Editing Meiningen (section)

===After 1918===
The Duchy was abolished at the end of [[World War I]] in 1918. Meiningen then became the capital of the successor state ''Freistaat Saxony-Meiningen''. From 1920, it was a district town in the newly created state of [[Thuringia]]. {{Interlanguage link|Thüringisches Staatsarchiv Meiningen|de}} was founded in 1923. In 1927, ''{{Interlanguage link|Flugplatz Meiningen|de}}'', an airfield, was opened. In October 1931, airship [[LZ 127 Graf Zeppelin]] landed there before 100,000 spectators, followed by the airship [[LZ 130 Graf Zeppelin II]] on 9 July 1939. During [[World War II]], Meiningen was the location of a [[prisoner of war]] hospital, and several German military hospitals. The [[Deutsche Dienststelle (WASt)|Deutsche Dienststelle]] was based in the ''Drachenbergkaserne'' barracks from 1943 to 1945. A heavy air raid on Meiningen on 23 February 1945, by the [[USAAF]] caused 208 deaths, destroyed 251 houses and two bridges in total, and damaged 440 buildings. Meiningen was occupied by American armed forces on 5 April 1945.<ref>Thuringia under American Occupation (April until July 1945), http://www.lzt-thueringen.de/files/huringia_under_american_occupation.pdf {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170901115319/http://www.lzt-thueringen.de/files/huringia_under_american_occupation.pdf |date=1 September 2017 }}</ref>
 
[[File:Justizzentrum-Meiningen5.jpg|thumb|A part of the ''Justizzentrum'' (court house)]]
In July 1945, the town was included in the Soviet occupation zone along with the rest of Thuringia, and thus later became part of the [[German Democratic Republic]] (DDR). To accommodate workers for a [[microelectronic]]s plant, the ''Robotron Meiningen'', the new district of Jerusalem (Meiningen) was created from 1967 to 1983 in the north between Helba and Welkershausen, eventually housing around 6,000 inhabitants. Meiningen was an important center of ''[[Die Wende]]'' in southern Thuringia in 1989. Among the many events were a total of 25 demonstrations with 1,000-25,000 participants.

After German reunification in 1990, Meiningen became the district town of Schmalkalden-Meiningen. In the ''Dreißigacker'' district, new businesses and the new Meiningen Hospital were constructed. In the 1990s, there was a new construction boom in the town, with many houses being renovated and embellished. In July 1994, Chancellor of Germany [[Helmut Kohl]] visited the town, [[Angela Merkel]] did so in April 2012. The new ''Justizzentrum'' (court house) was built in 2000. In 2003, the town was connected to the ''[[Bundesautobahn 71]]''. With the opening of the new ''Kammerspiele'' in June 2008, the town created another theater venue, underlining its national significance as a cultural town. In 2013, the new industrial area ''Rohrer Berg'' near the motorway junction Meiningen-North was created.