita | €35,909 (2022) |
Time zone | UTC+1 (CET) |
• Summer (DST) | UTC+2 (CEST) |
ISO 3166 code | DE-SN |
NUTS Region | DED |
HDI (2018) | 0.938[2] very high · 9th of 16 |
Website | www |
The term Saxony has been in use for more than a millennium. It was used for the medieval Duchy of Saxony, the Electorate of Saxony of the Holy Roman Empire, the Kingdom of Saxony, and twice for a republic. The first Free State of Saxony was established in 1918 as a constituent state of the Weimar Republic. After World War II, it was under Soviet occupation before it became part of communist East Germany and was abolished by the government in 1952. Following German reunification, the Free State of Saxony was reconstituted with enlarged borders in 1990 and became one of the five new states of the Federal Republic of Germany.
The area of the modern state of Saxony should not be confused with Old Saxony, the area inhabited by Saxons. Old Saxony corresponds roughly to the modern German states of Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and the Westphalian part of North Rhine-Westphalia.
Saxony has a long history as a duchy, an electorate of the Holy Roman Empire (the Electorate of Saxony), and finally as a kingdom (the Kingdom of Saxony). In 1918, after Germany's defeat in World War I, its monarchy was overthrown and a republican form of government was established under the current name. The state was broken up into smaller units during communist rule (1949–1989), but was re-established on 3 October 1990 on the reunification of East and West Germany.
Prehistory
In prehistoric times, the territory of present-day Saxony was the site of some of the largest of the ancient central European monumental temples, dating from the fifth century BC. Notable archaeological sites have been discovered in Dresden and the villages of Eythra and Zwenkau near Leipzig. The Germanic presence in the territory of today's Saxony is thought to have begun in the first century BC.
Parts of Saxony were possibly under the control of the Germanic King Marobod during the Roman era. By the late Roman period, several tribes known as the Saxons emerged, from which the subsequent state(s) draw their name.
Stem Duchy of Saxony
The territory of modern day Saxony and partly of Thuringia since the late 6th century became populated by Polabian Slavs (most prominently tribe of Sorbs), being conquered by Francia which organized Sorbian March.[3][4] A legacy of this period is the modern ethnic group of Sorbs in Saxony. Eastern parts of present Saxony were ruled by Poland between 1002 and 1032 and by Bohemia since 1293.
The first medieval Duchy of Saxony was a late Early Middle Ages "Carolingian stem duchy", which emerged around the start of the 8th century AD and grew to include the greater part of Northern Germany, what are now the modern German states of Bremen, Hamburg, Lower Saxony, North Rhine-Westphalia, Schleswig-Holstein and Saxony-Anhalt. Saxons converted to Christianity during this period, with Charlemagne outlawing pagan practices.[5] This geographical region is unrelated to present-day Saxony but the name moved southwards due to certain historical events (see below).
Holy Roman Empire
The territory of the Free State of Saxony became part of the Holy Roman Empire by the 10th century, when the dukes of Saxony were also kings (or emperors) of the Holy Roman Empire, comprising the Ottonian, or Saxon, dynasty. The Margravate of Meissen was founded in 985 as a frontier march, that soon extended to the Kwisa (Queis) river to the east and as far as the Ore Mountains. In the process of Ostsiedlung, settlement of German farmers in the sparsely populated area was promoted. Around this time, the Billungs, a Saxon noble family, received extensive lands in Saxony. The emperor eventually gave them the title of dukes of Saxony. After Duke Magnus died in 1106, causing the extinction of the male line of Billungs, oversight of the duchy was given to Lothar of Supplinburg, who also became emperor for a short time.
In 1137, control of Saxony passed to the Guelph dynasty, descendants of Wulfhild Billung, eldest daughter of the last Billung duke, and the daughter of Lothar of Supplinburg. In 1180 large portions west of the Weser were ceded to the Bishops of Cologne, while some central parts between the Weser and the Elbe remained with the Guelphs, becoming later the Duchy of Brunswick-Lüneburg. The remaining eastern lands, together with the title of Duke of Saxony, passed to an Ascanian dynasty (descended from Eilika Billung, Wulfhild's younger sister) and were divided in 1260 into the two small states of Saxe-Lauenburg and Saxe-Wittenberg. The former state was also named Lower Saxony, the latter Upper Saxony, thence the later names of the two Imperial Circles Saxe-Lauenburg and Saxe-Wittenberg. Both claimed the Saxon electoral privilege for themselves, but the Golden Bull of 1356 accepted only Wittenberg's claim, with Lauenburg nevertheless continuing to maintain its claim. In 1422, when the Saxon electoral line of the Ascanians became extinct, the Ascanian Eric V of Saxe-Lauenburg tried to reunite the Saxon duchies.
