Plauen

Plauen
Plauen and the city hall tower in the morning fog
Plauen
Coordinates	50°29′0″N 12°07′0″E / 50.483333°N 12.116667°E / 50.483333; 12.116667
Administration
Country	Germany
State	Saxony
Admin. region	Chemnitz
District	Vogtlandkreis
Town subdivisions	5 town boroughs with 38 parts
Lord Mayor	Ralf Oberdorfer (FDP)
Basic statistics
Area	102.12 km2 (39.43 sq mi)
Elevation	412 m  (1352 ft)
Population	67,978  (31 August 2007)
- Density	666 /km2 (1,724 /sq mi)
Other information
Time zone	CET/CEST (UTC+1/+2)
Licence plate	V
Postal codes	08523;-5;-7;-9
Area code	03741
Website	www.plauen.de

Plauen, old townhall

The Church of St. Markus

Plauen is a city in the Free State of Saxony, east-central Germany.

It is the capital of the Vogtlandkreis. The city is situated near the border of Bavaria and the Czech Republic.

Plauen's slogan is Plauen - echt Spitze.

History

The city was founded by Polabian Slavs in the 12th century and was passed to the Kingdom of Bohemia in 1327 and to Albertine Saxony in 1466. Plauen passed to the Electorate of Saxony in 1569. It became part of the Kingdom of Saxony in 1806 during the Napoleonic Wars.

In the late 19th century, Plauen became a textile manufacturing center, specializing in lace. Around 1910 Plauen, as a kind of industrial 'boomtown', reached its population peak (1910 census: 121,000, 1912: 128,000).

In the 1930s Plauen earned the dubious distinction of hosting the first chapter of the Nazi Party outside of Bavaria. Plauen's population shrunk dramatically since World War II (1939: 111,000 inhabitants).

From 1945 on, Plauen belonged to the Soviet occupation zone of Germany, from 1949 to 1990 to the German Democratic Republic. During that time it hosted a large Red Army occupation garrison and in the last years of the East German state the officer school of the border guards ("Grenztruppen der DDR"). The exposé Fast Food Nation gives special mention to Plauen as the first city in East Germany following the collapse of the Berlin Wall to have a McDonald's restaurant.

In the district reform of July 1, 2008, Plauen lost its urban district status and was included into the district of Vogtlandkreis.

Main sights

• Museum Plauener Spitze
• Galerie e.O. plauen
• Old Town Hall
• Elstertalbrücke - second largest brick bridge in the world
• Friedensbrücke - largest stone arch bridge in the world
• Johanniskirche
• Alte Elsterbrücke - oldest bridge in Saxony
• Malzhaus

Education and science

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

Notable residents

• Heinrich von Plauen (1370–1429), Grand Master of the Teutonic Knights
• Hans Otte (born 1926), composer and pianist
• Eduard Friedrich Poeppig (1798–1868), botanist, zoologist and explorer
• Hermann Vogel (1854–1921), illustrator
• E.O. Plauen (1903–1944), cartoonist

Twin cities

• Aš, Czech Republik
• Steyr, Austria, since 1970
• Hof, Germany, since 1987
• Siegen, Germany, since 1990
• Cegléd, Hungary, since 2005
• Pabianice, Poland, since 2006

Twin cities of Jößnitz (urban district)

• Heilsbronn, Germany

Former twin cities

• Lens, France, 1962–2005

External links

• Official website

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