Hohenmölsen () is a town in the

Burgenlandkreis Burgenlandkreis () is a district in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Its area is . History The district was established as Landkreis Burgenland by the merger of the former Burgenlandkreis and Landkreis Weißenfels as part of the reform of 2007. ...

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 is situated approximately 10 km southeast of

Weißenfels Weißenfels (; often written in English as Weissenfels) is the largest town of the Burgenlandkreis district, in southern Saxony-Anhalt, central Germany. It is situated on the river Saale, approximately south of Halle, Saxony-Anhalt, Halle. His ...

, and 27 km southwest 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 town Hohenmölsen consists of Hohenmölsen proper and the ''Ortschaften'' (municipal divisions) Granschütz,

Taucha Taucha () is a town in the district of Nordsachsen, in Saxony, Germany. It is situated on the river Parthe, 10 km northeast of Leipzig. Geography Taucha is part of the Leipzig Bay. The Parthe runs through the city, and its expansive flo ...

, Webau, Werschen and Zembschen.Hauptsatzung der Stadt Hohenmölsen
§ 15, December 2020.

History

The

Battle on the Elster Battle on the Elster () was the third and last battle between the Salian king Henry IV of Germany and anti-king Rudolf of Rheinfelden, fought on October 14, 1080 near Hohenmölsen on the White Elster river. Rudolf's forces were victorious; howe ...

, the third and last battle between the Salian king

Henry IV of Germany Henry IV (; 11 November 1050 – 7 August 1106) was Holy Roman Emperor from 1084 to 1105, King of Germany from 1054 to 1105, King of Italy and Burgundy from 1056 to 1105, and Duke of Bavaria from 1052 to 1054. He was the son of Henry III, Holy R ...

and anti-king

Rudolf of Rheinfelden Rudolf of Rheinfelden ( – 15 October 1080) was Duke of Swabia from 1057 to 1079. Initially a follower of his brother-in-law, the Salian emperor Henry IV, his election as German anti-king in 1077 marked the outbreak of the Great Saxon Revolt a ...

, was fought on October 14, 1080 near Hohenmölsen on the White Elster river. In the year of 1091 the

burgward A burgward or castellanyArnold, Benjamin (1991). ''Princes and territories in medieval Germany'', Cambridge University Press, Cambridge and New York, p. 165. . was a form of settlement used for the organisation of the Marca Geronis, northeastern ma ...

"Melsin villa" (Milzin) was first mentioned in a document. In 1284 the city got market rights. There were two major fires in 1558 and 1578, which almost completely destroyed the city and in the Thirty Years´ War the whole city except one house was destroyed. In the 19th century

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

was found in Hohenmölsen, which helped the city to gain prosperity. Furthermore it helped the city at getting electric lights in 1912. With the founding of the GDR, the mining in the area of Hohenmölsen reached a new dimension. Neighboring cities, such as Mutschau, Köttichau, Döbris, Queisau, Steingrimma and Dobergast were devastated and the residents were resettled to the new districts "Hohenmölsen-Süd" and "Hohenmölsen-Nord", which has the increase of the population from the 1950s as a consequence. To this day brown coal is being mined near the city in the Braunkohletagebau Profen.

Population development

Incorporations

Villages, which were incorporated to Hohenmölsen with their incorporation date:

Politics

Mayor

Since 2011 the full-time

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a Municipal corporation, municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilitie ...

of Hohenmölsen is Andy Haugk, who belongs to the electoral group "Aktives Hohenmölsener Land" (AHL).

Culture and Sights

The town centre is dominated by three buildings: The church tower, water tower and the tower of the town hall. Through that the city is often called the "Stadt der drei Türme" - City of the three towers. Hohenmölsen has two churches: * The Protestant church "St. Petri" * The catholic church "St. Marien" File:Kirche Hohenmölsen.jpg, Tower of the St. Petri Church File:Wasserturm-Hohenmölsen.jpg, Water tower File:Rathaus Hohenmölsen.jpg, Town Hall File:HHM-Altmarktbrunnen.JPG, Fountain Sculpture with the Fox and the Stork The landmark of the city is the fable ''

The Fox and the Stork The Fox and the Stork, also known as The Fox and the Crane, is one of Aesop's fables and is first recorded in the collection of Phaedrus (fabulist), Phaedrus. It is numbered 426 in the Perry Index. The fable and its uses A fox invites a stork ...

