Lower Saxony Niedersachsen (German) Neddersassen (Low Saxon)
—  State of Germany  —
Flag Coat of arms
Coordinates: 52°45′22″N 9°23′35″E / 52.75611°N 9.39306°E / 52.75611; 9.39306
Country	Germany
Capital	Hanover
Government
• Minister President	David McAllister (CDU)
• Governing parties	CDU / FDP
• Votes in Bundesrat	6 (of 69)
Area
• Total	47,624.22 km2 (18,387.81 sq mi)
Population (2010-12-31)[1]
• Total	7,918,293
• Density	170/km2 (430/sq mi)
Time zone	CET (UTC+1)
• Summer (DST)	CEST (UTC+2)
ISO 3166 code	DE-NI
GDP/ Nominal	€ 213.97 billion (2010)[citation needed]
NUTS Region	DE9
Website	www.niedersachsen.de

Lower Saxony (German: Niedersachsen [ˈniːdɐzaksən], Low German: Neddersassen) is a German state situated in northwestern Germany and is second in area and fourth in population among the sixteen states of Germany. In rural areas Northern Low Saxon, a dialect of Low German, is still spoken, but the number of speakers is declining.

Lower Saxony borders on (from north and clockwise) the North Sea, the states of Schleswig-Holstein, Hamburg, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Brandenburg, Saxony-Anhalt, Thuringia, Hesse and North Rhine-Westphalia, and the Kingdom of the Netherlands. In fact, Lower Saxony borders more neighbours than any other single federal state. The state of Bremen forms two enclaves within Lower Saxony, one being the city of Bremen, the other, its seaport city of Bremerhaven. The state's principal cities include Hanover, Brunswick, Lüneburg, Osnabrück, Oldenburg, and Göttingen.

The northwestern area of Lower Saxony, which lies on the coast of the North Sea, is called East Frisia and the seven East Frisian Islands offshore are popular with tourists. In the extreme west of Lower Saxony is the Emsland, a traditionally poor and sparsely populated area, once dominated by inaccessible swamps. The northern half of Lower Saxony, also known as the North German Plains, is almost invariably flat except for the gentle hills around the Bremen geestland. Towards the south and southwest lie the northern parts of the German Central Uplands: the Weser Uplands and the Harz mountains. Between these two lie the Lower Saxon Hills, a range of low ridges.

Lower Saxony's major cities and economic centres are mainly situated in its central and southern parts, namely Hanover, Brunswick, Osnabrück, Wolfsburg, Salzgitter, Hildesheim and Göttingen. Oldenburg, near the northwestern coastline, is another economic centre. The region in the northeast is called the Lüneburg Heath (Lüneburger Heide), the largest heathland area of Germany and in medieval times wealthy due to salt mining and salt trade, as well as to a lesser degree the exploitation of its peat bogs up until about the 1960s. To the north, the Elbe river separates Lower Saxony from Hamburg, Schleswig-Holstein, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and Brandenburg. The banks just south of the Elbe are known as Altes Land (Old Country). Due to its gentle local climate and fertile soil it is the state's largest area of fruit farming, its chief produce being apples.

Most of the state's territory was part of the historic Kingdom of Hanover; the state of Lower Saxony has adopted the coat of arms and other symbols of the former kingdom. It was created by the merger of the State of Hanover with several smaller states in 1946.

Geography[link]

Location[link]

Lower Saxony has a natural boundary in the north in the North Sea and the lower and middle reaches of the River Elbe, although parts of the city of Hamburg lie south of the Elbe. The state and city of Bremen is an enclave entirely surrounded by Lower Saxony. The Bremen/Oldenburg Metropolitan Region is a cooperative body for the enclave area. To the southeast the state border runs through the Harz, low mountains that are part of the German Central Uplands. The northeast and west of the state – which form roughly three-quarters of its land area – belong to the North German Plain, while the south is in the Lower Saxon Hills, including the Weser Uplands, Leine Uplands, Schaumburg Land, Brunswick Land, Untereichsfeld, Elm and Lappwald. In northeast Lower Saxony is Lüneburg Heath. The heath is dominated by the poor sandy soils of the geest, whilst in the central east and southeast in the loess börde zone there are productive soils with high natural fertility. Under these conditions—with loam and sand-containing soils—the land is well-developed agriculturally. In the west lie the County of Bentheim, Osnabrück Land, Emsland, Oldenburg Land, Ammerland, Oldenburg Münsterland and – on the coast – East Frisia.

The state is dominated by several large rivers running northwards through the state: the Ems, Weser, Aller and Elbe.

The highest mountain in Lower Saxony is the Wurmberg (971 m) in the Harz. For other significant elevations see: List of mountains and hills in Lower Saxony. Most of the mountains and hills are found in the southeastern part of the state. The lowest point in the state, at about 2.5 metres below sea level, is a depression near Freepsum in East Frisia.

The state's economy, population and infrastructure are centred on the cities and towns of Hanover, Stadthagen, Celle, Brunswick, Wolfsburg, Hildesheim and Salzgitter. Together with Göttingen in southern Lower Saxony, they form the core of the Hanover-Brunswick-Göttingen-Wolfsburg Metropolitan Region.

Regions[link]

General[link]

Lower Saxony has clear regional divisions that manifest themselves both geographically as well as historically and culturally. In the regions that used to be independent, especially the heartlands of the former states of Brunswick, Hanover, Oldenburg and Schaumburg-Lippe, there is a marked local regional awareness. By contrast, the areas surrounding the Hanseatic cities of Bremen and Hamburg are much more oriented towards those centres.

List of regions[link]

Sometimes there are overlaps and transition areas between the various regions of Lower Saxony. Several of the regions listed here are part of other, larger regions, that are also included in the list.

Just under 20% of the land area of Lower Saxony is designated as nature parks, i.e.: Dümmer, Elbhöhen-Wendland, Elm-Lappwald, Harz, Lüneburger Heide, Münden, Terra.vita, Solling-Vogler, Lake Steinhude, Südheide, Weser Uplands, Wildeshausen Geest, Bourtanger Moor-Bargerveen.^[2]

Climate[link]

Lower Saxony falls climatically into the north temperate zone of central Europe that is affected by prevailing Westerlies and is located in a transition zone between the maritime climate of Western Europe and the continental climate of Eastern Europe. This transition is clearly noticeable within the state: whilst the northwest experiences an Atlantic (North Sea coastal) to Sub-Atlantic climate, with comparatively low variations in temperature during the course of the year and a surplus water budget, the climate towards the southeast is increasingly affected by the Continent. This is clearly shown by greater temperature variations between the summer and winter halves of the year and in lower and more variable amounts of precipitation across the year. This sub-continental effect is most sharply seen in the Wendland, in the Weser Uplands (Hamelin to Göttingen) and in the area of Helmstedt. The highest levels of precipitation are experienced in the Harz because the Lower Saxon part forms the windward side of this mountain range against which orographic rain falls. The average annual temperature is 8 °C (7.5 °C in the Altes Land and 8.5 °C in the district of Cloppenburg).

