Suhl (German pronunciation:[zuːl]ⓘ) is a city inThuringia,Germany, located SW ofErfurt, 110 kilometres (68 miles) NE ofWürzburg and 130 kilometres (81 miles) N ofNuremberg. With its 37,000 inhabitants, it is the smallest of the six urban districts within Thuringia. Together with its northern neighbour-townZella-Mehlis, Suhl forms the largest urban area in theThuringian Forest with a population of 46,000. The region around Suhl is marked by up to 1,000-meter-high mountains, including Thuringia's highest peak, theGroßer Beerberg (983 m), approximately 5 kilometres (3 miles) NE of the city centre.
Suhl was first mentioned in 1318 and stayed a small mining and metalworking town, until industrialization broke through in late 19th century and Suhl became a centre of Germany's arms production, specialized on rifles and guns with companies such asSauer & Sohn. Furthermore, the engineering industry was based in Suhl withSimson, a famous car and moped producer. In 1952, Suhl became one ofEast Germany's 14 district capitals, which led to a government-directed period of urban growth and conversion. Its results – a typical 1960s concrete architecture-marked city centre – are defining to the present. With the loss of its administrative and industrial functions, Suhl saw a lasting period of urban decline starting in 1990.
Suhl is known for its sportsmen, especially in shooting, winter sports, and volleyball.
Though first appearing in a 1318 deed, several entries in the annals ofFulda Abbey already mentioned a place namedSulaha between 900 and 1155 AD. The coat of arms from 1365 shows two hammers, indicating the city's most important livelihood: metal processing. The region belonged to the territories held by theFranconian counts ofHenneberg since the 11th century. Suhl was located on an important trade route fromGotha,Erfurt andArnstadt passing theThuringian Forest mountain range atOberhof and continuing to the Henneberg's residence,Schleusingen.
From 1500 onwards, the Henneberg lands belonged to theFranconian Circle of the Holy Roman Empire. Suhl has been aFlecken (smallmarket town) since 1445 and the fullmunicipal rights were granted in 1527, making Suhl one of the youngest cities in present-day Thuringia. Iron ore mining created the basis for the development of Suhl as a centre ofgunsmith trade.
TheReformation was introduced in 1544. Severalwitch-hunts took place in the area from 1553 until the late 17th century. When the Henneberg counts became extinct in 1583, Suhl passed to theWettin electors ofSaxony, where it remained until 1815. Unlike most of present Thuringia, it didn't belong to theErnestine line of the Wettins, but to the Albertine cadet branch ofSaxe-Zeitz from 1660, so that it had been a Saxonian and later Prussian exclave within Thuringia for nearly 300 years.
During the 16th century, iron mining and metalworking saw a boom, finished by theThirty Years' War, when maraudingCroat mercenaries under Imperial general Johann Ludwig Hektor von Isolani burnt down the city in 1634. From about 1690, DukeMoritz Wilhelm of Saxe-Zeitz supported the reconstruction of Suhl as a mining town.
TheCongress of Vienna in 1815 led to the Saxonian loss of Suhl, which became part of thePrussianProvince of Saxony, where it remained from 1815 to 1944 and again shortly in 1945. Staying an exclave within Ernestine territories, Suhl was part of theSchleusingen district until the dissolution of Prussia in 1945.
The later 19th century brought the connection to the railway in 1882 and the industrialisation of the metalworking business. About 1920, Suhl has been a centre of left-wing revolutionary groups, so that theReichswehr occupied the city (and the neighbour-townZella-Mehlis) during theKapp Putsch and ended the workers uprising. After 1935, the military industry saw another boom, caused by the Nazi armament. About 10,000forced labourers had to work in the city's arms industry after 1940.
The US Army reached Suhl on 3 April 1945 and was replaced by Soviet troops on 1 July 1945. At the same year, Suhl became part of Thuringia, which was replaced by three Bezirks in 1952. Suhl became the capital of the south-westernBezirk Suhl, reaching fromBad Salzungen in the north-west toSonneberg in the south-east with a population of 550,000. During the GDR period, the upgraded city saw rapid urban growth, which is defining until today.
