Wikipedia

Plauen

Not to be confused with Plauen, a former town which is now a district of Dresden.
See also: E. O. Plauen

Plauen (German pronunciation: [ˈplaʊən];[3][4] Upper Sorbian: Pławno; Czech: Plavno) is, with a population of around 65,000, the fifth-largest city of Saxony, Germany after Leipzig, Dresden, Chemnitz and Zwickau, the second-largest city of the Vogtland after Gera, as well as the largest city in the Saxon Vogtland (Sächsisches Vogtland).

Plauen
Town
View over the city centre
Old and new city hall
Astronomical clock of the city hall
St John's Church
Elster Viaduct
Old market square
Coat of arms of Plauen
Coat of arms
Location of Plauen within Vogtlandkreis district
Czech RepublicBavariaThuringiaErzgebirgskreisZwickau (district)AdorfAuerbachBad BrambachBad ElsterBergenBösenbrunnEichigtEllefeldElsterbergFalkensteinGrünbachHeinsdorfergrundKlingenthalLengenfeldLimbachMarkneukirchenMühlentalMuldenhammerNetzschkauNeuensalzNeumarkNeustadtOelsnitzPausa-MühltroffPlauenPöhlReichenbach im VogtlandWeischlitzRodewischRosenbachSchöneckSteinbergTriebelTheumaTirpersdorfTreuenWerda
Plauen is located in Germany
Plauen
Plauen
Plauen is located in Saxony
Plauen
Plauen
Coordinates: 50°29′N 12°07′E / 50.483°N 12.117°E / 50.483; 12.117
CountryGermany
StateSaxony
DistrictVogtlandkreis
Subdivisions5 city boroughs with 38 parts
Government
 • Lord mayor (2021–28) Steffen Zenner[1] (CDU)
Area
 • Total
102.11 km2 (39.42 sq mi)
Elevation
412 m (1,352 ft)
Population
 (2022-12-31)[2]
 • Total
64,763
 • Density630/km2 (1,600/sq mi)
Time zoneUTC 01:00 (CET)
 • Summer (DST)UTC 02:00 (CEST)
Postal codes
08523;-5;-7;-9
Dialling codes03741
Vehicle registrationV, AE, OVL, PL, RC
Websitewww.plauen.de

The city lies on the upper reaches of the White Elster, a tributary of the Saale, in the Central Vogtlandian Hill Country. Plauen is the southwesternmost city of a string of cities sitting in the densely populated foreland of the Elster and Ore Mountains, stretching from Plauen in the southwest via Zwickau, Chemnitz and Freiberg to Dresden in the northeast. It is the seat of the Vogtland District. Plauen directly borders Greiz in Thuringia to the north, and it is also situated near the Saxon border with Bavaria (Franconia) and the Czech Republic (Bohemia).

Plauen and the surrounding Saxon Vogtland are known as the center of the German embroidery and lace industry, and the products of the region are protected under the label Plauener Spitze [de] ("Plauen Lace"). The Elster Viaduct (Elstertalbrücke), spanning the valley of the White Elster between Plauen and Pöhl, is the second-largest brick bridge in the world, after the Göltzsch Viaduct.

Although being a Saxon city, the regional Vogtlandian dialect spoken in Plauen is a (Saxon-influenced) East Franconian variant related to the dialects of neighbouring Franconia in Bavaria. The name of the city as well as the names of many of its boroughs are of Slavic origin.

History

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Plauen was founded by Polabian Slavs in the 12th century as "Plawe" and was passed to the Kingdom of Bohemia in 1327. The town was captured by the Archbishop of Magdeburg, Lippold von Bredow, in 1384. In 1466, it was passed to Albertine Saxony and later in 1569 to the Electorate of Saxony. Plauen became incorporated into the Kingdom of Saxony in 1806 during the Napoleonic Wars, and in 1871 it became part of the German Empire.

In the late-19th century, Plauen became a centre of textile manufacturing, specializing in Chemical lace, called Plauen lace. Around 1910, Plauen, as an industrial 'boomtown' of the region, reached its population peak (1910 census: 121,000, 1912: 128,000). Plauen's population, however, has shrunk dramatically since the Second World War (1939: 111,000 inhabitants).

In the 1930s, Plauen hosted the first chapter of the Nazi Party outside of Bavaria.

During the war, the Nazis operated a prison in the town,[5] and three subcamps of the Flossenbürg concentration camp. 500 women, mostly Polish, but also Russian, Italian, French, Yugoslavian and Croatian, were imprisoned and used as forced labour in the first two subcamps,[6][7] and 50 men from various countries were imprisoned in the third subcamp.[8] It was occupied by American troops on 16 April 1945 but was left to Red Army on 1 July 1945. On 15 December 1945, the city issued 7 semi-postal postage stamps of its own to raise money for reconstruction.

