Lützen () is a town in the

Burgenlandkreis Burgenlandkreis () is a district in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Its area is . History The district was established as Landkreis Burgenland by the merger of the former Burgenlandkreis and Landkreis Weißenfels as part of the reform of 2007. ...

district of

Saxony-Anhalt Saxony-Anhalt ( ; ) is a States of Germany, state of Germany, bordering the states of Brandenburg, Saxony, Thuringia and Lower Saxony. It covers an area of and has a population of 2.17 million inhabitants, making it the List of German states ...

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 ...

Geography

Lützen is situated in the

Leipzig Bay The Leipzig BayDickinson (1964), p. 29.Leipzig Leipzig (, ; ; Upper Saxon: ; ) is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Saxony. The city has a population of 628,718 inhabitants as of 2023. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, eighth-largest city in Ge ...

city limits and northeast of Weißenfels. The town has access to the Bundesstraße 87 road from Leipzig to Weißenfels as well as to the Bundesautobahn 9 (at the Bad Dürrenberg junction) and the Bundesautobahn 38. The municipal area comprises the following ''Ortschaften'' or municipal divisions:Hauptsatzung der Stadt Lützen
§ 17, January 2011. *Lützen *Meuchen, incorporated in 1973 * Röcken, incorporated in 2009 * Großgörschen, Muschwitz, Poserna, Rippach and Starsiedel, incorporated in 2010 * Dehlitz, Sössen and Zorbau, incorporated in 2011

History

Held by the Prince-Bishops of Merseburg, Lützen Castle from the 13th century onwards was the seat of the local administration ('' Amt''). After the 1485

Treaty of Leipzig The Treaty of Leipzig or Partition of Leipzig (German ''Leipziger Teilung'') was signed on 11 November 1485 between Elector Ernest of Saxony and his younger brother Albert III, the sons of Elector Frederick II of Saxony from the House of Wettin. ...

, the town increasingly fell under the Wettin electors of

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 ...

, until the episcopal lands were finally secularised in 1547; from 1656/57 until 1738 it was held by the secundogeniture of Saxe-Merseburg. The town was the scene of two famous battles: *The Battle of Lützen (1632) in the

Thirty Years' War The Thirty Years' War, fought primarily in Central Europe between 1618 and 1648, was one of the most destructive conflicts in History of Europe, European history. An estimated 4.5 to 8 million soldiers and civilians died from battle, famine ...

, in which the Swedish forces under King

Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden Gustavus Adolphus (9 December ld Style and New Style dates, N.S 19 December15946 November ld Style and New Style dates, N.S 16 November1632), also known in English as Gustav II Adolf or Gustav II Adolph, was King of Sweden from 1611 t ...

defeated an Imperial army led by

Albrecht von Wallenstein Albrecht Wenzel Eusebius von Wallenstein, Duke of Friedland (; 24 September 1583 – 25 February 1634), also von Waldstein (), was a Bohemian military leader and statesman who fought on the Catholic side during the Thirty Years' War (1618–16 ...

. However, Gustavus Adolphus himself died on the battlefield, resulting in the battle being a Pyrrhic victory for Sweden. There is a statue in Lützen in his memory. Also, there is a stone, called Schwedenstein (Swedenstone), covered by a

Neo-Gothic Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic or neo-Gothic) is an architectural movement that after a gradual build-up beginning in the second half of the 17th century became a widespread movement in the first half of the 19th century ...

style monument designed by

Karl Friedrich Schinkel Karl Friedrich Schinkel (13 March 1781 – 9 October 1841) was a Prussian architect, urban planning, city planner and painter who also designed furniture and stage sets. Schinkel was one of the most prominent architects of Germany and designed b ...

in 1837 on the spot on the battlefield where he died. Close to this there is a memorial chapel in his honour. *The

Battle of Lützen (1813) The Battle of Lützen, fought on 2 May 1813 near the town of Lützen in Saxony, was a major engagement during the War of the Sixth Coalition. It pitted Napoleon Bonaparte's French forces against a coalition army of Prussian and Russian troop ...

, in which

Napoleon Napoleon Bonaparte (born Napoleone di Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French general and statesman who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led Military career ...

launched the German Campaign. He defeated the combined Russian and Prussian forces near the village of Großgörschen, although with heavy losses. In the night before the battle, he had ostentatiously camped at the Gustavus Adolphus memorial stone. By 1815 resolution of the

Vienna Congress The Congress of Vienna of 1814–1815 was a series of international diplomatic meetings to discuss and agree upon a possible new layout of the European political and constitutional order after the downfall of the French Emperor Napoleon, Napol ...

, Lützen fell to the Prussian

province of Saxony The Province of Saxony (), also known as Prussian Saxony (), was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia and later the Free State of Prussia from 1816 until 1944. Its capital was Magdeburg. It was formed by the merger of various territories ceded ...

. Part of the

Soviet occupation zone The Soviet occupation zone in Germany ( or , ; ) was an area of Germany that was occupied by the Soviet Union as a communist area, established as a result of the Potsdam Agreement on 2 August 1945. On 7 October 1949 the German Democratic Republ ...

after

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 ...

, the town belonged to the East German district of Halle from 1952 to 1990. In 2017 a mass grave with 47 bodies from the Battle of Lützen (1632) were found near the town.Kristina Killgrov
Mass Grave From Thirty Years' War Reveals Brutal Cavalry Attack
May 25, 2017 Forbes

Politics

Seats in the town's assembly (''Stadtrat'') as of 2019 local elections: *

Christian Democratic Union of Germany The Christian Democratic Union of Germany ( , CDU ) is a Christian democratic and conservative political party in Germany. It is the major party of the centre-right in German politics. Friedrich Merz has been federal chairman of the CDU since 31 ...

(CDU): 4 *

Social Democratic Party of Germany The Social Democratic Party of Germany ( , SPD ) is a social democratic political party in Germany. It is one of the major parties of contemporary Germany. Saskia Esken has been the party's leader since the 2019 leadership election together w ...

(SPD): 3 * The Left: 2 * Alliance '90/The Greens: 2 *

National Democratic Party of Germany National Democratic Party of Germany (, NPD), officially called The Homeland () since 2023, is a Far-right politics, far-right, Neo-Nazism, neo-Nazi and Ultranationalism, ultranationalist political party in Germany. It was founded in 1964 as ...

(NPD): 1 * Free Democratic Party (FDP): 1 *Independents: 7

Notable people

* Johann Gottfried Seume (1763–1810), author *

Friedrich Nietzsche Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (15 October 1844 – 25 August 1900) was a German philosopher. He began his career as a classical philology, classical philologist, turning to philosophy early in his academic career. In 1869, aged 24, Nietzsche bec ...

(1844–1900), philosopher, cultural critic, poet and scholar

References

External links

Municipal website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lutzen Burgenlandkreis