Aue () is a small town in

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

at the outlet of the river Schwarzwasser into the river

Zwickauer Mulde The Zwickauer Mulde () is a river in Saxony, Germany. It is the left tributary of the Mulde and in length. The source of the river is in the Ore Mountains, near Schöneck, in the Vogtlandkreis. It runs northeast to Aue, then northwest to ...

in the

Ore Mountains The Ore Mountains (, or ; ) lie along the Czech–German border, separating the historical regions of Bohemia in the Czech Republic and Saxony in Germany. The highest peaks are the Klínovec in the Czech Republic (German: ''Keilberg'') at ab ...

, and has roughly 16,000 inhabitants. It was merged into the new town Aue-Bad Schlema in January 2019. Aue was the administrative seat of the former district of Aue-Schwarzenberg in

Saxony Saxony, officially the Free State of Saxony, is a landlocked state of Germany, bordering the states of Brandenburg, Saxony-Anhalt, Thuringia, and Bavaria, as well as the countries of Poland and the Czech Republic. Its capital is Dresden, and ...

, and is part of the

Erzgebirgskreis Erzgebirgskreis is a district ('' Kreis'') in the Free State of Saxony, Germany. It is named after the Ore Mountains (German: ''Erzgebirge''), a mountain range in the southern part of the district which forms part of the Germany–Czech Republi ...

since August 2008. It belongs to the Silberberg Town League (''Städtebund Silberberg'') The mining town has been known for its

copper Copper is a chemical element; it has symbol Cu (from Latin ) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkish-orang ...

titanium Titanium is a chemical element; it has symbol Ti and atomic number 22. Found in nature only as an oxide, it can be reduced to produce a lustrous transition metal with a silver color, low density, and high strength, resistant to corrosion in ...

, and

kaolinite Kaolinite ( ; also called kaolin) is a clay mineral, with the chemical composition Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4. It is a layered silicate mineral, with one tetrahedral sheet of silica () linked through oxygen atoms to one octahedral sheet of alumina () ...

. The town was a machine-building and

cutlery Cutlery (also referred to as silverware, flatware, or tableware) includes any hand implement used in preparing, serving, and especially eating food in Western culture. A person who makes or sells cutlery is called a cutler. While most cutlers ...

manufacturing centre in

East German East Germany, officially known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), was a country in Central Europe from its formation on 7 October 1949 until its reunification with West Germany (FRG) on 3 October 1990. Until 1989, it was generally vie ...

times and is now developing

tourism Tourism is travel for pleasure, and the Commerce, commercial activity of providing and supporting such travel. World Tourism Organization, UN Tourism defines tourism more generally, in terms which go "beyond the common perception of tourism as ...

, as the Silver Road (''Silberstraße'') runs through town. The town is also known for the football club

FC Erzgebirge Aue Fußball Club Erzgebirge Aue e.V., commonly known as simply FC Erzgebirge Aue or Erzgebirge Aue (), is a Football in Germany, German football club based in Aue-Bad Schlema, Saxony. The former East German side was a founding member of the 3. ...

, which is currently playing in the 3rd German division (3. Bundesliga) Aue was until 1991 a centre of the ''Sowjetisch-Deutsche Aktiengesellschaft Wismut'' (“Soviet-German Wismut Corporation”, or SDAG Wismut).

History

The town's first mention came in 1219 when it was named in a document as ''Bertoldus prepositus de Owa''. ''Owa'', later also ''Awe'' or ''Aw'' referred to the meadow (although ''Aue'' in

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

actually means “

floodplain A floodplain or flood plain or bottomlands is an area of land adjacent to a river. Floodplains stretch from the banks of a river channel to the base of the enclosing valley, and experience flooding during periods of high Discharge (hydrolog ...

”) at the forks of the Schwarzwasser und Zwickauer Mulde, where the first settlers had their homes next to the small

monastery A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of Monasticism, monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in Cenobitic monasticism, communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes a ...

of Zelle, founded in 1173. In 1479,

tin Tin is a chemical element; it has symbol Sn () and atomic number 50. A silvery-colored metal, tin is soft enough to be cut with little force, and a bar of tin can be bent by hand with little effort. When bent, a bar of tin makes a sound, the ...

and

silver Silver is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Ag () and atomic number 47. A soft, whitish-gray, lustrous transition metal, it exhibits the highest electrical conductivity, thermal conductivity, and reflectivity of any metal. ...

mining Mining is the Resource extraction, extraction of valuable geological materials and minerals from the surface of the Earth. Mining is required to obtain most materials that cannot be grown through agriculture, agricultural processes, or feasib ...

began, leading to an upswing in the town's fortunes. In 1526, the ''Auerhammer'' (

ironworks An ironworks or iron works is an industrial plant where iron is smelted and where heavy iron and steel products are made. The term is both singular and plural, i.e. the singular of ''ironworks'' is ''ironworks''. Ironworks succeeded bloome ...

