Gödnitz

Gödnitz is a village and a former municipality in the district of Anhalt-Bitterfeld, in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Since 1 January 2010, it is part of the town Zerbst/Anhalt.GeographyThe villages Gödnitz and Flötz are between the towns Zerbst and Barby. Next to the villages there is the Gödnitz Lake which is an oxbow of the Elbe. Both villages are on the eastern side of the Elbe at the end of the moraine. The western part of Gödnitz/Flötz is a part of the Mittelelbe Biosphere. In the North West of Gödnitz the Nuthe flows into the Elbe.History1929 there were excavations in Flötz where some vessels were found which are assigned to the Walternienburg-Bernburg Culture. This proves that there was colonisation in Flötz already in the Neolithic age.The relatively elevated position protects the village from flood which was the reason for a very early colonisation.Already in the Iron Age there were Germanic people living at this place long time before the Slavs colonised this area in the 5th and 6th century.The history of Gödnitz and Flötz was connected to the East Elbe outposts of the Teutonic Order. From the first repossession attempts of Charlemagne in the 8th century to the final victory of the Teutonic Order in the 11th century Gödnitz and Flötz must have changed their sovereign very often.