After the German reunification in 1990, Suhl lost its administrative functions when Thuringia was refounded and replaced the Bezirks. Furthermore, the industry collapsed. Both led to a structural crises, which isn't overcome yet. The population of Suhl declined about 35% since 1988.
The metal processing of Suhl naturally led, during theRenaissance, to other major local industries, including gunsmithing and armoring. Suhl was a major producer of cannons throughout the seventeenth and subsequent centuries, and Suhl cannons were used by many European powers. A major arms company that was located in Suhl for almost 200 years wasJ.P. Sauer und Sohn GmbH, producer of hunting rifles, shotguns, and pistols, such as theSauer 38H, until moving operations toEckernförde at the end of World War II.
Other prominent firearms manufacturers in Suhl included:
Simson (also known as BSW and then Gustloff Werke under Nazi rule and Ernst Thälmann Suhl under Communist rule)
The largest manufacturer producing firearms currently in Suhl isMerkel GmbH, which make both rifles and shotguns.
During theCold War, theEast German nationalshooting arena was located at Suhl, and hosted many top-level competitions, including the 1986ISSF World Championships. Although surpassed in this respect in the unified Germany by theOlympic shooting centre atMunich, Suhl remains an important place to the sport. It hosts Germany's only school for armorers, and a well equipped museum of weapons.
Suhl is located on the south-western edge of theThuringian Forest. To the south-west, theSmall Thuringian Forest (some foothills of the Thuringian forest) is situated. The terrain is mountainous to all directions, some important mountains are: theGroßer Beerberg (983 m, highest one in Thuringia) in the north-east, the Ringberg (745 m), the Döllberg (760 m), the Friedberg (649 m) and the Adlersberg (859 m) in the east, the Steinsburg (641 m) in the south, the Heiliger Berg (513 m), the Domberg (675 m) and the Berg Bock (709 m) in the north-west as well as the Bocksberg (609 m) and the Hoheloh (526 m) within the city. The centre itself is located in an elevation of 450 m and nearly the complete non-build on part of the municipal territory is forested. There are a few small rivers running through Suhl: TheHasel rises at Friedberg in the south-east and runs westward through Suhl, Heinrichs, Mäbendorf, Dietzhausen and Wichtshausen. TheLauter rises on the southern slope of Großer Beerberg mountain and runs through Goldlauter, Lauter and the city centre, before it joins the Hasel behind the station. TheMühlwasser rises on the western slope of Großer Beerberg and runs southward through the northern city parts before it joins the Lauter at the northern city centre.
Suhl sits on the southern edge of theSuhler Scholle, an upthrustgranite complex that is streaked by numerousdikes. This is part of the Ruhla-SchleusingenHorst that defines the southwest side of theThuringian Forest. The southwest side of theSuhler Scholle abuts horizontalsedimentary layers,Buntsandstein (sandstone from theTriassic period) overZechstein (evaporite deposits from thePermian period). Thegranite of theSuhler Scholle is capped withPermian sediments andigneous deposits. The higher hills to the northeast are part of theBeerberg Scholle, an irregularly cracked mass ofquartz porphyry from the later Permian period.[3][4]
A band ofiron ores follows the fault dividing theSuhler Scholle from the sedimentary rocks to the southwest, while thecopper andsilver deposits are to the northeast in the Permian deposits above theSuhler Scholle. Southeast of town, there is a significanturanium deposit in theBuntsandstein.[5]
The new city centre in 1974The central mall in 1969
Suhl's cityscape is marked by the lack of flat ground to build on, which is why the city's morphology appears picked and incoherent. The city centre developed during the Middle Ages around the Marktplatz and the Steinweg (as main street) next to the confluence ofLauter andRimbach river. Later, the city grew to the east and south to the bordering hills and valleys. After World War II, Suhl became the capital of one of the 14 Bezirks in theGDR in 1952. During the following decades, the city doubled its population, manyPlattenbau settlements developed at the periphery and the centre got largely converted. The old town around Friedrich-König-Straße was demolished during the 1960s, as were the quarters east of Topfmarkt later. They were rebuilt with contemporary concrete architecture andPlattenbau buildings. The new city centre with all the important public buildings was developed around Friedrich-König-Straße, even with large-scale high-rise buildings. After the reunification, the population shrunk heavily, leading to high vacancy rates. The government reacted to this by demolishing some of the Plattenbau settlements at the periphery; some buildings stood only for 20 years. Compared with other East German cities, the fight against vacancy was simpler in Suhl, because vacancy was concentrated at the periphery and not in the city centre (as in the most older cities in East Germany), which made it easy to demolish and renature the areas. A larger problem is vacancy in shops in the city centre, because the retail sector in Suhl has also been in a crisis for many years.
