Schwarzenberg is a town in the district of Erzgebirgskreis in Saxony’s Ore Mountains, near the German–Czech border. The town lies roughly 15 km southeast of

Aue Aue may refer to: * Aue (toponymy), a frequent element in German toponymy meaning "wetland; river island; river" Places * Aue, Saxony, a mining town in Saxony, Germany * Aue (Samtgemeinde), a collective municipality in Uelzen District, Lower Sax ...

, and 35 km southwest of

Chemnitz Chemnitz (; from 1953 to 1990: Karl-Marx-Stadt , ) is the third-largest city in the German state of Saxony after Leipzig and Dresden. It is the 28th largest city of Germany as well as the fourth largest city in the area of former East Germany a ...

. Founded in the 12th century to protect a trade road, the small mountain town became the centre of a territory known as '' Herrschaft Schwarzenberg'' and later ''Amt Schwarzenberg''. During the division of Germany, Schwarzenberg was part of East Germany and became the greatest producer of washing machines in Eastern Europe. Schwarzenberg became more widely known in 1987, when Stefan Heym coined the term

Free Republic of Schwarzenberg The Free Republic of Schwarzenberg (german: Freie Republik Schwarzenberg) is a term applied to portions of western Saxony that were briefly not occupied by the Allies after the surrender of Nazi Germany on May 8, 1945. These districts of Saxony ...

for a small gap between the Soviet and American occupation zones in May/June 1945.

Geography

Schwarzenberg is in the southwestern Ore Mountains. It lies at elevations stretching from above sea level. The Old Town with church and castle is located on a rock (the Schlossberg, ) around which a meander of the River Schwarzwasser has formed; the Mittweida flows into the Schwarzwasser inside the town. However, the town's overall situation is in a basin. The most prominent peaks surrounding it, in addition to the Schlossberg, are the Hirschstein (), the Hohe Hahn (), the Hohe Henne (), the

Rockelmann The Rockelmann is a mountain in the Ore Mountains in Saxony, southeastern Germany. It is south-southwest of Schwarzenberg. It formerly had two granite quarries, one of which was converted into an open-air theatre in the 1920s, the other into a Naz ...

(), the Galgenberg () and the Raschau Knochen ().

Geology

The town's silhouette is marked by the opposing rocks ''Ottenstein'' and ''Totenstein'', which like the Schlossberg consist of

Augen Augen (from German "eyes") are large, lenticular eye-shaped mineral grains or mineral aggregates visible in some foliated metamorphic rocks. In cross section they have the shape of an eye. Feldspar, quartz, and garnet are common minerals whic ...

gneiss. Other stones include quartz (only some of it pure as rock crystal),

biotite Biotite is a common group of phyllosilicate minerals within the mica group, with the approximate chemical formula . It is primarily a solid-solution series between the iron-endmember annite, and the magnesium-endmember phlogopite; more alumino ...

, muscovite and feldspar. The Schwarzenberg mining area is pervaded by

ore veins In geology, a vein is a distinct sheetlike body of crystallized minerals within a rock. Veins form when mineral constituents carried by an aqueous solution within the rock mass are deposited through precipitation. The hydraulic flow involved i ...

of complex origin. Skarn deposits contain magnetite, iron pyrite, arsenopyrite, chalcopyrite,

sphalerite Sphalerite (sometimes spelled sphaelerite) is a sulfide mineral with the chemical formula . It is the most important ore of zinc. Sphalerite is found in a variety of deposit types, but it is primarily in Sedimentary exhalative deposits, sedimen ...

and

galena Galena, also called lead glance, is the natural mineral form of lead(II) sulfide (PbS). It is the most important ore of lead and an important source of silver. Galena is one of the most abundant and widely distributed sulfide minerals. It cryst ...

. The ore deposits are up to 6 metres thick and permeated by silver and cobalt minerals as well as

cassiterite Cassiterite is a tin oxide mineral, SnO2. It is generally opaque, but it is translucent in thin crystals. Its luster and multiple crystal faces produce a desirable gem. Cassiterite was the chief tin ore throughout ancient history and remains t ...

