Torgau: Difference between revisions
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{{short description|Town in Saxony, Germany}} |
{{short description|Town in Saxony, Germany}} |
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{{Multiple issues| |
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{{about||the racehorse|Torgau (horse)|the WWII-era prisoner of war camp|Stalag IV-D|Soviet internment camps|NKVD special camps in Germany 1945–49}} |
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{{ |
{{More citations needed|date=October 2021}} |
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{{Expand German|topic=geo|Torgau|date=September 2012}} |
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}} |
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{{for multi|the racehorse|Torgau (horse)|the World War II-era prisoner of war camp|Stalag IV-D|Soviet internment camps|NKVD special camps in Germany 1945–49}} |
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{{Use mdy dates|date=April 2012}} |
{{Use mdy dates|date=April 2012}} |
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{{Infobox German location |
{{Infobox German location |
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|type = Stadt |
|type = Stadt |
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|image_photo = SchlossHartenfels.JPG |
|image_photo = SchlossHartenfels.JPG |
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|image_caption = Hartenfels Castle |
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|image_coa = Torgauer Wappen.svg |
|image_coa = Torgauer Wappen.svg |
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|coordinates = {{coord|51|33|37|N|13|0|20|E|format=dms|display=inline,title}} |
|coordinates = {{coord|51|33|37|N|13|0|20|E|format=dms|display=inline,title}} |
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Line 14: | Line 20: | ||
|elevation = 78 |
|elevation = 78 |
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|area = 102.53 |
|area = 102.53 |
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|population = 20887 |
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|Stand = 2011-12-31 |
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|postal_code = 04860 |
|postal_code = 04860 |
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|PLZ-alt = 7290 |
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|area_code = 03421 |
|area_code = 03421 |
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|licence = TDO, DZ, EB, OZ, TG, TO |
|licence = TDO, DZ, EB, OZ, TG, TO |
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|Gemeindeschlüssel = 14730310 |
|Gemeindeschlüssel = 14730310 |
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|divisions = |
|divisions = |
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|website = {{url|http://www.torgau.eu/}} |
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|mayor = Henrik Simon<ref>[https://wahlen.sachsen.de/download/Buergermeister/statistik-sachsen_wahlen_buergermeister_uebersicht_aktuell.xlsx Gewählte Bürgermeisterinnen und Bürgermeister im Freistaat Sachsen, Stand: 17. Juli 2022], Statistisches Landesamt des Freistaates Sachsen.</ref> |
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|website = [http://www.torgau.de/ www.torgau.de] |
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|leader_term = 2022–29 |
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|mayor = Romina Barth |
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|party = |
|party = |
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}} |
}} |
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'''Torgau''' is a town on the banks of the [[Elbe]] in northwestern [[Saxony]], Germany. It is the capital of the district [[Nordsachsen]]. |
'''Torgau''' ({{IPA|de|ˈtɔʁɡaʊ̯|lang|De-Torgau.ogg}}) is a town on the banks of the [[Elbe]] in northwestern [[Saxony]], Germany. It is the capital of the district [[Nordsachsen]]. |
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Outside Germany, the town is best known as |
Outside Germany, the town is best known as where on 25 April 1945, the [[United States Army|United States]] and [[Red Army|Soviet]] Armies [[line of contact|first met]] near the end of [[World War II]]. |
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== |
==History== |
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{{Unreferenced section|date=October 2021}} |
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Sights include the historic town centre, restored since [[German reunification]], a brewery museum, the monument for the meeting of the Russian and American troops on the [[Elbe]] and a Russian military cemetery. The early Renaissance Hartenfels Castle dominates the town. The chapel was built in 1544 (designed by Nickel Gromann) and combines late [[Gothic architecture|Gothic]] with early [[Renaissance]] elements. It was consecrated by [[Martin Luther]] on 5 October 1544. [[Brown bear]]s are still kept in the moat. |
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The settlement goes back to a [[Slavs|Slavonic]] settlement named Turguo in the shire of Neletici. There was presumably a wooden Slavonic castle located on the site of the present-day Hartenfels castle. |
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In the 10th century it fell under the rule of the [[Holy Roman Empire]], and a stone castle was built, around which the settlement congregated. A market is attested in 1119. The town was located on the important trade route, the [[Via Regia|Via Regia Lusatiae inferioris]], between [[Leipzig]] and [[Frankfurt (Oder)|Frankfurt an der Oder]] that crossed the river Elbe at a ford east of Torgau. |
