Zwenkau

Zwenkau
Zwenkau
Town
	Aerial view
	Coat of arms
	Location of Zwenkau within Leipzig district
	Zwenkau Zwenkau
	Coordinates: 51°13′3″N 12°19′27″E / 51.21750°N 12.32417°E
Country	Germany
State	Saxony
District	Leipzig
Subdivisions	10
Government
• Mayor	Holger Schulz (CDU)
Area
• Total	46.21 km2 (17.84 sq mi)
Elevation	130 m (430 ft)
Population (2022-12-31)
• Total	9,332
• Density	200/km2 (520/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+01:00 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+02:00 (CEST)
Postal codes	04442
Dialling codes	03 42 03
Vehicle registration	L
Website	www.zwenkau.de

Zwenkau is a town in the district of Leipzig, in Saxony, Germany. Situated between the White Elster and Pleiße rivers, it nestles in the Leipzig Bay and includes parts of the conservation area Elsteraue and Central Germany's Street of Lignite. It is situated within the Central German Metropolitan Region.

Geography

The town lies about 15 km south of Leipzig and 3 km northwest of the industrial site Böhlen / Lippendorf with its landmark, Lippendorf Power Station. A former open-cast mine extending from the northeast of Zwenkau to its northwest was set on September 30, 1999 and is currently being rehabilitated and converted to Lake Zwenkau. Several smaller towns and hamlets belong to Zwenkau, being

the suburbs Kötzschbar, Imnitz and Löbschütz
the rural towns Großdalzig, Mausitz, Kleindalzig, Tellschütz, and Zitzschen (since October 1, 1993)
the town Rüssen-Kleinstorkwitz and its hamlet Döhlen (since October 1, 1996)

The rural areas of the historic town Eythra and parts of Bösdorf, both abandoned in favor of lignite deposits in the 1980s, are also administered by the town of Zwenkau and bordered in the west.

History

Pre-industrial period

Prehistoric colonization in the area of Zwenkau was affirmed by archaeological finds dated around 6000 BC.

Zwenkau is one of the oldest cities in what is now Saxony. As a Slavic settlement, the earliest documentary mention known is in 974 where it is described as Civitas in Gau Chutizi.

[...]

In 1929 the towns Imnitz and Kotzschbar which immediately connected to the south of Zwenkau's urban area were amalgamated.^[2]

Demography

In the shadow of Leipzig's development Zwenkau grew slowly. In 1748 almost 90 households were counted, this is equivalent to 450 to 500 inhabitants. After the Seven Years' War the town experienced a commercial boom and the population increased fivefold in less than one-hundred years. So before industrialization in Europe started, 2419 residents were counted in 1834. In the first half of the 20th century Zwenkau developed quickly due to the lignite mining industry and dependent business. From 1950 to 1990 the town lost forty percent of its residents. Since then the population increased mainly as a result of amalgamation of nearby rural towns and hamlets.

Population development^[2]
Year	1871	1890	1910	1925	1939	1946	1964	1990	2000	2007
Residents	3058	3628	4661	5283	9513	11821	9800	7351	8932	8859

Local council

The elections in May 2014 showed the following results:

CDU: 9 Seats
Freie Wählergemeinschaft „Gemeinsam für Zwenkau“ e. V. (GfZ) (Together for Zwenkau): 5 Seats
SPD: 2 Seats
The Left: 2 Seats

Sons and daughters of the city

Adolf Ferdinand Weinhold (1841-1917), professor for physics in Chemnitz, pioneer of the electrification of Saxony and (co-) inventor of the Dewar vessel, from which the principle of the Vacuum flask derives
Frank Baum (born 1956,) GDR football national player and winner of a silver medal at the 1980 Olympic Games
Uwe Zötzsche (born 1960), GDR football national player and finalist in the UEFA Cup final in Athens 1987
Rüdiger Selig (born 1989), cyclist