Torgau

Torgau, city, Saxony Land (state), eastern Germany. It is a port on the Elbe River, northeast of Leipzig. First mentioned in 973, Torgau was chartered in 1255–67. After 1456 it was a frequent residence of the electors of Saxony, who built the Hartenfels Castle (1533–44 and 1616–23; now a museum). In 1526 the Torgauer Bund (Torgau League), a league of evangelical princes against the Roman Catholic princes, was formed there. During that period the religious reformer Martin Luther was active in Torgau, where he wrote the league’s constitution (the Torgau Articles, 1530). His wife, Katherina von Bora, is buried in the Church of St. Mary (Marienkirche, begun 1390). The Castle Church (Schlosskirche) was the first Protestant church to be built (1543–44). Prisoners of war were held in the former Torgau fortress in World War II. A railway junction with an inland transshipment harbour, Torgau manufactures ceramics, glass, machinery, and paper products. A memorial on the Elbe River near Torgau commemorates the first meeting (April 25, 1945) between U.S. and Soviet troops during the closing days of World War II. Pop. (2003 est.) 18,906.