Tomb of Elias Borßdorff

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Borßdorff grave in Zeischa

The grave of Elias Borßdorff is located in the cemetery in the Zeischa district of the spa town of Bad Liebenwerda in the Elbe-Elster district in southern Brandenburg . The facility is now a listed building .

Description and history

The tombstone was renewed in 1878

The grave of the Mayor of Liebenwerda , Elias Borßdorff, who was dragged to death by Swedish troops near Zeischa during the Thirty Years' War, is now a listed building in the Zeischa cemetery . The one covering the grave with an inscriptionThe memorial stone provided with this is from 1878. Originally this grave was covered by a "simple corpse stone", which was lifted, renewed and inscribed with an inscription in 1834 on the initiative of some Liebenwerda citizens. When the weathering had made the inscription on the stone almost illegible over the decades, the grave was renovated in 1878 with the help of master mason Jost, the sculptor Lauschke and the master locksmith Franke and surrounded by a small iron grating. The tomb was finally inaugurated on October 13, 1878 with a large ceremony with the participation of several local associations, entrepreneurs, the volunteer fire brigade and local politicians.

Another renovation of the tomb, which was already under monument protection at that time, took place in 1984.

Inscription on the tombstone
This stone covers the bones of Mayor Elias Borßdorff.
The same was carried on in the Thirty Years' War by hostile troops as a scourge for an unaffordable pillage imposed on Liebenwerda and died here under terrible mistreatment for the good of the city entrusted to him!
May his memory remain sacred to the future generations of our city!
Renewed by Liebenwerda's citizens in 1834 to commemorate the anniversary of his death on March 26, 1634.
Renewed again in 1878.
And in 1984.

Elias Borßdorff

The Bad Liebenwerda town hall, built in 1805.

Born and baptized in Wurzen around 1590, Elias Borßdorff learned to be a hat maker from 1605 . After his apprenticeship, the then usual years of traveling followed . These ultimately led to Liebenwerda in 1615. Here he married Martha Adelmann, the daughter of a hat maker from Liebenwerda, in the Nikolaikirche on June 29, 1618. However, almost all of his family died in an epidemic shortly afterwards in 1622. Among the victims were his wife Martha and his two children Jakob and Christoph. Another son had died shortly after his birth in 1919. Therefore, in January 1623, he married the widow Anna Herrmann. From this marriage the son Elias was born between 1631 and 1634.

According to tradition, Elias Borßdorff eventually became mayor of Liebenwerda. When, in the course of the Thirty Years' War, Swedish troops invaded the city on May 26, 1634 and demanded the surrender of the city treasury and a contribution of 25,000 thalers , Borßdorff rejected all demands despite the threat of violence. Thereupon the Swedes tracked down the mayor, who had fled in the meantime, in his hiding place in the Liebenwerda vineyards, tied him to two horses and dragged him through the area under severe abuse. Borßdorff finally succumbed to his serious injuries at Zeischa. The story is based on a record by the Liebenwerder historian Carl von Lichtenberg from 1837 in his town chronicle, which in this case was named without further sources.

Further commemoration

Borßdorff monument in Bad Liebenwerda

The heroism of the mayor Borßdorff has made it worthwhile for the residents of Liebenwerda to commemorate him again and again over the past centuries. It is said that from 1699 the town hall bell was rung every evening at the 10th hour in memory of him. In 1880 a teacher from the Liebenwerda daughter school, KG Kretzschmar, published the memorandum “Words of thought for the memory of the Borsdorff memorial stone”.

The 300th anniversary of his death was celebrated in a big way. From May 26th to June 3rd, 1934, a big festival took place in Bad Liebenwerda in his honor. The event was broadcast on the radio and a final procession led to the grave in Zeischa, where a wreath was laid and Pastor Schaufuss gave an address.

In addition to the Zeischa tomb, another memorial commemorates Elias Borßdorff in the Bad Liebenwerda spa park, the so-called wood.

Literature (selection)

  • KG Kretzschmar: "Words of thought to remember the Borsdorff memorial stone" . 1880.
  • "Elias Borsdorf" . In: "The Black Elster" . No. 24 , 14 June 1906 (local history supplement to the Liebenwerdaer Kreisblatt).
  • M. Karl Fitzkow : "Elias Borstorf - story and portrait of a man" . In: "The Black Elster" . No. 24 , 14 June 1906 (local history supplement to the Liebenwerdaer Kreisblatt).
  • M. Karl Fitzkow: "Elias Borstorf - Commemorations of our fathers" . In: "The Black Elster" . No. 469 , 1934 (local history supplement to the Liebenwerdaer Kreisblatt).

Web links

Commons : Tomb of Elias Borßdorff  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Notes and individual references

  1. ↑ a b Database of the Brandenburg State Office for the Preservation of Monuments and the State Archaeological Museum ( Memento of the original from December 9, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed October 23, 2016. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / bldam-brandenburg.de
  2. ^ The Bad Liebenwerda Borßdorff monument in Zeischa . In: Association for city marketing and economy Bad Liebenwerda eV (Hrsg.): Chronicle of the city of Liebenwerda . Winklerdruck GmbH Gräfenhainichen, Bad Liebenwerda 2007, p. 108 .
  3. ↑ Korinna Tischer: Zeischa district . In: Association for city marketing and economy Bad Liebenwerda eV (Hrsg.): Chronicle of the city of Liebenwerda . Winklerdruck GmbH Gräfenhainichen, Bad Liebenwerda 2007, p. 272 to 273 .
  4. ↑ a b "Elias Borsdorf" . In: "The Black Elster" . No. 24 , 14 June 1906 (local history supplement to the Liebenwerdaer Kreisblatt).
  5. ^ A b c M. Karl Fitzkow : "Elias Borstorf - Commemorations of our fathers" . In: "The Black Elster" . No. 469 , 1934 (local history supplement to the Liebenwerdaer Kreisblatt).
  6. ^ V: "Borstorf - tombstone restored" . In: "The Black Elster" . No. 598 , 1985.
  7. ↑ Other spellings of the name that appear in the local literature are: Elias Borsdorf and Elias Borstorf .
  8. ^ A b c M. Karl Fitzkow : "Elias Borstorf - Story and Portrait of a Man" . In: "The Black Elster" . No. 467 , 1934 (local history supplement to the Liebenwerdaer Kreisblatt).
  9. ↑ a b The heroism of Elias Borßdorff . In: Association for city marketing and economy Bad Liebenwerda eV (Hrsg.): Chronicle of the city of Liebenwerda . Winklerdruck GmbH Gräfenhainichen, Bad Liebenwerda 2007, p. 51 .
  10. ↑ a b Matthäus Karl Fitzkow : On the older history of the city of Liebenwerda and its district area . Ed .: District Museum Bad Liebenwerda. Bad Liebenwerda 1961, p. 66 .
  11. ^ Celebration of the 300th anniversary of the murder of Mayor Elias Borßdorff . In: Association for city marketing and economy Bad Liebenwerda eV (Hrsg.): Chronicle of the city of Liebenwerda . Winklerdruck GmbH Gräfenhainichen, Bad Liebenwerda 2007, p. 177 .

Coordinates: 51 ° 29 ′ 58.6 "  N , 13 ° 25 ′ 33.6"  E