Bergstadt Lößnitz (“Mining Town of Lößnitz”, also spelt Lössnitz), sometimes also called ''Muhme'' (“Aunt”) for its age, is a town in the district of
Erzgebirgskreis,
Saxony
Saxony (german: Sachsen ; Upper Saxon: ''Saggsn''; hsb, Sakska), officially the Free State of Saxony (german: Freistaat Sachsen, links=no ; Upper Saxon: ''Freischdaad Saggsn''; hsb, Swobodny stat Sakska, links=no), is a landlocked state of ...
,
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
, and belongs to the Town League of Silberberg (''Städtebund Silberberg''). Its name comes from the
Slavic ''lesnice'', meaning “forest place”.
Geography
Lößnitz is a small town in the western part of the
Ore Mountains lying nestled among wooded mountain ranges in a glen, roughly 432 m above sea level. It lies 4 km northeast 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 27 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 ...
.
Constituent communities
Lößnitz has six ''Ortsteile'' (constituent communities), namely Affalter (since 1999), Dittersdorf (since 1973), Grüna (from 1974 a constituent community of Affalter), Dreihansen (said to have been a self-standing community in 1791), Niederlößnitz (since 1898) and Streitwald (from 1939 a constituent community of Affalter).
History
Lößnitz was founded by the Castle Counts (''Burggrafen'') at
Meißen in 1170, and in a document from 1284 it was already described as a ''Civitas''. The town's first documentary mention, however, had already come in 1238, in which it was named as “Lesnitz the forest place”.
Lößnitz's early history is somewhat speculative. A schoolmaster is mentioned as being in the town in 1304, for instance, leading to the inference that the Lößnitz Latin school was already there then. Likewise, the first known
mayor
In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well a ...
Hermann von Buten appears in the town's history in 1372, leading to further speculation that there must have been a
town hall
In local government, a city hall, town hall, civic centre (in the UK or Australia), guildhall, or a municipal building (in the Philippines), is the chief administrative building of a city, town, or other municipality. It usually houses ...
by that time.
In 1382, Lößnitz was designated a ''Bergstadt'' and a year later the whole town burnt right down as far as the town mill that stood before the gates. In 1406, the Count of Schönburg acquired the County of Hartenstein and made Lößnitz its seat.
In 1542, the
Reformation
The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and in ...
was introduced. In 1601, the town hall portal appeared and the town hall remodelling was finished six years later. However, all of it was lost, along with the church, the parish building, the school and moreover 108 houses, in the “Rote Ruhr” (“Red Dysentery”, a name given this town fire). In the years that followed, the town also had to deal with sackings, the
plague
Plague or The Plague may refer to:
Agriculture, fauna, and medicine
*Plague (disease), a disease caused by ''Yersinia pestis''
* An epidemic of infectious disease (medical or agricultural)
* A pandemic caused by such a disease
* A swarm of pes ...
and yet another town fire.
In 1714, the
Baroque
The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...
''Hospitalkirche'' (“Hospital Church”) was consecrated. Town fires were nothing unusual in those days, and on 10 December 1806 it once again came to pass and among the buildings lost were, again, the town hall, the parish building and the school as well as the mediaeval ''St. Johanniskirche'' (church), the
brewing
Brewing is the production of beer by steeping a starch source (commonly cereal grains, the most popular of which is barley) in water and #Fermenting, fermenting the resulting sweet liquid with Yeast#Beer, yeast. It may be done in a brewery ...
and
malting
Malting is the process of steeping, germinating and drying grain to convert it into malt. The malt is mainly used for brewing or whisky making, but can also be used to make malt vinegar or malt extract. Various grains are used for malting, most ...
house, 182 houses and 16 barns. The town sprang back from this, but only three years later, there was yet another fire, this one started by a
lightning
Lightning is a naturally occurring electrostatic discharge during which two electric charge, electrically charged regions, both in the atmosphere or with one on the land, ground, temporarily neutralize themselves, causing the instantaneous ...
strike. Of the 104 houses that were destroyed, 26 were ones that had already been rebuilt after burning down in the last fire. On 29 October 1826 the new church, ''Haupt- und Stadtkirche St. Johannis'', was consecrated. There were later further fires in Lößnitz, whereby the Baroque ''Hospitalkirche'' was destroyed, too.
