Thale () is a town in 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 ...

district in

Saxony-Anhalt Saxony-Anhalt (german: Sachsen-Anhalt ; nds, Sassen-Anholt) is a state of Germany, bordering the states of Brandenburg, Saxony, Thuringia and Lower Saxony. It covers an area of and has a population of 2.18 million inhabitants, making it the ...

in central

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 ...

. Located at the steep northeastern rim of the

mountain range, it is known for the scenic

Bode Gorge The Bode Gorge (german: Bodetal) is a long ravine that forms part of the Bode valley between Treseburg and Thale in the Harz Mountains of central Germany. The German term, ''Bodetal'' (literally "Bode Valley"), is also used in a wider sense to r ...

stretching above the town centre.

Geography

The town is situated on the river Bode, approximately west of

Quedlinburg Quedlinburg () is a town situated just north of the Harz mountains, in the district of Harz in the west of Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. As an influential and prosperous trading centre during the early Middle Ages, Quedlinburg became a center of in ...

. Served by

Transdev Sachsen-Anhalt Transdev Sachsen-Anhalt (formerly: ''Veolia Verkehr Sachsen-Anhalt'') is a regional railway company, a subsidiary of Transdev Germany. It provided passenger services on the North Harz network from 2005 to 2018 under the name HEX (''HarzElbeExpress ...

trains,

Thale Hauptbahnhof Thale Hauptbahnhof is a station on the Magdeburg–Thale railway in the town of Thale in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt. The station is classified by Deutsche Bahn as a category 5 station. The only other station in Thale is the stop at '' Th ...

is the terminus of the

Magdeburg–Thale railway The Magdeburg–Thale railway is a predominantly single-track, non-electrified main line railway that connects Thale, in the northern Harz, with Magdeburg, the capital of Saxony-Anhalt. Its eastern section between Magdeburg and Halberstadt was open ...

line. The town has access to the

Bundesstraße 6n The Bundesstraße 6n is a German federal road that runs east-west from the Vienenburg district of Goslar to Bernburg, where it connects to the A14. It was originally planned to be the A 36 motorway. It is intended to have four lanes running f ...

highway.

Divisions

The town Thale consists of Thale proper and the following ''Ortschaften'' or municipal divisions:Hauptsatzung der Stadt Thale
December 2014. *

Allrode Allrode is a village and a former municipality in the Harz (district), district of Harz, in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Since 1 January 2011, it is part of the town Thale. There are two prominent trees - the ''Hohle Eiche'' ("hollow oak") and ''Adler ...

Altenbrak Altenbrak is a village and a former municipality in the district of Harz, in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Geography The village is strung out for about 1.6 kilometres along the River Bode in an east–west valley. It is 3 kilometres from the We ...

(incl. Alsmfeld and

Wendefurth Wendefurth is a hamlet in central Germany that, since 1 July 2009, has been part of the borough of Thale district of Harz. Previously it belonged to the municipality of Altenbrak which was incorporated into Thale. Geographical location The hamle ...

) *

Friedrichsbrunn Friedrichsbrunn is a village and a former municipality in the district of Harz, in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Since 23 November 2009, it is part of the town Thale. History At the location of Friedrichsbrunn there has been a well and a resting plac ...

Neinstedt Neinstedt is a village and a former municipality in the district of Harz, Saxony-Anhalt, in the Harz area. Since 1 January 2009, it is part of the town Thale. It has a station on the Magdeburg–Thale railway The Magdeburg–Thale railway is a ...

Stecklenberg Stecklenberg is a village and a former municipality in the district of Harz, in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Since 23 November 2009, it is part of the town Thale. Sights The ''Glockenstein'' is a granite block in the shape of a bell that was probab ...

Treseburg Treseburg is a village and a former municipality in the district of Harz, in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Since 1 July 2009, it is part of the town Thale. Geography Treseburg lies at the confluence of the Luppbode stream with the River Bode in t ...

