Editing Saxony (section)

===20th century===
[[File:Sasko1950.png|right|thumb|The Free State of Saxony 1945–1952]]
After King [[Frederick Augustus III of Saxony]] abdicated on 13 November 1918, Saxony, remaining a constituent state of Germany ([[Weimar Republic]]), became the Free State of Saxony under a new constitution enacted on 1 November 1920. In October 1923, when the [[Communist Party of Germany]] entered the [[Social Democratic Party of Germany|Social Democratic]]-led government in Dresden with [[German October|hidden revolutionary intentions]], the Reich government under Chancellor [[Gustav Stresemann]] used a ''[[Reichsexekution]]'' to send troops into Saxony to remove the Communists from the government.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Sturm |first=Reinhard |date=23 December 2011 |title=Kampf um die Republik 1919–1923 |trans-title=Battle for the Republic 1919–1923 |url=https://www.bpb.de/themen/nationalsozialismus-zweiter-weltkrieg/dossier-nationalsozialismus/39531/kampf-um-die-republik-1919-1923/?p=all#node-content-title-21 |access-date=6 May 2023 |website=Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung |language=de}}</ref> The state retained its name and borders during the Nazi era as a {{lang|de|[[Administrative divisions of Nazi Germany|Gau]]}} ([[Gau Saxony]]), but lost its quasi-autonomous status and its parliamentary democracy.

During [[World War II]], under the secret Nazi programme ''[[Aktion T4]]'', an estimated 15,000 people suffering from mental and physical disabilities, as well as a number of concentration camp inmates, were murdered at [[Sonnenstein Euthanasia Centre|Sonnenstein killing centre]] near [[Pirna]]. Numerous subcamps of the [[Buchenwald concentration camp|Buchenwald]], [[Flossenburg concentration camp|Flossenburg]] and [[Gross-Rosen concentration camp|Gross-Rosen]] concentration camps were operated in Saxony.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.aussenlager-buchenwald.de/|title=Buchenwald war überall|website=aussenlager-buchenwald.de|access-date=22 June 2024|language=de}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.gedenkstaette-flossenbuerg.de/en/history/subcamps|title=Subcamps|website=KZ-Gedenkstätte Flossenbürg|access-date=22 June 2024}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://en.gross-rosen.eu/historia-kl-gross-rosen/filie-obozu-gross-rosen/|title=Subcamps of KL Gross-Rosen|website=Gross-Rosen Museum in Rogoźnica|access-date=22 June 2024}}</ref>

As the war drew to its end, U.S. troops under General [[George Patton]] occupied the western part of Saxony in April 1945, while [[Soviet occupation zone in Germany|Soviet troops occupied]] the eastern part. That summer, the entire state was handed over to Soviet forces as agreed in the [[London Protocol (1944)|London Protocol of September 1944]]. Britain, the US, and the USSR then negotiated Germany's future at the [[Potsdam Conference]]. Under the [[Potsdam Agreement]], all German territory East of the [[Oder-Neisse line]] was annexed by Poland and the Soviet Union, and, unlike in the aftermath of [[World War I]], the annexing powers were allowed to expel the inhabitants. During the following three years, [[Flight and expulsion of Germans from Poland during and after World War II|Poland]] and [[Expulsion of Germans from Czechoslovakia|Czechoslovakia expelled]] German-speaking people from their territories, and some of these expellees came to Saxony. Only a small area of Saxony lying east of the [[Neisse]] River and centred around the town of [[Bogatynia|Reichenau]] (Bogatynia) was annexed by Poland. Traditional close relations of Saxony with neighbouring German-speaking [[Egerland]] were thus completely destroyed, making the border of Saxony along the [[Ore Mountains]] a linguistic border.

Part of the former [[Free State of Prussia (1918-1933)|Prussian]] [[province of Lower Silesia]] lay west of the [[Oder-Neisse line]] and therefore was separated from the bulk of its former province; the [[Soviet Military Administration in Germany]] (SVAG) merged this territory into Saxony.<ref>Kosiński, Leszek (1960) [http://rcin.org.pl/Content/33932/WA51_50482_r1960-z2_Dokumentacja-Geogr.pdf <nowiki>"Pochodzenie terytorialne ludności Ziem Zachodnich w 1950 r. [Territorial origins of inhabitants of the Western Lands in year 1950]" (PDF). Dokumentacja Geograficzna (in Polish)</nowiki>]. Warsaw: PAN (Polish Academy of Sciences), Institute of Geography. 2: Tabela 1 (data by county) – via Repozytorium Cyfrowe Instytutów Naukowych.</ref> This former Silesian territory broadly corresponded with the Upper Lusatian territory annexed by Prussia in 1815.

On [[1946 Soviet occupation zone state elections|20 October 1946, SVAG organised elections for the Saxon state parliament]] ({{lang|de|Landtag}}), but many people were arbitrarily excluded from candidacy and suffrage, and the Soviet Union openly supported the [[Socialist Unity Party of Germany]] (SED). The new minister-president [[Rudolf Friedrichs]] (SED), had been a member of the [[Social Democratic Party of Germany|SPD]] until April 1946. He met his Bavarian counterparts in the U.S. zone of occupation in October 1946 and May 1947, but died suddenly in mysterious circumstances the following month. He was succeeded by [[Max Seydewitz]], a loyal follower of [[Joseph Stalin]].{{citation needed|date=June 2016}}

The [[German Democratic Republic]] (East Germany), including Saxony, was established in 1949 out of the [[Soviet Union|Soviet]] zone of [[Occupied Germany]], becoming a [[State socialism|constitutionally socialist state]], part of [[COMECON]] and the [[Warsaw Pact]], under the leadership of the [[Socialist Unity Party of Germany|SED]]. In 1952 the government abolished the Free State of Saxony, and divided its territory into three {{lang|de|[[Administrative divisions of the German Democratic Republic#Division into Bezirke|Bezirke]]}}: [[Leipzig (Bezirk)|Leipzig]], [[Dresden (Bezirk)|Dresden]], and [[Karl-Marx-Stadt (Bezirk)|Karl-Marx-Stadt]] (formerly and currently [[Chemnitz]]). Areas around [[Hoyerswerda]] were also part of the [[Cottbus (Bezirk)|Cottbus Bezirk]].

The Free State of Saxony was reconstituted with slightly altered borders in 1990, following [[German reunification]]. Besides the formerly Silesian area of Saxony, which was mostly included in the territory of the new Saxony, the free state gained further areas north of [[Leipzig]] that had belonged to [[Saxony-Anhalt]] until 1952.