After jurisdiction over the town had been relinquished to the House of Schönburg, the ''Fürstlich Schönburgische Justizamt Stein'' (“Princely Schönburg Justice Office of Stein”) came into being in 1861, and that same year, the new ''Hospitalkirche'' was consecrated. When the Schönburg principalities were taken over by the
Kingdom of Saxony
The Kingdom of Saxony (german: Königreich Sachsen), lasting from 1806 to 1918, was an independent member of a number of historical confederacies in Napoleonic through post-Napoleonic Germany. The kingdom was formed from the Electorate of Saxon ...
in 1878, Lößnitz was given a Kingdom of Saxony ''
Amt
Amt is a type of administrative division governing a group of municipalities, today only in Germany, but formerly also common in other countries of Northern Europe. Its size and functions differ by country and the term is roughly equivalent to ...
'' court, which persisted until 1931.
In 1917, the bells at both the ''St. Johanniskirche'' and the ''Hospitalkirche'' were removed for war requirements, but only three years later, the former acquired three new bells. In 1939, a
carillon
A carillon ( , ) is a pitched percussion instrument that is played with a keyboard and consists of at least 23 cast-bronze bells. The bells are hung in fixed suspension and tuned in chromatic order so that they can be sounded harmoniou ...
consisting of 23
bronze
Bronze is an alloy consisting primarily of copper, commonly with about 12–12.5% tin and often with the addition of other metals (including aluminium, manganese, nickel, or zinc) and sometimes non-metals, such as phosphorus, or metalloids such ...
bells was installed in the church's spire.
On 20 April 1945, the town's deputy mayor Rudolf Weber, who wanted to surrender the town to the
Americans
Americans are the Citizenship of the United States, citizens and United States nationality law, nationals of the United States, United States of America.; ; Although direct citizens and nationals make up the majority of Americans, many Multi ...
without a fight, was shot by the
Waffen-SS. From 1952 until 1990, Lößnitz was part of the
Bezirk Karl-Marx-Stadt of
East Germany
East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...
. Between 1985 and 1992 there arose on the edge of town a great
residential area, where today almost half the town's population lives.
In 1999 came the amalgamation of the community of Affalter.
Population development
The following population figures refer to 31 December of each given year.
:
Source: ''Statistisches Landesamt des Freistaates Sachsen''
Niederlößnitz
Today's constituent community of Niederlößnitz (“Lower Lößnitz”) was originally a farming village downstream from where the Aubach empties into the Lößnitzbach. The first known naming of the community goes back to 1497, when it was known as ''Niderlesenitzs''. About 100 years later, the community counted 6 landowners. One estate was exempted from combat duty and served as the lordly hunting lodge. A. Schuhmann mentioned in 1820 in his ''Lexikon'' two flour mills and a paper mill. However, the paper mill, which had supposedly once been a hammerworks and a coin blank works, burnt down in 1808 and was never rebuilt. Towards the end of the 19th century, the
railway
Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...
line between
Zwönitz
Zwönitz () is a town in the district Erzgebirgskreis, in Saxony, Germany. It is situated 9 km south of Stollberg, and 24 km southwest of Chemnitz.
Parts of the town
Zwönitz consists of:
Population
* 1542 – 570
* 1697 – 741
...
and Aue, on which the lower railway station was built somewhat later, came into service. After the station was built came residential areas and industrial development, leading eventually to Niederlößnitz's amalgamation with the Town of Lößnitz in 1898.
Politics
Coat of arms
Lößnitz's arms show a black
Saint Andrew's cross
Saint Andrew's Cross or Andrew Cross may refer to:
* The x-shaped cross on which Saint Andrew is said to have been martyred by crucifixion
* Saltire, a heraldic symbol in the form of a diagonal cross, including a gallery of flags
** Flag of Sc ...
(the arms of the Castle Counts at Meißen, the town's founders) on a yellow background. The cross is surrounded by three towers set on a stylized wall on a red background. The wall and towers refer to the town's former formidable fortifications; the three towers symbolize the three former town gates.
Town partnership
Since 1991 there has been a partnership with the Westphalian town of
Borgholzhausen.
Culture and sightseeing
Buildings
* Old Town
* Parts of the former town wall (“Rösselturm”)
* Town Hall from 1601
* ''St. Johanniskirche'' with
carillon
A carillon ( , ) is a pitched percussion instrument that is played with a keyboard and consists of at least 23 cast-bronze bells. The bells are hung in fixed suspension and tuned in chromatic order so that they can be sounded harmoniou ...