Constituent communities

The ''Old Town'' with market square, castle and St.-Georgen-Kirche (main church) forms the town's historical core. The ''Vorstadt'' was originally a southward extension outside the (now vanished) town walls, originally formed around a mill. Late 19th century factories and workers' housing around the station became the ''Neustadt'' north of the Old Town, now housing the civic centre with town hall and employment centre. North-west and south-west of the Old Town, the ''Hofgarten'' and ''Heide'' low-rise residential areas were built in the 1960s and 1970s, respectively, using large-block construction (a precursor of plattenbau construction). The plattenbau residential area ''Sonnenleithe'' at the town's northern border was built in the 1980s. Although the town has incorporated several nearby communities over recent years, its population numbers remained stable at approximately 20,000 inhabitants. Sachsenfeld, Neuwelt, and Wildenau/Brückenberg were already incorporated into Schwarzenberg between 1913 and 1920. Grünstädtel followed in 1996, Bermsgrün, the hamlet Jägerhaus, Crandorf and Erla in 1999, and

Pöhla Pöhla is a village and a former municipality lying in the valley of the river Pöhlwasser, in the district of Aue-Schwarzenberg in Saxony, Germany. Since 1 January 2008, it is part of the town Schwarzenberg. Geography Constituent communitie ...

in 2008.

Neighbouring communities

The communities that border on the town are

Grünhain-Beierfeld Grünhain-Beierfeld is a town in the district of Erzgebirgskreis in Saxony, Germany lying 8 km east of Aue. It came into being on 1 January 2005 through the merger of the town of Grünhain and the community of Beierfeld. Geography Locati ...

in the northeast,

Raschau Raschau is a former municipality in the district of Erzgebirgskreis in Saxony, Germany. Since 1 January 2008, Raschau and Markersbach have formed the municipality Raschau-Markersbach.Breitenbrunn and Sosa in the south and Bockau and

Lauter Lauter may refer to: People * Lauter (surname) Places *Lauter, Saxony, town in the district of Aue-Schwarzenberg, Saxony, Germany * Lauter, Bavaria, village in the district of Bamberg, Bavaria, Germany Rivers * Lauter (Baunach), tributary to th ...

in the west.

Flora

Schwarzenberg is located in the midst of forested hills in the Erzgebirge/Vogtland Natural Park. The flat ''Galgenberg'' dome is mostly covered by coniferous forest. Thick copse of sycamore, aspen, mountain ash,

hazel The hazel (''Corylus'') is a genus of deciduous trees and large shrubs native to the temperate Northern Hemisphere. The genus is usually placed in the birch family Betulaceae,Germplasmgobills Information Network''Corylus''Rushforth, K. (1999). ...

and wild cherry grows on the terraces at the forest edge. Sporadic

beech Beech (''Fagus'') is a genus of deciduous trees in the family Fagaceae, native to temperate Europe, Asia, and North America. Recent classifications recognize 10 to 13 species in two distinct subgenera, ''Engleriana'' and ''Fagus''. The ''Engle ...

and Weymouth pine can be found on the ''Ottenstein''. The

feverfew ''Tanacetum parthenium'', known as feverfew, is a flowering plant in the daisy family, Asteraceae. It may be grown as an ornamental plant, ornament, and may be identified by its synonyms, ''Chrysanthemum parthenium'' and ''Pyrethrum parthenium' ...

-like '' Tanacetum parthenifolium'', known locally as ''Schwarzenberger Edelweiß'', has found a curiously isolated habitat in Schwarzenberg and has resisted attempts at shifting or cultivation.

History

Establishment and early history

Schwarzenberg was first documented in 1282 as “civitas Swartzenberg”, but potsherds excavated in 1977 date back somewhat further to c.1200 and the official year of establishment has been fixed at 1150. The town developed out of a fortification which is believed to have been created by Duke Heinrich II of Austria to protect an important trade route between

Pleissnerland Pleissnerland, Pleissenland or the Imperial Territory of Pleissenland (german: Reichsterritorium Pleißenland; la, Terra Plisensis) was a '' Reichsgut'' of the Holy Roman Empire, which meant that it was directly possessed by the respective elected ...

and

Bohemia Bohemia ( ; cs, Čechy ; ; hsb, Čěska; szl, Czechy) is the westernmost and largest historical region of the Czech Republic. Bohemia can also refer to a wider area consisting of the historical Lands of the Bohemian Crown ruled by the Bohem ...

in the otherwise unsettled area. ''Schwarzenberg'' is German for black mountain. According to legend, an emperor of the

Ottonian dynasty The Ottonian dynasty (german: Ottonen) was a Saxon dynasty of German monarchs (919–1024), named after three of its kings and Holy Roman Emperors named Otto, especially its first Emperor Otto I. It is also known as the Saxon dynasty after the ...

founded the town and named it after the colour of the rock. It is generally believed that the town was in fact named after the appearance created by the thick, dark forest. The town is said to have passed to

Emperor Frederick I Barbarossa An emperor (from la, imperator, via fro, empereor) is a monarch, and usually the sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife ( empress consort), mother (empr ...

in 1170, and then to his son, Emperor Henry VI. Later, numerous changes of ownership occurred. In 1334 the house of ''Lobdeburg'' held Schwarzenberg and the surrounding area as a fief. The house of ''Tettau'' obtained the town in 1425, and sold it to Elector Elector John the Magnanimous of Saxony in 1533. Villages began to form around Schwarzenberg Castle, and for c.1500, 48 families are documented in Schwarzenberg, which was then the seat of the superintendent of the mines in the area. During the reformation, the town became Protestant.