*Warnstedt *

Weddersleben Weddersleben is a village and a former municipality in the district of Harz, Saxony-Anhalt, in the Harz area. Since 1 January 2009, it is part of the town Thale. The village is well known for being located adjacent to the famed natural rock fo ...

Westerhausen Westerhausen is a village and a former municipality in the district of Harz, in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Since 1 September 2010, it is part of the town Thale Thale () is a town in the Harz district in Saxony-Anhalt in central Germany. Located a ...

History

The settlement of Thale probably emerged at the beginning of the 10th century. It was documented in 936 in connexion with the neighbouring Wendhusen Abbey, which had been founded around 825 AD as a chapter of canonesses (''Kanonissenstift''). Established by an

Eastphalia Eastphalia (german: Ostfalen; Eastphalian: ''Oostfalen'') is a historical region in northern Germany, encompassing the eastern ''Gaue'' (shires) of the historic stem duchy of Saxony, roughly confined by the River Leine in the west and the Elbe a ...

n comital family and based on the model of

Herford Abbey Herford Abbey (german: Frauenstift Herford) was the oldest women's religious house in the Duchy of Saxony. It was founded as a house of secular canonesses in 789, initially in Müdehorst (near the modern Bielefeld) by a nobleman called Waltger, wh ...

, it was one of the first monasteries in the medieval

Duchy of Saxony The Duchy of Saxony ( nds, Hartogdom Sassen, german: Herzogtum Sachsen) was originally the area settled by the Saxons in the late Early Middle Ages, when they were subdued by Charlemagne during the Saxon Wars from 772 and incorporated into the C ...

. After Queen Dowager

Matilda Matilda or Mathilda may refer to: Animals * Matilda (chicken) (1990–2006), World's Oldest Living Chicken record holder * Matilda (horse) (1824–1846), British Thoroughbred racehorse * Matilda, a dog of the professional wrestling tag-team The ...

, wife of the late King

Henry the Fowler Henry the Fowler (german: Heinrich der Vogler or '; la, Henricus Auceps) (c. 876 – 2 July 936) was the Duke of Saxony from 912 and the King of East Francia from 919 until his death in 936. As the first non-Frankish king of East Francia, he ...

, tried in vain to relocate the convent in 936, it came under the guardianship of the newly established

chapter. The adjacent village was first mentioned in a 1231 deed as ''Dat Dorp to dem Dale'' (from 1288 it was given the

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

ised description ''de valle'', and from 1303 as ''von Thale''). In the late Middle Ages, the estates were held by the Saxon Counts of Regenstein, vassals of the Halberstadt prince-bishops. The monastery premises were stormed and devastated in 1525 during the

German Peasants' War The German Peasants' War, Great Peasants' War or Great Peasants' Revolt (german: Deutscher Bauernkrieg) was a widespread popular revolt in some German-speaking areas in Central Europe from 1524 to 1525. It failed because of intense oppositio ...

. From 1445 the records show that there had been an

ironworks An ironworks or iron works is an industrial plant where iron is smelted and where heavy iron and steel products are made. The term is both singular and plural, i.e. the singular of ''ironworks'' is ''ironworks''. Ironworks succeeded bloomeri ...

in Thale. It was rebuilt from

1648 1648 has been suggested as possibly the last year in which the overall human population declined, coming towards the end of a broader period of global instability which included the collapse of the Ming dynasty and the Thirty Years' War, t ...

onwards after the devastations of the

Thirty Years' War The Thirty Years' War was one of the longest and most destructive conflicts in European history The history of Europe is traditionally divided into four time periods: prehistoric Europe (prior to about 800 BC), classical antiquity (80 ...

as the ''Berghaus zum Wilden Mann'', but was fully destroyed in 1670. After the secularised

Halberstadt Halberstadt ( Eastphalian: ''Halverstidde'') is a town in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt, the capital of Harz district. Located north of the Harz mountain range, it is known for its old town center that was greatly destroyed by Allied bombi ...

territories were incorporated by

Brandenburg-Prussia Brandenburg-Prussia (german: Brandenburg-Preußen; ) is the historiographic denomination for the early modern realm of the Brandenburgian Hohenzollerns between 1618 and 1701. Based in the Electorate of Brandenburg, the main branch of the Hohenz ...

