Räckelwitz

Räckelwitz is a municipality in Bautzen district, in the state of Saxony, Germany. The municipality of Räckelwitz has a population of 1,170 and is a member of the municipal association "Am Klosterwasser" .The municipality is in Upper Lusatia, and is part of the central area of Sorbian settlement. In 2001, 61.9% of people living in the municipality could speak Upper Sorbian.Räckelwitz is also the name of the largest village in the municipality. The village has a population of 506. Räckelwitz is the birthplace of the well-known Sorbian author Jurij Brězan. The prime minister of Saxony, Stanislaw Tillich, was born in Neudörfel/Nowa Wjeska.HistoryRäckelwitz is first mentioned in a document from 1280 which calls it Rokolewicz. From 1304 there was a manor house in the village. The house's last owner, Countess Monika zu Stolberg, bequeathed it the Sovereign Military Order of Malta, and from 1903 to 2000, the former manor was a Roman Catholic hospital run by that religious order.LocationThe municipality is approx. 8 km east of the town of Kamenz und 15 km north-west of Bautzen, the capital of the local district. South of Räckelwitz are the "lowlands" (Delany) and the municipalities of Panschwitz-Kuckau and Crostwitz.