| Wojerecy Hoyerswerda |
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| View of Downtown | |
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Hoyerswerda
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Location of the town of Hoyerswerda within Hoyerswerda district
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| Coordinates | |
| Administration | |
| Country | Germany |
| State | Saxony |
| Admin. region | Dresden |
| District | Hoyerswerda |
| Lord Mayor | Stefan Skora (CDU) |
| Governing party | Die Wahlplattform für Hoyerswerda |
| Basic statistics | |
| Area | 94.76 km2 (36.59 sq mi) |
| Elevation | 117 m (384 ft) |
| Population | 37,379 (31 December 2010)[1] |
| - Density | 394 /km2 (1,022 /sq mi) |
| Other information | |
| Time zone | CET/CEST (UTC+1/+2) |
| Licence plate | HY (before: BZ, old: HY) |
| Website | hoyerswerda.de |
Hoyerswerda (Upper Sorbian: Wojerecy, Lower Sorbian: Wórjejce) is the largest city in the district of Bautzen in the German state of Saxony. It is located in Lusatia, a region where many people speak the Sorbian languages in addition to German.
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The city is situated in north of the district of Bautzen, close to the borders of Saxony with Brandenburg. It dists 36 km from Bautzen, 44 from Cottbus and 65 from Dresden. Hoyerswerda is part of Upper Lusatia and lies on a rural plain characterized by the presence of several lakes and some swamps.
Hoyerswerda divides into old town, new town and following districts:
- Bröthen-Michalken (Upper Sorbian: Brětnja/Michałki)
- Dörgenhausen (Upper Sorbian: Němcy)
- Knappenrode (Upper Sorbian: Hórnikecy)
- Schwarzkolm (Upper Sorbian: Čorny Chołmc)
- Zeißig (Upper Sorbian: Ćisk)
The old town of Hoyerswerda divides into eleven districts (literal interpretation in brackets):
Neida, Dresdner Vorstadt, Am Bahnhof (on railroad station), Am Stadtrand (on the outskirts), an der Neupetershainer Bahn, An der Thrune, Innere Altstadt (Downtown/historical center), Senftenberger Vorstadt, Spremberger Vorstadt, Nördliche Elsteraue, Südliche Elsteraue.
The new town of Hoyerswerda divides into 14 districts (literal interpretation in brackets):
Neustadt Zentrum (New Town Center), Kühnicht, Grünewaldring, Gondelteich (Gondola Lake), Wohnkomplex I, Wohnkomplex II, Wohnkomplex III, Wohnkomplex IV, Wohnkomplex V/VE, Wohnkomplex VI, Wohnkomplex VII, Wohnkomplex VIII, Wohnkomplex IX, Wohnkomplex X.
The city was first mentioned in 1268. In 1371 it was granted an official marketplace. It received municipal rights from Freiherr von Duba in 1423, as well as the right to elect its own council.
In the 18th century the elector of Saxony, Augustus the Strong, gave the duchy of Hoyerswerda to Katherina von Teschen, who helped the town to develop trade and manufacture. The Battle of Hoyerswerda occurred nearby in 1759 during the Seven Years' War.
In 1815 Hoyerswerda became part of the Prussian Province of Silesia. In 1873 the new railway between Hoyerswerda and Ruhland opened - it had a positive effect on the economic development of the city. In 1912 the Domowina, the organisation of the Sorbs, was founded in the city. The town became part of the Prussian Province of Lower Silesia in 1912.
At the end of the Second World War the town was declared a core center of German defence and was therefore heavily damaged. The invading Red Army set fire to the town. It became part of Saxony again after the war, but from 1952 until 1990, when the states of East Germany were abolished, it was administered by the Bezirk (Region) of Cottbus.
During the time of the GDR, Hoyerswerda became an important industrial town. The lignite processing enterprise, "Schwarze Pumpe", was established in 1955 (it is today in the federal state of Brandenburg). Since 1957, the demand for new living space rose dramatically - in the following years, 10 new big living areas with tens of thousands of apartments were built. In 1981 the city reached its maximum number of inhabitants, with about 71,054 people living there. At that time, there was nowhere in the GDR where more children per inhabitant were born than Hoyerswerda. Upon reunification in 1990, the people of the city decided to become part of the reconstituted state of Saxony.
With the end of the GDR and the reconstruction of the East German economy, many enterprises in the industrial region of Hoyerswerda were endangered, closed or had to lay off employees. The social situation in the city became especially dangerous: in 1991, for example, a xenophobic attack took place on a hostel containing refugees. It became necessary to develop an anti-violence program for the city. Between 1993 and 1998 several smaller villages became part of the city, but the number of overall inhabitants declined rapidly, from about 70,000 people in the 1980s to about 41,000 people by the end of 2000. The population is expected to shrink even further, to about 20,000 or 30,000, by 2030. There are attempts to renovate the city: many of the apartment blocks built in the time of the GDR have been demolished.[2] This project, like others, was financed with money from the EU and the Federal Republic of Germany.
Its role as an independently ruled town in Saxony disappeared in 2008 with the reshaping of the regional administration of Saxony.
While part of East Germany, Hoyerswerda was the location of several important employers, including a power plant, a glassworks, coal mines, and an army artillery range. With the unification of Germany and the subsequent demise of a centrally-planned economy, the city has lost many jobs as the glassworks and artillery range were closed and the power plant reduced its payroll. In the last fifteen years, the population has fallen by one-half and unemployment remains at 22.3% (Economist, August 27, 2005). But know it must build new houses in Hoyerswerda, because of the "Kupferabbau" by Schwarze Pumpe the population would be more in the next years.
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