a town of Germany, in Prussian Saxony, on the river Ihle, and the railway from Berlin to Magdeburg, 14 m. N.E. of the latter. Pop. (1900) 22,4 3 2. It is noted for its cloth manufactures and boot-making, which afford employment to a great part of its population. The town belonged originally to the lordship of Querfurt, passed with this into the possession of the archbishops of Magdeburg in 1496, and was ceded in 1635 with other portions of the Magdeburg territories to Saxony; in 1687 it was ceded to Brandenburg. It owes its prosperity to the large influx of industrious French, Palatinate and Walloon refugees, which took place about the end of the 17th century.