Clockwise from top: view of Bautzen, view over the city hall to the Czorneboh (Lusatian Highlands), historicizing bilingual Bautzen street signage, view of the city at dusk, Reichenturm, Main Market Square with town hall
Coat of arms
Location of Bautzen Budyšin within Bautzen district
Although Görlitz is larger, it is Bautzen that is regarded as the historical capital of Upper Lusatia. Bautzen is the political and cultural center of the entirety of the Slavic minority of the Sorbs (Upper and Lower), although Lower Lusatia and the Lower Sorbian-speaking Sorbs have an own, second center, which is Cottbus. About 10 percent of Bautzen's population is Upper Sorbian-speaking.[6] The use of the language is more widespread in the countryside surrounding the town than in the town itself. Bautzen is the seat of several Sorbian institutions like the Domowina, the German-Sorbian People's Theater (Němsko-Serbske ludowe dźiwadło), and Sorbian Broadcasting (Sorbischer Rundfunk, Serbski rozhłós).
The town on the River Spree is situated about 50 km (31 mi) east of Dresden between the Lusatian highland and the lowlands in the north, amidst the region of Upper Lusatia. To the north stretches the Bautzen Reservoir, which was flooded in 1974. This is the former location of the villages of Malsitz (Małšecy) and Nimschütz (Hněwsecy).[10]
Expansion of the urban area
The old part of Bautzen is located on the plateau above the Spree, whose top is marked by the Ortenburg [de] castle. It is bordered by the city walls. The later-built more recent quarters in the east were enclosed by the city ramparts. After their removal, the city expanded further east and to the left bank of the river. However, there has only been a small urban area west of the Spree until today. In the 1970s, the development areas of "Gesundbrunnen" and "Allendeviertel" were erected. After 1990, several neighbouring villages were incorporated.
In the 3rd century AD an eastern Germanic settlement existed here, but excavations have proved that the region was already inhabited as early as the late Stone Age. Sorbs arrived in the area during the migration period in the 6th century AD.
In 1429 and 1431 the town was unsuccessfully besieged by the Hussites.[11] In 1634, it was destroyed by the Swedes during the Thirty Years' War.[11] It was the site of one of the battlefields of the Napoleonic WarBattle of Bautzen in 1813. In 1868, the name was officially changed from Budissin to the more Germanized form Bautzen.[11]
In 1839, the Sorbian student organization Societas Slavica Budissenensis was founded in the city. In 1845, the Sorbian national anthem was publicly performed for the first time in the city. The Sorbian House (Upper Sorbian: Serbski Dom), a Sorbian cultural centre, was opened in the city in 1904.[13]
After the Nazi Party came to power in Germany in 1933, many political prisoners were held in the Bautzen I and Bautzen II prisons, built in 1904 and 1906, respectively.[11] During the Kristallnacht in 1938, local Jews were persecuted and Jewish-owned businesses were destroyed.[11] During World War II, in 1942–1943, the Nazis conducted three trials of members of the Polish resistance at the local court, sentencing thirteen to death.[14] The AL Bautzensubcamp of the Groß-Rosen concentration camp operated in Bautzen.[15] At least 600 men, mostly Poles, but also of other nationalities, were imprisoned there, about 310 of whom died.[15]Ernst Thälmann was imprisoned there before being deported to Buchenwald. In April 1945, the Germans evacuated many prisoners on foot to Nixdorf, where they were liberated by Polish troops on May 8, 1945, while the remaining prisoners were liberated in Bautzen by the Soviets on April 20, 1945.[15] Between 21 April and 30 April 1945, the Battle of Bautzen was fought which resulted in the town being recaptured by the German army.[16] This meant Bautzen and its surroundings stayed in German hands until Germany's capitulation.
From 1952 to 1990, Bautzen was part of the Bezirk Dresden of East Germany. Bautzen was infamous throughout East Germany for its two penitentiaries. "Bautzen I" was used as an official prison, soon to be nicknamed Gelbes Elend ("Yellow Misery") due to its outer colour, whereas the more secretive "Bautzen II" was used as a facility to hold political prisoners, dissidents and prisoners of conscience. Today, Bautzen I is known as the Bautzen Correctional Institution and is used to hold prisoners who are awaiting trial.[17] Bautzen II which was also operated by the GDR's Ministry for State Security, has served as an open memorial since 1993, operated by the Saxon Memorials Foundation. It is accessible to the public. Guided tours are provided and occasionally, films are screened.[18] A permanent exhibition depicts the misery suffered by occupants; visitors may tour detention cells, the isolation area and the yards where prisoners were allowed to exercise.[19]
In 2002 the city commemorated its 1000th birthday. In 2010 it was hit by a flood.[11]
Population development
During the Early Middle Ages, Bautzen was one of the biggest cities in Central Germany. Since about the 15th century AD its population development began to stagnate. The relatively late industrialization of Bautzen gave new impulses. It noticed a growth in population even during the time of former East Germany. But since the Peaceful Revolution in 1990 its population declined from 52,000 (1989) to about 38,000 due to emigration and low birth rates. Since about the 2000s, its population decline slowed down significantly. Today, Bautzen is the 10th largest city of Saxony in terms of population.
