Gera


Gera is the third-largest city in Thuringia, Germany, with 94,000 inhabitants, located south of Leipzig, east of Erfurt and west of Dresden.
Gera was first mentioned in 995 and developed to a city during the 13th century. Later, it was the residence of several lines of the Reussians until the end of monarchy in Germany in 1918. Over the 19th century, Gera became a centre of the textile industry and saw a period of rapid growth. In 1952, the city also became an administrative centre in GDR as one of the capitals of Gera administrative district. In 1990, Gera became part of re-established Thuringia. The loss of its administrative functions as well as its industrial core precipitated the city's slide into an enduring economic crisis.
Since 1990, many of Gera's buildings have been restored and big urban planning programmes like the Bundesgartenschau 2007 were implemented to stimulate Gera's economy. Sights include some retained buildings of the royal residence epoque and many public and private buildings from the economic heyday between 1870 and 1930. The famous painter Otto Dix was born in Gera in 1891.
Gera lies in a hilly landscape in the east of Thuringia, within the wide valley of the White Elster river.

History

Middle Ages

The place name Gera originally referred to the area of the Elster river valley where the city stands now. The name most likely originated before the European Migration Period – the Slavic people who first settled the area during the 8th century adopted the name. The first known documentary mention of Gera dates from 995.
In 999 Emperor Otto III assigned the "province" of Gera to the Quedlinburg Abbey. In turn, the church assigned the protectorship of this area in 1209 to the Vogts of Weida who served as its administrators. The Vogts of Weida were the ancestors of the Reussians, who ruled Gera until 1918. Gera was first mentioned as a town in 1237, though it is unclear in which year Gera got the municipal law. The small town got circumvallated in the 13th century on an area of 350 x 350 m and the Vogts' city castle was built in the south-western corner at today's Burgstraße. A municipal seal was first used in 1350, the council was first named in 1360 and the town hall was mentioned in 1426. The abbess of Quedlinburg remained the formal sovereign of Gera until 1358, as the Wettins followed her up. The Vogt's couldn't emancipate theirselfs from Wettin rule. In 1450, Gera was almost totally destroyed during the Saxon Fratricidal War, but it could recuperate quick because the starting textile manufacture brought wealth to the town.

Early modern period

The Reformation was introduced in Gera in 1533 against the will of the Vogts by the Wettins. After the Schmalkaldic War in 1546, the Wettins lost Gera to the Bohemian Crown, who however had no influence on the city, so that the Vogts resp. the Reussians as indeed rulers were strengthened. During the 16th century, some cloth-makers from the Spanish Netherlands migrated to Gera as religious refugees at Count Henry's invitation and raised the textile business in Gera. In the 18th century, there was a first peak in this industry, which can be seen today at the large agents houses.
In 1673, the Reussians were raised to Imperial Counts which granted them full sovereignty within the Holy Roman Empire; Gera became their royal residence. In 1686 and 1780, big town fires destroyed most buildings in Gera. The town was rebuilt relatively uniform during the 1780s in late-Baroque style, which marks the inner city until today.
In 1806 Napoleon established his Imperial Headquarters at Gera during the War of the Fourth Coalition. From here, on October 12, 1806, the French Emperor purposely sent an arrogant and threatening letter to King Frederick William III of Prussia – a letter that enticed Prussia to war and a crushing defeat at the Battle of Jena a few days later.

