Greiz (district)

District
	Coat of arms
Country	Germany
State	Thuringia
Capital	Greiz
Area
• Total	844 km2 (326 sq mi)
Population (2002)
• Total	121,129
• Density	143.52/km2 (371.71/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+1 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+2 (CEST)
Vehicle registration	GRZ
Website	http://www.landkreis-greiz.de

Greiz is a Landkreis (rural district) in the east of Thuringia, Germany.

History

Historically the area of the district was part of the Vogtland, named after the title Vogt given to the local rulers in the 13th century. Only two lines of the Reuß family survived from that time, with one principality based in Greiz, and the other in Gera and Schleiz. In 1919 both were merged into the Volksstaat Reuß (People's State of Reuss), which then became part of Thuringia in 1920.

A subcamp of the Buchenwald concentration camp was located at Berga/Elster during World War II. The SS made inmates dig tunnels and lay railway tracks for the Schwalbe V project.^[1]

The district in its current form was created on July 1, 1994, when the districts Gera-Land, Zeulenroda and the previous district Greiz were merged.

Coat of arms

Both the lion as well as the crane-bird in the top part of the coat of arms are from the coat of arms of the Reuß families and their principalities. In the bottom is a part of the coat of arms of Saxony, as a small part of the district belonged to the Duchies of Saxony.

Towns and municipalities

Verwaltungsgemeinschaft-free towns	and municipalities
Bad Köstritz Berga/Elster Greiz Ronneburg Weida Zeulenroda-Triebes	Caaschwitz Crimla Harth-Pöllnitz Hartmannsdorf Kraftsdorf Langenwetzendorf Langenwolschendorf	Mohlsdorf Neumühle/Elster Teichwolframsdorf Vogtländisches Oberland Weißendorf Wünschendorf/Elster