Karl-Marx-Stadt

Karl-Marx-Stadt, nowadays Chemnitz (pop. 291,400), industrial city in eastern Germany and chief center of the Karl-Marx-Stadt district, situated on the Chemnitz River. Famous since medieval times for its textiles, Karl-Marx-Stadt now also produces machinery, machine tools, chemicals, and optical instruments. The city was chartered in 1143, destroyed during the Thirty Years War, and severely damaged in World War II. It was renamed Karl-Marx-Stadt in 1953. In 1990 the name reverted back to Chemnitz.

See also: Germany.