Leben in Deutschland: Sachsen

The Saxon state coat of arms shows a shield divided into black and white, crossed by a green rue crown (crancelin); Image 4 shows this coat of arms. The other three images show the coats of arms of other federal states, which do not bear the rue crown. The green rue crown is the most reliable identifying feature of Saxony.

The Vogtlandkreis is one of the districts of the Free State of Saxony and lies in the south-west of the state, on the border with Bavaria and Thuringia. Altötting belongs to Bavaria, the Uckermark to Brandenburg and Nordfriesland to Schleswig-Holstein.

The constitution of the Free State of Saxony sets a five-year electoral term for the Landtag. Three, four and six years are not electoral terms of the Saxon state parliament.

In Saxony, people may vote in local elections from the age of 18; this is laid down in the Saxon Municipal Code. 14 is far too young, and 16 applies to local elections only in other federal states, for example in Saxony-Anhalt or Thuringia. 20 is not a voting age anywhere in Germany.

The state flag of Saxony is white and green; the colours are derived from the Saxon coat of arms. Blue-white-red is the flag of Schleswig-Holstein, black-yellow that of Saxony-Anhalt, and green-white-red are the colours of North Rhine-Westphalia.

The Saxon State Agency for Civic Education provides information on political topics and offers events, publications and further training. The public order office is responsible for regulatory and trade matters, while churches and consumer advice centres have other tasks.

Dresden is the state capital of the Free State of Saxony and the seat of the Landtag and the state government. Leipzig is the largest city in Saxony, and Chemnitz and Zwickau are other large cities, but none of them is the state capital.

Saxony lies in the east of Germany and borders Poland and the Czech Republic; on the map in the question catalogue it bears the number 4. The numbers 1 to 3 designate other federal states in other positions on the map.

The head of government of a federal state is called Minister-President; in Saxony this person is elected by the Landtag. First Minister, Prime Minister and Mayor are titles used in other countries or for municipal offices.

Foreign policy is the responsibility of the federal government alone (Article 32 of the Basic Law); that is why Saxony has no ministry of foreign affairs. Justice, finance and the interior, by contrast, are the state's own portfolios, headed by its own ministers.