Neighbouring states[link]

States bordering on Lower Saxony are Bremen, Hamburg, Schleswig-Holstein, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Brandenburg, Saxony-Anhalt, Thuringia, Hesse and North Rhine-Westphalia. No other German state has so many neighbours.

Lower Saxony also has a border with the Dutch provinces of Overijssel, Drenthe and Groningen as well as part of the German North Sea coast.

Administration[link]

Hanover

Brunswick

Lüneburg

Göttingen

Oldenburg

Lower Saxony is divided into 38 districts (Landkreise or simply Kreise):

Ammerland Aurich (includes Juist, Norderney and Baltrum) County of Bentheim (Grafschaft Bentheim) Celle Cloppenburg Cuxhaven Diepholz Emsland Friesland (includes Wangerooge) Gifhorn Goslar Göttingen Hamelin-Pyrmont (Hameln-Pyrmont) Hanover (Hannover) Harburg Heidekreis Helmstedt Hildesheim Holzminden	Leer (includes Borkum) Lüchow-Dannenberg Lüneburg Nienburg Northeim Oldenburg Osnabrück Osterholz Osterode Peine Rotenburg (Wümme) Schaumburg Stade Uelzen Vechta Verden Wesermarsch Wittmund (includes Langeoog and Spiekeroog) Wolfenbüttel

Furthermore there are ten urban districts:

1. Brunswick
2. Delmenhorst
3. Emden
4. Göttingen ¹
5. Hanover ²
6. Oldenburg
7. Osnabrück
8. Salzgitter
9. Wilhelmshaven
10. Wolfsburg

¹ following the "Göttingen Law" of January 1, 1964, the town of Göttingen is incorporated into the district (Landkreis) of Göttingen, but the rules on urban districts still apply, as long as no other rules exist.
² following the "Law on the region of Hanover", Hanover counts since November 1, 2001 as an urban district as long as no other rules apply.

History[link]

Regional history prior to foundation of Lower Saxony[link]

The Duchy of Saxony around 1000

Imperial circles at the start of the 16th century. In red: the Lower Saxon Circle, in light brown: the Lower Rhenish-Westphalian Circle

Kingdom of Hanover (1815–1866), Duchy of Brunswick, Grand Duchy of Oldenburg and the Principality of Schaumburg-Lippe in the 19th century

The name of Saxony derives from that of the Germanic tribe of the Saxons. Before the late medieval period, there was a single Duchy of Saxony. The term "Lower Saxony" was used^{[year needed]} after the dissolution of the stem duchy the late 13th century to disambiguate the parts of the former duchy ruled by the House of Welf from the Electorate of Saxony on one hand, and from the Duchy of Westphalia on the other.

Period to the Congress of Vienna (1814/1815)[link]

The name and coat of arms of the present state go back to the Germanic tribe of Saxons. During the Migration Period some of the Saxon peoples left their homelands in Holstein about the 3rd century and pushed southwards over the Elbe, where they expanded into the sparsely populated regions in the rest of the lowlands, in the present-day Northwest Germany and the northeastern part of what is now the Netherlands. From about the 7th century the Saxons had occupied a settlement area that roughly corresponds to the present state of Lower Saxony, of Westphalia and a number of areas to the east, for example, in what is now west and north Saxony-Anhalt. The land of the Saxons was divided into about 60 Gaue. The Frisians had not moved into this region; for centuries they preserved their independence in the most northwesterly region of the present-day Lower Saxon territory. The original language of the folk in the area of Old Saxony was West Low Saxon, one of the varieties of language in the Low German dialect group.

The establishment of permanent boundaries between what later became Lower Saxony and Westphalia began in the 12th century. In 1260, in a treaty between the Archbishopric of Cologne and the Duchy of Brunswick-Lüneburg the lands claimed by the two territories were separated from each other.^[3] The border ran along the Weser to a point north of Nienburg. The northern part of the Weser-Ems region was placed under the rule of Brunswick-Lüneburg.

The word Niedersachsen was first used before 1300 in a Dutch rhyming chronicle (Reimchronik). From the 14th century it referred to the Duchy of Saxe-Lauenburg (as opposed to Saxe-Wittenberg).^[4] On the creation of the imperial circles in 1500, a Lower Saxon Circle was distinguished from a Lower Rhenish–Westphalian Circle. The latter included the following territories that, in whole or in part, belong today to the state of Lower Saxony: the Bishopric of Osnabrück, the Bishopric of Münster, the County of Bentheim, the County of Hoya, the Principality of East Frisia, the Principality of Verden, the County of Diepholz, the County of Oldenburg, the County of Schaumburg and the County of Spiegelberg. At the same time a distinction was made with the eastern part of the old Saxon lands from the central German principalities later called Upper Saxony for dynastic reasons. (see also → Electorate of Saxony, History of Saxony).

The close historical link of the domains of the Lower Saxon Circle now in modern Lower Saxony survived for centuries especially from a dynastic point of view. The majority of historic territories whose land now lies within Lower Saxony were sub-principalities of the medieval, Welf estates of the Duchy of Brunswick-Lüneburg. All the Welf princes called themselves dukes "of Brunswick and Lüneburg" despite often ruling parts of a duchy that was forever being divided and reunited as various Welf lines multiplied or died out.

To the end of the Second World War[link]

Over the course of time two great principalities were left to the east of the Weser: the Kingdom of Hanover and the Duchy of Brunswick (after 1866 Hanover became a Prussian province; after 1919 Brunswick became a free state). Historically a close tie exists between the royal house of Hanover (Electorate of Brunswick-Lüneburg) to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland as a result of their personal union in the 18th century.

