Spohla

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
City of Wittichenau
Coordinates: 51 ° 24 ′ 17 ″  N , 14 ° 16 ′ 5 ″  E
Height : 121 m above sea level NHN
Area : 8.65 km²
Residents : 395  (December 31, 2016)
Population density : 46 inhabitants / km²
Incorporation : January 1, 1995
Postal code : 02997
Area code : 035725
Stone cross in Spohla
Stone cross in Spohla
Aerial view

Spohla , Upper Sorbian Spale ? / i , is a village in the East Saxon region of Upper Lusatia . It is a district of the city of Wittichenau and is located in the Sorbian settlement area in the Bautzen district . Audio file / audio sample

geography

Spohla is located between the cities of Wittichenau and Hoyerswerda and is surrounded by a comprehensive water network. The old black water and various streams and canals flow through the village. These provided the basis for the creation of two mills. The place is located between the Wudra, a straightened arm of the Black Elster , in the west and the Schwarzwassergraben, today's bed of the Hoyerswerda Black Water , in the east.

Topographic map of the Prussian state, p. 250 Hoyerswerda with Spohla
The guesthouse "Im Schweinkoben" in the Große Gasse

history

Spohla was first mentioned as Spole in 1374 and was predominantly Sorbian until the 20th century. For his statistics on the Sorbian population in Upper Lusatia, Arnošt Muka determined a population of 374 without exception Sorbian inhabitants in the 1880s. In 1956 Ernst Tschernik still counted a Sorbian-speaking share of 76% of the population in the municipality of Spohla. Since then, the use of Sorbian has continued to decline.

During the time of the Nazi dictatorship, the place name of Slavic origin was replaced by Brandhofen in 1936 , a free translation. During the Second World War , a satellite camp of the Groß-Rosen concentration camp was set up in Brandhofen . At its first meeting after the end of the war, the newly elected local council reversed the National Socialist renaming in November 1945.

After the reunification, a new building area was built in the north of the village. This increased the population to around 600. On January 1, 1995, the place was incorporated into Wittichenau.

place

The center of the village is the Große Gasse, in which there are also two restaurants. Spohla has a sports field with a club house, a children's playground, a cemetery, a small chapel, some ponds, a game reserve and two mills. Economically, the place is only moderately developed by a few craft businesses (blacksmiths, locksmiths, ...) and small service providers (hairdresser and naturopathic practice).

Traditions and Customs

In the Sorbian past of Spohla, some customs developed that still determine village life today. These include the zamping and the carnival beer drinking by the men during the carnival season , which is also very important in Spohla due to the proximity to the carnival stronghold Wittichenau. The annual witch burn follows on April 30th and the maypole throwing in May , before stubble riding , a horse race in which numerous riders and stables from the region are represented every year, takes place in late summer . Furthermore, Spohla is considered the birthplace of the Lusatian legendary figure Martin Pumphutt .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Ernst Tschernik: The development of the Sorbian population . Akademie-Verlag, Berlin 1954.
  2. ^ Ludwig Elle: Language policy in the Lausitz . Domowina-Verlag, Bautzen 1995, p. 250 .
  3. ↑ Wolfgang Benz , Barbara Distel (ed.): The place of terror . History of the National Socialist Concentration Camps. Verlag CH Beck, Munich (9 volumes; 2005–2009).
  4. ↑ Isabell Sprenger: Groß-Rosen . A concentration camp in Silesia. Böhlau Verlag, 1997, ISBN 3-412-11396-4 .
  5. ↑ Katrin Demczenko: Pumphut arouses curiosity about the story. In: Sächsische Zeitung , Hoyerswerda, April 29, 2020; accessed on May 1, 2020.
  6. ↑ StBA Area: changes from 01.01. until December 31, 1995

Web links

Commons : Spohla / Spale  - collection of images, videos and audio files
  • Spohla in the Digital Historical Directory of Saxony