Misplaced Pages

#422577

77-699: After the defeat of Nazi Germany, Germany was occupied by the Allies and split into parts: the western part, which would later become West Germany, was in the USA-UK-France zone of influence, and the eastern part, which later became East Germany, was in the Soviet Union zone of influence. The German national library, the Deutsche Bücherei (founded 1912) was located in Leipzig , which was then in

154-691: A house of study) in Leipzig to provide different forms of studies to Jewish students who were prohibited from attending any institutions in Germany. Jewish studies were emphasized and much of the Jewish community of Leipzig became involved. Like all other cities claimed by the Nazis, Leipzig was subject to aryanisation . Beginning in 1933 and increasing in 1939, Jewish business owners were forced to give up their possessions and stores. This eventually intensified to

231-543: A public agency and unremunerated equity provided by its public shareholders allow KfW to provide loans for purposes prescribed by the KfW law at lower rates than commercial banks. KfW is not allowed to compete with commercial banks, but it facilitates their business in areas within its mandate. KfW banking group has three business units with distinct functions, as well as several subsidiaries. Lending by KfW group's two main business units, accounting for more than 90% of total lending,

308-590: A significant role in precipitating the fall of communism in Central and Eastern Europe, mainly through demonstrations starting from St. Nicholas Church . The immediate effects of the reunification of Germany included the collapse of the local economy (which had come to depend on highly polluting heavy industry ), severe unemployment, and urban blight. By the early 2000s the trend had reversed, and since then Leipzig has undergone some significant changes, including urban and economic rejuvenation, and modernisation of

385-570: A total of 63 Ortsteile (localities). Some of these correspond to outlying villages which have been annexed by Leipzig. Like many cities in Eastern Germany, Leipzig has an oceanic climate ( Köppen : Cfb ), with significant continental influences due to its inland location. Winters are cold, with an average temperature of around 1 °C (34 °F). Summers are generally warm, averaging at 19 °C (66 °F) with daytime temperatures of 24 °C (75 °F). Precipitation in winter

462-911: A trade city since at least the time of the Holy Roman Empire . The city sits at the intersection of the Via Regia and the Via Imperii , two important medieval trade routes. Leipzig's trade fair dates back to 1190. Between 1764 and 1945, the city was a centre of publishing. After the Second World War and during the period of the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) Leipzig remained a major urban centre in East Germany, but its cultural and economic importance declined. Events in Leipzig in 1989 played

539-650: Is KfW IPEX-Bank. KfW IPEX-Bank is active in project finance and corporate finance related to German or European exports. It also promotes foreign investments in Germany. Unlike KfW, it competes directly with commercial banks. Therefore, and in response to concerns voiced by the European Commission concerning unfair competition, KfW IPEX-Bank has become legally and financially independent in 2008. KfW IPEX-Bank's main sectors of activity are ports, airports, toll roads, bridges and tunnels, railways, ships, planes, telecommunications, energy, and manufacturing. In 2014

616-556: Is about half that of the summer. The amount of sunshine differs significantly between winter and summer, with an average of around 51 hours of sunshine in December (1.7 hours per day) compared with 229 hours of sunshine in July (7.4 hours per day). Leipzig was first documented in 1015 in the chronicles of Bishop Thietmar of Merseburg as urbs Libzi ( Chronicon , VII, 25) and endowed with city and market privileges in 1165 by Otto

693-514: Is in Germany and, to a limited extent, in other European countries. However, its largest subsidiary, KfW IPEX-Bank GmbH, predominantly lends internationally. A smaller subsidiary, the German Investment Corporation (DEG), and one of the group's smaller business units, KfW Development Bank, are exclusively active in the international arena, each within their particular business areas. KfW Förderbank (KfW promotional Bank),

770-497: Is now part of the city, Friedrich Schiller wrote his poem " Ode to Joy ". An older spelling of Leipzig in English is Leipsic . The Latin name Lipsia was also used. The name Leipzig is commonly held to derive from lipa , the common Slavic designation for linden trees , making the city's name etymologically related to Lipetsk, Russia and Liepaja, Latvia . Based on medieval attestations like Lipzk (c. 1190),

847-467: Is one of the oldest symphony orchestras in the world. Several well-known composers lived and worked in Leipzig, including Johann Sebastian Bach (1723 to 1750) and Felix Mendelssohn (1835 to 1847). The University of Music and Theatre "Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy" was founded in 1843. The Oper Leipzig , one of the most prominent opera houses in Germany, was founded in 1693. During a stay in Gohlis , which