West of the River Hunte a "de-Westphalianising process" began in 1815:^[5] After the Congress of Vienna the territories of the later administrative regions (Regierungsbezirke) of Osnabrück and Aurich transferred to the Kingdom of Hanover. Until 1946, the Grand Duchy of Oldenburg and the Principality of Schaumburg-Lippe retained their stately authority. Nevertheless the entire Weser-Ems region (including the city of Bremen) were grouped in 1920 into a Lower Saxon Constituency Association (Wahlkreisverband IX (Niedersachsen)). This indicates that at that time the western administrations of the Prussian Province of Hanover and the state of Oldenburg were perceived as being "Lower Saxon".

The forerunners of today's state of Lower Saxony were lands that were geographically and, to some extent, institutionally interrelated from very early on. The County of Schaumburg (not to be confused with the Principality of Schaumburg-Lippe) around the towns of Rinteln and Hessisch Oldendorf did indeed belong to the Prussian province of Hesse-Nassau until 1932, a province that also included large parts of the present state of Hesse, including the cities of Kassel, Wiesbaden and Frankfurt am Main; but in 1932, however, the County of Schaumburg became part of the Prussian Province of Hanover. Also before 1945, namely 1937, the city of Cuxhaven has been fully integrated into the Prussian Province of Hanover by the Greater Hamburg Act, so that in 1946, when the state of Lower Saxony was founded, only four states needed to be merged. With the exception of Bremen and the areas that were ceded to the Soviet Occupation Zone in 1945, all those areas allocated to the new state of Lower Saxony in 1946, had already been merged into the "Constituency Association of Lower Saxony" in 1920.

In a lecture on 14 September 2007, Dietmar von Reeken described the emergence of a "Lower Saxony consciousness" in the 19th century, the geographical basis of which was used to invent a territorial construct: the resulting local heritage societies (Heimatvereine) and their associated magazines routinely used the terms "Lower Saxony" or "Lower Saxon" in their names. At the end of the 1920s in the context of discussions about a reform of the Reich and promoted by the expanding local heritage movement (Heimatbewegung), a twenty-five year conflict started between "Lower Saxony" and "Westphalia". The supporters of this dispute were administrative officials and politicians, but regionally focussed scientists of various disciplines were supposed to have fuelled the arguments. In the 1930s, a real Lower Saxony did not yet exist, but there was a plethora of institutions that would have called themselves "Lower Saxon". The motives and arguments in the disputes between "Lower Saxony" and "Westphalia" were very similar on both sides: economic interests, political aims, cultural interests and historical aspects.^[6]

Post World War II[link]

After the Second World War most of Northwest Germany lay within the British Zone of Occupation. On 23 August 1946, the British Military Government issued Regulation No. 46 "Concerning the dissolution of the provinces of the former state of Prussia in the British Zone and their reformation as independent states", which initially established the State of Hanover on the territory of the former Prussian Province of Hanover. Its minister president, Hinrich Wilhelm Kopf, had already suggested in June 1945 the formation of a state of Lower Saxony, that was to include the largest possible region in the middle of the British Zone. In addition to the regions that actually became Lower Saxony subsequently, Kopf asked, in a in memorandum dated April 1946, for the inclusion of the former Prussian district of Minden-Ravensberg (i.e. the Westphalian city of Bielefeld as well as the Westphalian districts of Minden, Lübbecke, Bielefeld, Herford and Halle), the district of Tecklenburg and the state of Lippe.^[7] Kopf's plan was ultimately based on a draft for the reform of the German Empire from the late 1920s by Georg Schnath and Kurt Brüning. The strong Welf connotations of this draft, according to Thomas Vogtherr, did not simplify the development of a Lower Saxon identity after 1946.^[8]

An alternative model, proposed by politicians in Oldenburg and Brunswick, envisaged the foundation of the independent state of "Weser-Ems", that would be formed from the state of Oldenburg, the Hanseatic City of Bremen and the administrative regions of Aurich and Osnabrück. Several representatives of the state of Oldenburg even demanded the inclusion of the Hanoverian districts of Diepholz, Syke, Osterholz-Scharmbeck and Wesermünde in the postulated state of "Weser-Ems". Likewise an enlarged State of Brunswick was proposed in the southeast to include the Regierungsbezirk of Hildesheim and the district of Gifhorn. Had this plan come to fruition, the territory of the present Lower Saxony would have consisted of three states of roughly equal size.

The district council of Vechta protested on 12 June 1946 against being incorporated into the metropolitan area of Hanover (Großraum Hannover). If the State of Oldenburg was to be dissolved, Vechta District would much rather be included in the Westphalian region.^[9] Particularly in the districts where there was a political Catholicism the notion was widespread, that Oldenburg Münsterland and the Regierungsbezirk of Osnabrück should be part of a newly formed State of Westphalia.^[10]

Since the foundation of the states of North Rhine-Westphalia and Hanover on 23 August 1946 the northern and eastern border of North Rhine-Westphalia has largely been identical with that of the Prussian Province of Westphalia. Only the Free State of Lippe was not incorporated into North Rhine-Westphalia until January 1947. With that the majority of the regions left of the Upper Weser became North Rhine-Westphalian.

In the end, at the meeting of the Zone Advisory Board on 20 September 1946, Kopf's proposal with regard to the division of the British occupation zone into three large states proved to be capable of gaining a majority.^[11] Because this division of their occupation zone into relatively large states also met the interests of the British, on 8 November 1946 Regulation No. 55 of the British military government was issued, by which the State of Lower Saxony with its capital Hanover were founded, backdated to 1 November 1946. The state was formed by a merger of the Free States of Brunswick, of Oldenburg and of Schaumburg-Lippe with the previously formed State of Hanover. But there were exceptions:

• In the Free State of Brunswick, the eastern part of the district of Blankenburg and the exclave of Calvörde, which belonged to the district of Helmstedt fell into the Soviet Zone of Occupation and were later integrated into the state of Saxony-Anhalt.

• In the State of Hanover, Amt Neuhaus and the villages of Neu Bleckede and Neu Wendischthun were allotted to the Soviet Zone and thus the subsequent East Germany. They were not returned to Lower Saxony until 1993.

• The city of Wesermünde that then lay in the Regierungsbezirk Stade was renamed in 1947 to Bremerhaven and incorporated into the new federal state of Bremen.

The demands of Dutch politicians that the Netherlands should be given the German regions east of the Dutch-German border as war reparations, were roundly rejected at the London Conference of 26 March 1949. In fact only about 1.3 km² of West Lower Saxony was transferred to the Netherlands, in 1949.

→ see main article Dutch annexation of German territory after World War II

History of Lower Saxony as a state[link]

Ordinance No. 55, with which on November 22, 1946 the British military government founded the state Lower Saxony retroactively to November 1, 1946.

