Saxony - Past & Present (Chronicle)

The current inhabitants of the Free State are not really Saxons at all, meaning the Germanic tribe of the same name. These live today in the western German state of Lower-Saxony. As a matter of fact, the Saxons should actually be called 'Meisseners'. After all, it was the margraviate of Meissen, which was the cradle of today's Free State. In AD 929, King Henry I builds a castle in the middle of a Slavic area, in order to protect the German settlers who are starting to arrive there.

Originally settled by Germanic, later by Sorb tribes, the area developed into one of the richest in Germany over time. Saxony gained and lost large territories and their population over the years, mostly as a result of wars. After a failed rebellion against the German emperor, her rulers had to accept the loss and division of their own state. Centuries later, however, the Saxons were to hold the Polish crown in addition to their own for a time.

By the end of the nineteenth century, the Labour movement had one of its strongest centres in the industrial heartland of the state. In the end, it was the Saxons, who ushered in the demise of the GDR, and paved the way for German reunification with their courageous demonstrations in 1989 in Leipzig, Plauen and Dresden.