Brandenburg is a state in the northeast of the Federal Republic of
Germany. The state capital and most populous city is Potsdam, other
important centers are Cottbus, Brandenburg an der Havel and Frankfurt
(Oder).
Brandenburg encloses the German capital Berlin in its
center and together with it forms the European metropolitan region of
Berlin/Brandenburg, in which around six million people live. More than a
third of Brandenburg's area is taken up by nature parks, forests, lakes
and water areas.
The Mark Brandenburg was founded in 1157, when
the Ascanian Albert the Bear appropriated the area by conquering
Brandenburg and made it part of the Holy Roman Empire. From 1415 to 1918
the region was under the rule of the Hohenzollerns. From 1701 to 1946,
the Mark developed into the heartland of Prussia. The province of
Brandenburg, created in 1815, existed until 1947. At this time,
Brandenburg reached its greatest territorial extent. After 1945, the
part east of the Elbe and west of the Oder and Neisse became a state of
Brandenburg for the first time, which was divided into various GDR
districts in 1952. Brandenburg was re-established as a state of the
Federal Republic of Germany in 1990.
The main economic sectors in
Brandenburg include agriculture, the steel industry, the energy
industry, tourism, the aviation industry and the film industry.
Brandenburg is completely part of the North German lowlands. In terms
of tourism, Brandenburg is divided into 12 travel regions:
In the
North
Prignitz, the Brandenburg part of the Elbe lowlands, the
northwest tip of Brandenburg.
Ruppiner Land north of Berlin.
Barnim is a region north-east of Berlin with the large protected area of
the Barnim Nature Park.
Uckermark, in the northeast, juts out into
Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania.
In the West
Potsdam - the
UNESCO World Heritage City with Sanssouci Palace, other famous palaces
and parks and the largest and oldest film studio in Europe
Havelland
- the landscape with lakes and fields with the oldest town in the Mark,
Brandenburg an der Havel
Fläming - the ridge on the border to
Saxony-Anhalt, known for medieval castles, enchanted valleys and one of
the best routes for inline skaters in Germany
In the East
Seenland Oder-Spree - the travel region east of Berlin, divided into
the Oder-Spree lake area in the south with castles, lakes and the
well-known Schlaubetal and
the Brandenburg Oder lowlands in the north
with the Oderbruch
Dahme-Seenland - the region offers romantic
landscapes, the Tropical Islands and one of the largest war cemeteries
in Germany
In the south
Spreewald - the popular excursion
region with a 1,000km network of rivers and canals in the Spreewald
biosphere reserve
Lower Lusatia, in the southeast on the borders with
Saxony and Poland
Elbe-Elster-Land, in the south, on the border with
Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt.
Potsdam
Brandenburg an der Havel
Cottbus
Eisenhüttenstadt
Falkensee
Frankfurt an der Oder
Ludwigsfelde
Mühlberg
Oranienburg
Senftenberg
Werder (Havel)
Other destinations
Lower Oder Valley National Park
The largest cities and most important places in Brandenburg are:
Potsdam - the state capital of Brandenburg
cottbus
Brandenburg an
der Havel - the "cradle of the Mark"
Frankfurt (Oder)
Neuruppin -
the Fontane town
Oranienburg
Bernau - northeastern suburb of
Berlin with 40,031 inhabitants. Late Gothic St. Mary's Church from 1519,
well-preserved city wall from the Middle Ages (8 m high and 1.3 km from
the original 1.5 km long). Until 1975, the historic town center was
mostly built up with half-timbered houses, which were replaced by
prefabricated buildings. Technical monuments: Bernau gasworks and water
tower.
29 Brandenburg towns have joined together in the
consortium of towns with a historic city center and usually have
beautifully renovated historic city centers.
A more detailed list
of places in Brandenburg can be found on the Brandenburg portal.
Other regions of interest to tourists:
Schlaubetal
Oderbruch
A special feature of Brandenburg is the attractive and
untouched landscape. There are 15 large protected areas in Brandenburg
(one national park, three biosphere reserves and eleven nature parks):
Lower Oder Valley National Park
Schorfheide-Chorin biosphere reserve
Spreewald Biosphere Reserve
Biosphere reserve river landscape Elbe
Brandenburg
High Fläming Nature Park
Nuthe-Nieplitz lowland nature
park
Westhavelland Nature Park
Stechlin-Ruppiner Land Nature Park
Uckermark Lakes Nature Park
Barnimer Land Nature Park
Märkische
Schweiz nature park
Dahme-Heideseen Nature Park
Schlaubetal Nature
Park
Lower Lusatian Ridge Nature Park
Niederlausitz Heathland
Nature Park
Brandenburg, the region surrounding the federal capital Berlin, is
characterized by one thing in particular: a lot of untouched landscape.