), later called Eisenwerk and now a constituent community of Aue, had its first documentary mention. The first St. Nicholas' Church, of which no details have been passed down, was located on the former church square, the Kirchplatz (the present Neumarkt) and must have been replaced by a new building between 1625 and 1628. On 4 August 1633 this building, together with a large part of the town, was destroyed in a raid by imperial troops. By 1636 the church had been temporarily rebuilt. In 1627, Aue was granted market rights by Elector Johann Georg I of Saxony for a yearly market on Saint Bartholomew's Day (27 August), and in 1632 for a second, the ''Katharinenmarkt'', on 25 November. In 1635, Veit Hans Schnorr founded the first

blue Blue is one of the three primary colours in the RYB color model, RYB colour model (traditional colour theory), as well as in the RGB color model, RGB (additive) colour model. It lies between Violet (color), violet and cyan on the optical spe ...

dye Juan de Guillebon, better known by his stage name DyE, is a French musician. He is known for the music video of the single "Fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction that involves supernatural or Magic (supernatural), magical ele ...

works in Saxony in Niederpfannenstiel, now also a constituent community of Aue. From 1711

kaolin Kaolinite ( ; also called kaolin) is a clay mineral, with the chemical composition Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4. It is a layered silicate mineral, with one tetrahedral sheet of silica () linked through oxygen atoms to one octahedral sheet of alumina (). ...

was also delivered to

Meißen Meissen ( ), is a town of approximately 30,000 about northwest of Dresden and 75 km (46 mi) west of Bautzen on both banks of the Elbe river in the Free State of Saxony, in eastern Germany. Meissen is the home of Meissen porcelain, th ...

for preparing

porcelain Porcelain (), also called china, is a ceramic material made by heating Industrial mineral, raw materials, generally including kaolinite, in a kiln to temperatures between . The greater strength and translucence of porcelain, relative to oth ...

. Since the mid-18th century, documents have referred to Aue as a town. In 1897, Zelle was amalgamated with Aue, and Alberoda followed in 1929. Already by 1901, the royal '' Amt'' court had taken up its function in the town. One of Saxony's oldest artworks is the painting from the east wall of the little monastery, which shows Emperor Friedrich I Barbarossa,

Mary Mary may refer to: People * Mary (name), a female given name (includes a list of people with the name) Religion * New Testament people named Mary, overview article linking to many of those below * Mary, mother of Jesus, also called the Blesse ...

and a bishop. In the 1930s, it was removed for reasons of restoration, and is now found in the ''St.-Annen-Kapelle'' near the

cathedral A cathedral is a church (building), church that contains the of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, Annual conferences within Methodism, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually s ...

Freiberg Freiberg () is a university and former mining town in Saxony, Germany, with around 41,000 inhabitants. The city lies in the foreland of the Ore Mountains, in the Saxon urbanization axis, which runs along the northern edge of the Elster and ...

. A copy by H. Beck is found in the ''Friedenskirche Aue-Zelle'' (“Peace Church”). During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, a subcamp of the

Flossenbürg concentration camp Flossenbürg was a Nazi concentration camp built in May 1938 by the SS Main Economic and Administrative Office. Unlike other concentration camps, it was located in a remote area, in the Fichtel Mountains of Bavaria, adjacent to the town of Flos ...

was located here. Like Schwarzenberg, the town remained unoccupied for a while after the Second World War ended in 1945. From 1952 to 1990, Aue was part of the

Bezirk Karl-Marx-Stadt The Bezirk Karl-Marx-Stadt, also known as Bezirk Chemnitz, was a district (''Bezirk'') of East Germany. The district existed from 1952 until the Reunification of Germany in 1990. The administrative seat and the main town was Karl-Marx-Stadt, ren ...

East Germany East Germany, officially known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), was a country in Central Europe from Foundation of East Germany, its formation on 7 October 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with West Germany (FRG) on ...

. Until 1994, the town was the administrative seat of the district of Aue. With district reform in Saxony that year, Aue became the administrative seat of the newly formed district of Aue-Schwarzenberg. Since 1996, there has been a Silberberg Town League (''Städtebund Silberberg''), to which, besides Aue, also belong Schneeberg, Schwarzenberg, Bad Schlema, Lauter and Lößnitz. In November 2006 the mayors of Aue, Lößnitz, Schneeberg and Bad Schlema expressed the intention of amalgamating their respective municipalities into a united town of Silberberg.

