Artern is situated at the confluence of the rivers Unstrut and Helme, on a bend of the Unstrut, which flows through the town from the southeast to the northwest.
It is located in the north east of Thuringia, close to the border with Saxony Anhalt, and 12 km south of Sangerhausen.
Transport
Artern is on the Sangerhausen–Erfurt railway and so has railway connections to Erfurt and Sangerhausen. The railway connection to Naumburg was cancelled in December 2006. The population was 6,165 in the 2006 census.
History
The first known documented mention of Artern was as Aratora in the early 9th Century, in a register of estates at Hersfeld Abbey. The water castle of Artern was built in the 10th Century by a local noble Thietmarus Kohlstedt.
Machinery, sugar and boots used to be manufactured in Artern.
Its brine springs, known as early as the 15th century, are still frequented.[3]
During World War II, 47 prisoners of war from Poland and France were used as forced labourers at the Weidlich Manor, on the Demesne, and on the river works. Over 400 foreign forced labourers were working in the machine factory Kyffhäuserhütte in 1941. At least another 1,124 forced labourers, predominantly from the Soviet Union, worked in the sugar factory, the brewery, the saline works, on the railways and on farms (also in the nearby village of Schönfeld) and in the outlying estate Kachstedt.
In the Artern subcamp (with cover name A-Dorf) of the concentration camp Mittelbau-Dora, hundreds of prisoners, also from other camps, had to assemble the electrics for V2 rockets. In April 1945 hundreds of concentration camp prisoners were sent on various routes on death marches. The numerous fatalities of the forced labour and the last deportations were buried in the Parkfriedhof cemetery, where a memorial stone was erected, which was removed in 1975.[4]
Former machine factory KyffhäuserhütteFormer saline works
Historical Population
From 1960 as of 31 December
1612: 0242 households
1831: 2640
1890: 4790
1933: 5889
1939: 6366
1960: 7296
1989: 7280
1994: 7064
1995: 7269
1996: 7157
1997: 7069
1998: 7067
2000: 6848
2001: 6732
2002: 6580
2003: 6424
2004: 6344
2005: 6201
2006: 6165
2007: 5970
2008: 5867
2009: 5824
2010: 5715
2011: 5742
2012: 5707
2013: 5658
2014: 5553
2015: 5590
2016: 5530
Data since 1994: Thüringian State Statistical Office
Climate
Atern has a cool steppe climate (Köppen: BSk; Trewartha: BSbk), bordering on an oceanic one (Köppen: Cfb; Trewartha: Dobk), which is unique for Germany. The annual precipitation is 481.6 mm (18.96 in), and the precipitation in summer is more than twice that in winter.
The Artern weather station has recorded the following extreme values:[5]
Its highest temperature was 38.9 °C (102.0 °F) on 4 July 2015.
Its lowest temperature was −23.6 °C (−10.5 °F) on 14 January 1987 and 24 February 1986.
Its greatest annual precipitation was 665.7 mm (26.21 in) in 2007.
Its least annual precipitation was 272.6 mm (10.73 in) in 2018.
The longest annual sunshine was 2,033.6 hours in 2003.
The shortest annual sunshine was 1,194.1 hours in 1977.
Climate data for Artern (1991–2020 normals, extremes 1954–present)
^Thüringer Verband der Verfolgten des Naziregimes – Bund der Antifaschisten und Studienkreis deutscher Widerstand 1933–1945 (Hrsg.): Heimatgeschichtlicher Wegweiser zu Stätten des Widerstandes und der Verfolgung 1933–1945. (= Heimatgeschichtliche Wegweiser, Band 8 – Thüringen.) Erfurt 2003, ISBN3-88864-343-0, S. 166.
^ ab"Monatsauswertung". sklima.de (in German). SKlima. Retrieved 13 October 2024.
