Sudmerberg is a quarter (''

Stadtteil A quarter is a section of an urban settlement. A quarter can be administratively defined and its borders officially designated, and it may have its own administrative structure (subordinate to that of the city, town or other urban area). Such a ...

'') of

Goslar Goslar (; Eastphalian: ''Goslär'') is a historic town in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is the administrative centre of the district of Goslar and located on the northwestern slopes of the Harz mountain range. The Old Town of Goslar and the Mines ...

Lower Saxony Lower Saxony (german: Niedersachsen ; nds, Neddersassen; stq, Läichsaksen) is a German state (') in northwestern Germany. It is the second-largest state by land area, with , and fourth-largest in population (8 million in 2021) among the 16 ...

, Germany, named after a prominent -metre-high hill to the east.

Geography

The settlement is located between Goslar town centre and the

Oker The Oker is a river in Lower Saxony, Germany, that has historically formed an important political boundary. It is a left tributary of the River Aller, in length and runs in a generally northerly direction. Origin and meaning of the name The ...

in the southeast. The

Abzucht The Abzucht, also known in its upper reaches as the Wintertalbach, is a long, orographically left-hand, tributary of the Oker in Lower Saxony, Germany. The stream flows through the town of Goslar. Geography The Abzucht rises in the upper W ...

stream runs between the Sudmerberg hill, rising in the east, and the northern edge of the

Harz The Harz () is a highland area in northern Germany. It has the highest elevations for that region, and its rugged terrain extends across parts of Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Thuringia. The name ''Harz'' derives from the Middle High German ...

mountains. The area is part of the

Harz Nature Park The Harz (Lower Saxony) Nature Park (german: Naturpark Harz (Niedersachsen)) or just Harz Nature Park lies in the districts of Goslar and Göttingen (in the area of the former Osterode am Harz district) in South Lower Saxony. The nature park in th ...

. Sudmerberg currently has about 1,880 inhabitants. The Vienenburg–Goslar railway follows the Abzucht river south of Sudmerberg. To the north, the ''

Bundesstraße 6 The Bundesstraße 6 (abbr. B6) is a German federal highway running from Bremerhaven on the North Sea coast in a southeasterly direction through the states of Lower Saxony, Bremen, Saxony-Anhalt and Saxony to Görlitz on the Polish border. H ...

'' federal highway runs to the neighbouring town of

Bad Harzburg Bad Harzburg (; Eastphalian: ''Bad Harzborch'') is a spa town in central Germany, in the Goslar district of Lower Saxony. It lies on the northern edge of the Harz mountains and is a recognised saltwater spa and climatic health resort. Geogra ...

History

An early medieval

lowland castle The term lowland castle or plains castle (german: Niederungsburg, Flachlandburg, Tieflandburg) describes a type of castle that is situated on a lowland, plain or valley floor, as opposed to one built on higher ground such as a hill spur. The cl ...

, located at the confluence of the Abzucht and the

, was first mentioned as ''Sudburg'' in a 1064 deed issued by King

Henry IV of Germany Henry IV (german: Heinrich IV; 11 November 1050 – 7 August 1106) was Holy Roman Emperor from 1084 to 1105, King of Germany from 1054 to 1105, King of Italy and Burgundy from 1056 to 1105, and Duke of Bavaria from 1052 to 1054. He was the son o ...

. Probably affiliated with the nearby

royal palace of Werla The Royal Palace of Werla (German: ''Königspfalz Werla'') is located near Werlaburgdorf (municipality: Schladen-Werla) in Lower Saxony. The grounds of the royal palace cover about 20 hectares rising atop Kreuzberg hill, a 17 m high natural platea ...

, it lent its name to the adjacent Sudmerberg hill. Today, only the foundations remain of the fortress which fell into ruins in the 14th century. SudmerbergSpringbrunnen

In April 1935, Goslar's town council issued a development plan for the ''Sudmerberg'' settlement, mainly for employees of the nearby

Rammelsberg The Rammelsberg is a mountain, high, on the northern edge of the Harz range, south of the historic town of Goslar in the North German state of Lower Saxony. The mountain is the location of an important silver, copper, and lead mine, the only min ...

ore mine (

Preussag TUI Group is a German leisure, travel and tourism company. TUI is an acronym for ''Touristik Union International'' ("Tourism Union International"). TUI AG was known as Preussag AG until 1997 when the company changed its activities from mining to ...

) and the Oker ironworks. As early as December 1936, the first settlers moved into their new houses, further dwellings were occupied the next year. Though construction works ceased during

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 ...

, from 1948 onwards numerous refugee families found homes in Sudmerberg. In expectation of an increase in the permanent population, Sudmerberg Primary School was built, opening in 1950. Until about 1960 there was an open-cast mine on the Sudmerberg hill in a small

sandstone Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates ...

quarry.

Points of interest

* A wellspring in the central market square contains a lump of ore from the Rammelsberg mine. The sculpture called ''Girl with the Umbrella'' (''Mädchen mit dem Wasserschirm'') was created by artist, Anna Barth from Sankt Andreasberg. * From the summit of the Sudmerberg, a medieval watchtower, the ''Sudmerberger Warte'', erected by the

imperial city In the Holy Roman Empire, the collective term free and imperial cities (german: Freie und Reichsstädte), briefly worded free imperial city (', la, urbs imperialis libera), was used from the fifteenth century to denote a self-ruling city that ...

of Goslar, offers scenic views of the entire town of Goslar, the northern Harz foothills and the highest mountain in the Harz, the

Brocken The Brocken, also sometimes referred to as the Blocksberg, is the highest peak in the Harz mountain range and also the highest peak in Northern Germany; it is near Schierke in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt between the rivers Weser and El ...

massif.

Clubs and events

The ''Fanfarenzug Goslar Sudmerberg'', now ''Powerbrass Goslar'', was founded in 1965.

References

External links

Private website with information on Sudmerberg
{{in lang, de Goslar (district) Goslar