Rochlitz

Location

The town is situated on a bend of the river Zwickauer Mulde and at the foot of Rochlitzer Berg, 26 km northwest of Chemnitz and 45 km from Leipzig or Zwickau.

Geology

Rochlitz is situated in the Natural Region Sächsisches Lössgefilde ("Saxon Loess country") and its sub-region Mulde-Lösshügelland ("Mulde Loess hill country"). Rochlitzer Berg (ca. 349 m (NHN)) is of Rotliegend volcanic origin (latest Carboniferous to Guadalupian) and consists to a large extent of so-called Rochlitzer Porphyr, a rhyolitic tuff or ignimbrite. Due to its colour and structure, this rock is used in representative buildings in the wider region and is mined in deep quarries. Pleistocene sediments (sand, gravel) are excavated in the surroundings of the town.

Middle Ages

Slavic villages have existed in the area of the town since the 9th and 10th century, and the name of the town is derived from Old Sorbian Rochelinzi. A market settlement below Rochlitz Castle and east of St Peter's church, near today's square Mühlplatz, formed presumably in the 11th century, likely connected with a ford across the Zwickauer Mulde near the village of Zaßnitz. A farming estate which supplied the castle was built at the same time in Poppitz in the northern part of the modern town area the same time. It was later moved to Königsfeld.

Rochlitz as a town in its own right with its town church St Cunigunde's was founded around 1200 by Dedo the Fat of Lusatia or one of his sons Dietrich (1190–1207) or Konrad (1207–1210), possibly only after 1210 by margrave Dietrich the Oppressed. A characteristic feature of the town is the elongated street market which has an analogue in nearby Geithain. The approximate founding date is supported by archeological findings and preserved Romanesque architectural features of the church which originated in a short basilica without transept. Despite the central location of St. Cunigunde's church, the older St. Peter's church which was situated extra muros remained the parish church for the western parts of Rochlitz until the Protestant reformation.

A town wall was first mentioned in 1288 on the occasion of a partial collapse. It was apparently preceded by a combination of earth wall, ditch, and hedge, and was renewed and extended between 1367 and 1373. The town itself is first mentioned in writing in 1336, its council in 1360, and the first seal of the town is found on a document from 1364. The council obtained the right to execute low justice before 1379, and in 1380 the town obtained a regional monopoly for bleaching cloth. In 1430 Rochlitz suffered from an invasion of hussitic troops, but experienced a boom afterwards, marked by the awarding of the right to execute higher justice and the expansion of other rights in 1464. St. Cunigunde's church was rebuilt in late Gothic style from 1416 to 1476, and obtained a new altar, carved in wood, in 1513.

Early modern period

The Protestant Reformation was introduced in Rochlitz by Elisabeth of Rochlitz in 1537. After the so-called "old" cemetery with its ossuary had been founded in 1534 on the site of today's square Clemens-Pfau-Platz, a Latin school (demolished in 1876, now library) was built on the grounds of former St Cunigunde's cemetery. It was rebuilt in 1595 at the expense of Electress Sophie. A new hospital church (Church of the Holy Spirit, demolished in 1904) was finished in 1563. The central part of the former lower market square (east of today's town hall) was built over in the first half of the 16th century (Mittelzeile).

In the Battle of Rochlitz on 2 March 1547, Protestant troops won their most important victory during the Schmalkaldic War before their defeat in the Battle of Mühlberg. Three witch trials are documented between 1556 and 1608, ending in one case with a man being executed, while the outcome of the others is not known any more.

During the Thirty Years' War town and castle of Rochlitz were besieged and taken several times. Fires damaged the town in 1632 and in 1682. Following the latter, houses were rebuilt with the eaves of the roofs parallel to the streets. From 1682 an infantry unit was stationed in the town. The travelling barber-surgeon and oculist Johann Andreas Eisenbarth plied his trade in Rochlitz in early 1691. The three-towered front of St Cunigunde's church dates from 1688/1689, its baroque porch was added in 1709. It housed the first public library in the town.

In the mid-18th century Rochlitz was connected to the Saxon postal system, which is attested by two Saxon post milestones (reconstructed since). A post office was established in 1734 or 1743, when regular services were introduced. A woolen mill was founded in 1769.

19th and 20th century

Reconstruction after a fire in 1802 changed the appearance of the town significantly with new residential buildings and a new tower of St Cunigunde's church (1804). A first masonry bridge across the Zwickauer Mulde was erected in 1816, a new town hall between 1826 and 1828, and a new hospital in 1854. Beginning in 1830, the town fortifications were removed.

During the Founder Epoch the town boomed and increased in size. The first railway connection opened in 1872. A new school was built near the Mulde river between 1874 and 1876, a new post and telegraph office in 1889/1891. From 1889 the town was extended towards the station.

A further extension in the shape of a garden town was built during the Golden Twenties, a second gas works was built in 1922/1923. The market fountain was created by the sculptor Georg Wrba in 1929. Today's bridge across the Zwickauer Mulde was built in 1933/1934.

The Nazi Party managed early to establish themselves in the town council, and in 1934 they deposed the non-partisan mayor by means of a political intrigue. On the initiative of the president of the local historical society and honorary director of the museum, Albert Bernstein, celebrations were held in 1936 ostensibly in honour of the 1000th anniversary of German control of the Rochlitz area (a mere historical construct), but in reality as a means of attracting business and tourism.

The arms industry established itself in Rochlitz in 1938 as Mechanik GmbH. During World War II, a subcamp of Flossenbürg concentration camp was located in the town from September 1944 to March 1945. The camp held about 600 Jewish women who were forced to labour for Mechanik GmbH.

Units of 76th Infantry Division and 6th Armored Division of Third United States Army liberated Rochlitz on 14 April 1945. Until the Americal withdrawal on 30 June 1945, the Zwickauer Mulde was part of the demarcation line between the American and Soviet occupied territories. Troops of Red Army had already established themselves in Döhlen on the east bank of the river in mid-May 1945.

Beginning in July 1945, the larger enterprises were expropriated and transformed into the publicly owned operations VEB Elektroschaltgeräte Rochlitz, VEB Stern Radio Rochlitz, and VEB Orsta-Hydraulik, who were the principal employers for much of the population of the town. During the existence of the GDR, Rochlitz expanded further, and its population increased. New residential quarters were built: Am Friedenseck 1955–1961, Am Regenbogen 1960–1965, Wilhelm-Pieck-Straße 1977/1978, and Am Eichberg from 1982/1983.

Rochlitz suffered major damage during the 2002 European floods.

Historical population data

Despite the incorporation of several neighboring communities in the 1990s, the population of Rochlitz has been declining steadily since then. Additionally, the inhabitants of Rochlitz have a mean age of 48 years and 8 months, the highest value in Mittelsachsen.