Pretzsch () is a small town and a former municipality in

Wittenberg Wittenberg, officially Lutherstadt Wittenberg, is the fourth-largest town in the state of Saxony-Anhalt, in the Germany, Federal Republic of Germany. It is situated on the River Elbe, north of Leipzig and south-west of the reunified German ...

district in

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 ...

. Since 1 July 2009, it is part of the town

Bad Schmiedeberg Bad Schmiedeberg () is a small town in the Wittenberg (district), district of Wittenberg, Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. It lies within the Düben Heath Nature Park. History The town was first mentioned in 1206 as ''Smedeberg''. In 1350, it was grant ...

Geography

Pretzsch lies in the middle of the Elbauen (natural

polder A polder () is a low-lying tract of land that forms an artificial hydrology, hydrological entity, enclosed by embankments known as levee, dikes. The three types of polder are: # Land reclamation, Land reclaimed from a body of water, such as a ...

s along the

Elbe The Elbe ( ; ; or ''Elv''; Upper Sorbian, Upper and , ) is one of the major rivers of Central Europe. It rises in the Giant Mountains of the northern Czech Republic before traversing much of Bohemia (western half of the Czech Republic), then Ge ...

), on the river's west bank which is on the northwest edge of the

Düben Heath Nature Park The Düben Heath Nature Park (), which covers large areas of the eponymous Düben Heath, was the first nature park in Germany that resulted from a citizen's initiative and not from a government office. Around 1990, in order to prevent the further ...

. It is about 20 km southeast of

and is the intersection of Federal Highway (''Bundesstraße'') B 182 between

Torgau Torgau () is a town on the banks of the Elbe in northwestern Saxony, Germany. It is the capital of the district Nordsachsen. Outside Germany, the town is best known as where on 25 April 1945, the United States and Soviet Armies first met near ...

and Wittenberg, and state road (''

Landesstraße ''Landesstraßen'' (singular: ''Landesstraße'' ) are roads in Germany and Austria that are, as a rule, the responsibility of the respective German or Austrian federal state. The term may therefore be translated as "state road". They are road ...

'') L 128 between Bad Schmiedeberg and Jessen.

History

Pretzsch was first mentioned in 981 in one of Otto II's documents. In the 17th century,

August II the Strong Augustus II the Strong (12 May 1670 – 1 February 1733), was Elector of Saxony from 1694 as well as King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1697 to 1706 and from 1709 until his death in 1733. He belonged to the Albertine branch of the H ...

's wife

Christiane Eberhardine of Brandenburg-Bayreuth Christiane Eberhardine of Brandenburg-Bayreuth (19 December 1671 – 4 September 1727) was Electress of Saxony from 1694 to 1727 (her death), Queen Consort and Grand Duchess Consort of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth from 1697 to 1727 b ...

lived there and is buried in the town church. In the 1930s, the writer

Erwin Strittmatter Erwin Strittmatter (14 August 1912 – 31 January 1994) was a German writer. Strittmatter was one of the most famous writers in the GDR. Biography Strittmatter was born the son of a baker and foods wholesaler. Between 1924 and 1930 he attende ...

worked at the local bakery. Until 1815, Pretzsch belonged to

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 from then until the

Second World War 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 ...

to the

Prussia Prussia (; ; Old Prussian: ''Prūsija'') was a Germans, German state centred on the North European Plain that originated from the 1525 secularization of the Prussia (region), Prussian part of the State of the Teutonic Order. For centuries, ...

n province of Saxony. As of 1952, when

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 ...

abolished the ''Land'' system, Pretzsch was in the Halle region, until 1990 when the ''Land'' system was revived in the former East Germany at

German Reunification German reunification () was the process of re-establishing Germany as a single sovereign state, which began on 9 November 1989 and culminated on 3 October 1990 with the dissolution of the East Germany, German Democratic Republic and the int ...

