[edit]
For a chronological guide, see Timeline of Chemnitz.
Medieval beginnings[edit]
The area was sparsely settled by Slavic tribes related to the modern Sorbs. The placename is first attested for the eponymous local river (1012/18: "Caminizi fluvium"). In 1143, King Conrad III of Germany confirmed the rights previously granted by Emperor Lothar III to a Benedictine monastery, including land ownership within a two-mile radius and permission to hold a royal public market ("forum publicum"). This document contains the first recorded mention of Chemnitz. Subsequently a settlement grew around the market. Around 1170, the town was granted the rights of a free imperial city by Emperor Frederick I.
Meissen and Saxony[edit]
Chemnitz c. 1850
In 1307, the town became subordinate to the Margraviate of Meissen, the predecessor of the Saxon state. In 1356, the Margraviate was succeeded by the Electorate of Saxony. After receiving the bleaching privilege [de] in 1357, Chemnitz developed into a regional centre of weaving, linen manufacturing, and textile trade. More than one-third of the population worked in textile production.
Geologist Georgius Agricola (1494–1555), author of several significant works on mining and metallurgy, including the landmark treatise De re metallica, became city physician of Chemnitz in 1533 and lived here until his death in 1555. In 1546, he was elected a Burgher of Chemnitz, and in the same year, was also appointed Burgomaster (lord mayor), serving again in 1547, 1551, and 1553. Despite having been a leading citizen of the city, when Agricola died in 1555, the Protestant Duke denied him burial in the city's cathedral due to Agricola's allegiance to his Roman Catholic faith. Agricola's friends arranged for his remains to be buried in more sympathetic Zeitz, approximately 50 km away.
In 1639, during the Thirty Years' War, the Swedish army defeated Saxon and Imperial forces at the Battle of Chemnitz.
In 1806, with the end of the Holy Roman Empire, the Electorate was renamed as the Kingdom of Saxony, and this survived until the revolutions of 1918, which followed the Armistice ending the First World War.
By the early 19th century, Chemnitz had become an industrial centre (sometimes called "the Saxon Manchester", German: Sächsisches Manchester, pronounced [ˈzɛksɪʃəs ˈmɛntʃɛstɐ] ⓘ). Important industrial companies were founded by Richard Hartmann, Louis Schönherr and Johann von Zimmermann. Chemnitz became a centre of innovation in the Kingdom of Saxony and later in the German Reich. In 1913, Chemnitz had a population of 320,000 and, like Leipzig and Dresden, was larger at that time than today. After losing inhabitants due to the First World War, Chemnitz grew rapidly again and reached its all-time peak of 360,250 inhabitants in 1930. Thereafter, growth was stalled by the world economic crisis.
Weimar Republic[edit]
See also: Saxony in the German Revolution (1918–1919)
As a working-class industrial city, Chemnitz was a powerful centre of socialist political organisation after the First World War. At the foundation of the German Communist Party the local Independent Social Democratic Party of Germany voted by 1,000 votes to three to break from the party and join the Communist Party behind their local leaders, Fritz Heckert and Heinrich Brandler. In March 1919 the German Communist Party had over 10,000 members in the city of Chemnitz. Chemnitz was one of the big German industrial centres. Due to the export traffic a modern marshalling yard was erected 1929 in Chemnitz-Hilbersdorf. At that time it was a leading city in the European textile market. Auto Union (today Audi) was founded 1932 in Chemnitz.
World War II[edit]
Allied bombing destroyed 41 percent of the built-up area of Chemnitz during the Second World War. Chemnitz contained factories that produced military hardware and a Flossenbürg forced labor subcamp (500 female inmates) for Astra-Werke AG. The oil refinery was a target for bombers during the Oil Campaign of World War II, and Operation Thunderclap attacks included the following raids:
14/15 February 1945: The first major raid on Chemnitz used 717 RAF bombers, but due to cloud cover most bombs fell over open countryside.
2/3–5 March: USAAF bombers attacked the marshalling yards.
