The village of Geierswalde and a number of other villages in this region were first documented in 1401. The name is likely to derive from a person by the name of Geier. The Sorbian name Lejno indicates that flax may have been cultivated here in the Middle Ages. Some 340 people currently live in Geierswalde. The village has long since become a household name in the Lusatian Lake District. After all, Geierswalder See is a popular holiday and bathing lake. It has its origins in the Koschen opencast mine. About 83 million metric tons of coal were extracted from that pit from 1955 to 1972. This roughly equals the mass of about 55 million cars. The former mining lake was flooded from 2004 to 2012. Owing to several generous additions of lime by the mining redevelopment company LMBV, the water’s pH value now is not only neutral (pH 7), but also very clean. The lake was used temporarily for the first time during Geierswalde’s 600-year anniversary celebrations in summer 2001.
The village is located immediately on the federal state border with Brandenburg, which also runs through the lake. The Schwarze Elster, a nearly 117 mile (188 km) long tributary of the Elbe, flows south of the village.
Geierswalde has been part of the municipality of Elsterheide since 1995, with nearly 50 square miles (129 km2) the second largest municipality in the district of Bautzen in terms of surface area. It comprises nine villages with a total of currently about 4,000 inhabitants. The Sorbian culture remains present in village life to this day. It mainly manifests itself in traditions and customs, such as the custom of driving out the winter (Zampern) and the erecting and toppling of the May pole.