TORGAU

city, Saxony Land (state), eastern Germany. It is a port on the Elbe River, northeast of Leipzig. First mentioned in 973 and chartered in 125567, it was, after 1456, a frequent residence of the electors of Saxony, who built the Hartenfels Castle (153344 and 161623; now a museum). In 1526 the Torgauer Bund, a league of evangelical princes against the Roman Catholic princes, was formed there. During that period Martin Luther, the religious reformer, was active in the town, 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 (154344). Prisoners of war were held in the former Torgau fortress in World War II. A monument on the Elbe River near Torgau commemorates the first meeting between U.S. and Soviet troops during the closing days of World War II. A railway junction, with an inland transshipment harbour, Torgau manufactures agricultural machinery, ceramics, glass, and paper and has iron foundries. Pop. (1992 est.) 21,772.