The first Lower Saxon parliament or Landtag met on 9 December 1946. It was not elected; rather it was established by the British Occupation Administration (a so-called "appointed parliament"). That same day the parliament elected the Social Democrat, Hinrich Wilhelm Kopf, the former Hanoverian president (Regierungspräsident) as their first minister president. Kopf led a five-party coalition, whose basic task was to rebuild a state afflicted by the war's rigours. Kopf's cabinet had to organise an improvement of food supplies and the reconstruction of the cities and towns destroyed by Allied air raids during the war years. Hinrich Wilhelm Kopf remained – interrupted by the time in office of Heinrich Hellwege (1955–1959) – as the head of government in Lower Saxony until 1961.

The greatest problem facing the first state government in the immediate post-war years was the challenge of integrating hundreds of thousands of refugees from Germany's former territories in the east (such as Silesia and East Prussia), which had been annexed by Poland and the Soviet Union. Lower Saxony was at the western end of the direct escape route from East Prussia and had the longest border with the Soviet Zone. On 3 October 1950 Lower Saxony took over the sponsorship of the very large number of refugees from Silesia. In 1950 there was still a shortage of 730,000 homes according to official figures.

During the period when Germany was divided, the Lower Saxon border crossing at Helmstedt found itself on the main transport artery to West Berlin and, from 1945 to 1990 was the busiest European border crossing point.

Of economic significance for the state was the Volkswagen concern, that restarted the production of civilian vehicles in 1945, initially under British management, and in 1949 transferred into the ownership of the newly founded country of West Germany and state of Lower Saxony. Overall, Lower Saxony, with its large tracts of rural countryside and few urban centres, was one of the industrially weaker regions of the federal republic for a long time. In 1960, 20% of the working population worked on the land. In the rest of the federal territory the figure was just 14%. Even in economically prosperous times the jobless totals in Lower Saxony are constantly higher than the federal average.

In 1961 Georg Diederichs took office as the minister president of Lower Saxony as the successor to Hinrich Wilhelm Kopf. He was replaced in 1970 by Alfred Kubel. The arguments about the Gorleben Nuclear Waste Repository, that began during the time in office of minister president Ernst Albrecht (1976–1990), have played an important role in state and federal politics since the end of the 1970s.

In 1990 Gerhard Schröder entered the office of minister president. On 1 June 1993 the new Lower Saxon constitution entered force, replacing the "Provisional Lower Saxon Constitution" of 1951. It enables referenda and plebiscites and establishes environmental protection as a fundamental state principle.

The former Hanoverian Amt Neuhaus with its parishes of Dellien, Haar, Kaarßen, Neuhaus (Elbe), Stapel, Sückau, Sumte and Tripkau as well as the villages of Neu Bleckede, Neu Wendischthun and Stiepelse in the parish of Teldau and the historic Hanoverian region in the forest district of Bohldamm in the parish of Garlitz transferred with effect from 30 June 1993 from Mecklenburg-Vorpommern to Lower Saxony (Lüneburg district). From these parishes the new municipality of Amt Neuhaus was created on 1 October 1993.

In 1998 Gerhard Glogowski succeeded Gerhard Schröder who became Federal Chancellor. Because he had been linked with various scandals in his home city of Brunswick, he resigned in 1999 and was replaced by Sigmar Gabriel.

From 2003 to his election as Federal President in 2010 Christian Wulff was minister president in Lower Saxony. The Osnabrücker headed a CDU-led coalition with the FDP as does his successor, David McAllister.

Administrative subdivisions[link]

Between 1946 and 2004, the state's districts and independent towns were grouped into eight regions, with different status for the two regions (Verwaltungsbezirke) comprising the formerly free states of Brunswick and Oldenburg. In 1978 the regions were merged into four governorates (Regierungsbezirke): Since 2004 the Bezirksregierungen (regional governments) have been broken up again.

1946–1978:

• Governorate of Aurich
• Administrative Region of Brunswick (Braunschweig)
• Governorate of Hanover (Hannover)
• Governorate of Hildesheim
• Governorate of Lunenburg (Lüneburg)
• Administrative Region of Oldenburg
• Governorate of Stade

1978–2004:

• Governorate of Brunswick (Braunschweig)
• Governorate of Hanover (Hannover)
• Governorate of Lunenburg (Lüneburg)
• Governorate of Weser-Ems

On 1 January 2005 the four administrative regions or governorates (Regierungsbezirke), into which Lower Saxony had been hitherto divided, were dissolved.^[12] These were the governorates of Brunswick, Hanover, Lüneburg and Weser-Ems.

Economy[link]

Agriculture has always been a very important economic factor in Lower Saxony. Wheat, potatoes, rye, and oats as well as beef, pork and poultry are some of the state's present-day agricultural products. The north and northwest of Lower Saxony are mainly made up of coarse sandy soil that makes crop farming difficult and therefore grassland and cattle farming are more prevalent in those areas. Towards the south and southeast, extensive loess layers in the soil left behind by the last ice age allow high-yield crop farming. One of the principal crops there is sugar beet.

Mining has been an important source of income in Lower Saxony for centuries. Silver ore became a foundation of notable economic prosperity in the Harz Mountains as early as the 12th century, while iron mining in the Salzgitter area and salt mining in various areas of the state became another important economic backbone. Although overall yields are comparatively low, Lower Saxony is also an important supplier of crude oil in the European Union. Mineral products still mined today include iron and lignite.

Radioactive waste is frequently transported in the area to the city of Salzgitter, for the deep geological repository Schacht Konrad and between Schacht Asse II in the Wolfenbüttel district and Lindwedel and Höfer.

Manufacturing is another large part of the regional economy. Despite decades of gradual downsizing and restructuring, the car maker Volkswagen with its five production plants within the state's borders still remains the single biggest private-sector employer, its world headquarters based in Wolfsburg. Due to a legal act commonly known as the Volkswagen Law that has just recently been ruled illegal by the European Union's high court, the state of Lower Saxony is still the second largest shareholder, owning 20.3% of the company. ^[13] Due to the importance of car manufacturing in Lower Saxony, a thriving supply industry is centred around its regional focal points. Other mainstays of the Lower Saxon industrial sector include aviation, shipbuilding, biotechnology, and steel.

The service sector has gained importance following the demise of manufacturing in the 1970s and 1980s. Important branches today are the tourism industry with TUI AG in Hanover, one of Europe's largest travel companies, as well as trade and telecommunication.