SECTION 10

#1732781024423

924-410: Is sufficient until the 2040s. The storage space can optionally be enlarged by 10,000 square meters of the underground car park. The underground floors lie in the groundwater and are designed as a white tank with an additional external seal, the bottom plate of which is secured against uplift with a layer of 70,000 tons of iron ore and in which a second, internally ventilated concrete tank is built. In 2001

1001-595: Is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony . The city has a population of 628,718 inhabitants as of 2023. It is the eighth-largest city in Germany and is part of the Central German Metropolitan Region . The name of the city is usually interpreted as a Slavic term meaning place of linden trees , in line with many other Slavic placenames in the region. Leipzig is located about 150 km (90 mi) southwest of Berlin, in

1078-925: Is the part of the North European Plain in Germany. The city sits on the White Elster , a river that rises in the Czech Republic and flows into the Saale south of Halle. The Pleiße and the Parthe join the White Elster in Leipzig, and the large inland delta-like landscape the three rivers form is called Leipziger Gewässerknoten . The site is characterized by swampy areas such as the Leipzig Riparian Forest ( Leipziger Auenwald ), though there are also some limestone areas to

1155-497: The East German government . The reunification of Germany , however, was at first not good for Leipzig. The centrally planned heavy industry that had become the city's specialty was, in terms of the advanced economy of reunited Germany, almost completely unviable, and closed. Within only six years, 90% of jobs in industry had vanished. As unemployment rocketed, the population fell dramatically; some 100,000 people left Leipzig in

1232-585: The Nazi government officially renamed the city Reichsmessestadt Leipzig (Reich Trade Fair City Leipzig). In 1989 Leipzig was dubbed a Hero City ( Heldenstadt ), alluding to the honorary title awarded in the former Soviet Union to certain cities that played a key role in the victory of the Allies during the Second World War, in recognition of the role that the Monday demonstrations there played in

1309-805: The Nuremberg Laws . However, due to the Leipzig Trade Fair and the international attention it garnered, Leipzig was especially cautious about its public image. Despite this, the Leipzig authorities were not afraid to strictly apply and enforce anti-semitic measures. On 20 December 1937, after the Nazis took control of the city, they renamed it Reichsmessestadt Leipzig, meaning the "Imperial Trade Fair City Leipzig". In early 1938, Leipzig saw an increase in Zionism through Jewish citizens. Many of these Zionists attempted to flee before deportations began. On 28 October 1938, Heinrich Himmler ordered

1386-734: The Potsdam Agreement . In the mid-20th century, the city's trade fair assumed renewed importance as a point of contact with the Comecon Eastern Europe economic bloc, of which East Germany was a member. At this time, trade fairs were held at a site in the south of the city, near the Monument to the Battle of the Nations . The planned economy of the German Democratic Republic, however, was not kind to Leipzig. Before

1463-477: The Renewable Energy Law of 2000. It also invests in municipal infrastructure such as public transport and sanitation through a sub-unit called KfW Kommunalbank (KfW municipal bank). More recently (since 2006), it has also engaged in education where it provides student loans. KfW Mittelstandsbank (which roughly translates as KfW small and medium enterprises bank), the second largest business unit of

1540-598: The States of Germany (20 percent). It is led by a five-member executive board headed by CEO Stefan Wintels  [ de ] , which in turn reports to a 37   member Board of Supervisory Directors. The chair and deputy chair of the Board of Supervisory Directors are the German Federal Ministers of Finance and of Economic Affairs , with the positions alternating annually between them. Currently,

1617-494: The American Consulate was closed, and its building became a temporary place of stay for Americans and Allied refugees from Serbia , Romania and Japan . During the 1930s and 1940s, music was prominent throughout Leipzig. Many students attended Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy College of Music and Theatre (then named Landeskonservatorium.) However, in 1944, it was closed due to World War II . It re-opened soon after

SECTION 20

#1732781024423

1694-666: The American and British zones and was housed in the Rothschild Palace on Untermainkai and its neighboring building, the Manskopf House. The cut-off date for the start of the collection was May 8, 1945. The city of Frankfurt am Main provided the premises, the costs were borne by the Börsenverein des Deutschen Buchhandels. Inadequate funding, which, among other things, led to considerations about handing it over to

