History of the city of Coburg

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The history of the city of Coburg has been documented since the year 1056 .

middle Ages

For the first time in a document mentioned "Koburk" in 1056 in a deed with which the Poles Queen Richeza Archbishop Anno of Cologne an estate donated. The possessions were on the fortress mountain or the neighboring Fürwitz. In 1074 Cologne founded the monastery of St. Peter and Paul with a provost's office on the Festungsberg as a subsidiary of the Abbey of Saalfeld .

Coburg was probably a new foundation next to the older valley settlement "Trufalistat" (central market, cross-shaped through streets). Coburg was mentioned as a city in a document dated May 24, 1217, of which there is a late medieval copy. In it the parish rights were laid down and in which it translates from Latin among other things: "To the church and the entire city of Coburg, which was previously called Trufalistat". A clear origin of the name cannot be determined. Habel derives the name from the old Slavic chov for security and thus interprets Coburg as a security castle . For grass muck, the name was also a military term from the start.

In the 11th century the monastic farmyard was relocated from the fortress hill into the valley to today's Morizkirche and the first church was built.

Late Middle Ages

There are only a few documents about the expansion and changes in the city in the late Middle Ages . Around 1250 a Franciscan monastery was founded on the site of today's Ehrenburg . The first rulers of Coburg were the Meranians , in 1265 they were replaced by the Hennebergers . The hen on the mountain was the first city coat of arms . In 1331 Emperor Ludwig granted the Baier Coburg city ​​rights in Schweinfurt . From 1330 to the 15th century, St. Moriz, the town's main church, was built. In 1353 Margrave Friedrich III inherited . von Meißen and thus the House of Wettin from the Henneberg Count Heinrich the rule of Coburg ( care of Coburg ); The Meißen lion became the city's coat of arms. The Saint Mauritius has been the city's coat of arms since 1430 . In 1444 a documented bird shooting took place in the city for the first time (today the shooting festival). There has been evidence of a medieval leprosy in Coburg since 1336 , which was called the infirmary. It was located "in front of the Ketschentor", the associated chapel was dedicated to St. Nicholas .

16th to 18th century

Coburg in the 17th century

In 1485, after the division of Leipzig , Coburg became the land of the Ernestines . Since the Saxon electors supported the Reformation , this could already be introduced by the pastor Balthasar Düring in Coburg by 1524 . In 1528 the last Catholic mass took place in the infirmary chapel . In 1530, Martin Luther stayed at the Veste Coburg for six months because he was unable to attend the Reichstag in Augsburg because of the imperial ban imposed on him . Coburg was the closest safe place to Augsburg.

In 1542, under Duke Johann Ernst , Coburg became a residential city for the first time. By 1547 he had the disbanded barefoot monastery converted into the ducal city ​​palace Ehrenburg . With the death of childless Johann Ernst in 1553, Coburg's first decade as a royal seat ended. From 1577 to 1580 the town hall was extended from 1438.

Duke Casimir

Between 1586 and 1633, Coburg was the residence of an independent principality of Saxony-Coburg . During this period there was brisk construction activity in Coburg under Duke Johann Casimir . Between 1597 and 1601 he had the government house (from 1957 town hall ) built on the market square for the ducal authorities , laid the foundation stone for the Casimirianum high school, which was inaugurated in 1605, and built the armory in Herrengasse from 1616 to 1621. In addition, the Veste Coburg was expanded into a fortress.

Most of the witch trials took place during the reign of Duke Johann Casimir (1586–1633) , around 178 so far. From 1532 there were individual trials against alleged witches in Coburg and Heldburg . The intense waves of persecution took place from 1612 to 1619 and 1628 to 1632. The trials were not only carried out in Coburg, but also in Heldburg and Hildburghausen . When the Wallenstein troops approached the city in September 1632 , the trials stopped for a few years. From around 1640 about 50 other people were arrested on suspicion of witchcraft. Overall, there were at least 228 witch trials in Coburg and the surrounding area in the 16th and 17th centuries. The accused were not executed in all cases.

During the Thirty Years' War , imperial and Bavarian troops under Wallenstein occupied the city in 1632 and besieged the fortress Coburg without success . General Georg Christoph von Taupadel defended the city. Two years later, imperial troops under General Count Lamboy entered the city again and this time also conquered the fortress by ruse. At the end of the war, around half of the houses had been destroyed and the number of inhabitants had halved.

