Zeitz ( hsb, Žič) 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. On 16 ...

district, in

Saxony-Anhalt Saxony-Anhalt (german: Sachsen-Anhalt ; nds, Sassen-Anholt) is a state of Germany, bordering the states of Brandenburg, Saxony, Thuringia and Lower Saxony. It covers an area of and has a population of 2.18 million inhabitants, making it th ...

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 ...

. It is situated on the river

White Elster The White Elster
Accessed on 16 Jan 2011. (, ) is a long river in central

Thuringia Thuringia (; german: Thüringen ), officially the Free State of Thuringia ( ), is a state of central Germany, covering , the sixth smallest of the sixteen German states. It has a population of about 2.1 million. Erfurt is the capital and lar ...

and

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 ...

History

Zeitz was first recorded under the name Cici in the synode of Ravenna in 967. Between 965 and 982, it was the chief fortress of the

March of Zeitz The March of Zeitz (german: Mark Zeitz) was a march of the Holy Roman Empire. It was created by Emperor Otto I in the division of the ''marca Geronis'' in 965, following the death of Gero the Great. Its capital was Zeitz. Its first and only margr ...

. Zeitz was a bishop's residence between 968 and 1028, when it was moved to Naumburg. Beginning at the end of the 13th century, the bishops again resided in their castle at Zeitz. The Herrmannsschacht (built in 1889) is one of the oldest brick factories in the world. The city was captured by

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

troops during the

Thirty Years' War The Thirty Years' War was one of the longest and most destructive conflicts in European history, lasting from 1618 to 1648. Fought primarily in Central Europe, an estimated 4.5 to 8 million soldiers and civilians died as a result of battle ...

and was given to Electorate of Saxony in 1644. It was centre of

Saxe-Zeitz The Duchy of Saxe-Zeitz (german: Herzogtum Sachsen-Zeitz) was a territory of the Holy Roman Empire established in 1656–57 as a secundogeniture of the Electoral Saxon house of House of Wettin. Its capital was Zeitz. The territory fell back to ...

between 1657 and 1718 before returning to Electorate (Became

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 Saxo ...

in 1806). In 1815, it was given to

Kingdom of Prussia The Kingdom of Prussia (german: Königreich Preußen, ) was a German kingdom that constituted the state of Prussia between 1701 and 1918. Marriott, J. A. R., and Charles Grant Robertson. ''The Evolution of Prussia, the Making of an Empire''. ...

and became district (kreis) centre in Merseburg region (regierungsbezirk) of Province of Saxony till 1944, when it became part of Halle region. It became a county free city between 1901 and 1950. It was occupied by USA troops on 27 April 1945 and was given to

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nation ...

ones on 1 July 1945. It was a district centre in Halle region of

state between 1945 and 1952 and again 1990 and 1994 and in Halle bezirk between 1952 and 1990. It lost status centre of county and became part of Burgenlandkreis on 1 July 1994. A bombing target of the Oil Campaign of World War II, the

Brabag Brabag (Braunkohle Benzin AG) was a German firm, planned in 1933 and operating from 1934 until 1945, that distilled synthetic aviation fuel, diesel fuel, gasoline, lubricants, and paraffin wax from lignite. It was an industrial cartel firm closely ...

plant northeast of Zeitz used

lignite coal Lignite, often referred to as brown coal, is a soft, brown, combustible, sedimentary rock formed from naturally compressed peat. It has a carbon content around 25–35%, and is considered the lowest rank of coal due to its relatively low heat ...

to synthesize

ersatz An ersatz good () is a substitute good, especially one that is considered inferior to the good it replaces. It has particular connotations of wartime usage. Etymology ''Ersatz'' is a German word literally meaning ''substitute'' or ''replaceme ...

oil –

forced labor Forced labour, or unfree labour, is any work relation, especially in modern or early modern history, in which people are employed against their will with the threat of destitution, detention, violence including death, or other forms of ex ...

was provided by the nearby Wille subcamp of

Buchenwald Buchenwald (; literally 'beech forest') was a Nazi concentration camp established on hill near Weimar, Germany, in July 1937. It was one of the first and the largest of the concentration camps within Germany's 1937 borders. Many actual or sus ...

in Rehmsdorf and Gleina.. In the middle of the 1960s work started on the "Zeitz-Ost" residential area, and in the mid-1980s, housing estates such as the "Völkerfreundschaft" ( en, International Friendship) were built. On 18 August 1976, the Protestant clergyman

Oskar Brüsewitz Oskar Brüsewitz (May 30, 1929 – 22 August 1976) was an East German Lutheran pastor who committed public self-immolation on August 18, 1976, to protest the repression of religion in the Communist state of East Germany. He died four days ...

from Rippicha burnt himself to death in front of the Michaeliskirche. This was a protest against the

DDR DDR or ddr may refer to: *ddr, ISO 639-3 code for the Dhudhuroa language *DDr., title for a double doctorate in Germany *DDR, station code for Dadar railway station, Mumbai, India *' (German Democratic Republic), official name of the former East ...

system. The town was an industrial centre until German Reunification made many companies in eastern Germany uncompetitive, and 20,000 people lost jobs or moved to other employment. The town still has a large sugar factory, and the nearby lignite mines ( Profen and Schleenhain) and

Lippendorf Power Station Lippendorf Power Station is a lignite-fired power station in Lippendorf, which is located in the municipality of Neukieritzsch, near Leipzig in Saxony, Germany. The power plant is owned and operated by Vattenfall Europe. It has a heating capacity ...

