Zossen | |
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 Church of theHoly Trinity | |
 Coat of arms | |
Location of Zossen within Teltow-Fläming district  | |
  Zossen  Zossen | |
| Coordinates:52°13′00″N13°26′59″E / 52.21667°N 13.44972°E /52.21667; 13.44972 | |
| Country | Germany |
| State | Brandenburg |
| District | Teltow-Fläming |
| Subdivisions | 7 Orts- und 9 Gemeindeteile |
| Government | |
| • Mayor(2019–27) | Wiebke Schwarzweller[1] (FDP) |
| Area | |
• Total | 179.57 km2 (69.33 sq mi) |
| Elevation | 38 m (125 ft) |
| Population (2022-12-31)[2] | |
• Total | 21,433 |
| • Density | 120/km2 (310/sq mi) |
| Time zone | UTC+01:00 (CET) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC+02:00 (CEST) |
| Postal codes | 15806 |
| Dialling codes | 03377 |
| Vehicle registration | TF |
| Website | zossen |
Zossen (German pronunciation:[ˈt͡sɔsn̩]ⓘ;Upper Sorbian:Sosny,pronounced[ˈsɔsnɨ]) is a German town in the district ofTeltow-Fläming inBrandenburg, about 30 kilometres (20 mi) south ofBerlin, and next to theB96 highway. Zossen consists of several smaller municipalities, which were grouped in 2003 to form the city.
Since the 2003 municipal reform, Zossen consists of the following districts and municipalities:
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Zossen, like many places in Brandenburg, was originally aSlavic settlement. Its name (Upper Sorbian:Sosny) may derive from "Sosna", meaningpine, a tree quite common in the region.
In 1875,Zossen railway station opened on the railway line from Berlin toDresden and thePrussian military railway to the artillery range at Kummersdorf-Gut in present-dayAm Mellensee. Between 1901 and 1904, Zossen adopted the use of various high-speed vehicles, such aselectric locomotives andtrams, for transportation to and from Berlin-Marienfelde. These vehicles were powered by an alternating current of 15 kV and used a variable frequency. The power was transmitted by three overhead lines arranged one above the other.
In 1910, an artilleryproving ground andgarrison of theImperial German Army were established in the Waldstadt section of the Wünsdorf community, a site that remains in use today. DuringWorld War I, it housed severalprisoner-of-war camps, including the "Crescent Camp" (Halbmondlager), which was designated forMuslim soldiers who had fought for theTriple Entente.[3] Notably, the firstmosque in Germany was erected here.[3] The mosque's wooden construction, financed by thePrussian Army, featured a 25-meter highminaret that was built in just five weeks in July 1915.[3] The camp operated from 1915 until 1917, serving as a showcase forGermany's war propaganda. It was designed not only to display the supposed humane treatment of prisoners but also to persuade them to join theCentral Powers' cause. Named after the structure, the adjacent Mosque Street (Moscheestraße) has kept its name to this day.[4][5]
The military complex in Wünsdorf continued to be used after the end of the First World War in 1918. On 1 October 1924, the first German Armed Forces (Reichswehr) military sports courses were initiated at the Imperial GymnasticsGymnasium (Kaiserliche Turnanstalt) as part of the newly founded popular sports movement (Volkssportbewegung), which ran nationwide until 1933. In 1934, it was converted into the Army Sports School Wünsdorf, promoting competitive sports in the GermanReichswehr. For the1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, German athletes were prepared here, while athletes from other nations were accommodated in theOlympic Village. The first director of theReichswehr sports school, from 1919 to 1924, wasHans Surén [de], a German army officer, instructor, sports author, and advocate of the earlyFreikörperkultur (naturism) movement in Germany. Additional barracks, a hospital, and horse stables were later constructed.
From 1939 to 1945, duringWorld War II, Wünsdorf served as the largest and most advanced German army headquarters, housing the Zeppelinsignals intelligence (SIGINT)bunker, as well as theMaybach I and II underground headquarters of the GermanWehrmacht (OKW) and the Army's Supreme High Command (OKH).
After World War II, the area became the site of aSoviet military base inEast Germany known as the "House of Officers" or "Lenin City", the largest outsideRussia, accommodating up to 75,000 Soviet men, women, and children with daily trains toMoscow.[6] Soviet troops remained until their withdrawal following theGerman reunification in August 1994. Since then, the area has returned to civilian use as the Wünsdorf-Waldstadtbook and bunker town, founded in 1998.[7] Although much of it lies abandoned, evidence of Soviet occupation remains visible.[8] By late 2019, roughly 1,700 apartments had been converted from the old barracks, with another 700 planned for subsequent years.
A 2017 news report indicates that, at its peak, the military base was home to approximately 75,000 Soviet people, with access to stores, schools, and leisure centres. After the base was abandoned, authorities discovered "98,300 rounds of ammunition, 47,000 pieces of ordnance, 29.3 tonnes of munitions and rubbish, including chemicals... houses were full of domestic appliances".[9]
While new uses have not been found for the installations and bunkers of the unmodified areas of the military base,[8] they are somewhat maintained, and there are various guided tours, exhibits, and events.[7] Some parts remain off-limits.[6][10][11]
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Towns and municipalities inTeltow-Fläming | ||
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