A long economic tradition is implicit in the term, the new Salzlandkreis.

Whereas salt has always played an important role in the economic history of the region, the emphasis today has shifted to the six white powders. Cement and the manufacture of flour, sugar and pharmaceutical products now play a key role, apart from salt and soda.

Where large companies employing several thousand workers once dominated the economic scene, a balanced mixture of craft industries and medium-sized companies is now developing on an increasing scale. This industrial diversity is the key to the region’s economic success.

The scenery of the Salzlandkreis in the heart of Saxony-Anhalt between the cities of Magdeburg and Halle has something to offer for everybody. Extensive, unspoilt riverscapes of unsurpassed beauty on the banks of the Elbe, Saale and Bode characterize the landscape as do the extensive, fertile, agricultural lands of the Magdeburger Börde or the charming, rolling hills of the Vorharz.

The Salzlandkreis is a pleasant place in which to live, with excellent transport connections and a favourable environment for entrepreneurs. Companies and businesses wishing to relocate are given every conceivable support to get their business off the ground. The central geographical location, the industrial tradition, the proximity to the motorway, the well developed industrial regions and the skills and expertise of the inhabitants are outstanding locational advantages.

Education and Training

The Salzlandkreis provides a wide range of educational opportunities from compulsory education level up to grammar school level, together with vocational school centers and a very successful adult education center. The higher education sector of the education system is also represented in the Salzlandkreis by the Anhalt University of Applied Sciences in Bernburg and the Police Academy of Saxony-Anhalt in Aschersleben. The Salzlandkreis is committed for the development of school complexes, the extension of all-day learning up to specializations in the linguistic, scientific or technical field.

Business and Science

Whereas the predominant industries in the Aschersleben region are the processing industries for manufacturing machine tools (Schiess GmbH), aluminium processing and the production of non-woven fabrics (Novelis Deutschland GmbH, Werk Nachterstedt), an important role is played in Bernburg by the “six powders”, that is the manufacture of flour, sugar and pharmaceutical products, in addition to salt, soda and cement. Thanks to its fertile soils, the whole of the Salzlandkreis region is preeminently suited for agriculture. “Pulmotin” is connected with the unique success story of Serumwerk Bernburg AG. Despite the difficult period of upheaval, electronics was able to reestablish itself in Staßfurt with Rundfunk- und Fernsehtechnik RFT. The soda works too with its new owners has reestablished its market position.

It is not only the German biathletes who are shooting with market-leading ammunition from Schönebeck. An additional economic strength in the region is the wheat starch from Cargill in Barby. Spices from Aschersleben, sausages from Könnern, Peißen, Plötzkau and Staßfurt, Gänsefurther Schlossbrunnen mineral water, Welsleber fruit juices, delicious lettuces and cucumbers from Calbe attract customers from beyond the State borders as well.

Steering boxes, environmental technology and materials handling equipment, as well as ambulances, complete the range of the processing industries in the Schönebeck region.

The Salzlandkreis has three technology centers with differing specializations. The Gatersleben location is an outstanding network in the high-tech biotechnology sphere (Leibniz Institute of Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research (IPK)). Schönebeck offers excellent opportunities in the social work and health care sectors. The Bernburger innovation park provides extremely favourable conditions for innovative companies to work creatively in close proximity to the Anhalt University of Applied Sciences.

Culture and Tourism

Schönebeck Bad-Salzelmen has the oldest brine spa in Germany. Art and cultural magnets such as the Schönebecker summer operettas, the Carl-Maria von Weber Theater Bernburg or the Salzlandtheater Staßfurt as well as world-class concerts from the Mitteldeutsche Kammerphilharmonie attract thousands of visitors every year.

The many rivers and lakes in the Salzlandkreis, together with the waterways created by flooding former opencast mines, are the reason why water tourism in particular has continued to develop in the region. The fact that one can not only experience nature on these paths, but can also experience the history and architecture of bygone centuries is something visitors take note of as a matter of course as they journey along the „Straße der Romanik“ [Romanesque Road] with its numerous churches and castles.