Apolda

Apolda
Apolda
Town
	Coat of arms
	Location of Apolda within Weimarer Land district
	Apolda Apolda
	Coordinates: 51°1′N 11°31′E / 51.017°N 11.517°E
Country	Germany
State	Thuringia
District	Weimarer Land
Government
• Mayor (2024–30)	Olaf Müller
Area
• Total	46.15 km2 (17.82 sq mi)
Elevation	205 m (673 ft)
Population (2022-12-31)
• Total	23,072
• Density	500/km2 (1,300/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+01:00 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+02:00 (CEST)
Postal codes	99501-99510
Dialling codes	03644, 036462, 036465
Vehicle registration	AP, APD
Website	www.apolda.de

Apolda (German: [aˈpɔlda] ^ⓘ) is a town in central Thuringia, Germany, the capital of the Weimarer Land district. It is situated in the center of the triangle Weimar–Jena–Naumburg near the river Ilm, c. 15 kilometres (9 miles) east by north from Weimar. Apolda station lies on the Halle–Bebra railway, which is part of the main line from Berlin to Frankfurt.

History

Apolda was first mentioned in 1119. Until 1633 it was seat of a family of nobles, the Vitzthums, which acted relatively independent. Between 1633 and World War I Apolda was property of the University of Jena. Nevertheless, from 1691 to 1809 Apolda was part of the Duchy of Saxe-Weimar and from 1809 to 1918 of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach (after 1815 Grand Duchy). Around 1700, the knitting industry began to grow, so that finally, at the end of the 19th century, Apolda was the wealthiest town of the whole region. On July 12–17, 1945, Apolda issued a set of three of its own postage stamps. They depicted a new sprig growing up out of a tree stump. After World War II, Thuringia became part of the German Democratic Republic. Up to German reunification, Apolda still was famous for its textile industries. Since then, a notable economic decay has taken place.

Mayors

Ernst Stegmann was the long-time mayor of Apolda with 33 years in office (1901-1934).

Period of office	Name
1869–1871	Dr. jur. Hugo Mentz
1871–1877	Gustav Francke
1878–1888	Julius Schrön
1888–1890	Friedrich August Eupel
1890–1896	Oskar Stechow
1896–1900	Georg von Fewson
1901–1934	Ernst Stegmann
1934–1945	Julius Dietz

Period of office	Name
from 23.4.1945	Friedrich Maul
from 3.6.1945	Walther Lührs
from 8.10.1945	Johannes Berger
1947–1948	Kurt Meyn
1948–1950	Kurt Sparschuh
1950–1953	Wilhelm Tischer
1953–1955	Anton Lifka
1955–1959	Kurt Koch

Period of office	Name
1959–1963	Rudi Doye
1963–1983	Hans Reichert
1983–1985	Elke Brauer
1985–1989	Gerhard Brauer
1989–1990	Jürgen Goller
1990–2006	Michael Müller
since 1.6.2006	Rüdiger Eisenbrand

Main sights

It possesses several churches and monuments to the Dobermann Pinscher dog breed, which was created in Apolda, and to Christian Zimmermann (1759–1842), who, by introducing the hosiery and cloth manufacture, made Apolda one of the most important places in Germany in these branches of industry. By 1900 it also had had extensive dyeworks, bell foundries, and manufactures of steam engines, boilers,^[3] cars and bicycles. After German reunification the majority of these had to be closed down for economical reasons.

The most important sights are: