Elster is a village and a former municipality 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 ...

located 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. 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 ...

. From 2005 until 2011 it belonged to the administrative municipality (''Verwaltungsgemeinschaft'') of

Elbaue-Fläming Elbaue-Fläming was a ''Verwaltungsgemeinschaft'' ("administrative community") in the district of Wittenberg, in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. It was situated on the right bank of the Elbe, north and east of Wittenberg. The seat of the ''Verwaltungsgeme ...

, before 2005 it belonged to the administrative community of Elster-Seyda-Klöden.

Geography and transport

The community lies about 15 km east of

and 10 km west of Jessen. Through the community runs the Federal Highway (''Bundesstraße'') B 187 and 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 ...

line between Wittenberg and

Cottbus Cottbus (; Lower Sorbian: ''Chóśebuz'' ; Polish: Chociebuż) is a university city and the second-largest city in Brandenburg, Germany. Situated around southeast of Berlin, on the River Spree, Cottbus is also a major railway junction with exten ...

. It lies at the mouth of the

Black Elster The Black Elster or Schwarze Elster () is a long river in eastern Germany, in the states Saxony, Brandenburg and Saxony-Anhalt, right tributary of the Elbe. Its source is in the Lusatia, Upper Lusatia region, near Elstra. The Black Elster flows ...

, where it empties into the

Elbe The Elbe (; cs, Labe ; nds, Ilv or ''Elv''; Upper and dsb, Łobjo) is one of the major rivers of Central Europe. It rises in the Giant Mountains of the northern Czech Republic before traversing much of Bohemia (western half of the Czech Repu ...

. The International Bicycle Trail R2 runs through Elster along the Elbe. A

reaction ferry A reaction ferry is a cable ferry that uses the reaction of the current of a river against a fixed tether to propel the vessel across the water. Such ferries operate faster and more effectively in rivers with strong currents. Some reaction ferri ...

is still used here for crossing the river. Scenically charming are the ''Elbauen'', which at high water work as natural

polder A polder () is a low-lying tract of land that forms an artificial hydrological entity, enclosed by embankments known as dikes. The three types of polder are: # Land reclaimed from a body of water, such as a lake or the seabed # Flood plains s ...

s. During the so-called Flood of the Century in 2006, these natural polders were not high enough to keep the water back, leading to a great deal of the community being flooded. Moreover, in 2004, a new landing stage was dedicated where Elbe

cruise ship Cruise ships are large passenger ships used mainly for vacationing. Unlike ocean liners, which are used for transport, cruise ships typically embark on round-trip voyages to various ports-of-call, where passengers may go on tours known as "s ...

s now stop.

History

Elster had its first documentary mention in 1187 under the name ''Alstermunde''. Until sometime before the

Second World War 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 ...

, it was an important

shipping Freight transport, also referred as ''Freight Forwarding'', is the physical process of transporting Commodity, commodities and merchandise goods and cargo. The term shipping originally referred to transport by sea but in American English, it h ...

and

fishing Fishing is the activity of trying to catch fish. Fish are often caught as wildlife from the natural environment, but may also be caught from stocked bodies of water such as ponds, canals, park wetlands and reservoirs. Fishing techniques inclu ...

community. Nowadays, the biggest employers are

agriculture Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people to ...

and small

handicraft A handicraft, sometimes more precisely expressed as artisanal handicraft or handmade, is any of a wide variety of types of work where useful and decorative objects are made completely by one’s hand or by using only simple, non-automated re ...

businesses.

Subdivisions

Elster consists of Iserbegka, Gielsdorf, Meltendorf, and Elster

References

External links

Elster/Elbe The Community of ElsterElbe-Elster Tourism Associationregionalverein-jessen.de
Former municipalities in Saxony-Anhalt Zahna-Elster {{Wittenberg-geo-stub