Editing Dessau (section)

==History==
{{unreferenced section|date=December 2012}}
Dessau was first mentioned in 1213. It became an important centre in 1570, when the [[Principality of Anhalt]] was founded. Dessau became the capital of this state within the [[Holy Roman Empire]]. In 1603, the state was split into four – later five – Anhalts, Dessau  becoming the capital of the mini-state of [[Anhalt-Dessau]]. In 1863 two of the noble lines died out, and the Duchy of Anhalt became reunited. From 1918 to 1945, Dessau was the capital of the [[Free State of Anhalt]].

[[File:Dessau Cavalierstraße 1900.jpg|thumb|Cavalierstrasse in 1900 with the [[Erbprinzliches Palais Dessau]] ]]
Dessau is famous as the second site of the [[Bauhaus]] school. It moved here in 1925 after it had been forced to close in [[Weimar, Germany|Weimar]]. Many famous artists were lecturers in Dessau in the following years, among them [[Walter Gropius]], [[Paul Klee]] and [[Wassily Kandinsky]]. The [[Nazi Party|Nazis]]’ control of Dessau city council forced the closure of the Dessau Bauhaus in 1932. The school moved to [[Bernau bei Berlin]] and closed its doors for the last time in 1933.

{{anchor|Allied air attacks}}The town was almost completely destroyed by Allied air raids in [[World War II]] on 7 March 1945, six weeks before American troops occupied the town. Afterwards, it was rebuilt with typical [[East Germany|GDR]] concrete slab architecture (''[[Plattenbau]]'') and became a major industrial centre of [[East Germany]]. Since [[German reunification]] in 1990, many historic buildings have been restored.

The composer [[Kurt Weill]] was born in Dessau. Since 1993, the city has hosted an annual Kurt Weill Festival. Dessau was also the birthplace of the philosopher [[Moses Mendelssohn]] (in 1729), and [[Leopold I, Prince of Anhalt-Dessau]] (''der alte Dessauer'') (on 3 July 1676), a lauded field marshal for the [[Kingdom of Prussia]].

In January 2005, Dessau gained notoriety for the mysterious death of a Sierra Leonean drug trafficker and asylum seeker, [[Oury Jalloh]]. Jalloh died in police custody, however, the official version of events released by the police was found to have many inconsistencies.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Oltermann |first=Philip |date=2013-11-12 |title=German police urged to re-investigate asylum seeker's death in custody |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/nov/12/german-police-asylum-seeker-death-in-custody |access-date=2024-12-09 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}}</ref>