Since 1815

The Gera line of Reussians died out in 1802, so that it had no royal residence until the new one moved there from Schleiz in 1848. From 1848 to 1918 Gera served as the capital of the Principality of Reuss-Gera. With the industrial revolution in the mid-19th century, Gera grew rapidly, due largely to its textile industry, which saw the first Power loom installed in 1836. In 1859, Gera was first connected by railway to Halle via Zeitz and Weißenfels. During the following decades, rail lines in all directions made Gera to a transport hub, and the town kept growing. The second electric tram in Germany was installed in Gera in 1892.
After World War I, during the German Revolution of 1918–19, the prince of Reuss was forced to abdicate and as the resultant "Republic of Reuss" joined the newly founded state of Thuringia in 1920. After the incorporation of some suburbs in the 1910s and 1920s Gera, with some 80,000 inhabitants, was the largest city in Thuringia, although the more centrally located Weimar became its capital.
After the Nazi takeover of Germany, the Jewish community of Gera was destroyed, the synagogue burnt down in the Kristallnacht in 1938 and the city's Jews emigrated or were murdered in concentration camps. A month before the end of World War II, on 6 April 1945, U.S. bombing destroyed parts of the city and killed 514 residents. Some 300 buildings were hit, including the Osterstein castle and several historic buildings in city centre, many of which weren't rebuilt after the war. U.S. forces occupied Gera on 14 April 1945 but were replaced by the Soviets on 1 July 1945.
Gera became part of the GDR in 1949 and was a flash point in the Uprising of 1953 in East Germany as thousands of workers – among them many employees of the Soviet-established Wismut uranium mining entity in the nearby Ore Mountains – demanded higher wages and free elections. The demonstrations were put down by Soviet military forces, including armored units.
With governmental reorganization in East Germany, the city became the capital of the newly created District of Gera in 1952. The population rose during the GDR period, and massive Plattenbau prefabricated apartment blocks, built throughout East Germany, were constructed in Gera.
After German reunification in 1990, Gera became part of the restored state of Thuringia. However, Gera lost most of its administrative functions after reunification, and nearly all the city's factories were closed. This led to a continuing economic crisis with significant unemployment, and the city's population declined from 135,000 in 1990 to less than 100,000 a decade later.
The city hosted the Bundesgartenschau in 2007.

Geography and demographics

Topography

Gera is located in a smooth-hilly landscape in eastern Thuringia at the White Elster river, between the Thuringian Highland approx. in the south-west, the Ore Mountains approx. in the south-east and the Leipzig Bay approx. in the north. The municipal territory is marked by the Elster valley, crossing it in south-northern direction. West of the valley, the landscape is more hilly and forested, whereas the eastern parts are more flat and in agricultural use. The elevation is between 180 metres and . Usually the height above sea level for the city appears as when measured at the market place.
Small tributaries of the White Elster river within the borders of Gera are the Erlbach on the western side and the Wipsenbach, Gessenbach and Brahme on the eastern side.

Climate

Gera has a humid continental climate or an oceanic climate according to the Köppen climate classification system. Summers are warm and sometimes humid, winters are relatively cold. The city's topography creates a microclimate caused through the basin position with sometimes inversion in winter and heat and inadequate air circulation in summer. Annual precipitation is only with moderate rainfall throughout the year. Light snowfall mainly occurs from December through February, but snow cover does not usually remain for long.

Administrative division

Gera abuts the following municipalities:
Gera is divided in different ways. Historically, there are more than 60 villages in the densely settled Elster valley area belonging to Gera today. The actual division knows on the one hand statistical districts and on the other hand political districts. The 12 statistical districts are covering the whole city area and consist of several political districts, urban quarters and/or rural villages. The 16 political districts are covering only few parts of Gera, but not the central urban areas, instead usually rural districts got incorporated during the second half of the 20th century. Each political district can consist of more than one village. Each political district elects an own district council and a district mayor, whereas the statistical districts don't have any political function.
The main urban quarters are the city centre, Untermhaus in the west, Langenberg, Tinz and Bieblach in the north, Leumnitz in the east, Pforten and Zwötzen in the south-east as well as Debschwitz and Lusan in the south-west.