As of 31 December 2011, 98.3% of its population were Germans; 6.1% of them had a migration background.
The Bautzen City Council consists of 34 members. It meets either in the Town Hall [de; hsb] or in the Gewandhaus [de]. There are also four local councils (Niederkaina, Stiebitz, Kleinwelka, and Salzenforst-Bolbritz), whose honorary members are elected for five years.
Mayors
Konrad Johannes Kaeubler, Lord Mayor (1890–1918)
Gottfried Franz Hermann Niedner, (1872–1945), Lord Mayor 1918–1933
Christian Schramm (born 1952), (CDU), (Lord) Mayor 1990–2015
Alexander Ahrens (born 1966), (independent), Lord Mayor 2015–2022
Main sights
Bautzen has a very compact and well-preserved medieval town centre with numerous churches and towers and a city wall on the steep embankment to the river Spree, with one of the oldest preserved waterworks in central Europe (built 1558).
Sites of interest include:
The Reichenturm, one of the steepest leaning and still passable towers north of the Alps
Ortenburg Castle
The Old Waterworks, an architectural monument and museum
Hexenhaus (Witch's House), oldest preserved residential building (built in 1604)
There are six museums in Bautzen, including the Stadtmuseum Bautzen ("Bautzen city Museum"), the Sorbisches Museum ("Sorbian Museum", Sorbian: Serbski muzej) and the Senfmuseum (Mustard Museum).
Sorbian institutions
Sorbian House (Serbski dom), headquarters of various Sorbian organizations
Domowina (poet. Sorbian for „Homeland“, actually: Zwjazk Łužiskich Serbow z. t., Bund Lausitzer Sorben e. V.) – the umbrella organization of Sorbian cultural associations and institutions
Alstom Transportation operates a large factory on Fabrikstraße making railway locomotives, carriages and trams. It was built by the former VEB Waggonbau Bautzen, which was acquired by Bombardier Transportation in 1998 via Deutsche Waggonbau and acquired by Alstom when Bombardier Transportation was sold by parent Bombardier Inc. in 2021.
The mustard Bautz'ner Senf is produced in Bautzen. It is the market leader in the new states of Germany with a market share of 65 percent.[22]
^"Upper Sorbian". Journal of the International Phonetic Association. 47 (3). Cambridge University Press. 2017. Upper Sorbian schools in Budyšin (German: Bautzen)
^Stone, Gerald (2015). The Smallest Slavonic Nation: The Sorbs of Lusatia. History: Bloomsbury Academic Collections. Bloomsbury Publishing. pp. 29 et seq. ISBN978-1-4742-4154-0.
^Sack, Birgit (2015). "Plac Monachijski w Dreźnie i jego znaczenie w kontaktach gostyńsko-drezdeńskich". Rocznik Gostyński (in Polish). No. 2. Gostyń: Muzeum w Gostyniu. pp. 101–103. ISSN2353-7310.
^Berndt, Eberhardt (1995). Kriegsschauplatz Sachsen 1945; Die Kämpfe um Bautzen 18. bis 27. April 1945 (Battleground Saxony 1945; The battles around Bautzen 18-27 August) (in German). Wölfersheim-Berstadt. pp. 53–67. ISBN978-3-9804226-2-8.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
^Geschichte der Stadt Bautzen, Richard Reymann, Druck und Verlag: Gebrüder Müller, 1902, S. 720. Die Angaben stammen ursprünglich aus einem Zeitdokument, das am 10. September 1868 in die Turmkugel des Reichenturms gelegt wurde. Demnach waren unter den 12.623 Einwohnern 2579 Wenden. Zudem waren darunter [...] 11.419 Lutheraner, 1153 Katholiken, 29 Reformierte, 5 Angelikaner, 7 Deutschkatholiken, 1 Griechisch-Katholik und 9 Juden.