Blankenhain

Blankenhain
Blankenhain
Town
	Town hall
	Coat of arms
	Location of Blankenhain within Weimarer Land district
	Blankenhain Blankenhain
	Coordinates: 50°51′36″N 11°20′38″E / 50.86000°N 11.34389°E
Country	Germany
State	Thuringia
District	Weimarer Land
Subdivisions	23
Government
• Mayor (2024–30)	Jens Kramer (CDU)
Area
• Total	113.53 km2 (43.83 sq mi)
Highest elevation	390 m (1,280 ft)
Lowest elevation	370 m (1,210 ft)
Population (2022-12-31)
• Total	6,616
• Density	58/km2 (150/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+01:00 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+02:00 (CEST)
Postal codes	99444
Dialling codes	036459
Vehicle registration	AP
Website	www.blankenhain.de

Blankenhain is a town in the Weimarer Land district, in Thuringia, Germany. It is 14 km (8.7 miles) south of Weimar.

History

Until the Napoleonic Wars, Blankenhain had been a part of the Duchy of Saxe-Weimar. After the Fourth Coalition's defeat at Jena and Auerstedt, Napoleon attached the Lordship of Blankenhain to the Principality of Erfurt, directly subordinate to himself as an "imperial state domain" (French: domaine réservé à l'empereur), separate from the Confederation of the Rhine (nominally a French protectorate set up to replace the now-defunct Holy Roman Empire), which the surrounding Thuringian states had joined.^[3]

After the Congress of Vienna, Erfurt was restored to Prussia on 21 June 1815, becoming the capital of one of the three districts (Regierungsbezirke) of the new Province of Saxony, but some southern and eastern parts of Erfurter lands joined Blankenhain in being transferred to the newly promoted Grand Duchy of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach the following September.^[4]

Blankenhain remained within Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach through the era of the German Empire (1871–1918) and into the Weimar Republic until it merged with 7 of the 8 other Saxon duchies to form the Free State of Thuringia (German: Freistaat Thüringen). After being controlled briefly by the United States, from July 1945, the state of Thuringia came under the Soviet occupation zone, and was expanded to include parts of Prussian Saxony, including Erfurt, which became the new capital of Thuringia. In 1952, East Germany dissolved its states, and created districts (Bezirke) instead, with Blankenhain sitting within the rural district Kreis Weimar-Land, in Bezirk Erfurt. The State of Thuringia was restored with slightly altered borders during German reunification in 1990.

Sons and daughters of the city

Otto Hammann (1852–1928), jurist
Jörg Schneider (born 1948), paleontologist
Christina Grosse (born 1970), actress

People who are connected to Blankenhain

Johann Christoph Bach (1689–1740), organist, cousin of Johann Sebastian Bach
Max Burchartz (1887–1961), graphican and painter, lived for a long time in Blankenhain
Wilhelm Hegeler (1870–1943), writer, lived for several years in Blankenhain
Max Oehler (1881–1943), painter, had a garden in Blankenhain, painted the city and its surroundings

References

^ Gewählte Bürgermeister - aktuelle Landesübersicht, Freistaat Thüringen. Retrieved 25 June 2024.
^ "Bevölkerung der Gemeinden, erfüllenden Gemeinden und Verwaltungsgemeinschaften in Thüringen Gebietsstand: 31.12.2022" (in German). Thüringer Landesamt für Statistik. June 2023.
^ "1806–1814: Erfurt unter französischer Besetzung" [1806–1814: Erfurt under French occupation] (in German). Erfurt Stadtverwaltung [Erfurt city administration]. 22 January 2013. Retrieved 2 January 2016.
^ "1814–1850: Erfurt im preußischen Staat" [1814–1850: Erfurt in the Prussian state] (in German). Erfurt Stadtverwaltung [Erfurt city administration]. 22 January 2013. Retrieved 3 January 2016.

External links

Official website
Media related to Blankenhain at Wikimedia Commons
Wikisource has texts related to Blankenhain:
- Blanckenhain in the Topographia Superioris Saxoniae (by Matthäus Merian and Martin Zeiler)
- "Der Galgenbaum bei Blankenhain" ["The Gallows-tree of Blankenhain"] from Der Sagenschatz des Königreichs Sachsen [The Folklore of the Kingdom of Saxony] by Johann Georg Theodor Grässe