Suhl (Bezirk)

The Suhl district was established in 1952 after the dissolution of the countries in the German Democratic Republic as the smallest of the 14 districts.

Administrative divisions

The district included a circular city and eight counties:

With the re- establishment of the countries on the territory of the GDR in 1990, the districts were dissolved. The Suhl district was assigned to the state of Thuringia, from 1994 Thuringia.

With the district reform, which was implemented in the Free State of Thuringia 1 July 1994, created from the previous circles larger administrative units. Thus, the district of Bad Salzungen with the northerly Erfurt in the former District Council Eisenach was summarized for Wartburg district. The district Hildburghausen has been extended to parts of the circle Suhl in the north and now forms the district Hildburghausen. The circles Schmalkalden and Meiningen were united to the district Schmalkalden- Meiningen, the circle Sonnenberg has been extended to the southern part of the county Neuhaus and now forms the Sonneberg area, the northern part of the county Neuhaus was the district of Saalfeld -Rudolstadt affiliated. The circle Ilmenau was merged with the northern Erfurt in the former District Council Arnstadt for Ilm-Kreis. The county Suhl was dissolved, parts were incorporated into the city of Suhl; the southern part of Schleusingen came to the district of Hildburghausen, the western and northern part of Zella-Mehlis and Oberhof came to the district Schmalkalden- Meiningen and the lying to the east of Suhl community Gehlberg was incorporated into the Ilm-Kreis.

District Town and Regional Planning

Since the Thuringian forest the southern part of Thuringia clearly demarcated from the northern part, it was difficult in the formation of districts in 1952 to select a different border than the crest of the ridge. Thus arose the Suhl district is the smallest district of the GDR. Another problem was the population structure is: so in particular the Thuringian forest was densely populated, but there was in the room of the district not a big city, the county could be aligned mono-centric, as in many other districts, such as Erfurt, Leipzig and Magdeburg was the case.

With over 30,000 inhabitants, the industrial town of Sonneberg was the largest city, which was sometimes only a few hundred meters away from the inner German border, however, in the extreme southeast of the district in establishing the district. She left alone by their situation from even as a future regional city.

Traditional center of the room was Meiningen, centrally located in the district with sufficient infrastructure in all directions. As the former capital of the Duchy of Saxe -Meiningen all the requirements for a district town were in this city already exists. So Meiningen should also be regional city with about 24,000 inhabitants according to the will of the local SED leadership. However Meiningen was not industrialized, but rather as a classic residence of an administrative, cultural and service center, in particular the financial services, the judiciary and the culture. Furthermore, in the population structure, the bourgeoisie was strongly represented, respectively, the proportion of so-called working class too low. A clear denial by the Central Committee in Berlin was then Meiningen resign as district town.

Heavily industrialized and far away from the inner German border, was the town of Ilmenau, who was also a center of learning ( technical, financial high school, Glasfachschule ). However, it was at the edge of the district and had poor infrastructure connections to the other major cities of the region, which rendered it unsuitable as a district town and this city.

So we opted for the city of Suhl (then 24,000 inhabitants), the (then 16,000 inhabitants ) is also represented together with the adjacent Zella- Mehlis, a heavily industrialized city. The greatest disadvantage of Suhl was the topography, made ​​an enlargement of the city difficult. In addition, the infrastructure had - especially in comparison to Meiningen - considerable shortcomings, but this also brought with it the advantage that the SED leadership here something completely new without regard to historical structures - to build on. This happened in the following decades, although the district remained relatively polycentric structure.

A cultural- historical center remained Meiningen, training centers were still Ilmenau and Schmalkalden with their technical universities and the industry was not centralized crucial. After the reunification were found for the old county town of Suhl by structural changes significant problems and enduring, above-average population decline. In contrast, the three other major cities able to compensate somewhat better in the district of the consequences of reunification.

Government and party leaders

Chairman of the Council of the District

First Secretary of the SED district leadership

Dialects or vernaculars

• East Frankish dialects Main-Franconian dialects Grabfeldisch in circles Meiningen and Hildburghausen
• Hennebergisch in circles Schmalkalden, Meiningen, Suhl, Hildburghausen and Bad Salzungen
• Itzgründisch in the districts Hildburghausen and Sonneberg
• Rhoener Platt in the circles Bad Salzungen and Meiningen

• Ilmthüringisch in a circle Neuhaus
• Zentralthüringisch in a circle Ilmenau
• Südostthüringisch in a circle Neuhaus

More info

• Size: 3876 square kilometers, of which 50 % forest cover
• Industry: Forestry, Wood processing, woodworking, mining ( potash, barite ), mechanical engineering, vehicle ( mopeds ), railway, hunting and sporting weapons, household appliances, electrical engineering, micro-electronics, glass, toys and porcelain industry.
• Largest cities:

The district Suhl was the smallest district of the GDR and was jokingly called the " Autonomous Republic of mountain ", " Socialist underdeveloped hinterland " or "Mountain Republic Südthüringen ".

Coat of arms

By sealing order of the GDR from May 28, 1953 lost all its importance as a regional emblem mark or seal. However, the coat of arms of cities and counties were still used on buildings, or in publications without meeting an official function. The coat of arms used in some books of the district Suhl actually shows the coat of arms of the city of Suhl. Officially was the seal coat of arms of the GDR. Only by the municipal constitution of the GDR of 17 May 1990 municipalities and counties were able for the first time explicitly lead coat of arms and use it as a seal.