Reitzenhain is a village in the Ore Mountains which is now a subdivision of

Marienberg Marienberg is a town in Germany. It was the district capital of the Mittlerer Erzgebirgskreis (Central Ore Mountains district) in the southern part of Saxony, and since August 2008 it has been part of the new district of Erzgebirgskreis. As of ...

in the district

Erzgebirgskreis Erzgebirgskreis is a district ('' Kreis'') in the Free State of Saxony, Germany. It is named after the Erzgebirge ("Ore Mountains"), a mountain range in the southern part of the district which forms part of the Germany–Czech Republic border. I ...

Geography

Reitzenhain is located on the crest of the Ore Mountains, next to the border between

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 ...

and the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...

at an altitude of ca. 778 m (station building) on the stream Schwarze Pockau. The abandoned village Pohraniční (Böhmisch Reizenhain) is situated to its south-east, on the Czech side of the border and on the right bank of the stream.

Etymology

The name of the village is supposedly derived from a

wayside inn The Wayside Inn Historic District is a historic district on Old Boston Post Road in Sudbury, Massachusetts. The district contains the Wayside Inn, a historic landmark that is one of the oldest inns in the country, operating as Howe's Tavern ...

(locally called a ''Han'') on the nearby mountain pass, which happened to be the thirteenth inn ('Dreizehnter Han') on the road from

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 ...

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and List of cities in the Czech Republic, largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 milli ...

, counted from either end. This is also reflected by the number "13" (German: 'Dreizehn') in the village's coat of arms.

History

Reitzenhain was first mentioned in a document of 1401 as ''Reiczenstein'', being a village on the border to Bohemia. In 1551 it belonged to

Großrückerswalde Großrückerswalde is a municipality in the district Erzgebirgskreis, in Saxony, Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after ...

parish, in 1607 it was transferred to Kühnhaide parish. Reitzenhain children also attended school in Kühnhaide. Due to the strategically important location on the Reitzenhain pass, the village was frequently occupied by military forces, in particular in the

Thirty Years' War The Thirty Years' War was one of the longest and most destructive conflicts in European history, lasting from 1618 to 1648. Fought primarily in Central Europe, an estimated 4.5 to 8 million soldiers and civilians died as a result of battle ...

and in the

Seven Years' War The Seven Years' War (1756–1763) was a global conflict that involved most of the European Great Powers, and was fought primarily in Europe, the Americas, and Asia-Pacific. Other concurrent conflicts include the French and Indian War (175 ...

. Until 1856 Reitzenhain belonged administratively to

Amt Amt is a type of administrative division governing a group of municipalities, today only in Germany, but formerly also common in other countries of Northern Europe. Its size and functions differ by country and the term is roughly equivalent to ...

Wolkenstein Wolkenstein is a town in the district Erzgebirgskreis, in Saxony, Germany. It is situated in the Ore Mountains, on the river Zschopau, 22 km southeast of Chemnitz. The town is situated on a rocky spur near the confluence of Zschopau and ...

. The road between Marienberg and Reitzenhain was improved to rural highway standards in the first half of the 19th century. The

railway Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...

from Chemnitz to

Komotau Chomutov (; german: Komotau) is a city in the Ústí nad Labem Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 46,000 inhabitants. There are almost 80,000 inhabitants in the city's wider metropolitan area. The city centre is well preserved and is protec ...

via

was opened on 23 August 1875. The

volunteer fire department A volunteer fire department (VFD) is a fire department of volunteers who perform fire suppression and other related emergency services for a local jurisdiction. Volunteer and retained (on-call) firefighters are expected to be on call to respond ...

was founded in 1879. A schoolhouse was opened in 1882.

Peat Peat (), also known as turf (), is an accumulation of partially decayed vegetation or organic matter. It is unique to natural areas called peatlands, bogs, mires, moors, or muskegs. The peatland ecosystem covers and is the most efficient ...

digging started in 1891. Together with the neighbouring Reizenhain on the Czech side of the border, the Reitzenhain neighbourhood of Reißigmühle was connected to the electricity supply network in 1921. New municipal offices were inaugurated in 1924. Kühnhaide was administratively joined with Reitzenhain on 1 October 1937, but became a separate municipality again on 1 April 1948. A bomb dropped on the village in February 1945 destroyed one building and killed 14 persons. After

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

the economical ties to Bohemia were interrupted, which caused a decline of the village. Reitzenhain remained a separate municipality until 31 December 1993, it then joined with Kühnhaide, Rübenau, and Satzung to form the new municipality Hirtstein of which it became the administrative seat. On 1 January 2003 Hirtstein joined Marienberg.

Infrastructure

Bundesstraße 174 from Chemnitz ends on the border crossing to Hora Svatého Šebestiána and continues from there as National Road 7 to Chomutov. Reitzenhain station was border station on the Saxon line Flöha-Reitzenhain which continued via Reizenhain (Pohraniční) to Komotau (Chomutov). When cross-border traffic ceased after World War II, the station lost its importance. Passenger trains to Reitzenhain were cancelled on 1 October 1978, freight trains on 8 January 1994, the line between Marienberg and Reitzenhain was closed on 15 December 1998 and has been lifted in 2013 in favour of a bicycle and hiking path.Niederschrift über die 12. Sitzung der Verbandsversammlung des Planungsverbandes Region Chemnitz am 12. November 2013 - öffentliche Sitzung, S. 30
/ref> Reitzenhain has bus connections with Annaberg-Buchholz, Marienberg and Olbernhau on weekdays, and to Rübenau and Satzung on schooldays, provided by VMS.

People

* Eugen Georg Schuffenhauer, founder of a religious movement who claimed to be able to converse with the spirits of the dead, lived in Reitzenhain from 1922 until his death in 1953.

References

{{reflist Former municipalities in Saxony Marienberg Villages in the Ore Mountains