A trademark of the state are the nature parks and biosphere reserves,
and Brandenburg even has a national park, the Lower Oder Valley. Another
special feature are the avenues that line many streets. There are also
many opportunities for water tourism on the Havel, in the Spreewald and
in the Ruppin Lake District. There are many attractive cycling,
horseback riding and hiking trails, and the Fläming-Skate is the longest
circular skating trail in Europe. Modern thermal baths have been built
in every region of the country in recent years.
In addition to
the scenic charms, there are also cultural attractions in Brandenburg,
above all the city of Potsdam with its palaces and parks. Across the
country there are beautifully renovated palaces, castles and manor
houses and a number of towns with picturesque historic centres.
The ten top highlights in Brandenburg are:
1 Potsdam. with its
castles and gardens, but also the film studio and film park in the
district of Babelsberg.
1 Spreewald internet wikipediacommons. The
unique landscape of the Spreewald with its countless canals and the
world-famous Branitzer Park of Prince Pückler-Muskau in Cottbus.
Rheinsberg . The castle with the castle theater and the Ruppiner lake
district in the area.
Mining in Lusatia. Bizarre post-mining
landscape with modern ideas for the future.
2 High Fläming Nature
Park . Castle region in the High Fläming.
3 Lower Oder Valley
National Park
The Flaeming Skate: the finest skate track
Caputh am
Schwielowsee with the castle and Einstein's summer house
Tropical
Islands: A piece of the Caribbean in Brandenburg
Oranienburg with the
castle and the Sachsenhausen concentration camp
People speak German, sometimes with a Berlin-Brandenburg dialect. Sorbian is also spoken in Lower Lusatia, which can also be seen on the town signs and some station signs.
By plane
Brandenburg can be reached via Berlin Brandenburg Airport
(IATA: BER) with terminals T1 and T2. BER in Schönefeld is the largest
airport in the federal state and the aviation hub of the capital region
of Berlin-Brandenburg. The former Schönefeld Airport is Terminal 5 (T5)
of BER.
Areas of Brandenburg further away from Berlin can also be
used e.g. You can fly to Hamburg Airport (IATA: HAM), Leipzig Halle
Airport (IATA: LEJ) or Dresden Airport (IATA: DRS), for example.
By train
In most cases, you can also travel via Berlin by train.
There are long-distance train connections from many German cities.
Currently, train stations in Brandenburg are only occasionally served by
long-distance trains, including Angermünde, Eberswalde, Prenzlau and
Wittenberge.
By bus
The central bus station at the Berlin ICC
offers long-distance bus connections to many German and European cities.
The development of the long-distance bus market is currently subject to
rapid change, both in terms of providers and routes.
In the
street
Brandenburg has excellent motorway connections to the rest of
the Federal Republic:
The Berliner Ring (A10) opens up the Berlin
area.
From the west: The A2 connects the Ruhr area and Hanover with
Berlin.
From the southwest: Coming from Munich and Leipzig, the A9
runs through Brandenburg to Berlin.
From the south: The A13 connects
Dresden and Breslau with Berlin.
From the southeast: The A15 connects
Cottbus with Berlin and Poland.
From the East: The A12 connects
Berlin with Frankfurt (Oder) and Poland.
From the north-east: The A11
connects Szczecin with Berlin.
From the north/ north-west: The A 24
runs from Hamburg from the north-east and Rostock from the north through
Brandenburg to Berlin
Federal roads are mostly in good condition,
while some secondary roads can be quite bumpy.
By boat
Brandenburg is connected to the Oder, the Mecklenburg Lake District and
the Elbe via rivers and canals, so that leisure captains can also travel
by ship.
The Verkehrsverbund Berlin-Brandenburg (VBB) organizes local public
transport in Berlin and Brandenburg.
The Berlin-Brandenburg
region has a dense network of regional express and regional train lines,
which is often supplemented by excursion buses at tourist destinations.
Most tourist destinations in Brandenburg can be easily reached every
hour or every two hours. In Brandenburg and Berlin you can travel
comfortably and inexpensively with the Brandenburg-Berlin ticket for €29
with up to 5 people. If you want it even more convenient, the
Brandenburg-Berlin-Ticket is also available for 1st class for €49. The
ticket is valid Monday to Friday from 9 a.m. and on weekends all day
until 3 a.m. the following day on all local transport. Night owls only
pay €22 between 6 p.m. and 6 a.m. the following day (€42 in 1st class).
Individual travelers use the day ticket for the entire VBB network for
€21.
