With a population of 72,040 (as of 2020), it is located on the banks of theRiver Havel. The town of Brandenburg provided the name for the medievalBishopric of Brandenburg, the Margraviate of Brandenburg and the current state of Brandenburg. Today, it is a small town compared to nearby Berlin but was the original nucleus of the former realms of Brandenburg andPrussia.
The name of the city is a combination of two wordsbraniti – to protect/defend andbor – forest/wood. Brenna, which had been a fort of theWest Slavic tribeStodoranie, was conquered in 929 after theBattle of Lenzen by the German KingHenry the Fowler ofSaxony. It was at this time first mentioned in documents asBrennaburg. By the death of King Henry all the tribes between the Middle Elbe and Middle Oder paid tribute to the German King. At the Magdeburg Assembly of Princes in 948 the Bishoprics of Brandenburg and Havelburg were established. The Holy Roman EmperorOtto I took control of these new sees. InSlavic revolt of 983 there was a major Slav uprising involving numerous tribes and until the middle of the 12th century the area east of the Elbe remained under their control.[3] During this period the area was ruled by Slavic chiefs of theHevelli tribe. The last of them,Pribislav, died in 1150.
Following Pribislav's death his widow Petrissa enabledAlbert I of Brandenburg to take over Brenna. Albert was driven out of Brenna byJaksa of Kopanica and returned there after a long siege only in 1157 by agreement and provide it with a joint German-Slav garrison. Albert now styled himselfMargrave of Brandenburg. By 1160 systematic settlement of the Elbe-Havel-Spree basin by nobility, burghers, and peasants from the Schwabengau area (Harz), theNetherlands, theRhineland, andWestphalia was in progress. In 1165 the foundation stone for a cathedral was laid on the cathedral island of Brandenburg. It was consecrated five years later in the presence of Albert the Bear and his sons.[4] The town was restricted to the western bank of the Havel until 1196, when it was extended to the eastern side. The parts on either side of the river were regarded as three towns (Old Town, New Town andBrandenburg cathedral district) for centuries.
In 1314–1315 the Old and New Towns joined theHanseatic League. In theThirty Years' War (1618–1648) the towns suffered plundering and destruction; this causedPotsdam to become the new capital, and the court left the town of Brandenburg. In 1715, Old Town and New Town were merged to form a single town. In 1928, the Brandenburg cathedral district was added.
In the late 19th century Brandenburg an der Havel became a very important industrial center in the German Empire. Steel industries settled there, and several bicycle brands such asBrennabor,Corona andExcelsior were manufactured in the city. A toy industry was also established. A giant industrial complex, theDeutsche Reichsbahn (German Imperial Railways) was located in Brandenburg-Kirchmöser between the two world wars and under the formerGDR.
In 1933/34, aconcentration camp, one of the first inNazi Germany, was located onNeuendorfer Straße in Brandenburg Old Town. After closing this inner city concentration camp, the Nazis used theBrandenburg-Görden Prison, located in the suburb of Görden. Later the old jail became theBrandenburg Euthanasia Centre where the Nazis murdered people with mental diseases, including children. This programme later came to be known as "Action T4" because of the Berlin address, Tiergartenstraße 4, the headquarters of this planned and well-organizedforced euthanasia organisation. Brandenburg an der Havel was one of the first locations in Nazi Germany where theNazis experimented with murdering their victimsby gas.[citation needed] The lessons here were later applied for mass murders inAuschwitz and otherextermination camps.
In 1934, the AradoAircraft Company (Arado Flugzeugwerke), which originated inWarnemünde, built asatellite factory in Brandenburg that began producing planes in 1935. The factory was expanded over the next five years, and produced trainers and other aircraft for theLuftwaffe during World War II. The existence of this factory was one of the reasons Brandenburg was heavily bombed in later stages of the war; by 1945, 70% of the city was destroyed.
Friedrich Fromm, a German officer involved in the20 July plot to assassinateAdolf Hitler, was executed here in March 1945 for his part in the plot, even though Fromm betrayed those conspirators he knew and ordered their execution.
On 25 July 1952Plaue andKirchmöser were incorporated in the city of Brandenburg an der Havel.[5]
AfterGerman reunification the city's population declined from around 100,000 in 1989 to roughly 75,000 in 2005 through emigration. The migration was mainly by young people.
Development of Population since 1875 within the Current Boundaries (Blue Line: Population; Dotted Line: Comparison to Population Development of Brandenburg state)
Recent Population Development and Projections (Population Development before Census 2011 (blue line); Recent Population Development according to theCensus in Germany in 2011 (blue bordered line); Official projections for 2005-2030 (yellow line); for 2017-2030 (purple line); for 2020-2030 (green line)
Brandenburg an der Havel: Population development within the current boundaries[6]
The city is located on the navigableRiver Havel, a European Waterway, and vessels travelling through the city have a choice of two routes. The original route used theBrandenburg City Canal, a 4-kilometre (2.5 mi) route through the city centre that descends through theStadtschleuse Brandenburg, but this route is constrained in size and now limited to leisure craft. Commercial traffic instead uses theSilo Canal that passes through the eastern and northern fringes of the city.[7]
TheDominsel (Cathedral Island) is the historic heart of the town. Here stands its oldest edifice: theSt. Peter and Paul Cathedral. Although construction began in the Romanesque style in 1165, it was completed as a Gothic cathedral during the 14th century. While the exterior is rather austere, the cathedral surprises the visitor with its sumptuous interior, especially the painted vault of theBunte Kapelle (Coloured Chapel) and the Wagner organ (1725), one of the most famous Baroque organs in Germany.
TheKatharinenkirche (St. Catherine's Church) built in 1401 in the Neustadt is an impressive example of northern Germanbrick Gothic architecture. TheGotthardtkirche (St. Gotthardt's Church) was built of the same material just a few years later.
Another interesting building is theAltstädtisches Rathaus (Old Town Hall), a late Gothic brick building with stepped gables and an ornate portal. In front of it stands a 5.35m highstatue of the knight Roland. Made of sandstone, the statue was erected in 1474 as a symbol of the town's independence.
There is also a part of Brandenburg's medievalcity wall, with four preservedwatchtowers:Steintorturm andMühlentorturm (in the New Town), andRathenower Torturm andPlauer Torturm (in the Old Town).
TheBrandenburg Industrial Museum is an Anchor Point of ERIH, TheEuropean Route of Industrial Heritage. Brandenburg has its own theatre (Brandenburger Theater), a professional symphony orchestra (Brandenburger Symphoniker) and a wide range of local history and archaeology museums.
The current mayor is Steffen Scheller of theChristian Democratic Union (CDU) since 2018. The most recent mayoral election was held on 28 February 2018 and the results were as follows:
^Gemeinden 1994 und ihre Veränderungen seit 01.01.1948 in den neuen Ländern, Verlag Metzler-Poeschel, Stuttgart 1995,ISBN3-8246-0321-7, Hrsg.: Statistisches Bundesamt
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