Geography

Neighbouring communities

Bordering communities are

Bad Schlema Bad Schlema () is a community in the district of Erzgebirgskreis in Saxony in Germany. It was merged into the new town Aue-Bad Schlema in January 2019. It belongs to the Silberberg Town League (''Städtebund Silberberg''). The Silver Road (''Si ...

, Bernsbach, Bockau, Zschorlau, the towns of Lauter, Lößnitz and Schneeberg in the district of Aue-Schwarzenberg as well as the town of Hartenstein in the Zwickauer Land.

Population development

Development of population figures ''(from 1960 on 31 December)'': : Source as of 1998: ''Statistisches Landesamt des Freistaates Sachsen'' 1 29 October
2 31 August

Climate

The climate of Aue is typical of an offshore climate (

Köppen Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Bernd Köppen (1951–2014), German pianist and composer * Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan * Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author ...

: ''Cfb''; Trewartha: ''Dolk''). Aue's average air temperature is , and the yearly

precipitation In meteorology, precipitation is any product of the condensation of atmospheric water vapor that falls from clouds due to gravitational pull. The main forms of precipitation include drizzle, rain, rain and snow mixed ("sleet" in Commonwe ...

is . The Aue weather station has recorded the following extreme values: * Highest Temperature on 13 August 2003. * Warmest Minimum on 1 August 1983. * Coldest Maximum on 31 December 1996. * Lowest Temperature on 8 January 1985. * Highest Daily Precipitation on 23 July 2010. * Wettest Month in August 2002. * Wettest Year in 2010. * Driest Year in 1982. * Earliest Snowfall: 14 October 2015. * Latest Snowfall: 6 May 1979. * Longest annual sunshine: 1,861.5 hours in 2003. * Shortest annual sunshine: 1,395.4 hours in 2002.

Politics

Mayors

The following chart shows the mayors and the periods of office.

Town council

* CDU/ FDP: 7 members * FBA/ SPD: 5 members * PDS: 5 members * FWA: 3 members * LdU: 2 members

Economy and infrastructure

The town has a station at the junction of the Zwickau–Schwarzenberg line and the Chemnitz–Adorf line. It is served by

Regionalbahn The ''Regionalbahn'' (; lit. Regional train; abbreviated ''RB'') is a train categories in Europe, type of Regional rail, local passenger train (stopping train) in Germany. It is similar to the Regionalzug (R) and Regio (Swiss railway train), R ...

trains, operated by '' Erzgebirgsbahn'' (a subsidiary of

Deutsche Bahn (, ; abbreviated as DB or DB AG ) is the national railway company of Germany, and a state-owned enterprise under the control of the German government. Headquartered in the Bahntower in Berlin, it is a joint-stock company ( AG). DB was fou ...

) between Zwickau and

Johanngeorgenstadt Johanngeorgenstadt (, ) is a mining town in Saxony’s Ore Mountains, 17 km south of Aue, and 27 km northwest of Karlovy Vary. It lies in the district of Erzgebirgskreis, on the border with the Czech Republic, is a state-recognized hea ...

and by

Tram-trains A tram-train or dual-system tram is a type of light rail vehicle that both meets the standards of a light rail system, and also national mainline standards. Tramcars are adapted to be capable of running on streets like an urban tramway but a ...

, operated by City-Bahn Chemnitz between Aue and Burgstädt.

Coat of arms

The town's arms show two wooden bridges, one over the other, in gold on blue over a wavy silver watery surface, each bridge with two little flags on the balustrade flying left.

Famous people

Honorary citizens

* Ernst Papst (b. 1843), factory owner, founder of the public gymnastic club and the volunteer

fire brigade A fire department (North American English) or fire brigade (Commonwealth English), also known as a fire company, fire authority, fire district, fire and rescue, or fire service in some areas, is an organization that provides fire prevention and ...

* ''Fürst'' Otto von Bismarck (1815–1898), Imperial Chancellor, honorary citizen since 1 April 1895 * Gustav Hiltmann (1850–1931) joint owner of the Hiltmann & Lorenz (HILO) factory with great dedication to his homeland, town councillor honorary citizen since 1920 * Emil Teubner (1877–1958),

woodcarver Wood carving (or woodcarving) is a form of woodworking by means of a cutting tool (knife) in one hand or a chisel by two hands or with one hand on a chisel and one hand on a mallet, resulting in a wooden figure or figurine, or in the sculpture, ...

and

sculptor Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...

* Peter Koch, company director of Nickelhütte Aue GmbH (nickelworks) * Alexander Bauer, former partner in the Curt Bauer KG factory

Sons and daughters of the town

* Melchior Lotter (1470–1549), book printer and

publisher Publishing is the activities of making information, literature, music, software, and other content, physical or digital, available to the public for sale or free of charge. Traditionally, the term publishing refers to the creation and distribu ...