However, Sigismund, King of the Romans, had already granted Margrave Frederick IV the Warlike of Meissen (House of Wettin) an expectancy of the Saxon electorate in order to remunerate his military support. On 1 August 1425 Sigismund enfeoffed the Wettinian Frederick as Prince-Elector of Saxony, despite the protests of Eric V. Thus the Saxon territories remained permanently separated.
The Electorate of Saxony was then merged with the much larger Wettinian Margraviate of Meissen; however, it used the higher-ranking title Electorate of Saxony and even the Ascanian coat-of-arms for the entire monarchy.[6] Thus Saxony came to include Dresden and Meissen. Hence, the territory of the modern Free State of Saxony shares the name with the old Saxon stem duchy for historical and dynastic reasons rather than any significant ethnic, linguistic or cultural connection. In the 18th and 19th centuries Saxe-Lauenburg was colloquially called the Duchy of Lauenburg, which was held in a personal union by the Electorate of Hanover from the 18th century to the Napoleonic wars, and in a personal union with Denmark (along with neighbouring Holstein and Schleswig) for much the 19th century. In 1876 it was absorbed into Prussia as the Duchy of Lauenburg district of the Province of Schleswig-Holstein).
Foundation of the second Saxon state
Saxe-Wittenberg, mostly in modern Saxony-Anhalt, became subject to the margravate of Meissen, ruled by the Wettin dynasty in 1423. This established a new and powerful state, occupying large portions of the present Free State of Saxony, Thuringia, Saxony-Anhalt and Bavaria (Coburg and its environs). Although the centre of this state was far to the southeast of the former Saxony, it came to be referred to as Upper Saxony and then simply Saxony, while the former Saxon territories in the north were now known as Lower Saxony (the modern term Niedersachsen deriving from this).
In 1485, Saxony was split in the Treaty of Leipzig. A collateral line of the Wettin princes received what later became Thuringia and founded several small states there (see Ernestine duchies). Since these princes were allowed to use the Saxon coat of arms, in many towns of Thuringia, the coat of arms can still be found in historical buildings.
The remaining Saxon state became still more powerful, receiving Upper and Lower Lusatia in the Peace of Prague (1635). It also became known in the 18th century for its cultural achievements, although it was politically weaker than Prussia and Austria, states which oppressed Saxony from the north and south, respectively.
Between 1697 and 1763, two successive Electors of Saxony were also elected Kings of Poland in personal union.
In 1756, Saxony joined a coalition of Austria, France and Russia against Prussia. Frederick II of Prussia chose to attack preemptively and invaded Saxony in August 1756, precipitating the Third Silesian War (part of the Seven Years' War). The Prussians quickly defeated Saxony and incorporated the Saxon army into the Prussian Army. At the end of the Seven Years' War, Saxony recovered its independence in the 1763 Treaty of Hubertusburg.
19th century
In 1806, French Emperor Napoleon abolished the Holy Roman Empire and established the Electorate of Saxony as a kingdom in exchange for military support. The Elector Frederick Augustus III accordingly became King Frederick Augustus I of Saxony. Frederick Augustus remained loyal to Napoleon during the wars that swept Europe in the following years; he was taken prisoner and his territories were declared forfeit by the allies in 1813, after the defeat of Napoleon. Prussia intended the annexation of Saxony but the opposition of Austria, France, and the United Kingdom to this plan resulted in the restoration of Frederick Augustus to his throne at the Congress of Vienna although he was forced to cede the northern part of the kingdom to Prussia, which led to the loss of nearly 60% of the Saxon territory,[7] and 40% of its population. Most of these lands were merged with the Duchy of Magdeburg, the Altmark and some smaller territories to become the Prussian Province of Saxony, a predecessor of the modern state of Saxony-Anhalt. Lower Lusatia and part of the former Saxe-Wittenberg territory became part of the Province of Brandenburg and the northeastern part of Upper Lusatia became part of the Province of Silesia. The rump Kingdom of Saxony had roughly the same extent as the present state, albeit slightly smaller.