Politics[link]

Since 1948, politics in the state has been dominated by the rightist Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and the leftist Social Democratic Party. Lower Saxony was one of the origins of the German environmentalist movement in reaction to the state government's support for underground nuclear waste disposal. This led to the formation of the German Green Party in 1980.

The former Minister-President, Christian Wulff, has led a coalition of his CDU with the Free Democratic Party between 2003 and 2010. In the most recent state election in 2008, the ruling CDU held on to its position as the leading party in the state, despite losing votes and seats. The CDU's coalition with the Free Democratic Party retained its majority although it was cut from 29 to 10.

The election also saw the entry into the state parliament for the first time of the leftist The Left party.

On 1 July 2010 David McAllister was elected Prime Minister.

Constitution[link]

The state of Lower Saxony was formed after World War II by merging the former states of Hanover, Oldenburg, Brunswick and Schaumburg-Lippe. Hanover, a former kingdom, is by far the largest of these contributors by area and population and has been a province of Prussia since 1866. The city of Hanover is the largest and capital city of Lower Saxony.

The constitution states that Lower Saxony be a libertarian, republican, social and environmentally sustainable state inside the Federal Republic of Germany; universal human rights, peace and justice are preassigned guidelines of society, and the human rights and civil liberties proclaimed by the constitution of the Federal Republic are genuine constituents of the constitution of Lower Saxony. Each citizen is entitled to education and there is universal compulsory school attendance.

All government authority is to be sanctioned by the will of the people, which expresses itself via elections and plebiscites. The legislative assembly is a unicameral parliament elected for terms of five years. The composition of the parliament obeys to the principle of proportional representation of the participating political parties, but it is also ensured that each constituency delegates one directally elected representative. If a party wins more constituency delegates than their statewide share among the parties would determine, it can keep all these constituency delegates.

The governor of the state (prime minister) and his ministers are elected by the parliament. As there is a system of five political parties in Germany and so also in Lower Saxony, it is usually the case that two or more parties negotiate for a common political agenda and a commonly determined composition of government where the party with the biggest share of the electorate fills the seat of the governor. Currently (January 2010), the coalition majority is formed by the conservative CDU party with governor Christian Wulff and the capitalistic FDP. The opposition thus consists of the social democrats (SPD), the liberal "Green Party" and the leftist Socialists.

The states of the Federal Republic of Germany, and so Lower Saxony, have legislative responsibility and power mainly reduced to the policy fields of the school system, higher education, culture and media and police, whereas the more important policy fields like economic and social polcies, foreign policy etc. are a prerogative of the federal government. Hence the probably most important function of the federal states is their representation in the Federal Council (Bundesrat), where their approval on many crucial federal policy fields, including the tax system, is required for laws to become inacted.

Minister-President of Lower Saxony[link]

The Minister-President heads the state government, and is elected by the Landtag of Lower Saxony. The current Minister-President, David McAllister, was elected on 1 July 2010, and heads the Cabinet McAllister, a coalition government consisting of the CDU and FDP. Many previous Ministers-President of Lower Saxony have risen to prominence in federal politics, among them Gerhard Schröder, Sigmar Gabriel and Christian Wulff.

Religion[link]

The Evangelical Church in Germany is the faith of 50.8% of the population.^[14] It is organised in the five Landeskirchen named Evangelical Lutheran State Church in Brunswick (comprising the former Free State of Brunswick), Evangelical Lutheran Church of Hanover (comprising the former Province of Hanover), Evangelical Lutheran Church in Oldenburg (comprising the former Free State of Oldenburg), Evangelical-Lutheran Church of Schaumburg-Lippe (comprising the former Free State of Schaumburg-Lippe), and Evangelical Reformed Church (covering all the state). The Catholic Church is the faith of 17.6% of the population,^[15] organised in the three dioceses of Osnabrück (western part of the state), Münster (comprising the former Free State of Oldenburg) and Hildesheim (northern and eastern part of the state). Islam is a minority faith.

Coat of arms[link]

The coat of arms shows a white horse (Saxon Steed) on red ground, which is an old symbol of the Saxon people.

See also[link]

	Geography portal
	Europe portal
	European Union portal
	Germany portal
	Lower Saxony portal

• Outline of Germany
• List of places in Lower Saxony
• Hanover-Brunswick-Göttingen-Wolfsburg Metropolitan Region

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official governmental portal
• Official website for tourism, holiday and leisure in Lower Saxony
• map with tourist highlights, notepad and personal guide
• Geographic data related to Lower Saxony at OpenStreetMap

v t e States of the Federal Republic of Germany States  Baden-Württemberg (since 1952)  Bavaria (since 1949)  Brandenburg (since 1990)  Hesse (since 1949)  Lower Saxony (since 1949)  Mecklenburg-Vorpommern (since 1990)  North Rhine-Westphalia (since 1949)  Rhineland-Palatinate (since 1949)  Saarland (since 1957)  Saxony (since 1990)  Saxony-Anhalt (since 1990)  Schleswig-Holstein (since 1949)  Thuringia (since 1990) City-states  Berlin (since 1990)  Bremen (since 1949)  Hamburg (since 1949) Former states  Baden (south) (1949–1952)  Württemberg-Baden (1949–1952)  Württemberg-Hohenzollern (1949–1952)

v t e Urban and rural districts in the state of Lower Saxony in Germany Region Hanover Urban districts Braunschweig Delmenhorst Emden Oldenburg Osnabrück Salzgitter Wilhelmshaven Wolfsburg Rural districts Ammerland Aurich Bentheim Celle Cloppenburg Cuxhaven Diepholz Emsland Friesland Gifhorn Goslar Göttingen Hamelin-Pyrmont Harburg Heidekreis Helmstedt Hildesheim Holzminden Leer Lüchow-Dannenberg Lüneburg Nienburg Northeim Oldenburg Osnabrück Osterholz Osterode Peine Rotenburg Schaumburg Stade Uelzen Vechta Verden Wesermarsch Wittmund Wolfenbüttel

Free State of Saxony Freistaat Sachsen (de) Swobodny stat Sakska (wen)
—  State of Germany  —
Flag Coat of arms
Coordinates: 51°1′37″N 13°21′32″E / 51.02694°N 13.35889°E / 51.02694; 13.35889
Country	Germany
Capital	Dresden
Government
• Minister-President	Stanislaw Tillich (CDU)
• Governing parties	CDU / FDP
• Votes in Bundesrat	4 (of 69)
Area
• Total	18,415.66 km2 (7,110.33 sq mi)
Population (2010-12-31)[1]
• Total	4,149,477
• Density	230/km2 (580/sq mi)
Time zone	CET (UTC+1)
• Summer (DST)	CEST (UTC+2)
ISO 3166 code	DE-SN
GDP/ Nominal	€ 94.99 billion (2010)[citation needed]
NUTS Region	DED
Website	sachsen.de

Dresden, capital of Saxony

View over Leipzig city centre

Chemnitz town halls

The Free State of Saxony (German: Freistaat Sachsen [ˈfʁaɪʃtaːt ˈzaksən]; Upper Sorbian: Swobodny stat Sakska) is a landlocked state of Germany, bordering Brandenburg, Saxony Anhalt, Thuringia, Bavaria, the Czech Republic and Poland. It is the tenth-largest German state in area, with (18,413 square kilometres (7,109 sq mi), and the sixth most-populous (4.3 million) of Germany's sixteen states.

