History of the city of Chemnitz

Name origin

The name "Chemnitz" is derived from the river of the same name that flows through the city. Its name in turn goes back to the Slavic name “Kamenica” (= Steinbach, in Sorbian “came” = “stone”; cf. Kamenz ).

Place name forms

1143: Kameniz, 1218: Camnizensis Conventus, 1254: Kemeniz, 1264: Kemniz, 1293: Kemnicz, 1308: Kempniz, 1378: Kemnicz, 1389: Kempnicz, 1492: Kembnicz.
The spelling with Ch begins around 1630.

From 1953 to 1990 the city was called " Karl-Marx-Stadt ".

history

There are only seven documents on the history of the city of Chemnitz from the period before 1300 , but the city archaeological investigations , which began at the same time as the reconstruction from 1953 and, especially after 1993, covered large parts of the city center, provided many new insights into the development and development of the city.

High Middle Ages

The oldest document dates from 1143 and contains, in addition to the confirmation of King Conrad III. for the Benedictine monastery of St. Marien founded by his predecessor Lothar around 1136 , the monastery was also granted a market privilege. A "locus Kamenicz" is also mentioned. The location of the first monastic market settlement is suspected for good reasons below the Kapellenberg with the Nikolaikirche on the other side of the Chemnitz.

The monastic market, however, was not the immediate predecessor of the royal city, but the establishment of an imperial city probably took place under Friedrich Barbarossa between 1171 and 1174 in the flood-free area around St. John's Church . The Hohenstaufen royal family had their patronage until 1264 and it is (after Manfred Kobuch) the first city church.

Due to the increasing population and the commercial growth as well as insufficient fortifications, the city was relocated to the valley around 1200, or perhaps one or two decades earlier. The oldest timbers recovered and dendrochronologically determined in the most recent urban archaeological investigations were used around 1199, around 1200 and 1208 respectively. However, it must still remain open who was the founder of the high medieval city in the floodplain. For this come Friedrich I. Barbarossa (in his last reign around 1180), Heinrich VI. and Philipp von Schwaben into consideration. In an interest register from 1216, Chemnitz is mentioned for the first time as "civitas" .

Late Middle Ages

The new parish church of St. Jakobi was founded in the center of the city around 1200 and is first mentioned in a document in 1254. At first only the area at the market and along the long street was populated. This was the only one to cross the entire town plan and probably originally connected the older settlement centers around St. Johannis and St. Nikolai. It was not until a little later, probably in the first half of the 13th century, but possibly before 1220, that the north-western part of the city center was settled. A drainage horizon made of branches and wood residues was laid down and drainage channels were dug in order to make the wet Chemnitz floodplain accessible and settable. However, up to the 14th century there were open spaces and open waters as well as apparently agricultural areas within the Bering, and it was only at this time that the urban structure was largely determined. The town fire of 1333 seems to play an important role. Further fires followed in 1379, 1389 and 1395. The Neumarkt was also originally built on and only acquired its square character in modern times. With regard to some considerations on the dating and layout of the medieval city based on the more recent urban layout, it must be stated that there were still numerous changes in the street and urban structure in the Middle Ages and that considerations based on the modern urban structure are therefore of little value.

The city was fortified soon after it was founded. In 1264 a city wall was mentioned indirectly, and in 1296 it was mentioned directly in a document. Only a few remains of the walling are preserved today and its course can hardly be traced in the cityscape. However, the course, shape and structural development are now well known on the basis of pictorial and written sources and the results of urban archaeological investigations. The wall ring, with a length of about 1650 m, enclosed an approximately round area with a diameter of about 500 m. It had four gates each with a tower, 21 further towers with a distance of less than 70 m and a gate. In front of it were the Zwingermauer with semicircular baroque bastions and the 16 to 33 m wide city moat with inner and outer city moat wall . The city wall set in clay is dated to the first half of the 13th century, the Zwingermauer dates from the second half of the 14th century.

In 1290/91 the character of an " imperial city " was confirmed to the city . For the first time, references to the existence of judges, councils and a council constitution can be found in the document, which are definitely attested for 1298. The year 1308 brought a significant change, when Chemnitz lost its status as an imperial city and fell to the House of Wettin after the battle of Lucka .