. It consists of 23 bells from the
Apolda
Apolda () is a town in central Thuringia, Germany, the capital of the Weimarer Land district. It is situated in the center of the triangle Weimar–Jena–Naumburg near the river Ilm, c. east by north from Weimar. Apolda station lies on the Hall ...
bell foundry Franz Schilling Söhne for a carillon that was dedicated at Whitsun in 1939 by carillon master Bender, musical consultant for the
Hitler Youth
The Hitler Youth (german: Hitlerjugend , often abbreviated as HJ, ) was the youth organisation of the Nazi Party in Germany. Its origins date back to 1922 and it received the name ("Hitler Youth, League of German Worker Youth") in July 1926. ...
from the ''
Berliner Parochialkirche''. It was to “proclaim the thankfulness that the German people owe their
Führer
( ; , spelled or ''Fuhrer'' when the Umlaut (diacritic), umlaut is not available) is a German word meaning "leader" or "guide". As a political title, it is strongly associated with the Nazi Germany, Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler.
Nazi Germany ...
and his movement”. The ''St. Johanniskirche'' is the largest neo-classical church in the oremountains.
[Website of the local lutheran congregation: http://www.kirche-loessnitz.de]
Folk festivals and markets
* Weekly market every Thursday
* Dorffest Draffaller (village festival)
* Lößnitzer Salzmarkt (salt market, third weekend in June)
* Naturmarkt (in September)
* Christmas Market (Advent)
Economy and infrastructure
Economy
Lößnitz was over the centuries a regionally important economic centre with market rights. With widespread industrialization beginning about the year 1850, Lößnitz became one of the most important industrial centres in the western Ore Mountains. Important businesses were in
shoemaking
Shoemaking is the process of making footwear.
Originally, shoes were made one at a time by hand, often by groups of shoemakers, or cobblers (also known as '' cordwainers''). In the 18th century, dozens or even hundreds of masters, journeymen ...
, machine building,
textile
Textile is an umbrella term that includes various fiber-based materials, including fibers, yarns, filaments, threads, different fabric types, etc. At first, the word "textiles" only referred to woven fabrics. However, weaving is not the ...
refining and processing and metalware.
Slate
Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade regional metamorphism. It is the finest grained foliated metamorphic rock. ...
mining around the town was also important for a long while.
German Reunification
German reunification (german: link=no, Deutsche Wiedervereinigung) was the process of re-establishing Germany as a united and fully sovereign state, which took place between 2 May 1989 and 15 March 1991. The day of 3 October 1990 when the Ge ...
brought far-reaching changes in the region leading to the loss of a great deal of the local industry.
Transport
The
Bundesstraße 169 runs through the municipal area. The nearest
Autobahn
The (; German plural ) is the federal controlled-access highway system in Germany. The official German term is (abbreviated ''BAB''), which translates as 'federal motorway'. The literal meaning of the word is 'Federal Auto(mobile) Track'. ...
interchanges, with
Bundesautobahn 72, are in Hartenstein and Stollberg.
Lößnitz lies on the railway line between
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 ...
and Aue (''Zwönitztalbahn'') and has two railway stations, called ''oberer Bahnhof'' and ''unterer Bahnhof'' – upper and lower stations. Trains are run by the ''Erzgebirgsbahn'', a daughter operation of
Deutsche Bahn AG
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 ...
. For local transport – in the case of buslines that serve Lößnitz – the fare structure of the ''Verkehrsverbund Mittelsachsen'' (“Middle Saxony Transport Association”) applies.
Further reading
* Akademie der Wissenschaften der DDR, Institut für Geographie und Geoökologie, Arbeitsgruppe Heimatforschung; Werte unserer Heimat; Heimatkundliche Bestandsaufnahme in der Deutschen Demokratischen Republik; Band 31; Zwischen Zwickauer Mulde und Geyerschem Wald; Akademie-Verlag Berlin, 1980.
* Schumann, A.; Schiffner, A.: Vollständiges Staats-, Post- und Zeitungslexikon. Bände 1-18. Zwickau 1814-1833
References
External links
Town’s official homepage
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lossnitz
Erzgebirgskreis