Rackwitz () is a municipality in the district of

Nordsachsen Nordsachsen ("North Saxony") is a district ('' Kreis'') in Saxony, Germany. History The district was established by merging the former districts of Delitzsch and Torgau-Oschatz as part of the district reform of August 2008. On 10 December 200 ...

, 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

Site, situation and location

Rackwitz is about 10 km north 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 ...

and 13 km south of

Delitzsch Delitzsch (; Slavic: ''delč'' or ''delcz'' for hill) is a town in Saxony in Germany, 20 km north of Leipzig and 30 km east of Halle (Saale). With 24,850 inhabitants at the end of 2015, it is the largest town in the district of Nordsach ...

. The surrounding landscape belongs to the

Leipzig Bay The Leipzig BayDickinson (1964), p. 29.Mulde The Mulde () is a river in Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. It is a left tributary of the Elbe and is long. The river is formed by the confluence, near Colditz, of the Zwickauer Mulde (running through Zwickau) and the Freiberger Mulde (with ...

. The lakes

Schladitzer See Schladitzer See is a lake in Landkreis Nordsachsen, Saxony, Germany. At an elevation of 104 m, its surface area is 2.18 km².Werbeliner See Werbeliner See is a lake in Saxony, Germany. At an elevation of 98.0 m, its surface area is 4.5 km². The lake is a part of the Central German Lake District The Central German Lake District (''German:'' Mitteldeutsches Seenland) is a group ...

, which were created from disused open-cast mines, are situated nearby. Leipzig Trade Fair Center and

Leipzig/Halle Airport Leipzig/Halle Airport (German: ''Flughafen Leipzig/Halle'') is an international airport located in Schkeuditz, Saxony, Germany and serves both Leipzig, Saxony, and Halle, Saxony-Anhalt. It is Germany's 14th largest airport by passengers and ...

are also in the vicinity.

Villages

Rackwitz municipality contains the following villages with populations in brackets: Also within the municipality's area are the footprints of the now demolished villages Schladitz with Kömmlitz, Kattersnaundorf and Werbelin, on the sites of which are now lakes, formerly open-cast lignite mines.

History

The Rackwitz area was settled by

Slavs Slavs are the largest European ethnolinguistic group. They speak the various Slavic languages, belonging to the larger Balto-Slavic branch of the Indo-European languages. Slavs are geographically distributed throughout northern Eurasia, main ...

in prehistoric times. The name ''Rak'' means ''shrimp'', and can be seen in the coat of arms. Der Ort Rackwitz ist aus den Orten Rackwitz und Güntheritz entstanden. The oldest part of the present day municipality is Podelwitz, which was documented in 1250. Since 1349/50 Zschortau and Rackwitz were mentioned in documents. Brodenaundorf was mentioned in 1547. At the start of the 15th Century,

plague Plague or The Plague may refer to: Agriculture, fauna, and medicine *Plague (disease), a disease caused by ''Yersinia pestis'' * An epidemic of infectious disease (medical or agricultural) * A pandemic caused by such a disease * A swarm of pes ...

and famine decimated Rackwitz. The municipality was also plundered during the

Thirty Years War The Thirty Years' War was one of the longest and List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, most destructive conflicts in History of Europe, European history, lasting from 1618 to 1648. Fought primarily in Central Europe, an es ...

. In 1692 trials for witchcraft took place in Rackwitz in which two witches were tried. On June 21, 1871 a train crash killed 19 and injured 56 in the vicinity of Rackwitz.

Mergers and Annexations

Historical Population

Note that the population figures in the table below include the figures for other districts that were merged with Rackwitz at various points in time (see table above, thereby accounting for significant increases.

Culture and Sights

Buildings

* The church in Podelwitz was gifted from

Henry the Illustrious Henry III, called Henry the Illustrious (''Heinrich der Erlauchte'') (c. 1215 – 15 February 1288) from the House of Wettin was Margrave of Meissen and last Margrave of Lusatia (as Henry IV) from 1221 until his death; from 1242 also Landgrave ...

of the

House of Wettin The House of Wettin () is a dynasty of German kings, prince-electors, dukes, and counts that once ruled territories in the present-day German states of Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia. The dynasty is one of the oldest in Europe, and its ori ...

to the

Teutonic Order The Order of Brothers of the German House of Saint Mary in Jerusalem, commonly known as the Teutonic Order, is a Catholic religious institution founded as a military society in Acre, Kingdom of Jerusalem. It was formed to aid Christians on ...

on Christmas Eve 1250. * The church in Zschortau contains the last remaining organ by Johann Scheibel, which was tested by

Johann Sebastian Bach Johann Sebastian Bach (28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his orchestral music such as the '' Brandenburg Concertos''; instrumental compositions such as the Cello Suites; keyboard w ...

.http://www.leipzigerneuseenland.de/en/node/2619 * Only the tower remains from the church in Kreuma. * Castle in Zschortauer Park which is today an educational institution. * Herrenhaus of the Rittergutes Güntheritz

References

Nordsachsen {{Nordsachsen-geo-stub