With the increased use of written sources in the 14th century and the archaeological excavations, the craft in Chemnitz has been well researched. In 1357 the city received a sovereign bleaching privilege . The bleaching monopoly meant that every raw canvas produced in the Meißen region had to be brought to the Chemnitz bleaching plans for finishing. This formed an essential basis for the rise through which Chemnitz developed into the center of Upper Saxon linen weaving and from the 16th century also cotton weaving and dyeing. A second economic focus was metal processing , especially metallurgy.

In Chemnitz there was also a calendar brotherhood in the MA with the name fraternitas corporis Christi (Brotherhood of the Body of Christ), whose members, usually from the most respected families in the city, met for the purpose of praying for salvation on the first day of the month to promote their souls so that the pious works of the cooperative benefited each and every one of them. In 1412 the Brotherhood of the Calendar donated the Corpus Christi altar in the Jacobi Church. The Calendar Brotherhood was also called the Constabel Society.

Early modern age

In 1539 the Reformation was introduced in the city. In the middle of the 16th century, Chemnitz was a center of humanism when the mining scientist, doctor and humanist Georgius Agricola was mayor from 1546 to 1555 .

and display information about the image

Panorama Chemnitz around 1650

Due to a plague epidemic in 1613, a large city fire in 1631 and the destruction of the Thirty Years War , the number of inhabitants fell from around 5,500 around 1610 to around 3,000. The city was heavily in debt and largely destroyed. By 1700 the population rose again to around 5,000.

Chemnitz was persecuted by witches from 1514 to 1679 . Eight people got into witch trials . The Chemnitz district of Klaffenbach was also affected by the persecution of witches.

During the Great Northern War , the city was occupied several times by Danish, Swedish, Russian and Saxon troops and had to pay high contributions . This is repeated in the Seven Years' War (1756–1763), through which the losses of the city after the Prussian occupation can be put at around 1.12 million thalers.

16th Century

1511: Duke Georg gives the city two cattle markets as a special grace.
1515: The abbot Heinrich von Schleinitz lays the foundation for the new stone building of the monastery church and its tower.
1525: The massive and expanded construction of the mountain monastery church and tower were completed.
1529: The Chemnitz river overflows its banks and tore away the chapel of St. Ottilie in front of the Chemnitzer Tor . Councilor Joh. Thiele had it rebuilt more beautifully and massively at his expense. In the same year a deadly epidemic, the cold sweat , broke out. Many people often died of it within 24 hours.
1533: The famous scholar Georg Agricola moved from Joachimsthal to Chemnitz as a city doctor.
1537: On May 5, Wolfgang Jäger was beheaded for kidnapping a tailor's wife in the cloister courtyard. The abductee received the dust broom .
1549: The premises of the Benedictine monastery were converted into a princely apartment, because of the view, the court was torn away from the great Anger in front of the Johannistor and rebuilt on the Sauanger in front of the Chemnitz gate, the castle pond was created.
1560: On July 1st there was a great flood, the water tore down the city wall at the Niclastor and stood three cubits high from the monastery gate to the gate.
1562: On January 26th, the market master was beheaded for having two wives.
1566: The Johanniskirche was rebuilt after 19 years in ruins.
1567: The plague rages in Chemnitz - 650 people die.
1568: The city of Chemnitz's sheet metal privilege is confirmed by Elector August, the plague is still raging and claims 900 victims, a certain Roman is burned for pouring boiling water into his throat.
1585: The plague broke out again - among the victims, Mayor Paul Kinder, the Johannis Gottesacker received an extension.
1589: A raft ditch from the Einsiedler and Dittersdorf forests was dug up to the old Sauanger for wood rafting.
1590: A stone bridge is built over the city moat on the Nicolaitor, due to an unusual drought there is a famine, there is no rain for 24 weeks, the streams and rivers dried up and the forests burned.
1591: Cloth making is in bloom, the suburbs have been enlarged, houses are built around the city moat (Grabenvorstadt).

