The City of Leipzig is once again planning to increase parental contributions for crèches, nurseries and after-school care. The city administration hopes this will generate additional revenue of around nine million euros over the next two financial years, 2027 and 2028. However, a majority on the city council had already rejected the increase during negotiations […]
Leipzig was so proud when it celebrated the 1000th anniversary of its first mention by Thietmar of Merseburg in 2015. But Altenburg, to the south of Leipzig, is actually a little older. In 2026, Altenburg will celebrate the 1,050th anniversary of its first documented mention. On 1 August 976, Emperor Otto II bestowed the town […]
Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk (MDR) has also been affected by the foreign disinformation campaign known as ‘Matryoshka’. This has been confirmed by MDR’s own investigations. A dataset also contained fake videos bearing an official MDR logo. MDR Editor-in-Chief Christin Bohmann commented: “The counterfeiting of journalistic brands and the spread of disinformation are attacks on the credibility of […]
For almost 30 years, Germany too has been pursuing financial voodoo economics, loosely based on the trickle-down theory, which – without any statistical basis whatsoever – claims that the economy will flourish if taxes on the rich are cut. And some of the prosperity generated in this way would then ‘trickle down’ to those below. […]
It sounded as though Saxony’s government had finally got the message when the Ministry of Economic Affairs reported on 11 August: “It is getting increasingly hot in Saxony. Days with temperatures well above 30 degrees are on the rise, whilst at the same time water is becoming scarcer. Particularly in densely built-up towns and cities, […]
With around 527,300 pupils, the new school year begins in Saxony on Monday 17 August. For around 37,700 Year 1 pupils (2025: 38,388), this marks the start of their school life. But – as in previous years – there will once again be a shortage. Saxony has only managed to recruit 905 teachers in preparation […]
No one will be able to say in future that they didn’t know. That they lacked the facts about the 2026 elections. Because the facts are out there, live and available to anyone who’s even slightly curious about their own reality. And all presented with a touch of humour, too. Because that’s exactly what the […]
It will probably be years before anything happens at Matthäikirchhof. And a number of mistakes will still need to be rectified. Here, the city wanted to develop a vision for a new urban quarter through public participation – but with a whole host of preconditions that forced it into half-hearted compromises from the outset. However, […]
One question remained unanswered after the city announced on 29 July: “From the 2027 financial year onwards, the second-home tax is to be raised from the current 16 per cent to 20 per cent. The senior administration has now set in motion the corresponding amendment to the city’s statutes, which will be submitted to the […]
What happened at Leipzig/Halle Airport on the night of 4 to 5 August 2026 did not come out of the blue. For several years now, critical infrastructure in Germany has been the target of drone overflights. Dozens of such incidents are recorded every year by the security authorities in Saxony. And there has already been […]
The Market Criers’ Guild – the ‘Genuine Market Criers’ Guild’ – has been in existence for 56 years. After all, they had to fend off the competition, who had suddenly realised that the concept worked. In the past, people who wanted to experience real market criers would make the pilgrimage to the fish market in […]
Working themselves to the bone? Reduced pensions for anyone who retires too early? This is now a concern even for the three CDU Minister-Presidents from Thuringia, Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt. Will they be able to see it through? It would be the first time that CDU Minister-Presidents have shown any backbone in the Federal Republic’s completely […]
It’s actually high time that Leipzig’s waterworks finally stopped whingeing that the people of Leipzig use so little water – compared with the national average. In its latest annual report, however, the waterworks have done it again, even though they have posted a healthy profit, which has also secured the LVB’s support from the city […]
At the end of July, Leipzig’s city administration submitted a proposal to the city council that is set to cause quite a stir. Not only for political groups that are not particularly keen on environmental protection, but also for departments and agencies for whom the city’s unspoilt natural environment is still a bargaining chip that […]
Books of this sort are usually published by university presses; they’re genuinely specialised material for specialists. But why not, thought publisher Ralf C. Müller, and so he decided to include this rather unusual title in his catalogue. A book for specialists. And perhaps also for all those who, as patients, have come across the term […]
‘The Krkonoše Saga’ is the name given by Leipzig-based author Christina Auerswald to her series of novels about young people who grew up in the Krkonoše Mountains before the First World War, lived through the war and – like Kurt – became entangled in a web of bloody deeds. Acts that threw not only the […]
“Media diversity is one of the most important factors in ensuring that the media fulfil their role in shaping public opinion. It is therefore of great importance to the SLM that programmes are balanced and that all major schools of thought are represented. Creating the best possible operating conditions for private radio and television broadcasters […]
The current Merz government at federal level did, after all, get off to a start with a 500-billion-euro package that had been approved by the previous Bundestag. A huge sum of money with which the Federal Republic could have really fuelled investment across the country. But the money is being spread thinly over ten years, […]
Torgauer Platz is one of those locations in Leipzig’s road network that has been on the agenda for many years now, with plans to finally redevelop it. Yet this construction project, too, has been repeatedly postponed. Now, at long last, the project is set to go ahead in 2027. This also involves tram services on […]
It was a special moment when, back in 1990, the sociologist Cordia Schlegelmilch packed her bag and set off for a small town in the GDR, which at that time had only six weeks left to exist. Her main motivation was: “I wanted to find out how the residents of a small town were coming […]
