in deutsch!
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Goldlauter-Heidersbach (foundet 1546)
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 The first stanza and the notes! |
450 Years of GoldlauterIn 1996 Goldlauter had been in existence for 450 years This alone is reason enough to present to the world over the Internet this wonderful village in the heart of the "Thüringer Wald (Thuringin Forest)." Let us start with an old song entitled
"My Goldlauter-Heidersbach":Goldlauter was annexed in 1979 by Suhl, a small town of about 40,000 residents. This was done during the Socialist regime in the time of the then-existing German Democratic Republic, and the opinions surrounding this administrative act will always be widely divergent, but they seem not to be formed from any great prejudice. After all, the people from Goldlauter could save a wide range of their cultural and political independence by being annexed. This is reflected last but not least in the dignity and ceremony of the anniversary.
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History and excerpt of the chronicleThe name "Goldlauter" stems from the discovery of lodes of ore in the latter years of the 15th century. People around here sought to find gold, but there's no evidence that they did. Spot-checks of some lodes were made, and silver and copper were found but no gold, so the monarchy decided to decommission the mines. For that reason, the Count Wilhelm von Henneberg IV gave the place to settlers and their homes, and some surrounding areas, too. Masses of people came to mine both the red gold (copper) and the shiny silver metal. Silver was found mainly in the "Hirschzunge" (Tongue of Stag) and at "Rosenberg" (Hill of Roses). With the building of the first six houses there came mills, press mills, and smelting works, too. In a short time the number of inhabitants grew simultaneously with the knocking, pounding and hammering of the carpenters. |
| Before 1519 | Georg Emes, then bailiff of the Hennebergs, advices the Count Wilhelm von Henneberg IV of the existence and the possibilities of mining silver in the "Goldlautertal" Many miners searching for employment and sustinence. |
| 30-Nov-1546 | Directive of the "Bergk Freyheit" (Freedom of Mountain) for Goldlauter by Count Wilhelm IV, Lord of Henneberg |
| 1550 | With the construction of a small church, a parsonage is established. |
| 1559 | The village mayor of Suhl, Mr. Geyer, gets a feudal order from the Count awarding him house, farm and a piece of land in Goldlauter. |
| 1604 | Construction of a "new" school, a church already having been established. The first well-known teacher was Jörg Heym about 1620. |
| 1606 | On the 4th of July Kaspar Kümmel (20 years old) from Stepfershausen dies in the "Dürre Lauter" while hunting. Out of insolence Johann Georg I fired at Kaspar's big hat trying to knock it off, but the shot struck him in in the head. |
| 1618/1619 | Witches are burned. Six women from Goldlauter die at the stake in Suhl, and one so accused dies in the dungeon. |
| 1635 | In March of this year, the enemy Croats occupied Goldlauter. One soldier was shot from the church steeple. The mention of this single incident indicates the absence of great war damages in Goldlauter. The facts also tell that already by 1634 Goldlauter had accepted many refugees after the destruction of Suhl. |
| 1638 | In the spring, Swedish horsemen steal the villages entire herd of cattle. |
| 1682 | Three quarters of the adult males are working as charcoal-burners. |
| 1706 | The petition for the founding of Heidersbach, located one mile from Goldlauter, is approved by the Duke of Saxonia-Naumburg. In the Nordic War Swedish troops happen upon Goldlauter while on their way to Suhl. They seize beer and brandy. Food and provisions have to be delivered to the headquarters. A short time later Goldlauter has to furnish billeting to the Saxonians, who fought on the side of the Emperor for several weeks. |
| 1709 | With the arrival in Heidersbach of four fabric bleachers from Friedrichroda, the occupations of spinning, weaving and bleaching grow rapidly and widely. Yet by 1836 there are only 28, in 1840 there are 19, and in 1844 there is not one performing that job. |
| 1770/1772 | The Seven-Year War brings inflation to the country. The cost of grain rises to 9 times higher than before. Because of this, the death rate in Goldlauter in 1772 was 4 1/2 times the average. |
