Elend, Saxony-Anhalt

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Elend
Stadtteil of Oberharz am Brocken
Elend
Coordinates: 51°44′41″N 10°41′10″E / 51.74472°N 10.68611°E / 51.74472; 10.68611Coordinates: 51°44′41″N 10°41′10″E / 51.74472°N 10.68611°E / 51.74472; 10.68611
Country Germany
State Saxony-Anhalt
District Harz
Town Oberharz am Brocken
Area
 • Total 27.39 km2 (10.58 sq mi)
Elevation 490 m (1,610 ft)
Population (2010-12-31)
 • Total 409
 • Density 15/km2 (39/sq mi)
Time zone CET/CEST (UTC+1/+2)
Postal codes 38875
Dialling codes 039455
Vehicle registration HZ
Website www.elend-harz.de
Monument of the Division of Germany and Reunification on the Inner German Border immediately next to the B 27 federal road between Elend and Braunlage

Elend lies in the Bode valley in the High Harz in central Germany. This part of the valley is known locally as Elendstal ("Elend's valley"). Elend is a municipality in the borough of Oberharz am Brocken in the district of Harz in the German federal state of Saxony-Anhalt and lies at a height of 505 m above NN. Until 1990 it lay Elend close by the Inner German Border.

Geography

About 3 kilometres west of the village is the nature reserve of Kramershai.

Climate

Precipitation diagram
The annual precipitation in Elend is 1,116 mm which is in the upper third of the values recorded by the weather stations of the German Meteorological Office. Over 90% have lower values. The driest month is September; the wettest is December, when about 2.1 times as much rain falls as in the driest month. The average annual variations in precipitation lie in the upper third. In over 91% of all locations the monthly precipitation varies less than in Elend.

History

1912 map of the region between Schierke and Elend
View of Elend
Woodland open-air pool in Elend in 1955
Station on the Harz Railway
Smallest wooden church in Germany

Walther Grosse mentions fields under the Elend Road (unter dem elendischen Wege) for the first time in a manuscript of field names in the Amt of Elbingerode for 1483. In a Vogtei account for the Amt of Elbingerode (Harz) dated 1506/07 there is an entry which states: "Income from the sawmill at Elend in the Forest XII March" (Innome von der Sagemoln zum Elende deß Forst XII Mar[k]).[1] There are a lot of indications that this sawmill had existed for some time before that.

Hiking

Not far from Elend is the Helenenruh, a rocky ridge with outstanding views, which is checkpoint no. 21 in the Harzer Wandernadel hiking network.

References

  1. ↑ Landeshauptarchiv Sachsen-Anhalt, Abteilung Magdeburg, Rep. H Stolberg-Wernigerode, H.A. A 33 Fach 1-5 No. 2, Sheet 12r

Sources

  • Karlheinz Brumme: Elend. Chronik eines Harzdörfchens unterm Brocken, Blankenburg, Wernigerode, o. J. [2008]
  • Dietmar Schultke: Der DDR-Alltag in der Grenzkompanie Elend, in: 'Keiner kommt durch - Die Geschichte der innerdeutschen Grenze und Berliner Mauer, Aufbau-Verlag Berlin, 4. Auflage 2008

External links

Media related to Elend (Harz) at Wikimedia Commons

Subdivisions of Oberharz am Brocken
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