Bethau is a village and a former municipality in the Wittenberg

Wittenberg (district)

Wittenberg is a district in the east of Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Neighboring districts are Anhalt-Bitterfeld, the district-free city of Dessau-Roßlau, the districts of Potsdam-Mittelmark, Teltow-Fläming and Elbe-Elster in Brandenburg, and the district of Nordsachsen in the Free State of Saxony.-...

 district in Saxony-Anhalt

Saxony-Anhalt

Saxony-Anhalt is a landlocked state of Germany. Its capital is Magdeburg and it is surrounded by the German states of Lower Saxony, Brandenburg, Saxony, and Thuringia.Saxony-Anhalt covers an area of...

, Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

. Since 1 January 2011, it is part of the town Annaburg

Annaburg

Annaburg is a small town in Wittenberg district in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. It was the seat of the former Verwaltungsgemeinschaft Annaburg-Prettin.- Constituent communities :Annaburg has two centres, one also called Annaburg, and the other Purzien....

. It lies right on the boundary with Saxony

Saxony

The Free State of Saxony is a landlocked state of Germany, contingent with Brandenburg, Saxony Anhalt, Thuringia, Bavaria, the Czech Republic and Poland. It is the tenth-largest German state in area, with of Germany's sixteen states....

 about 35 km southeast of the district seat at Wittenberg

Wittenberg

Wittenberg, officially Lutherstadt Wittenberg, is a city in Germany in the Bundesland Saxony-Anhalt, on the river Elbe. It has a population of about 50,000....

 and 12 km north of Torgau

Torgau

Torgau is a town on the banks of the Elbe in northwestern Saxony, Germany. It is the capital of the district Nordsachsen.Outside Germany, the town is most well known as the place where during the Second World War, United States Army forces coming from the west met with forces of the Soviet Union...

. Bethau was part of the administrative municipality

Amt (subnational entity)

Amt is a type of administrative division governing a group of municipalities, today only found in Germany, but formerly also common in northern European countries. Its size and functions differ by country and the term is roughly equivalent to a U.S...

 (Verwaltungsgemeinschaft) of Annaburg-Prettin

Annaburg-Prettin

Annaburg-Prettin was a Verwaltungsgemeinschaft in the district of Wittenberg, in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. It was situated on the right bank of the Elbe, southeast of Wittenberg. The seat of the Verwaltungsgemeinschaft was in Annaburg...

.

Geography and transport

Bethau lies in the lowlands on the east bank of the Elbe

Elbe

The Elbe is one of the major rivers of Central Europe. It rises in the Krkonoše Mountains of the northwestern Czech Republic before traversing much of Bohemia , then Germany and flowing into the North Sea at Cuxhaven, 110 km northwest of Hamburg...

 west of the Annaburg

Annaburg

Annaburg is a small town in Wittenberg district in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. It was the seat of the former Verwaltungsgemeinschaft Annaburg-Prettin.- Constituent communities :Annaburg has two centres, one also called Annaburg, and the other Purzien....

 Heath. This is, however, to a great extent a Bundeswehr

Bundeswehr

The Bundeswehr consists of the unified armed forces of Germany and their civil administration and procurement authorities...

 troop drilling ground, and is therefore off limits. West of the municipality runs the Federal Highway (Bundesstraße) B 182, and to the north is the B 187. In the south, the municipality borders on Saxony

Saxony

The Free State of Saxony is a landlocked state of Germany, contingent with Brandenburg, Saxony Anhalt, Thuringia, Bavaria, the Czech Republic and Poland. It is the tenth-largest German state in area, with of Germany's sixteen states....

.

History

Bethau is believed to have been founded in 1159 by Flemish

Flemish people

The Flemings or Flemish are the Dutch-speaking inhabitants of Belgium, where they are mostly found in the northern region of Flanders. They are one of two principal cultural-linguistic groups in Belgium, the other being the French-speaking Walloons...

 migrants. They were settled in the area by Wichmann von Seeburg, Archbishop of Magdeburg, and Albert the Bear

Albert I of Brandenburg

Albert the Bear was the first Margrave of Brandenburg from 1157 to his death and was briefly Duke of Saxony between 1138 and 1142.-Life:...

.