Chemnitz
Coat of arms	Location
Administration
Country	Germany
State	Saxony
Admin. region	Chemnitz
District	Urban district
Mayor	Barbara Ludwig (SPD)
Basic statistics
Area	220. Wikipedia talkFeatured lists for an explanation of this and other inclusion tags below -->This list of countries, arranged alphabetically Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany ( ˈbʊndəsʁepuˌbliːk ˈdɔʏtʃlant is a Country in Central Europe. Germany (Deutschland is a Federal Republic consisting of sixteen States, known in German as Länder (singular The Free State of Saxony (Freistaat Sachsen ˈzaksən Swobodny Stat Sakska is the easternmost federal state of Germany. A Regierungsbezirk is a type of government region of Germany, a subdivision of certain federal states ( ''Bundesländer'') Chemnitz is one of the three Regierungsbezirke of the Free State of Saxony, Germany, located in the south-west of the state German districts (de ''Kreise'' or de ''Landkreise'' in the states of Nordrhein-Westfalen and Schleswig-Holstein, singular de ''Kreis'' and de ''Landreis'' This is a list of urban districts in Germany. Germany is divided into 429 districts (not to be confused with the larger Regierungsbezirk) these consist Burgomaster (alternatively spelled Burgo[[meister]], literally translated meaning master of the town or master of the Fortress Area is a Quantity expressing the two- Dimensional size of a defined part of a Surface, typically a region bounded by a closed Curve. 85 km² (85. 3 sq mi)
Elevation	296 m  (971 ft)
Population	246,110  (01/05/2006)
- Density	1,114 /km² (2,886 /sq mi)
Other information
Time zone	CET/CEST (UTC+1/+2)
Licence plate	C
Postal codes	09001-09247
Area code	0371
Website	chemnitz.de Coordinates: 50°50′0″N 12°55′0″E / 50.83333, 12.91667

Chemnitz (1953–1990: Karl-Marx-Stadt, Czech: Saská Kamenice, Polish: Kamienica Saska) is a city in Eastern Germany. The elevation of a Geographic location is its height above a fixed reference point often the mean sea level. In Biology a population is the collection of inter-breeding organisms of a particular Species; in Sociology Population density (in agriculture standing stock and Standing crop) is a measurement of Population per unit area or unit volume Central European Time ( CET) is one of the names of the Time zone that is 1 hour ahead of Coordinated Universal Time. Central European Summer Time ( CEST) is one of the names of UTC+2 Time zone, 2 hours ahead of Coordinated Universal Time. UTC+1 is used in the following locations Central European Time West Africa Time Western European Summer Time UTC+2 corresponds to the following Time zones Eastern European Time Egypt Standard Time Central Africa Time German car number plates ( Kfz-Kennzeichen) show the place where the car carrying them is registered __FORCETOC__ Postal codes in Germany, Postleitzahl (plural Postleitzahlen abbreviated to PLZ consist of five digits which indicate the wider area (first two digits and the see also Telephone numbering in Germany for further codes including service numbers cell phones etc A website (alternatively web site or Web site, a back-construction from the Proper noun World Wide Web) is a collection of Web pages A geographic coordinate system enables every location on the Earth to be specified in three coordinates using mainly a spherical coordinate system. Czech (ˈʧɛk čeština ˈʧɛʃcɪna in Czech is a West Slavic language with about 12 million native speakers it is the majority language in the Polish ( język polski, polszczyzna) is the Official language of Poland. A city is an Urban area with a large Population and a particular Administrative, Legal, or Historical status Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany ( ˈbʊndəsʁepuˌbliːk ˈdɔʏtʃlant is a Country in Central Europe. With a population of approximately 245,000 in its city limits, Chemnitz is the third largest city of the Free State of Saxony. The Free State of Saxony (Freistaat Sachsen ˈzaksən Swobodny Stat Sakska is the easternmost federal state of Germany. Located in western Saxony in the northern foothills of the Ore Mountains, it is a part of the Saxon triangle metropolitan area comprising 3. The Saxon triangle is a Metropolitan area of Germany consisting of the cities of Chemnitz, Dresden, Halle, Leipzig 5 million people.