Coburger Kupferheller, year 1683

From 1680 Coburg became the residence again, this time of Duke Albrecht , who however died childless in 1699. He rebuilt Ehrenburg Palace , which burned down in 1690, as a baroque palace . In 1714 a larger rifle house was built on the Anger. With the end of the inheritance disputes among the Ernestines and the creation of the new principality of Saxony-Coburg-Saalfeld in 1735 Coburg became the seat of a ruling duke again and remained so until the end of the monarchy in 1918.

19th century

Catholics moved back to the city no later than the 18th century, who celebrated the first service on March 25, 1802 in a room at 1 Ketschengasse . In 1806, Duke Ernst I of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha left the Nikolauskapelle to the small Roman Catholic community for use.

From 1803 to 1804 the poet Jean Paul lived in the city as a ducal legation councilor. In 1806 Coburg got its first street lighting. In 1806 and 1807 the city was occupied twice by French troops and administered by Tilsit until the Peace of Tilsit.

In 1824 40 trades were carried out in the city, among which the linen weaving , the cloth production and the tannery dominated.

After the death of Duke Friedrich IV in 1825, the Duchy of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg ended . According to the Hildburghausen Partition Treaty, this was divided between Sachsen-Meiningen , Sachsen-Hildburghausen and Sachsen-Coburg-Saalfeld . In 1826, Duke Ernst I received , among other things, the Duchy of Saxony-Gotha in exchange for Saxony-Saalfeld . The new state structure of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha initially represented a double duchy ruled in personal union. For Coburg, this meant that it was no longer the sole residential city, the court regularly changed between Coburg and Gotha until the end of the monarchy . However, like Gotha, Coburg retained its own state parliament and independent state administration.

The Coburg population feared the permanent relocation of the court to Gotha, which increasingly became the more populous and representative city with important trade, insurance and growing industry.

During the reign of Duke Ernst I, the redesign of the two north wings of the Residenzschloss Ehrenburg from 1816 as well as the palace square with the creation of the arcades and today's court garden took place. In addition, the court theater (today's Landestheater ) was built from 1837 to 1840 . With the ducal art and natural history cabinet (today's Natural History Museum ), the population received their first access to the art treasures of the Dukes of Saxe-Coburg in 1844. In 1852 the ducal building trade school was founded in Coburg as a forerunner of the later Coburg University .

The first gas factory was built in 1854 and in 1858 Coburg received its first railway connection through the Werra Railway at Coburg station . Among other things, this railway connection meant that in the following 60 years emperors, tsars, kings and princes often came to visit their relatives in Coburg.

Equestrian monument to Duke Ernst II in the Coburg Hofgarten

Under the reign and patronage of the liberal successor of Duke Ernst II , Coburg became the center of the German national movement organized in associations. The German National Association , founded in 1859, had its seat in Coburg. In July 1860 the first German Gymnastics and Youth Festival and in September the first general assembly of the German National Association were held in the ducal riding arena on Schlossplatz . Two years later, in 1862, the German Singers Association was founded . In 1872 the city also became the permanent meeting place of the Coburg Landsmannschafter-Verband (LC). A few thousand participants and guests usually visited the city at the events mentioned.

Coburg was the 49th German city to have a gasworks in 1853. As early as 1860, the first British-made water closet was built in Ehrenburg Palace for Queen Victoria of Great Britain . The first wooden drinking water pipes were led into the city from the sources of the Kürengrund and Pilgramsroth in 1870. From 1891 a water supply network was set up, which was fed from springs 13 kilometers away near Fischbach im Froschgrund. The slaughterhouse was opened around 1880 .

The waltz king Johann Strauss came to the city from Vienna in 1886 to become a citizen of Coburg so that he could get a divorce. In 1894, on the occasion of the princely wedding of Grand Duke Ernst Ludwig of Hesse and the Rhine with the daughter of Duke Alfred , Victoria Melita of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha , their grandmother was Queen Victoria of Great Britain , the German Emperor Wilhelm II , who later became Tsar Nicholas II of Russia and other highly aristocratic relatives on a visit to Coburg.

