Zahna is a town and a former municipality in

Wittenberg Wittenberg ( , ; Low Saxon language, Low Saxon: ''Wittenbarg''; meaning ''White Mountain''; officially Lutherstadt Wittenberg (''Luther City Wittenberg'')), is the fourth largest town in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Wittenberg is situated on the Ri ...

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 ...

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 ...

not far from Federal Highway (''Bundesstraße'') B 2 and about 11 km east of

Lutherstadt Wittenberg Wittenberg ( , ; Low Saxon: ''Wittenbarg''; meaning ''White Mountain''; officially Lutherstadt Wittenberg (''Luther City Wittenberg'')), is the fourth largest town in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Wittenberg is situated on the River Elbe, north of ...

. It was the seat of the former administrative community (''Verwaltungsgemeinschaft'') of Elbaue-Fläming. Since 1 January 2011, it is part of the town

Zahna-Elster Zahna-Elster is a town in the district of Wittenberg, in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. It was formed on 1 January 2011 by the merger of the former municipalities Zahna, Dietrichsdorf, Elster (Elbe) Elster is a village and a former municipality in Sa ...

History

Zahna is one of Saxony-Anhalt's oldest towns. It has been proved that Zahna has been inhabited uninterruptedly since about 2000 BC. This has been established by

archaeological Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscap ...

findings from the 6th century BC up until the migration of the

Semnoni The Semnones were a Germanic and specifically a Suevian people, who were settled between the Elbe and the Oder in the 1st century when they were described by Tacitus in '' Germania'': "The Semnones give themselves out to be the most ancient and ...

who settled in the region. After them came the

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 ...

who took over their homes. The historic town core shows the form and structure that goes back to

Flemish Flemish (''Vlaams'') is a Low Franconian dialect cluster of the Dutch language. It is sometimes referred to as Flemish Dutch (), Belgian Dutch ( ), or Southern Dutch (). Flemish is native to Flanders, a historical region in northern Belgium; ...

settlement in the

High Middle Ages The High Middle Ages, or High Medieval Period, was the periodization, period of European history that lasted from AD 1000 to 1300. The High Middle Ages were preceded by the Early Middle Ages and were followed by the Late Middle Ages, which ended ...

in the twelfth century. The whole

highland Highlands or uplands are areas of high elevation such as a mountainous region, elevated mountainous plateau or high hills. Generally speaking, upland (or uplands) refers to ranges of hills, typically from up to while highland (or highlands) is ...

north of

was so strongly shaped by the Flemings' ways of doing things that the whole area came to be named after them; to this day, it is still called the Fläming and the town belongs to the Fläming Nature Park, which was opened in 2005. From 1815 to 1944, Zahna was part of 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 ...

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 ...

and from 1944 to 1945 of the Province of Halle-Merseburg. 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 opposin ...

, Zahna was incorporated into the State of

from 1945 to 1952 and the

Bezirk Halle The Bezirk Halle was a district (''Bezirk'') of East Germany. The administrative seat and the main town was Halle. History The district was established, with the other 13, on 25 July 1952, substituting the old German states. After 3 October 1990 ...

East Germany East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...

from 1952 to 1990. Since 1990, Zahna has been part of Saxony-Anhalt, since 2011 as a part of

Town partnerships

Stęszew Stęszew (german: Stenschewo, 1939-1945: ''Seenbrück'') is a town in western Poland, with 5,248 inhabitants (2004). It is located in Poznań County, within the Greater Poland Voivodeship. History Stęszew was once an important stop in a trade ...

near

Poznań Poznań () is a city on the River Warta in west-central Poland, within the Greater Poland region. The city is an important cultural and business centre, and one of Poland's most populous regions with many regional customs such as Saint John ...

, Poland. * Edemissen near

Peine Peine (; Eastphalian: ''Paane'') is a town in Lower Saxony, Germany, capital of the district Peine. It is situated on the river Fuhse and the Mittellandkanal, approximately west of Braunschweig, and east of Hanover. History A deed from 11 ...

, Germany.

References

External links

Information about Zahna
Towns in Saxony-Anhalt Former municipalities in Saxony-Anhalt Zahna-Elster Fläming Heath {{Wittenberg-geo-stub