First documented in 1143, Chemnitz evolved into one of the most important industrial cities of Germany in 19th and the beginning 20th century. In 1953, the city was renamed Karl-Marx-Stadt after the philosopher, political economist, and revolutionary Karl Marx. Philosophy is the study of general problems concerning matters such as existence knowledge truth beauty justice validity mind and language Political economy originally was the term for studying production buying and selling and their relations with law custom and government A revolutionary when used as a noun is a person who either actively engages in some kind of Revolution, or advocates the revolution with recognition from some government or After the reunification of Germany in 1990, the city regained its original name and has the status of an independent city which is not part of any county and seat of the government region Regierungsbezirk Chemnitz. Chemnitz is one of the three Regierungsbezirke of the Free State of Saxony, Germany, located in the south-west of the state

Chemnitz is one of the most important East German cities in economy, culture and science. An economy is the realized social system of production exchange distribution and consumption of goods and services of a country or other area Culture (from the Latin cultura stemming from colere, meaning "to cultivate" generally refers to patterns of human activity and the symbolic Science (from the Latin scientia, meaning " Knowledge " or "knowing" is the effort to discover, and increase human understanding The city's economy is based on the service sector and manufacturing industry. The Chemnitz University of Technology with about 10,000 students is the centre of scientific life. Chemnitz University of Technology is located in the town of Chemnitz in Germany.

Etymology

Chemnitz is named after the Chemnitz River, a small tributary of the Zwickauer Mulde. The Zwickauer Mulde (ˈtsvɪkaʊɐ ˈmʊldə is a River in the Free State of Saxony, Germany. The word "Chemnitz" is from the Sorbian language and means "stony brook". The Sorbian languages are classified under the Slavic branch of the Indo-European languages. In German, "Chemnitz" is pronounced [ˈkʰɛmnɪʦ]. The German language (de ''Deutsch'') is a West Germanic language and one of the world's major languages. It is known in Czech as Saská Kamenice. Czech (ˈʧɛk čeština ˈʧɛʃcɪna in Czech is a West Slavic language with about 12 million native speakers it is the majority language in the From 1953-1990 the city was officially known in East Germany as Karl-Marx-Stadt, "Stadt" meaning "town" in German. The German Democratic Republic ( GDR; Deutsche Demokratische Republik DDR; commonly known in English as East Germany) was a Socialist state

History

Monumental Bust of Karl Marx (German: Karl Marx Denkmal)

An early Slavic tribe's settlement was located at the place of Chemnitz called Kamienica. In 1143 there was a Benedictine monastery at the place where the city is now. Benedictine refers to the Spirituality and Consecrated life in accordance with the Rule of St Benedict, written by Benedict of Nursia in A settlement grew around the monastery and about 1170 Frederick I, Holy Roman Emperor granted it the rights of an imperial city. Frederick I Barbarossa (1122 &ndash 10 June 1190) was elected King of Germany at Frankfurt on 4 March 1152 and crowned In 1307 the town became subordinate to the margraviate of Meissen (which was the predecessor of the Saxon state). The March or Margraviate of Meissen (Mark(grafschaft Meißen was a mediæval principality a march, of the Holy Roman Empire in the area of the modern In medieval times Chemnitz became a centre of textile production and trade. More than one third of the population worked in textile production. This continued through the industrial revolution: factories were established, and by the early 19th century Chemnitz had become an industrial centre (sometimes called "the Saxon Manchester"). The Industrial Revolution was a period in the late 18th and early 19th centuries when major changes in agriculture manufacturing and transportation had a profound effect on the The 19th century of the Common Era began on January 1, 1801 and ended on December 31, 1900, according to the Gregorian calendar In 1913 Chemnitz had a population of 320,000 and is one of very few cities which were larger at that time than they are today.