20th and 21st centuries

It was not until 1903 that the electricity works were put into operation in Coburg, but by 1907 the crematorium in the cemetery on Glockenberg was one of the first in Germany. In the same year, the Ernst-Alexandrinen-Volksbad was inaugurated . The construction of the indoor swimming pool was initiated by the Duchess Alexandrine (widow Ernst II ) and was also financially supported by her. In the years 1907 to 1916 the sewer system was built according to the separation system, which was completed in the city center in 1909. In 1913, the German Aviation Association opened the Coburg air base with hangars, the third in the German Reich, on the Brandenstein Plain to support military aviation.

The November Revolution with the abdication of the German Kaiser aroused cautious reactions in Coburg. In Gotha, on the other hand, a workers 'and soldiers' council was formed on November 8, 1918 . Hermann Quarck , head of the Coburg ministerial department, and Lieutenant Colonel von Erffa, military commander of the replacement battalion in Coburg, feared the influx of radical groups from Gotha to influence events in Coburg. However, this did not take place on November 9, 1919. Von Erffa thought that he still had his soldiers reasonably well under control. He made a speech to the garrison. He announced to his men that, given current events throughout the empire, he might have spoken to them for the last time. At the instigation of his general commander in Kassel, he suggested that the assembly should elect a soldiers' council immediately in order to avoid a violent confrontation with the authorities.

On November 10, 1918, the board of directors of the SPD state association decided to found a workers 'and soldiers' council. Reinhold Artmann , who gave a speech from the balcony of the palace on the following day , became chairman . On November 13th, Duke Carl Eduard resigned.

In a referendum on November 30, 1919, 85.44% of those who voted against the accession of the Free State of Coburg to the Thuringian state were in the city, which had 23,413 inhabitants . 9,402 votes against and 1,624 votes in favor. Thus, in the following year, after several centuries of state independence, it was united with the Free State of Bavaria . The unification contract secured Coburg the continuation of previous facilities, e.g. B. State Theater and Coburg State Foundation . In 1919 the metal works Max Brose & Co. , today Brose Fahrzeugteile GmbH with 3,600 employees (as of 2014), the second largest employer in Coburg, and as the third largest employer, Kaeser Kompressoren , today 1,600 employees (as of 2015), were founded. In 1926 the Lord Mayor inaugurated the outdoor pool on Rosenauer Strasse.

On September 2, 1921, after the murder of Matthias Erzberger, a protest rally by the SPD and USPD with around 3,000 participants took place on Schlossplatz . During the subsequent demonstration through the city center, which had been banned by the authorities, there were violent clashes with the state police , which used firearms. One dead and 20 injured made the event known as " Coburg Blood Saturday ".

"German Day": NSDAP delegation

From October 14th to 15th, 1922, the Deutschvölkische Schutz- und Trutzbund organized the third “ German Day ” with around 3000 participants. He had also invited the NSDAP with Adolf Hitler . Hitler came to the city in a special train with around 650 SA escorts. Street fights and brawls with counter-demonstrators from left parties as well as anti-Semitic rallies determined this weekend in Coburg. Hitler praised the “train to Koburg” in his book Mein Kampf as a milestone of the movement. In the following years, the city developed into a well-known stronghold of National Socialism and was later dubbed The first Nazi town in the English-speaking world . On June 23, 1929, the NSDAP received 43.1 percent of the votes cast for the first time in a German city in the city ​​council elections with 13 out of 25 seats, the absolute majority of the seats. The career of the later mayor and district leader Franz Schwede began . Among other things, this ensured that on February 26, 1932 Coburg was the first German city to grant Adolf Hitler honorary citizenship . In the same year the so-called Koburg Badge of Honor was introduced for the participants in the German Day of 1922, one of the highest awards of the NSDAP. See main article: Coburg in the time of National Socialism

15-year celebration of the train to Koburg, October 1937, Altes Schützenhaus, former headquarters of the National Socialists in October 1922

At the same time as the support for National Socialism, anti-Semitism developed in the city . As early as 1923, the Central Association of German Citizens of Jewish Faith complained to the government of Upper Franconia about acts of violence by NSDAP members against the Jewish population of Coburg. In the following years the attacks increased more and more and reached their first peak in 1931. In 1929 the city council decided to tax department stores and branches, which were generally owned by Jews in Coburg. Coburg was the first city in Germany to introduce this tax. On March 10, 1933, along with arrests and mistreatment, the boycott and calls for the closure of Jewish shops began. In 1933 the Jewish community still had 233 members, at the end of 1942 no one was living in the city anymore, as they had either fled abroad or were deported to extermination camps and murdered. See main article: History of the Jews in Coburg

Although Coburg was not a university town at the time, a book burning took place on May 7, 1933, three days before the nationwide actions, in the courtyard of the Ehrenburg . The initiator was Franz Heimberger, a member of the NSDAP and head of the municipal public library. As part of the armament of the Wehrmacht , military units were again stationed in the city from 1934 and three barracks were built on the northern outskirts .