| 1776/1780 | Diary from Johann Wolfgang Goethe: -8th of May 1776: "I walked over the Finsterberg to Suhl, then back to Stützerbach and Ilmenau." -6th of September 1780, a notice in the diary: "I'll be going to Goldlauter and visiting the Schneekopf" -7th of September 1780, evening: "We ascended the summit and went dow into the valleys. The overlook from the Schneekopf is very beautiful. I'm very pleased with the wide open views from here." |
| 1808/1813 | Because the Lord of Saxony is fighting on the same side as Napoleon, 78 men from Goldlauter alone are recruited for his war. In April Hessian and Badian support troops spend the night in Goldlauter. The mayor of the village, Zacharias G¸nther, is mistreated because there aren't any draft animals available for climbing the Rennsteig. The citizens harness themselves before the carriages and haul them uphill to the Mordfleck (place of murdering). The women carry the satchels of the soldiers. On October 28, Cossacks pursuing the defeated Napoleon take up quarters in Goldlauter. |
| 1836 | The second school is constructed. With the growth of industrialization in Suhl and Zella-Mehlis the number of inhabitants grows. In 1860 the third and in 1882 the fourth schools follow. |
| 1845 | Losses of earnings and crop failures lead to poverty of the inhabitants of Goldlauter. They struggle to survive. In the forests they cut down trees and design coal distilleries. On the other side of the fence are the forest rangers and tax collectors. There are many conflicts between both parties. The chief forest ranger, Pfeifer, is dragged out of the "German House" hotel in Suhl. The men give him a beating because he didn't authorize the payment of wages. |
| 1847/1848 | As a result of further inflation, many people register to emigrate to America.
Thirteen people emigrate in 1850 alone, and six more from Goldlauter in 1852.
From 1848-1864 18 families and 15 single people leave Heidersbach.
(It would be nice to hear from you...)
Neustädtles: |
| 1848 | In this year the revolution here in Goldlauter is the strongest within the district. Both the arbitrary mayor and the master forest ranger from Schleusingen step down in April, and the district president comes to hold a hearing. On September 25th the woodcutters go to Suhl to put in their demands. In November a company of the 71st Army regiment enters Goldlauter to reinstate the old conditions. |
| 1868 | Since 1868 a larger part of the populace have worked in Goldlauter, many in the newly-erected china factory in the Lauter (district of Suhl). Many residents are metal-workers in Suhl and Zella-Mehlis. In Goldlauter itself there are only a few glassblowers beside treecutters, charcoal-burners and craftsmen. |
| 1-Apr-1883 | Goldlauter receives a post office. |
| 1912 | Teacher Hermann Thauß is the clerk at the post office. The high-pressure water system goes into effect. (Before that there was a pipe system with wooden pipes and wells.) In this same year Goldlauter goes on the power supply system. |
| 1918 | World War 1 is over! 67 men from Goldlauter-Heidersbach never come back. A memorial is erected. |
| 1919 | To get new areas for agriculture, the Bocksberg is cleared. |
| 1920 | The Imperial forces that occuped the city hall have to withdraw because the workers from Goldlauter fought them with an armoured scout car. After some hours the forces surrender. Residents of our village take also Gotha. |
| 1924 | The road Suhl-Goldlauter-Suhl is ready. |
| 1927 | Electric street lights are installed. As of December a regular bus system brings easier access for the people to and from Suhl and Zella-Mehlis. |
| 1932 | During the course of the international economic crisis, that has continued since 1928, the unemployment rate reaches about 75%, a catastrophic figure. |
| 1933/34 | Beginning of the Nazi dictatorship - Prohibition of all social democratic writings - New election of the managing committee of Goldlauter-Heidersbach - Arresting the old mayor |
| 1934 | Crash-lnding of an aeroplane on the meadows in the Shopf. There is a nice poem in dialect by Albert Kehr available about it. |
| 1.4.1938 | The amalgamation of the communities of Goldlauter and Heidersbach is arranged. |
