The Wakenitz (Slavic Barsch River) is a right tributary of the Trave in the southeastern part of Schleswig-Holstein, which drains the Ratzeburg Lake and is approximately 14.9 kilometers long.
The chronicler Helmold of Bosau mentions it in the middle of the 12th century in his Chronica Slavorum under the names wochniza or wochenice. Since the opening of the Schaalsee Canal, the Wakenitz drainage basin covers about 445 km².
