Pirna, Germany

With the conquest of the Slavic communities and the founding of the Mark by the Germans (Henry the Fowler founded the castle of Meissen in 929), settlement in the Pirna area is again verifiable. The castle in Pirna, which was mentioned for the first time in 1269, probably already existed in the 11th century. In the context of the second Eastern German colonization the town was founded by Henry III, Margrave of Meissen.

The streets are aligned from east to west and north to south forming a chessboard-like system. Only the streets east of the church are not aligned in this form, caused by the nearby Burgberg. In 1233, Pirna was mentioned officially for the first time in a document. In 1293, King Wenceslaus II of Bohemia acquired both town and castle from the Bishop of Meissen. Therefore Pirna belonged to Bohemia until 1405.

In 1502, the construction of the new church was begun under Meister Peter Ulrich von Pirna.

With the introduction of the Reformation into Saxony in 1539, Anton Lauterbach, a friend of Martin Luther, became pastor and superintendent. In 1544, the strategically important castle was upgraded to a fortress by Maurice, Elector of Saxony. Three years later, it withstood the siege by elector John Frederick, Elector of Saxony in the Schmalkaldic War.

On 23 April 1639 the town was invaded by Swedish troops under the commander in chief of the Swedish army, Johan Banér. During the five-month long siege of the fortress, which was in the end futile, the town was greatly devastated. About 600 people were killed in the "Misery of Pirna" (Pirnaisches Elend). In around 1670, based upon recent military developments, the Sonnenstein fortress was built. Only the powerful stonework still exists today. In 1707, Pirna had debts related to the Great Northern War of more than 100,000 Thalers.

On 29 August 1756 the small Saxon army fled before the Prussians, who had invaded without declaring war, to the levels between Königstein Fortress and Sonnenstein Castle and capitulated there on 16 October, two days after Sonnenstein surrendered. In 1758, Austrian troops and the Imperial Army besieged the fortress.

A Kattundruck manufactory for cotton printing opened as the first of its kind in 1774. In 1811, the physician Ernst Gottlob Pienitz opened a very large mental hospital in Castle Sonnenstein. But on 14 September 1813, when French troops occupied the Sonnenstein, they forced the evacuation of 275 patients, seized supplies and tore the roof trusses out to remove a fire threat. In September 1813, emperor Napoleon temporarily lived at the Marienhaus, located at the market. Until Dresden's surrender on 11 November the French defended the fortress. Only in February 1814 the hospital for the mentally ill was able to open again.

In 1837, steamship travel began on the upper Elbe. A few years later, in 1848, a railway line connecting Dresden and Pirna opened. In 1880, the first section of the Sekundärbahn-type railway line from Pirna to Gottleuba, the Gottleuba Valley railway was opened. The line was closed in 1976. In 1894, another railway line opened was the Pirna–Großcotta railway, connecting Pirna with the Lohmgrund, a major location of Saxonian sandstone quarries. It closed in 1999.

Pirna became an industrial town in 1862 with the building of factories. Mechanical engineering, glass, cellulose and rayon production also expanded. In 1875, the sandstone Elbbrücke was completed. During the First World War Pirna became a garrison and the engineer battalions 12 and 5 of the Royal Saxon field artillery regiment No. 64 were billeted on Rottwerndorfer Straße. In 1922/23, the town incorporated several municipalities including Posta, Niedervogelgesang, Obervogelgesang, Copitz, Hinterjessen, Neundorf, Zuschendorf, Rottwerndorf and Zehista. The population totaled about 30,000 inhabitants.

From early 1940 until end of June 1942, a part of the large mental asylum within Sonnenstein Castle was converted into a euthanasia killing center: the Sonnenstein Nazi Death Institute. It was a testing ground for initial development of certain methods, later generally adopted and refined for usage associated with the Final Solution. A gas chamber and crematorium were installed in the cellar of the former men's sanitary (building C 16). A high brick-wall on two sides of the complex shielded it from outside view. Four buildings were located inside this brick-wall shielding. They were used as offices, living rooms for the personnel, etc. Sleeping quarters for the men responsible for incinerating the bodies were provided in the attic of building C 16. It is possible that other sections of the buildings were also used by Action T4.