Bitterfeld () is a town in the district of Anhalt-Bitterfeld, Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Since 1 July 2007 it has been part of the town of Bitterfeld-Wolfen. It is situated approximately 25 km south of Dessau, and 30 km northeast of Halle (Saale). At the end of 2016, it had 40,964 inhabitants. History and description The name Bitterfeld most likely comes from the Middle High German words bitter and Feld and so means "boggy land". Bitterfeld was built by a colony of Flemish immigrants in 1153. The first documentary mention is from 1224. It was captured by the landgrave of Meissen in 1476, and belonged thenceforth to Saxony, until it was ceded to Prussia in 1815. By 1900, Bitterfeld station was an important junction of the Berlin–Halle and the Magdeburg–Leipzig railways. The population at that time was 11,839; it manufactured drainpipes, paper roofing, and machinery, and had sawmills. There were also several coal mines in the vicinity. Owing to its pleasant situation and accessibility, it became a favoured residence of businessmen of Leipzig and Halle. During the East German (GDR) era, it gained notoriety for its chemical industry complex which caused remarkably severe pollution, even by GDR standards. On 24 April 1959, it also was a scene for the Bitterfeld Conference, locally known as the "Bitterfelder Weg". This conference sought to connect the working class with the artists of the day to form a socialist national culture. In the 21st century Bitterfeld is still an industrial town and it stages the annual United Metal Maniacs metal festival. The former brown-coal open cast mine of Goitzsche, south-east of Bitterfeld, is a source of numerous fossils in Bitterfeld amber. Historical population (from 1840 to 2006): Sons and daughters of the town Johann Ernst Altenburg (1736-1801), trumpeter and organist Erwin Ding-Schuler (1912-1945), sturmbannführer and first camp doctor of Buchenwald Peter Rasym (born 1953), musician, has been playing bass guitar since 1997 with the Puhdys Other personalities August von Parseval (1861-1942), his impact airships developed by him were partly built in Bitterfeld. Walther Rathenau (1867-1922), founder of Bitterfeld's chemical industry. Klaus Staeck (born 1938), graphic artist, lawyer and president of the academy of the arts, grew up in Bitterfeld. Mayors 1851-1863 Gottlieb Meuche 1863-1873 Gustav Frischbier 1873-1890 Robert Sommer († 1890) 1890-1914 Hugo Hermann Adalbert Dippe (1853; † 1916) 1915-1927 Ernst Albert Hermann Schmidt 1927-1939 Arthur Erdmann Ebermann 1939-1945 Erhard Johann Martin Nimz 1943-1945 Walter Stieb