, a small

hammer mill A hammer mill, hammer forge or hammer works was a workshop in the pre-industrial era that was typically used to manufacture semi-finished, wrought iron products or, sometimes, finished agricultural or mining tools, or military weapons. The featur ...

was established in 1686 out of which a new ironworks later developed that benefited especially from its proximity to the ore deposits and the availability of wood. It lasted until 1714. In 1740 a business was opened again. For a short time this ironworks was owned by the

Prussian Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an e ...

king

Frederick the Great Frederick II (german: Friedrich II.; 24 January 171217 August 1786) was King in Prussia from 1740 until 1772, and King of Prussia from 1772 until his death in 1786. His most significant accomplishments include his military successes in the Sil ...

Part of the Prussian

Province of Saxony The Province of Saxony (german: link=no, Provinz Sachsen), also known as Prussian Saxony () was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia and later the Free State of Prussia from 1816 until 1944. Its capital was Magdeburg. It was formed by the merge ...

since 1815, the first wrought-iron wagon axle to be made in the German lands was manufactured here in 1831. In 1835 the oldest sheet steel enamel works in Europe was founded in Thale. Following the town's connexion to the railway network in 1862 with a line to

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

the place flourished as did the number of workers. Whilst the

iron industry Ferrous metallurgy is the metallurgy of iron and its alloys. The earliest surviving prehistoric iron artifacts, from the 4th millennium BC in Egypt, were made from meteoritic iron-nickel. It is not known when or where the smelting of iron from ...

had only 350 workers in 1872, by 1905 there were as many as 4,400. In particular, the production of enamel contributed to Thale's international renown; in its heyday Thale produced no less than 10% of the world's production. In 1910

Karl Liebknecht Karl Paul August Friedrich Liebknecht (; 13 August 1871 – 15 January 1919) was a German socialist and anti-militarist. A member of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) beginning in 1900, he was one of its deputies in the Reichstag from ...

Rosa Luxemburg Rosa Luxemburg (; ; pl, Róża Luksemburg or ; 5 March 1871 – 15 January 1919) was a Polish and naturalised-German revolutionary socialist, Marxist philosopher and anti-war activist. Successively, she was a member of the Proletariat party, ...

and

Clara Zetkin Clara Zetkin (; ; ''née'' Eißner ; 5 July 1857 – 20 June 1933) was a German Marxist theorist, communist activist, and advocate for women's rights. Until 1917, she was active in the Social Democratic Party of Germany. She then joined the ...

spoke to Thale's workers. From 1916 steel helmets were produced in Thale. In the

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 opposin ...

Thale had the

monopoly A monopoly (from Greek language, Greek el, μόνος, mónos, single, alone, label=none and el, πωλεῖν, pōleîn, to sell, label=none), as described by Irving Fisher, is a market with the "absence of competition", creating a situati ...

on this product (from 1934). Tourism blossomed from the 19th century onwards in connexion with the

radon Radon is a chemical element with the symbol Rn and atomic number 86. It is a radioactive, colourless, odourless, tasteless noble gas. It occurs naturally in minute quantities as an intermediate step in the normal radioactive decay chains through ...

rich water of the Hubertus Spring, which had been opened up in 1836. As a result, various literary figures visited the place, including

Heinrich Heine Christian Johann Heinrich Heine (; born Harry Heine; 13 December 1797 – 17 February 1856) was a German poet, writer and literary critic. He is best known outside Germany for his early lyric poetry, which was set to music in the form of '' Lied ...

