“Wüster, öder, leerer Bach.” This old Sorbian phrase perhaps paints the most accurate picture of the Alte Paußnitz. We’re standing beside this unassuming stream and its story is anything but simple. The Alte Paußnitz is a waterway that winds through Leipzig’s Elster-Pleiße Aue.
Since the 1990s, the Alte Paußnitz has stretched six kilometers. It is classified as a Fließgewässer II. Ordnung. That is a second-order watercourse. Its history is intertwined with the very landscape it traverses.
The Alte Paußnitz begins as a branch of the Lauersche Grenzgraben. This was newly created in the Lauer area in the 1990s. It initially flows northwest. Just 120 meters in, the Hartmannschlenke veers off northeast. Continuing northwest, the Alte Paußnitz enters Großzschocher. Here, it merges with the Paußnitzgraben. This also branches from the Lauersche Grenzgraben. The Alte Paußnitz then shifts direction. It goes north, then northeast. It splits into two arms. The left arm crosses the Lehmlache Lauer. Both arms pass under the Brückenstraße through culverts. Rejoining, they flow under the Plagwitz–Gaschwitz railway.
After passing under an unnamed forest path running east-west, the Alte Paußnitz flows in a straight ditch. This ditch runs for about 320 meters. It goes in a north-northeast direction to the Connewitz boundary. The ditch was created around 1900 by the owners of the Rittergut Großzschocher. It replaced the original course. The original meandered west and may have hindered forestry. Back in its natural winding bed, the Alte Paußnitz marks the boundary between Großzschocher and Connewitz. Finally, it flows completely into Connewitz.
Here, the Paußnitzabschlaggraben branches off. It goes north-northwest. The Alte Paußnitz itself passes under the Blümlein Steg. This is an unnamed north-south forest path. It meanders wildly. It goes south, then east, then north, and east again. Here, it passes under the Schwarzen Brücke. That bridge is on the forest path “Die Linie.” It turns north again. Sometimes a narrow stream, sometimes a broad pool, it flows mostly west of the Pleiße. It crosses the “Die Probstei” forest. After the Paußnitzsteg crosses the Alte Paußnitz, it turns northwest. Since around 1927, it has flowed into the Elsterflutbett.
The name “Paußnitz” seems ancient. Eichler and Walther trace it to an Old Sorbian “Pust’nica.” This means “wüster, öder, leerer Bach”. That means deserted, barren, empty brook. The ‘u’ supposedly changed to ‘au’ in the 15th century.
However, the name is not found in older documents or maps for the southern Auenwald. The oldest name for this watercourse is on an 1806 map. A section in Connewitz is labeled “die Pausens Lache.” Another in Großzschocher is “die schwarze Lache.” The former suggests a person named Pause or Bause. With imagination, it could be a corruption of “Paußnitz-Lache.” “Schwarze Lachen” were common here. One ran from the Streit Teich to the Pleiße in Connewitz. The spelling “die Paussnitz” appears on an 1891 city map. Even then, the section south of the Gaschwitz railway is still called “die Schwarze Lache.”
The Alte Paußnitz has changed its course many times. Extreme floods regularly altered its path. Many flood gullies, oxbow lakes, and pools formed. Since the almost complete regulation of the Weiße Elster in 1956, this has stopped. About half of the original winding course remains.
So, as you stand here by the Alte Paußnitz, remember that you’re not just looking at a stream. You’re witnessing a dynamic story etched into the landscape. It is a story of ancient names, shifting courses, and the enduring power of nature.