Pirna: Guide

This term is ambiguous for Piwi-interacting RNA (piRNA)

Pirna is a city in the Free State of Saxony, Germany in the administrative district of the Sächsische Schweiz. The city's population is 40,380 (2004). Pirna is located near Dresden
and is an important district town as well as a Große Kreisstadt. It is also known for the gassing of about 15,000 disabled people in Schloss Sonnenstein between June 1940
and August 1941.

Geography

Geographical location

Pirna is located near the Elbsandsteingebirge in the Elbe valley, where the nearby rivers Wesenitz, in the north, and Gottleuba to the south, flow into the Elbe. Pirna is also called Tor zur Sächsischen Schweiz (gate to the Sächsische Schweiz). The Sächsische Weinstraße, which goes from Pirna over Pillnitz, Dresden, and Meißen
to Diesbar-Seußlitz, was dedicated in 1992. In August of 2002, the city suffered great damage in the widespread 2002 European floods|flooding in Europe at the time.

Neighbouring municipalities

Pirna is located southeast of Dresden. Neighbouring municipalities
are Bad Gottleuba-Berggießhübel (city), Bahretal, Dohma, Dohna (city),
Dürrröhrsdorf-Dittersbach, Heidenau (city), Königstein (city), Lohmen,
Stadt Wehlen (city), and Struppen.

History

Stone Age

Tools made of German, which sounds rather like "Pirna").

Middle Ages

With the conquest of the Slavic communities and the founding of the Mark by the Germans (Henry the fowler|Heinrich I founded the castle of Meißen in 929), settlement in the Pirna area is again verifiable. The castle in Pirna, which was mentioned for the first time in 1269, probably already existed in the 11th century. In the context of the second Eastern German colonization the city was founded by Henry III, Markgrave of Meissen|Markgraf Heinrich der Erlauchte von Meißen).

The streets are aligned from east to west and from north to south forming a chessboardlike
system. Only the streets east of the church are not in this shape because of the
nearby Burgberg. In 1233, Pirna was mentioned for the first time in a document. In 1293 the king of Bohemia bought the city and the castle from the Bishop of Meißen. Thus Pirna belonged to Bohemia until 1405.

Modern times

In 1502 the construction of the new church under Meister Peter Ulrich von Pirna was begun.
With the introduction of the Reformation into Saxony in 1539, Anton Lauterbach, a
friend of Martin Luther's, became pastor and superintendent. In 1544 the strategically
important castle was upgraded to a fortress by Maurice, Elector of Saxony|Moritz von Sachsen. Three years later it withstood the siege by elector John Frederick, Elector of Saxony|Johann Friedrich von Sachsen in the Schmalkaldic War.

On April 23, 1639, the city was invaded by Sweden|Swedish troops under the commander in chief of the Swedish army Johan Banér. During the futile five-month siege of the fortress the city was greatly devastated. About 600 people were murdered (Pirnarisches Elend, lit. Misery of Pirna). In around 1670, the Festung Sonnenstein (fortress) was built with modern military insights. Only the powerful stonework still exists today. In 1707, Pirna had debts that related to the Great Northern War of more than 100,000 Thalern.

Prussian Pirna

On August 29, 1756, the small Saxon army fled before the Kingdom of Prussia|Prussians, who had invaded without declaring war, to the levels between Festung Königstein and Schloss Sonnenstein and capitulated there on October 16, two days after Schloss Sonnenstein Surrender (military)|surrendered. In 1758, Austrian troops and the Imperial Army besieged the fortress.

Napoleonic Pirna

Manufacturing plants opened in 1774 in Pirna. In 1811 in Sonnenstein, the physician Ernst Gottlob Pienitz opened a mental hospital. But on September 14, 1813, France|French troops occupied Sonnenstein, forcing the evacuation of 275 patients, seizing supplies and tearing the roof trusses out to remove the threat of fire. In September of 1813, emperor Napoléon Bonaparte|Napoleon temporarily lived at the Marienhaus at the market. Until Dresden's surrender on November 11 the French defended the fortress. Only in February did the hospital for the mentally ill open again.

