Plauen

Plauen
Plauen
	Plauen and the city hall tower in the morning fog
	; Coat of arms
	; Coat of arms
	Plauen
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Country	Germany
State	Saxony
District	Vogtlandkreis
Government
• Lord Mayor	Ralf Oberdorfer (FDP)
Area
• Total	102.12 km2 (39.43 sq mi)
Population (2014-12-31)
• Total	64,077
• Density	630/km2 (1,600/sq mi)
Time zone	CET/CEST (UTC+1/+2)
Postal codes	08523;-5;-7;-9
Dialling codes	03741
Vehicle registration	V, AE, OVL, PL, RC
Website	www.plauen.de

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 Bavaria and the Czech Republic.

History

Plauen downtown

Plauen, old townhall

The Church of St. Markus

Commemorative plaque in Plauen for the mass demonstration of 1989

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 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 earned the distinction of hosting 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 in 16 April 1945 but was left to Red Army in 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 socialistic 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.

Industry and infrastructure

Plauen (Vogtland) Oberer station 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

Museum Plauener Spitze
Galerie e.O. plauen
Old Town Hall
Elster Viaduct - second largest brick bridge in the world
Friedensbrücke - largest stone arch bridge in the world
Johanniskirche
Old Elster Viaduct - 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
Eduard Friedrich Poeppig (1798–1868), botanist, zoologist and explorer
Hermann Vogel (1854–1921), illustrator
E.O. Plauen (1903–1944), cartoonist
Werner Hartenstein (1908–1943), war time commander of U-156, notable for the Laconia incident
Karl Richter (1926–1981), conductor, organist, and harpsichordist
Hans Otte (1926–2007), composer and pianist