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Eberswalde (German pronunciation:[ˌʔeːbɐsˈvaldə]ⓘ) is a major town and the administrative seat of thedistrictBarnim inBrandenburg in north-easternGermany, about 50 km (31 mi) northeast ofBerlin. Population 42,144 (census in June 2005).
The town is often called Waldstadt (forest town), because of the large forests around it, including theSchorfheide-Chorin Biosphere Reserve. Despite this fact, Eberswalde was an important industrial center until theGerman Reunification.
The town ofEverswolde ("forest of the boars") was established in 1254 by theAscanian margrave Johann I. It was first mentioned in a document dated April 23, 1276 when margrave Albrecht III. resided there. In 1300 it received market rights. From the year 1317 the main trade route betweenSzczecin andFrankfurt (Oder) went through the town. In 1319, it was captured byHenry II, Lord of Mecklenburg.[3] From 1373 to 1415, it was part of theLands of the Bohemian (Czech) Crown. A major fire struck the town in 1499.
After rebuilding the town, Eberswalde became the first industrial town of theMargraviate of Brandenburg, with huge metallurgy capacities. Some parts of the town are still named from their past function, like Kupferhammer ("copper hammer"). 1605 till 1620 the important waterwayFinow Canal was built.
During theThirty Years' War Eberswalde was besieged and conquered several times by nearly every important faction of the war. Thegeneral of theCatholic League,Albrecht von Wallenstein, resided in the town, laterGustavus Adolphus of Sweden, who did not survive thebattle of Lützen, was embalmed in the town's Maria Magdalena church. Both parties forced the town population to support their troops. After the end of the war only 33 of formerly 216 houses still stood and of an original population of 1200 only 168 survived, 28 of which had full citizen status. It took Eberswalde more than a century to recover from its losses.
Between 1743 and 1755 120 families of metalworkers moved fromThuringia and theRhineland to Eberswalde. The boilers of the first Germansteam engines were made here. From 1815 to 1947, Eberswalde was part of thePrussianProvince of Brandenburg. During the 19th century large factories were built in the area of Eberswalde, especially along theFinow Canal. In 1830 it became the site of what is now theHochschule für nachhaltige Entwicklung Eberswalde. On November 23, 1877 the first German telephone line was established in the town.
Mass grave of Soviet, Polish and Italian victims of Nazi Germany
In the1938 pogroms, Eberswalde's synagogue was destroyed. DuringWorld War II, several factories employedforced labourers. In 1944–1945, Eberswalde and Finow were locations of two subcamps of theRavensbrück concentration camp, in which over 1,400 women, mostly Polish, Russian, Italian, Ukrainian, but also French, Yugoslav, Dutch, Hungarian, Danish, Greek, Belgian, Luxembourgish, Austrian and German, were imprisoned and used for forced labour.[4] The women were subjected to malnutrition, poor hygiene conditions, beatings and tortures.[4] A briefdysentery andtuberculosis epidemic broke out in the Eberswalde subcamp, and dead prisoners were sent for cremation to the main Ravensbrück camp.[4] At the end of the war, the town center was attacked by the GermanLuftwaffe, in an attempt to delay the Soviet advance. After learning that Soviet forces had taken Eberswalde without a fight,Adolf Hitler admitted defeat in his underground bunker and stated that suicide was his only recourse.[5]
From 1947 to 1952, Eberswalde was part of the State ofBrandenburg, from 1952 to 1990 of theBezirk Frankfurt ofEast Germany and since 1990 again of Brandenburg.
In 1970 Eberswalde was merged with the settlement of Finow to create Eberswalde-Finow. In 1993 the name Eberswalde was restored.
Development of Population since 1875 within the Current Boundaries (Blue Line: Population; Dotted Line: Comparison to Population Development of Brandenburg state; Grey Background: Time of Nazi rule; Red Background: Time of Communist rule)
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 2014-2030 (red line); for 2017-2030 (scarlet line)
Eberswalde: Population development within the current boundaries (2019)[6]
On 3 April 2022 Götz Hermann (independent) was elected mayor of Eberswalde with 61.9% of the votes.[7] He replaced Friedhelm Boginski (FDP), who was mayor since 2006[8] and left in 2021 due to his election as Member of Parliament.[9]
The previous mayor Reinhard Schulz (independent) was unelected in July 2006 with 91,2 % of the votes.[10]
Eberswalde has access to the federal highways (Bundesstraße)B 2 and B 167 and the highway (Autobahn)A 11-E28.Eberswalde station is located on theBerlin–Szczecin railway line that first connected Eberswalde and Berlin in 1842. It is the starting point of the railway lines toTemplin andFrankfurt (Oder) and was terminus of the Eberswalde-Finowfurter-Eisenbahn (EFE) toFinowfurt until it was discontinued.
The town had atram service until 1940, when the trams were replaced by thetrolleybuses. Eberswalde is one of only three towns in Germany wheretrolleybuses are still in operation, along withSolingen andEsslingen.
While Eberswalde was renowned for its thriving heavy industry in the past, since the fall of the wall, it has fallen upon harder times. As the East German government fell, state support vanished, and factories had to suddenly compete with more efficient firms in the West. As a result, many factories in Eberswalde went under, and visitors can see the remnants of these abandoned plants across town. Like many former East German towns, Eberswalde has since struggled with unemployment, and many have left the region in search of work elsewhere. Consequently, many of the huge Soviet-Bloc style apartment complexes in Eberswalde (most notably the Brandenburgisches Viertel) are becoming empty, and are slowly being razed.
CarnivalCompared to other towns of the region, Eberswalde has quite a hugeCarnival society. It was brought to Eberswalde fromBavaria and from theRhineland, both are standing for different Carnival traditions. That's why Carnival is celebrated in two independent festivals at the same time, they are calledKarneval andFasching.
Rock me Magdalena
Rock me Magdalena is a rock concert in the Maria Magdalena church of Eberswalde, taking place every December 25.
Filmfest Eberswalde
Since 2004 there is the annual Eberswalde Movie Festival for Independent Film and Documentaries.
There are some foods that are associated with Eberswalde. The most important of them areEberswalder Spritzkuchen (a special pastry that was invented in Eberswalde in 1832) andEberswalder Würstchen (sausages).
The tongue spoken in the region of Eberswalde is often calledEberswalder Kanaldeutsch (canal German). It is not an independent German dialect, but a very extreme mix of theBerlin Dialect and a bit ofEast Low German. Other forms ofKanaldeutsch, that are derived from the Eberswalde form, nearly developed back to the Berlin Dialect. That's whyEberswalder Kanaldeutsch is the only one that is in fact sometimes considered as an independent German dialect.
The evangelical city parish of Eberswalde is part of the Evangelical Church Berlin-Brandenburg-Silesian Upper Lusatia (EKBO) and maintains three churches.
The emblem shows a greenoak tree and above the oak tree a redeagle. Towards the oak's bole stand two blackboars. The flag of Eberswalde is a black/white/greentricolour with the crest in the middle.
^Rymar, Edward (1979). "Rywalizacja o ziemię lubuską i kasztelanię międzyrzecką w latach 1319–1326, ze szczególnym uwzględnieniem stosunków pomorsko-śląskch".Śląski Kwartalnik Historyczny Sobótka (in Polish).XXXIV (4). Wrocław:Zakład Narodowy im. Ossolińskich, WydawnictwoPolskiej Akademii Nauk: 477.
^abcMegargee, Geoffrey P. (2009).The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Encyclopedia of Camps and Ghettos 1933–1945. Volume I. Indiana University Press, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. pp. 1200–1201,1203–1204.ISBN978-0-253-35328-3.