Townsite

Schwarzenberg's skyline is dominated by the ensemble of church and palace, the latter having been built on an old castle's foundation walls. This former castle can be considered one of the town's first fortified buildings. The ''St.-Georgen-Kirche'' (church) on the other hand is clearly newer, having been built only in the late 17th century. With the help of the oldest known drawing of Schwarzenberg, a pen and ink work by Wilhelm Dilich from the late 1620s, one can get an idea of the town's original appearance. At the end of today's ''Oberen Schloßstraße'' rises the palace (''Schloss''), which was once built as a castle, and which, over the course of its history, has been expanded and remodelled many times. Right on the marketplace, at the other end of the aforesaid street, is found the Town Hall. The third conspicuous building in the town's historic centre was the church, which became too small in the 17th century and was replaced by the ''St.-Georgen-Kirche''. Beside the old church lay the graveyard on the site today known as the ''Unterer Markt'' (“Lower Market”). It was not long before it, too, became too small, and it was supplemented – and later wholly supplanted – by another graveyard outside the town's walls. Already in Dilich's drawing, nothing more is to be seen of the town's walls. All that remains of them now is the names ''Oberes Tor'' and ''Unteres Tor'' (“Upper Gate” and “Lower Gate”). Once the buildings within the town could no longer handle the steadily growing population, houses were built outside the town's walls. In the aforesaid drawing, the first “suburban” buildings can already be seen beneath the church.

After the Second World War

After Germany's surrender in the Second World War, Schwarzenberg remained, for historically unclear reasons, unoccupied at first. The city issued 42 postage stamps in 1945, all showing a heavy black silhouetted outline of the city blotting out Hitler's face. On 11 May 1945, several antifascist Schwarzenberg citizens took the initiative of filling the resulting power vacuum. This episode lasted only until 25 June 1945 when Soviet troops marched in. In 1984, the writer Stefan Heym coined the term “Republic of Schwarzenberg” in his novel ''Schwarzenberg'', which was based on the episode. A lively accumulation of legends is bound up with this time. In 2004, the writer Volker Braun also treated the topic.

Religion

* Evangelical Lutheran Parish of St. George * Evangelical Methodist Parish * Catholic Parish of the Holy Family * Schwarzenberg Branch of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

Population development

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

Mayor

The current mayor is Ruben Gehart ( CDU), elected in October 2020.

Coat of arms

Schwarzenberg's arms show the dragon slayer Saint George, who according to legend is held to have taken on the lindworm at the ''Totenstein'' (“Dead Man’s Stone”), which was a lasting threat to the townsfolk. While fleeing from the figure, Saint George is said to have tried to leap across the river Schwarzwasser on his horse, landing on the ''Ottenstein'' on the other side. It is furthermore said that his horse's horseshoe print may still be seen in the river even today.

Town partnerships

* Wunsiedel, since 1990 * Nové Sedlo (Czech Republic), since 2006 * Borchen, since 2007

Culture and sightseeing

Often called the "Pearl of the Erzgebirge", Schwarzenberg's main attraction is its historic centre. * Palace with museum * ''St.-Georgen-Kirche'' (built between 1690 and 1699) * The ''Grenzlandfeierstätte'' (“Borderland Celebration Place”), dedicated in 1938, affords roughly 15,000 visitors seats for great cultural events as a ''Waldbühne'' (“forest stage”). * ''Weiße Frau'' (“White Woman”) on Jägerhäuser Straße * "''Brunnenanlage und Meißner Glockenspiel''" ("Faountain and the Meissen porcelain glockenspiel"), with 37 bells, is situated in the heritage-protected old town Heide Sonnenleithe

Museums

* Schloss Schwarzenberg - PERLA CASTRUM Museum - A Castle Full of History * Eisenbahnmuseum (railway museum)

Clubs

* FSV Blau-Weiss Schwarzenberg 1921 e.V. * Modelleisenbahn-Club Schwarzenberg e.V. (model railways) * Erzgebirgszweigverein Schwarzenberg