From 1945 onwards, Plauen fell into the Soviet occupation zone of Germany, which later became the German Democratic Republic (1949–1990). Plauen hosted a large Red Army occupation garrison and, in the last years of the GDR (DDR), an officer school of the Border Guards ("Grenztruppen der DDR"). The first mass demonstration against the communist regime in the GDR began in Plauen on 7 October 1989; this was the beginning of a series of mass demonstrations across the country and ultimately led to the re-unification of Germany in 1990.

The exposé Fast Food Nation gives special mention to Plauen as the first city of the GDR to have a McDonald's restaurant following the collapse of the Berlin Wall.

As part of Saxony's local government reform of July 1st 2008, Plauen lost its status as a district-free city and was integrated into the Vogtlandkreis district.

Jewish Community of Plauen

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https://www.plauen.de/Verwaltung-und-Stadtrat/Stadtinformationen/Wahlen/Landratswahl-am-03-07-2022/Gemeindehaus-mit-Synagoge.php?object=tx,3317.3.1&ModID=6&FID=3317.2359.1&NavID=3317.2051&La=1&kuo=1

The Jewish community of Plauen dates back to the early 14th century[9] and numbered several hundred between the two world wars. A reform-Jewish, bauhaus-style synagogue was opened in 1930, only to be demolished in 1938 during the Krystallnacht.

Plauen becoming a Nazi stronghold, attacks against the Jewish community were frequent in the 1920s.[10] Physically labelled Jews are documented from 1932.[11] Most of the Jewish population either left or was killed during The Holocaust. Today, no Jewish community exists in Plauen. The city of Plauen maintains a few sites in the city to commemorate past Jewish life in Plauen, such as the Jewish Cemetery.

A 3D-model of the Jewish Synagogue of Plauen was designed by Prof. Marc Grellert and his team from the TU Darmstadt as a part of his project to 3D-design German synagogues that were demolished before, during and after WW2. https://www.architektur.tu-darmstadt.de/fachbereich/aktuelles_arch/architektur_news_details_133952.de.jsp

Politics

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The first freely elected mayor after German reunification was Rolf Magerkord of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), who served from 1990 to 2000. The mayor was originally chosen by the city council, but since 1994 has been directly elected. Ralf Oberdorfer of the Free Democratic Party (FDP) was mayor between 2000 and 2021. The most recent mayoral election was held in two rounds on 13 June and 4 July 2021, in which Steffen Zenner (CDU) was elected.[1]

Candidate Party First round Second round
Votes % Votes %
Steffen Zenner Christian Democratic Union 8,390 33.5 8,768 41.1
Silvia Queck-Händel Independent 5,881 23.5 6,477 30.4
Lars Buchmann Independent 4,197 16.8 4,398 20.6
Ingo Eckardt Independent 2,077 8.3 Withdrew
Thomas Kaden Free Saxons 1,865 7.5 1,107 5.2
Thomas Haubenreißer Free Democratic Party 1,635 6.5 Withdrew
Andreas Ernstberger Independent 970 3.9 574 2.7
Valid votes 25,015 99.6 21,324 99.8
Invalid votes 113 0.4 53 0.2
Total 25,128 100.0 21,377 100.0
Electorate/voter turnout 51,961 48.4 51,926 41.2
Source: City of Plauen

The most recent city council election was held on 9 June 2024, and the results were as follows:

Party Votes % /- Seats /-
Alternative for Germany (AfD) 24,718 28.1   8.1 12   3
Christian Democratic Union (CDU) 22,638 25.8   2.1 11   0
Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW) 11,730 13.4 New 5 New
Social Democratic Party (SPD) 8,155 9.3   4.7 4   2
Free Democratic Party (FDP) 4,356 5.0   4.9 2   2
The Left (Die Linke) 4,333 4.9   9.7 2   4
Initiative Plauen (WV) 4,179 4.8   0.6 2   0
Voter Initiative Plauener List (PL) 4,123 4.7 New 2 New
Alliance 90/The Greens (Grüne) 3,658 4.2   4.4 2   1
Valid votes 87,890 100.0
Total ballots 30,855 100.0 42 ±0
Electorate/voter turnout 50,803 60.7   2.5
Source: City of Plauen

Industry and infrastructure

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Plauen station

Plauen (Vogtland) Oberer Bahnhof lies on the Leipzig–Hof line. The section of this line through Plauen is part of the Saxon-Franconian trunk line running between Nürnberg, Hof, Plauen, Zwickau, Chemnitz and Dresden. The city had another station, Plauen (Vogtland) Unterer station (now defunct), on the Elster Valley Railway. There is a plan to rename the Oberer (Upper) station into Plauen Hauptbahnhof (Main Station).

