Dahlen () is a town in the district

Nordsachsen Nordsachsen (, ) is a district (''Districts of Germany, Kreis'') in Saxony, Germany. History The district was established by merging the former districts of Delitzsch (district), Delitzsch and Torgau-Oschatz as part of the district reform of Au ...

, 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 ...

. Since 1994, the town of Dahlen consists of the old town with the addition of neighbouring villages Börln with Bortewitz, Radegast and Schwarzer Kater (literal translation: Black Tomcat), Großböhla, Neuböhla and Kleinböhla, Schmannewitz and Ochsensaal.

Geography

The town is the gateway to the Dahlener Heath. The neighbouring towns are

Wermsdorf Wermsdorf is a Municipalities in Germany, municipality in the Nordsachsen Districts of Germany, district in Saxony, Germany. Two hunting castles of the Saxon Dukes and Kings are to be found here. Geography Landscape Wermsdorf is situated wi ...

(11 km),

Oschatz Oschatz () is a town in the district Nordsachsen, in Saxony, Germany. It is located 60 km east of Leipzig and 60 km west of Dresden. Geography Site and climate Oschatz lies in the Saxon Lowland and is located on the river Döllnit ...

(12 km) and Torgau. Dahlen is located 22 km south of

Torgau Torgau () is a town on the banks of the Elbe in northwestern Saxony, Germany. It is the capital of the district Nordsachsen. Outside Germany, the town is best known as where on 25 April 1945, the United States and Soviet Armies first met near ...

and 44 km east 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 ...

. 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 ...

goes through Neuböhla in the south of the district. The

Leipzig–Dresden railway The Leipzig–Dresden line is a German railway line. It was built by the Leipzig–Dresden Railway Company between 1837 and 1839. It was the first long-distance railway and the List of the first German railways to 1870, first railway using only st ...

also passes nearby. The town (which was completely destroyed by fire in the 1800s) is home to the ruin of Dahlen Castle, which was commandeered as a temporary headquarters of King

Frederick the Great Frederick II (; 24 January 171217 August 1786) was the monarch of Prussia from 1740 until his death in 1786. He was the last Hohenzollern monarch titled ''King in Prussia'', declaring himself ''King of Prussia'' after annexing Royal Prussia ...

Prussia Prussia (; ; Old Prussian: ''Prūsija'') was a Germans, German state centred on the North European Plain that originated from the 1525 secularization of the Prussia (region), Prussian part of the State of the Teutonic Order. For centuries, ...

during negotiations for the so-called Hubertusburg Peace Settlement which had to be signed in Dahlen as the Prussians had taken all the furniture as war booty from Schloss Hubertusburg. Boerln Kirche1.jpg, Börln Church DahlenSchwanenteich.JPG, Dahlen Swan pond Grossboehla Kirche.jpg, Großböhla Church BadSchmannewitz.jpg, Wood pool Schmannewitz

Population breakdown

Population on 31 January 2012

History

The history of Dahlen can be traced back to around 1188 A.D, where it is first mentioned as a town along the old trading route

Via Regia The Via Regia (Royal Highway) is a European Cultural Route following the route of the Historic roads, historic road of the Middle Ages. There were many such ''viae regiae'' associated with the king in the medieval Holy Roman Empire. History ...

. The name Dahlen comes from the Slavic "''Dolane''" meaning "Valley Inhabitant". The city was officially chartered 40 years later in 1228. There were many setbacks in the development of the town. It had faced the challenges of city fires, plagues, war and famine. However, its location allowed economic recovery where traders passed through and the town had bounced back from these disasters. The town also saw a boom when the railway was laid to the south. The old Train Station had the "King's Waiting Room" which, in 2013, was converted into public toilets. Here, the Kings of Saxony would stop and rest on their way to the hunting lodge, baroque castle Schloss Hubertusburg in

where there is no rail link. The station's former inn, the oldest railway inn in Germany, was demolished in 2011 and turned into parking spaces. The current Town Hall (Germ:

Rathaus In local government, a city hall, town hall, civic centre (in the UK or Australia), guildhall, or municipal hall (in the Philippines) is the chief administrative building of a city, town, or other municipality. It usually houses the city o ...

) was built in 1888 on Market Square in the center of town. The town played an important role during the

Seven Years' War The Seven Years' War, 1756 to 1763, was a Great Power conflict fought primarily in Europe, with significant subsidiary campaigns in North America and South Asia. The protagonists were Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain and Kingdom of Prus ...

in Europe. The most significant event was the signing of the

Treaty of Hubertusburg The Treaty of Hubertusburg () was signed on 15 February 1763 at Hubertusburg Castle by Prussia, Austria and Saxony to end the Third Silesian War. Together with the Treaty of Paris, signed five days earlier, it marked the end of the Seven Years ...

on 21 February 1763 in the castle's White Salon. Dahlen Markt2

Dahlen Castle

The highlight of Dahlen is the ruins of the former Dahlen Castle. Built by Heinrich Graf von Bünau (on land left to him by his heiress wife Augusta Helena von Döring who died in 1728) between 1744–1751, the castle was originally one of the residences of the von Bünau family and latterly of the Sahrer von Sahr-Schönberg family which lost all its possessions due to expropriation and banishment without compensation by the post-war communists in 1945. It was completely gutted by fire in 1973, just after it had been fully restored. The insurance compensation was misappropriated by the then regime to build a new catering school in Brandenburg. Today the castle, owned since the 1990s by the town, is being maintained to a limited extent as a ruin by a group of preservationists. There is no intention to rebuild it. The town also features many historical sites and sights, and may well become a popular tourist destination.

Personality

Sons and daughters of the town

* Christoph Gottlob Heinrich (1748-1810), historian * Karl Friedrich Böhmert (1797-1882), priest and philologist *

Joachim Helbig Joachim Helbig (10 September 1915 – 5 October 1985) was a German bomber pilot during World War II. He joined the Luftwaffe in 1936, and served almost all of his career with Demonstration Wing 1 (''Lehrgeschwader'' 1 (LG 1)). With his unit, he ...

(1915-1985), pilot

People with connection to Dahlen

* George Bähr (1666-1738), architect of the Baroque, his main work is the Frauenkirche in Dresden * Heinrich Graf von Bünau (1697-1762), statesman and historian, landowner in Dahlen * Wilhelm Rühle (1906-1993), organ builder and master carpenter, built 1977 the organ in the church in Schmannewitz

References

External links

City of DahlenFree State of SaxonyDahlen Tourism Office
{{Authority control Nordsachsen