Altenburg was a working-class city during the Weimar Republic , ruled by SPD and KPD , which led to heavy conflicts between left - and right-wing forces after 1933 . The Jewish community was destroyed during the Kristallnacht in 1938 , many Jews emigrated or were killed in the concentration camps . Furthermore , communists and invalids from Altenburg were murdered . During World War II , several subcamps of the Buchenwald concentration camp were located here . They provided 13,000 forced labourers for HASAG , the third largest German company to use concentration camp labour . The US Army reached Altenburg on 15 April 1945 and was replaced by the Soviet Army on 1 July 1945
Kristallnacht
Kristallnacht
Altenburg