town
A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world.
Origin and use
The word "town" shares an ori ...
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 and transport
The town is situated at the southern edge of the
Leipzig Bay
The Leipzig BayDickinson (1964), p. 29.White Elster
The White Elster Accessed on 16 Jan 2011. (, ) is a long river in central
Schwennigke
The Schwennigke, also Schwenke, is a river in Saxony, Germany, and a left-hand tributary of the Schnauder. It rises in the Gleinaer Grund and runs from Tröglitz for a distance of about through the Elster water meadows parallel to the White El ...
and
Schnauder
The Schnauder is a river of Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia in Germany. It is a right tributary of the White Elster, which it joins near Groitzsch.
See also
* List of rivers of Saxony
*List of rivers of Saxony-Anhalt
A list of rivers of S ...
rivers, 20 km northeast of
Zeitz
Zeitz ( hsb, Žič) is a town in the Burgenlandkreis district, in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. It is situated on the river White Elster, in the triangle of the federal states Saxony-Anhalt, Thuringia and Saxony.
History
Zeitz was first recorded und ...
, and 25 km southwest of
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 ...
. A transition to the Central German low mountain ranges is notable in several elevated places within the municipal boundaries.
Bundesstraße
''Bundesstraße'' (German for "federal highway"), abbreviated ''B'', is the denotation for German and Austrian national highways.
Germany
Germany's ''Bundesstraßen'' network has a total length of about 40,000 km.
German ''Bundesstraßen'' ...
B176 passes through Groitzsch itself, and
Bundesstraße 2
The Bundesstraße 2 (abbr. B2) is Germany's longest federal highway, running some 1000 kilometres from the Polish border near Gartz to the Austrian border near Garmisch-Partenkirchen. From north to south; it passes through major cities such a ...
traverses the subdistricts Kobschütz and Audigast. The latter leads to a junction with new
Bundesautobahn 38
is an autobahn in Germany. It connects the A 7 near Göttingen with Leipzig. In ''Die Südharzreise'', David Woodard discusses Bundesautobahn 38 in comparison to Route 11 in Paraguay and U.S. Route 66.Woodard, D., "Autobahn 38, Ruta XI, R ...
about 15 km northeast of the town.
The nearest railway station is in
Pegau
Pegau () is a town in the Leipzig district in Saxony, Germany, situated in a fertile plain, on the White Elster, 18 m. S.W. from Leipzig by the railway to Zeitz.
It has two Evangelical churches, that of St. Lawrence being a fine Gothic structure ...
on the
Leipzig–Probstzella railway
The Leipzig–Probstzella railway is a line in the German states of Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia. It runs from Leipzig through the valley of the White Elster via Zeitz, Gera, Triptis, the Orlasenke lowland and Saalfeld to Probstzella. Since ...
. Public transport is provided by buses of Mitteldeutscher Verkehrsverbund with direct services to Pegau,
Zwenkau
Zwenkau is a town in the district of Leipzig, in Saxony, Germany. Situated between the White Elster and Pleiße rivers, it nestles in the Leipzig Bay and includes parts of the conservation area ''Elsteraue'' and ''Central Germany's Street of Li ...
, Leipzig, Neukieritzsch,
Böhlen
Böhlen () is a town in Saxony, Germany, south of Leipzig. Its main features are a small airport and a power-plant. It is located in the newly built Neuseenland, the lakes created in the former open-pit mining areas.
History
The first docum ...
, and
Altenburg
Altenburg () is a city in Thuringia, Germany, located south of Leipzig, west of Dresden and east of Erfurt. It is the capital of the Altenburger Land district and part of a polycentric old-industrial textile and metal production region betw ...
The original Sorbian name was Groisca.
The oldest archaeological finds in the town district date from approximately 4000 BC. The area was comparatively densely populated in prehistoric times, and after the migration of
Germanic tribes
The Germanic peoples were historical groups of people that once occupied Central Europe and Scandinavia during antiquity and into the early Middle Ages. Since the 19th century, they have traditionally been defined by the use of ancient and ear ...
,
Slavic peoples
Slavs are the largest European ethnolinguistic group. They speak the various Slavic languages, belonging to the larger Balto-Slavic language, Balto-Slavic branch of the Indo-European languages. Slavs are geographically distributed throughout ...
, referred to as
Sorbs
Sorbs ( hsb, Serbja, dsb, Serby, german: Sorben; also known as Lusatians, Lusatian Serbs and Wends) are a indigenous West Slavic ethnic group predominantly inhabiting the parts of Lusatia located in the German states of Saxony and Brandenbu ...