Coburg 1945

After artillery shelling and bombing by low-flying aircraft, Coburg was occupied on April 11, 1945 by units of the 11th US Armored Division of General Patton's 3rd Army . The city had survived World War II with relatively little damage. There were 44 totally destroyed, 112 heavily and 328 slightly damaged houses. 402 apartments were completely destroyed and 639 damaged, which corresponded to a degree of destruction of 4.1%. The referendum of 1919 with the connection to Bavaria now had unexpected consequences. Coburg and the district of Coburg became part of the American occupation zone , while the Thuringian hinterland belonged to the Soviet occupation zone and was cut off from Coburg by the inner-German border until 1989 . Coburg was therefore on the edge of the zone .

The immigration of expellees, especially from the Sudetenland , allowed the population to grow from 32,552 in 1939 to over 50,000 in 1947 and level off to just under 46,000 by 1950. The necessary new buildings were built in areas with street names such as Heimatring, Neue Heimat or Schlesierweg. The number of pupils increased by 116% to 10,266 in relation to the pre-war level. The result was shift instruction in schools and new and extended buildings.

In 1950, the liability support fund moved to motor vehicle officials in Germany a. G., Erfurt is based in Coburg. Today the insurance group is called HUK-COBURG and with over 4600 employees in Coburg (2008) is the largest employer and trade tax payer. Since 1951, Coburg has been the permanent venue for the Coburg Convention of Landsmannschaften and Gymnastics Associations at German Universities (CC) (Whitsun Congress). On September 21, 1951, Coburg became the location of the Federal Border Guard and the former Hindenburg barracks as BGS barracks accommodation for two hundred groups of the South III Border Guard.

On November 11, 1989, the first Saturday after the opening of the inner-German border , around 55,000 citizens of the GDR came to Coburg in their cars. In an exuberant mood, this led to traffic chaos and a sell-out in the shops. Since then, the city has returned to its central location in Germany, which also resulted in the withdrawal of the Federal Border Guard in 1998, which means that Coburg is no longer a garrison town .

In July 1992 the Samba Festival took place for the first time , which has since developed into the largest event of its kind outside of Brazil with over 80 groups and 2,000 people and has meanwhile become the most important annual event in the city with over 100,000 visitors.

Although no longer a royal seat, Coburg's importance for the region has increased, in particular through the union with Bavaria and the reunification of Germany . The city, which has been a European city ​​since May 30, 2005 , is a regional center with important infrastructure , such as the state theater, state library, clinic and many different schools. Only in summer 2008 was the city connected to the motorway network with the completion of the federal motorway 73 .

In 2009 there were over 30,000 employees subject to social security contributions in Coburg and the municipal tax rate was 2078 euros per inhabitant, the highest value in Bavaria.

On May 27, 2012, the worst fire disaster in recent city history destroyed six buildings in downtown Coburg, four of which were listed . 16 people were slightly injured, 60 people in the neighborhood had to leave their apartments and 25 apartments became uninhabitable. The fire started in the roof structure of the house at Herrngasse 12 and spread in the area between Herrngasse, Steingasse, Rückertstrasse and Marktplatz, which was built up with backyards. The Coburg Puppet Museum was also damaged.

During the Reformation, Coburg was an important place to stay for Martin Luther. To this day, the places where Luther worked in Coburg have not lost their spiritual and tourist importance. With this justification, the Council of the Community of Evangelical Churches in Europe (CPCE), based in Vienna, gave Coburg the title “ Reformation City of Europe ” in December 2014 .

