Dessau

Dessau is first mentioned in 1213 . It became an important center in 1570 , when the principality of Anhalt was founded. Dessau became the capital of this entity within the Holy Roman Empire . Anhalt broke up in 1603 , divided into four - later five - the principalities of Anhalt. Dessau becomes the capital of the mini-state of Anhalt-Dessau , which existed until 1918 .

Dessau is known for its college of architecture Bauhaus , who moved here ( 1925 ) after being forced to close in Weimar . Many famous artists were teachers in Dessau in the following years, including Walter Gropius , Paul Klee and Wassily Kandinsky . Because of the Nazis, the Bauhaus closed in 1931 , and reopened only in 1986 .

The city that housed the Junkers aircraft manufacturing factories was almost completely destroyed after the Allied air raids in World War II on March 7, 1945, six weeks before US forces occupied the city. At night, the 520 heavy British bombers of Lancaster dropped 1,700 tons of high-explosive and incendiary bombs on the densely populated center of Dessau. As a result of the attack, about 700 people died, 80% of the built-up urban area was destroyed; in the old town, almost 97% of all buildings were completely destroyed or irreversibly damaged. The historic city with its churches, castles, and many public buildings was almost completely lost. The very high degree of destruction here was the result of the combined use of incendiary and high-explosive bombs. ^[2] It was then rebuilt with a typical tiled concrete architecture for the GDR and became a large industrial center in East Germany. With the unification of Germany in 1990, many historic buildings were restored.

Composer Kurt Weil was born in Dessau. Dessau is also the birthplace of the philosopher Moses Mendelssohn (born 1729), and Leopold I , Prince of Anhalt-Dessau, and the Prussian field marshal.

In 1916, Oswald Bölke, a famous military pilot and tactician, one of the first aces in the history of world aviation, was solemnly buried in the Ehrenfriedhof cemetery in Dessau.

On July 1, 2007, the city of Dessau was merged with the neighboring city of Roslau . The new city was named Dessau-Roslau .

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• Willy Meink is a writer.
• Thomas Kretschman - American actor of German origin.
• Lyudmila Artemyeva - Russian theater and film actress, Honored Artist of Russia (1997)
• Johann Grigorievich Krasny-Admoni (pseudonym: Admoni) July 17, 1906 - Soviet composer, organizer and permanent leader of the free (national) Seminar of amateur composers in Leningrad .

• Dessau, a city in Germany // Encyclopedic dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron : in 86 tons (82 tons and 4 extra). - SPb. , 1890-1907.

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