Hohegeiss (, ) is a

health resort A destination spa or health resort is a resort centered on a spa, such as a mineral spa. Historically, many such spas were developed at the location of natural hot springs or mineral springs. In the era before modern biochemistry and pharmaco ...

and winter sports village in 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 ...

mountains range in

Lower Saxony Lower Saxony is a States of Germany, German state (') in Northern Germany, northwestern Germany. It is the second-largest state by land area, with , and fourth-largest in population (8 million in 2021) among the 16 ' of the Germany, Federal Re ...

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 1 July 1972 Hohegeiss has been part of the town of

Braunlage Braunlage () is a town and health resort in the Goslar district of Lower Saxony in Germany. Situated within the Harz mountain range, south of the Brocken massif, Braunlage's main business is tourism, particularly skiing. Nearby ski resorts inclu ...

, in the district of Goslar.

Geography

Hohegeiss lies on the '' Bundesstrasse 4'' highway running across the Harz range, between Braunlage proper and

Benneckenstein Benneckenstein () is a town in the district of Harz, in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Since 1 January 2010, it has been part of the town of Oberharz am Brocken. Benneckenstein is in the eastern Harz, 14 km southeast of Braunlage, and 24 km ...

, at a height of between 570 and . Neighbouring villages are Zorge to the south, Rothesütte (part of Ellrich) to the southeast, Benneckenstein to the east, and Sorge to the north. The village has about 1,000 inhabitants. The former

inner German border The inner German border ( or ''deutsch–deutsche Grenze''; initially also , zonal boundary) was the frontier between the East Germany, German Democratic Republic (GDR, East Germany) and the West Germany, Federal Republic of Germany (FRG, West ...

(today the state border with

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 ...

) runs immediately on the northeastern edge of the settlement. On this border, about 3.3 km to the southeast of the village, is the

tripoint A triple border, tripoint, trijunction, triple point, or tri-border area is a geography, geographical point at which the boundaries of three countries or Administrative division, subnational entities meet. There are 175 international tripoints ...

for the three states of Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and

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 ...

, which is marked by the ''

Drei-Länder-Stein The is a boundary stone at the tripoint of the German federal states of Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia near the mountain in the Harz. Location The is located in the South Harz at the tripoint of the three aforementioned states and ...

''. The mountain village is surrounded by the Harz Nature Park. Near the village is the '' Dicke Tannen'' natural monument with the largest

spruce A spruce is a tree of the genus ''Picea'' ( ), a genus of about 40 species of coniferous evergreen trees in the family Pinaceae, found in the northern temperate and boreal ecosystem, boreal (taiga) regions of the Northern hemisphere. ''Picea'' ...

trees in

Northern Germany Northern Germany (, ) is a linguistic, geographic, socio-cultural and historic region in the northern part of Germany which includes the coastal states of Schleswig-Holstein, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and Lower Saxony and the two city-states Hambur ...

History

The village name comes from ''Hogeyz'', the name of a wooded region that is documented as early as in 1268. A first chapel was erected in the woods in 1444, a settlement was mentioned in 1528. With the former estates of

Walkenried Abbey Walkenried Abbey () was a Cistercians, Cistercian abbey located in the village of Walkenried in Lower Saxony, Germany. Founded in 1127 on the southern rim of the Harz mountain range, the remnants of the monastic complex since 2010 are part of the ...

, Hohegeiss fell to the

Dukes of Brunswick-Lüneburg Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and above sovereign princes. As royalty or nobility, they are ...

and was administrated within the former

County of Blankenburg The County of Blankenburg () was a state of the Holy Roman Empire. Its capital was Blankenburg, it was located in and near the Harz mountains. History County of Blankenburg About 1123 Lothair of Supplinburg, then Duke of Saxony, had Blankenbu ...

as a southeastern exclave of the

Principality of Wolfenbüttel A principality (or sometimes princedom) is a type of monarchical state or feudal territory ruled by a prince or princess. It can be either a sovereign state or a constituent part of a larger political entity. The term "principality" is often ...

. The present-day Protestant church was consecrated in 1704. The former mining area became a popular tourist destination from the late 19th century onwards. When the inner German border was drawn in 1945, the former Brunswick territories around Blankenburg were divided between the

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

and 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 ...

. Hohegeiss together with Braunlage and the villages of Neuhof, Walkenried, Wieda, and Zorge became part of Lower Saxony in

West Germany West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...

. On 1 August 1963 there was an escape attempt on the inner German border at the exit to the village of Hohegeiss by 23-year-old Helmut Kleinert (1940–1963) during which he was shot dead by

East German border guards The Border Troops of the German Democratic Republic () was the border guard of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) from 1946 to 1990. The were the primary force guarding the Berlin Wall and the Inner German border, the GDR's international bor ...

. In 1971 a wooden cross, which had been set up since Kleinert's death, was replaced by a memorial stone with the inscription "" ("On 01.08.1963 Helmut Kleinert was shot dead 150 metres from here before crossing the

demarcation line {{Refimprove, date=January 2008 A political demarcation line is a geopolitical border, often agreed upon as part of an armistice or ceasefire. Africa * Moroccan Wall, delimiting the Moroccan-controlled part of Western Sahara from the Sahraw ...

.") File:Helmut kleinert memorial.jpg, Memorial stone for Helmut Kleinert

Notable residents

Born in Hohegeiss

* (1813–1885), surgeon * (1885–1971), composer and pedagogue

Other notable residents

* , (1920–1983) author *

Karlheinz Schreiber Karlheinz Schreiber (born 25 March 1934) is a German and Canadian citizen, an industrialist, lobbyist, fundraiser, arms dealer, businessman, and convicted criminal. He has been in the news regarding his alleged role in the 1999 CDU contributi ...

(born 1934), businessman, known for the alleged role in the

CDU donations scandal The CDU donations scandal was a political scandal resulting from the illegal forms of party financing used by the German Christian Democratic Union (CDU) during the 1990s. These included accepting hidden donations, the non-disclosure of cash d ...

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hohegeiss Spa towns in Germany Braunlage Goslar (district)