Saxony

This article is about the modern state of Saxony in present-day Germany. For other uses, see Saxony (disambiguation).

Dresden, capital of Saxony

View over Leipzig city centre

Chemnitz town halls

The Free State of Saxony (German: Freistaat Sachsen [ˈfʁaɪʃtaːt ˈzaksən]; Upper Sorbian: Swobodny stat Sakska) is a landlocked state of Germany, bordering Brandenburg, Saxony Anhalt, Thuringia, Bavaria, the Czech Republic and Poland. It is the tenth-largest German state in area, with (18,413 square kilometres (7,109 sq mi), and the sixth most-populous (4.3 million) of Germany's sixteen states.

Located in the middle of an erstwhile German-speaking part of Europe, the history of the state of Saxony spans more than a millennium. It has been a medieval duchy, an electorate of the Holy Roman Empire, a kingdom, a republic from 1918 to 1952 and then again from 1990.

The area of the modern state of Saxony should not be confused with Old Saxony, the area inhabited by Saxons. Old Saxony corresponds approximately to the modern German states of Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and the Westphalian part of North Rhine-Westphalia.

Geography

Administration

Sachsen is divided into three Direktionsbezirke — Chemnitz, Dresden, Leipzig — which are subdivided into 10 districts:

Map of 3 regions and 10 districts in Saxony (Sachsen).

  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)

The Erzgebirgskreis district covers the Ore Mountains, and the Schweiz-Osterzgebirge district is Saxon Switzerland and the Eastern Ore Mountains.

In addition there are three urban districts (German: kreisfreie Städte), which also have district status:

1. Chemnitz (C)
2. Dresden (DD)
3. Leipzig (L)

Economy

Saxony has, after Saxony Anhalt, the most vibrant economy among the federal states of the former GDR. Its economy grew by 1.9% in 2010. Nonetheless, unemployment remains high, and investment is scarce. The eastern part of Germany, excluding Berlin, qualifies as an "Objective 1" development-region within the European Union, and is eligible to receive investment subsidies of up to 30% until 2013. FutureSAX, a business plan competition and entrepreneurial support organization, has been in operation since 2002.

Microchip makers near Dresden have given the region a nickname of "Silicon Saxony". The publishing and porcelain industries of the region are well known, although their contributions to the regional economy are not significant.The state government is attempting to develop tourism, notably in the lake district of Lausitz.

Saxony reported unemployment of 11.9% as average for 2010, by comparison the average for the former GDR was 12% and 7.7% for Germany overall.

In April 2012 Saxony had an unemployment rate of 10.3% while Germany of 7%, western Germany of 6% and eastern Germany of 11.2%. The Leipzig area, which was among the regions with the highest unemployment rate for many years, could recently especially benefit from investments of Porsche and BMW. With the VW Phaeton fab in Dresden and many suppliers the car industry has become one of the pillars of the Saxon industry again as it had been since the early 20th century. Zwickau is another major Volkswagen location. Freiberg, the former mining city, has established as a foremost location for material and competitive solar industries. Dresden and some other regions play a leading role in some areas of international biotechnology such as electronic bio engineering while these hightech sectors do not offer yet a larger number of jobs for the native population but they have stopped or even reversed a brain drain movement which occurred until few years ago in many parts of Saxony. Regional universities have strengthened their positions in toothing with local industries and reputation amongst students from the western part. Different to smaller towns Dresden and Leipzig have now a significant growth in population.

History

Main article: History of Saxony

Saxony has a long history as a duchy, an electorate of the Holy Roman Empire (the Electorate of Saxony), and eventually as a kingdom (the Kingdom of Saxony). In 1918, subsequent to Germany's defeat in World War I, its monarchy was overthrown and a republican form of government was established under its 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 Saxony was the site of some of the largest of the ancient Central European monumental temples, dating from the 5th century BC. Notable archaeological sites have been discovered in Dresden and the villages of Eythra and Zwenkau near Leipzig. The Slavic and Germanic presence in the territory of today's Saxony is thought to have begun in the 1st 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. For the origins of the Saxon tribes, see Saxons.

Duchy of Saxony

Main article: Duchy of Saxony

Henry the Lion (with his wife Matilda of England, Duchess of Saxony) is crowned as Duke of Saxony

The first mediæval Duchy of Saxony was a late Early Middle Ages "Carolingian stem duchy", which emerged about the year 700, and grew to cover the greater part of Northern Germany. It covered the area of the modern German states of Lower Saxony, North Rhine-Westphalia, Schleswig-Holstein and Saxony-Anhalt. The Saxons converted to Christianity during this period.

