Stolberg (Harz)
History. Stolberg was established as a settlement for miners in around AD 1000, although there is evidence of mining in the area as far back as 794. The name is derived from the German words "Stollen" = "[mining] gallery" and "Berg" = "hill". Iron, copper, silver, tin and gold were extracted there. Town status was awarded to Stolberg (Harz) before 1300. During the German Peasants' War, Stolberg was the site of several battles, the peasants being led by Thomas Müntzer who was born in the town. On 2 May 1525, rebellious peasants invaded the town and forced the  ruling Count Botho of Stolberg to accept their demands, the 24 Stolberg Articles. These were quickly revoked, however, following the defeat of the peasants. Coins were minted in Stolberg as early as the High Middle Ages, the industry reaching its heyday during the 16th century. By contrast, mining ceased in the 17th century. From its earliest days, Stolberg had been the residence and family seat of the counts of Stolberg. In 1548 it became the seat of Stolberg-Stolberg. In 1738 the counts of Stolberg were forced to recognize the suzerainty of the Electorate of Saxony. The town was awarded  to the Kingdom of Prussia in the 1815 Congress of Vienna and Stolberg was subsequently administered by the Prussian Province of Saxony. The counts of Stolberg-Stolberg established a consistory in the mid-16th century to head the Lutheran Church in the county. In 1645 the County of Stolberg split into 2 new counties – called Stolberg-Stolberg and Stolberg-Wernigerode. When the latter established its own church seat in 1658, the one in Stolberg became known as the Comital Consistory of Stolberg-Stolberg. In 1893 it was further renamed into the Princely Consistory of Stolberg-Stolberg. Since 1821 the Lutheran parishes  on the territory of the former county have been part of the Church Province of Saxony, itself part of the administratively united Evangelical State Church of Prussia. Today they belong to the Evangelical Church in Central Germany, founded in 2009. Nevertheless, the consistory continued to have regional responsibility for the Lutheran church parishes in the former county. Until the separation of church and state in 1919 it was directly subordinate to the imperial lord ("Standesherr"), the Count or Prince of Stolberg-Stolberg and indirectly to the governor ("Oberpräsident") of the Province of Saxony. At the end of 1944 the Evangelical  High Consistory ("Evangelischer Oberkirchenrat"), the headquarters of the state church) moved its seat from the endangered city of Berlin to the consistorial building at Stolberg. On 5 November 1947 the Consistory of Stolberg-Stolberg was merged with the "old" Princely Consistory of Stolberg-Roßla, whose seat was in Roßla, to form a consistorial district, whereby the "new" Evangelical-Lutheran Consistory of Stolberg-Roßla had its seat in Stolberg. "The governing body of the Evangelical Church of the Church Province of Saxony has [...] on 28 October 2005 decided consultation with the district synod of the church parish of Eisleben to disband  the Evangelical-Lutheran Consistory of Stolberg-Roßla." In 1833, Stolberg had 2,392 inhabitants. At the beginning of the 20th century, Stolberg became a tourist town. In 1923, a railway to Berga–Kelbra was opened. The town has been a health resort since 1946. In early 1946, "14 youths aged from 15 to 18" (two were 19 and 20 years old) were arrested by an operational group of the Soviet Security Service, the NKWD, on allegations of being involved in Werwolf, the Nazi plan to form a commando force. They were sentenced by a military tribunal to death (3 youths, carried  out in two cases) or to lengthy terms in prison of up to 25 years. The majority of the youths did not survive captivity in the Soviet special camps. In 1995 the group was cleared by the Attorney General of the Russian Federation. On 1 September 2010, Stolberg was incorporated into the municipality of "Südharz" ("South Harz"). Politics. Mayor. The major ("Ortsbürgermeister") of Stolberg is Ulrich Franke, elected on 28 May 2000. Coat of arms. The town coat of arms has been re-designed by the herald, utz Döring. Twinning. Stolberg, Saxony-Anhalt is twinned with: Culture and sights. Road  signs. The appearance of the roads in Stolberg is unique for Germany. At the entrances to the town there are signs indicating a speed limit of 30 km/h and no parking zones (cars may park in designated areas for one hour with the use of parking discs). Otherwise there are no road signs in the town. Although there is a clear separation between pavement and road, this may be seen as an early form of the shared space concept. Transport links. Road. Motorists can approach the town from the Harz Mountains to the north and the Kyffhäuser Hills to  the south, leaving the A 38 motorway at the Berga junction. Rail. Until December 2011, Stolberg was linked via the Berga-Kelbra-Stolberg line to the main line from Halle to Kassel, where good connexions were possible at Berga-Kelbra station. On weekdays there were bus services from the station and, at weekends, the Burgenlandbahn ran local rail services. In addition, in the summer there were through trains from Leipzig and Magdeburg via Sangerhausen directly to Stolberg. These excursion services ran on weekends, once in the morning to Stolberg and once in the afternoon back towards Leipzig and Magdeburg. Scheduled  train services to Stolberg were cancelled, however, in December 2011, by the public transport company of Saxony-Anhalt (NASA), due to low utilization of the trains.