| 1945 | World War II is over! The village has lost 150 residents. Some arrested Social Democrats and Communists return. Reinhold Kleinlein dies in the Buchenwald concentration camp." - Entry of the Americans - German fanatics still defend German areas. - The Americans payback in the late afternoon of Apr. 4. Two children and two adults lose their lives, plus considerable property damage in the lower village and to the Heidersbach road (unplowed). In July the Americans leave to take a piece of Berlin, and the Russians enter Thuringia. The latter take thirteen members of the NSDAP into custody. Only four of them come back. There were some victims of bombings in the village, and now also 60 families from the "East territories." |
| 1952 | The first vacationists come to Goldlauter organized by the FDGB. |
| 1959 | As of the 2nd of July, 1959, the village counts 2959 habitants. - In many of thousands of non-paid Subbotniks and other labor mobilizations there were built swimming pools, houses, sporting fields, kindergarten, and medical practices, to name just a few. But in socialist times all that glitters is not gold. Goldlauter was becoming a garbage dump on which is now the Gliding Field. Then there came barracks and finally a prison, the later building of the judicial penal institution finding no sympathy with the population. But then we lived in a socialist dictatorship... |
| 1979 | Goldlauter-Heidersbach becomes a district of Suhl. |
| 1980 | Destruction of the last mining monument, the "Kaspershöhle in Pochwerksgrund." This was supposedly done "for the sake of security", but nobody believes that. |
| 1982 | Decades of a long struggle for a new school are ended with the beginning of new construction in 1982. By 1983 it included 14 classrooms, 8 specialty cabinets, 1 teachers' room, training kitchen with dining room and rooms for administration and apprentices, also a new gymnasium in operation. |
| ab 1989 |
The last (and, thank God, bloodless!) revolution in Germany.
The GDR changes into FRG. The years after the turning point were comprised of
extensive building and rehabilitation measures: -natural gas and telephone access for all interested parties -business and apartment construction -road construction; canalisation -development and residential zone districts -characteristic new home building, the stimulus for that being the homeowner contributes through extensive roofs and facade remodeling substantially toward the improvement of our town -supermarkets and other really new things an "Easty" didn't know before. Now we are also "Westies!" |
| 1995 | Award of the title "Officially Certified Recreational Area" which was given to us as early as the middle of the 1950's, but with the dump and prison there, we lost it. Now it's back! |
| 1996 | Ceremony "450 years of Goldlauter". In the archive, you find, for example, the program to the festival week, therefore what all transpired. |
 get big! |
Geography of Goldlauter-HeidersbachGoldlauter is embedded between many hills, the "Thüringer Wald". The ridge of the Thüringer Wald is called the "Rennsteig". The length of it is 168 km (about 100 miles). In the center of this well-known range you can find its highest point - the "Große Beerberg" (Big Hill of Berries). This hill is on the boundary of Goldlauter. The Rennsteig has always been a natural borderline. And that's why most of the settlers came from "this side" of the Rennsteig, especially from Meiningen, Römhild and Henneberg, to name a few. The settlers then were speaking Hennebergisch-Fränkisch and the people still do today. They don't speak the Thuringian dialect like the most other habitants of Thuringia. You'll find our nice village in the heart of the "Thüringer Wald" and there's no wondering that the Fremdenverkehrsverein (Association of Tourist Traffic, phone ++49-3681-461522) has to do a lot of work. Geographically, Goldlauter is in center of the triangle of Eisenach-Weimar-Bamberg. Goldlauter is well known in a wide area as "Wopptei" and an habitant is called a "Wopper". |
 Ernst Anschütz
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Great People of GoldlauterGoldlauter had a lot of well-known people. Here are some of these.
Dr. Ernst Gebhard Salomon Anschütz
Johann Nicolas Stockmar
Kuno Werner and Manfred Geyer
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Impressions from Goldlauter-HeidersbachGet Goldlauter in your computer! Clicking any picture will bring a fullscreen view. |
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