1771-403: The Börsenverein as contributors.: S. 331 In 1952, each institution contributed 60,000 DM (the federal government with 65,000 DM) annually to the financing of the library. In 1954, the contributions were 71 percent higher. The Börsenverein reduced its contributions from 1956.: S. As early as 1953, 337 space problems made it necessary to distribute the holdings to three locations in the city. In 1959,

1848-640: The Deutsche Bibliothek had 270 posts, the maximum value before the merger with the Deutsche Bücherei was reached in 1981 with 331 posts. The construction of an online catalog began in the mid-1980s: The two libraries in Frankfurt and Leipzig published largely identical national bibliographies until 1990. In 1966, the German Library began to compile its bibliography with the help of the EDP under

1925-480: The Deutsche Bücherei in the now Soviet-controlled zone, the German Library in the western zone was founded by the Börsenverein des Deutschen Buchhandels . From 1947 onwards, it was legally an institution of the book trade and the city of Frankfurt am Main which attached the library to the city and university library under the direction of Hanns Wilhelm Eppelsheimer. Initially, the library was only responsible for

2002-592: The Federal Republic of Germany became the sole support provider. The obligation to deposit (deposit copy) was thus stipulated by law, that is, two copies of every publication published in Germany had to be handed over to the German Library for archiving. In 1970 the German Music Archive in Berlin was attached to the German Library and in 1976 Günther Pflug became the new General Director. In 1971

2079-463: The German Library and the Music Archive had 4.5 million media units. In the early 1980s, the holdings comprised more than three million volumes and alternative magazines were required. Seven years after reunification and after five years of construction, a new library building was inaugurated in Frankfurt on May 14, 1997, with around 6 million media units. The new building, inaugurated in 1959,

2156-417: The German Library moved 480,000 units into a new building on Zeppelinallee. Kurt Köster became the new director. The inauguration of the new building was on April 24, 1959 in the presence of Federal President Theodor Heuss . In 1961 the library had 143 permanent positions. From 1963, the Börsenverein excluded all members who did not submit copies to the German Library from the association. In addition, there

2233-431: The German state, KfW holds shares in a variety of corporations, including Deutsche Post , Deutsche Telekom , Commerzbank , Lufthansa , and CureVac . In 2013, KfW agreed to help establish a Portuguese financial institution to foster economic growth and boost job creation in the country. The magazine Global Finance rated KfW as the safest bank in the world in its "World's 50 Safest Banks 2014" rating. The rating

2310-591: The Leipzig-Thekla subcamp who were unable to march were either burned alive, shot or beaten to death by the Gestapo, SS , Volkssturm and German civilians in the Abtnaundorf massacre. Some were rescued by Polish forced laborers of another camp; at least 67 people survived. 84 victims were buried on 27 April 1945, however, the total number of victims remains unknown. During World War II, Leipzig

2387-704: The Polish Consulate and its library. In 1941, the American Consulate was also closed by order of the German authorities. During the war, Leipzig was the location of five subcamps of the Buchenwald concentration camp , in which over 8,000 men, women and children were imprisoned, mostly Polish, Jewish, Soviet and French, but also Italian, Czech and Belgian. In April 1945, most surviving prisoners were sent on death marches to various destinations in Saxony and German-occupied Czechoslovakia , whereas prisoners of

Deutsche Bibliothek - Misplaced Pages Continue

2464-642: The Rich . Leipzig Trade Fair , started in the Middle Ages , has become an event of international importance and is the oldest surviving trade fair in the world. This encouraged the growth of the Leipzig merchant bourgeoisie . There are records of commercial fishing operations on the river Pleiße that, most likely, refer to Leipzig dating back to 1305, when the Margrave Dietrich the Younger granted

2541-459: The Second World War, Leipzig had developed a mixture of industry, creative business (notably publishing), and services (including legal services). During the period of the German Democratic Republic, services became the concern of the state, concentrated in East Berlin ; creative business moved to West Germany ; and Leipzig was left only with heavy industry. To make matters worse, this industry

2618-714: The Soviet-controlled eastern zone. The western occupation zones called for the creation of a new library in the western zone to replace the library that was now in the Soviet zone. In September 1946, the American military government approved the creation of a reference library in Frankfurt am Main . Previously also known as the German Library of the West, the German Library began in November 1946 in Frankfurt am Main. Like