Demographics

During the centuries, Gera has been a quite small town of 2,000 inhabitants. As the textile business saw a first peak, the population rose to 7,000 in 1800 and further to 17,000 after the early stage of industrialisation in 1870. Gera's heyday between 1870 and 1930 led to a demographic boom with a population of 83,000 at the end of this phase in 1930. In 1950, Gera had 98,000 inhabitants and the all-time peak was reached in 1988 with a population of 135,000. After the German reunification in 1990, the city saw a significant decline in population, despite the large incorporations of 1994. The population shrunk to 113,000 in 2000 and 95,000 in 2012.
The average decrease of population between 2009 and 2012 was approximately 0.55% p. a, whereas the population in bordering rural regions is shrinking with accelerating tendency. Suburbanization played only a small role in Gera. It occurred after the reunification for a short time in the 1990s, but most of the suburban areas were situated within the administrative city borders. During the 1990s and the 2000s, many inhabitants left Gera to search a better life in west Germany or other major east German cities like Jena or Leipzig. Since 2010, emigration is no big issue anymore. Now, the birth deficit, caused by the high average age of the population, is getting a bigger problem because the immigration isn't sufficient to compensate it yet. Despite urban planning activities to tear down unused flats, vacancy is still a problem with rates around 12%. A positive side effect for the inhabitants is that Gera has one of the lowest rent levels in Germany.
The birth deficit was 715 in 2012, this is -7.5 per 1,000 inhabitants. The net migration rate was +3.6 per 1,000 inhabitants in 2012. The most important regions of origin of Gera migrants are bordering rural areas of Thuringia, Saxony-Anhalt and Saxony as well as foreign countries like Poland, Russia, Ukraine, Hungary, Serbia, Romania and Bulgaria.
Like other eastern German cities, Gera has only a small amount of foreign population: circa 1.6% are non-Germans by citizenship and overall 5.0% are migrants. Differing from the national average, the biggest groups of migrants in Gera are Russians, Vietnamese people and Ukrainians. During recent years, the economic situation of the city improved a bit: the unemployment rate declined from 22% in 2005 to 11% in 2013, which is still the highest one out of all Thuringian districts. Due to the official atheism in former GDR, most of the population is non-religious. 9.8% are members of the Evangelical Church in Central Germany and 2.6% are Catholics making one of the world's lowest amounts of religious people.

Culture, sights and cityscape

Museums

There are some museums in Gera:
Like its western neighbour-city Jena, Gera is a protracted city along a wide valley in south-northern direction. The historic city centre is quite small and located between Sorge in the north, Nicolaistraße in the east, Stadtgraben in the south and Reichsstraße in the west. It survived World War II, but during the 1960s and 1970s, the GDR government demolished larger inner-city areas to rebuild them with modern concrete architecture, which marks the view of Gera's centre, particularly in the north-west until today. Between 1870 and 1930, the city was largely extended in all directions. As distinct from other German cities, there is no citywide spatial separation between the worker's quarters and the upper-class mansion districts, instead, the mansions and the tenements are situated near to each other, spread over all the districts. The hilly areas and those next to the river and the parks are more upscale, whereas the areas next to the railway and the factories are more working-class styled. Nevertheless, the Gründerzeit architecture is quite diverse and interesting in Gera. Most buildings were extensively refurbished after 1990. Especially Gera's mansion architecture from the 1900s and 1910s is unique. The 1920s brought some modern-style Bauhaus buildings to the then rich city. During the GDR period, urban growth was handled by establishing big Plattenbau settlements on the city's periphery, like the Lusan district in south and the Bieblach district in north.

