Güntersberge () is a village and a former

town A town is a type of a human settlement, generally larger than a village but smaller than a city. The criteria for distinguishing a town vary globally, often depending on factors such as population size, economic character, administrative stat ...

in Harz District, in

Saxony-Anhalt Saxony-Anhalt ( ; ) is a States of Germany, state of Germany, bordering the states of Brandenburg, Saxony, Thuringia and Lower Saxony. It covers an area of and has a population of 2.17 million inhabitants, making it the List of German states ...

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 ...

. It has held the status of an officially recognized

resort town A resort town, resort city or resort destination is an urban area where tourism or vacationing is the primary component of the local culture and economy. A typical resort town has one or more actual resorts in the surrounding area. Sometimes ...

since 2001. Güntersberge, together with the other municipalities of the former ''

Verwaltungsgemeinschaft Municipal associations (, , ) are statutory corporations or public bodies created by statute in the German federal states of Bavaria, Saxony, Thuringia, and Schleswig-Holstein. In Baden-Württemberg the term ''stipulated municipal association ...

'' ("collective municipality") Unterharz, merged into the town of

Harzgerode Harzgerode is a town in the district of Harz in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Geography Harzgerode lies in the lower eastern part of the Harz mountain range on the Selke River, south of Quedlinburg. It is connected to Gernrode and Quedlinburg via ...

as of 1 August 2009.

Geography

The settlement is located in the upper Selke Valley, in the lower eastern part of the

Harz The Harz (), also called the Harz Mountains, 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'' der ...

mountain range close to the border with

Thuringia Thuringia (; officially the Free State of Thuringia, ) is one of Germany, Germany's 16 States of Germany, states. With 2.1 million people, it is 12th-largest by population, and with 16,171 square kilometers, it is 11th-largest in area. Er ...

. In the northwest, down the scenic Selke Valley Trail, is the

abandoned village An abandoned village is a village that has, for some reason, been deserted. In many countries, and throughout history, thousands of villages have been deserted for a variety of causes. Abandonment of villages is often related to epidemic, ...

of Selkenfelde. In the southwest is the Katzsohlteich reservoir of the Katzsohlbach, a right tributary of the Selke river. The Steinfurtbach and other numerous mountain brooks run through the area. Güntersberge station is a stop on the

Selke Valley Railway The Selke Valley Railway (''Selketalbahn''), ''Gernrode-Harzgerode Railway'' (''Gernroder-Harzgeroder Eisenbahn'') and the ''Anhalt Harz Railway'' (''Anhaltische Harzbahn'') were different names for the Metre-gauge railway, metre gauge railway in ...

, part of the

Harz Narrow Gauge Railways The Harz Narrow Gauge Railways (German: ''Harzer Schmalspurbahnen'' or HSB) is a railway company that operates a network in the Harz mountains, in central Germany (formerly East Germany – officially the German Democratic Republic). The compan ...

network, running from

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

up the Harz range to Hasselfelde. The '' Bundesstraße 242'' highway runs through the area.

History

Nearby Güntersburg Castle was first mentioned in 1326, then located on important trade routes through the Harz mountains. The settlement of Güntersberge itself was documented as a town in 1437. Temporarily given in pawn to the Landgraves of Thuringia and the comital

House of Stolberg The House of Stolberg is an old and large German dynasty of the former Holy Roman Empire's Uradel, high aristocracy (''German nobility#Hochadel, Hoher Adel''). Members of the family held the title of ''Prince of the Holy Roman Empire, Fürst'' an ...

, it was purchased by the

Ascanian The House of Ascania () was a dynasty of German rulers. It is also known as the House of Anhalt, which refers to its longest-held possession, Anhalt. The Ascanians are named after Ascania (or Ascaria) Castle, known as ''Schloss Askanien'' in ...

prince

George III of Anhalt-Dessau George III, Prince of Anhalt-Dessau (15 August 1507 – 17 October 1553), was a German prince of the House of Ascania and ruler of the principality of Anhalt-Dessau, and also a Protestant Reformer. After 1544 he became the first ruler of the ...

in 1546. From 1603 the area belonged the Principality of Anhalt-Bernburg, from 1635 to 1709 to Anhalt-Harzgerode. Güntersberge remained part of the

Free State of Anhalt The Free State of Anhalt () was a state of the Weimar Republic from 1919 to 1933 and of Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945. It is today part of the German state of Saxony-Anhalt. The Duchy of Anhalt became the Free State of Anhalt during the Germa ...

until 1945. After

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 ...

the eastern Harz region was located in the

Soviet occupation zone The Soviet occupation zone in Germany ( or , ; ) was an area of Germany that was occupied by the Soviet Union as a communist area, established as a result of the Potsdam Agreement on 2 August 1945. On 7 October 1949 the German Democratic Republ ...

and became part of

East Germany East Germany, officially known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), was a country in Central Europe from Foundation of East Germany, its formation on 7 October 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with West Germany (FRG) on ...

in 1949. From 1952 to 1990, it was part of the Bezirk Halle of East Germany. Güntersberge was the site of a large

summer camp A summer camp, also known as a sleepaway camp or residential camp, is a supervised overnight program for children conducted during the summer vacation from school in many countries. Children and adolescents who attend summer residential camps ...

run by the

Ernst Thälmann Pioneer Organisation The Ernst Thälmann Pioneer Organisation (), consisting of the Young Pioneers and the Thälmann Pioneers, was a youth organisation of schoolchildren aged 6 to 13 in East Germany. They were named after Ernst Thälmann, the former leader of the C ...

Places of interest

*Ruins of Güntersburg Castle *Memorial erected by the Union of Persecutees of the Nazi Regime, dedicated to the

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

victims of

Nazi Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

forced labour *Mousetrap and Curiosity Museum *School Museum - a school in Güntersberge since the

Protestant Reformation The Reformation, also known as the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation, was a time of major theological movement in Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the papacy and ...

References

External links

güntersberg.info
{{DEFAULTSORT:Guntersberge Villages in the Harz Harzgerode Former municipalities in Saxony-Anhalt