Elsteraue

Elsteraue is a municipality in the Burgenlandkreis district in Saxony-Anhalt, in eastern Germany. It is situated near the White Elster river, about 30 km (20 mi) southwest of Leipzig.

Elsteraue
Municipality
Timber-framed houses in Elsteraue
Coat of arms
Location of Elsteraue within Burgenlandkreis district
Elsteraue Show map of Germany Elsteraue Show map of Saxony-Anhalt
Coordinates: 51°4′30″N 12°13′5″E
Country	Germany
State	Saxony-Anhalt
District	Burgenlandkreis
Government
• Mayor (2017–24)	Andreas Buchheim[1]
Area
• Total	79.91 km2 (30.85 sq mi)
Elevation	145 m (476 ft)
Population  (2024-12-31)[2]
• Total	7,765
• Density	97.17/km2 (251.7/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+01:00 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+02:00 (CEST)
Postal codes	06712, 06724, 06725, 06729
Dialling codes	034424, 03441
Vehicle registration	BLK
Website	www.gemeinde-elsteraue.de

Districts

It is divided into many municipal districts:

• Bornitz
• Draschwitz
• Göbitz (Göbitz, Maßnitz, Torna)
• Könderitz (Könderitz, Etzoldshain, Minkwitz, Traupitz)
• Langendorf (Langendorf, Döbitzschen, Staschwitz)
• Profen (Profen, Beersdorf, Lützkewitz)
• Rehmsdorf (Rehmsdorf, Krimmitzschen, Sprossen)
• Reuden (Reuden, Predel, Ostrau)
• Spora (Spora, Nißma, Oelsen, Prehlitz-Penkwitz)
• Tröglitz (Tröglitz, Alt-Tröglitz, Kadischen, Burtschütz, Stocksdorf, Gleina, Techwitz)

History

During World War II, the present-day district of Tröglitz was the location of a subcamp of the Buchenwald concentration camp, and some 8,600 prisoners, mostly Jews, passed through it.^[3] The prisoners were subjected to forced labour, poor food rations, and harassment by the SS, and over 850 died there, while other exhausted prisoners were sent back to Buchenwald, and many were then sent to the Auschwitz concentration camp and murdered there.^[3] Among the prisoners Imre Kertész, Hungarian author and recipient of the 2002 Nobel Prize in Literature.^[3] In April 1945, the camp was evacuated, with some 3,000 surviving prisoners sent by train towards German-occupied Czechoslovakia, and at least 380 prisoners massacred by the SS and German civilians during the transport, in Reitzenhain on the pre-war Czechoslovak-German border.^[3]