, migrated into the region after in the 7th century. Based on the continuity of pre-Slavic place names, it is likely that
Thuringian
Thuringian is an East Central German dialect group spoken in much of the modern German Free State of Thuringia north of the Rennsteig ridge, southwestern Saxony-Anhalt and adjacent territories of Hesse and Bavaria. It is close to Upper Saxon spo ...
settlements remained until the 8th or 9th century. During the
Ostsiedlung
(, literally "East-settling") is the term for the Early Medieval and High Medieval migration-period when ethnic Germans moved into the territories in the eastern part of Francia, East Francia, and the Holy Roman Empire (that Germans had al ...
of the early Middle Ages, the population mixed with settlers from
Thuringia
Thuringia (; german: Thüringen ), officially the Free State of Thuringia ( ), is a state of central Germany, covering , the sixth smallest of the sixteen German states. It has a population of about 2.1 million.
Erfurt is the capital and larg ...
and
Franconia
Franconia (german: Franken, ; Franconian dialect: ''Franggn'' ; bar, Frankn) is a region of Germany, characterised by its culture and Franconian dialect (German: ''Fränkisch'').
The three administrative regions of Lower, Middle and Upper Fr ...
. In the history of the town traces of
Jewish
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
life are also found.
The town was first mentioned in 1039 in the famous Pegauer Annals as a settlement next to an early medieval castle. This was one of the principal fortifies places in the region in the 11th and 12th century and is the location of some of the earliest known stone buildings in Saxony. In 1070 count Wiprecht exchanged his inherited estate in
Balsamgau The Balsamgau (or Belcsem, Balsami) was an early medieval Gau (shire) in the Eastphalia region of the Duchy of Saxony. It was centered on Stendal and located on the West bank of the River Elbe. Other towns in the Balsamgau include Arneburg, Döb ...
for the lordship of Groitzsch. He was a supporter of emperors
Heinrich IV Henry IV may refer to:
People
* Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor (1050–1106), King of the Romans and Holy Roman Emperor
* Henry IV, Duke of Limburg (1195–1247)
* Henry IV, Duke of Brabant (1251/1252–1272)
* Henryk IV Probus (c. 1258–1290), Du ...
and Heinrich V, but opposed the latter in 1113, for which he was imprisoned until 1117. After restoration of his estate he was enfeoffed with the
burgraviate of Magdeburg
Magdeburg (; nds, label=Low Saxon, Meideborg ) is the capital and second-largest city of the German state Saxony-Anhalt. The city is situated at the Elbe river.
Otto I, the first Holy Roman Emperor and founder of the Archdiocese of Magdebur ...
in 1118 and the margraviate of Meißen in 1123. The coat of arms of the town adopted in 1891, showing a silver horse armoured in gold walking on a red shield, has been designed after count Wiprecht's.
In 1214 Groitzsch was awarded town privileges. The castle was destroyed in the wars descending upon the region around 1300.
Shoemaking
Shoemaking is the process of making footwear.
Originally, shoes were made one at a time by hand, often by groups of shoemakers, or cobblers (also known as '' cordwainers''). In the 18th century, dozens or even hundreds of masters, journeymen ...
has been a traditional industry in Groitzsch since the Middle Ages. The produce was sold on the Leipzig Fair. The surrounding countryside with its fertile soil is shaped by agriculture. New industries were established in the 19th century, and the town was enlargened. In 1874 the Gaschwitz-Meuselwitz railway opened with a station in Groitzsch, and the opening of the Neukieritzsch-Pegau railway in 1909 made the town an interchange point.
The town and in particular the area around the railway station suffered heavy damage in aerial bombardments in World War II. American troops liberated Groitzsch on 14 April 1945 and left on 30 June 1945, after which date Soviet troops occupied the area.
e
The railway to Gaschwitz was interrupted by
lignite
Lignite, often referred to as brown coal, is a soft, brown, combustible, sedimentary rock formed from naturally compressed peat. It has a carbon content around 25–35%, and is considered the lowest rank of coal due to its relatively low heat ...
mining in 1957 and lost its passenger service in 1966. The line to
Meuselwitz
Meuselwitz () is a town in the Altenburger Land district, in Thuringia, Germany. It is situated 12 km northwest of Altenburg and 11 km east of Zeitz.
History
During World War II, a subcamp of the Buchenwald concentration camp operated ...
lost its passenger service in 1976 when it, too, was interrupted by mining activities, and was finally closed in 1998. Lack of continued demand led to the closure of the line to
Pegau
Pegau () is a town in the Leipzig district in Saxony, Germany, situated in a fertile plain, on the White Elster, 18 m. S.W. from Leipzig by the railway to Zeitz.
It has two Evangelical churches, that of St. Lawrence being a fine Gothic structure ...
and
Neukieritzsch
Neukieritzsch is a municipality in the Leipzig (district), Leipzig district, in Saxony, Germany. On 1 April 2008, the former municipality of Lobstädt was incorporated into Neukieritzsch. On 1 July 2014, the former municipality of Deutzen was in ...
to passengers in 1997 and to freight in 1999.