The area around Suhl was settled during the later Middle Ages, nevertheless, Suhl stayed a village resp. small town of 1,000 to 2,000 inhabitants during this period. The growth of proto-industrial manufacturing businesses in 17th and 18th century led to a first increase of population up to 6,000 around 1800. During the following decades, the industrial revolution in other German regions led to an economic crisis in Suhl, because of the bad traffic conditions for exporting products. Nevertheless, the population grew further to 10,000 in the 1880s, as the city got finally connected to the railway. Compared to other upcoming cities in Germany, the growth of population stayed slight until 1935, as Suhl counted 15,000 inhabitants. Then, the arm production for World War II brought an economic boom to Suhl and a growth of population up to 26,000 in 1940, which stayed the same until the early 1960s. Between 1960 and 1988, the population grew up to 56,000, forced by the government's expansion of Suhl as a capital of one of the 14 Bezirks inGDR. After the reunification in 1990, the city lost its administrative and economic functions, which led to an extreme decline in population. It shrunk to 48,000 in 2000 and 36,000 in 2012. With a decline of more than 35% since 1988, Suhl is among the heaviestshrinking cities in Germany.
The average decrease of population between 2009 and 2012 was approximately 1.68% p. a, which is faster than in bordering rural regions. Suburbanization played only a small role in Suhl. It occurred after the reunification for a short time in the 1990s, but most of the suburban areas were situated within the administrative city borders. During the 1990s and the 2000s, many inhabitants left Suhl to search a better life in west Germany or other major east German cities likeErfurt,Jena orLeipzig. The birth deficit, caused by the high average age of the population, is getting a bigger problem because there is no immigration to compensate it yet. Urban planning activities to tear down unused flats led to a relatively low vacancy rate of 8% (according to 2011 EU census), compared with a loss in population of more than 35% since 1988.
The birth deficit was 207 in 2012, this is −5.8 per 1,000 inhabitants (Thuringian average: −4.5; national average: −2.4). The net migration rate was −11.5 per 1,000 inhabitants in 2012 (Thuringian average: −0.8; national average: +4.6).[6] The most important target regions of Suhl migrants are other Thuringian regions like Erfurt, Jena and Eisenach same as the western German conurbations.
Like other eastern German cities, Suhl has only a small amount of foreign population: around 1.5% are non-Germans by citizenship and overall 3.9% are migrants (according to2011 EU census). Differing from the national average, the biggest groups of migrants in Suhl areRussians andVietnamese people. During recent years, the economic situation of the city improved: the unemployment rate declined from 16% in 2006 to 7% in 2013, which is one of the lowest rates among Thuringia's major cities. Due to the official atheism in formerGDR, most of the population is non-religious. 12.6% are members of theEvangelical Church in Central Germany and 2.5% are Catholics (according to 2011 EU census).
The first freely elected mayor after German reunification wasMartin Kummer of theChristian Democratic Union (CDU), who served from 1990 to 2006. He was succeeded byindependentJens Triebel from 2006 to 2018.André Knapp of the CDU was elected in 2018, and has since served as mayor. The most recent mayoral election was held on 26 May 2024, and the results were as follows:
A building of the former Simson factory with A 73's Haseltal bridge in backgroundAnother former Simson building
Agriculture plays no role in Suhl, only 17% of the municipal territory are in agricultural use. The soil isn't very fertile and the climate is harsh, the most cultivated strains are maize and rapeseed, furthermore there is cattle farming on some areas. On the other hand, 63% of the territory are forest, so that wood production plays a role in Suhl.
