Kamenz () or Kamjenc ( Sorbian, ) is a town (''

Große Kreisstadt ''Große Kreisstadt'' (, "major district town") is a term in the municipal law (''Gemeindeordnung'') of several States of Germany, German states. In some federal states the term is used as a special legal status for a Districts of Germany, distric ...

'') in the district of

Bautzen Bautzen () or Budyšin (), until 1868 ''Budissin'' in German, is a town in eastern Saxony, Germany, and the administrative centre of the Bautzen (district), district of Bautzen. It is located on the Spree (river), Spree river, is the eighth most ...

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 ...

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 ...

. Until 2008 it was the administrative seat of Kamenz District. The town is known as the birthplace of the philosopher and poet

Gotthold Ephraim Lessing Gotthold Ephraim Lessing (; ; 22 January 1729 – 15 February 1781) was a German philosopher, dramatist, publicist and art critic, and a representative of the Enlightenment era. His plays and theoretical writings substantially influenced the dev ...

and

Bruno Hauptmann Bruno Richard Hauptmann (November 26, 1899 – April 3, 1936) was a German-American carpenter who was convicted of the abduction and murder of Charles Augustus Lindbergh Jr., the 20-month-old son of aviator Charles Lindbergh and his wife Anne Mo ...

, convicted kidnapper of the Lindbergh baby. It lies north-east of the major city of

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 ...

Geography

This small town is located in the west of the

Upper Lusatia Upper Lusatia (, ; , ; ; or ''Milsko''; ) is a historical region in Germany and Poland. Along with Lower Lusatia to the north, it makes up the region of Lusatia, named after the Polabian Slavs, Slavic ''Lusici'' tribe. Both parts of Lusatia a ...

historic region (

West Lusatia The term West Lusatia (; ) was coined in the 1950s for the old counties of Hoyerswerda, Kamenz and Bischofswerda (today in the north and west of the county of Bautzen) – mainly in order to make the Museum of West Lusatia into a centrepoint. Cult ...

), about northeast of

and about northwest of

. Situated on the

Black Elster The Black Elster or Schwarze Elster ( German, ; ; ) is a long river in eastern Germany, in the states of Saxony, Brandenburg and Saxony-Anhalt. It is a right tributary of the Elbe. Its source is in the Upper Lusatia region, near Elstra. The Blac ...

river, between the West Lusatian Hills and the

Lusatian Highlands The Lusatian Highlands at www.silvaportal.info. Accessed on 10 July 2011. or Lusatian Hills greywacke Greywacke or graywacke ( ) is a variety of sandstone generally characterized by its hardness (6–7 on Mohs scale), dark color, and Sorting (sediment), poorly sorted angular grains of quartz, feldspar, and small rock fragments or sand-size Lith ...

and

granite Granite ( ) is a coarse-grained (phanerite, phaneritic) intrusive rock, intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly coo ...

rocks which were mined here for centuries.

Kamenz railway station Kamenz (Sachs) station () is a railway station in Kamenz, Germany. The station is located on the Lübbenau–Kamenz and Kamenz–Pirna lines. It is operated by DB Station&Service. Services Railway services Regular passenger services run on ...

is the terminus of Lübbenau–Kamenz and Kamenz–Pirna railway lines. It is served by ''

Regionalbahn The ''Regionalbahn'' (; lit. Regional train; abbreviated ''RB'') is a train categories in Europe, type of Regional rail, local passenger train (stopping train) in Germany. It is similar to the Regionalzug (R) and Regio (Swiss railway train), R ...

'' trains from

Dresden Hauptbahnhof Dresden Hauptbahnhof ("main station", abbreviated Dresden Hbf) is the largest passenger station in the Saxon capital of Dresden. In 1898, it replaced the ''Böhmischen Bahnhof'' ("Bohemian station") of the former Saxon-Bohemian State Railway ('' ...

, operated by the

Städtebahn Sachsen The Städtebahn Sachsen was a railway company that operated regional train services in Saxony, Germany by order of Verkehrsverbund Oberelbe. Städtebahn was a subsidiary of ''Nordbayerische Eisenbahngesellschaft'' (NBE) and started its operations ...