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== History == |
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The settlement goes back to a [[Slavs|Slavonic]] settlement named Turguo in the shire of Neletici. There was presumably a wooden Slavonic castle located on the site of the present-day Hartenstein castle. In the 10th century it fell under the rule of the [[Holy Roman Empire|Holy Roman Emperors]], and a stone castle was built, round which the settlement congregated. A market is attested in 1119. The town was located on the important trade-road, the [[Via Regia|via regia Lusatiae inferioris]], between [[Leipzig]] and [[Frankfurt (Oder)|Frankfurt an der Oder]] that crossed the river Elbe at a ford east of Torgau. |
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Torgau belonged to the duchy of [[Saxe-Wittenberg]], which in 1356 was raised to be the [[Electorate of Saxony]]. After the last [[Ascanian]] duke died without issue in 1423, the Electorate passed to the [[House of Wettin|Wettin dynasty]], which took up its residence at Torgau |
Torgau belonged to the duchy of [[Saxe-Wittenberg]], which in 1356 was raised to be the [[Electorate of Saxony]]. After the last [[Ascanian]] duke died without issue in 1423, the Electorate passed to the [[House of Wettin|Wettin dynasty]], which took up its residence at Torgau. |
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Following the [[Treaty of Leipzig]] partition of the Wettin inheritance on 26 August 1485, Torgau fell to the [[Ernestine and Albertine Wettins|Ernestine]] line. [[Frederick III, Elector of Saxony]] and his successors had Hartenfels Castle at Torgau built by architect [[Conrad Pflüger]] and his successor [[Konrad Krebs]]. |
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During the [[Protestant Reformation|Reformation]], the town council [[Suppression of Monasteries|closed all cloisters]] in 1523. Citizens of Torgau [[Iconoclasm|destroyed the paintings and statues of saints]] in the churches and stormed the [[Franciscan]] [[monastery]]. After Luther had driven [[Andreas Karlstadt]] (Bodenstein) from Saxony in 1524, he enforced the expulsion of Karlstadt's followers in Torgau in 1529. [[Katharina von Bora]], the wife of [[Martin Luther]], died in Torgau and is buried there in St. Marien, Torgau. The Torgauer Artikel, a draft of the [[Augsburg Confession]] was composed by Luther, [[Philipp Melanchthon|Melanchthon]], Bugenhagen and Jonas in the electoral superindenture in 1530 (Wintergrün). The Lutheran [[Formula of Concord]] was written in Torgau in 1576. |
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The Ernestine court resided mainly in Torgau and in [[Weimar]]. From 1525 onward, Torgau became the sole residence. Hartenfels Castle is the largest completely preserved castle of the early Renaissance in Germany. After the [[Battle of Mühlberg]] in 1547, Torgau fell to the Albertine line. |
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The first German opera, [[Heinrich Schütz]]'s ''Dafne'', was presented at the court in Torgau, 1627. |
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During the [[Protestant Reformation|Reformation]], the town council [[Suppression of Monasteries|closed all cloisters]] in 1523. Citizens of Torgau [[Iconoclasm|destroyed paintings and statues of saints]] in the churches and stormed the [[Franciscan]] [[monastery]]. |
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In the [[Battle of Torgau]], on 3 November 1760, a Prussian army under the command of King [[Friedrich the Great]] defeated a larger Austrian army under the command of Field Marshal [[Leopold Josef Graf Daun]], a major battle of the [[Seven Years' War]]. After the [[Congress of Vienna]], it was passed to [[Prussia]] in 1815. |
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After [[Martin Luther]] had driven [[Andreas Karlstadt]] from Saxony in 1524, he enforced the expulsion of Karlstadt's followers from Torgau in 1529. [[Katharina von Bora]], the widow of Luther, died in Torgau and is buried there in the Marienkirche. The court chapel, constructed in 1543-44 by [[Nikolaus Gromann]], was consecrated by Luther on 5 October 1544; it is thus the second oldest newly constructed Protestant church in the world, after the court chapel of [[Neuburg Castle (Bavaria)|Neuburg Castle]] which was consecrated in 1543. |
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=== World War II === |
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The town is the place where during the Second World War, [[United States Army]] forces coming from the west met forces of the [[Soviet Union]] coming from the east during the invasion of Germany on 25 April 1945, which is now remembered as "[[Elbe Day]]". Units of the American [[U.S. First Army|First Army]] and the Soviet [[First Ukrainian Front]] met on the bridge at Torgau, and at Lorenzkirch (near [[Strehla]]), 20 miles to the south. The unit commanders met the following day at Torgau for an official handshake. This marked the beginning of the [[line of contact]] between Soviet and American forces, but not the finalized occupation zones. In fact the area surrounding Torgau initially occupied by U.S. forces was later, in July 1945, given over to Soviet forces in compliance with the [[Yalta agreement]]. After the war, in 1949, a film called the [[Encounter at the Elbe]] was released from [[Mosfilm]] about this meeting of the two armies. |
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The Torgauer Artikel, a draft of the [[Augsburg Confession]], was composed by Luther, [[Philipp Melanchthon|Melanchthon]], Bugenhagen and Jonas in the electoral superindenture in 1530 (Wintergrün). The Lutheran [[Formula of Concord]] was written in Torgau in 1576. |
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Torgau was one of the prisons where [[Reinhold Eggers]] spent his post war imprisonment after being sentenced by the Soviets. Eggers had been the Security Officer at [[Oflag IV-C]] during the war, [[Colditz Castle]]. |
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The first German opera, [[Heinrich Schütz]]'s ''Dafne'', was presented at the court in Torgau in 1627. |
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=== Post–World War II === |
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In the [[Battle of Torgau]], fought on 3 November 1760, a Prussian army under the command of King [[Friedrich the Great]] defeated a larger Austrian army under the command of Field Marshal [[Leopold Josef Graf Daun]], a major battle of the [[Seven Years' War]]. After the [[Congress of Vienna]], it was passed to [[Prussia]] in 1815. |
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===World War II=== |
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[[File:ElbeDay1945 (NARA ww2-121).jpg|thumb|upright=1.35|In an arranged photo commemorating the meeting of the Soviet and American armies, 2nd Lt. William Robertson (U.S. Army) and Lt. Alexander Silvashko (Red Army) stand facing one another with hands clasped and arms around each other's shoulders. In the background are two flags and a poster.]] |
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The town is where, during World War II, the [[United States Army]] from the west and the [[Red Army]] from the east met during the invasion of Germany on 25 April 1945, remembered as "[[Elbe Day]]".{{citation needed|date=October 2021}} |
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Units of the [[U.S. First Army]] and the Soviet [[First Ukrainian Front]] met on the bridge at Torgau, and at Lorenzkirch (near [[Strehla]]), 20 miles to the south. The unit commanders met the following day at Torgau for an official handshake. This marked the beginning of the [[line of contact]] between Soviet and American forces, but not the finalized occupation zones. In fact, the area surrounding Torgau, initially occupied by U.S. forces, was given over to Soviet forces in compliance with the [[Yalta Agreement]].{{citation needed|date=October 2021}} |
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After the war, in 1949, the film ''[[Encounter at the Elbe]]'' was released by [[Mosfilm]] about the meeting of both armies.{{citation needed|date=October 2021}} |
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Torgau is home to one of the prisons in which [[Reinhold Eggers]] spent his postwar imprisonment after he had been sentenced by the Soviets. He had been the security officer at [[Oflag IV-C]] during the war in [[Colditz Castle]].{{citation needed|date=October 2021}} |
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===Post–World War II=== |
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{{Main|NKVD special camps in Germany 1945–49}} |
{{Main|NKVD special camps in Germany 1945–49}} |
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After the war, the Soviet secret police agency [[NKVD]] established its Special Camps Nos. 8 and 10 in Fort Zinna and in the nearby Seydlitz barracks. Germans and some Soviet citizens were interned here or served sentences passed by the Soviet military tribunals. The East German [[Volkspolizei|People's Police]] used the Fort Zinna prison from 1950 to 1990 as a penitentiary. In the 1950s it primarily housed political prisoners. |
After the war, the Soviet secret police agency [[NKVD]] established its Special Camps Nos. 8 and 10 in Fort Zinna and in the nearby Seydlitz barracks. Germans and some Soviet citizens were interned here or served sentences passed by the Soviet military tribunals. The East German [[Volkspolizei|People's Police]] used the Fort Zinna prison from 1950 to 1990 as a penitentiary. In the 1950s, it primarily housed political prisoners. |
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The Torgau Documentation and Information Center (DIZ), founded in 1991 and now under the administration of the Saxon Memorial Foundation for the commemoration of the victims of political despotism, researches and presents the history of the Torgau prisons in the permanent exhibition "Traces of Injustice".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.69th-infantry-division.com/torgauprison.html|title=Torgau at the Center of the Military Penal System|website=www.69th-infantry-division.com}}</ref> |
The Torgau Documentation and Information Center (DIZ), <ref>[https://en.stsg.de/cms/node/876 Documentation and Information Centre (DIZ) Torgau]</ref> founded in 1991 and now under the administration of the Saxon Memorial Foundation for the commemoration of the victims of political despotism, researches and presents the history of the Torgau prisons in the permanent exhibition "Traces of Injustice".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.69th-infantry-division.com/torgauprison.html|title=Torgau at the Center of the Military Penal System|website=www.69th-infantry-division.com}}</ref> Recent commentary distinguishes the camps run by the Nazis and the Soviets. <ref>{{Cite web |last=Furstenau |first=Marcel |date=8 March 2020 |title=Falsely accused: Germany's Soviet Special Camps |url=https://www.dw.com/en/germany-postwar-soviet-special-camps/a-54759064 |website=DW Deutsche Welle}}</ref> |
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After World War II, Torgau was initially the district |
After World War II, Torgau was initially the district center of the state of [[Saxony Anhalt]] in [[East Germany]]. After the dissolution of the states of East Germany in 1952, it became part of [[Bezirk Leipzig]]. In 1990, after the [[Unification of Germany]], it became part of the [[Leipzig (region)|Leipzig]] region of the state of [[Saxony]]. In 2008 it became the center of the [[Nordsachsen]] district.{{citation needed|date=October 2021}} |
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==Geography== |
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==Population development== |
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The town Torgau consists of Torgau proper and the following ''Ortschaften,'' or municipal divisions:<ref name=Hauptsatzung>[http://www.torgau.eu/pdf/Stadtrecht/Hauptsatzung_13022019.pdf Hauptsatzung der Stadt Torgau], February 2019.</ref> |
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{{div col|colwidth=15em}} |
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*Beckwitz |
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*[[Graditz]] |
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*Loßwig |
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*Mehderitzsch |
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*Melpitz |
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*Staupitz |
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*Weßnig |
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*[[Zinna]] |
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{{div col end}} |
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Beckwitz, Loßwig, Mehderitzsch, Staupitz and Weßnig were part of the former municipality [[Pflückuff]], which was absorbed into Torgau on 1 January 2009.<ref>{{HOV|Pflückuff_(4)}}</ref> |
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==Population development== |
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{| class="wikitable" |
{| class="wikitable" |
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| valign="top" width="25%" | |
| valign="top" width="25%" | |
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Line 84: | Line 114: | ||
: <small>Data source from 1999: Statistical office Saxony</small> |
: <small>Data source from 1999: Statistical office Saxony</small> |
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<small><sup>1</sup> including barracks<br /> |
<small><sup>1</sup> including barracks<br /> |
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<sup>2</sup> Incorporation Pflückuff</small> |
<sup>2</sup> Incorporation [[Pflückuff]]</small> |
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== |
==Sights== |
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Sights include the historic town center, restored since [[German reunification]], a brewery museum, the monument for the meeting of the Russian and American troops on the [[Elbe]], and a Russian military cemetery. |
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<gallery> |
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File:Torgau Schloß Hartenfels.jpg| Schloss Hartenfels (Hartenfels castle) |
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The early Renaissance Hartenfels Castle dominates the town. The chapel was built in 1544 (designed by Nickel Gromann) and combines late [[Gothic architecture|Gothic]] with early [[Renaissance]] elements. It was consecrated by [[Martin Luther]] on 5 October 1544. [[Brown bear]]s are still kept in the moat. |
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File:Torgau Rathaus.jpg | Torgau town hall |
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File:Torgau Denkmal der Begegnung en-de1.jpg | A commemorative plaque now stands where the "East Meets West" moment took place in Torgau on [[Elbe Day]], 1945 |
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==Twin towns – sister cities== |
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File:Torgau_Grosser_Teich.jpg|Lake Torgau |
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{{See also|List of twin towns and sister cities in Germany}} |
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File:Torgau-.JPG | Torgau from the north-west |
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Torgau is [[Sister city|twinned]] with:<ref>{{cite web |title=Städtepartnerschaften|url=http://www.torgau.eu/p/dt2.asp?artikel_id=&liste=262&tmpl_typ=Liste&lp=1214&L=13&area=101|website=torgau.eu|publisher=Torgau|language=de|access-date=2021-03-17}}</ref> |
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File:Torgau-1650-Merian.jpg|Engraving from Merian from around 1650 |
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*{{flagicon|FIN}} [[Hämeenkyrö]], Finland |
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</gallery> |
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*{{flagicon|GER}} [[Sindelfingen]], Germany |
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*{{flagicon|CZE}} [[Znojmo]], Czech Republic |
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==Notable people== |
==Notable people== |
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[[File:Georg von Siemens.jpg|thumb|150px|Georg von Siemens, 1895]] |
[[File:Georg von Siemens.jpg|thumb|150px|Georg von Siemens, 1895]] |
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* |
*[[Frederick III, Elector of Saxony]] (1463–1525) Elector of Saxony, protected [[Martin Luther]] |
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* |
*[[Nicolaus von Amsdorf]] (1483–1565), Lutheran theologian and early Protestant reformer |
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* |
*[[Leonhardt Schröter]] (c.1532 – c.1601), Renaissance choirmaster, teacher and composer |
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* |
*[[Andreas Schato]] (1539–1603), physician, mathematician, astronomer and scientist |
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* |
*[[Johann Philipp, Duke of Saxe-Altenburg]] (1597–1639), duke of [[Saxe-Altenburg]] |
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* |
*[[Dorothea of Saxe-Altenburg]] (1601–1675), princess from the [[House of Wettin]] |
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* |
*[[Eduard Oscar Schmidt]] (1823–1886), zoologist and phycologist |
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* |
*[[Georg von Siemens]] (1839–1901), founding director of [[Deutsche Bank]] |
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* |
*[[Leonhard Koeppe]] (1884–1969), ophthalmologist |
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*[[Wolf Roth]] (born 1944), actor |
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* [[Wolf Roth]] (born 1944) a German theatre and television actor <ref> [https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0745051/ IMDb Database] retrieved 21 September 2019 </ref> |
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* |
*[[Wolfgang Klotz]] (born 1951), gymnast |
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* |
*[[Olaf Marschall]] (born 1966), footballer |
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* |
*[[Kai Kazmirek]] (born 1991), decathlon athlete |
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{{clear}} |
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== |
==Gallery== |
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<gallery> |
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{{reflist}} |
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Torgau Schloß Hartenfels.jpg|Hartenfels Castle |
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Torgau Rathaus.jpg|Town hall |
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Torgau Grosser Teich.jpg|Lake Torgau |
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Torgau-.JPG|Torgau from the north-west |
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Torgau-1650-Merian.jpg|Engraving from [[Matthäus Merian]] from around 1650 |
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Torgau Denkmal der Begegnung en-de1.jpg|A commemorative plaque now stands where the "East Meets West" moment took place in Torgau on [[Elbe Day]], 1945 |
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</gallery> |
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==References== |
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{{reflist}} |
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== |
==External links== |
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{{Wikivoyage|Torgau}} |
{{Wikivoyage|Torgau}} |
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{{commons category}} |
{{commons category}} |
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*{{cite EB1911|wstitle=Torgau|volume=27}} |
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* {{Official website|http://www.torgau.de}} |
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* |
*{{Official website|http://www.torgau.eu/}} |
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* |
*{{in lang|ru}} [http://www.torgau.ru Torgau], an unofficial site |
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*http://www.torgau-bilder.de website |
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=== Multimedia === |
=== Multimedia === |
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{{Authority control}} |
{{Authority control}} |
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[[Category:Nordsachsen]] |
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[[Category:Province of Saxony]] |
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[[Category:Bezirk Leipzig]] |
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[[Category:Torgau| ]] |
[[Category:Torgau| ]] |
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[[Category:Nordsachsen]] |
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[[Category:Populated riverside places in Germany]] |
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[[Category:Populated places on the Elbe]] |
Latest revision as of 13:44, 20 August 2024
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|
Torgau | |
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Location of Torgau within Nordsachsen district | |
Coordinates: 51°33′37″N 13°0′20″E / 51.56028°N 13.00556°E | |
Land | Deutschland |
State | Saxony |
District | Nordsachsen |
Municipal assoc. | Torgau |
Regierung | |
• Mayor (2022–29) | Henrik Simon[1] |
Area | |
• Total | 102.53 km2 (39.59 sq mi) |
Elevation | 78 m (256 ft) |
Population (2022-12-31)[2] | |
• Total | 19,802 |
• Density | 190/km2 (500/sq mi) |
Time zone | UTC+01:00 (CET) |
• Summer (DST) | UTC+02:00 (CEST) |
Postal codes | 04860 |
Dialling codes | 03421 |
Vehicle registration | TDO, DZ, EB, OZ, TG, TO |
Website | www |
Torgau (German: [ˈtɔʁɡaʊ̯] ) is a town on the banks of the Elbe in northwestern Saxony, Germany. It is the capital of the district Nordsachsen.
Outside Germany, the town is best known as where on 25 April 1945, the United States and Soviet Armies first met near the end of World War II.
History
[edit]The settlement goes back to a Slavonic settlement named Turguo in the shire of Neletici. There was presumably a wooden Slavonic castle located on the site of the present-day Hartenfels castle.
In the 10th century it fell under the rule of the Holy Roman Empire, and a stone castle was built, around which the settlement congregated. A market is attested in 1119. The town was located on the important trade route, the Via Regia Lusatiae inferioris, between Leipzig and Frankfurt an der Oder that crossed the river Elbe at a ford east of Torgau.
Torgau belonged to the duchy of Saxe-Wittenberg, which in 1356 was raised to be the Electorate of Saxony. After the last Ascanian duke died without issue in 1423, the Electorate passed to the Wettin dynasty, which took up its residence at Torgau.
Following the Treaty of Leipzig partition of the Wettin inheritance on 26 August 1485, Torgau fell to the Ernestine line. Frederick III, Elector of Saxony and his successors had Hartenfels Castle at Torgau built by architect Conrad Pflüger and his successor Konrad Krebs.
The Ernestine court resided mainly in Torgau and in Weimar. From 1525 onward, Torgau became the sole residence. Hartenfels Castle is the largest completely preserved castle of the early Renaissance in Germany. After the Battle of Mühlberg in 1547, Torgau fell to the Albertine line.
During the Reformation, the town council closed all cloisters in 1523. Citizens of Torgau destroyed paintings and statues of saints in the churches and stormed the Franciscan monastery.
After Martin Luther had driven Andreas Karlstadt from Saxony in 1524, he enforced the expulsion of Karlstadt's followers from Torgau in 1529. Katharina von Bora, the widow of Luther, died in Torgau and is buried there in the Marienkirche. The court chapel, constructed in 1543-44 by Nikolaus Gromann, was consecrated by Luther on 5 October 1544; it is thus the second oldest newly constructed Protestant church in the world, after the court chapel of Neuburg Castle which was consecrated in 1543.
The Torgauer Artikel, a draft of the Augsburg Confession, was composed by Luther, Melanchthon, Bugenhagen and Jonas in the electoral superindenture in 1530 (Wintergrün). The Lutheran Formula of Concord was written in Torgau in 1576.
The first German opera, Heinrich Schütz's Dafne, was presented at the court in Torgau in 1627.
In the Battle of Torgau, fought on 3 November 1760, a Prussian army under the command of King Friedrich the Great defeated a larger Austrian army under the command of Field Marshal Leopold Josef Graf Daun, a major battle of the Seven Years' War. After the Congress of Vienna, it was passed to Prussia in 1815.
World War II
[edit]The town is where, during World War II, the United States Army from the west and the Red Army from the east met during the invasion of Germany on 25 April 1945, remembered as "Elbe Day".[citation needed]
Units of the U.S. First Army and the Soviet First Ukrainian Front met on the bridge at Torgau, and at Lorenzkirch (near Strehla), 20 miles to the south. The unit commanders met the following day at Torgau for an official handshake. This marked the beginning of the line of contact between Soviet and American forces, but not the finalized occupation zones. In fact, the area surrounding Torgau, initially occupied by U.S. forces, was given over to Soviet forces in compliance with the Yalta Agreement.[citation needed]
After the war, in 1949, the film Encounter at the Elbe was released by Mosfilm about the meeting of both armies.[citation needed]
Torgau is home to one of the prisons in which Reinhold Eggers spent his postwar imprisonment after he had been sentenced by the Soviets. He had been the security officer at Oflag IV-C during the war in Colditz Castle.[citation needed]
Post–World War II
[edit]After the war, the Soviet secret police agency NKVD established its Special Camps Nos. 8 and 10 in Fort Zinna and in the nearby Seydlitz barracks. Germans and some Soviet citizens were interned here or served sentences passed by the Soviet military tribunals. The East German People's Police used the Fort Zinna prison from 1950 to 1990 as a penitentiary. In the 1950s, it primarily housed political prisoners.
The Torgau Documentation and Information Center (DIZ), [3] founded in 1991 and now under the administration of the Saxon Memorial Foundation for the commemoration of the victims of political despotism, researches and presents the history of the Torgau prisons in the permanent exhibition "Traces of Injustice".[4] Recent commentary distinguishes the camps run by the Nazis and the Soviets. [5]
After World War II, Torgau was initially the district center of the state of Saxony Anhalt in East Germany. After the dissolution of the states of East Germany in 1952, it became part of Bezirk Leipzig. In 1990, after the Unification of Germany, it became part of the Leipzig region of the state of Saxony. In 2008 it became the center of the Nordsachsen district.[citation needed]
Geography
[edit]The town Torgau consists of Torgau proper and the following Ortschaften, or municipal divisions:[6]
Beckwitz, Loßwig, Mehderitzsch, Staupitz and Weßnig were part of the former municipality Pflückuff, which was absorbed into Torgau on 1 January 2009.[7]
Population development
[edit]
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- Data source from 1999: Statistical office Saxony
1 including barracks
2 Incorporation Pflückuff
Sights
[edit]Sights include the historic town center, restored since German reunification, a brewery museum, the monument for the meeting of the Russian and American troops on the Elbe, and a Russian military cemetery.
The early Renaissance Hartenfels Castle dominates the town. The chapel was built in 1544 (designed by Nickel Gromann) and combines late Gothic with early Renaissance elements. It was consecrated by Martin Luther on 5 October 1544. Brown bears are still kept in the moat.
Twin towns – sister cities
[edit]- Hämeenkyrö, Finland
- Sindelfingen, Germany
- Znojmo, Czech Republic
Notable people
[edit]- Frederick III, Elector of Saxony (1463–1525) Elector of Saxony, protected Martin Luther
- Nicolaus von Amsdorf (1483–1565), Lutheran theologian and early Protestant reformer
- Leonhardt Schröter (c.1532 – c.1601), Renaissance choirmaster, teacher and composer
- Andreas Schato (1539–1603), physician, mathematician, astronomer and scientist
- Johann Philipp, Duke of Saxe-Altenburg (1597–1639), duke of Saxe-Altenburg
- Dorothea of Saxe-Altenburg (1601–1675), princess from the House of Wettin
- Eduard Oscar Schmidt (1823–1886), zoologist and phycologist
- Georg von Siemens (1839–1901), founding director of Deutsche Bank
- Leonhard Koeppe (1884–1969), ophthalmologist
- Wolf Roth (born 1944), actor
- Wolfgang Klotz (born 1951), gymnast
- Olaf Marschall (born 1966), footballer
- Kai Kazmirek (born 1991), decathlon athlete
Gallery
[edit]-
Hartenfels Castle
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Town hall
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Lake Torgau
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Torgau from the north-west
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Engraving from Matthäus Merian from around 1650
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A commemorative plaque now stands where the "East Meets West" moment took place in Torgau on Elbe Day, 1945
References
[edit]- ^ Gewählte Bürgermeisterinnen und Bürgermeister im Freistaat Sachsen, Stand: 17. Juli 2022, Statistisches Landesamt des Freistaates Sachsen.
- ^ "Einwohnerzahlen nach Gemeinden als Excel-Arbeitsmappe" (XLS) (in German). Statistisches Landesamt des Freistaates Sachsen. 2024.
- ^ Documentation and Information Centre (DIZ) Torgau
- ^ "Torgau at the Center of the Military Penal System". www.69th-infantry-division.com.
- ^ Furstenau, Marcel (March 8, 2020). "Falsely accused: Germany's Soviet Special Camps". DW Deutsche Welle.
- ^ Hauptsatzung der Stadt Torgau, February 2019.
- ^ Torgau in the Digital Historic Index of Places in Saxony (Digitales Historisches Ortsverzeichnis von Sachsen)
- ^ "Städtepartnerschaften". torgau.eu (in German). Torgau. Retrieved March 17, 2021.
External links
[edit]- Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 27 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
- Official website
- (in Russian) Torgau, an unofficial site
- http://www.torgau-bilder.de website
Multimedia
[edit]- CBC Radio reports on the Russian and American meeting at Torgau on May 1, 1945