Sights and architectural heritage

Churches

Agriculture, industry and services

Agriculture has some importance in the rural districts of Gera, especially in the northern and eastern city parts. Approximately 57% of the municipal territory is in agricultural use: growing maize, rapeseed and crops as well as pasturing cattle.
The city's economy features industrial machinery, communications, security locks, optics, electrical equipment, and margarine manufacturing. Other companies include a compressor manufacturer, a precision-tool maker, and a subsidiary of the construction company Max Bögl. The e-commerce service-provider D+S Europe has a service centre in Gera with several hundred workers, and Rittal, a manufacturer of information-technology enclosures, moved from Bad Köstritz to Gera. Some industrial branches operating before 1990 no longer have major importance. Sectors either no longer existing or sharply reduced include those in toolmaking, textiles, textile machinery, electronic equipment. Other industries that had a presence included VEB Carl Zeiss Jena and a brewery. One important industrial branch had been uranium-ore mining in nearby Ronneburg, whereby the region became the Soviet Union's leading uranium supplier. In 2012 Gera had 41 companies with more than 20 workers in the industrial sector, employing 3,400 people and generating an overall turnover of €452 million.
Gera is a supra-centre according to the Central Place Theory in German regional planning. This makes the city a regional centre for retailing, with three major shopping centres: Gera-Arcaden, Amthor-Passage and Elster-Forum. Health services are important, with one of the biggest hospitals in Thuringia, the SRH Waldklinikum. Nevertheless, Gera's economy is weak compared to equal-sized neighbouring cities like Jena or Zwickau. While Jena counts 51,000 and Zwickau 50,000 jobs liable to pay into the German social insurance, Gera had only 35,000 of those full-time jobs in 2012. The commuter balance was +14,000 in Jena and +16,000 in Zwickau, but only +2,000 in Gera, which is one of the lowest ratios among German supra-centres, highlighting the lack of ability of Gera to provide jobs for the region. The unemployment rate reached 11.2% in September 2013 - the highest among all Thuringian districts.

Transport

By rail

Since the late 19th century, Gera has been a hub in the railway network. The first railway ran to the Thuringian Railway in Weißenfels via Zeitz in 1859. Further main lines were opened to Gößnitz in 1865, to Saalfeld in 1871, to Leipzig in 1873, to Plauen in 1875, to Weimar via Jena in 1876 and to Hof in 1883. The secondary railways to Werdau and Meuselwitz are abandoned. Nevertheless, none of these lines are electrified or in use for long-distance trains. Today, there are regional express trains to Göttingen via Jena and Erfurt, to Leipzig via Zeitz, to Altenburg, Glauchau and Zwickau via the Gößnitz line, to Greiz, to Hof and to Saalfeld. Local trains provide connections to Weimar via Jena, Leipzig, Weischlitz, Hof and Saalfeld. The most lines run every two hours, so that there is hourly service to most directions. The electrification of the west-eastern mainline Weimar – Jena – Gera – Gößnitz is in discussion for closing that gap in the network and enable Gera's connection to long-distance trains, which can be reached today either via Jena or via Leipzig.
The most important stations in Gera are the Gera main station, where all the trains stop, and the Gera southern station, where all the trains, except the local ones to Weimar, stop. More stations in Gera are Langenberg at the Leipzig line, Zwötzen at the Saalfeld and Hof line as well as Gera Ost and Liebschwitz at the Plauen line. Freight transport by rail is immaterial in Gera since the 1990s.

By road

The two Autobahnen crossing each other nearby at Hermsdorf junction are the Bundesautobahn 4 and the Bundesautobahn 9, which were both built during the 1930s. Furthermore, there are three Bundesstraßen connecting Gera: the Bundesstraße 2 to Zeitz in the north and Hof in the south, the Bundesstraße 7 to Jena in the west and to Altenburg in the east and the Bundesstraße 92 to Plauen in the south. Important secondary roads run to Altenburg, to Werdau, to Wünschendorf, to Stadtroda and to Hermsdorf. As part of the Bundesgartenschau 2007, a new bypass road was built in the east to improve the connection of southern city parts to the A 4 and to relieve the city centre from transit traffic.

By aviation

The closest regional airports are the Leipzig/Halle Airport, about north and the Erfurt-Weimar Airport, about west of Gera. Both serve mainly holiday flights. The nearest major airports are the Frankfurt Airport, the Munich Airport and the prospective Berlin Brandenburg Airport. In the eastern part of Gera lies the airfield Gera-Leumnitz meant for private aviation.

By bike

Cycling is becoming more popular since the construction of quality cycle tracks began in the 1990s. For tourists, there are the Weiße Elster track and the Thuringian city string track . Both connect points of tourist interest, the first along the White Elster valley from the Elster Mountains at the Czech border to Saale river in Halle and second from Eisenach via Erfurt, Weimar, Jena and Gera to Altenburg. For inner city every-day traffic, some cycle lanes exist along several main streets.