17th century

Reconstruction of the walled city of Chemnitz around 1750 by K. Haustein in 1907

1603: the St. George's Church is rebuilt
1608: The quality of life and the number of inhabitants increased due to favorable business conditions
1612: The plague broke out, from Easter to autumn 964 people died - including Mayor M. Christoph Kinder, a senator and the pastor of St. Johannis
1613: in July the plague breaks out again - 941 people die
1616: from May to October it doesn't even rain
1617: on November 5th, at 4 a.m., the town hall is destroyed by flames, the council meetings take place in the Dr. Bird's house Roßmarkt place
1618: the town hall is rebuilt
1619: In the autumn of this year, the town hall was moved into again, the first comers' meeting took place on November 11th
1620: the high tower is completed; Chemnitz receives an angle coin, for which the mill in the monastery mill is torn out

In 1620 the city came into possession of the higher and inheritance jurisdiction. Elector Johann Georg I sold the Chemnitz council, at its previous request, the higher and inheritance jurisdiction inside and outside the city in the area of the ban mile for 3000 Meißnian guilders .

1621: on June 29th the big bell is placed on the church tower; on August 13th the first money is minted

1622: The tipping and rocking of money led to a sharp rise in prices and inflation

1623: The counterfeiting was put to an end by the abolition of the angle coins that were not produced in accordance with the convention

1631: On June 12th, 3:30 p.m., a fire breaks out in the Klosterquergasse at a Peter Quellmalz's, through the fault of a boy using gunpowder. Within four hours, the houses on Klosterquer-, Spitz-, Herren-, Weber-, Kloster- and Lohgasse were in ruins. A total of 300 houses fell victim to the fire, 60 of them in the monastery suburb and 9 barns as well as some outside the city.

1639: on April 14th the battle of Chemnitz (1639) is a devastating defeat for the imperial and electoral Saxons

1640: At the end of April, the Swedish lieutenant colonel Johan Bjornsson Printz surrenders to the Electorate of Saxony

Due to the increased business traffic at the end of the 17th century, there was another innovation in the city - the first post office. According to the decree of the electoral Oberpostamt zu Leipzig of June 13, 1696, "to transport the correspondence and the transportation of traveling persons a weekly, fast moving post from Leipzig via Borna, Penig, Frohburg, Chemnitz, Ehrenfriedersdorf, Thum to Annaberg" was set up. Landkutscher ("sworn messengers") continued to exist.

Urban development since the 19th century

Ludwig Rohbock, view of the Chemnitz market square around 1850

Panorama view of Chemnitz in 1883

A great boom began with the industrial revolution around 1800. In Chemnitz in the 19th century it was mainly the emerging textile machine construction ( Sächsische Maschinenfabrik vorm. Richard Hartmann - later also construction of steam locomotives , Schönherr & Seidler later Sächsische Webstuhlfabrik AG), the production of machine tools ( Union and Schüttoff ), bicycles and motorcycles as well as cars ( Presto works ). In neighboring Schönau , the Wanderer-Werke were also an important manufacturer of vehicles as well as machine tools, typewriters ("Continental") and calculating machines . The Wanderer vehicle plant in Siegmar , built in 1927, became part of Auto Union , which was founded in mid-1932 and was based in Chemnitz from 1936 to 1948. This led to significant demographic and spatial growth in the city. While the population was around 10,500 in 1800, Chemnitz became a major city in 1883 with over 100,000 inhabitants . At the end of the 19th century, for example, 80% of world production of women's stockings was concentrated in Chemnitz and the surrounding area. The population losses of the First World War quickly offset each other, in 1919 more than 300,000 residents were counted again.

The number of people living in the city continually recorded new highs, so that in the mid-1920s it was assumed that Chemnitz could grow into a city of over a million in the medium term through incorporation with the surrounding communities. The vision of the “metropolis of Chemnitz”, which at the time was definitely to be regarded as realistic, also brought with it numerous considerations for the expansion of the transport infrastructure, especially since the city of Chemnitz had the highest usage rates for individual transport in the Free State of Saxony. These projects ranged from planning a belt road with local and high-speed traffic lanes and an express tram , which was supposed to connect all arterial roads in a ring, to considerations for the elaboration of projects for a city railway, ring railway or subway in the city center. And these projects were important, as a contemporary describes traffic in Chemnitz as follows:

“There you see a piece of traffic in Chemnitz. You wonder. In Leipzig and Dresden the traffic is also considerable. But here? Involuntarily you think of Paris, for example Place St. Michel? That's roughly true. But there the inner discipline of the driver and pedestrian is greater. Everyone still thinks: 'Take care ...', over there: 'I'll take care'. That's the difference. "

- Otto Rudert : Historical hiking trips - The old Chemnitz

At that time, for example, Johannisplatz in Chemnitz was one of the busiest squares in Germany, alongside Alexanderplatz in Berlin and Karlsplatz ( Stachus ) in Munich.