Meanwhile, in 1815, the Kingdom of Saxony joined the German Confederation.[8] In the politics of the Confederation, Saxony was overshadowed by Prussia and Austria. King Anthony of Saxony came to the throne of Saxony in 1827. Shortly thereafter, liberal pressures in Saxony mounted and broke out in revolt during 1830—a year of revolution in Europe.[8] The revolution in Saxony resulted in a constitution for the Kingdom of Saxony that served as the basis for its government until 1918.[8]
During the 1848–49 constitutionalist revolutions in Germany, Saxony became a hotbed of revolutionaries, with anarchists such as Mikhail Bakunin and democrats including Richard Wagner and Gottfried Semper taking part in the May Uprising in Dresden in 1849. (Scenes of Richard Wagner's participation in the May 1849 uprising in Dresden are depicted in the 1983 movie Wagner starring Richard Burton as Richard Wagner.) The May uprising in Dresden forced King Frederick Augustus II of Saxony to concede further reforms to the Saxon government.[8]
In 1854 Frederick Augustus II's brother, King John of Saxony, succeeded to the throne. A scholar, King John translated Dante.[8] King John followed a federalistic and pro-Austrian policy throughout the early 1860s until the outbreak of the Austro-Prussian War. During that war, Prussian troops overran Saxony without resistance and then invaded Austrian Bohemia.[9] After the war, Saxony was forced to pay an indemnity and to join the North German Confederation in 1867.[10] Under the terms of the North German Confederation, Prussia took over control of the Saxon postal system, railroads, military and foreign affairs.[10] In the Franco-Prussian War of 1870, Saxon troops fought together with Prussian and other German troops against France.[10] In 1871, Saxony joined the newly formed German Empire.[10]
20th century
After King Frederick Augustus III of Saxony abdicated on 13 November 1918, Saxony, remaining a constituent state of Germany (Weimar Republic), became the Free State of Saxony under a new constitution enacted on 1 November 1920. In October 1923, when the Communist Party of Germany entered the Social Democratic-led government in Dresden with hidden revolutionary intentions, the Reich government under Chancellor Gustav Stresemann used a Reichsexekution to send troops into Saxony to remove the Communists from the government.[11] The state retained its name and borders during the Nazi era as a Gau (Gau Saxony), but lost its quasi-autonomous status and its parliamentary democracy.
During the war, under the secret Nazi programme Aktion T4, an estimated 15,000 people suffering from mental and physical disabilities, as well as a number of concentration camp inmates, were murdered at Sonnenstein killing centre near Pirna.
As World War II drew to its end, U.S. troops under General George Patton occupied the western part of Saxony in April 1945, while Soviet troops occupied the eastern part. That summer, the entire state was handed over to Soviet forces as agreed in the London Protocol of September 1944. Britain, the US, and the USSR then negotiated Germany's future at the Potsdam Conference. Under the Potsdam Agreement, all German territory East of the Oder-Neisse line was annexed by Poland and the Soviet Union, and, unlike in the aftermath of World War I, the annexing powers were allowed to expel the inhabitants. During the following three years, Poland and Czechoslovakia forcibly expelled German-speaking people from their territories, and some of these expellees came to Saxony. Only a small area of Saxony lying east of the Neisse River and centred around the town of Reichenau was annexed by Poland. Traditional close relations of Saxony with neighbouring German-speaking Egerland was thus completely destroyed, making the border of Saxony along the Ore Mountains a linguistic border.
Part of the former Prussian province of Lower Silesia lay west of the Oder-Neisse line and therefore was separated from the bulk of its former province; the Soviet Military Administration in Germany (SVAG) merged this territory into Saxony.[12] This former Silesian territory broadly corresponded with the Upper Lusatian territory annexed by Prussia in 1815.
On 20 October 1946, SVAG organised elections for the Saxon state parliament (Landtag), but many people were arbitrarily excluded from candidacy and suffrage, and the Soviet Union openly supported the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED). The new minister-president Rudolf Friedrichs (SED), had been a member of the SPD until April 1946. He met his Bavarian counterparts in the U.S. zone of occupation in October 1946 and May 1947, but died suddenly in mysterious circumstances the following month. He was succeeded by Max Seydewitz, a loyal follower of Joseph Stalin.[citation needed]
The German Democratic Republic (East Germany), including Saxony, was established in 1949 out of the Soviet zone of Occupied Germany, becoming a constitutionally socialist state, part of COMECON and the Warsaw Pact, under the leadership of the SED. In 1952 the government abolished the Free State of Saxony, and divided its territory into three Bezirke: Leipzig, Dresden, and Karl-Marx-Stadt (formerly and currently Chemnitz). Areas around Hoyerswerda were also part of the Cottbus Bezirk.
