Geithain is a town in the

Leipzig Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as wel ...

district, in

Saxony Saxony (german: Sachsen ; Upper Saxon: ''Saggsn''; hsb, Sakska), officially the Free State of Saxony (german: Freistaat Sachsen, links=no ; Upper Saxon: ''Freischdaad Saggsn''; hsb, Swobodny stat Sakska, links=no), is a landlocked state of ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

Geography

Geithain is northwest of

Chemnitz Chemnitz (; from 1953 to 1990: Karl-Marx-Stadt , ) is the third-largest city in the German state of Saxony after Leipzig and Dresden. It is the 28th largest city of Germany as well as the fourth largest city in the area of former East Germany a ...

and southeast of

. It lies in hilly country by the wooded area Wickershain and the river Eula.

History

The first documented mention of the town was in the year 1186 in a document, which described the donation of earnings from the Wickershainer Marion Church to the

Bishop of Merseburg The Bishopric of Merseburg was an episcopal see on the eastern border of the medieval Duchy of Saxony with its centre in Merseburg, where Merseburg Cathedral was constructed. The see was founded in 967 by Emperor Otto I at the same time in the same ...

through the Duke Dedo of Rochlitz. The name of the town has its origins in the Old Sorbian word "Chytan" (Chyten) and describes the place of Chyten, where "Chyt" (Chit) is a Sorbian first name. In 1209 there was another documented mention of Geithain and the already established Nicolai Church. In this year the establishment of a hospital and a chapel (of St. James) was ordered by Lord Randall of the Guests Keep (1190–1210), the Margrave of Lausitz. Also, although Geithain is described as a town in this document, a charter with the first mayor (Wiebke Drechsler) is first evident for the year 1335. From 1346 cisterns and wooden water conduits were constructed in Geithain, which were used until 1904. Gaithain was administered in the Middle Ages by a

Vogt During the Middle Ages, an (sometimes given as modern English: advocate; German: ; French: ) was an office-holder who was legally delegated to perform some of the secular responsibilities of a major feudal lord, or for an institution such as ...

, who had his seat in the Freihof, first mentioned in 1349. The Geithain powder-tower, today one of the sights of the town, was part of the Freihof and was inserted with this into the town's fortifications. 1936 was the 750th anniversary of Geithain. They had a celebration for 3 days around 1 September. In World War II the town had 219 dead. On 13 April 1945 alone 13 people were killed in a single air raid on the town. The target of the low-flying aircraft was the railway station. On 14 April the Second World War ended for Geithain with the arrival of American troops. As of 1 July 2017

Narsdorf Narsdorf is a former municipality in the Leipzig district, in Saxony, Germany. As of 1 July 2017 Narsdorf has been incorporated into Geithain. The villages of Ossa (with Bruchheim, Kolka, Wenigossa, and Niederpickenhain), and Rathendorf (with Ober ...

has been incorporated into Geithain together with its parts Bruchheim, Dölitzsch, Kolka, Narsdorf, Niederpickenhain, Oberpickenhain, Ossa, Rathendorf, and Wenigossa

Transport

Geithain is located on Neukieritzsch–Chemnitz and Leipzig–Geithain railway lines, which connect at Geithain station. In 2013 another section of federal motorway A 72 was opened, also connecting Geithain with exit no 23 and via B 7.

Notable people

* Paul Guenther, (1860-1932), German-born American industrialist, emigrated to the US in 1890, in 1910 he was the largest stocking producer in the US *

Henning Frenzel Henning Frenzel (born 3 May 1942 in Geithain) is a German former footballer. Frenzel was active in East Germany, and spent his entire career with Lokomotive Leipzig (in its various guises), where he totalled 420 appearances and 152 goals, resp ...

, (born 1942), former football national player in the GDR * Benjamin Hedericus (1675-1748), lexicographer * Walter Risse, (1892-1965), officer, most recently general lieutenant in the Second World War

References

{{Authority control Leipzig (district)