5 March: 705 RAF bombers attacked.
The city was occupied by Soviet troops on 8 May 1945.
The headquarters of the auto manufacturer Auto Union was based in Chemnitz from 1932 and its buildings were badly damaged. At the end of the war, the company's executives fled and relocated the company to Ingolstadt, Bavaria, where it evolved into Audi, now a brand within the Volkswagen group.
The World War II bombings left most of the city centre in ruins and post-war, the East German reconstruction included large low-rise (and later high-rise Plattenbau) housing. Some tourist sites were reconstructed during the East German era and after German reunification. Today over 50% of the city´s buildings date back to before 1950.
German Democratic Republic[edit]
Karl-Marx-Stadt in May 1980, during the German Democratic Republic – Soviet Union Friendship Festival
After the dissolution of the Länder (states) in the German Democratic Republic (GDR) in 1952, Chemnitz became seat of a district (German: Bezirk). On 10 May 1953, the city was renamed by decision of the East German government to German: Karl-Marx-Stadt (English: Karl Marx City) after Karl Marx, in recognition of its industrial heritage and the Karl Marx Year marking the 135th anniversary of his birth and the 70th anniversary of his death. GDR Prime Minister Otto Grotewohl said:
The people who live here do not look back, but look forward to a new and better future. They look at socialism. They look with love and devotion to the founder of the socialist doctrine, the greatest son of the German people, to Karl Marx. I hereby fulfill the government's decision. I carry out the solemn act of renaming the city and declare: From now on, this city bears the proud and mandatory name Karl-Marx-Stadt.
After the city centre was destroyed in World War II, the East German authorities attempted to rebuild it to symbolise the conceptions of urban development of a socialist city. The layout of the city centre at that time was rejected in favour of a new road network. However, the original plans were not completed. In addition, the rapid development of housing took priority over the preservation of old buildings. So in the 1960s and 1970s, both in the centre as well as the periphery, large areas were built in Plattenbau apartment-block style, for example Yorckstraße. The old buildings of the period, which still existed especially in the Kassberg, Chemnitz-Sonnenberg [de] and Chemnitz-Schloßchemnitz [de] quarters, were neglected and fell increasingly into dereliction.[citation needed]
After reunification[edit]
Chemnitz at night, October 2015
The restored market square of Chemnitz
On 23 April 1990, a referendum on the future name of the city was held: 76% of the voters voted for the old name "Chemnitz". On 1 June 1990, the city was officially renamed.
After the reunification of Germany on 3 October 1990, the city of Chemnitz faced several difficult tasks. Many inhabitants migrated to the former West Germany, and unemployment in the region increased sharply; in addition, Chemnitz did not have adequate shopping facilities, but this was increasingly demanded. Large shopping centers were constructed around the city's periphery in the early 1990s.
Chemnitz is the only major German city whose centre was re-planned after 1990, similar to the reconstruction of several other German cities in the immediate post-war years. Plans for the recovery of a compressed city centre around the historic town hall in 1991 led to an urban design competition. This was announced internationally by the city and carried out with the help of the partner city of Düsseldorf. The mooted project on an essentially unused area of the former city would be comparable in circumference to the Potsdamer Platz in Berlin.
Numerous internationally renowned architects such as Hans Kollhoff, Helmut Jahn and Christoph Ingenhoven provided designs for a new city centre. The mid-1990s began the development of the inner city brownfield around the town hall to a new town. In Chemnitz city, more than 66,000 square meters of retail space have emerged. With the construction of office and commercial buildings on the construction site "B3" at the Düsseldorf court, the last gap in 2010 was closed in the city centre image. The intensive development included demolition of partially historically valuable buildings from the period and was controversial. Between 1990 and 2007, more than 250 buildings were leveled.[citation needed]
In late August 2018, the city was the site of a series of protests that an estimated 8,000 right-wing and nationalist protestors and an estimated 1,500 left-wing counter-protesters attended, with violent clashes occurring between them, leading to injuries.