Vogtlandbahn (Vogtland Railway), a regional train company, operates services from Plauen to Hof, Werdau, Chemnitz, Zwickau, Falkenstein and Adorf within Germany and Cheb in the Czech Republic. At these stations, there are other Vogtlandbahn services to Munich, Regensburg, Marktredwitz, Dresden and Leipzig within Germany and Karlovy Vary and Prague in the Czech Republic. A Vogtlandbahn Express Bus service runs between Plauen and Berlin Schönefeld Airport and Zoological Garden.

The Plauen Straßenbahn is a tram system with 6 lines connecting the center of city, the central Plauen-Tunnel stop, to the surrounding areas and the upper railway station (Oberer Bahnhof).

Main sights

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Lace curtain factory, 1980
  • Embroidery Machine Museum
  • Museum Plauener Spitze
  • Galerie e.O. plauen
  • Old City Hall
  • Elster Viaduct – second largest brick bridge in the world
  • Friedensbrücke – largest stone arch bridge in the world
  • Johanniskirche
  • Old Elster Viaduct – oldest bridge in Saxony
  • Malzhaus

Education and science

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Plauen is home to a University of Applied Sciences with about 300 students and a DIPLOMA Fachhochschule.

Twin towns – sister cities

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See also: List of twin towns and sister cities in Germany

Plauen is twinned with:[12]

The urban district of Jößnitz is twinned with Heilsbronn, Germany.[13]

Notable people

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Christoph Pezel 1598
 
E. O. Plauen 1943
 
Horst Dohlus 1986

Honorary citizens

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  •  
    Plauen downtown
  •  
    Old market square
  •  
    Old city hall
  •  
    Church of St. Mark
  •  
    Vogtlandtheater
  •  
    Commemorative plaque in Plauen for the mass demonstration of 1989

References

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  1. ^ a b Gewählte Bürgermeisterinnen und Bürgermeister im Freistaat Sachsen, Stand: 17. Juli 2022, Statistisches Landesamt des Freistaates Sachsen.
  2. ^ "Einwohnerzahlen nach Gemeinden als Excel-Arbeitsmappe" (XLS) (in German). Statistisches Landesamt des Freistaates Sachsen. 2024.
  3. ^ Krech, Eva-Maria; Stock, Eberhard; Hirschfeld, Ursula; Anders, Lutz Christian (2009). Deutsches Aussprachewörterbuch (in German). Berlin: Walter de Gruyter. p. 828. ISBN 978-3-11-018202-6.
  4. ^ Mangold, Max (2005). Das Aussprachewörterbuch (in German) (6th ed.). Mannheim: Dudenverlag. p. 635. ISBN 9783411040667.
  5. ^ "Untersuchungshaftanstalt Plauen". Bundesarchiv.de (in German). Retrieved 3 April 2021.
  6. ^ "Plauen (Industriewerke AG) Subcamp". KZ-Gedenkstätte Flossenbürg. Retrieved 3 April 2021.
  7. ^ "Plauen (Cotton Mill) Subcamp". KZ-Gedenkstätte Flossenbürg. Retrieved 3 April 2021.
  8. ^ "Plauen (Dr. Th. Horn) Subcamp". KZ-Gedenkstätte Flossenbürg. Retrieved 3 April 2021.
  9. ^ Centre for Holocaust Education. Life in Plauen Photo Cards. https://holocausteducation.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/Life-in-Plauen-Photo-cards.pdf
  10. ^ "Archive - saxony - Plauen".
  11. ^ "⁨Police Double Guard as Nazis Attacks on Merchants Continue ⁩ | ⁨The American Jewish World⁩ | 12 אוגוסט 1932 | אוסף העיתונות | הספרייה הלאומית".
  12. ^ "Städtepartnerschaften". plauen.de (in German). Plauen. Archived from the original on 3 November 2019. Retrieved 11 March 2021.
  13. ^ "Städtepartnerschaften". heilsbronn.de (in German). Heilsbronn. Retrieved 11 March 2021.
  14. ^ Miller, Michael (2017). Gauleiter Volume 2. California: R James Bender Publishing. p. 341. ISBN 978-1-932970-32-6.
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