It is a typical Waldhufendorf, that has preserved its tidy, village character today with its rural two- and three-sided farmsteads and timber-framed houses.

Clausnitz was probably founded by Frankish settlers around 1200 in the course of the agricultural colonisation of the ancient forest that covered the entire Ore Mountains.

The economic basis of the village was agriculture and, in the 15th and 16th centuries, intensive mining for silver and copper ore. On 10 July 1563 Clausnitz's priest, Wolfgang Uhle, killed the corrupt local judge, George Bieber, in a fight.

and "Wir sind das Volk" ("We are the people"), a famous chant from the Monday demonstrations in East Germany.

At König David the senior mine manager (Oberbergmeister) Martin Planer built 1562 two flatrod systems.