Kötzschau is located to the extreme southeast of the municipality of Leuna, and to the east of Saalekreis district and of Saxony-Anhalt.

In 1347, during the war between the Margrave of Meissen and the Archbishop of Magdeburg, Otto von Hessen [de], the Saline was burned down.

[1] In 1597, the Elsterfloßgraben [de] was built, a canal linking Kötzschau to the Elster Mountains to facilitate the transport of wood needed in the production of salt.

[1] In 1706/7, Kötzschau was occupied by Swedish troops during the Great Northern War and the school/rectory became the main store of animal feed for the whole army.

In 1886, Schladebach made international headlines as the location of the deepest-ever drilling (1,748 metres, a record that lasted until 1893).

[1][2] On 5 April 1945, the Witzschersdorf late Baroque Rittergut (manor) was destroyed by Allied bombing and not rebuilt.