Zwickau

History

The region around Zwickau was settled by Sorbs as early as the 7th century AD. The name Zwickau is probably a Germanization of the Sorbian toponym Šwikawa, which derives from Svarozič, the Slavic Sun and fire god. In the 10th century, German settlers began arriving and the native Slavs were Germanized. A trading place known as terretorio Zcwickaw (in Medieval Latin) was mentioned in 1118. The settlement received a town charter in 1212, and hosted Franciscans and Cistercians during the 13th century. Zwickau was a free imperial city from 1290 to 1323, but was subsequently granted to the Margraviate of Meissen. Although regional mining began in 1316, extensive mining increased with the discovery of silver in the Schneeberg in 1470. Because of the silver ore deposits in the Erzgebirge, Zwickau developed in the 15th and 16th centuries and grew to be an important economic and cultural centre of Saxony.

Its nine churches include the Gothic church of St. Mary (1451–1536), with a spire 285 ft (87 m) high and a bell weighing 51 tons. The church contains an altar with wood carvings, eight paintings by Michael Wohlgemuth and a pietà in carved and painted wood by Peter Breuer.

The late Gothic church of St. Catharine has an altar piece ascribed to Lucas Cranach the elder, and is remembered because Thomas Müntzer was once pastor there (1520–22). The city hall was begun in 1404 and rebuilt many times since. The municipal archives include documents dating back to the 13th century.

Early printed books from the Middle Ages, historical documents, letters and books are kept in the City Archives (e.g. Meister Singer volumes by Hans Sachs (1494–1576)), and in the School Library founded by scholars and by the city clerk Stephan Roth during the Reformation.

In 1520 Martin Luther dedicated his treatise "On the Freedom of the Christian Man" to his friend Hermann Muehlpfort, the Lord Mayor of Zwickau. The Anabaptist movement of 1525 began at Zwickau under the inspiration of the "Zwickau prophets". After Wittenberg, it became the first city in Europe to join the Lutheran Reformation. The late Gothic Gewandhaus (cloth merchants' hall), was built in 1522–24 and is now converted into a theatre. The city was seriously damaged during the Thirty Years' War.

Economic history

Coal mining is mentioned as early as 1348. However, mining on an industrial scale first started in the early 19th century. The coal mines of Zwickau and the neighbouring Oelsnitz-Lugau coalfield contributed significantly to the industrialisation of the region and the city.

In 1885 Carl Wolf invented an improved gas-detecting safety mining-lamp. He held the first world patent for it. Together with his business partner Friemann he founded the "Friemann & Wolf" factory. Coal mining ceased in 1978. About 230 million tonnes had been mined to a depth of over 1,000 metres. In 1992 Zwickau's last coke oven plant was closed.

Many industrial branches developed in the city in the wake of the coal mining industry: mining equipment, iron and steel works, textile, machinery in addition to chemical, porcelain, paper, glass, dyestuffs, wire goods, tinware, stockings, and curtains. There were also steam saw-mills, diamond and glass polishing works, iron-foundries, and breweries.

In 1904 the Horch automobile plant was founded, followed by the Audi factory in 1909. In 1932 both brands were incorporated into Auto Union but retained their independent trademarks. Auto Union racing cars, developed by Ferdinand Porsche and Robert Eberan von Eberhorst, driven by Bernd Rosemeyer, Hans Stuck, Tazio Nuvolari, Ernst von Delius, became well known nationally and internationally. During World War II, the Nazi government operated a satellite camp of the Flossenbürg concentration camp in Zwickau which was sited near the Horch Auto Union plant. The Nazi administration built a hard labour prison camp at Osterstein Castle. Both camps were liberated by the US Army in 1945. On 1 August 1945 military administration was handed over to the Soviet Army. The Auto Union factories of Horch and Audi were dismantled by the Soviets; Auto Union relocated to Ingolstadt, Bavaria, evolving into the present day Audi company. In 1948 all large companies were seized by the East German government.

With the founding of the German Democratic Republic in 1949 in East Germany, post-war reconstruction began. In 1958 the Horch and Audi factories were merged into the Sachsenring plant. At the Sachsenring automotive plant the compact Trabant cars were manufactured. These small cars had a two-cylinder, two-stroke engine. The car was the first vehicle in the world to be industrially manufactured with a plastic car body. The production of the Trabant was discontinued after German reunification, but Volkswagen built a new factory in the nearby Mosel area to the north of the city and Sachsenring is now a supplier for the automobile industry. The former VEB Sachsenring manufacturing site was acquired by Volkswagen in 1990 and has since been redeveloped as an engine and transmission manufacturing facility. Nowadays the headquarters of Volkswagen-Saxony Ltd. (a VW subsidiary) is in the northern part of Zwickau.

Boundaries

Zwickau is bounded by Mülsen, Reinsdorf, Wilkau-Hasslau, Hirschfeld (Verwaltungsgemeinschaft Kirchberg), Lichtentanne, Werdau, Neukirchen, Crimmitschau, Dennheritz (Verwaltungsgemeinschaft Crimmitschau), and the city of Glauchau.

Incorporations

1895: Pölbitz

1902: Marienthal

1905: Eckersbach

1922: Weissenborn

1923: Schedewitz

1939: Brand and Bockwa

1944: Oberhohndorf and Planitz

1953: Auerbach, Pöhlau, and Niederhohndorf

1993: Hartmannsdorf

1996: Rottmannsdorf

1996: Crossen (with 4 municipalities on 1 January 1994, Schneppendorf)

1999: Cainsdorf, Mosel, Oberrothenbach, and Schlunzig, along with Hüttelsgrün (Lichtentanne) and Freiheitssiedlung

Education

Zwickau is home to the University of Applied Sciences Zwickau, with about 4,700 students and two campuses within the boundaries of Zwickau.