During the founding period , extensive residential areas and factories were built outside of the medieval city, but the comparatively small inner city was also significantly redesigned at this time. Work on razing the fortifications had already begun at the beginning of the 19th century. The town plan, which was handed down from the late Middle Ages, was subject to a few small changes; large and prestigious residential, office and commercial buildings, hotels, restaurants, cinemas and banks were built on the site of one and two-story buildings. By 1900 the development of the inner city was largely complete.

With the Great Depression in 1929, the influx of new job seekers stopped abruptly. In 1930, despite numerous incorporations, the city had its highest population, never again reached, with a population of 360,250.

→ Main article: Air raids on Chemnitz

Chemnitz was essentially an industrial city, which is also shown by the synonyms "Ruß-Chamtz" and "Saxon Manchester". Because of this fact, the city was classified as "decisive for the war" during World War II . In 1944, and particularly in February and March 1945, Chemnitz was the target of Allied air raids more than ten times . A total of 7,360 tons of bombs were dropped on the city by the British Royal Air Force and the United States Army Air Forces . There were a total of 3,600–4,000 fatalities.

During the strongest air raid on March 5, 1945, 95 percent of the city center was destroyed, and two-thirds of the city area in total, covering an area of six square kilometers. That night, 683 heavy, four-engined Lancaster and Halifax bombers dropped 413 air mines, 1,500 tons of high explosive bombs and 860 tons of incendiary bombs. The result was an inferno of flames. There were over 2,100 fatalities that night alone. Chemnitz and Essen were declared a “dead city” by the Anglo-American press .

In detail, the following were destroyed or badly damaged or burned out: the Jakobi Church, Jodokus Church, Pauli Church, Johann Nepomuk Church, Nikolai Church, Lukas Church, Kreuz Church, the St. Georg Hospital, the Old Town Hall and the town hall, high tower and red tower, the citizen school, the theater, the main post office building, the municipal high school, the casino building, the central theater, the Tietz department store , the “Speersche” spinning mill, the “Beckersche” cotton mill and practically all of it Monument inventory of residential buildings in the city center. The following were damaged: the Castle Church, the Christ Church, the Reichsbank and the Opera House.

Town hall, 1956

Opera House, 1956

Soviet Pavilion, 1956

Center, 1959

From October 24, 1944 to April 1945, there was a subcamp of the Flossenbürg concentration camp in the city , whose 510 women prisoners had to do forced labor for the Astrawerke AG Chemnitz. The women were housed in a hall on Altchemnitzer Strasse.

After the end of the war, the buildings, which had been badly affected by bombs and fire, were demolished in the second half of the 1940s and 1950s and the areas that had become vacant were leveled with the rubble. The reconstruction of the town center began in 1953, initially with the restoration of the historic town plan.

On May 10, 1953, the GDR Council of Ministers decided to rename the city of Chemnitz to "Karl-Marx-Stadt" . Prime Minister Otto Grotewohl undertook the renaming with the words: “The people who live here do not look backwards, they look forward to a new and better future. You look at socialism. They look with love and admiration at the founder of socialist doctrine, at the greatest son of the German people, at Karl Marx. I am therefore fulfilling the government's decision. I perform the solemn act of renaming this city and declare: From now on, this city bears the proud and obligatory name of Karl-Marx-Stadt. "

In 1958, the fifth party congress of the SED decided to rebuild the big cities. In accordance with the "principles of planning and designing socialist city centers", the reconstruction of the city center began in 1961, with the abandonment of the historical city structures of the Middle Ages and the Wilhelminian era in "industrial construction" (multi-storey apartment blocks in large slab construction). Karl-Marx-Stadt became one of the eleven development cities of the GDR. Their reconstruction differs from that of West German cities in that it was able to override previous ownership structures. The backbone of the downtown area, which was extended far to the north, was the slightly curved axis Rosenhof - Markt - Straße der Nations. Walter Ulbricht is supposed to intervene personally in the planning and to change the position of a block of flats in the city model with his own hand with the statement "Make the center bright and light so that people can still say many years later: You have built well." With the reconstruction of the city according to socialist standards, however, the historical city plan was disregarded and thus not reconstructed.

