Thirty-five years ago Auenhain was a quiet village. It lay near the future Markkleeberger See. The lake didn’t exist yet. It was created later by flooding a former brown coal mine. Auenhain was a small settlement. It had been significantly damaged during the Battle of Leipzig in 1813. The village was right in the middle of the main fighting.
Before 1500 Auenhain was already a wasteland. Then in 1522 a sawmill was established. The sawmill was near the villages of Wachau Guldengossa and Croburn. It was part of the Markkleeberg estate. Later in 1834 it was called a Vorwerk. That means an outlying farm. In the 19th century it only had 20 to 30 inhabitants. The Vorwerk Auenhain was part of the Leipzig district. After 1856 it belonged to the Leipzig II court and later to the Leipzig district administration. Administratively it belonged to Croburn and then Wachau starting in 1922.
After World War I things changed. Semi-detached houses were built for war veterans. These were along the Leipzig Chemnitz road. The settlement was called a war veteran’s settlement. Soon it took on the name of the nearby Vorwerk. It became the settlement Auenhain. Other houses were added for non-veterans.
The road was interrupted in the mid-1970s. This happened because of the brown coal mining. Auenhain became a very quiet place. However the nearby mining created environmental problems. People feared their homes would be destroyed.
That all changed in the mid 1990s. The mine closed. The lake was created. Auenhain became an attractive place to live. New building started again. It even had side roads built.
Today Auenhain offers great recreational opportunities. There is a man-made whitewater course. It’s the Kanupark Markkleeberg. It offers races and training for professional canoeists. There are even whitewater kayak and rafting activities for everyone. There’s a long sandy beach for swimming. There’s also a boat rental. Finally there’s the Seepark Auenhain. It is a holiday village with houses and apartments. There’s even a restaurant a wellness area and a children’s house.
Auenhain has a model railway park. It’s run by a model building club. The track is quite long. It has steam-powered trains for children and adults to ride. The past is present in Auenhain. It’s a place reborn. It’s a place transformed by history. It’s a place worth exploring.