. The Hutberg hill west of the town centre, at an elevation of , is the site of an extended landscape park laid out in 1893. It is known for its major

rhododendron ''Rhododendron'' (; : ''rhododendra'') is a very large genus of about 1,024 species of woody plants in the Ericaceae, heath family (Ericaceae). They can be either evergreen or deciduous. Most species are native to eastern Asia and the Himalayan ...

and

azalea Azaleas ( ) are flowering shrubs in the genus ''Rhododendron'', particularly the former sections ''Rhododendron sect. Tsutsusi, Tsutsusi'' (evergreen) and ''Pentanthera'' (deciduous). Azaleas bloom in the spring (April and May in the temperate ...

collections flowering at

Pentecost Pentecost (also called Whit Sunday, Whitsunday or Whitsun) is a Christianity, Christian holiday which takes place on the 49th day (50th day when inclusive counting is used) after Easter Day, Easter. It commemorates the descent of the Holy Spiri ...

. In 1864 the Lessing Tower was erected on the hilltop, offering a panoramic view over the West Lusatian lands and the

Upper Lusatian Heath and Pond Landscape The Upper Lusatian Heath and Pond Landscape (also ... District or ... Lake District,Hauptsatzung der Stadt Kamenz
September 2019. *Bernbruch *Biehla *Brauna (incl. Liebenau, Petershain, Rohrbach and Schwosdorf) *Cunnersdorf (incl. Hausdorf and Schönbach) *Deutschbaselitz/Němske Pazlicy *Jesau/Jěžow *Lückersdorf-Gelenau (Lückersdorf, Gelenau and Hennersdorf) *Thonberg/Hlinowc * Wiesa/Brěznja *Zschornau-Schiedel (Zschornau/Čornow and Schiedel)

History

The settlement arose in the late 12th century, when a fortress was erected at the location of today's old town, in order to secure the junction of the medieval

Via Regia The Via Regia (Royal Highway) is a European Cultural Route following the route of the Historic roads, historic road of the Middle Ages. There were many such ''viae regiae'' associated with the king in the medieval Holy Roman Empire. History ...

trade route with the Black Elster river. From here, the Via Regia offered important transport links from the

Low Countries The Low Countries (; ), historically also known as the Netherlands (), is a coastal lowland region in Northwestern Europe forming the lower Drainage basin, basin of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta and consisting today of the three modern "Bene ...

up to

Silesia Silesia (see names #Etymology, below) is a historical region of Central Europe that lies mostly within Poland, with small parts in the Czech Silesia, Czech Republic and Germany. Its area is approximately , and the population is estimated at 8, ...

. In 1225, written records first mentioned the town; Kamenz became an independent city in 1319, when Holy Roman Emperor Louis IV enfeoffed the West Lusatian lands to the

Luxembourg Luxembourg, officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, is a landlocked country in Western Europe. It is bordered by Belgium to the west and north, Germany to the east, and France on the south. Its capital and most populous city, Luxembour ...

king

John of Bohemia John of Bohemia, also called the Blind or of Luxembourg (; ; ; 10 August 1296 – 26 August 1346), was the Count of Luxembourg from 1313 and King of Bohemia from 1310 and titular King of Poland. He is well known for having died while fighting ...

. In 1346, the citizens joined the

Lusatian League The Lusatian League () was a historical alliance of six towns in the region of Upper Lusatia from 1346 until 1815, when the region was controlled first by Bohemia (1346–1635) and later by the Electorate of Saxony (1635–1815). The member towns ...

for protection against robber barons and to maintain public peace (''

Landfrieden Under the law of the Holy Roman Empire, a ''Landfrieden'' or ''Landfriede'' (Latin: ''constitutio pacis'', ''pax instituta'' or ''pax jurata'', variously translated as "land peace", or "public peace") was a contractual waiver of the use of legiti ...

