Saxony
The
Free State of Saxony (
German:
Freistaat Sachsen;
Sorbian:
Swobodny Stat Sakska) has a land area of 18,413 km² and a population of 4.3 million, the tenth-largest in area and sixth-largest in population among
Germany's sixteen
states. The state has a long history as a duchy, and eventually
kingdom. Monarchy was overthrown and it became a republic under its current name in
1918. Abolished during communist rule, it was reestablished in
1990.
The capital city of Saxony is
Dresden. Other major cities include
Leipzig and
Chemnitz.
During the early
Middle Ages the term
Saxony referred to the region occupied by today's states of
Lower Saxony and northern
North Rhine-Westphalia. The
Saxons had migrated there from the area of present-day
Schleswig-Holstein between
250 and
500. See the history section below.
Saxony cannot necessarily be directly related to every other meaning of "Saxons"; that is, a Saxon is not necessarily an inhabitant of Saxony (e.g.
Saxon people,
Anglo-Saxons or
Saxons of Romania). For full disambiguation of the meaning, see
Saxon (disambiguation).
Borders & Cities
Saxony borders, from the east and clockwise, on
Poland, the
Czech Republic and the German states of
Bavaria,
Thuringia,
Saxony-Anhalt and
Brandenburg. Its capital is
Dresden, and the other principal cities are
Leipzig and
Chemnitz.
Landscape & Climate
The main axis of Saxony is the
Elbe river, crossing the state from southeast to northwest. Another important river, west of the Elbe, is the
Mulde. The
Neiße river forms the Polish border. The portions in the east of Saxony are the southern parts of the historical region of
Lusatia (
Lausitz) and are called
Upper Lusatia (
Oberlausitz); the minority of the
Sorbs live in the region, which is bilingual today.
The countryside rises gradually from north to south, culminating in the mountain ranges along the Czech border. The
Ore Mountains (
Erzgebirge) extend from Bavaria to the Elbe river. The Elbe itself has cut a majestic gorge to pass the mountains of the
Elbsandsteingebirge, better known as
Saxon Switzerland. Further east the mountains are less high and form a hilly countryside called the
Lausitzer Bergland. See also
List of places in Saxony.
Image:UAEU-BRD-Sn2006AD--en01.gif|The climate of Dresden, the capital of Saxony and situated on the Elbe in eastern middle Germany, as measured and recorded in Klotzsche (altitude 227m).Administration
Saxony is divided into 3
Regierungsbezirke -
Chemnitz,
Dresden,
Leipzig - which are subdivided into 22 districts:
Furthermore there are seven independent cities, which don't belong to any district:
#
Chemnitz (C)#
Dresden (DD)#
Görlitz (GR) (didn't belong to Saxony 1815-1945)#
Hoyerswerda (HY) (decided to accompany Saxony in 1990)#
Leipzig (L)#
Plauen (PL)#
Zwickau (Z)
Saxony has been observed to have the most vibrant economy among the former
GDR states. Its economy grew by 2.1% in 2004, making it the only eastern state to exceed the national average. Nonetheless, unemployment remains high and investment is scarce. Because of these factors, Saxony, along with the rest of the east (excluding Berlin) qualifies as an "Objective 1" development region within the
European Union, and thus can receive investment subsidies of up to 30% until 2013. In the interests of encouraging growth, the state government has attempted to develop tourism in the region, notably in the lake district of Lausitz (
Economist, Aug. 27, 2005).
Prehistoric Saxony was the site of some of the largest of the ancient Central European
monumental temples, dating from the
5th millennium BC. Notable archeological sites have been discovered in
Dresden and the village of
Aythra near
Leipzig.
For the origins of the Saxon tribes see
Saxons.
Foundation of the first Saxon state
The first
Duchy of Saxony emerged about AD
700 in today's
Lower Saxony and
North Rhine-Westphalia. In the
10th century the dukes of Saxony were at the same time kings (or emperors) of the
Holy Roman Empire (
Ottonian or Saxon Dynasty). At that time, a Saxon noble family of
Billungs received extensive fiefs in Saxony, and the Emperor eventually gave them the title of
Duke of Saxony. After the extinction of the male line of Billungs, the duchy was given to
Lothar of Supplinburg, who then also became Emperor for a short time.
In
1137 Saxony was passed to the
Welfen dynasty, who were descendants (1) of Wulfhild Billung, eldest daughter of the last Billung duke, and (2) of the daughter of Lothar of Supplinburg. It reached its peak under Duke
Henry the Lion, and after his death it began to decline (Henry had declined to participate in the later Italian wars of his liege lord, Emperor Frederick Barbarossa, and those expeditions to Italy ended in disasters. The furious emperor retaliated and sent his troops to end Duke Henry's dominion). In
1180 large portions west of the Weser were ceded to the Bishops of Cologne, while some central parts between Weser and Elbe remained to the Welfs, later forming the Duchy of
Brunswick-Lüneburg). The remaining Eastern lands, together with the title of Duke of Saxony, were passed to an
Ascanian dynasty (who descended from Eilika Billung, Wulfhild's younger sister) and divided in
1260 into the two small states of Saxony-Lauenburg and
Saxony-Wittenberg. Saxony-Lauenburg was later renamed
Lauenburg and was no longer part of Saxony or its history. Saxe-Wittenberg was confirmed to have inherited the "main" ducal title of the Saxons and as such was recognized as an Elector of the Empire in 14th century.
