Kölleda

Kölleda (until 1927 Cölleda) is a small rural town in Thuringia. The municipality belongs to the district of Sömmerda and is located about ten kilometres east of the district town of Sömmerda on the edge of the Thuringian Basin. It is the third largest municipality in the district with about 6300 inhabitants. Kölleda is the seat of the Kölleda administrative community, although it does not belong to it. The inhabitants are called "Kölledaer".

Kölleda is a sub-centre for the region. The town is characterised by a former traditionally large cultivation of medicinal and aromatic herbs, especially peppermint. This led to the nickname "peppermint town" and "peppermint railway" for the Straußfurt-Großheringen railway line that runs past.

Kölleda has an eventful 1200-year old history. Significant for the town's development during the National Socialist era were the construction of an air base and an aircraft office for the Luftwaffe and later, during the GDR era, the VEB Funkwerk Kölleda (today Funkwerk AG). After the Second World War, this was founded as a "Neutrowerk" by committed returned and immigrant experts - after the most difficult negotiations with the Soviet military administration - in the "old building" of the air base, which was therefore not blown up. There are many small and medium-sized companies in Kölleda. Above all, electrical engineering and metal processing have become increasingly important as economic factors for the town.

The "Jahnstadt" Kölleda is also known as the place of exile for the "gymnastics father" Friedrich Ludwig Jahn (memorial plaque east of the Roßplatz intersection; around 1960 also with "Jahnsportspiele" and today again with the Jahnplatz). It is also the birthplace of the chemist Fritz Hofmann, inventor of artificial methyl rubber (Buna rubber). The house where he was born (memorial plaque) is situated in the former Auenstraße, which was renamed after him.