Erlebach

Erlebach is a deserted village in Thuringia. It is located in Heldburger country in the extreme south of Thuringia in the district of Hildburghausen south of Bad Colberg -Heldburg, a few hundred meters from the Thuringian- Bavarian border. The place is now a memorial to the former inner- German border.

History

1310, the site was mentioned for the first time. The village was a manor of the Marshal family called Greiff and consisted of a castle-like mansion, other houses, a grist mill and a brick hut. Erlebach belonged until 1918 to the Saxon Office Heldburg in the Duchy of Saxe-Meiningen, then to the state of Thuringia. The noble family became extinct in 1929. From 1940 to July 1945, a trustee for the estate was used by the county peasantry. After the expropriation by the Soviet occupation forces took place. Through the land reform the estate was divided on 23 December 1945, farmers and new farmers. In 1948 the manor house was demolished on the instruction of Soviet occupation.

1946, the place had 29 inhabitants. He was in the 1952 set up by the GDR authorities restricted zone determined the fate of the place. 1961 founded an agricultural production cooperative " Erlengrund ". In 1975, the evacuation of the village was announced and its inhabitants forced to move. The basement rocks were bricked, so they could not be used as a hiding place of the Republic of fugitives. In December 1986, the last family left the village. After that, all the houses were demolished and leveled the land. What remains is the village pond and a memorial plaque at the old village site.