The Lausitz Group in the easternmost part of Saxo-Thuringia, Germany, forms the largest exposure of partly anchimetamorphic Cadomian basement in Germany. In common with adjoining units to the west, it was deposited in a convergent-margin basin of northern peri-Gondwana. Sedimentary features within the turbiditic graywacke successions suggest continuous accumulation during a deepening stage that followed basaltic-andesitic arc-volcanic activity. The turbidites are irregularly intercalated with tuffaceous graywacke, which was derived from reworked, but only slightly older, basic volcanic material. Petrological and geochemical data reveal a broadly uniform source area for the graywackes with a dissected magmatic arc signature containing exhumed pre-Cadomian basement. Graywackes of the Lausitz Group together with earlier Cadomian basin successions and parts of the pre-Cadomian basement became mobilized during Cadomian subduction-related anatexis. During basin closure, the graywackes were weakly folded with a northerly vergence. Subsequently, they were contact-metamorphic overprinted by granodioritic intrusions, which mark the end of the Cadomian orogeny and show both Cadomian and pre-Cadomian crustal signatures. Superimposed very low-grade S-C textures in gray-wackes of the eastern Lausitz area are due to Variscan processes.