The Free State of Saxony was reconstituted with slightly altered borders in 1990, following German reunification. Besides the formerly Silesian area of Saxony, which was mostly included in the territory of the new Saxony, the free state gained further areas north of Leipzig that had belonged to Saxony-Anhalt until 1952.
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Topography
The highest mountain in Saxony is the Fichtelberg (1,215 m) in the Western Ore Mountains.
Rivers
There are numerous rivers in Saxony. The Elbe is the most dominant one. The Neisse defines the border between Saxony and Poland. Other rivers include the Mulde and the White Elster.
Largest cities and towns
The largest cities and towns in Saxony according to the 31 July 2022 estimate are listed below.[13] Leipzig forms a conurbation with Halle, known as Ballungsraum Leipzig/Halle.[14] The latter city is located just across the border of Saxony-Anhalt. Leipzig shares, for instance, an S-train system (known as S-Bahn Mitteldeutschland)[15] and an airport[16] with Halle.
Rank | City | Population |
---|---|---|
1 | Leipzig | 612,441 |
2 | Dresden | 560,648 |
3 | Chemnitz | 246,537 |
4 | Zwickau | 87,027 |
5 | Plauen | 64,419 |
6 | Görlitz | 56,443 |
7 | Freiberg | 40,271 |
8 | Freital | 39,576 |
9 | Pirna | 38,771 |
10 | Bautzen | 38,331 |
Saxony is a parliamentary democracy. A Minister President heads the government of Saxony. Michael Kretschmer has been Minister President since 13 December 2017.
2019 state election
AfD received its highest share of the vote in any state or federal election, while the CDU and The Left both fell to record lows in Saxony. Under normal circumstances AfD should have received 39 seats in the Landtag; however, due to positions 31–61 being ruled invalid and removed from AfD's party list, they had no candidates to fill the final seat. Thus, it remains vacant and there are only 119 seats in the Landtag, one fewer than the standard minimum size. The CDU formed a government coalition with the Greens and the SPD.
Party | Constituency | Party list | Total seats |
± | Seats % | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Votes | % | ± | Seats | Votes | % | ± | Seats | |||||
Christian Democratic Union (CDU) | 703,006 | 32.5 | 7.2 | 41 | 695,560 | 32.1 | 7.3 | 4 | 45 | 14 | 37.8 | |
Alternative for Germany (AfD) | 613,585 | 28.4 | 22.0 | 15 | 595,671 | 27.5 | 17.7 | 23 | 38 | 24 | 31.9 | |
The Left (Die Linke) | 265,871 | 12.3 | 8.7 | 1 | 224,354 | 10.4 | 8.5 | 13 | 14 | 13 | 11.8 | |
Alliance 90/The Greens (Grüne) | 192,489 | 8.9 | 2.6 | 3 | 187,015 | 8.6 | 2.9 | 9 | 12 | 4 | 10.1 | |
Social Democratic Party (SPD) | 166,920 | 7.7 | 5.5 | 0 | 167,289 | 7.7 | 4.6 | 10 | 10 | 8 | 8.4 | |
Free Democratic Party (FDP) | 100,639 | 4.7 | 0.6 | 0 | 97,438 | 4.5 | 0.7 | 0 | 0 | ±0 | 0 | |
Free Voters (FW) | 98,353 | 4.6 | 2.6 | 0 | 72,897 | 3.4 | 1.8 | 0 | 0 | ±0 | 0 | |
Die PARTEI (PARTEI) | 12,557 | 0.6 | 0.4 | 0 | 33,618 | 1.6 | 0.9 | 0 | 0 | ±0 | 0 | |
Human Environment Animal Protection (Tierschutz) | – | – | 0.0 | – | 33,476 | 1.5 | 0.4 | 0 | 0 | ±0 | 0 | |
National Democratic Party (NPD) | – | – | 0.0 | – | 12,947 | 0.6 | 4.3 | 0 | 0 | ±0 | 0 | |
Partei für Gesundheitsforschung | – | – | New | – | 11,652 | 0.5 | New | 0 | 0 | New | 0 | |
Blaue #TeamPetry Thüringen | 1,508 | 0.1 | New | 0 | 7,806 | 0.4 | New | 0 | 0 | New | 0 | |
Pirate Party Germany (Piraten) | – | – | 1.6 | – | 6,632 | 0.3 | 0.8 | 0 | 0 | ±0 | 0 | |
Ecological Democratic Party (ÖDP) | – | – | – | 6,000 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0 | 0 | ±0 | 0 | ||