(''

Die Harzreise ''Die Harzreise'' ("The Harz Journey") is a travel report by German poet and author Heinrich Heine on a journey to the Harz mountains. Compiled in autumn 1824, it was first published as a serial in January and February 1826 in the magazine ''Der ...

'') and

Theodor Fontane Theodor Fontane (; 30 December 1819 – 20 September 1898) was a German novelist and poet, regarded by many as the most important 19th-century German-language realist author. He published the first of his novels, for which he is best known toda ...

and especially the Bode Gorge. In addition tourists from Berlin enjoyed the summer resort of Thale. This encouraged the connexion of Thale in 1862 to the railway line from

Wegeleben Wegeleben () is a town in the Harz district, in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. It is the administrative seat of the ''Verbandsgemeinde'' ("collective municipality") Vorharz. Geography It is situated at the confluence of the Goldbach and Bode rivers, ea ...

. In 1909 a branch line from

Blankenburg (Harz) Blankenburg (Harz) is a town and health resort in the district of Harz, in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany, at the north foot of the Harz Mountains, southwest of Halberstadt. It has been in large part rebuilt since a fire in 1836, and possesses a castle ...

followed. In 1922 the resort was given

town rights Town privileges or borough rights were important features of European towns during most of the second millennium. The city law customary in Central Europe probably dates back to Italian models, which in turn were oriented towards the tradition ...

. From 12 to 14 June 2009 Thale was the venue for the Saxony-Anhalt Day held under the motto ''Thale sagenhaft'' ("Legendary Thale"), and attracted around 200,000 visitors.

Incorporation of other municipalities

Warnstedt was incorporated in 2003. In 2009 a total of seven municipalities were incorporated on four separate dates. Westerhausen was added in 2010. Allrode became a part of the town of Thale in 2011. The changes in area are shown in a separate table. ;Area of the town of Thale

Population growth

The growth of population ''(from 1995 censuses were taken every 31 December)'':Contains data up to 1939
/ref>

Politics

Town council

(according to the official result of the elections for the Thale town council on 7 June 2009; Voter participation: 42.88%, Changes from the previous election in brackets) * CDU – 59.2%, 17 seats (unchanged) *

Die Linke The Left (german: Die Linke; stylised as and in its logo as ), commonly referred to as the Left Party (german: Die Linkspartei, links=no ), is a democratic socialist political party in Germany. The party was founded in 2007 as the result of th ...

– 13.3%, 4 seats (unchanged) * FDP – 8.2%, 2 seats (+1) *

SPD The Social Democratic Party of Germany (german: Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands, ; SPD, ) is a centre-left social democratic political party in Germany. It is one of the major parties of contemporary Germany. Saskia Esken has been the ...

– 7.4%, 2 seats (-1) * GRÜNE Bürger Fraktion – 4.9%, 3 seats (+3) * Wählergruppen – 4.1%, 1 seat (-1) * Einzelbewerber – 2.9%, 0 seats (-1)

Coat of arms

The coat of arms was approved on 11 July 1996 by the Magdeburg Regional Council (''Regierungspräsidium'').

Partnerships

Since 1990 Thale has had a town partnership with

Seesen Seesen is a town and municipality in the Goslar (district), district of Goslar, in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated on the northwestern edge of the Harz mountain range, approx. west of Goslar. History The Duchy of Saxony, Saxon settlement ...

(

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 ...

) on the northwest edge of the Harz and, since 1998, with the French town of

Juvisy-sur-Orge Juvisy-sur-Orge (, literally ''Juvisy on Orge'') is a commune in the Essonne department in Île-de-France in northern France. It is located 18 km south-east of Paris, a few kilometres south of Orly Airport. The site of the town has been occu ...

, 18 km from Paris, as well as

Tillabéri Tillabéri (var. Tillabéry) is a town in northwest Niger. It is situated 113 km northwest of the capital Niamey on the River Niger. It is an important market town and administrative center, being the capital of department of Tillabéri and ...