See also

literature

  • Joachim Albrecht: The avant-garde of the “Third Reich”. The Coburg NSDAP during the Weimar Republic 1922–1933. Frankfurt: Peter Lang, 2005, ISBN 3-631-53751-4 , review [1]
  • Edmund Frey; Reinhard Heinritz (Ed.): Coburg from the 'Dintenfas'. Literary forays through four centuries , quartus-Verlag, 2005, ISBN 3-936455-32-5
  • Hubert Fromm: The Coburg Jews. History and Fate , 2nd exp. Ed. 2001, ISBN 3-9808006-0-1 * City Museum Coburg s initiative. V .: Ahead at the wrong time. Coburg and the rise of National Socialism in Germany , Coburg 2004, ISBN 3-9808006-3-6
  • Hubertus Habel: Small Coburg City History . Verlag Friedrich Pustet, Regensburg 2009, ISBN 978-3-7917-2170-5 .
  • Gert Melville (Ed.): 45–75: Coburg's way into the present. A book on the everyday history of Coburg from 1945 to 1975 , series of the Historischen Gesellschaft Coburg e. V. Volume 20, Coburg 2006, ISBN 3-9810350-2-X ( see website )
  • Heinz Pellender: Chronicle of the city and the fortress Coburg of the lords and rulers of Coburg and the Coburg region . Fiedler-Verlag: Coburg 2000, ISBN 3-923434-08-1
  • Harald Sandner: Coburg in the 20th century. The chronicle of the city of Coburg and the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha from January 1, 1900 to December 31, 1999 - from the "good old days" to the dawn of the 21st century. Against forgetting . Publishing house Neue Presse: Coburg 2002, ISBN 3-00-006732-9
  • Walter Schneier: Coburg in the mirror of history. From prehistoric times to the present. In the footsteps of princes, citizens and farmers. New Press publishing house: Coburg, 2nd edition, 1986

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Chronicle of the city and the fortress Coburg, the lords and rulers of Coburg and the Coburg region ( ISBN 3-923434-08-1 )
  2. ↑ a b c Hubertus Habel: Little Coburg City History . Verlag Friedrich Pustet, Regensburg 2009, ISBN 978-3-7917-2170-5
  3. ↑ Horst GRASSMUCK: Place names of the county Coburg . Inaugural dissertation from the University of Erlangen 1955, p. 15
  4. ^ Stefan Nöth: Introduction: Coburg 1056. In: Stefan Nöth (Hrsg.): Coburg 1056-2006. A journey through 950 years of city and country history. ISBN 3-86652-082-4 , p. 11
  5. ↑ Documentation: Medieval leprosories in today's Bavaria, originally in "Die Klapper" 1995, magazine of the Society for Leprosy, accessed August 12, 2017 ( Memento of the original from February 6, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and still Not checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.muenster.org
  6. ↑ Traudl Kleefeld: Against forgetting. Witch persecution in Franconia - places of remembrance. J. H. Röll, Dettelbach 2016. p. 26 ff.
  7. ↑ Catholic Church Foundation St. Augustin (ed.): Festschrift for the 150th anniversary of the parish church of St. Augustin in Coburg.
  8. ↑ Heinrich Becker: Gewerbefleiß und Bürgersinn, notes on the history of the Coburg Art and Trade Association (1924–1999). In: 175 years of the Coburg Art and Trade Association 1824–1999. Art Association Coburg e. V., 1999, p. 6
  9. ^ Peter Morsbach, Otto Titz: City of Coburg. Ensembles-Architectural Monuments-Archaeological Monuments. Monuments in Bavaria. Volume IV.48. Karl M. Lipp Verlag, Munich 2006, ISBN 3-87490-590-X , S. XCIII.
  10. ↑ Jürgen Erdmann: Coburg, Bavaria and the Reich 1918–1923 . Rossteutscher Verlag, Coburg 1969, p. 6 .
  11. ↑ Harald Sandner: Coburg in the 20th century. The chronicle of the city of Coburg and the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha from January 1, 1900 to December 31, 1999 - from the "good old days" to the dawn of the 21st century. Against forgetting . Publishing house Neue Presse: Coburg 2002, ISBN 3-00-006732-9 , p. 66
  12. ^ Coburger Tageblatt, May 8, 2008
  13. ^ German Association of Cities: Statistical yearbook of German municipalities. P. 384. Braunschweig 1952
  14. ↑ Economic area Coburg, data and facts, edition 2011712 (PDF; 512 kB)
  15. ↑ The scientific regional ranking 2009 of the INSM-Initiative Neue Soziale Marktwirtschaft ( Memento of the original from August 31, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.insm-regionalranking.de
  16. ↑ Oliver Schmidt: Destruction and onlookers in Coburg's city center , May 25, 2011
  17. ↑ Coburger Tageblatt of May 29, 2012, pages 1, 7, 8 and 9
  18. ↑ Coburg is entitled "European Reformation City" .