Party of Humanists (Humanisten) | – | – | New | – | 4,305 | 0.2 | New | 0 | 0 | New | 0 | |
Dawn of German Patriots – Middle Germany (ADPM) | – | – | New | – | 3,948 | 0.2 | New | 0 | 0 | New | 0 | |
Party of Reason (PDV) | – | – | – | 2,268 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0 | 0 | ±0 | 0 | ||
Communist Party of Germany (KPD) | – | – | – | 1,951 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0 | 0 | ±0 | 0 | ||
Bürgerrechtsbewegung Solidarität (BüSo) | – | – | 0.4 | – | 1,630 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0 | 0 | ±0 | 0 | |
Other | 2,732 | 0.1 | 0 | – | – | – | – | 0 | ±0 | 0 | ||
Valid votes | 2,159,850 | 98.7 | 2,166,457 | 99.0 | ||||||||
Blank and invalid votes | 28,636 | 1.3 | 22,029 | 1.0 | ||||||||
Total | 2,188,486 | 100.0 | 60 | 2,188,486 | 100.0 | 59 | 119 | 7 | ||||
Electorate/voter turnout | 3,288,643 | 66.5 | 17.4 | 3,288,643 | 66.5 | 17.4 | ||||||
Source: Statistisches Landesamt des Freistaates Sachsen |
Members of the state government
Government office | Picture | Name | Party | State Secretary | Party | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Minister President | Michael Kretschmer | CDU | |||||
First Deputy of the Minister President | Wolfram Günther | B'90/Die Grünen | |||||
Saxon State Ministry for Energy, Climate protection, Environment und Agriculture (SMEKUL) | Gerd Lippold
Gisela Reetz |
B'90/Die Grünen | |||||
Second Deputy of the Minister President | Martin Dulig | SPD | |||||
Saxon State Ministry for Economic Affairs, Labour and Transport (SMWA) | Hartmut Mangold
Ines Fröhlich |
SPD | |||||
Saxon State Ministry of the Interior (SMI) | Roland Wöller | CDU | Thomas Rechentin Head of office |
CDU | |||
Saxon State Ministry of Finance (SMF) | Hartmut Vorjohann | CDU | Dirk Diedrichs Head of office |
non-party | |||
Saxon State Ministry of Justice and for Democracy, European Affairs and Equality (SMJ) | Katja Meier | B'90/Die Grünen | Mathias Weilandt
Gesine Märtens |
B'90/Die Grünen | |||
Saxon State Ministry of Education (SMK) | Christian Piwarz | CDU | Herbert Wolff | CDU | |||
Saxon State Ministry of Science (SMWK) | Sebastian Gemkow | CDU | Andrea Franke | CDU | |||
Saxon State Ministry of Culture and Tourism (SMWK) | Barbara Klepsch | CDU | |||||
Saxon State Ministry of Social Affairs (SMS) | Petra Köpping | SPD | Uwe Gaul (until July 5, 2021) Sebastian Vogel (since July 6, 2021) Dagmar Neukirch |
SPD | |||
Saxon State Ministry of Regional Development (SMR) | Thomas Schmidt | CDU | Frank Pfeil | non-party | |||
Head of the Saxon State Chancellery and State Minister of Federal matters and Media | Oliver Schenk | CDU | Thomas Popp Digital Administration and Administrative modernization (Member of the state government) Conrad Clemens |
CDU |
Federal politics
Saxony has 16 constituencies for the Bundestag.
Administration
Saxony is divided into 10 districts:
1. Bautzen (BZ)
2. Erzgebirgskreis (ERZ)
3. Görlitz (GR)
4. Leipzig (L)
5. Meissen (MEI) (Meissen)
6. Mittelsachsen (FG)
7. Nordsachsen (TDO)
8. Sächsische Schweiz-Osterzgebirge (PIR)
9. Vogtlandkreis (V)
10. Zwickau (Z)
In addition, three cities have the status of an urban district (German: kreisfreie Städte):
Between 1990 and 2008, Saxony was divided into the three regions (Regierungsbezirke) of Chemnitz, Dresden, and Leipzig. After a reform in 2008, these regions – with some alterations of their respective areas – were called Direktionsbezirke. In 2012, the authorities of these regions were merged into one central authority, the Landesdirektion Sachsen [de].