Die Stadt, die Audi erfand – und mit dem Trabant unterging: Zwickau

Few people know that Audi wasn't born in Ingolstadt, but in Zwickau. August Horch founded his factories here, and the legendary Horch limousines—luxury cars that even rivaled Mercedes—were built here. But after 1945, history took a bitter turn: Auto Union fled to the West, and Zwickau henceforth produced a car made of Duroplast that remained virtually unchanged for three decades—the Trabant. When German reunification came in 1990, everything collapsed for the city overnight. This is the story of a city that shaped German automotive manufacturing like almost no other—and paid a high price for it.