Dr. Martin Luther School (German: Dr. Martin Luther Schule) is a grade 1–4 school of the Evangelical Lutheran Free Church in Zwickau.

Politics

Mayor and city council

The first freely elected mayor after German reunification was Rainer Eichhorn of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), who served from 1990 to 2001. The mayor was originally chosen by the city council, but since 1994 has been directly elected. Dietmar Vettermann, also of the CDU, served from 2001 until 2008. He was succeeded by Pia Findeiß of the Social Democratic Party (SPD), who was in office until 2020. The most recent mayoral election was held on 20 September 2020, with a runoff held on 11 October, at which Constance Arndt (Bürger für Zwickau) was elected.

The most recent city council election was held on 9 June 2024, and the results were as follows:

Historical mayors

1501–1518: Erasmus Stella

1518–1530: Hermann Mühlpfort

1800, 1802, 1804, 1806, 1808, 1810, 1812, 1814: Carl Wilhelm Ferber

1801, 1803, 1805, 1807, 1809, 1811, 1813, 1815, 1817, 1819: Tobias Hempel

1816, 1818, 1820, 1822: Christian Gottlieb Haugk

1821, 1823, 1825, 1826: Carl Heinrich Rappius

1824: Christian Heinrich Pinther

1827–1830: Christian Heinrich Mühlmann, Stadtvogt

1830–1832: Franz Adolf Marbach

1832–1860: Friedrich Wilhelm Meyer

1860–1898: Lothar Streit, from 1874 Lord Mayor

1898–1919: Karl Keil

1919–1934: Richard Holz

1934–1945: Ewald Dost

1945: Fritz Weber (acting Lord Mayor)

1945: Georg Ulrich Handke (1894–1962) (acting Lord Mayor)

1945–1949: Paul Müller

1949–1954: Otto Assmann (1901–1977)

1954–1958: Otto Schneider

1958–1969: Gustav Seifried

1969–1973: Liesbeth Windisch

Transport

The city is close to the A4 (Dresden-Erfurt) and A72 (Hof-Chemnitz) Autobahns.

Zwickau Hauptbahnhof is on the Dresden–Werdau line, part of the Saxon-Franconian trunk line, connecting Nuremberg and Dresden. There are further railway connections to Leipzig as well as Karlovy Vary and Cheb in the Czech Republic. The core element of Zwickau's urban public transport system is the Zwickau tramway network; the system is also the prototype of the so-called Zwickau Model for such systems.

The closest airport is Leipzig-Altenburg, which has no scheduled commercial flights. The nearest major airports are Leipzig/Halle Airport and Dresden Airport, both of which offer a large number of national and international flights.

Museums

In the city centre there are three museums: an art museum from the 19th century and the houses of priests from 13th century, both located next to St. Mary's church. Just around the corner there is the Robert-Schumann museum. The museums offer different collections dedicated to the history of the city, as well as art and a mineralogical, palaeontological and geological collection with many specimens from the city and the nearby Ore Mountains.

Zwickau is the birthplace of the composer Robert Schumann. The house where he was born in 1810 still stands in the marketplace. This is now called Robert Schumann House and is a museum dedicated to him.

The histories of the Audi and Horch automobile factories are presented at the August Horch Museum Zwickau. The museum is an Anchor Point of the European Route of Industrial Heritage (EIRH).

Notable people

Born before 1900

Nicholas Storch (before 1500 – after 1536), weaver and lay preacher (Zwickau Prophets)

Janus Cornarius (c. 1500–1558), philologist and physician

Gregor Haloander (1501–1531), jurist

David Köler (1532–1565), musician, organist, choirmaster and composer

Jacob Leupold (1674–1727), mechanic and instrument maker

Robert Schumann (1810–1856), composer of the Romantic era

Paul Emil Flechsig (1847–1929) neuroanatomist, psychiatrist and neuropathologist

Heinrich Schurtz (1863–1903), ethnologist and historian

August Horch (1868–1952), automotive engineer

Heinrich Waentig (1870–1943), economist and politician (SPD)

Hans Dominik (1872–1945), writer, journalist and engineer

Fritz Bleyl (1880–1966), Expressionist painter and architect

Max Pechstein (1881–1955), Expressionist painter

"Margaret Scott" (1888–1973), militant suffragette in London

Paul Langheinrich (1895–1979), genealogist

Born after 1900

Gerhard Küntscher (1900–1972), orthopedic surgeon and inventor of the modern intramedullary nailing procedure to treat long bone fractures

Robert Eberan von Eberhorst (1902–1982), Austrian automotive engineer

Gershom Schocken (1912–1990), Israeli journalist and politician

Gert Fröbe (1913–1988), actor

Gerhard Schürer (1921–2010), politician (SED)

Erhard Weller (1926–1986), actor

Rolf Hädrich (1931–2000), film director and screenwriter

Dieter F. Uchtdorf (born 1940), Second Counselor in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He lived here following World War II.

Gerhard Körner (1941–2025), football player and manager

Harald Fritzsch (1943–2022), theoretical physicist (quantum theory)

Volkmar Weiss (born 1944), geneticists, social historian and genealogist

Jürgen Croy (born 1946), footballer

Peter Sattmann (1947–2025), actor, playwright and musician

Christoph Bergner (born 1948), politician (CDU), 1993–1994 Prime Minister of Saxony-Anhalt

Eckart Viehweg (1948–2010), mathematician

Hagen von Ortloff (born 1949), TV-journalist

Twin towns – sister cities

Zwickau is twinned with:

Jablonec nad Nisou, Czech Republic (1971)

Zaanstad, Netherlands (1987)

Dortmund, Germany (1988)

Volodymyr, Ukraine (2014)

Yandu (Yancheng), China (2014)