In addition to large-panel houses, spacious squares and parks in the city center, this was particularly determined by the Karl Marx monument created by Lew Kerbel in 1971. The redesign of the city center was largely completed in 1974, although some vacant lots remained or planned buildings had to be replaced by temporary arrangements. From now on, the main task was to "solve the housing problem by building large new building areas", especially the Fritz Heckert area , which offered apartments for around 80,000 people, because Chemnitz had meanwhile developed economically. In the year of change, almost half of all industrial companies in Saxony and around a third of all industrial employees were concentrated here. Almost a fifth of the GDR's national product was generated here, around 50% of it for export to the Soviet Union.

In the run-up to Saxony's accession to the Federal Republic of Germany , a referendum was held on April 23, 1990 on the future name of the city. 76% of the citizens voted for the old name "Chemnitz" . The official renaming took place on June 1, 1990, before the formal accession of the GDR to the Federal Republic of Germany. After the re-establishment of the state of Saxony in 1990, the Chemnitz district was also dissolved.

From the mid-1990s onwards, the city center began to be densified and significantly redesigned, which was accompanied by the demolition of large slab buildings, despite the fact that they were listed as a monument ensemble.

Since Chemnitz still did not have an independent city center at the beginning of the 1990s and thus had a significant functional deficit compared to other cities in Germany, the city began to develop plans for the inner-city fallow land, which until then had been the largest inner-city fallow land in Europe. The central bus and tram stop was relocated for this purpose. At the end of the 1990s, important shopping centers opened in the new city center. The opening of the “Galerie Roter Turm”, the “Galeria Kaufhof” and the fashion store “Peek & Cloppenburg” were major milestones in urban development. In addition, the old town area was greatly changed in many places. The first part of the Mittelstandsmeile was opened in 2002 and the second part a year later. The construction of the new city center is still not finished. In 2005, the redesign of several large office buildings from the times of the GDR is expected to begin and the area around the town hall will be renovated.

In August 2018 internationally recognized riots occurred in Chemnitz .

Destroyed buildings from the Middle Ages

For the (at least in part) preserved buildings from the Middle Ages see sights in Chemnitz .

Chemnitz around 1885

In addition to the preserved town church of St. Jacobi, there was a second large church intra muros, the New St. Johannis Church or, from 1876, St. Pauli Church. It was built in 1750–56 on the site of the monastery church of the Franciscan monastery founded in 1481. This building was also destroyed in the war, initially partially rebuilt and blown up in 1961. In 1955-58 and 1961/62 the floor plan of the Franciscan monastery with the gate tower was examined and a drawing of the monastery from 1756 could be interpreted and the floor plan of the entire complex with the three-aisled hall church was known.

Other public buildings from the Middle Ages had already fallen victim to the pickaxe earlier: The Gewandhaus from around 1500 was demolished in 1826/27. The old Latin school from the end of the 14th century was demolished during the construction of the New Town Hall between 1908 and 1911, only the portal remained.

Statements on the “ Chemnitz town houses ” are available almost exclusively from the most recent archaeological investigations, because the objects are missing for structural historical investigations. The oldest houses from around 1200 were pillar plank constructions with ridge posts, followed by several half-timbered houses from the 13th century on stone foundations, which were also constructed as pillar plank constructions. The row of houses on the market shifted continuously between the beginning of the 13th and the 14th century in the direction of the market and then remained constant with the construction of stone houses in the 14th century until they were destroyed in 1945.

One of the few houses known at least through photos from the 1870s is the former Adler pharmacy . In 1495 it was owned by the mayor Ulrich Schütz; After the renovation in 1673 (?) the pharmacy was demolished at the end of the 19th century, today only a turned part of the railing from the first half of the 17th century has survived.

