B\u00f6hlen’s story starts long before it became the town it is today. Imagine a time before industry. The area was settled since the 7th century. Let’s journey back to 1353. This is when B\u00f6hlen was first documented. The name B\u00f6hlen comes from the Slavic word bely. Bely means white bright or shiny.
For centuries B\u00f6hlen remained a rural village. The manor house was built in the 16th century. Locals called it the castle. The old village church dates back to 1540. Parts of the church are Romanesque. Imagine the Thirty Years’ War. Plague struck B\u00f6hlen. Only two families survived.
The Leipzig-Hof railway arrived in 1842. B\u00f6hlen got a station. A schoolhouse followed in 1879. It had five classrooms. B\u00f6hlen was part of Amt Pegau until 1856. Then it became part of Amtshauptmannschaft Leipzig in 1875.
Everything changed in the 1920s. Lignite was discovered. B\u00f6hlen transformed into an industrial location. In 1924 one of the world’s largest lignite mines opened. It had a conveyor bridge that was 200 m long and 50 m high. The mine was west of B\u00f6hlen.
During World War II a subcamp of Buchenwald was established. Eight hundred prisoners were forced to work. They worked at a Braunkohle-Benzin AG plant. The plant was strategically important. B\u00f6hlen suffered heavy aerial attacks in 1944 and 1945.
After the war industries were transferred to Soviet administration. In 1952 they were returned to the GDR. That same year the Kulturhaus opened. The power station coal processing plants and motor fuel works merged. They formed the Kombinat “Otto Grotewohl”. B\u00f6hlen was awarded town status on October 7 1964.
Neighboring villages were incorporated into B\u00f6hlen. Zeschwitz was incorporated in 1942. It was mined over from 1943. St\u00f6hna was incorporated in 1960. Parts of it had been mined over since 1955. Trachenau was incorporated in 1964. It was mostly mined over from 1962 to 1965. Gro\u00dfdeuben joined in 1997.
In 1995 Dow Olefinverbund acquired the chemical works. Today B\u00f6hlen profits from Neuseenland. Old open-cast mines are now huge lakes.
B\u00f6hlen has a small airport and a power plant today. The town’s history is deeply rooted in mining and industry. Now it embraces a future with lakes and recreation. B\u00f6hlen continues to evolve. It balances its industrial past with new opportunities. This town south of Leipzig has a rich and fascinating story.