Anthony Ryan, age 14, of Monroe, La., for his question:

WHERE IS SAXONY?

Saxony is a region and former state in the east central part of   . Germany. It covers almost 7,000 square miles.

The Communist controlled East German government abolished Saxony as a political unit in 1952. It then divided the region into three districts: Leipzig, Dresden and Chemnitz, which later became Karl Marx Stadt. Now that East and West Germany have been reunified, some name changes and administrative redivisions may well be made in the area.

In the 1400s, the eastern part of the Duchy of Saxony came under the rule of the Wettin family, who called it Saxony. Then Saxony joined the German Empire in 1871.

Saxony became a republic after World War I.

During World War II, bombs and artillery fire severely damaged the city of Dresden, which is now the capital of the district of Dresden. The city was one of the last German strongholds to surrender when the war came to an end.