See also: Schloss Sonnenstein, Margraviate of Meißen, Kings of Saxony, History of Bohemia, History of Saxony, History of Germany

Industrial revolution, Imperial Germany and the Weimar Republic

In 23 the city absorbed several municipalities including Posta, Niedervogelgesang, Obervogelgesang, Copitz, Hinterjessen, Neundorf, Zuschendorf, Rottwerndorf and Zehista. The population then totalled 30,000 inhabitants.

World War II

From early 1940, until end of June 1942 a part of Sonnenstein castle in Pirna was converted into a euthanasia killing centre. A gas chamber and crematorium were installed in the cellar of the former men's sanitary (building C 16). A high brick-wall on two sides of the complex shielded it from outside while a high hoarding was erected on the other sides. Four buildings were located inside the shielding. They were used for offices, living rooms for the personnel etc. Sleeping quarters for the "burners" (men who burned the bodies) were provided for in the attic of building C 16. It is possible that other sections of the buildings were also used by T4.

From end of June 1940 until September 1942 approximately 15,000 persons were killed in the scope of the euthanasia programme and the Sonderbehandlung 14f13. The staff consisted of about 100 persons. One third of them were ordered to the extermination camps in occupied Poland, because of their experiences in deception, killing, gassing and burning innocent people.

During August / September 1942 the Sonnenstein killing centre was liquidated and incriminating installations such as gas chamber installations and crematorium ovens dismantled. From October 1942 the buildings were used as a military hospital.

Amalgamations

The cities that were amalgamated with Pirna are:

1850: Hausberggemeinde
1922/23: Posta, Niedervogelgesang, Zuschendorf, Neundorf (Pirna)|Neundorf, Rottwerndorf, Hinter-Jessen und Copitz
1930: Zehista
1950: Cunnersdorf (Pirna)|Cunnersdorf, Mockethal, Zatzschkepp
1971: Liebethal
1974: Krietzschwitz, Obervogelgesang
1998: Birkwitz-Pratzschwitz, Graupa

Population

Change of Population (from 1960, all figures for December 31):
}
1 October 29

2 August 31

Dialect

The main dialect spoken in Pirna is the Thuringian-Upper Saxon dialects|Saxon dialect group called : Südostmeißnische, which is one of the five Meißenisch group of dialects.

City partnership

- Varkaus, Finland - since 1961
- Děčín, the Czech Republic - since 1975
- Longuyon, France - since 1980
- Bolesławiec, Poland - since 1980
- Remscheid (North Rhine-Westphalia) - seit 1990.

Pirna is bound with Baienfurt and Reutlingen, both in Baden-Württemberg, in city friendships.

Culture and sites of interest

Museums

Pirna museum = Stadtmuseum Pirna, located at 2 Klosterhof
Botanical collections and Landschloss Pirna - Zuschendorf
Richard Wagner Museum Graupa

Buildings

See also: (in German): and

Music

Neue Elbland Philharmonie with 60 musicians and about 160 concerts every year.
Pirnaer Jazznacht, which in 2004 took place for the fifth time.

Persons

Johann Lindner
Johann Tetzel (1465 - 1519)
Wolf Blechschmidt
Michael Schwenke (1563 - 1610)
Anton Lauterbach (1502 - 1569) - Superintendent of Pirna
Ioannes Sommerus (1542 - 1574) - Transylvanian theologian and chronicler
Theophilus Jacobäer (1591 - 1659) - pharmacist, "rescuer" in the Thirty Years' War
Johann Siegmund von Liebenau (1607 - 1671) - captain and Commander-in-Chief of fortresses in Saxony
William Adolph Haußner (1819 - 1849) - physician and city delegate, revolutionist from 1848-49
Anna Marie Geibelt (1838 - 1923)
Friedrich August Greif - founder of the Greif endowment
Dr. Ernst Gottlob Pienitz (1777 - 1853) - Psychatric reformer
Carl William Häcker - pioneer of photography
Oskar Speck – Founder of the city scientific historiography in Pirna
Hugo Küttner (1880 - 1945) - entrepreneur
Siegfried Rädel (1893 - 1943) - city delegate
Eva Schulze-Knabe (1907 - 1976) - painter
Gertrud Eysoldt (1870 - 1955) - actress and director

External links

(in German)

This "Travel Guide" section is drawn from the Wikipedia article "Pirna". We hope you will edit and improve it. It is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License.