Furthermore, two house portals from the early renaissance have been preserved: The Judith Lucretia portal , dated 1559, which is now attached to the old town hall , was located at the so-called "Neefeschen Haus" until 1910. It was built around 1555 by the councilor, cloth maker and dealer Merten Groß, passed to Agricola's heirs around 1580 and in 1589 into the possession of the Neefe family. It was only sold by them in 1804, and in 1815 it was converted into the “Römischer Kaiser” hotel. In 1921 the house had to be demolished after a major fire.

The Good Shepherd Portal from 1542, which is now in the Schloßberg Museum, was originally installed in a house on Innere Klosterstrasse that was previously incorrectly called "the monastery". It burned down in 1868 and has only been handed down through a drawing by the town planning officer A. Gottschaldt.

After the city's heyday in the 15th and 16th centuries The construction of glamorous buildings largely ended in the 19th century. An exception is the “ Siegertsche Haus ” on the market with a magnificent baroque facade .

The Nikolaikirche with the monastery market was demolished in 1884 and a new building was erected east of it, which in turn was destroyed during the Second World War. Only a few architectural sculptures have been recovered from the previous church; there is a special piece of capital from the Romanesque entrance gate. Radiometric measurements at least made it possible to clearly determine the location of the floor plan in the area.

Suburbs

Location of the Chemnitz suburbs in the 17th / 18th centuries

Even at the time when the city of Chemnitz was enclosed by a city wall, a number of suburbs were built in front of the city gates. Craftsmen and farmers initially settled here, and numerous factories were established there at the time of industrialization. These suburbs included:

Monastery suburb

The monastery suburb was in front of the monastery gate. It was located between today's Theaterstrasse , the northwestern part of Brückenstrasse and the Chemnitz River, between the Bierbrücke, which was renewed in 1869, and the Klostermühlgraben, which has now disappeared, north of the Hohe Brücke from 1926 on Hartmannstrasse . Important streets before the transformation of "Karl-Marx-Stadt" into a socialist city were the Äußere Klosterstrasse and the Rochlitzer Strasse .

In 1480 the "Klostermühle" already stood on the Klostermühlgraben. At the beginning of the 17th century, coins were minted there on the orders of the elector. Richard Hartmann later employed around 200 people there in his mechanical engineering factory, which moved to Leipziger Strasse in 1841 . It was finally canceled in 1952 and with it the street name Hinter der Klostermühle (now part of Hartmannstrasse ) disappeared . Near the “Klostermühle” there was still a dye works, the old carter inn “Zum golden Stern” and during Agricola's time in office the Siechhof “Zum heiligen Geist” for plague sufferers.

A total of six bleaches is said to have once existed between the Klostermühlgraben and the Chemnitz River. The former bleaching meadows are now crossed by the street An der Markthalle (formerly Hedwigstraße ). The market hall, which opened in 1891, was used as a warehouse during the GDR era, and only reopened for a specific purpose in 1995. The street Am alten Bad is reminiscent of the "Hedwigbad" opened in 1843, which was demolished in the 1920s in favor of the new Stadtbad on Mühlenstraße .

On Rochlitzer Strasse , once an important arterial road to Furth and Glösa and today only a 100 m long dead end street, there were still a number of factories until the Second World War, such as Louis Hermsdorf's diamond black dyeing works and on the area of the municipal swimming pool which was founded in 1848 Machine tool factory from Johann Zimmermann .

Angervorstadt

The area of the Angervorstadt was roughly in the area of today's "Brühl-Quarter". There was mainly arable farming and cow pasture. A cowherd's house was on the site of today's "Hotel Mercure". Courts were held on the Anger until the 16th century, which is why a street leading there was called Henkergasse . Later, the Anger was also used for folk and rifle festivals, whereupon the Neustädter Markt (now Theaterplatz ) and Schillerplatz emerged in the 19th century . As early as 1799, the construction of the Angers, the area of which was subsequently also called "Neustadt" or "Neustadt am Anger", began by the Chemnitz architect Johann Traugott Heinig. He laid out the street later known as Königstraße or Straße der Nations , which became a shopping and business center in Chemnitz in the course of the early 20th century.

