Zwickau is a city of Germany, in the Bundesland Saxony (Sachsen), situated in a pleasant valley at the foot of the Erzgebirge, on the left bank of the Zwickauer Mulde, 130 km (82 miles) southwest of Dresden, south of Leipzig and south west of Chemnitz. (Population: slightly above 100,000). It is accessed by nearest autobahnen, the A72 and A4 along with a train station.

Boundaries

Zwickau is bounded by Mülsen, Reinsdorf, Wilkau-Haßlau, Hirschfeld (Verwaltungsgemeinschaft Kirchberg), Lichtentanne, Werdau, Neukirchen, Crimmitschau and Dennheritz (Verwaltungsgemeinschaft Crimmitschau) along with the districts of Chemnitzer Land with the city of Glauchau.

Districts

• Central (Mitte)
  • Innenstadt
  • 12 Mitte-Nord
  • 13 Mitte-West
  • 14 Mitte-Süd
• 815 Nordvorstadt
• West (Ost)
  • 21 Gebiet Äußere Dresdner Straße/Pöhlauer Straße
  • 22 Eckersbach Siedlung
  • 23 Pöhlau
  • 24 Auerbach
  • 25 Eckersbacher Höhe (E5/1)
  • 26 Eckersbacher Höhe (E5/2-3)
  • 27 Eckersbacher Höhe (E1-E4)
  • 28 Gebiet Talstraße/Trillerberg
• Nord (North)
  • 31 Pölbitz
  • 32 Weißenborn
  • 33 Niederhohndorf
  • 34 Hartmannsdorf
  • 35 Oberrothenbach¹
  • 36 Mosel ¹
  • 37 Crossen¹
  • 38 Schneppendorf
  • 39 Schlunzig ¹
• West
  • 41 Gebiet Reichenbacher Straße und Freiheitssiedlung
  • 42 Marienthal-Ost
  • 43 Marienthal-West
  • 44 Brand
• Süd (South)
  • 51 Bockwa
  • 52 Oberhohndorf
  • 53 Schedewitz/Geinitzsiedlung
  • 54 Niederplanitz
  • 55 Neuplanitz
  • 56 Hüttelsgrün
  • 57 Oberplanitz
  • 58 Rottmannsdorf ¹
  • 59 Cainsdorf ¹

Highlights

Among the nine churches, the fine Gothic church of St Mary (1451-1536 and restored 1885-1891), with a spire 285 ft. high and a bell weighing 51 tons, is remarkable. The church contains an altar with wood-carving and eight pictures by Michael Wohlgemuth and a remarkable Pieta in carved and painted wood, by Peter Breuer. The late Gothic church of St Catharine (restored 1893-94) has an altarpiece ascribed to Lucas Cranach the elder, and is memorable for the pastorate (1520-22) of Thomas Muenzer. Of the secular buildings the most noteworthy are the town-hall of 1581, with the municipal archives, including documents dating back to the 13th century and an autograph MS. of the works of Hans Sachs, and the late Gothic Gewandhaus (cloth merchants' hall), built 1522-24 and now in part converted into a theatre.

It is also the birthplace of Robert Schumann and there is a museum dedicated to him.

Economy

The manufactures of Zwickau include spinning and weaving, machinery, automobiles (notably the Trabant), chemicals, porcelain, paper, glass, dyestuffs, wire goods, tinware, stockings, and curtains. There are also steam saw-mills, diamond and glass polishing works, iron-foundries, and breweries. Though no longer relatively so important as when it lay on the chief trade route from Saxony to Bohemia and the Danube, Zwickau carries on considerable commerce in grain, linen, and coal. The mainstay of the industrial prosperity of the town is the adjacent coalfield, which in 1908 employed 13,000 hands, and yielded million of tons of coal annually. The mines are mentioned as early as 1348; but they have only been actively worked since 1823, during which time the population of Zwickau has increased more than tenfold.

History

Zwickau is of Slavonic origin, and is mentioned in 1118 as a trading place. The name is fancifully derived from the Latin cygnea, from a tradition that placed a "swan lake" here which had the property of renewing the youth of those who bathed in it. Zwickau was an imperial possession, but was pledged to Henry the Illustrious, margrave of Meissen (d. 1288). The German king Charles VI conferred it as a fief in 1348 on the margraves of Meissen, and it thus passed to their successors the electors of Saxony. The discovery of silver in the Schneeberg in 1470 brought it much wealth.

The Anabaptist movement of 1525 began at Zwickau under the inspiration of the "Zwickau prophets."

Robert Schumann (1810-1856), the musical composer, was born here in a house which still stands in the marketplace.

Incorporations

• 1895: Pölbitz
• 1902: Marienthal
• 1905: Eckersbach
• 1922: Weißenborn
• January 1, 1923: Schedewitz
• 1939: Brand and Bockwa
• January 1, 1944: Oberhohndorf and Planitz (with Oberplanitz, Neuplanitz und Niederplanitz)
• February 1, 1953: Auerbach, Pöhlau and Niederhohndorf
• July 1, 1993: Hartmannsdorf
• April 1, 1996: Rottmannsdorfs
• October 1, 1996: Crossen (with 4 municipalities on Janutary 1, 1994 Schneppendorf)
• January 1, 1999: Cainsdorf, Mosel, Oberrothenbach and Schlunzig along with Hüttelsgrün (Lichtentanne) and Freiheitssiedlung

Historical population

¹ Census data

Historical mayors of Zwickau

• Carl Wilhelm Ferber: 1800, 1802, 1804, 1806, 1808, 1810, 1812, 1814
• Tobias Hempel: 1801, 1803, 1805, 1807, 1809, 1811, 1813, 1815, 1817, 1819
• Christian Gottlieb Haugk: 1816, 1818, 1820, 1822
• Carl Heinrich Rappius: 1821, 1823, 1825, 1826
• Christian Heinrich Pinther: 1824

• 1827 - 1830: Christian Heinrich Mühlmann, Stadtvogt
• 1830 - 1832: Franz Adolf Marbach
• 1832 - 1860: Friedrich Wilhelm Meyer
• 1860 - 1898: Lothar Streit, from 1874 Oberbürgermeister
• 1898 - 1919: Karl Keil
• 1919 - 1934: Richard Holz
• 1945 - 1949: Paul Müller
• 1949 - 1954: Otto Aßmann
• 1954 - 1958: Otto Schneider
• 1958 - 1969: Gustav Seifried
• 1969 - 1973: Liesbeth Windisch
• 1973 - 1977: Helmut Repmann
• 1977 - 1990: Heiner Fischer
• 1990 - 2001: Rainer Eichhorn

Twinnings

• Jablonec nad Nisou, Czech Republic, since 1971
• Zaanstad, Netherlands, since 1987
• Dortmund, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, since 1988

External links

• e-Catalogue of the area (http://www.zwickau-service.de)
• [1] (http://www.zwickau-aktuell.de)
• Freie Presse - Zwickauer Zeitung (http://www.freiepresse.de/TEXTE/NACHRICHTEN/REGIONAL/WESTSACHSEN/ZWICKAU/)

This article incorporates text from the public domain 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica.