Halle

Halle, city on the River Saale. In the Middle Ages it belonged to the archbishops of Magdeburg. In 1680 it passed to Brandenburg-Prussia, and in 1916 to the newly constituted province of Saxony. From 1949 Halle was part of the DDR (see Deutsche Demokratische Republik), and in 1952 the name was also given to a district (Bezirk). The city is now in Land Sachsen-Anhalt of the Federal Republic (see Bundesrepublik Deutschland). It is the birthplace of G. F. Händel (anglicized Handel).

Halle's famous university was founded in 1694, and from its early years attracted outstanding scholars, including Thomasius, A. H. Francke, and C. Wolff. J. von Eichendorff gives a nostalgic account of student life in the first decade of the 19th c. in Halle und Heidelberg. In 1817 Wittenberg University was united with Halle University, and the full title is now Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg. Halle University was the first university in Germany (and probably in the world) to confer a medical degree on a woman (1754).