. The SS

Einsatzgruppen (, ; also 'task forces') were (SS) paramilitary death squads of Nazi Germany that were responsible for mass murder, primarily by shooting, during World War II (1939–1945) in German-occupied Europe. The had an integral role in the imp ...

, the perpetrators of the initial phase of the

Holocaust The Holocaust (), known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (), was the genocide of History of the Jews in Europe, European Jews during World War II. From 1941 to 1945, Nazi Germany and Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy ...

that preceded the invention of the more efficient

Nazi death camp Nazi Germany used six extermination camps (), also called death camps (), or killing centers (), in Central Europe, primarily in occupied Poland, during World War II to Genocide, systematically murder over Holocaust victims, 2.7 million peop ...

system, were first assembled at a police academy in Pretzsch in the spring of 1941.

Subdivisions

Pretzsch includes the village of Merschwitz.

Sightseeing

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) is a Periodization, period of history and a European cultural movement covering the 15th and 16th centuries. It marked the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and was characterized by an effort to revive and sur ...

stately home from the 16th century * Wieck'sches Haus from 1725 * Late Gothic church with

Baroque The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western Style (visual arts), style of Baroque architecture, architecture, Baroque music, music, Baroque dance, dance, Baroque painting, painting, Baroque sculpture, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from ...

additions by

Matthäus Daniel Pöppelmann Matthäus Daniel Pöppelmann (1662–1736) was a German master builder and architect who helped to rebuild Dresden after the fire of 1685. His most famous work is the Zwinger (Dresden), Zwinger Palace. Life Pöppelmann was born in Herford ...

* Heimatmuseum ( half-timbered house) from the 18th century * Pretzsch Bahnhof, the heritage railway station which starred in the 2009 film

The Last Station ''The Last Station'' is a 2009 internationally produced English-language biographical drama film written and directed by Michael Hoffman, and based on Jay Parini's 1990 biographical novel of the same name, which chronicled the final months o ...

, standing in for the station in Astapovo, Russia where Leo Tolstoy died."Part of Germany Becomes Russian Territory for a Film", ''M&C Movies''
/ref>

Personalities

Friedrich Wieck Johann Gottlob Friedrich Wieck (18 August 1785 – 6 October 1873) was a noted German piano teacher, voice teacher, owner of a piano store, and author of essays and music reviews. He is remembered as the teacher of his daughter, Clara, a chil ...

(born 1785 in Pretzsch - died 6 October 1873 in

Loschwitz Loschwitz is a borough (''Geography and urban development of Dresden#City structuring, Stadtbezirk'') of Dresden, Germany, incorporated in 1921. It consists of ten quarters (''Stadtteile''): Loschwitz is a villa quarter located at the slopes nor ...

near

Dresden Dresden (; ; Upper Saxon German, Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; , ) is the capital city of the States of Germany, German state of Saxony and its second most populous city after Leipzig. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, 12th most p ...

) was a German

musician A musician is someone who Composer, composes, Conducting, conducts, or Performing arts#Performers, performs music. According to the United States Employment Service, "musician" is a general Terminology, term used to designate a person who fol ...

and

music teacher Music education is a field of practice in which educators are trained for careers as elementary or secondary music teachers, school or music conservatory ensemble directors. Music education is also a research area in which scholars do origina ...

. * Paul Weinstein (athlete) (1878-1964) Olympic medalist in the high jump in the 1904 Games in St. Louis.

Partner community

Heuchelheim Heuchelheim (official name: ''Heuchelheim a. d. Lahn'') is a municipality in the district of Gießen, in Hesse, Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and ...

Hesse Hesse or Hessen ( ), officially the State of Hesse (), is a States of Germany, state in Germany. Its capital city is Wiesbaden, and the largest urban area is Frankfurt, which is also the country's principal financial centre. Two other major hist ...

References

External links

Verwaltungsgemeinschaft's website

Town's website
Former municipalities in Saxony-Anhalt Bad Schmiedeberg {{Wittenberg-geo-stub