''). The town was nevertheless besieged and finally occupied by

Hussite file:Hussitenkriege.tif, upright=1.2, Battle between Hussites (left) and Crusades#Campaigns against heretics and schismatics, Catholic crusaders in the 15th century file:The Bohemian Realm during the Hussite Wars.png, upright=1.2, The Lands of the ...

forces in 1429, who also devastated the nearby town of

Wittichenau Wittichenau ( German) or Kulow ( Upper Sorbian, ) is a bilingual town in the district of Bautzen in the Free State of Saxony, Germany. It is situated on the river Schwarze Elster, 6 km south of Hoyerswerda. This small municipality is situa ...

before they marched against Bautzen. In 1469, along with the Lusatian League, the town recognized the rule of King

Matthias Corvinus Matthias Corvinus (; ; ; ; ; ) was King of Hungary and King of Croatia, Croatia from 1458 to 1490, as Matthias I. He is often given the epithet "the Just". After conducting several military campaigns, he was elected King of Bohemia in 1469 and ...

and passed to

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

, and in 1490 it returned to the Czech Crown, then under the rule of Polish Prince Vladislaus II. In 1493, King Vladislaus II of Bohemia had a

Franciscan The Franciscans are a group of related organizations in the Catholic Church, founded or inspired by the Italian saint Francis of Assisi. They include three independent Religious institute, religious orders for men (the Order of Friars Minor bei ...

monastery established north of the Kamenz town walls, dedicated to

Saint Anne According to apocrypha, as well as Christianity, Christian and Islamic tradition, Saint Anne was the mother of Mary, mother of Jesus, Mary, the wife of Joachim and the maternal grandmother of Jesus. Mary's mother is not named in the Bible's Gosp ...

in 1512.

Kamenz citizens officially turned

Protestant Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that emphasizes Justification (theology), justification of sinners Sola fide, through faith alone, the teaching that Salvation in Christianity, salvation comes by unmerited Grace in Christianity, divin ...

in 1536. In the

Schmalkaldic War The Schmalkaldic War (; July 1546May 1547) was fought within the territories of the Holy Roman Empire between the allied forces of Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor and Maurice, Duke of Saxony against the Lutheran Schmalkaldic League, with the forc ...

of 1546/47, the Upper Lusatian towns refused to support the troops of the

Habsburg The House of Habsburg (; ), also known as the House of Austria, was one of the most powerful dynasties in the history of Europe and Western civilization. They were best known for their inbreeding and for ruling vast realms throughout Europe d ...

emperor Ferdinand I against the Protestant princes and were penalised with the loss of numerous privileges. The Franciscan convent finally dissolved in 1564. With the 1635 Peace of Prague, the Lusatias passed from the

Bohemian Crown The Lands of the Bohemian Crown were the states in Central Europe during the medieval and early modern periods with feudal obligations to the Bohemian kings. The crown lands primarily consisted of the Kingdom of Bohemia, an electorate of the Hol ...

to the

Electorate of Saxony The Electorate of Saxony, also known as Electoral Saxony ( or ), was a territory of the Holy Roman Empire from 1356 to 1806 initially centred on Wittenberg that came to include areas around the cities of Dresden, Leipzig and Chemnitz. It was a ...

. Several

witch-hunt A witch hunt, or a witch purge, is a search for people who have been labeled witches or a search for evidence of witchcraft. Practicing evil spells or Incantation, incantations was proscribed and punishable in early human civilizations in the ...

s are documented in the 17th century. In 1707 a fire destroyed large parts of the

old town In a city or town, the old town is its historic or original core. Although the city is usually larger in its present form, many cities have redesignated this part of the city to commemorate its origins. In some cases, newer developments on t ...

. A second major fire on 4 and 5 August 1842 destroyed much of the city. In 1896, Kamenz became garrison town of the ''Königlich Sächsisches Reserve-Infanterie-Regiment Nr. 242'', part of the German 53rd Reserve Division. During

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 ...

subcamp Subcamps were outlying detention centres (''Haftstätten'') that came under the command of a main Nazi concentration camps, concentration camp run by the SS in Nazi Germany and German-occupied Europe. The Nazis distinguished between the List of N ...