Located in the middle of an erstwhile German-speaking part of Europe, the history of the state of Saxony spans more than a millennium. It has been a medieval duchy, an electorate of the Holy Roman Empire, a kingdom, a republic from 1918 to 1952 and then again from 1990.

The area of the modern state of Saxony should not be confused with Old Saxony, the area inhabited by Saxons. Old Saxony corresponds approximately to the modern German states of Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and the Westphalian part of North Rhine-Westphalia.

Geography[link]

Administration[link]

Sachsen is divided into three Direktionsbezirke — Chemnitz, Dresden, Leipzig — which are subdivided into 10 districts:

Map of 3 regions and 10 districts in Saxony (Sachsen).

  1. Bautzen (BZ)
  2. Erzgebirgskreis (ERZ)
  3. Görlitz (GR)
  4. Leipzig (L)
  5. Meißen (MEI)(Meissen)
  6. Mittelsachsen (FG)
  7. Nordsachsen (TDO)
  8. Sächsische Schweiz-Osterzgebirge (PIR)
  9. Vogtlandkreis (V)
10. Zwickau (Z)

The Erzgebirgskreis district covers the Ore Mountains, and the Schweiz-Osterzgebirge district is Saxon Switzerland and the Eastern Ore Mountains.

In addition there are three urban districts (German: kreisfreie Städte), which also have district status:

1. Chemnitz (C)
2. Dresden (DD)
3. Leipzig (L)

Economy[link]

Saxony has, after Saxony Anhalt,^[2] the most vibrant economy among the federal states of the former GDR. Its economy grew by 1.9% in 2010.^[3] Nonetheless, unemployment remains high, and investment is scarce. The eastern part of Germany, excluding Berlin, qualifies as an "Objective 1" development-region within the European Union, and is eligible to receive investment subsidies of up to 30% until 2013. FutureSAX, a business plan competition and entrepreneurial support organization, has been in operation since 2002.

Microchip makers near Dresden have given the region a nickname of "Silicon Saxony". The publishing and porcelain industries of the region are well known, although their contributions to the regional economy are not significant.The state government is attempting to develop tourism, notably in the lake district of Lausitz.^[4]

Saxony reported unemployment of 11.9% as average for 2010, by comparison the average for the former GDR was 12% and 7.7% for Germany overall.

In April 2012 Saxony had an unemployment rate of 10.3% while Germany of 7%, western Germany of 6% and eastern Germany of 11.2%. The Leipzig area, which was among the regions with the highest unemployment rate for many years, could recently especially benefit from investments of Porsche and BMW. With the VW Phaeton fab in Dresden and many suppliers the car industry has become one of the pillars of the Saxon industry again as it had been since the early 20th century. Zwickau is another major Volkswagen location. Freiberg, the former mining city, has established as a foremost location for material and competitive solar industries. Dresden and some other regions play a leading role in some areas of international biotechnology such as electronic bio engineering while these hightech sectors do not offer yet a larger number of jobs for the native population but they have stopped or even reversed a brain drain movement which occurred until few years ago in many parts of Saxony. Regional universities have strengthened their positions in toothing with local industries and reputation amongst students from the western part. Different to smaller towns Dresden and Leipzig have now a significant growth in population. ^[5]

History[link]

Saxony has a long history as a duchy, an electorate of the Holy Roman Empire (the Electorate of Saxony), and eventually as a kingdom (the Kingdom of Saxony). In 1918, subsequent to Germany's defeat in World War I, its monarchy was overthrown and a republican form of government was established under its current name. The state was broken up into smaller units during communist rule (1949–1989), but was re-established on 3 October 1990 on the reunification of East and West Germany.

Prehistory[link]

In prehistoric times, the territory of Saxony was the site of some of the largest of the ancient Central European monumental temples, dating from the 5th century BC. Notable archaeological sites have been discovered in Dresden and the villages of Eythra and Zwenkau near Leipzig. The Slavic and Germanic presence in the territory of today's Saxony is thought to have begun in the 1st century BC. Parts of Saxony were possibly under the control of the Germanic King Marobod during the Roman era. By the late Roman period, several tribes known as the Saxons emerged, from which the subsequent state(s) draw their name. For the origins of the Saxon tribes, see Saxons.

Duchy of Saxony[link]

Henry the Lion (with his wife Matilda of England, Duchess of Saxony) is crowned as Duke of Saxony

The first mediæval Duchy of Saxony was a late Early Middle Ages "Carolingian stem duchy", which emerged about the year 700, and grew to cover the greater part of Northern Germany. It covered the area of the modern German states of Lower Saxony, North Rhine-Westphalia, Schleswig-Holstein and Saxony-Anhalt. The Saxons converted to Christianity during this period.

While the Saxons were facing pressure from Charlemagne's Franks, they were also facing a westward push by Slavs to the east. The territory of the Free State of Saxony was occupied by Slavs before being reconquered by Germans. A legacy of this period is the Sorb population in Saxony.

Holy Roman Empire[link]

The territory of the Free State of Saxony became part of the Holy Roman Empire by the 10th century. In the 10th century, the dukes of Saxony were also kings (or emperors) of the Holy Roman Empire, comprising the Ottonian, or Saxon, Dynasty. Around this time, the Billungs, a Saxon noble family, received extensive fiefs in Saxony. The Emperor eventually gave them the title of Duke of Saxony. After Duke Magnus died in 1106, causing the extinction of the male line of Billungs, oversight of the duchy was given to Lothar of Supplinburg, who also became Emperor for a short time.

