Warnstedt (Thale)

Warnstedt City of Thale Coordinates: 51 ° 46 ′ 28 ″  N , 11 ° 3 ′ 27 ″  E
Height :	160 m above sea level NHN
Residents :	626
Incorporation :	December 21, 2003
Postal code :	06502

Mill in Warnstedt

Church of St. Georg in Warnstedt

Warnstedt is a district of the town of Thale in the Harz district in Saxony-Anhalt . The village has 626 inhabitants and is located on the northeastern edge of the Harz Mountains.

history

Warnstedt can look back on a very changeable and eventful history. Settlement finds on the "mountain of things" in the village and the surrounding area prove that people were already living here in prehistoric times. The name also indicates the old age of the place. What the name means, however, has not yet been clearly established. The place name probably goes back to the Warnen , a Germanic tribe that penetrated the area between the Elbe and Saale and the northern Harz foreland in the fourth and fifth centuries. An important testimony from the time of the Thirty Years' War has been preserved for Warnstedt . It is a lidded tankard with a crest and coat of arms that was donated by the citizen of Timmenrode, Gabriel Weske, for a reason that has not been handed down. The date of the foundation, May 27, 1645, and a legend referring to the fox are visible in the coat of arms. Today this tankard is the challenge cup for the best shooter, which changes hands every year. A little more attention needs to be paid to the fox. Warnstedt, a small community, did not have the right to have its own coat of arms. Nevertheless, the fox keeps appearing. It is used in the 1920s in a traditional stamp from the Warnstedt municipal treasury.

On April 19, 1945, in the last days of fighting between American and German troops in the Harz Mountains, there was a violent explosion in Warnstedt when a truck loaded with explosives was shot at by an American tank. At least 21 people lost their lives and "almost the whole village" is said to have been destroyed,

Warnstedt has been part of the city of Thale since December 21, 2003.

Web links

• Warnstedt district on the website of the city of Thale

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Jürgen Möller, The battle for the Harz , 3rd edition, Bad Langensalza: Verlag Rockstuhl, 2016, p. 267