Suhl's industry has always been based on metalworking. In the past, the city was a leading arms producer in Germany and the vehicle production was another pillar of the local industry. After the reunification in 1990, the industry collapsed and the most factories got closed. Important companies of today areCDA, a producer of data replication media,Zimbo, a meat producer,Gramss, an industrial bakery,Paragon, a car parts supplier, andMerkel, the last remained arms producer in Suhl. In 2012, there were 27 companies in industrial production with more than 20 workers employing 2,000 persons and generating a turnover of €295 million.[7]
Services in Suhl are including the typical regional supply (like retail, hospital, cinema etc.) and some preserved administrative functions over the surrounding districts like the Industrie- und Handelskammer and the regional centres of Arbeitsagentur and Rentenversicherung. Furthermore, tourism plays a role because of the beautiful landscape around. In 2012, there were 93,000 hotel guests having 245,000 overnight stays in Suhl.[8]
Suhl connected to the railway quite late, because of its hilly terrain. TheNeudietendorf–Ritschenhausen railway through the city was opened in 1882 (southern direction toWürzburg) and in 1884 (northern direction toErfurt). It was one of only few main mountain railways inPrussia with the large, 3,039 metres (9,970 ft) longBrandleite Tunnel north of the city. Later, this railway became an important link betweenBerlin and south-western Germany, until the inner-German border cut it off in 1949. Since that time, there is only regional traffic on the line (except a short time in 1990s with long-distance trains). The express train runs every two hours to Erfurt in the north and Würzburg in the south, where connections to long-distance trains are given. Furthermore, there are local trains to Erfurt andMeiningen, running also every two hours, so that there is overall a connection once an hour in both directions. Another railway toSchleusingen was opened in 1911 and closed in 1997. With a gradient of nearly 7%, it was one of the steepest regular railways in Germany. Stations in Suhl besides the main station are located in Heinrichs and Dietzhausen, whereas the Stations Suhler Neundorf and Friedberg at the Schleusingen line are abandoned.
Suhl is situated at the junction ofBundesautobahn 71 (Erfurt–Würzburg) andBundesautobahn 73 (Suhl–Nuremberg). Both got opened during the 2000s and host some impressive bridges and tunnels around Suhl, like theRennsteig Tunnel in the north and the 82 m highHaseltalbrücke at Heinrichs district. ABundesstraße through Suhl was theBundesstraße 247 fromGotha in the north toSchleusingen in the south. It was annulled after the opening of both Autobahns and is now a secondary road. Other important secondary roads run toMeiningen in the west andIlmenau in the east.
Biking is getting more and more popular since the construction of quality cycle tracks began in the 1990s. For tourism serve theHasel track from Suhl to theWerra valley near Meiningen. Furthermore, there are some mountainbiking tracks within the Thuringian Forest.
Public transport is carried out by a bus line network connecting the city centre with the outskirts,Zella-Mehlis and neighbouring villages. A trolleybus system was planned during the late 1980s, but not realized after the reunification.
St. Mary's Church is the evangelical main parish church of Suhl, built between 1753 and 1756 in late-Baroque style
The Holy Cross Church is the second evangelical parish church at Steinweg, built between 1731 and 1739 in Baroque style.
The Holy Cross Chapel behind the eponymous church is one of the oldest buildings in Suhl, established in 1618 Gothic style.
The town hall at Marktplatz was built between 1812 and 1817 and modified in 1913 to Neo-Baroque style.
TheMalzhaus at Friedrich-König-Straße was built around 1650 and hosts theWaffenmusuem today.
TheKulturhaus at Friedrich-König-Straße was built in 1957 in Neo-Classicist style and demolished in 2013. Only the façade and the lobby remained.
Some buildings of the former Simson factory between the Heinrichs and Mäbendorf districts inBauhaus-modern architecture of 1920s and 1930s remained.
The new municipal library at Bahnhofstraße was built in 2004 in form of a glass cube.
Some older buildings remained in the district ofHeinrichs (including the church, town hall and some picturesque timber-framed houses) west of the city centre.
Friedrich Koenig (1774–1833), contributed as an inventor of the flatbed press a decisive contribution to the development of the printing industry and worked for some time in Suhl
André Lange (born 1973), bobsledder, multiple Olympic and world champion