In 1137, control of Saxony passed to the Guelph dynasty, descendants of Wulfhild Billung, eldest daughter of the last Billung duke, and the daughter of Lothar of Supplinburg. In 1180 large portions west of the Weser were ceded to the Bishops of Cologne, while some central parts between the Weser and the Elbe remained to the Guelphs, later forming the Duchy of Brunswick-Lüneburg). The remaining eastern lands, together with the title of Duke of Saxony, passed to an Ascanian dynasty (descended from Eilika Billung, Wulfhild's younger sister) and was divided in 1260 into the two small states of Saxe-Lauenburg and Saxe-Wittenberg, the former also named Lower Saxony, the latter Upper Saxony, thence the later names of the two Imperial Circles. Saxe-Lauenburg and Saxe-Wittenberg both claimed the Saxon electoral privilege for their part, but the Golden Bull of 1356 only accepted Wittenberg's claim, with Lauenburg nevertheless maintaining its claim. In 1422, when the Saxon electoral line of the Ascanians was extinct, the Ascanian Eric V of Saxe-Lauenburg tried to reunite the Saxon duchies.

However, Sigismund, King of the Romans, had already granted Margrave Frederick IV the Warlike of Meissen (House of Wettin) an expectancy on the Saxon electorate, in order to remunerate his military support. On 1 August 1425 Sigismund enfeoffed the Wettinian Frederick as Prince-Elector of Saxony, despite protestations of Eric V. Thus the Saxon territories remained separated in permanence. Electoral Saxony was then merged in the much bigger Wettinian Margraviate of Meissen, however using the higher ranking name Electorate of Saxony and even the Ascanian coat-of-arms for the entire monarchy.^[6] Thus the name Saxony was translated to areas as far as Dresden and Meissen. In the 18th and 19th centuries Saxe-Lauenburg became colloquially called the Duchy of Lauenburg, which in 1876 merged in Prussia as Duchy of Lauenburg district.

Foundation of the second Saxon state[link]

Late 17th and 18th century electors of Saxony

Saxony is home to numerous castles, like the Schloss Moritzburg north of Dresden

Saxony-Wittenberg, in modern Saxony-Anhalt, became subject to the margravate of Meissen, ruled by the Wettin dynasty in 1423. This established a new and powerful state, occupying large portions of the present Free State of Saxony, Thuringia, and Saxony-Anhalt. Although the center of this state was far to the southeast of the former Saxony, it came to be referred to as Upper Saxony and then simply Saxony, while the former Saxon territories were now known as Lower Saxony.

In 1485, Saxony was split. A collateral line of the Wettin princes received what later became Thuringia and founded several small states there (see Ernestine duchies). The remaining Saxon state became still more powerful, becoming known in the 18th century for its cultural achievements, although it was politically inferior to Prussia and Austria, which pressed Saxony from either side.

Between the years 1697 and 1763, the Electors of Saxony were also elected Kings of Poland in personal union.

In 1756, Saxony joined the coalition of Austria, France and Russia against Prussia. Frederick II of Prussia chose to attack preemptively and invaded Saxony in August 1756, precipitating the Seven Years War. The Prussians quickly defeated Saxony and incorporated the Saxon army into the Prussian army. At the end of the Seven Years War, Saxony once again became an independent state.

Saxony in the 19th and 20th centuries[link]

In 1806, French Emperor Napoleon abolished the Holy Roman Empire and decreed the Electorate of Saxony a kingdom in itself. Elector Frederick Augustus III became King Frederick Augustus I. Frederick Augustus remained loyal to Napoleon during the wars that swept Europe in the following years; he was taken prisoner and his territories declared forfeit by the allies in 1813, who intended the annexation of Saxony by Prussia. Ultimately, the opposition of Austria, France, and the United Kingdom to this plan resulted in the restoration of Frederick Augustus to his throne at the Congress of Vienna. At this time in 1815, Saxony was forced to cede the northern part of the kingdom to Prussia.^[7] These lands became the Prussian province of Saxony, incorporated today in Saxony-Anhalt. The remnant of the Kingdom of Saxony was roughly identical with the present federal state.

Meanwhile, in 1815, the southern part of Saxony, now called the "State of Saxony joined the German Confederation.^[8] (The German Confederation should not be confused with the North German Confederation mentioned below.) In the politics of the Confederation, Saxony was overshadowed by Prussia. King Anthony of Saxony, came to the throne of Saxony in 1827. Shortly thereafter, liberal pressures in Saxony mounted and broke out in the revolt during 1830—a year of revolution in Europe.^[8] The revolution in Saxony resulted in a Constitution for the State of Saxony which served as a basis for the government in Saxony until 1918.^[8]

During the 1848–49 constitutionalist revolutions in Germany, Saxony became a hotbed for revolutionaries, with anarchists such as Mikhail Bakunin and democrats including Richard Wagner and Gottfried Semper taking part in the May Uprising in Dresden in 1849. (Scenes of Richard Wagner's participation in the May 1849 Uprising in Dresden are pictured in the 1983 movie, Wagner starring Richard Burton as Richard Wagner.) The May Uprising in Dresden forced King Frederick Augustus II of Saxony to concede further reforms in the Saxon government.^[8]

In 1854 Frederick Augustus II's brother, King John of Saxony, succeeded to the throne. A scholar, King John translated Dante.^[8] King John followed a federalistic and pro-Austrian policy throughout the early 1860s until the outbreak of the Austro-Prussian War. During the war, Prussian troops overran Saxony without a fight and invaded then Austrian (today's Czech) Bohemia.^[9] After the war, Saxony was forced to pay an indemnity and to join the North German Confederation in 1867.^[10] Under the terms of the North German Confederation, Prussia took over control of the Saxon postal system, railroads, military and foreign affairs.^[10] In the Franco-Prussian War of 1870, Saxon troops fought together with Prussian and other German troops against France.^[10] In 1871, Saxony joined the newly formed German Empire.^[10]

After King Frederick Augustus III of Saxony had abdicated on 13 November 1918, Saxony, remaining a constituent state of Germany (Weimar Republic), became a republic renamed the Free State of Saxony following the new Saxon constitution of 1 November 1920. In 1923 Reichs's chancellor Gustav Stresemann overthrew the SPD-led Saxon government. The state maintained its name and borders during the National Socialist era as a Gau, but lost any quasi-autonomous status and its parliamentarian democracy.

