What is "leitenhausen"

Leitenhausen was a village in Germany, founded in 1317 A D. It was destroyed by the East German authorities in 1972 as it stood too close to the Inner German border (part of the larger "Iron Curtain"), the border between the post-war states of East and West Germany. It lay in the extreme south of Thuringia in Heldburger Land in the district of Hildburghausen, only a few hundred metres away from the Thuringian-Bavarian border.

In 1970 the last family left the village. After that, in May 1972, all the houses were demolished and the land leveled. What remains is a plaque on the old village site.