Gross-Rosen concentration camp Gross-Rosen was a network of Nazi concentration camps built and operated by Nazi Germany during World War II. The main camp was located in the German village of Gross-Rosen, now the modern-day Rogoźnica in Lower Silesian Voivodeship, Poland, di ...

was located in the town from 1944 to 1945, where forced labourers worked for a

Daimler-Benz Mercedes-Benz Group AG (formerly Daimler-Benz, DaimlerChrysler, and Daimler) is a Germany, German Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive company headquartered in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is o ...

aircraft engine factory. The airfield northeast of the town was used by Luftwaffe '' Schlachtgeschwader 2'' and ''

Sturzkampfgeschwader 77 ''Sturzkampfgeschwader'' 77 (StG 77) was a Luftwaffe dive bomber Wing (air force unit), wing during World War II. From the outbreak of war StG 77 distinguished itself in every Wehrmacht major operation until the Battle of Stalingrad in ...

'' units. After the war, the town became 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 ...

and

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 ...

. Until 1990, an officer candidate school of the East German Air Force Staff (''Offiziershochschule

Franz Mehring Franz Erdmann Mehring (27 February 1846 – 28 January 1919) was a German communist historian, literary and art critic, philosopher, and revolutionary socialist politician who was a senior member of the Spartacus League during the German Revolutio ...

'') was located at the Kamenz Airfield. The former municipality Schönteichen was merged into Kamenz in January 2019.

Politics

Seats in the city council (''Stadtrat'') as of 2014 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): 7 * The Left: 7 *''Wählervereinigung Kamenz und Ortsteile'' (

Independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in Pennsylvania, United States * Independentes (English: Independents), a Portuguese artist ...

): 3 *''Wir für Kamenz'' (Independent): 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 Free Democratic Party is the name of several political parties around the world. It usually designates a party ideologically based on liberalism. Current parties with that name include: *Free Democratic Party (Germany), a liberal political party in ...

: 1 *

Alliance '90/The Greens Alliance 90/The Greens (, ), often simply referred to as Greens (, ), is a Green (politics), green political party in Germany. It was formed in 1993 by the merger of the Greens (formed in West Germany in 1980) and Alliance 90 (formed in East Ger ...

: 1

Twin towns — sister cities

Kamenz is twinned with: *

Alzey Alzey () is a ''Verband''-free town – one belonging to no ''Verbandsgemeinde'' – in the Alzey-Worms district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is the fifth-largest town in Rhenish Hesse, after Mainz, Worms, Germany, Worms, Ingelheim am Rhei ...

Kolín Kolín (; ) is a town in the Central Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 33,000 inhabitants. The historic town centre is well preserved and is protected as an Cultural monument (Czech Republic)#Monument reservations, urban monume ...

, Czech Republic *

Karpacz Karpacz (, German: ''Krummhübel'') is a spa town and ski resort in Jelenia Góra County, Lower Silesian Voivodeship, south-western Poland, and one of the most important centres for mountain hiking and skiing, including ski jumping. Its populatio ...

, Poland

Sights

The altarpiece collection in the St Anna Museum in Kamenz

Theatre

* The municipal theatre (''Stadttheater'') was re-opened in 1999; it is also used for ''

Kabarett Kabarett (; from French ''cabaret'' = tavern) is satirical revue, a form of cabaret which was developed in France by Rodolphe Salis in 1881 as the ''cabaret artistique''. It was named Le Chat Noir and was centered on political events and satire. ...

'' and concert performances * Within the Hutberg landscape park, an open-air stage for up to 10,000 visitors was built in 1934/35 as a ''

Thingplatz A ''Thingspiel'' (plural ''Thingspiele'') was a kind of multi-disciplinary outdoor theatre performance which enjoyed brief popularity in pre-war Nazi Germany during the 1930s. A Thingplatz or Thingstätte was a specially-constructed outdoor am ...

''; it is today used for music events.

Museums

* Lessing Museum, opened in 1931, memorial site and library * St Anna abbey church and sacred museum (''Klosterkirche und Sakralmuseum St. Annen''), part of the former Franciscan convent, exhibits sacred art of the Kamenz churches - a collection of 16th century carved timber painted altarpieces * Museum of West Lusatia (''Museum der Westlausitz''): various collections on cultural history, archaeology, geology, zoology, and botany of the region.

