Zschopau (), is a town 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 ...

district of

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 ...

. The town grew around the castle, which was built in the mid-12th century to protect the

Salt Road A salt road (also known as a salt route, salt way, saltway, or salt trading route) refers to any of the Prehistory, prehistoric and Recorded history, historical trade routes by which essential salt was transported to regions that lacked it. Fro ...

, which crossed the Zschopau River here. Mining was also practiced from the 14th century onward, and in 1493, Zschopau was granted the privileges of a " Freie Bergstadt" However, its importance always lagged behind the major mining towns in the

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 ...

. The development of crafts and trades was favored by the trade route; in 1451, Zschopau was granted market rights and in 1466,

brewing right In the Middle Ages, the brewing right or ''gruit right'' was one of the privileges granted by the land owner or territorial ruler. Sometimes this right was linked to a plot or a house, called a " beer court"; sometimes the right was held by a h ...

s. The first guilds of weavers and calico printers were founded as early as 1529. Later, textile factories and spinning mills developed, which favored Zschopau's early transformation into an industrial city at the beginning of the 19th century. Motorcycles have been built in Zschopau since 1922. The world's first motorcycle assembly line was located here in 1926, and the ''Zschopauer Motorenwerke'', with its

DKW DKW (''Dampfkraftwagen'', – the same initials later also used for ''Des Knaben Wunsch'', ; ''Das Kleine Wunder'', and ''Deutsche Kinderwagen'', ) was a German car- and motorcycle-marque. DKW was one of the four companies that formed Auto U ...

brand, was the world's largest motorcycle factory for the first time, with a production of around 60,000 units in 1928. Even during the GDR era, the motorcycle factory was one of the world's largest motorcycle producers in terms of production volume.

Geography

The town is located on the northwestern slopes of the

, on both

banks A bank is a financial institution that accepts deposits from the public and creates a demand deposit while simultaneously making loans. Lending activities can be directly performed by the bank or indirectly through capital markets. As banks ...

of the Zschopau River, about south-east from

Chemnitz Chemnitz (; from 1953 to 1990: Karl-Marx-Stadt (); ; ) is the third-largest city in the Germany, German States of Germany, state of Saxony after Leipzig and Dresden, and the fourth-largest city in the area of former East Germany after (East Be ...

. The highest point is Mt. Pilzhübel with an elevation of . The municipal area comprises the village of Krumhermersdorf, incorporated in 1999. Since

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 ...

, Zschopau has lost about one fourth of its population. Zschopau has a handsome parish church dedicated to St Martin, a town hall and a

castle A castle is a type of fortification, fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by Military order (monastic society), military orders. Scholars usually consider a ''castle'' to be the private ...

(Schloss Wildeck), whose construction started in the twelfth century.

Historical population

Notable people

* Heinz Auerswald (1891-1974), painter not to be confused with Heinz Auerswald German lawyer, Nazi party, 1908 - 1970 * Marcus Burghardt (born 1983), bicycle racer * Ulf Findeisen (born 1962), ski jumper *

David Füleki David Füleki (born 24 August 1985 in Zschopau, East Germany) is a German comic artist. His comics were and are published by the publishing houses Carlsen Verlag, Tokyopop, New Ground Publishings, Delfinium Prints, the manga anthology ''Shounen ...

(born 1985), comic artist and non-fiction author * Rebekka Haase (born 1993), athlete (sprinter) *

Axel Jungk Axel Jungk (born 13 April 1991) is a German skeleton racer who represents his nation in the Skeleton World Cup. Jungk finished third in the standings in the 2014-15 Skeleton World Cup season. In the 2015-16 Skeleton World Cup Season, he secured ...

(born 1991), skeleton racer * Walter Kaaden (1919–1996), engineer * Karl Kröner (1887–1972), painter Fotothek J 1065 14

* Claudia Nystad (born 1978), cross country skier * Karl Schmidt-Hellerau (1873–1948), furniture manufacturer and social reformer * Stefan Semmler (born 1952), rower * Frank Uhlig (born 1955), footballer * Roland Wieser (born 1956), racewalker

People who worked in the area

* Carl Hahn (1894-1961), German-Austrian automobile builder and entrepreneur, father of VW manager

Carl Hahn Carl Horst Hahn (1 July 1926 – 14 January 2023) was a German businessman and head of the Volkswagen Group from 1982 to 1993. He served as the chairman of the board of management of the parent company, Volkswagen AG (formerly Volkswagenwerk A ...

* Walter Kaaden (1919-1996), engineer * Christian Liebe (1654-1708), composer *

Jørgen Skafte Rasmussen Jørgen Skafte Rasmussen (30 July 1878 – 12 August 1964) was a Denmark, Danish engineer and industrialist. Life The son of a shipmaster who died when Rasmussen was still a young child, he attended middle school in Nakskov and in 1894 began ...

(1878-1964), Danish engineer and industrialist * Hermann Weber (1896-1948), Constructor * Valentin Weigel (1533-1588), mystical theosophical writer, priest and natural philosopher *

Clara Zetkin Clara Zetkin (; ; ''née'' Eißner ; 5 July 1857 – 20 June 1933) was a German Marxist theorist, communist activist, and advocate for women's rights. Until 1917, she was active in the Social Democratic Party of Germany. She then joined the Inde ...

(1857-1933), socialist politician and women's rights activist

Pictures

Notes

References

* * *

External links

* http://www.zschopau.de/ Official city homepage * Erzgebirgskreis {{Ore-mountains-stub