Fürstenwalde

Fürstenwalde/Spree (Lower Sorbian: Pśibor pśi Sprjewje)[2] is the most populous town in the Oder-Spree District of Brandenburg, Germany.

Fürstenwalde/Spree
Town hall and Cathedral
Coat of arms
Location of Fürstenwalde/Spree within Oder-Spree district
Fürstenwalde/Spree Fürstenwalde/Spree
Coordinates: 52°22′N 14°04′E
Country	Germany
State	Brandenburg
District	Oder-Spree
Subdivisions	City center and 4 districts
Government
• Mayor	Matthias Rudolph
Area
• Total	70.55 km^2 (27.24 sq mi)
Elevation	43 m (141 ft)
Population  (2019-12-31)[1]
• Total	31,965
• Density	450/km^2 (1,200/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+01:00 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+02:00 (CEST)
Postal codes	15517
Dialling codes	03361
Vehicle registration	LOS
Website	www.stadt-fuerstenwalde.de

Geography

The town is situated in the glacial valley (Urstromtal) of the Spree river north of the Rauen Hills, about 60 km (37 mi) east of Berlin and 30 km (19 mi) west of Frankfurt (Oder). The district capital Beeskow is about 25 km (16 mi) to the southeast. In the north, the municipal area comprises the village of Trebus. The town is located on the western part of historic Lubusz Land (Land Lebus).

The Fürstenwalde station is a stop on the railway line from Berlin to Frankfurt (Oder), the former Lower Silesian-Marcher Railway. It also has access to the parallel Bundesautobahn 12. The 39 MW Fürstenwalde Solar Park supplies electricity to the local grid.

History

The settlement of Fürstenwalde in the Margraviate of Brandenburg was first mentioned in a 1272 deed, founded in the course of the German Ostsiedlung migration at a ford across the Spree river, probably near the site of a former Slavic settlement. The Lebus Land had been acquired from Poland by the Ascanian margraves in 1248/1249. The town's importance rose as a staple port and terminal of the transportation of goods on the river.

In 1373 Emperor Charles IV, since 1367 also Margrave of adjacent Lower Lusatia campaigned the Brandenburg lands and enforced the renunciation of the Wittelsbach margrave Otto VII of Brandenburg by the Treaty of Fürstenwalde. As also the collegiate church in Lebus was destroyed, Bishop Wenceslaus moved the official seat of the Bishopric of Lebus to Fürstenwalde, where the St Mary's Church was raised to a cathedral.

The last Catholic bishop was Georg von Blumenthal (1490-1550), who was besieged in his palace by Lutheran robbers led by Nickel von Minckwitz. The Bishop had to escape through a window in disguise. The bishopric was secularized during the Reformation in 1555, and was completely disbanded at the ascension of Joachim Frederick as Margrave of Brandenburg in 1598.

Demography

• 
  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 the Census in Germany in 2011 (blue bordered line); Official projections for 2005-2030 (yellow line); for 2014-2030 (red line); for 2017-2030 (scarlet line)

Fürstenwalde/Spree: Population development
within the current boundaries (2017)[3]

Year Pop. ±% p.a. 1875 11,929 —     1890 15,783 +1.88% 1910 26,286 +2.58% 1925 28,369 +0.51% 1933 32,081 +1.55% 1939 35,842 +1.86% 1946 28,993 −2.98% 1950 30,815 +1.54% 1964 30,849 +0.01% 1971 31,296 +0.21% 1981 35,566 +1.29% 1985 35,443 −0.09% 1989 36,083 +0.45% 1990 35,214 −2.41% 1991 34,572 −1.82%

Year Pop. ±% p.a. 1992 34,350 −0.64% 1993 33,984 −1.07% 1994 33,539 −1.31% 1995 33,628 +0.27% 1996 33,823 +0.58% 1997 34,085 +0.77% 1998 34,157 +0.21% 1999 34,167 +0.03% 2000 34,044 −0.36% 2001 33,981 −0.19% 2002 33,726 −0.75% 2003 33,639 −0.26% 2004 33,374 −0.79% 2005 33,336 −0.11% 2006 33,121 −0.64%

Year Pop. ±% p.a. 2007 33,104 −0.05% 2008 32,867 −0.72% 2009 32,576 −0.89% 2010 32,468 −0.33% 2011 30,910 −4.80% 2012 30,885 −0.08% 2013 30,967 +0.27% 2014 31,236 +0.87% 2015 31,741 +1.62% 2016 32,025 +0.89% 2017 32,098 +0.23% 2018 31,941 −0.49% 2019 31,965 +0.08%

Politics

Seats in the town's assembly (Stadtverordnetenversammlung) as of 2014 local elections:

• The Left: 7
• Christian Democratic Union of Germany (CDU): 6
• Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD): 6
• Free Voters (BFZ): 5
• Free Democratic Party (FDP): 3
• Alternative for Germany (AfD): 2
• Alliance '90/The Greens: 2
• Pirate Party Germany: 1

International relations

Fürstenwalde is twinned with:

• Choszczno, Poland
• Sanok, Poland
• Reinheim, Hessia, Germany

Famous residents

Julius Pintsch

• Ernst Laas (1837-1885), pedagogue and philosopher
• Max Valentin (1875-1920), sculptor and architect
• Wilhelm Burgdorf (1895-1945), General of the Infantry
• Wolfgang Götze (born 1937), theoretical physicist
• Hans-Michael Rehberg (1938–2017), actor and film director
• Helmut Panke (born 1946), manager
• Burkhard Reich (born 1964), former footballer
• Karl Friedrich Schulz (1784-1850), Protestant composer and music teacher
• Julius Pintsch (1815-1884), founder of the former industrial company of Fürstenwalde, the Julius Pintsch AG Berlin-Fürstenwalde,
• Axel Schulz (born 1968), former boxer

References

1. "Bevölkerung im Land Brandenburg nach amtsfreien Gemeinden, Ämtern und Gemeinden 31. Dezember 2019". Amt für Statistik Berlin-Brandenburg (in German). July 2020.
2. Sophie Wauer, Klaus Müller: "Die Ortsnamen des Kreises Beeskow-Storkow", pp. 226–228
3. Detailed data sources are to be found in the Wikimedia Commons.Population Projection Brandenburg at Wikimedia Commons

External links

• Media related to Fürstenwalde/Spree at Wikimedia Commons
• "Fürstenwalde" . Encyclopedia Americana. 1920.
• Official Website (in German)
• History of Fürstenwalde (in German)