While the Saxons were facing pressure from Charlemagne's Franks, they were also facing a westward push by Slavs to the east. The territory of the Free State of Saxony was occupied by Slavs before being reconquered by Germans. A legacy of this period is the Sorb population in Saxony.

Holy Roman Empire

The territory of the Free State of Saxony became part of the Holy Roman Empire by the 10th century. In the 10th century, the dukes of Saxony were also kings (or emperors) of the Holy Roman Empire, comprising the Ottonian, or Saxon, Dynasty. Around this time, the Billungs, a Saxon noble family, received extensive fiefs in Saxony. The Emperor eventually gave them the title of Duke 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 to the Guelphs, later forming 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 was divided in 1260 into the two small states of Saxe-Lauenburg and Saxe-Wittenberg, the former 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 their part, but the Golden Bull of 1356 only accepted Wittenberg's claim, with Lauenburg nevertheless maintaining its claim. In 1422, when the Saxon electoral line of the Ascanians was 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 on 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 protestations of Eric V. Thus the Saxon territories remained separated in permanence. Electoral Saxony was then merged in the much bigger Wettinian Margraviate of Meissen, however using the higher ranking name Electorate of Saxony and even the Ascanian coat-of-arms for the entire monarchy. Thus the name Saxony was translated to areas as far as Dresden and Meissen. In the 18th and 19th centuries Saxe-Lauenburg became colloquially called the Duchy of Lauenburg, which in 1876 merged in Prussia as Duchy of Lauenburg district.

Foundation of the second Saxon state

Late 17th and 18th century electors of Saxony

Saxony is home to numerous castles, like the Schloss Moritzburg north of Dresden

Saxony-Wittenberg, 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, and Saxony-Anhalt. Although the center 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 were now known as Lower Saxony.

In 1485, Saxony was split. A collateral line of the Wettin princes received what later became Thuringia and founded several small states there (see Ernestine duchies). The remaining Saxon state became still more powerful, becoming known in the 18th century for its cultural achievements, although it was politically inferior to Prussia and Austria, which pressed Saxony from either side.

Between the years 1697 and 1763, the Electors of Saxony were also elected Kings of Poland in personal union.

In 1756, Saxony joined the coalition of Austria, France and Russia against Prussia. Frederick II of Prussia chose to attack preemptively and invaded Saxony in August 1756, precipitating 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 once again became an independent state.

Saxony in the 19th and 20th centuries

Main article: Kingdom of Saxony

In 1806, French Emperor Napoleon abolished the Holy Roman Empire and decreed the Electorate of Saxony a kingdom in itself. Elector Frederick Augustus III became King Frederick Augustus I. Frederick Augustus remained loyal to Napoleon during the wars that swept Europe in the following years; he was taken prisoner and his territories declared forfeit by the allies in 1813, who intended the annexation of Saxony by Prussia. Ultimately, 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. At this time in 1815, Saxony was forced to cede the northern part of the kingdom to Prussia. These lands became the Prussian province of Saxony, incorporated today in Saxony-Anhalt. The remnant of the Kingdom of Saxony was roughly identical with the present federal state.

Meanwhile, in 1815, the southern part of Saxony, now called the "State of Saxony joined the German Confederation. (The German Confederation should not be confused with the North German Confederation mentioned below.) In the politics of the Confederation, Saxony was overshadowed by Prussia. King Anthony of Saxony, came to the throne of Saxony in 1827. Shortly thereafter, liberal pressures in Saxony mounted and broke out in the revolt during 1830—a year of revolution in Europe. The revolution in Saxony resulted in a Constitution for the State of Saxony which served as a basis for the government in Saxony until 1918.

During the 1848–49 constitutionalist revolutions in Germany, Saxony became a hotbed for 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 pictured 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 in the Saxon government.

In 1854 Frederick Augustus II's brother, King John of Saxony, succeeded to the throne. A scholar, King John translated Dante. King John followed a federalistic and pro-Austrian policy throughout the early 1860s until the outbreak of the Austro-Prussian War. During the war, Prussian troops overran Saxony without a fight and invaded then Austrian (today's Czech) Bohemia. After the war, Saxony was forced to pay an indemnity and to join the North German Confederation in 1867. Under the terms of the North German Confederation, Prussia took over control of the Saxon postal system, railroads, military and foreign affairs. In the Franco-Prussian War of 1870, Saxon troops fought together with Prussian and other German troops against France. In 1871, Saxony joined the newly formed German Empire.

After King Frederick Augustus III of Saxony had abdicated on 13 November 1918, Saxony, remaining a constituent state of Germany (Weimar Republic), became a republic renamed the Free State of Saxony following the new Saxon constitution of 1 November 1920. In 1923 Reichs's chancellor Gustav Stresemann overthrew the SPD-led Saxon government. The state maintained its name and borders during the National Socialist era as a Gau, but lost any quasi-autonomous status and its parliamentarian democracy.