During World War II, a subcamp of Flossenbürg concentration camp was located here. World War II, or the Second World War, (often abbreviated WWII) was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including Flossenbürg was a Nazi concentration camp built in May 1938 by the Schutzstaffel (SS Economic-Administrative Main Office at Flossenbürg, in the Its 500 female inmates provided slave labour for Astra-Werke AG. As a social-economic system slavery is a legal institution under which a Person (called "a slave" is compelled to work for another ^[1] During the war the factories of Chemnitz mainly produced goods for the military. Towards the end of the war Chemnitz was targeted under Operation Thunderclap. At the beginning of 1945 a series of heavy air raids was being considered on German cities by the British Air Ministry. ^[2] On the night of February 14th/15th 1945 the town experienced its first major raid when 717 RAF bombers targeted the town but due to cloud most bombs fell over open countryside. On March 2nd the town was attacked by 255 bombers of the USAAF who also attacked the marshalling yards on March 3rd (166 aircraft), and again on March 5th (233 aircraft)^[3]. The United States Army Air Forces ( USAAF) was the military aviation arm of the United States of America during and immediately after World War II. That night the town was again attacked by the RAF with 760 aircraft. These raids left most of the city in ruins.

Old and new city hall

In 1953 Chemnitz was renamed Karl-Marx-Stadt ("Karl Marx City"). To address the problem of extensively destroyed city buildings (factories, dwellings, offices) the East German government adopted major rebuilding projects typical of those adopted in numerous parts of post war Europe. The German Democratic Republic ( GDR; Deutsche Demokratische Republik DDR; commonly known in English as East Germany) was a Socialist state Similar to Stalinstadt (later Eisenhüttenstadt), and large sections of Berlin, Dresden and other major GDR cities, Chemnitz experienced so-called socialist model city reconstruction. Eisenhüttenstadt (literally "ironworks city" in German; pronunciation) is a city in Brandenburg, Germany. Eisenhüttenstadt (literally "ironworks city" in German; pronunciation) is a city in Brandenburg, Germany. Berlin is the capital city and one of sixteen states of Germany. Dresden (etymologically from Old Sorbian Drežďany, meaning people of the riverside forest, Drježdźany is the Capital city of the German The German Democratic Republic ( GDR; Deutsche Demokratische Republik DDR; commonly known in English as East Germany) was a Socialist state Extensive bombed out sections of the existing urban portions of Karl-Marx-Stadt (as it was then known) as well as extensive agricultural or unused land became the focus of large low rise (and later high-rise plattenbau) buildings to provide cheap affordable quality (in relative terms to the bombed out shells of former dwellings) housing for the rapidly expanding post-war population, similar to the concrete jungle projects in the West. A high-rise is a tall Building or structure Normally the function of the building is added for example high-rise Apartment building or Plattenbau (plural Plattenbauten is the German word for a building whose structure is constructed of large prefabricated Concrete slabs The word Post-War is the fifth studio album by M Ward. It was released on August 22 2006 by Merge Records. The term concrete jungle is often used to refer to a City, or an area of a city with many Tower blocks or Tenement flats made of Brick For all other uses see Project (disambiguation. A project, as defined in the field of Project management, consists of a temporary Then, as now, there was little incentive or funding to undertake pre-war building restoration such as the (successful) Frauenkirche in Dresden or the (still debated) Stadtschloss in Berlin. Stadtschloss is the German word for a Castle or Palace of the city Karl-Marx-Stadt returned to the original name of Chemnitz on 21 June 1990. Events 524 - Godomar, King of the Burgundians defeats the Franks at the Battle of Vézeronce. Year 1990 ( MCMXC) was a Common year starting on Monday (link displays the 1990 Gregorian calendar)

Chemnitz has been reported as having the lowest birth rate in the world as of 2006. ^[4]

Sights

Culture department store DAStietz

Former Department Store Schocken

The Mercure Hotel, Chemnitz

Burg Rabenstein

Chemnitz was heavily bombed during the Second World War. After the war, almost all the remaining old buildings in the city centre were removed to make space for new, modern buildings. Typical of Communist architecture, these are mostly utilitarian and not designed primarily to be pleasing to the eye. However in the neighbourhood of Kassberg there are many buildings from the 18th and 19th centuries.