By the by end of World War II in April 1945, American troops under General George Patton conquered the western part of the Free State, while Soviet troops conquered the eastern part. That summer, the entire state was handed over to Soviet forces as agreed upon by the London Protocol of September 1944. Thereafter Britain, the USA, and the USSR negotiated at the Potsdam Conference on Germany's future. By their trilateral Potsdam Agreement all German territory east of the Oder-Neisse line was to be annexed by Poland and the Soviet Union and, unlike the post-World War I secessions of German territory, this time the annexing powers were allowed to expel the inhabitants.

Through all the following three years, Poland forcibly expelled German-speaking people from its annexed territory. Since the three powers of Potsdam had further agreed to accept in their occupation zones more expellees from other countries, the government in Prague denaturalised and expropriated around three million Czechoslovaks due to their German native language. So also Saxons had to feed and house the destitute expellees, while their retained belongings became war booty shared by the profiteers of this exproprietary attitude. Only a small Saxon area, lying east of the Neisse river and centered around the town of Reichenau (now called Bogatynia), was annexed by Poland. The Soviet Military Administration in Germany (SVAG) merged that tiny part of the Prussian province of Lower Silesia, which remained with Germany west of the Neisse, into Saxony.

On 20 October 1946, the SVAG organised elections for the Saxon state parliament (Landtag), which were unbalanced since many people were arbitrarily excluded from candidacy and suffrage and the Soviet support unilaterally preferring the communist Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED). The new Saxon minister-president (governor) Rudolf Friedrichs (SED, until April 1946 SPD), who met with his Bavarian counterparts in the US zone of occupation in October 1946 and May 1947, suddenly died under unknown circumstances the month after. He was succeeded by Max Seydewitz, a loyalist of Joseph Stalin.

The Soviet Union set up the communist government of the German Democratic Republic in 1949, with Saxony a part of it, giving the USSR a satellite in the heart of Europe. The communist government officially dissolved the Free State in 1952, and divided it into the three smaller Bezirke of Leipzig, Dresden, and Karl-Marx-Stadt. The Free State was reconstituted with slightly altered borders in 1990 upon German reunification. Besides the formerly Silesian area of Saxony, which was mostly included in the territory of the new Saxon state, the free state gained further areas north of Leipzig, which belonged to Saxony-Anhalt until 1952.

Culture[link]

Religion[link]

Evangelical Church in Germany 20.9 %,^[11] Catholic Church 3.6 %.^[12] 75.5 % have no religion or profess other ones.

Languages[link]

Boundary sign of Bautzen / Budyšin in German and Upper Sorbian language; many place names in Saxony are derived from Sorbian.

The most common patois spoken in Saxony are combined in the group of "Thuringian and Upper Saxon dialects". Due to the incorrect usage of "Saxon dialects" in colloquial language, the Upper Saxon attribute has been added to distinguish it from Old Saxon and Low Saxon. Other German dialects spoken in Saxony are the dialects of the Erzgebirge (Ore Mountains), which have been affected by Upper Saxon dialects, and the dialects of the Vogtland, which are more affected by the East Franconian languages.

Upper Sorbian (a Slavic language) is still actively spoken in the parts of Upper Lusatia that are occupied by the Sorbian minority. The Germans in Upper Lusatia speak distinct dialects of their own (Lusatian dialects).

Education[link]

The Dresden University of Technology, founded in 1828, is one of the Germany's oldest universities. With 36,066 students as of 2010, it is the largest university in Saxony and one of the ten largest universities in Germany. It is a member of TU9, a consortium of nine leading German Institutes of Technology.

Tourism[link]

Except for Dresden and Leipzig, Saxony is not a primary destination for foreign tourists. Areas along the border with the Czech Republic, such as the Lusatian Mountains, Ore Mountains, Saxon Switzerland, and Vogtland, attract significant visitors, largely Germans. Saxony has well preserved historic towns such as Meissen, Freiberg, Pirna, Bautzen, and Görlitz.

Stanislaw Tillich.

Politics[link]

A minister-president heads the government of Saxony. Stanislaw Tillich has been minister-president since May 28, 2008. See: List of Ministers-President of Saxony, for a full listing.

2009 state election[link]

The center-right CDU has formed a coalition with the liberal democratic FDP.

See also[link]

Germany portal

• Saxony (wine region)

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Saxony

• Official governmental portal
• Christmas time in Saxony
• some facts about Saxony
• some stories about Dresden Neustadt - The Capital of Saxony
• Geographic data related to Saxony at OpenStreetMap

v t e States of the Federal Republic of Germany States  Baden-Württemberg (since 1952)  Bavaria (since 1949)  Brandenburg (since 1990)  Hesse (since 1949)  Lower Saxony (since 1949)  Mecklenburg-Vorpommern (since 1990)  North Rhine-Westphalia (since 1949)  Rhineland-Palatinate (since 1949)  Saarland (since 1957)  Saxony (since 1990)  Saxony-Anhalt (since 1990)  Schleswig-Holstein (since 1949)  Thuringia (since 1990) City-states  Berlin (since 1990)  Bremen (since 1949)  Hamburg (since 1949) Former states  Baden (south) (1949–1952)  Württemberg-Baden (1949–1952)  Württemberg-Hohenzollern (1949–1952)

v t e Urban and rural districts in the Free State of Saxony in Germany Urban districts Chemnitz Dresden Leipzig Rural districts Bautzen Erzgebirgskreis Görlitz Leipzig Meißen Mittelsachsen Nordsachsen Sächsische Schweiz-Osterzgebirge Vogtlandkreis Zwickau Former urban districts Görlitz Hoyerswerda Plauen Zwickau Former rural districts Annaberg Aue-Schwarzenberg Chemnitzer Land Delitzsch Döbeln Freiberg Kamenz Leipziger Land Löbau-Zittau Mittlerer Erzgebirgskreis Mittweida Muldentalkreis Niederschlesischer Oberlausitzkreis Riesa-Großenhain Sächsische Schweiz Stollberg Torgau-Oschatz Weißeritzkreis Zwickauer Land

v t e States of Germany during the Weimar Republic (1919–33) States Anhalt Baden Bavaria Brunswick Hesse Lippe Mecklenburg-Schwerin Mecklenburg-Strelitz Oldenburg Prussia Saxony Schaumburg-Lippe Thuringia (from 1920) Waldeck (until 1929) Württemberg City-states Bremen Hamburg Lübeck Until 1920 Saxony Altenburg Coburg-Gotha Meiningen Weimar-Eisenach Reuss & republic Elder Junior Schwarzburg Rudolstadt Sondershausen Unofficial Bavarian Soviet Republic Bottleneck Rhenish Republic