The 950th anniversary of the town was celebrated in 1989. In 1996 the municipalities of Auligk, Audigast, Berndorf, and Großstolpen were administratively joined with Groitzsch.
Notable buildings
* A 45 m tall steel framed
water tower
A water tower is an elevated structure supporting a water tank constructed at a height sufficient to pressurize a water distribution system, distribution system for potable water, and to provide emergency storage for fire protection. Water towe ...
was erected in 1903/1903 and remains in use.
* The market square with the representative town hall has been restored.
* The remaining tower of the romanesque St Giles (''St. Aegydius'') church houses the regional museum. The church building itself was used as town hall and prison from 1563 until its destruction in 1633.
* The town mill was first mentioned in the 12th century, the current building was erected in 1803 and rebuilt in 1930 after a fire.
* Our Lady's church (''Frauenkirche'') of romanesque origin is located on a hill at the western edge of the town centre. It was last rebuilt in 1883/1884 and renovated in 2007.
* Only small remains of the castle of
Wiprecht of Groitzsch
Wiprecht (or Wigbert) of Groitzsch (died 22 May 1124) was the Margrave of Meissen and the Saxon Ostmark from 1123 until his death. He was born to a noble family of the Altmark, the son of Wiprecht of Balsamgau and Sigena of Leinungen. After his fat ...
on ''Burgberg'' ("Castle Hill") are still visible, but the site has been investigated archeologically and is protected as a historical monument.
Groitzsch Wasserturm.jpg , Water tower
GroitzschStadtturm.JPG , Steeple of former St Giles Church (museum)
Groitzsch-Aug-2008 020.jpg , Town hall
Groitzsch-Aug-2008 055.jpg , Town mill
GroitzschFrauenkirche2.JPG , Our Lady's church
Groitzsch Wiprechtsburg 4.jpg , Ruins of round chapel on the site of the former castle
Education
Groitzsch has a primary school, a secondary school offering education up to year 10, and ''Wiprecht- Gymnasium'' teaching up to
matriculation examination
A matriculation examination or matriculation exam is a university entrance examination, which is typically held towards the end of secondary school. After passing the examination, a student receives a school leaving certificate recognising academi ...
s. A music and art school exists in nearby Borna, and adult education is offered by the local branch of
Volkshochschule
Folk high schools (also ''Adult Education Center'', Danish: ''Folkehøjskole;'' Dutch: ''Volkshogeschool;'' Finnish: ''kansanopisto'' and ''työväenopisto'' or ''kansalaisopisto;'' German: ''Volkshochschule'' and (a few) ''Heimvolkshochschule;'' ...
Leipzig.
Religion
Lutheranism
Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Cathol ...
is the largest denomination in the town and its surroundings. The parish of Groitzsch encompasses the sub-parishes of Groitzsch with Pödelwitz, Audigast, and Auligk-Gatzen-Michelwitz, while the district of Hohendorf is served by the parish of
Regis-Breitingen
Regis-Breitingen () is a town in the Leipzig district, in Saxony, Germany. It is situated on the river Pleiße
The Pleiße is a river of Saxony and Thuringia, Germany.
The Pleiße has its source southwest of Zwickau at Ebersbrunn, then flows ...
. The town church is Our Lady's church, a building of romanesque origins.
Roman Catholics
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
attend services in
Zwenkau
Zwenkau is a town in the district of Leipzig, in Saxony, Germany. Situated between the White Elster and Pleiße rivers, it nestles in the Leipzig Bay and includes parts of the conservation area ''Elsteraue'' and ''Central Germany's Street of Li ...
or
Pegau
Pegau () is a town in the Leipzig district in Saxony, Germany, situated in a fertile plain, on the White Elster, 18 m. S.W. from Leipzig by the railway to Zeitz.
It has two Evangelical churches, that of St. Lawrence being a fine Gothic structure ...
. There is also a
Mormon
Mormons are a religious and cultural group related to Mormonism, the principal branch of the Latter Day Saint movement started by Joseph Smith in upstate New York during the 1820s. After Smith's death in 1844, the movement split into several ...
church in Groitzsch.
Notable people
*
Wiprecht of Groitzsch
Wiprecht (or Wigbert) of Groitzsch (died 22 May 1124) was the Margrave of Meissen and the Saxon Ostmark from 1123 until his death. He was born to a noble family of the Altmark, the son of Wiprecht of Balsamgau and Sigena of Leinungen. After his fat ...
(1050–1124), Count of Groitzsch and Margrave of Meißen and Lusatia
* Samuel Rüling (1586–1626), composer
* Ulrike von Levetzow (1804–1899), friend of poet J. W. Goethe
*
Hans Bemmann
Hans Bemmann (April 27, 1922 in Groitzsch near Leipzig – April 1, 2003 in Bonn) was a German writer.
Hans Bemmann studied German language and literature and musicology in Innsbruck. He worked as an editor at the Austrian ''Borromäuswerk'', ...