, together employing 2,000 people from Zeitz. On 1 July 2009 Zeitz absorbed the former municipalities Döbris, Geußnitz,

Kayna Kayna is a village and a former municipality in the Burgenlandkreis district, in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Since 1 July 2009, it is part of the town Zeitz Zeitz ( hsb, Žič) is a town in the Burgenlandkreis district, in Saxony-Anhalt, German ...

, Nonnewitz and Würchwitz. On 1 January 2010 it absorbed Luckenau and Theißen.

Geography

The town Zeitz consists of Zeitz proper and the following ''Ortschaften'' or municipal divisions:Hauptsatzung der Stadt Zeitz
October 2019. * Geußnitz *

* Luckenau * Nonnewitz *Pirkau * Theißen * Würchwitz *Zangenberg

Main sights

Zeitz sights are predominantly situated along the

Romanesque Road The Romanesque Road (german: Straße der Romanik) is a scenic route in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt in central-east Germany. It is part of the Transromanica network, a major European Cultural Route since 2006. Route The route takes th ...

(point 52). * '' Schloss Moritzburg'', a baroque-style castle with the . The 10th century crypt displays 17th century tin coffins including that of Moritz, Duke of Saxony. * ''Michaeliskirche'' (1154), originally a Romanesque basilica and contains a 1517 original of

Martin Luther Martin Luther (; ; 10 November 1483 – 18 February 1546) was a German priest, theologian, author, hymnwriter, and professor, and Augustinian friar. He is the seminal figure of the Protestant Reformation and the namesake of Lutherani ...

95 Theses The ''Ninety-five Theses'' or ''Disputation on the Power and Efficacy of Indulgences''-The title comes from the 1517 Basel pamphlet printing. The first printings of the ''Theses'' use an incipit rather than a title which summarizes the content ...

. * Town Hall (1509, rebuilt in 1909). It is a Gothic structure that, together with restored houses and 3 market-places, provides Zeitz' medieval appearance. * ''Herrmannsschacht'', a technical monument in a former brick factory.

Twin towns – sister cities

Zeitz is twinned with: * Darkhan, Mongolia (1989) *

Detmold Detmold () is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, with a population of . It was the capital of the small Principality of Lippe from 1468 until 1918 and then of the Free State of Lippe until 1947. Today it is the administrative center of t ...

, Germany (1990) *

Kaliningrad Kaliningrad ( ; rus, Калининград, p=kəlʲɪnʲɪnˈɡrat, links=y), until 1946 known as Königsberg (; rus, Кёнигсберг, Kyonigsberg, ˈkʲɵnʲɪɡzbɛrk; rus, Короле́вец, Korolevets), is the largest city and ...

, Russia (1995) * Tosu, Japan (1998) * Prescott, United States (2014)

Notable people

* Christian August of Saxe-Zeitz (1666–1725), Archbishop of

Esztergom Esztergom ( ; german: Gran; la, Solva or ; sk, Ostrihom, known by alternative names) is a city with county rights in northern Hungary, northwest of the capital Budapest. It lies in Komárom-Esztergom County, on the right bank of the river Dan ...

* Anna Magdalena Bach (1701–1760), second wife of J. S. Bach * Clemens Denhardt (1852–1929), Africa explorer * Gustav Denhardt (1856–1917), African explorer * Kurt Floericke (1869–1934), natural scientist, naturalist and author *

Ewald André Dupont Ewald André Dupont (25 December 1891 – 12 December 1956) was a German film director, one of the pioneers of the German film industry. He was often credited as E. A. Dupont. Early career A newspaper columnist in 1916, Dupont became a screenwri ...

(1891–1956), film director and screenwriter * Walter Krüger (1892-1973), general * Heinrich Troeger (1901–1975), jurist and SPD politician * Ewald Riebschläger (1904–1993), water jumper, European Champion *

Karl Walther Karl Walther (August 19, 1905 in Zeitz – June 9, 1981 in Seeshaupt) was a Painting, painter of the German Post-Impressionism, Post-Impressionist school, and an exponent of En plein air, plein air painting. His works include portrait painting, p ...

(1905–1981), painter * Gotthard Handrick (1908–1978), fighter pilot and athlete, Olympic champion * Fritz Gödicke (1919–2009), football coach * Horst Wende (1919–1996), bandleader, arranger and composer * Heinz-Günther Lehmann (1923–2006), swimmer, European champion * Manfred Kaiser (1929–2017), footballer and coach * Rudolf Drößler (born 1934), author and science journalist * Bernd Bauchspiess (born 1939), footballer * Hans Zierold (born 1938), swimmer *

Klaus Trummer Klaus Trummer (born 24 February 1945 in Zeitz) is a former East German slalom canoeist who competed in the early to mid-1970s. He won six medals at the ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships with four golds (C-2: 1971, 1975; C-2 team:1971, 1975), ...

(born 1945), canoeist *

Jürgen Kretschmer Jürgen Kretschmer (born 4 December 1947 in Zeitz) is a former East German slalom canoeist who competed in the early to mid-1970s. He won six medals at the ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships with four golds (C-2: 1971, 1975; C-2 team:1971, 19 ...

(born 1947), canoeist * Martina Falke (born 1951), canoeist

References

External links

* {{Authority control Burgenlandkreis Oil campaign of World War II