Years of dithering over grid expansion are now having consequences in Saxony too: More and more applications for grid connections for renewable energy installations are being put on hold and piling up with the grid operators, as if Saxony were still in the year 2016 and could leisurely stroll into a climate-friendly future without fossil […]
On 24 July, Federal Minister of the Interior Alexander Dobrindt (CSU) was publicly rebuked by the Federal Constitutional Court. “The Federal Constitutional Court has declared the Federal Ministry of the Interior’s blanket withdrawal from the resettlement programme for Afghan refugees to be arbitrary. ‘The revocation of visas that have been granted must be examined on […]
Sometimes you just have to show people. Especially when Uncle Herbert, sitting at the family dinner table, once again lets his gut feeling take over, claiming that it used to be just as hot in the past and that the climate has always been changing anyway. But gut feeling has nothing to do with facts. […]
Stadtwerke Leipzig had actually intended to generate a profit of almost 100 million euros in 2025. The target was 98.8 million euros. However, the final figure turned out to be lower: 93.5 million. In its annual report, Stadtwerke Leipzig did cite the higher costs (up by 9 million euros) as one explanation. However, the main […]
When you follow the discussions coming out of the Saxon countryside, you get the impression that most Saxons are against the energy transition and the expansion of renewable energy. And the Minister-President seems to be their mouthpiece when he raves about coal, natural gas and nuclear power. But this impression is misleading. It is the […]
How does one tell a story that ultimately cannot be substantiated by documents, because they were destroyed? Or falsified, tailored to ensure that the death of a Bonn civil servant on a business trip to Leipzig was not classified as a murder case? And yet still caused a stir? In *The Fechtner Case*, Katrin Reiser […]
If a federal state has a relatively well-developed, efficient public transport system, many of its residents generally do not need a private car. If, on top of that, one in three residents also lives in one of the major cities with efficient public transport, the demand falls further. It is therefore hardly surprising that Saxony, […]
He’s still around. And on 25 September, you’ll be able to see him live at the Anker: Vicki Vomit, satirist, comedian, musician, singer-songwriter and parodist. Back in the noughties, you could catch him wherever things were getting lively on stage. Then things went quiet around him. Those who were quick off the mark owned a […]
The energy transition is working. And sensible governments would simply promote it wherever possible. Even in Saxony, where for years the mantra of the all-important ‘domestic lignite’ prevailed, the transformation of the energy landscape is having a positive impact. After all, the less lignite that is burnt to generate energy, the lower energy consumption will […]
In September 2026, Saxony-Anhalt will elect a new state parliament. The AfD stands a good chance of becoming the largest party there. But what would less Europe, less immigration and lower levels of public investment mean for the people? A brief study by the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW) highlights a now well-known AfD […]
“Our position is clear: we will not simply accept the further expansion of the cargo airport and the associated additional burden on people and the environment. The legal action makes it possible to have the planned expansion plans reviewed by the courts. To ensure that this case does not fail due to the plaintiffs’ lack […]
His friend and rival, Alfred von Tirpitz, is a figure in the history books. But what about Wilhelm Büchsel? No warship was named after him. He was not glorified in the same way as Tirpitz. And when he died of the Spanish flu in 1920, he had been all but forgotten. Yet he served as […]
The title says it all. Nations can lose their minds. Just as individual people can. History is full of examples of this. And they all relate to the same phenomenon: the destruction of truth. For our coexistence as a society only works if we can agree on the same reliable facts. But what if that […]
LZ reader Gerd Stefan really did want to know. In his reader’s comment on the review of Ilko-Sascha Kowalczuk’s new book *Fascism Is Not an Opinion*, he wrote: “I’d also be interested to know the definition of fascism that underlies the book’s title, especially as the author, it seems, was aiming to launch a sweeping […]
Anniversaries inspire historians. One such anniversary was the 500th anniversary of the German Peasants’ War in 2024/2025. One of the bloodiest events took place in Frankenhausen, where the crowd of peasants gathered there was mercilessly beaten down by the princes’ mercenaries. It was also here that Thomas Müntzer was taken prisoner. In Martin Luther’s view, […]
This is just the tip of the iceberg. We have already reported on several occasions here about trams being prevented from continuing their journey by illegally parked vehicles. But illegally parked vehicles also obstruct other types of vehicles. The Left Party raised this issue at the last council meeting with a question. “Increasingly, refuse and […]
The present is always shaped by the past. All the more so when the past is romanticised as a paradise and a sense takes hold that our world is currently going down the drain. A sense of doom dominates social media. And many kitchen-table conversations. This also influences elections. For it is the far-right parties […]
The dispute over the small wood on Capastraße has also brought to the fore once again an issue that Leipzig’s environmental authorities are keen to play down. For in the Property Office’s proposal for the sale of the copse, it was once again boldly claimed that the loss of the copse could be offset elsewhere. […]
Get out of the city for a change – even if it’s just a Sunday outing. There are plenty of worthwhile destinations in the area around Leipzig. And next Sunday, 26 July, from 11.00 am, there’s a special event starting on the banks of the Mulde near Grimma Abbey Church: a literary and musical walk […]
Will we find, from 2030 onwards, that Leipzig is no longer able to launch any major construction projects at all because there is simply no financial leeway left in the budget? That is the question on everyone’s lips. For the past three years, the budget has been spiralling completely out of control, completely overwhelmed by […]
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