Regular events

* Fest alter Musik im Erzgebirge (“old music in the Ore Mountains”, since 1994) * Schwarzenberger Ostermarkt (Easter market) * Schwarzenberger Altstadt- und Edelweißfest (“Old Town and Edelweiss festival”, since 1993) * Schwarzenberger Weihnachtsmarkt (Christmas Market, since 1534)

Economy and infrastructure

From being a small industrial centre in East Germany, and home to two large companies, Foron and Formenbau Schwarzenberg, Schwarzenberg has lost most of its heavy industry over the last two decades. Only the latter company has stayed in business, and that as a subsidiary of the KUKA Corporation of Augsburg. Tourism is now the main industry, with the town being an excellent base for hiking tours during summer. Through the town runs the Silver Road. The town has a station at the junction of the Zwickau to Schwarzenberg, Schwarzenberg to Johanngeorgenstadt and Annaberg to Schwarzenberg railway lines, and is served by Regionalbahn trains, operated by ''Erzgebirgsbahn'' (a subsidiary of

Deutsche Bahn The (; abbreviated as DB or DB AG) is the national railway company of Germany. Headquartered in the Bahntower in Berlin, it is a joint-stock company ( AG). The Federal Republic of Germany is its single shareholder. describes itself as the se ...

) between Zwickau and Johanngeorgenstadt. No regular passenger trains operate to Annaberg.

Education

Schwarzenberg has at its disposal four

elementary school A primary school (in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, and South Africa), junior school (in Australia), elementary school or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary ed ...

s (Neuwelt, Sonnenleithe, Heide and Crandorf) a middle school (“Stadtschule”), a Gymnasium (“Bertolt-Brecht-Gymnasium”) and a vocational school centre for economy and social welfare. There are also a school for students with learning difficulties, a special school for the mentally handicapped and a folk high school.

Famous people

Honorary citizens

Hans Brockhage Hans may refer to: __NOTOC__ People * Hans (name), a masculine given name * Hans Raj Hans, Indian singer and politician ** Navraj Hans, Indian singer, actor, entrepreneur, cricket player and performer, son of Hans Raj Hans ** Yuvraj Hans, Punjabi ...

(1925–2009), designer and sculptor * Harry Schmidt (1927–2003), woodcarver

Sons and daughters of the town

* Gottfried Heinrich Stölzel (1690-1749), composer * Arthur Vogel (1868–1962), merchant, photographer and publisher of Ore Mountain picture postcards * Elisabeth Rethberg (1894–1976), singer * Friedrich Emil Krauß (1895–1977), industrialist, bathtub and washing machine maker *

Kurt Weisflog Kurt is a male given name of Germanic or Turkish origin. ''Kurt'' or ''Curt'' originated as short forms of the Germanic Conrad, depending on geographical usage, with meanings including counselor or advisor. In Turkish, Kurt means "Wolf" and is ...

(1906–1942), Member of the Reichstag *

(1925–2009), designer and sculptor * Axel Köhler (b. 1960), countertenor and film director *

Hans-Christoph Rademann Hans-Christoph Rademann (born 5 August 1965 in Dresden) is a German choral conductor, currently the director of the Dresdner Kammerchor and the Internationale Bachakademie Stuttgart. Career Born in Dresden, Rademann grew up in Schwarzenberg an ...

(b. 1965), choral conductor

Celebrities who have worked in town

Louis Krauß Louis may refer to: * Louis (coin) * Louis (given name), origin and several individuals with this name * Louis (surname) * Louis (singer), Serbian singer * HMS ''Louis'', two ships of the Royal Navy See also Derived or associated terms * Lewi ...

(1862–1927), born in what is now the constituent community of Neuwelt, industrialist, bathtub maker * Dr. iur. Ludwig Günther Martini (1647–1719), between 1672 and 1677 a jurist in Schwarzenberg, writer and later court official in Wernigerode. *

Ernst Schneller Ernst Schneller (8 November 1890 – 11 October 1944) was a German school teacher. In 1914 he volunteered to join the army when war broke out. Sent to fight on the Eastern Front, he became politicised and radicalised, especially as the ideas be ...

(1890–1944), from 1919 a teacher in the town, latter KPD Member of the Reichstag. His workplace, today's ''Stadtschule Schwarzenberg'', bore his name for more than 40 years * Walter Hesse (1846–1911), county physician, unveiled ''Schneeberger Bergkrankheit'' as lung cancer, later fellow worker of Robert Koch * Ricco Groß (b. 1970), many times world champion and Olympic medallist in biathlon, grew up here. * Markus Beyer (b. 1971), boxer and former world champion in super middleweight, grew up here.

References

External links

Internet presence of the Town of Schwarzenberg

Internet presence of the Waldbühne Schwarzenberg
* {{Authority control Erzgebirgskreis