As a result of the Stalinist planning era of the 1950s there are few tourist sights. Stalinism is the political regime named after Joseph Stalin, leader of the Soviet Union from 1929–1953 The 1950s Decade refers to the years of 1950 to 1959 inclusive Some of the sites were restored in the DDR era, and some have been restored since German reunification. German reunification (Deutsche Wiedervereinigung took place twice after 1945 first in 1957 the Saarland was permitted to join the Federal Republic of Germany As a relic of the communist era, the city council decided to keep the Karl Marx Monument, which was made by Lev Kerbel and is affectionately called "Nischl" by locals, an informal regional Saxon word for "head" (which would be "Kopf" in standard German). Lev Efimovich Kerbel (Лев Ефимович Кербель - 14 August 2003) is a renowned sculptor of Soviet realist works Kerbel's creations

Despite all this Chemnitz still has some beautiful, historic sights. Landmarks include the Old Town Hall with its Renaissance portal (15th century), the castle on the land of the former monastery, and the area around the opera house and the old university. The most conspicuous sight is the red tower which was built in the late 12th or early 13th century as part of the city wall.

A petrified forest can be found in the courtyard of Kulturkaufhaus Tietz. The Kulturkaufhaus Tietz is a cultural centre in Chemnitz, sometimes also called Cultural Department Store It is one of the very few in existence, and dates back several million years. Also within the city limits, in the district of Rabenstein, is the smallest castle in Saxony: Burg Rabenstein.

The town has changed considerably since German reunification. Most of its industry is gone and the core of the city has been rebuilt with many small shops as well as huge shopping centres. Many of these shops are of well known labels, including Zara, H & M, Esprit, Galeria Kaufhof, Leiser Shoes, Peek & Cloppenburg and so on. Hennes & Mauritz AB (operating as H&M) is a Swedish clothing company known for its inexpensive and fashionable clothing offerings for women men teenagers and children The large shopping centre "Roter Turm" (Red Tower) is very popular with young people.

The Chemnitz Industrial Museum is an Anchor Point of ERIH, The European Route of Industrial Heritage. The European Route of Industrial Heritage ( ERIH) is a network of the most important Industrial Heritage sites in Europe

Newly opened (on December 1st, 2007) is the "Museum Gunzenhauser", formerly a bank, which in recent months has been converted into a museum . The Museum Gunzenhauser is a Museum and Art gallery located in Chemnitz; third largest city of Saxony Germany. Dr. Alfred Gunzenhauser, who lived in Munich, had a collection of some 2,500 pieces of modern art, including many paintings and drawings from Otto Dix, Karl Schmidt-Rottluff and others. Wilhelm Karl Schmidt-Rottluff ( December

Urban renewal

Heavy destruction in World War II as well as post-war demolition to erect a truly socialistic city centre left the city with a vast open space around its town hall where once a vibrant city heart had been. Due to massive investment in out-of-town shopping right after reunification, it was not until 1999 that major building activity was started in the centre. Comparable only to Potsdamer Platz in Berlin, a whole new quarter of the city was constructed in recent years. ( English Potsdam Square, is an important Public square and traffic intersection in the centre of Berlin, Germany, lying about one kilometre New buildings include the Kaufhof Department Store by Helmut Jahn, Galerie Roter Turm with a facade by Hans Kollhoff and Peek&Cloppenburg Clothing Store by Ingenhofen and Partner. Helmut Jahn (born January 4 1940) is a German-American architect, designer of dozens of major buildings throughout

Economy

Chemnitz is largest city of the Chemnitz-Zwickau urban area being one of the most important economic regions of East Germany. Chemnitz had an GDP of about €6. 3 billion in 2004. Since about 2000, the city's economy has generated record very high annual GDP growth rates thus Chemnitz is among the ten German cities with the highest growth rates. The local and regional economic structure is characterized by medium-sized companies with the heavy industry's sectors of mechanical engineering, metal processing and vehicle manufacturing as most significant economic basis.

