DEUTSCHLAND | GERMANY |
Bundesland: Freistaat Sachsen | Saxony |
Landkreis: Görlitz |
Oppach is situated at an elevation of 321 m in the extreme southwest of the district Görlitz in Saxony, directly at the border to the Czech Republic. The municipality has a population of about 2,400 (2015). Oppach and the neighbouring municipality of Beiersdorf are administered jointly (administrative union).
Opach was first mentioned in a written document in 1336. The name most likely means 'above the stream'.
In 1524 Oppach and the neighbouring Taubenheim were the first rural communities in the Upper Lusatia (Oberlausitz) region
that adopted the Protestant faith. At the end of the 17th century, during the Counter-Reformation in Bohemia, protestants
from Fugau (today Lukkov, part of Šluknov, CZ) and Schirgiswalde (then a Bohemian enclave in the Upper Lusatia region)
took refuge in Oppach and with them brought the tradition of commercial house weaving, from which in the 19th century the
first textile factories emerged. In 1777, Oppach became part of the district Bautzen, in 1875
district Löbau, 1994 district Löbau-Zittau, and 2008
district Görlitz.