Niger ) , official_languages = , languages_type = National languages Warnstedt Windmühle

Thale asv2018-10 img10 view from Witches Point

Museums

* Wendhusen Abbey which specialises in the theme of "canoness chapters" (''Kanonissenstifte'') * Thale Smelting Museum * Walpurgis Hall

Buildings

* The former Wendhusen Abbey, dating to the Carolingian period * The Hotel Zehnpfund, built in 1863 and once the biggest summer hotel in Germany * St. Peter's Church, completed in 1906 * The Roman Catholic Church of the Sacred Heart (''Herz-Jesu-Kirche''), completed in 1910 and 1911 * The prominent windmill in the village of Warnstedt

Other cultural sites

* Hexentanzplatz ("Witches' Dancefloor") * Harz Mountain Theatre, Thale * Wildlife park (''Tierpark'') *

Sommerrodelbahn A summer toboggan is an amusement or recreational ride which uses a bobsled-like sled or cart to run down a track usually built on the side of a hill. There are two main types: an Alpine coaster or mountain coaster is a type of roller coaster ...

* Bau-Spiel-Haus * Funpark * Central Theater (cinema) *

Homburg Watchtower The Homburg Watchtower (german: Homburgswarte) is an observation tower on the site of a Germanic refuge castle (''Fliehburg'') near the Hexentanzplatz above the town of Thale in the Harz Mountains of central Germany. Location The Sachsenwall Wa ...

(''Homburgswarte'')

Natural monuments

- Thale is the gateway to the Bode Gorge which is overlooked by the Hexentanzplatz ("Witches' Dancefloor"), accessible on the Bode Gorge Gondola Lift, and the

Roßtrappe The ''Roßtrappe'' is a granite crag in the Harz mountains of central Germany. The ''Roßtrappe'' rises over the Bode Gorge in the Harz. It may be reached from Thale by road, on foot or on via the Rosstrappe Chair Lift. On the rocks is a mounta ...

, to which a

chair lift An elevated passenger ropeway, or chairlift, is a type of aerial lift, which consists of a continuously circulating steel wire rope loop strung between two end terminals and usually over intermediate towers, carrying a series of chairs. They ...

runs. At the ''Hexentanzplatz'' is a large open-air theatre and a zoo. *

Teufelsmauer The Teufelsmauer (''Devil's Wall'') is a rock formation made of hard sandstones of the Upper Cretaceous in the northern part of the Harz Foreland in central Germany. This wall of rock runs from Blankenburg (Harz) via Weddersleben and Rieder ...

- near the villages of

and Warnstedt lies the Teufelsmauer, one of the oldest

nature reserves in Germany A ''Naturschutzgebiet'' (abbreviated NSG) is a category of protected area (nature reserve) within Germany's Federal Nature Conservation Act (the ''Bundesnaturschutzgesetz'' or ''BNatSchG''). Although often translated as 'Nature Reserve' in Engli ...

. *

Harz Witches' Path The Harz Witches' Trail (german: Harzer Hexenstieg) is a footpath, just under 100 km long, in Germany that runs from Osterode through the Harz mountains and over its highest peak, the Brocken, to Thale. It is a project by the Harz Transpo ...

- The Harz Witches' Path (''Harzer Hexenstieg''), a long-distance footpath, runs from Thale for just under 100 km across the Harz to Osterode, passing various sights along the way including 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 Elbe. ...

Torfhaus Torfhaus is a village in the borough of the mining town of Altenau in the Harz mountains of Germany and lies at a height of about . It is the highest settlement in Lower Saxony. This small settlement consists mainly of restaurants, youth hostels, ...

, Dammgraben and the

Upper Harz Ponds The Upper Harz Ponds (german: Oberharzer Teiche) are found mainly around the mining town of Clausthal-Zellerfeld and the nearby villages of Buntenbock and Hahnenklee in the Upper Harz mountains of central Germany. There are around 70 ponds in to ...

