Workers' City," known by the inhabitants in short as Neustadt or "Ha-Noi". The city was built at a greater distance from the chemical plants. Chief architect of Halle-Neustadt was Richard Paulick, his deputies and heads of design groups were Joachim Bach, Horst Siegel, Karl-Heinz Schlesier, and Harald Zaglmaier. Already in the previous century (around 1900), there was a need for new housing areas because of the rapidly growing population. The north-south extent of the old city - wedged between the Saale in the west and railroad tracks and industrial areas in the east - was one of the main problems. For this reason, areas west of the old city and the Saale were considered. Because of the extremely difficult geological and hydro-logical conditions, especially high water, the development of this area for another residential location for the town was discarded. In the 1920s, the idea was taken up again but again shelved. The new city was built on the edge of the river Saale between the small towns Zscherben and Nietleben which was mostly demolished. Remnants of the rural character of that settlement have been preserved only along the ridge road. With the establishment of the South Park residential area, this road eventually became a kind of rural oasis in a city-scape otherwise dominated by skyscrapers. On 1 February 1964, a concrete plant was opened which produced the precast concrete (Plattenbau) for the new city. On 15 July 1964, Horst Sindermann, First Secretary of the SED district leadership in Halle, laid the foundation stone for the construction of the new socialist town west of the city of Halle (Saale) on the grounds of the school "First POS." In contrast to subsequent schools, which were named for personalities and officials, the school retained the name "Initial POS." The style of the school and the second POS "Ernst Thälmann" stood out from the other 28 schools. The other schools were equipped with "safe" nuclear bunkers located in their basements with a ventilation system. One example is the connecting wing of the former 16th POS "Otto Grotewohl" and 15th POS "Hermann Matern." A year later on 9 August 1965, the first tenants moved into Halle-Neustadt. Even before completion of the first residential complex in 1968, on 12 May 1967, the new settlement of Halle-Neustadt-West officially withdrew from the city of Halle (Saale). From 1970 to 1990, Liane Lang was mayor of the city.