Plauen

Plauen (German pronunciation: [ˈplaʊ̯ən])[2][3] is a town in the Free State of Saxony, east-central Germany. It is the capital town of the district Vogtlandkreis. The town is situated near the border of Thuringia, Bavaria and the Czech Republic.

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

Plauen
Panoramic view over Plauen
Coat of arms
Location of Plauen within Vogtlandkreis district
Plauen
Plauen
Coordinates: 50°29′N 12°07′E
CountryGermany
StateSaxony
DistrictVogtlandkreis
Subdivisions5 town boroughs with 38 parts
Government
 • Lord MayorRalf Oberdorfer (FDP)
Area
 • Total102.11 km2 (39.42 sq mi)
Elevation
412 m (1,352 ft)
Population
 (2018-12-31)[1]
 • Total64,931
 • Density640/km2 (1,600/sq mi)
Time zoneCET/CEST (UTC+1/+2)
Postal codes
08523;-5;-7;-9
Dialling codes03741
Vehicle registrationV, AE, OVL, PL, RC
Websitewww.plauen.de

History

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

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

In the 1930s, Plauen hosted the first chapter of the Nazi Party outside of Bavaria. Plauen's population, however, has shrunk dramatically since the Second World War (1939: 111,000 inhabitants). It was occupied by American troops on 16 April 1945 but was left to Red Army on 1 July 1945.

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

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

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

  • Plauen downtown
  • Plauen old market
  • Plauen, old townhall
  • The Church of St. Markus
  • Vogtlandtheater
  • Commemorative plaque in Plauen for the mass demonstration of 1989

Industry and infrastructure
Plauen station

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

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

The Plauen Straßenbahn is a tramway that has 6 lines connecting the centre of town, Plauen-Tunnel stop, to the surrounding areas and the Oberer railway station.

Main sights
Lace curtain factory, 1980

Education and science

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

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

Honorary citizens

Twin cities

Twin cities of Jößnitz (urban district)

Former twin cities

Notes
  1. "Bevölkerung des Freistaates Sachsen jeweils am Monatsende ausgewählter Berichtsmonate nach Gemeinden" (PDF). Statistisches Landesamt des Freistaates Sachsen (in German). July 2019.
  2. Krech, Eva-Maria; Stock, Eberhard; Hirschfeld, Ursula; Anders, Lutz Christian (2009). Deutsches Aussprachewörterbuch (in German). Berlin: Walter de Gruyter. p. 828. ISBN 978-3-11-018202-6.
  3. Mangold, Max (2005). Das Aussprachewörterbuch (in German) (6th ed.). Mannheim: Dudenverlag. p. 635. ISBN 9783411040667.
  4. Miller 2017, p. 341.
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gollark: >>backups
gollark: tio!debug

References
  • Miller, Michael (2017). Gauleiter Volume 2. California: R James Bender Publishing. ISBN 1-932970-32-0.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
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