Population history

Media

Thale is the setting of

's novel ''Cécile''. Fontane stayed in Thale a number of times between 1868 and 1884.

Sons and daughters of the city

Bernhard Rensch Bernhard Rensch (21 January 1900 – 4 April 1990) was a German evolutionary biologist and ornithologist who did field work in Indonesia and India. Starting his scientific career with pro-Lamarckian views, he shifted to selectionism and became on ...

(1900–1990), evolutionary biologist, zoologist, behavioral researcher, neurophysiologist and philosopher *

Albrecht Becker Albrecht Becker (14 November 1906 – 22 April 2002) was a German production designer, photographer, and actor who was imprisoned by the Nazi regime for the charge of homosexuality. Personal life Born in Thale, Germany, Becker trained as a ...

(1906–2002), production designer, photographer and actor * Harald Duschek (born 1956), ski jumper * Volker Herold (born 1959), actor

Personalities associated with Thale

Friedrich Wilhelm Leopold Pfeil Friedrich Wilhelm Leopold Pfeil (28 March 1783 – 4 September 1859) was a German forester. Pfeil was born in Rammelburg. From 1801 onward, he trained and worked as a forester at several sites in the Harz region, Neuchâtel and Silesia. As a ...

(1783–1859), forestry scholar, spent time relaxing and hunting in the forest near Thale *

(1819–1898) stayed in Thale 1868, 1877, 1881, 1882, 1883 and 1884, wrote the novel playing in Thale ''Cécile'' *

Karl Bonhoeffer Karl Bonhoeffer (; March 31, 1868 – December 4, 1948) was a German neurologist, psychiatrist and physician. Life Bonhoeffer was born in Neresheim in the Kingdom of Württemberg to Friedrich von Bonhoeffer (1828–1907), who worked as judge ...

(1868–1948), psychiatrist, neurologist, medical expert, married to Paula von Hase, had a summer house in

since 1913 *

Hans Schemm Hans Schemm (6 October 1891 – 5 March 1935) was an educator who became a prominent Nazi Party official. He served as ''Gauleiter'' of Gau Bayreuth and Bavarian State Minister for Education and Culture until his death in an airplane accident. ...

(1891–1935), NSDAP-Gauleiter, directed the bacteriological-chemical laboratory Hubertusbad until 1921 *

Axel von dem Bussche Axel Ernst-August Clamor Franz Albrecht Erich Leo Freiherr von dem Bussche-Streithorst (; 24 April 1919 – 26 January 1993) was a German officer during World War II and was a member of the German Resistance. He planned to assassinate Adolf Hitl ...

(1919–1993), officer and resistance fighter, knight-owner in Thale * Werner Oberländer (1921–2002), footballer at Stahl Thale and

Eintracht Braunschweig Braunschweiger Turn- und Sportverein Eintracht von 1895 e.V., commonly known as Eintracht Braunschweig () or BTSV (), is a German association football, football and sports club based in Braunschweig, Lower Saxony. The club was one of the founding ...

, with both clubs he played at the highest level of football *

Gojko Mitić Gojko Mitić ( sr-Cyrl, Гојко Митић; born June 13, 1940) is a German-Serbian actor and director. He gained great popularity in the GDR as the leading actor in historical and fictional Indian personalities in numerous DEFA Indian films. ...

(born 1940), actor, played various roles in the Harz mountain theater *

Leni Riefenstahl Helene Bertha Amalie "Leni" Riefenstahl (; 22 August 1902 – 8 September 2003) was a German film director, photographer and actress known for her role in producing Nazi propaganda. A talented swimmer and an artist, Riefenstahl also became in ...

(1902–2003), Nazi film director and actress, attended girls' boarding school in the village

References

External links

Official site for the City of Thale
with tourist info, etc. {{Authority control Towns in the Harz