'' by

Aesop Aesop ( ; , ; c. 620–564 BCE; formerly rendered as Æsop) was a Greeks, Greek wikt:fabulist, fabulist and Oral storytelling, storyteller credited with a number of fables now collectively known as ''Aesop's Fables''. Although his existence re ...

. It can be found in different places in the city, for example on the lanterns in the city centre, a fountain sculpture on the "Altmarkt" and on the side of the town hall tower.

Memorials

* Memorial for General Heinrich August von Helldorff at the Altmarkt * Memorial stone for the victims of

fascism Fascism ( ) is a far-right, authoritarian, and ultranationalist political ideology and movement. It is characterized by a dictatorial leader, centralized autocracy, militarism, forcible suppression of opposition, belief in a natural social hie ...

from 1949 * Two memorial stones in the cemetery in memory of 20 killed

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922, the Soviet Union. The army was established in January 1918 by a decree of the Council of People ...

Soldiers and 14 victims of

forced labour 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 ...

who were brought to Germany during the

Second World War 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 ...

to do forced labour in the mines in Hohenmölsen * Relief for the antifascistic miner and district leader of the

Communist Party of Germany The Communist Party of Germany (, ; KPD ) was a major Far-left politics, far-left political party in the Weimar Republic during the interwar period, German resistance to Nazism, underground resistance movement in Nazi Germany, and minor party ...

who died in a

concentration camp A concentration camp is a prison or other facility used for the internment of political prisoners or politically targeted demographics, such as members of national or ethnic minority groups, on the grounds of national security, or for exploitati ...

in 1944 File:Helldorf-Hohenmölsen.jpg, Memorial for Heinrich August von Helldorff File:Kriegerdenkmal Hohenmölsen.jpg File:Denkmal Hohenmölsen2.jpg, Memorial for the victims of fascism Mondsee im Freizeitpark Pirkau

Local Recreation

The Mondsee is a lake 3 km southeast of Hohenmölsen. It is a former

opencast mine Open-pit mining, also known as open-cast or open-cut mining and in larger contexts mega-mining, is a surface mining technique that extracts rock or minerals from the earth. Open-pit mines are used when deposits of commercially useful ore or ro ...

, which has been revegetated.

Regular events

* The "Hohenmölser Herbstmarkt" is a traditional medieval market

Economy and infrastructure

Large employers

The largest employers in Hohenmölsen are the MIBRAG and the AGCO Group. The Mitteldeutsche Braunkohlegesellschaft (MIBRAG) operates the power plant in Wählitz and the opencast mine in Profen. AGCO bought the former barracks in Hohenmölsen in 2009 and has invested over 35 Million Euros into the location. Over 330 employees manufacture the Fendt Katana 65 and 85 forage harvester and the Rogator 300 and 600 field sprayer on site. Furthermore they produce components for their tractor production.

Public institutions

The

Asklepios Asclepius (; ''Asklēpiós'' ; ) is a hero and god of medicine in ancient Greek religion and mythology. He is the son of Apollo and Coronis, or Arsinoe, or of Apollo alone. Asclepius represents the healing aspect of the medical arts; his ...

District Hospital was an important economic factor in the 1990s. It was closed in April 2008. The General Heinrich August von Helldorff barracks is one of the former sites of the

Bundeswehr The (, ''Federal Defence'') are the armed forces of the Germany, Federal Republic of Germany. The is divided into a military part (armed forces or ''Streitkräfte'') and a civil part, the military part consists of the four armed forces: Germ ...

. Today it is used by the AGCO Group.

Education

* Agricola gymnasium - High School *

Grundschule Education in Germany is primarily the responsibility of individual German States of Germany, states (), with the federal government only playing a minor role. While kindergarten (nursery school) is optional, formal education is compulsory for a ...

Hohenmölsen - Primary School * Grundschule Granschütz - Primary School * Sekundarschule Hohenmölsen - Secondary School * Pestalozzischule Hohenmölsen - Special Needs School *

Volkshochschule Folk high schools (also ''adult education center'') are institutions for adult education that generally do not grant academic degrees, though certain courses might exist leading to that goal. They are most commonly found in Nordic countries and ...

Burgenlandkreis "Dr. Wilhelm Harnisch" Außenstelle Hohenmölsen - Adult education centre

References

__FORCETOC__ {{DEFAULTSORT:Hohenmolsen Towns in Saxony-Anhalt Burgenlandkreis