Zeitz (; , ) is a town in the
Burgenlandkreis district, in
Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. It is situated on the river
White Elster, in the triangle of the federal states
Saxony-Anhalt,
Thuringia
Thuringia (; officially the Free State of Thuringia, ) is one of Germany, Germany's 16 States of Germany, states. With 2.1 million people, it is 12th-largest by population, and with 16,171 square kilometers, it is 11th-largest in area.
Er ...
, and
Saxony.
History
First a Slavic pagan settlement later Christianized, Zeitz was first recorded under the
Medieval Latin
Medieval Latin was the form of Literary Latin used in Roman Catholic Church, Roman Catholic Western Europe during the Middle Ages. It was also the administrative language in the former Western Roman Empire, Roman Provinces of Mauretania, Numidi ...
name ''Cici'' in the
Synod of Ravenna in 967. Between 965 and 982, it was the chief fortress of the
March of Zeitz. 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 brown coal brickette factories in the world. The city was captured by Swedish troops during the
Thirty Years' War and was given to
Electorate of Saxony in 1644. It was the centre of
Saxe-Zeitz between 1657 and 1718, before returning to the Electorate (which became the
Kingdom of Saxony in 1806). In 1815, it was given to the
Kingdom of Prussia
The Kingdom of Prussia (, ) was a German state that existed from 1701 to 1918.Marriott, J. A. R., and Charles Grant Robertson. ''The Evolution of Prussia, the Making of an Empire''. Rev. ed. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1946. It played a signif ...
, becoming district (kreis) centre of the Merseburg region (regierungsbezirk) of the
Province of Saxony until 1944, when it became part of the Province of
Halle-Merseburg. It became a county free city between 1901 and 1950. It was occupied by U.S. troops on 27 April 1945 and was transferred to
Soviet
The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...
control on 1 July 1945. It was a district centre in the Halle region of
Saxony-Anhalt state in 1945 – 1952 and again in 1990 – 1994, and in
Bezirk Halle between 1952 and 1990. It lost its status as county centre and became part of the Burgenlandkreis on 1 July 1994.
A bombing target of the
Oil Campaign of World War II, the
Brabag plant northeast of Zeitz used
lignite coal for the production of
synthetic fuels
–
forced labor was provided by the nearby
Wille subcamp of
Buchenwald 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" () were built.
On 18 August 1976, the Protestant clergyman
Oskar Brüsewitz from
Rippicha burnt himself to death in front of the Michaeliskirche. This was a protest against the
DDR system.
The town was an industrial centre until
German Reunification
German reunification () was the process of re-establishing Germany as a single sovereign state, which began on 9 November 1989 and culminated on 3 October 1990 with the dissolution of the East Germany, German Democratic Republic and the int ...
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, together employing 2,000 people from Zeitz.
On 1 July 2009 Zeitz absorbed the former municipalities
Döbris,
Geußnitz,
Kayna,
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
*
Kayna
*
Luckenau
*
Nonnewitz
*Pirkau
*
Theißen
*
Würchwitz
*Zangenberg
Climate
Zeitz has an
oceanic climate (
Köppen: ''Cfb'';
Trewartha: ''Dobk''). The annual precipitation is , and the precipitation in summer is about twice that in winter.
The Zeitz weather station has recorded the following extreme values:
[
* Highest Temperature on 13 August 2003.
* Lowest Temperature on 14 January 1987.
* Wettest Year in 2002.
* Driest Year in 1982.
* Highest Daily Precipitation: on 21 July 1992.
* Earliest Snowfall: 14 October 2015.
* Latest Snowfall: 28 April 1985.
]
Main sights
Zeitz sights are predominantly situated along the Romanesque Road (point 52).
* '' Schloss Moritzburg'', a baroque
The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western Style (visual arts), style of Baroque architecture, architecture, Baroque music, music, Baroque dance, dance, Baroque painting, painting, Baroque sculpture, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from ...
-style castle with the . The 10th century crypt displays 17th century tin coffins including that of Maurice, Duke of Saxe-Zeitz.
* ''Michaeliskirche'' (1154), originally a Romanesque basilica and contains a 1517 original of Martin Luther's 95 Theses.
* 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:
Notable people
* Christian August of Saxe-Zeitz (1666–1725), Archbishop of Esztergom
* 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 (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 (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 (1934 – 2022), 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, ...
(born 1945), canoeist
* Jürgen Kretschmer (born 1947), canoeist
* Martina Falke (born 1951), canoeist
See also
* Geußnitz
References
External links
*
{{Authority control
Burgenlandkreis
Oil campaign of World War II