Johannisvorstadt

The Johannisvorstadt was the area around the Johanniskirche, which was reached through the Johannistor. After this gate was demolished, it was replaced by the later very lively Johannisplatz , which was called the Posthof during the GDR era and completely lost its luster as a pivotal point. Only the Johanniskirche and the buildings of the “Schocken” department store, the former “Commerz- und Privatbank” and the “Dresdner Bank” (today “Sparkasse”) have been preserved to this day. For a daring elevated street project, all of the old buildings at the foot of the Johanniskirche, including a girls' school built in 1818, were completely demolished in the 1960s. The "Johannisfriedhof" (today the park of the victims of fascism ) was the main burial place until 1874.

Chemnitz suburb

The Chemnitz suburb, also known as Annaberger Vorstadt in the 19th century, was located between the Nikolai and Johannis suburbs. This small suburb extended from the Chemnitzer Tor to roughly today's Moritzstrasse . The buildings that have been preserved are the Tietz department store (today “ DAStietz ”, built by W. Kreis in neoclassical style from 1912 to 1913, burned out during the war, rebuilt from 1958 to 1963 with a modified ground floor and significant changes inside) and the publishing house of the former “ Chemnitz Latest News ”on Annaberger Straße . The “Am alten Stadttor” shopping market is still reminiscent of the old Chemnitz Gate.

Nikolaivorstadt

Nikolaivorstadt, first mentioned in a document in 1412, stretched from today's Falkeplatz along Stollberger Straße to Kapellenberg . This suburb is named after the 14th century church, built from 1886 to 1888, which was destroyed in the night of bombing in 1945 and in the place of which there is now a nursing home.

At the Walkgraben (the former course of which can still be traced today on the preserved road) there was a mill ("Reisigmühle") attested to in 1487, from which the Saigerhütte Chemnitz emerged in 1488 - in 1621/22 the Niclas-Tuchmacher-Walkmühle and in the immediate vicinity a grinding mill. Unfortunately, nothing today reminds of the old "Nikolai mill", which was demolished in 1926 and located on the Nikolaimühlgraben (also attested to 1486). However, until a few decades ago, before the fire station on Schadestrasse included this area, there was still a Nikolaimühlgasse that connected Schadestrasse and the Aue . On the eastern arm of the Nikolaimühlgraben there was also the “Kempnitzmühle”.

As in the nearby Kaßberg, cellars were built at the beginning of the 16th century south of Deubners Weg on the northeast slope of Kapellenberg, which were used to store the Chemnitz lager. For the years 1709–1718 there was even evidence of mining in Kapellenberg and in neighboring Hüttenberg.

Incorporations

Incorporation to Chemnitz

As early as the beginning of the 15th century, the city of Chemnitz needed space for the resident crafts, because until now the city area was limited to just a few meters around the city wall and around “ des Keisers Forste ”. As a result, the city expanded its territory for the first time with the purchase of two desert towns and parts of adjoining monastery villages. With the onset of industrialization in and around Chemnitz, the city began to expand again to meet the needs of industry and population development as well as the city of Chemnitz itself. The incorporation took place in several stages, as happened before the turn of the century, before the First World War , before the Second World War , after the founding of the GDR and after German unification . In addition, there were also numerous border shifts in favor of the city of Chemnitz before and after reunification.

The incorporation process developed as follows:

Incorporation	Municipality or district
September 29, 1402	Borssendorf , Streitdorf , parts of Bernsdorf and Gablenz
July 1, 1844	Niklasgasse
October 1, 1880	Schloßchemnitz (formed in 1859 from Schloßvorwerk and Schloßgasse)
May 22, 1885	" Küchwald "
January 2, 1887	"Schösserholz"
October 1, 1894	Altchemnitz
April 1, 1900	Gablenz
July 1, 1900	Altendorf
October 1, 1900	Chapel
April 1, 1904	Hilbersdorf
April 1, 1907	Bernsdorf
October 1, 1909	Helbersdorf
February 24, 1911	Parts of the state forest " Zeisigwald "
July 1, 1913	Borna and Furth
January 26, 1914	"The Fast Market" from Ebersdorf
July 1, 1919	Ebersdorf and Markersdorf
July 1, 1922	Heinersdorf
October 1, 1926	Rottluff
January 1, 1929	Reichenhain
July 1, 1950	Adelsberg (formed in 1934 from Ober- and Niederhermersdorf), Erfenschlag , Glösa (with Draisdorf incorporated in 1933), Harthau , Rabenstein and city of Siegmar-Schönau (formed on October 1, 1935 through the merger of the city of Siegmar and the community of Schönau ; to the city the former communities Reichenbrand ¹, Neustadt ² and Stelzendorf ³)
November 7, 1950	Parts of the state forest " Zeisigwald "
December 9, 1953	Parts of Auerswalde
March 16, 1957	Parts of Auerswalde
Late 1970s	Parts of Neukirchen / Erzgeb.
March 25, 1994	Euba
January 1, 1996	Parts of Lichtenwalde
January 1, 1997	Einsiedel (with Berbisdorf , which was incorporated on July 15, 1936 ), Klaffenbach and Kleinolbersdorf-Altenhain
January 1, 1999	Röhrsdorf , Grüna , Wittgensdorf (with the Murschnitz district) and Mittelbach

