Naila

Content sourced from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

Naila is a small town in Bavaria, Germany. It is located in the Hof district, in the Franconian Forest, along the Selbitz river, about 18 kilometers from Hof. As of December 2023, about 7,600 people live there.

History
Naila was first mentioned on January 9, 1343. The name may come from “Neulins,” meaning a small new settlement. In 1454, the town received a coat of arms from Margrave John. After a brief period under Prussian rule (1792–1810), Naila became part of the Kingdom of Bavaria. It was granted town privileges in 1818, and a railroad reached Naila in 1886. After World War II, the Iron Curtain to the north cut off many markets for local businesses.

Administration
Naila was the seat of its own district until 1972, when the district merged into Hof district. The town switched from the NAI license plate to HO. In 1978, the nearby villages Marxgrün, Lippertsgrün and Marlesreuth joined Naila.

Notable event
In 1979, the Strelzyk and Wetzel families made a famous homemade hot-air balloon escape from East Germany and landed near Naila.