2695-486: The Swedish-led side. On 24 December 1701, when Franz Conrad Romanus was mayor, an oil-fueled street lighting system was introduced. The city employed light guards who had to follow a specific schedule to ensure the punctual lighting of the 700 lanterns. The Leipzig region was the arena of the 1813 Battle of Leipzig between Napoleonic France and an allied coalition of Prussia , Russia , Austria and Sweden. It

2772-651: The University of Cologne, the founding seat of the DFG, in the fall of 1949, finally led in 1952 to the conversion of the German Library into a foundation under public law. The city of Frankfurt and the state of Hesse acted as the founders, the Federal Republic of Germany, represented by the Federal Ministry of the Interior, which saw the protection of society from communist influences as an essential mandate, and

2849-539: The West Arcade. The Stuttgart architects Mete Arat, Hans-Dieter Kaiser and Gisela Kaiser won an architecture competition advertised in 1981. In 1985 they also received the planning contract. The new library building opened in 1997 cost 250 million DM. The building at Adickesallee 1 has a main usable area of 47,000 square meters. On its three underground floors there is an air-conditioned magazine area of around 31,000 square meters for 18 million media. The magazine space

2926-697: The balance sheet total of KfW IPEX-Bank amounted to € 26.3 billion. Another subsidiary of KfW banking group, the German Investment Corporation (DEG), takes minority equity stakes and provides loans to private companies investing in developing countries. It pursues a business model broadly similar to that of the International Finance Corporation of the World Bank Group . Its main sectors of activity are banking, agro-business , renewable energy, telecommunications and manufacturing. It lent 1.2 billion in 2008. On behalf of

3003-572: The buildings hit, a firestorm occurred. This prompted firefighters to rush to the city; however, they were unable to control the fires. Unlike the firebombing of the neighbouring city of Dresden , this was a largely conventional bombing with high explosives rather than incendiaries. The resultant pattern of loss was a patchwork, rather than wholesale loss of its centre, but was nevertheless extensive. The Allied ground advance into Germany reached Leipzig in late April 1945. The U.S. 2nd Infantry Division and U.S. 69th Infantry Division fought their way into

3080-490: The capital market. KfW also provides loans to European commercial banks to help them finance SMEs, housing and infrastructure (so-called global loans). KfW Entwicklungsbank (KfW Development Bank) provides financing to governments, public enterprises and commercial banks engaged in microfinance and SME promotion in developing countries. It does so through loans close to market terms using its own resources ("promotional loans"), soft loans that blend KfW resources with support from

3157-499: The centrepiece of the S-Bahn Mitteldeutschland ( S-Bahn Central Germany ) public transit system, Germany's largest S-Bahn network, with a system length of 802 km (498 mi). Leipzig has long been a major centre for music, including classical and modern dark wave . The Thomanerchor (English: St. Thomas Choir of Leipzig), a boys' choir, was founded in 1212. The Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra , established in 1743,

Deutsche Bibliothek - Misplaced Pages Continue

3234-569: The chairman is Christian Lindner , Federal Minister of Finance . In 2009, Caisse des Dépots , Cassa Depositi e Prestiti , KfW and European Investment Bank founded the Long-Term Investors Club . KfW banking group covers over 90% of its borrowing needs in the capital markets , mainly through bonds that are guaranteed by the federal government. This allows KfW to raise funds at advantageous conditions. Its exemption from having to pay corporate taxes due to its legal status as

3311-588: The city on 18 April and completed its capture after fierce urban action, in which fighting was often house-to-house and block-to-block, on 19 April 1945. In April 1945, the Mayor of Leipzig, SS- Gruppenführer Alfred Freyberg , his wife and daughter, together with Deputy Mayor and City Treasurer Ernest Kurt Lisso, his wife, daughter and Volkssturm Major and former Mayor Walter Dönicke, all committed suicide in Leipzig City Hall. The United States turned

3388-524: The city over to the Red Army as it pulled back from the line of contact with Soviet forces in July 1945 to the designated occupation zone boundaries. Leipzig became one of the major cities of the German Democratic Republic ( East Germany ). Following the end of World War II in 1945, Leipzig saw a slow return of Jews to the city. They were joined by large numbers of German refugees who had been expelled from Central and Eastern Europe in accordance with

3465-498: The city. Another, somewhat old-fashioned epithet is Pleiß-Athen ( Athens on the Pleiße River ), hinting at Leipzig's long academic and literary tradition, as the seat of one of the oldest German universities and a centre of the book trade. It is also referred to as "Little Paris" ( Klein-Paris ) after Johann Wolfgang Goethe 's Faust I , which is partly set in the famous Leipzig restaurant Auerbachs Keller . In 1937

