Böhlen () is a town in

Saxony Saxony, officially the Free State of Saxony, is a landlocked state of Germany, bordering the states of Brandenburg, Saxony-Anhalt, Thuringia, and Bavaria, as well as the countries of Poland and the Czech Republic. Its capital is Dresden, and ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

, south of

Leipzig Leipzig (, ; ; Upper Saxon: ; ) is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Saxony. The city has a population of 628,718 inhabitants as of 2023. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, eighth-largest city in Ge ...

. Its main features are a small airport and a power plant. It is located in the newly built Neuseenland, the lakes created in former open-pit mining areas.

History

The first documented mention of Böhlen dates to 1353, although the area has been settled since the 7th century. The name of the town is derived from the Slavic word ''bely'' (white, bright, shiny). The manor is first mentioned in 1548. The manor house, locally referred to as the castle, was built in the 16th century. First documentation regarding the old village church dates from 1540, although the building contains Romanesque parts. A plague epidemy during the

Thirty Years' War The Thirty Years' War, fought primarily in Central Europe between 1618 and 1648, was one of the most destructive conflicts in History of Europe, European history. An estimated 4.5 to 8 million soldiers and civilians died from battle, famine ...

was reportedly only survived by two families. The character of the place was rural for a long time. In 1842 a station on the Leipzig–Hof railway was opened in Böhlen. A schoolhouse with five classrooms was built in 1879. Böhlen was part of Amt Pegau until 1856, then of ''Gerichtsamt'' (judicial district)

Zwenkau Zwenkau () is a town in the district of Leipzig, in Saxony, Germany. Situated between the White Elster and Pleiße rivers, it nestles in the Leipzig Bay and includes parts of the conservation area ''Elsteraue'' and ''Central Germany's Street o ...

until 1875 and from then on of ''Amtshauptmannschaft'' (district) Leipzig. Only from the 1920s on the village developed into an industrial location, mainly due to the

lignite Lignite (derived from Latin ''lignum'' meaning 'wood'), often referred to as brown coal, is a soft, brown, combustible sedimentary rock formed from naturally compressed peat. It has a carbon content around 25–35% and is considered the lowest ...

found in the area. In 1924 one of the largest lignite mines in the world of its time was opened west of Böhlen. It was equipped with a

conveyor bridge A conveyor bridge is a piece of mining equipment used in strip mining for the removal of overburden and for dumping it on the inner spoil bank of the open-cut mine. It is used together with multibucket excavators, frequently bucket chain excavato ...

of 200 m length and 50 m height. Towards the end of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

a subcamp of

Buchenwald concentration camp Buchenwald (; 'beech forest') was a German Nazi concentration camp established on Ettersberg hill near Weimar, Nazi Germany, Germany, in July 1937. It was one of the first and the largest of the concentration camps within the Altreich (pre-1938 ...

was established, where 800 prisoners worked as

forced labor Forced labour, or unfree labour, is any work relation, especially in modern or early modern history, in which people are employed against their will with the threat of destitution, detention, or violence, including death or other forms of ...

in a '' Braunkohle-Benzin AG'' ("Brabag") plant. Due to the strategically important industry, Böhlen suffered heavy aerial attacks in 1944/1945. The principal industries were transferred into Soviet administration after World War II, and were returned to the GDR in 1952. In the same year, the ''Kulturhaus'' (arts and leisure center) was opened. By administratively merging the power station, the coal processing plants, and the motor fuel works, the publicly owned '' Kombinat'' "Otto Grotewohl" was formed. On 7 October 1964 Böhlen was awarded town status. The neighbouring village of Zeschwitz was incorporated administratively into Böhlen in 1942, but mined over from 1943. Likewise, Stöhna (partially mined over since 1955) was incorporated in 1960, Trachenau (mostly mined over 1962–1965) in 1964, and Großdeuben in 1997. The chemical works were acquired by Dow Olefinverbund in 1995. Today Böhlen, as well as its neighboring city

, are profiting from the newly formed Neuseenland, where old open-cast mines are being converted into huge lakes.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bohlen Leipzig (district)