* Kurt Teubner (1903–1990), painter and graphic artist * Ernst Hecker (1907–1983), painter,

lithographer Lithography () is a planographic method of printing originally based on the immiscibility of oil and water. The printing is from a stone (lithographic limestone) or a metal plate with a smooth surface. It was invented in 1796 by the German ...

and

impressionist Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by visible brush strokes, open Composition (visual arts), composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating the effects of the passage ...

* Dietmar Vettermann (b. 1957), chief mayor of the city of

Zwickau Zwickau (; ) is the fourth-largest city of Saxony, Germany, after Leipzig, Dresden and Chemnitz, with around 88,000 inhabitants,. The West Saxon city is situated in the valley of the Zwickau Mulde (German: ''Zwickauer Mulde''; progression: ), ...

* Thomas Colditz (b. 1957), CDU politician, member of the Saxony ''

Landtag A ''Landtag'' (State Diet) is generally the legislative assembly or parliament of a federated state or other subnational self-governing entity in German-speaking nations. It is usually a unicameral assembly exercising legislative competence ...

'' * Max Poepel (1896–1966), town councillor and, from 1940 to early 1945, Deputy Lord Mayor. Prevented bridges being blown during US advance in World War II.

Other celebrities

* Ernst August Geitner (1783–1852),

chemist A chemist (from Greek ''chēm(ía)'' alchemy; replacing ''chymist'' from Medieval Latin ''alchemist'') is a graduated scientist trained in the study of chemistry, or an officially enrolled student in the field. Chemists study the composition of ...

physician A physician, medical practitioner (British English), medical doctor, or simply doctor is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through the Medical education, study, Med ...

botanist Botany, also called plant science, is the branch of natural science and biology studying plants, especially Plant anatomy, their anatomy, Plant taxonomy, taxonomy, and Plant ecology, ecology. A botanist or plant scientist is a scientist who s ...

and inventor of

German silver Nickel silver, maillechort, German silver, argentan, new silver, nickel brass, albata, or alpacca is a cupronickel (copper with nickel) alloy with the addition of zinc. The usual formulation is 60% copper, 20% nickel and 20% zinc. Nickel silver ...

, founded Auerhammer German silver works in 1829, forerunner of today's Auerhammer Metallwerk GmbH thereby laying the groundwork for the town's development into a centre for German silver cutlery manufacture. *

Clemens Winkler Clemens Alexander Winkler (December 26, 1838 – October 8, 1904) was a German chemist who discovered the element germanium in 1886, solidifying Dmitri Mendeleev's theory of periodicity. Life Winkler was born in 1838 in Freiberg, Kingdom ...

(1838–1904), German chemist, discoverer of the chemical element

germanium Germanium is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Ge and atomic number 32. It is lustrous, hard-brittle, grayish-white and similar in appearance to silicon. It is a metalloid or a nonmetal in the carbon group that is chemically ...

, spent his youth in the constituent community of Niederpfannenstiel; Aue's Gymnasium is named for him. For name origin:

German placename etymology Placenames in the German language area can be classified by the language from which they originate, and by era. German names from prehistoric and medieval times Suffixes * ''-ach'' ("river", cf. English ''ea''). Examples: Echternach, Sal ...

Gallery

File:Aue Markt alt1.jpg, "Altes Rathaus", "Nicolaikirche" and Marketplace, ca 1900 File:Aue 2007 Amtsgericht.jpg, Former Amtsgericht in Aue File:2010-07-13 Aue Brünlasberg -Angela M. Arnold fec 790.JPG, Memorial for

Friedrich Fröbel Friedrich Wilhelm August Fröbel or Froebel (; 21 April 1782 – 21 June 1852) was a German pedagogue, a student of Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi, who laid the foundation for modern education based on the recognition that children have unique nee ...

File:2009-05-16 276 Aue Friedhof.JPG,

memorial at the St. Nicolai cemetery File:2010-07-13 Aue Brünlasberg -Angela M. Arnold fec Teppichweber.jpg, ''Die Teppichweber'' (The carpetweavers) after a poem from

Bertolt Brecht Eugen Berthold Friedrich Brecht (10 February 1898 – 14 August 1956), known as Bertolt Brecht and Bert Brecht, was a German theatre practitioner, playwright, and poet. Coming of age during the Weimar Republic, he had his first successes as a p ...

, by Kujan-Bulak

References

External links

Aue.de
town's homepage * {{Authority control Erzgebirgskreis Former municipalities in Saxony