By the by end of World War II in April 1945, American troops under General George Patton conquered the western part of the Free State, while Soviet troops conquered the eastern part. That summer, the entire state was handed over to Soviet forces as agreed upon by the London Protocol of September 1944. Thereafter Britain, the USA, and the USSR negotiated at the Potsdam Conference on Germany's future. By their trilateral Potsdam Agreement all German territory east of the Oder-Neisse line was to be annexed by Poland and the Soviet Union and, unlike the post-World War I secessions of German territory, this time the annexing powers were allowed to expel the inhabitants.

Through all the following three years, Poland forcibly expelled German-speaking people from its annexed territory. Since the three powers of Potsdam had further agreed to accept in their occupation zones more expellees from other countries, the government in Prague denaturalised and expropriated around three million Czechoslovaks due to their German native language. So also Saxons had to feed and house the destitute expellees, while their retained belongings became war booty shared by the profiteers of this exproprietary attitude. Only a small Saxon area, lying east of the Neisse river and centered around the town of Reichenau (now called Bogatynia), was annexed by Poland. The Soviet Military Administration in Germany (SVAG) merged that tiny part of the Prussian province of Lower Silesia, which remained with Germany west of the Neisse, into Saxony.

On 20 October 1946, the SVAG organised elections for the Saxon state parliament (Landtag), which were unbalanced since many people were arbitrarily excluded from candidacy and suffrage and the Soviet support unilaterally preferring the communist Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED). The new Saxon minister-president (governor) Rudolf Friedrichs (SED, until April 1946 SPD), who met with his Bavarian counterparts in the US zone of occupation in October 1946 and May 1947, suddenly died under unknown circumstances the month after. He was succeeded by Max Seydewitz, a loyalist of Joseph Stalin.

The Soviet Union set up the communist government of the German Democratic Republic in 1949, with Saxony a part of it, giving the USSR a satellite in the heart of Europe. The communist government officially dissolved the Free State in 1952, and divided it into the three smaller Bezirke of Leipzig, Dresden, and Karl-Marx-Stadt. The Free State was reconstituted with slightly altered borders in 1990 upon German reunification. Besides the formerly Silesian area of Saxony, which was mostly included in the territory of the new Saxon state, the free state gained further areas north of Leipzig, which belonged to Saxony-Anhalt until 1952.

Culture

Religion

Evangelical Church in Germany 20.9 %, Catholic Church 3.6 %. 75.5 % have no religion or profess other ones.

Languages

Boundary sign of Bautzen / Budyšin in German and Upper Sorbian language; many place names in Saxony are derived from Sorbian.

The most common patois spoken in Saxony are combined in the group of "Thuringian and Upper Saxon dialects". Due to the incorrect usage of "Saxon dialects" in colloquial language, the Upper Saxon attribute has been added to distinguish it from Old Saxon and Low Saxon. Other German dialects spoken in Saxony are the dialects of the Erzgebirge (Ore Mountains), which have been affected by Upper Saxon dialects, and the dialects of the Vogtland, which are more affected by the East Franconian languages.

Upper Sorbian (a Slavic language) is still actively spoken in the parts of Upper Lusatia that are occupied by the Sorbian minority. The Germans in Upper Lusatia speak distinct dialects of their own (Lusatian dialects).

Education

The Dresden University of Technology, founded in 1828, is one of the Germany's oldest universities. With 36,066 students as of 2010, it is the largest university in Saxony and one of the ten largest universities in Germany. It is a member of TU9, a consortium of nine leading German Institutes of Technology.

Tourism

Except for Dresden and Leipzig, Saxony is not a primary destination for foreign tourists. Areas along the border with the Czech Republic, such as the Lusatian Mountains, Ore Mountains, Saxon Switzerland, and Vogtland, attract significant visitors, largely Germans. Saxony has well preserved historic towns such as Meissen, Freiberg, Pirna, Bautzen, and Görlitz.

Stanislaw Tillich.

Politics

A minister-president heads the government of Saxony. Stanislaw Tillich has been minister-president since May 28, 2008. See: List of Ministers-President of Saxony, for a full listing.

2009 state election

Main article: Saxony state election, 2009

The center-right CDU has formed a coalition with the liberal democratic FDP.

See also

• Saxony (wine region)

External links

• Official governmental portal
• Christmas time in Saxony
• some facts about Saxony
• some stories about Dresden Neustadt - The Capital of Saxony
• Geographic data related to Saxony at OpenStreetMap