Over several years, the unemployment rate has steadily decreased to 13. 9% (Jul/2007). The number of employees amounts to about 100. 000, the city has about 46. 000 commuters from other municipalities. 16. 3 percent of employees in Chemnitz have a degree of a university or a college of higher education, a value exceeding the average for Germany by more than 100 percent

Transport

Road

Chemnitz is crossed by the two motorways (Autobahn) A4 Erfurt – Dresden and A72 Hof – Leipzig. (German ˈaʊtoːbaːn plural Autobahnen; English /ˈɔːtəʊbɑːn/ is the German word for a major high- Speed Road restricted to motor is an Autobahn that crosses Germany in a west-east direction The western segment has a length of 134 km (83 mi the part in the east is 381 km (237 mi long Erfurt (ˈɛɐ̯fʊɐ̯t is a City in central Germany. It is the Capital of the state of Thuringia with a population of 202619 (2006 Dresden (etymologically from Old Sorbian Drežďany, meaning people of the riverside forest, Drježdźany is the Capital city of the German Exit list } 2008|-|colspan="3"|----|-| colspan="3"|----|-| || Kreuz Leipzig-Süd|-| || Markkleeberg |-| || Leipzig - Goethesteig|-| This sort of fix restores section edit linkpoints to where they belong The motorway junction Kreuz Chemnitz is situated in the northwestern area of the city. The motorway A72 between Niederfrohna and Leipzig is still under construction. Niederfrohna is a municipality in the district of Zwickau in Saxony in Germany. This sort of fix restores section edit linkpoints to where they belong Within the administrative area of Chemnitz there are eight motorway exits (Ausfahrt).

Public transport

Map of tram and Stadtbahn net

Public transport within Chemnitz is provided by the Straßenbahn (28. A tram, tramcar, trolley, trolley car, or streetcar is a railborne vehicle, of lighter weight and construction than a Train 73 km [17. 85 mi] net length) and Bus (326. 08 km [203. 32 mi] net length) —operated by the CVAG — and by the Stadtbahn (16. The Karlsruhe model means urban and Heavy rail trains running on the same track 3 km [10. 16 mi]). Nowadays, one Stadtbahn, five tram and 27 city bus, several regional bus lines, among them two express bus lines, run within Chemnitz and neighbouring municipalities. In the weekend and before bank holidays two bus lines, two tram lines and one Stadtbahn line run at night after midnight.

Since March 30, 2008 Chemnitz has a new structured tram and bus net. It is expected that the new net will consist of one Stadtbahn line, four tram lines, 23 bus lines and several further regional und express bus lines all the day. Between midnight and morning hours, eight night bus lines will serve the public transport in Chemnitz.

Airports

Near Chemnitz there are three airports among them the two international airports of Saxony in Dresden and Leipzig. Both Leipzig Airport and Dresden Airport are situated about 70 km [43. Dresden Airport, formerly known as Flughafen Dresden-Klotzsche in German is the international Airport of Dresden, Germany. 5 mi] from Chemnitz and offer continental as well as intercontinental lines. The Altenburg-Nobitz Airport near Leipzig offers lines to London and Barcelona. Leipzig-Altenburg Airport, until February 2008 known as Altenburg-Nobitz Airport is a German regional airport 6 km (3

Sports

• Chemnitzer FC (Football)
• Schwimmclub Chemnitz v. Chemnitzer FC is a German football club based in Chemnitz, Saxony. 1892 e. V. (Swimming; Waterpolo)
• ERC Chemnitz e. V. (Icehockey, Skaterhockey)

Famous residents

• Sylke Otto, luger. Sylke Otto (born July 7, 1969 in Chemnitz) is a former German Luger who competed from 1991 to 2007. A luge is a small one- or two-person Sled on which one sleds supine (face up and feet-first

Sister cities

Chemnitz is twinned with a number of cities around the world:

• - Tampere, Finland, since October 1961
• - Ljubljana, Slovenia, since October 17, 1966
• - Arras, France, since 1967
• - Timbuktu, Mali, since October 6, 1968
• - Ústí nad Labem, Czech Republic, since July 17, 1970
• - Łódź, Poland, since 1974
• - Mulhouse, France, since October 7, 1981
• - Manchester, United Kingdom, since March 18, 1983
• - Volgograd, Russia, since May 6, 1988
• - Düsseldorf, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, since April 13, 1988
• - Akron, Ohio, United States, since April 20, 1997
• - Taiyuan, People's Republic of China, since May 17, 1999

References

External links

• Official website
• Stadtplan Chemnitz (German)