3542-589: The deportation of Polish Jews from Leipzig to Poland. The Polish Consulate sheltered 1,300 Polish Jews, preventing their deportation. On 9 November 1938, as part of Kristallnacht , in Gottschedstrasse , synagogues and businesses were set on fire. Only a couple of days later, on 11 November 1938, many Jews in the Leipzig area were deported to the Buchenwald Concentration Camp. As World War II came to an end, much of Leipzig

3619-645: The direction of the Deputy General Director Rudolf Blum and was able to reduce the long processing times with a significantly smaller personnel expenditure than the German Library and to appear before its Leipzig counterpart. In the unification agreement of 1990, the merger of the German library with the German library (including the German music archive in Berlin) to form the DDB (The German Library), based in Frankfurt. At this point in time,

3696-466: The early 1970s, the library was expanded to include an 18-storey, 53-meter-high book tower. After moving out in 1997, the building complex was used by the University of Frankfurt am Main. In 2004 the property was sold to the Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau , which had the ensemble, consisting of two storage towers, an administration wing and an underground car park, demolished for the construction of

3773-638: The eastern one for the Royal Saxon State Railways and the western one for the Prussian state railways . In the 19th century, Leipzig was a centre of the German and Saxon liberal movements. The first German labor party , the General German Workers' Association ( Allgemeiner Deutscher Arbeiterverein , ADAV) was founded in Leipzig on 23 May 1863 by Ferdinand Lassalle ; about 600 workers from across Germany travelled to

3850-407: The fall of the East German regime. More recently, the city has sometimes been nicknamed Hypezig , the "Boomtown of eastern Germany", or "The better Berlin" ( Das bessere Berlin ) and is celebrated by the media as a hip urban centre for its vibrant lifestyle and creative scene with many startups . Leipzig is located in the Leipzig Bay , the southernmost part of the North German Plain , which

3927-437: The federal government's aid budget ("development loans"), as well as highly subsidized loans and grants, the latter two coming entirely from the federal aid budget. Different country groups are offered different financing conditions depending mainly on their per capita income. All these financing instruments are part of what is officially called development cooperation and is often also called " development aid ". In German aid,

SECTION 50

#1732781024423

4004-479: The fishing rights to the church and convent of St Thomas. There were a number of monasteries in and around the city, including a Franciscan monastery after which the Barfußgäßchen (Barefoot Alley) is named and a monastery of Irish monks ( Jacobskirche , destroyed in 1544) near the present day Ranstädter Steinweg (the old Via Regia ). The University of Leipzig was founded in 1409 and Leipzig developed into an important centre of German law and of

4081-466: The foundation on the new railway. Leipzig expanded rapidly to more than 700,000 inhabitants. Huge Gründerzeit areas were built, which mostly survived both war and post-war demolition. With the opening of a fifth production hall in 1907, the Leipziger Baumwollspinnerei became the largest cotton mill company on the continent, housing over 240,000 spindles. Yearly production surpassed 5 million kilograms of yarn. During World War I , in 1917,

4158-470: The group, provides assistance to German small and medium enterprises (SMEs) including individual entrepreneurs and start-ups. In addition to loans it also provides equity and mezzanine financing . Its financing totaled €20.4 billion in 2015. KfW has been very active in securitization before this market collapsed during the subprime mortgage crisis . Through securitization it helped commercial banks to transfer risks from their housing and SME portfolios to

4235-464: The intersection of the ancient roads known as the Via Regia (King's highway), which traversed Germany in an east–west direction, and the Via Imperii (Imperial highway), a north–south road. Leipzig was a walled city in the Middle Ages and the current "ring" road around the historic centre of the city follows the line of the old city walls. Since 1992 Leipzig has been divided administratively into ten Stadtbezirke (boroughs), which in turn contain

4312-583: The largest business unit of the group, committed € 47.6 billion in 2014, mostly for housing and environmental protection in Germany. It is especially active in promoting energy-efficient housing for owner-occupied houses as well as for landlords, both for new houses and refurbishments. Its energy efficiency standards for houses (KfW-60 and KfW-40) have become accepted standards in Germany. Concerning environmental protection, it promotes, among others, photovoltaic energy ( solar cells ) which has in turn received massive indirect subsidies through feed-in tariffs under