Trams and buses

The Gera tram network was the second in Germany that launched electrical engines in 1892. Today, there are two long lines, one from Bieblach via city centre to Lusan and another one – opened in 2006 – from Untermhaus via city centre to Zwötzen. The third short line is a connection between Lusan and the Zwötzen railway station. Another line is planned to connect Langenberg and the northern city parts. On line 3 is one course every 5 minutes, on line 1 every 10 minutes and on line 2 every 20 minutes.
The bus network connects districts without trams as well as neighbouring municipalities that do not have a rail connection.

Education

Tertiary institutions are the private college SRH Fachhochschule für Gesundheit Gera with 500 students and the Gera branch of the Duale Hochschule Gera-Eisenach with 850 students locally.
Furthermore, there are four Gymnasiums, all of them are state-owned. The Goethe-Gymnasium/Rutheneum focuses on music education as an elite boarding school, in addition to the common curriculum.

Politics

Mayor and city council

The first freely elected mayor after German reunification was independent Ralf Rauch, who served from 1994 to 2006. He was succeeded by Norbert Vornehm of the Social Democratic Party, who served from 2006 to 2012. Viola Hahn was elected in 2012, but was defeated seeking re-election in 2018, failing to progress to the second round. Julian Vonarb was elected, and has since served as mayor. The most recent mayoral election was held on 15 April 2018, with a runoff held on 29 April, and the results were as follows:
! rowspan=2 colspan=2| Candidate
! rowspan=2| Party
! colspan=2| First round
! colspan=2| Second round
! Votes
! %
! Votes
! %
! colspan=3| Valid votes
! 39,078
! 99.2
! 35,518
! 98.2
! colspan=3| Invalid votes
! 299
! 0.8
! 653
! 1.8
! colspan=3| Total
! 39,377
! 100.0
! 36,171
! 100.0
! colspan=3| Electorate/voter turnout
! 79,724
! 49.4
! 79,671
! 45.4

Twin towns

Gera is twinned with:

  • Nuremberg, Bavaria, Germany
  • Plzeň, Czech Republic
  • Pskov, Pskov Oblast, Russia
  • Rostov-on-Don, Rostov Oblast, Russia
  • Saint-Denis, Seine-Saint-Denis, Île-de-France, France
  • Skierniewice, Łódź Voivodeship, Poland
  • Sliven, Bulgaria
  • Timișoara, Romania

    • Notable natives

  • Heinrich Reinhold,, painter and engraver
  • Heinrich Gustav Beck,, Minister-president of Saxony 1914–1918
  • Otto Lummer, physicist
  • Otto Dix, painter and printmaker
  • Rudolf Paul,, politician, President of Thuringia 1945–1947
  • Bernhard Wehner, SS-officer, criminal inspector and journalist
  • Nahum Golan, Israeli Brigadier General, 1948-1950 commander of the Golani Brigade
  • Dietrich Peltz, Luftwaffe general
  • Karl Weschke,, painter
  • Georg Buschner,, football player, head coach East Germany national football team
  • Rainer Ortleb, politician, 1990-1991 Federal Minister for Special Affairs and from 1991 to 1994 Federal Minister of Education and Science
  • Max Frankel,, executive editor, New York Times 1986–1994
  • Klaus Kropfinger,, musicologist
  • Helga Königsdorf, mathematician and author
  • Thilo Sarrazin,, German politician, author
  • Wolfgang Tiefensee,, politician
  • Marlies Göhr,, athlete
  • Olaf Ludwig,, racing cyclist
  • Heike Drechsler,, Olympic gold medallist long jumper
  • Jens Heppner,, racing cyclist
  • John Degenkolb,, racing cyclist
  • Marcel Eckardt,, snooker referee
  • Bianca Schmidt,, footballer
  • Wilhelm Ernst Spaethe and Otto Paul Spaeth, of Spaethe Pianos, founded in 1858 by Wilhelm Spaethe senior, awarded an imperial and royal warrant of appointment, to the court of Austria-Hungary.