In recent years, Saxony has made international headlines as a hotbed of political extremism. The Pegida movement (“Patriotic Europeans against the Islamization of the Occident”) emerged in Dresden in 2014, following the arrival of refugees fleeing Syria’s civil war.

Pegida began organizing frequent demonstrations against the alleged Islamization of Germany and its asylum policies.

In 2015, a series of anti-immigrant attacks and violence against shelters for asylum seekers took place in the small Saxon town of Freital. In August 2018, Chemnitz saw days of far-right demonstrations and riots after it was reported that a German citizen had been killed by migrants.

The National Socialist Underground (NSU) far-right extremist terror group found temporary hiding places in Saxony in 1998. From there, they ventured out to murder nine migrants and a policewoman between 2000 and 2007.

Saxony is also known for its left-wing extremist tendencies. The Connewitz district of Leipzig in particular has been the scene of regular clashes between left-wing extremist groups and the police.

The conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) has headed Saxony’s government since 1990. State Premier Michael Kretschmer has led a coalition government together with the Greens and the center-left Social Democratic Party (SPD) since state elections in 2019.

At that time, the CDU won 32% of the vote. But now polls suggest the Alternative for Germany (AfD), which has been classified by Germany’s domestic intelligence agency as a “confirmed right-wing extremist” party, could bypass the CDU in the election on September 1.

Saxony’s revolutionary history

Saxony labels itself as a “free state.” This goes back to 1918 when Saxony’s monarchy was abolished to express that the state was no longer subordinate to a king. Today, the free state has no special rights in Germany’s federal system.

After World War II in 1945, Saxony was part of the Soviet occupation zone and the socialist German Democratic Republic (GDR) that emerged from it in October 1949.

The peaceful revolution that led to the fall of the Berlin Wall and German reunification began in Saxony in 1989. What came to be known as the “Monday demonstrations” began in Saxony’s city of Leipzig in the autumn of 1989, calling for political reforms and freedom of expression. The demonstrations spread to other cities and grew into a broader protest movement in the GDR.

Saxony was reestablished as a federal state on October 3, 1990, the day of Germany’s reunification.

Population and economy

With more than 4 million inhabitants, Saxony is Germany’s seventh-largest state by population. The state capital is Dresden, with more than 570,000 inhabitants. The most populous city is Leipzig, with almost 620,000 inhabitants.

According to data from the Federal Institute for Population Research’s website, Saxony lost almost 700,000 inhabitants in the brain drain that followed reunification, which represents a population decline of 14%. The trend is likely to continue, as the death rate is higher than the birth rate.

According to statistics from the state’s commissioner for foreign nationals, there were 331,866 foreigners living in Saxony at the end of 2023. This represents 8.1% of all residents. The proportion of foreigners in Saxony is well below the national average of 15.2%, as determined by the Federal Statistical Office last November. The largest group were Ukrainians, followed by Syrians, and Poles.

Well over 80% of the population of Saxony does not belong to any church. Just under 16% are members of the Protestant Church and just over 3% of the Catholic Church.

Since reunification, Germany’s major car manufacturers such as Volkswagen, BMW, and Porsche have set up their production facilities where the East German car the Trabant (Trabi) was once assembled. According to the website of Saxony’s Ministry of Economic Affairs, “Around one in eight cars built in Germany comes from Saxony.” The switch to e-vehicles is hoped to provide a further boost.

For over a quarter of a century, the region around Dresden in particular has been known as Saxony’s Silicon Valley. Saxony’s government claims that the region is the leading center of the semiconductor industry in Europe and among the top five worldwide.

The unemployment rate is low compared to other eastern German states. According to the Federal Employment Agency, it was 6.2 % last year and 5.7 % nationwide.

Science and cultural heritage

Saxony is home to internationally renowned universities such as the Dresden University of Technology and Leipzig University. The University of Technology has been named a “University of Excellence” for its outstanding research and is funded by federal and state governments.

There are also many scientific institutions and innovation centers, including the Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Research and Development and the Max Planck Institute for Basic Research.

Saxony welcomes some 8 million tourists each year. Popular attractions include the dramatic rock formations of so-called “Saxon Switzerland,” the Vogtland region, Meissen with its world-famous porcelain, the timber-framed villages of Upper Lusatia, and the Erzgebirge World Heritage Site, which has been shaped by centuries of mining and is home to the famous German Christmas pyramids.

The cities are world-famous for their historical and cultural landmarks. These include baroque buildings such as the Zwinger, the Frauenkirche, and the Semperoper in Dresden and the Gewandhaus Orchestra in Leipzig. Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750), one of Germany’s most important composers, worked as a cantor at the famous St. Thomas Church in Leipzig.

Every spring, Leipzig is the meeting place of the literary scene. That is when the Leipzig Book Fair takes place, the most visited book fair in Germany.

This article was originally written in German.

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