4389-407: The north of the city. The landscape is mostly flat, though there is also some evidence of moraine and drumlins . Although there are some forest parks within the city limits, the area surrounding Leipzig is relatively unforested. During the 20th century, there were several open-pit mines in the region, many of which have been converted to lakes. Also see: Neuseenland Leipzig is also situated at

4466-454: The original Slavic name of the city has been reconstructed as *Lipьsko , which is also reflected in similar forms in neighbouring modern Slavic languages (Sorbian/Polish Lipsk , Czech Lipsko ). This has, however, been questioned by more recent onomastic research based on the very oldest forms like Libzi (c. 1015). Due to the etymology mentioned above, Lindenstadt or Stadt der Linden (City of Linden Trees) are common poetic epithets for

4543-412: The point where Nazi officials were strong enough to evict the Jews from their own homes. They also had the power to force many of the Jews living in the city to sell their houses. Many people who sold their homes emigrated elsewhere, outside of Leipzig. Others moved to Judenhäuser, which were smaller houses that acted as ghettos, housing large groups of people. The Jews of Leipzig were greatly affected by

4620-452: The press to support local and state militias, patriotic wartime mobilization, humanitarian relief and postwar commemorative practices and rituals. When it was made a terminus of the first German long-distance railway to Dresden (the capital of Saxony) in 1839, Leipzig became a hub of Central European railway traffic, with Leipzig Hauptbahnhof the largest terminal station by area in Europe. The railway station has two grand entrance halls,

4697-439: The publishing industry in Germany, resulting, in the 19th and 20th centuries, with the Reichsgericht (Imperial Court of Justice) and the German National Library being located here. During the Thirty Years' War , two battles took place in Breitenfeld , about 8 km (5 mi) outside Leipzig city walls. The first Battle of Breitenfeld took place in 1631 and the second in 1642. Both battles resulted in victories for

SECTION 60

#1732781024423

4774-595: The reading rooms were retrofitted with a ventilation system. A plot of land opposite the library on Adickesallee was secured for the possibility of a later extension. There are a total of 360 reading room spaces. In the middle of the entrance hall is the sculpture “Armalamor” (1994) by Georg Baselitz . In front of the library is a brick colonnade (1996) by Per Kirkeby. Leipzig Leipzig ( / ˈ l aɪ p s ɪ ɡ , - s ɪ x / LYPE -sig, -⁠sikh , German: [ˈlaɪptsɪç] ; Upper Saxon : Leibz'sch ; Upper Sorbian : Lipsk )

4851-418: The remaining 18 Jews still in Leipzig were deported from Leipzig to Auschwitz. According to records of the two waves of deportations to Auschwitz there were no survivors. According to records of the Theresienstadt deportation, only 53 Jews survived. During the German invasion of Poland at the start of World War II , in September 1939, the Gestapo carried out arrests of prominent local Poles , and seized

4928-533: The southernmost part of the North German Plain (the Leipzig Bay ), at the confluence of the White Elster and its tributaries Pleiße and Parthe , that form an extensive inland delta in the city known as Leipziger Gewässerknoten  [ de ] , along which Leipzig Riverside Forest , Europe's largest intra-city riparian forest has developed. Leipzig is at the centre of Neuseenland ( new lake district ), consisting of several artificial lakes created from former lignite open-pit mines . Leipzig has been

5005-581: The ten years after reunification, and vacant and derelict housing became an urgent problem. Kreditanstalt f%C3%BCr Wiederaufbau The KfW , which together with its subsidiaries DEG, KfW IPEX-Bank and FuB forms the KfW Bankengruppe ("banking group"), is a German state-owned investment and development bank , based in Frankfurt . As of 2014, it is the world's largest national development bank and as of 2018 Germany's third largest bank by balance sheet. Its name originally comes from Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau ("Credit Institute for Reconstruction"). It

5082-743: The transport infrastructure. Leipzig is home to one of the oldest universities in Europe ( Leipzig University ). It is the main seat of the German National Library (the second is Frankfurt ), the seat of the German Music Archive , as well as of the German Federal Administrative Court . Leipzig Zoo is one of the most modern zoos in Europe and as of 2018 ranks first in Germany and second in Europe. Leipzig's late-19th-century Gründerzeit architecture consists of around 12,500 buildings. The city's central railway terminus Leipzig Hauptbahnhof is, at 83,460 square metres (898,400 sq ft), Europe's largest railway station measured by floor area. Since Leipzig City Tunnel came into operation in 2013, it has formed