Buildings

* Town hall, built in 1848/49, in an Italian

Neo-Renaissance Renaissance Revival architecture (sometimes referred to as "Neo-Renaissance") is a group of 19th-century Revivalism (architecture), architectural revival styles which were neither Greek Revival architecture, Greek Revival nor Gothic Revival ar ...

style * Marketplace with

Mannerist Mannerism is a style in European art that emerged in the later years of the Italian High Renaissance around 1520, spreading by about 1530 and lasting until about the end of the 16th century in Italy, when the Baroque style largely replaced it ...

Andreas Fountain, erected in 1570 * Roter Turm (''red tower''), Mönchsmauer (''monk wall''), and Pichschuppen, all remnants of the medieval town fortification * The Protestant main church of St Mary was built from 1275 to 1479, in a Late Gothic

hall church A hall church is a Church (building), church with a nave and aisles of approximately equal height. In England, Flanders and the Netherlands, it is covered by parallel roofs, typically, one for each vessel, whereas in Germany there is often one s ...

style; it is the only church built from granite rocks north of the Alps * The nearby

Catechism A catechism (; from , "to teach orally") is a summary or exposition of Catholic theology, doctrine and serves as a learning introduction to the Sacraments traditionally used in catechesis, or Christian religious teaching of children and adult co ...

Church at the town wall was first mentioned in 1358; it was later used for religious services held in the Sorbian language * The St Anne Abbey Church was finished in 1510, now a museum whose collections include five 16th century carved wood altarpieces * The St Just Church on the historic Via Regia road, first mentioned in 1377, contains several mural paintings from about 1400 * The Lessing memorial marks the place of the poet's birth house.

Events

Blütenlauf auf dem Hutberg
(Run on the Hutberg) * Lessing Days (every year, January and February) *

Fête de la Musique The Fête de la Musique, also known in English as Music Day, Make Music Day, or World Music Day, is an annual music celebration that takes place on 21 June. On Music Day, citizens and residents are urged to play music outside in their neighborho ...

every year on June 21 * Forstfest (Forest Festival), every year in the week of August 24 on St Bartholomew's Day * Kamenzer Nasenfest (Nose Festival), Festival with the so-called ''nose market'' every year on October 3 * Carnival * Popular German band

Silbermond Silbermond ("silver moon") is a German pop rock band from Bautzen, Saxony. The band consists of Stefanie Kloß, Andreas Nowak, and brothers Johannes and Thomas Stolle. History The band members originally met in 1998 when they participated in ...

, originally from the nearby town of Bautzen, have made it a personal tradition to play the final concert of their album tours at Kamenz's Hutbergbühne stadium.

Notable people

* Andreas Dressler (1530–1604), a highly skilled local artist *

(1729–1781), philosopher and poet. * Gottfried von Erdmannsdorff (1893–1946), German Nazi officer executed for war crimes *

Richard Hauptmann Bruno Richard Hauptmann (November 26, 1899 – April 3, 1936) was a German-American carpenter who was convicted of the abduction and murder of Charles Augustus Lindbergh Jr., the 20-month-old son of aviator Charles Lindbergh and his wife Anne Mo ...

(1899–1936), convicted kidnapper of the

Lindbergh baby On March 1, 1932, Charles Augustus Lindbergh Jr. (born June 22, 1930), the 20-month-old son of Col. Charles Lindbergh and his wife, aviator and author Anne Morrow Lindbergh, was murdered after being abducted from his crib in the upper floor of th ...

* Hans Thamm (1921–2007), choral conductor *

Georg Baselitz Georg Baselitz (born 23 January 1938) is a German Painting, painter, Sculpture, sculptor and Graphic arts, graphic artist. In the 1960s he became well known for his Figurative art, figurative, expressive paintings. In 1969 he began painting his ...

(born 1938), painter, born in Deutschbaselitz * Wolfgang Mager (born 1952),

rower Rowing, often called crew in the United States, is the sport of racing boats using oars. It differs from paddling sports in that rowing oars (called blades in the United Kingdom) are attached to the boat using rowlocks, while paddles are ...

, two-time Olympic gold medalist

References

External links

Municipal site

*
Museum of West Lusatia

Lessing Museum
{{Authority control Populated places in Bautzen (district) West Lusatia