Sosa is a former municipality in the western

Ore Mountains The Ore Mountains (, or ; ) lie along the Czech–German border, separating the historical regions of Bohemia in the Czech Republic and Saxony in Germany. The highest peaks are the Klínovec in the Czech Republic (German: ''Keilberg'') at ab ...

, in the

Erzgebirgskreis Erzgebirgskreis is a district ('' Kreis'') in the Free State of Saxony, Germany. It is named after the Ore Mountains (German: ''Erzgebirge''), a mountain range in the southern part of the district which forms part of the Germany–Czech Republi ...

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 ...

. It is a state-recognized health resort, that has belonged to the town

Eibenstock Eibenstock is a town in the Erzgebirgskreis, Saxony, Germany. It is situated in the western Ore Mountains, near the river Mulde. Geography Eibenstock has the following constituent communities: Eibenstock, Blauenthal, Wolfsgrün, Neidhardtsthal, ...

since 1 January 2011.

Geography

Sosa lies on both sides of the like-named Sosabach at an elevation of between 550 and 817 m above

sea level Mean sea level (MSL, often shortened to sea level) is an mean, average surface level of one or more among Earth's coastal Body of water, bodies of water from which heights such as elevation may be measured. The global MSL is a type of vertical ...

. Also in the community is the ''Rote Grube'' (“Red Mine”).

History

Sosa began as a forest village ('' Waldhufendorf''). In 1453 it was first mentioned as ''Sossaw'', although its beginnings are believed to have been in the 13th century. The people originally worked the land; however, from the 18th century onwards,

mining Mining is the Resource extraction, extraction of valuable geological materials and minerals from the surface of the Earth. Mining is required to obtain most materials that cannot be grown through agriculture, agricultural processes, or feasib ...

gained in importance. In the second half of the 19th century, mining was diminishing in importance, and many migrated to the

Zwickau Zwickau (; ) is the fourth-largest city of Saxony, Germany, after Leipzig, Dresden and Chemnitz, with around 88,000 inhabitants,. The West Saxon city is situated in the valley of the Zwickau Mulde (German: ''Zwickauer Mulde''; progression: ), ...

coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other Chemical element, elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal i ...

fields. There was a short revival between 1947 and 1956 when the Soviet-German Wismut Corporation (''Sowjetisch-Deutsche Aktiengesellschaft Wismut'', or SDAG Wismut) mined

uranium Uranium is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol U and atomic number 92. It is a silvery-grey metal in the actinide series of the periodic table. A uranium atom has 92 protons and 92 electrons, of which 6 are valence electrons. Ura ...

here, bringing about a new upswing. From 1952 to 1990, Sosa was part of the Bezirk Karl-Marx-Stadt of

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 ...

Population development

Development of population figures ''(31 December)'': : Source from 1998 on: ''Statistisches Landesamt des Freistaates Sachsen''

Culture and sightseeing

Between 1949 and 1952, the Sosa Reservoir was built. Its

dam A dam is a barrier that stops or restricts the flow of surface water or underground streams. Reservoirs created by dams not only suppress floods but also provide water for activities such as irrigation, human consumption, industrial use, aqua ...

is almost 60 m high and its area is 39.3 ha.

Notable people

* Ludwig Güttler (b. 1943),

trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz musical ensemble, ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest Register (music), register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitche ...

virtuoso * Daniel Friedrich Hecht (1777–1833), mathematician

References

External links

Bergbrüderschaft Sosa (“Mining Brotherhood”)

private homepage about Sosa

homepage of the FSV Sosa
{{authority control Former municipalities in Saxony Erzgebirgskreis