5159-413: The war ended in 1945. On 22 May 1930, Carl Friedrich Goerdeler was elected mayor of Leipzig. He later became an opponent of the Nazi regime . He resigned in 1937 when, in his absence, his Nazi deputy ordered the destruction of the city's statue of Felix Mendelssohn . On Kristallnacht in 1938, the 1855 Moorish Revival Leipzig synagogue , one of the city's most architecturally significant buildings,

5236-542: The work of KfW Development Bank is called "financial cooperation" which is complemented by "technical cooperation" by GIZ and other public agencies. The main sectors of financial cooperation are water supply and sanitation, renewable energy and energy efficiency, as well as the development of the financial sector. KfW Development Bank also works, among other sectors, in health, education, agriculture, forestry, solid waste management. It provided €7.4 billion in loans and grants in 2014. The largest subsidiary of KfW banking group

5313-415: Was repeatedly struck by Allied bombing raids , beginning in 1943 and lasting until 1945. The first raid occurred on the morning of 4 December 1943, when 442 bombers of the Royal Air Force (RAF) dropped a total amount of almost 1,400 tons of explosives and incendiaries on the city, destroying large parts of the city centre. This bombing was the largest up to that time. Due to the close proximity of many of

5390-415: Was based on long-term foreign currency ratings from Fitch Ratings and Standard and Poor's and the long-term bank deposit ratings from Moody's Investors Service . In September 2008, as investors were scrambling to get their funds out of Lehman Brothers , KfW accidentally wired €320 million ($ 426 million) to Lehman; Germany's largest circulation newspaper, Bild , called KfW "Germany's Dumbest Bank" at

5467-420: Was deliberately destroyed. Goerdeler was later executed by the Nazis on 2 February 1945. Several thousand forced labourers were stationed in Leipzig during the Second World War. Beginning in 1933, many Jewish citizens of Leipzig were members of the Gemeinde , a large Jewish religious community spread throughout Germany, Austria and Switzerland. In October 1935, the Gemeinde helped found the Lehrhaus (English:

5544-399: Was designed by architects Alois Giefer and Hermann Mäckler in the style of post-war modernism. The library buildings cost 2.5 million DM and were financed by the federal government.: They consisted of a storage tower with reading rooms on the two lower floors, which was raised to a height of 43 meters in 1968, and a two-story administration wing with a centrally arranged glass entrance front. In

5621-614: Was destroyed. Following the war, the Communist Party of Germany provided aid for the reconstruction of the city. In 1933, a census recorded that over 11,000 Jews were living in Leipzig. In the 1939 census, the number had fallen to roughly 4,500, and by January 1942 only 2,000 remained. In that month, these 2,000 Jews began to be deported. On 13 July 1942, 170 Jews were deported from Leipzig to Auschwitz concentration camp . On 19 September 1942, 440 Jews were deported from Leipzig to Theresienstadt concentration camp . On 18 June 1943,

5698-402: Was extremely polluting, making Leipzig an even less attractive city to live in. Between 1950 and the end of the German Democratic Republic, the population of Leipzig fell from 600,000 to 500,000. In October 1989, after prayers for peace at St. Nicholas Church , established in 1983 as part of the peace movement, the Monday demonstrations started as the most prominent mass protest against

5775-544: Was formed in 1948 after World War II as part of the Marshall Plan . According to the OECD , Germany’s total official development assistance (ODA) (USD 35 billion, preliminary data) increased in 2022 due to an increase in in-donor refugee costs and increased contributions to international organisations. It represented 0.83% of gross national income (GNI). KfW is owned by the Federal Republic of Germany (80 percent) and

5852-496: Was free delivery by the publishers in the German Democratic Republic. In 1965 the library had one million media units. In 1969 the Bundestag passed the "Law on the German Library", which became a federal institution under public law and was subject to legal supervision by the Federal Ministry of the Interior. The donors, the Börsenverein des Deutschen Buchhandels, the state of Hesse and the city of Frankfurt am Main, had withdrawn and

5929-638: Was the largest battle in Europe before the First World War and the coalition victory ended Napoleon 's presence in Germany and would ultimately lead to his first exile on Elba . The Monument to the Battle of the Nations celebrating the centenary of this event was completed in 1913. In addition to stimulating German nationalism, the war had a major impact in mobilizing a civic spirit in numerous volunteer activities. Many volunteer militias and civic associations were formed, and collaborated with churches and

#422577