Aschersleben

Infobox Ort in Deutschland
Art = Stadt
image_photo =
Wappen = Wappen_Aschersleben.pnglat_deg = 51 |lat_min = 45
lon_deg = 11 |lon_min = 28
Lageplan =
Bundesland = Sachsen-Anhalt
Landkreis = Salzlandkreis
Verwaltungsgemeinschaft = Aschersleben/Land
Höhe = 114
Fläche = 116.0
Einwohner = 28138
Stand = 2006-12-31
PLZ = 06449
Vorwahl = 03473
Kfz = SLK
Gemeindeschlüssel = 15 0 89 015
LOCODE = DE ASN
NUTS = DEE0C
Gliederung = 6
Straße = Markt 1
Website = [http://www.aschersleben.de/ www.aschersleben.de]
Bürgermeister = Andreas Michelmann
Partei =

Aschersleben (IPA2|ˈaʃɐsleːbən) is a town in the Salzlandkreis district, in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. It is situated approx. 22 km east of Quedlinburg, and 45 km northwest of Halle (Saale). Aschersleben is the seat of the "Verwaltungsgemeinschaft" ("municipal association") Aschersleben/Land.

History

Pre-20th century

Aschersleben was first mentioned in 753. The Latin name of the town's castle, "Ascharia", provided the name of the House of Ascania. From 1252–1315 Aschersleben was the capital of Anhalt-Aschersleben, after which it passed to the Bishopric of Halberstadt. After the 1648 Peace of Westphalia it became part of the Principality of Halberstadt. Aschersleben became part of the Prussian Province of Saxony in 1815.

Nazi Germany

A Junkers serial fuselage production facility was located in Aschersleben during the time of Nazi Germany. In April 1935 tools were transferred to Aschersleben and by May 1935 the first fuselages were built there. The facility was located in the Wilslebener Strasse 9 near the so-called Seewiesen, where an airfield was erected as well. The Aschersleben shop area reached 564,000 square metres and about 6,000 people were employed at it.

During World War II, a subcamp of the Buchenwald concentration camp was located in the town. It was established to provide slave labour for Junkers (aircraft) and Motorenwerk (automotive). [ Edward Victor. "Alphabetical List of Camps, Subcamps and Other Camps." wwww.edwardvictor.com/Holocaust/List %20 of %20 camps. htm]

Since July 1944 about 950 KZ prisoners were forced to work at the Junkers Flugzeugwerke in Aschersleben. In April 1945 the production was ceased. On 17 April U.S. forces occupied Aschersleben, but on 23 May the city was handed over to the British forces and later on 1 July it was finally handed over to the Soviets.

Aschersleben was bombed on the following dates during the war:
*1 April 1942 first British bomb attack
*20 February 1944 U.S. day attack, failed target due to cloudy weather
*31 March 1945
*14 April 1945

At the end of World War II Junkers-Aschersleben was mostly intact and the production was just changing for the Heinkel He162 production. Most installations were dismantled and transferred to Kiev in the Soviet Union by the Soviets in 1946. The remaining facility buildings at Aschersleben were later used by VEB Kombinat Fritz Heckert. Today the area is used by Schiess AG.

Post-1945

Aschersleben was part of East Germany until 1990, when it became part of Saxony-Anhalt during German reunification. On 1 January 2008, the municipalities of Drohndorf, Freckleben and Mehringen were incorporated into Aschersleben.

Architecture

Several architectural styles are represented in Aschersleben. The historic centre is dominated by romanesque ("Grauer Hof"), gothic (St. Stephani Church), renaissance (City Hall, "Krukmannsches Haus") and baroque architecture.

There is a ring of buildings in neoclassical and Jugendstil styles around the historic Old Town. This, in turn, is surrounded and interspersed with buildings of early modernism like the Heckner-Bauten and buildings from the GDR era. Large new areas are mainly in the north and south-east of the city.

There are few half-timbered buildings in the old town of Aschersleben. The reasons for this is the availability of good stone material and the absence of large forests in the vicinity, as well as numerous fires before the 16th century. Nevertheless, there are numerous buildings, which are partly half-timbered, usually the upper floors.

Others

Wendell Lewis Willkie (February 18, 1892 – October 8, 1944) was a corporate lawyer in the United States and the Republican Party (GOP) nominee for the 1940 presidential election, despite having never held a prior elected political office.Born Lewis Wendell Willkie in Elwood, Indiana, he was the son of Herman Willkie, a German immigrant from Aschersleben, and Henrietta Tisch.

People

* Adam Olearius (1603-1671), writer and diplomat
* Johann Esaias Silberschlag (1721-1791), theologian and scientist
* Johann August Ephraim Goeze (1731-1793), zoologist
* Wilhelm Friedrich Wieprecht (1802-1872), composer
* Rudolf Christian Böttger (1806-1881), chemist and physicist
* Gerd von Rundstedt (1875-1953), World War II general
* Hermann Gieseler (1889-1948), union leader
* Walter Andreas Schwarz (1913-1992), singer
* Ernst Klodwig (1903-1973), Formula 1 driver
* Otto Arndt (1920-1992), politician
* Gerd Höfer (born 1943), politician

References

External links

* [http://www.aschersleben.de www.aschersleben.de]