Foundation of the second Saxon state
|
Between the years 1697-1763 the Electors of Saxony also were elected Kings of Poland in personal union. |
Saxony-Wittenberg, in present
Saxony-Anhalt, became subject to the margravate of
Meißen and ruled by the
Wettin dynasty in
1423. A new powerful state was established, occupying large portions of present Saxony, Thuringia and Saxony-Anhalt. Although the center of this state was far 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 as a collateral line of the Wettin princes received what later became
Thuringia and founded several small states there (see
Thuringia). The remaining Saxon state became even 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.
Saxony in the 19th and 20th centuries
With the abolition of the
Holy Roman Empire in
1806, Saxony became a kingdom, and Elector Frederick Augustus III became King
Frederick Augustus I. Frederick Augustus made the mistake of remaining loyal for too long to
Napoleon I, and he was taken prisoner and his territories declared forfeit by the allies in
1813, with the intention of their being annexed by
Prussia. Ultimately, the opposition of
Austria,
France, and the
United Kingdom resulted in Frederick Augustus being restored to his throne at the
Congress of Vienna, but Saxony was forced to cede the northern part of the kingdom to Prussia. These lands became the Prussian province of Saxony, which is today incorporated in Saxony-Anhalt. What was left of the Kingdom of Saxony was roughly identical with the present federal state.
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.
After
1918 Saxony was a state in the
Weimar Republic and was the scene of
Gustav Stresemann's overthrow of the KPD/SPD led government in 1923, during the
Nazi era and under Soviet occupation. It was dissolved in
1952, and divided into three smaller 'Bezirke' based on
Leipzig,
Dresden and
Karl-Marx-Stadt, but reestablished within slightly altered borders in
1990 upon
German reunification. Today Saxony also includes a small part of
Silesia around the town of
Görlitz which remained German after the war and which for obvious reasons of unviability as a separate state was incorporated into Saxony. This part has been part of Silesia only after 1815 and belonged as part of Upper Lusatia to
Bohemia before 1623 and previously to Saxony between 1623 and 1815.
List of Minister-presidents of Saxony
For earlier rulers, see
Rulers of Saxony.#
1918 -
1919:
Richard Lipinski (
USPD)#
1919 -
1920:
Georg Gradnauer (
SPD)#
1920 -
1923:
Wilhelm Buck (SPD)#
1923:
Erich Zeigner (SPD)#
1923 -
1924:
Alfred Fellisch (SPD)#
1924 -
1929:
Max Heldt (SPD)#
1929 -
1930:
Wilhelm Bünger (
DVP)#
1930 -
1933:
Walter Schieck (no party)#
1933 -
1935:
Manfred Freiherr von Killinger (
NSDAP)#
1935 -
1945:
Martin Mutschmann (NSDAP)#
1945 -
1947:
Rudolf Friedrichs (SPD, then
SED)#
1947 -
1952:
Max Seydewitz (SED)#
1990 -
2002:
Kurt Biedenkopf (
CDU)# since
2002:
Georg Milbradt (CDU)
September 19, 2004 state election
See also: Saxony state election, 2004Georg Milbradt (CDU), losing his absolute majority, had to form a
grand coalition with the SPD to remain in office as Minister-president.
| Party | Party List votes | Vote percentage | Total Seats | Seat percentage |
|---|
| Christian Democratic Union (CDU) | 855,203 | 41.1% | 55 | 44.4% |
| Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS) | 490,488 | 23.6% | 31 | 25.0% |
| Social Democratic Party (SPD) | 204,438 | 9.8% | 13 | 10.5% |
| Alliance '90/The Greens | 106,771 | 5.1% | 6 | 4.8% |
| National Democratic Party (NPD) | 190,909 | 9.2% | 12 | 9.7% |
| Free Democratic Party (FDP) | 122,605 | 5.9% | 7 | 5.6% |
| Mensch Umwelt Tierschutz (Humans, the Environment, and Animal Rights) | 34,068 | 1.6% | 0 | 0.0% |
| All Others | 75,653 | 3.7% | 0 | 0.0% |
| - bgcolor=lightgrey | Totals | 2,080,135 | 100.0% | 124 | 100.0% |
|---|
Notably, the far-right NPD received two more votes in the ballot for Minister-president than it had members. It is presumed that two CDU Landtag members must have backed the NPD leadership.
* "Still Troubled".
The Economist,
August 27-
September 2, 2005.
*
Official governmental portal*
Christmas time in Saxony
