Chemnitz

Geschichte

Chemnitz, known from 1953 to 1990 as Karl-Marx-Stadt, is the third-largest city in the Free State of Saxony, Germany. Chemnitz is an independent city which is not part of any county and seat of the Landesdirektion Sachsen. Located in the northern foothills of the Ore Mountains, it is part of the Central German Metropolitan Region. The city's economy is based on the service sector and manufacturing industry. Chemnitz University of Technology has around 10,000 students.EtymologyChemnitz is named after the river Chemnitz, a small tributary of the Zwickau Mulde. The word "Chemnitz" is from the Sorbian language, and means "stony ". The word is composed of the Slavic word kamen meaning "stone" and the feminine suffix -ica.It is known in Czech as Saská Kamenice and in Polish as Kamienica Saska. There are many other towns named Kamenica or Kamenice in areas with past or present Slavic settlement.HistoryAn early Slavic tribe's settlement was located at Kamienica, and the first documented use of the name Chemnitz was the 1143 site of a Benedictine monastery around which a settlement grew. Circa 1170 Frederick I, Holy Roman Emperor granted it the rights of an imperial city. In 1307, the town became subordinate to the Margraviate of Meissen (the predecessor of the Saxon state). In medieval times, Chemnitz became a centre of textile production and trade. More than one third of the population worked in textile production.