¹ = Reichenbrand was incorporated into Siegmar on April 1st, 1922
² = Neustadt was incorporated into Schönau on April 1, 1922
³ = Stelzendorf was incorporated into Siegmar on October 1st, 1920

(Source: Chemnitzer Bürger-Buch 2000/2001)

After the re-establishment of the state of Saxony in 1990, the Chemnitz district was also dissolved. As part of the district reform in Saxony in 1994, the Chemnitz district was dissolved. A part was merged with the districts of Hohenstein-Ernstthal and Glauchau to form the new district of Chemnitzer Land . The other part went up in the Mittweida district , some communities also came to the Middle Ore Mountains District and the Stollberg district . For a long time there have also been efforts to incorporate the Neukirchen community into Chemnitz. This failed to this day due to the resistance of the district of Stollberg and the community of Neukirchen itself. Chemnitz remained an independent city.

literature

Adam Daniel Richter: Cumbersome Chronica of the Churfürstl, compiled from reliable news, at the foot of the Meissnischen Ertzgebürges. Sächßl. City of Chemnitz, with attached documents , Zwey Theile, In der Spickermannische Buchhandlung, Zittau and Leipzig 1767, p. 297 ( digitized version )
Chemnitz at the end of the XIX. Century in words and pictures . Körner & Lauterbach, Chemnitz (around 1900) ( digitized )
Karl-Marx-Stadt (= values of our homeland . Volume 33). 1st edition. Akademie Verlag, Berlin 1979.
Chemnitzer Geschichtsverein (Hrsg.): Communications of the Chemnitzer Geschichtsverein: Yearbook , multi-volume series, Chemnitz 1992ff., ZDB-ID 9137270.
Uwe Fiedler: Memories of Chemnitz as it used to be . Wartberg Verlag, Gudensberg-Gleichen 2001, ISBN 3-8313-1149-8
Stadtarchiv Chemnitz (Ed.): From the Stadtarchiv Chemnitz , multi-volume series, Chemnitz 1998ff., ZDB-ID 20028933.
Tilo Richter: The city church of St. Jakobi in Chemnitz. Design and building history from the 12th century to the present , Chemnitz 2000, ISBN 3-932900-40-5 .
Gabriele Viertel , Stephan Weingart: History of the city of Chemnitz. From the locus Kameniz to the industrial city . Gudensberg-Gleichen 2002, ISBN 3-86134-968-X .

Web links

Chemnitz city chronicle
Harald Weber: From the history of Chemnitz and the surrounding area (1136 - 1871). Part 1. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on March 20, 2011 ; Retrieved October 30, 2013 .
Julius Theodor Pinther: Chronicle of the city of Chemnitz and the surrounding area or Chemnitz as it was and as it is. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on September 28, 2007 ; Retrieved October 30, 2013 .
www.Historisches-Chemnitz.de - A look back into the history of Chemnitz
Chemnitz through the ages - an impression of old Chemnitz

Individual evidence

↑ Ernst Eichler , Hans Walther (Ed.): Historisches Ortnamesbuch von Sachsen , Berlin 2001, Volume I, S. 141, ISBN 3-05-003728-8

^ Digital historical place directory of Saxony - Chemnitz. Retrieved October 30, 2013 .