Anyone who likes to cycle during their holidays can choose
between numerous cycling routes in Brandenburg. The flagship is the more
than 1000 km long "Tour Brandenburg".
UNESCO World Heritage Palaces and Gardens of Potsdam with Sanssouci
Palace, Cecilienhof Palace, Babelsberg Palace.
Cistercian monasteries
Chorin (summer concerts) and Lehnin as well as Neuzelle
Marienkirche
in Prenzlau in the Uckermark
Medieval Eisenhardt castles in Belzig,
Ziesar, Rabenstein
Castles Wiesenburg (landscape park), Caputh,
Paretz, Neuhardenberg, Rheinsberg, Branitz
Niederfinow boat lift,
near Eberswalde.
Ravensbrück memorial site in Fürstenberg (Havel).
Sachsenhausen Memorial and Museum, in (Oranienburg).
Zossen-Jüterbog
handcar routes
Tropical Islands. Tropical vacation resort in Europe's
largest cantilevered hall.
Slav Castle Raddusch. True to the original
replica of a rampart from the 9th or 10th century near
Vetschau/Spreewald.
Filmpark and Filmstudio Babelsberg, in Potsdam.
State Theater Cottbus (Art Nouveau, opening October 1, 1908)
Fürst
Pückler Park Branitz (gardens built in 1846) with castle and earth
pyramids
Medieval city wall of Cottbus with the Spremberger Tower
(probably built at the end of the 13th - beginning of the 14th century)
Canoeing (rental in many places). Barges glide silently over the
water on endless and fanned out (allegedly more than 1000km total length
of all rivers) Spree canals. This idyll belongs to the Spreewald like
quark with linseed oil and boiled potatoes. Just a few kilometers from
Cottbus, you can still take part in the traditional way of life in the
Spreewald. The Sorbian-Wendish culture, combined with lively folk
customs, can be experienced colorfully and sonorous on countless
occasions. A trip on the romantic Spree river through unspoilt forests,
lush flora and fauna, past thatched farmhouses reveals the true beauty
of this landscape, which is unique in Europe. The ferrymen tell many
anecdotes from the time when mail was still delivered everywhere by
barge. Canoe trips are possible almost everywhere in the Spreewald and
offer enormous leisure time fun, especially in a group. Also something
for abstinent athletes.
skating. The Flämingskate - many kilometers
of the finest surface and wide paths, tours up to 120km are possible.
The restaurants and hotels along the way are skater- and
cyclist-friendly.
Cycling: Brandenburg has a tourist cycle path
network of around 7,000 kilometers and is one of the three most popular
cycling regions in Germany. 21 long-distance cycle paths and 13 regional
cycle routes form a high-quality route network. The General German
Bicycle Club ADFC has certified 13 of the 25 long-distance cycle paths
in Germany that lead through Brandenburg according to quality criteria
such as path condition and signage. The cycle routes in Brandenburg
mostly run on flat to - due to the Ice Age topography - on hilly terrain
away from traffic and often along rivers such as the Spree Cycle Path or
the Oder-Neisse Cycle Path. Examples of other cycle routes are:
The
Flämingskate also offers ideal opportunities for cyclists.
The
cucumber cycle path in the Spreewald is highly recommended. It takes you
to Lübben and Cottbus, among other places, but also to Tropical Island
in Brand.
The European cycle path Euroroute R 1, which leads from
Boulogne-Sur-Mer to St. Petersburg, runs straight through Brandenburg.
For the most part it is very well developed. Coming from Wittenberg, it
runs through Belzig to Potsdam, then through Berlin into Märkische
Schweiz, and in Küstrin is the transition to Poland.
Ride. In the
Hoher Fläming there is a 120km long circular trail for trail riders,
where twelve riding stables invite horses and riders to linger.
yacht
charter. On the Mecklenburg Lake District (north of Brandenburg
bordering in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania) driving without a motor boat
license is permitted under certain conditions. It is possible to rent
boats.
Fishing is easy in Brandenburg. If you fish non-predatory
fish, e.g. B. carp, tench, bream, rudd, roach or barbel does not require
a fishing license, but the annual fishing fee must be paid and a fishing
license purchased. A fishing license is required for predatory fish, the
closed seasons must be observed and night fishing is not permitted. Day
tickets and information on the fishing fee are available from the
Brandenburg State Anglers' Association on +49 331-7430110 or at
www.lav-bdg.de.
Hike. There are many hiking trails, especially in the
large protected areas, but they are not always well signposted. The
European long-distance hiking trail E 11 runs through Brandenburg. The
66-lake hiking trail leads from Potsdam in a large 373km long arc around
Berlin through a unique landscape.
Thermal baths and wellness. There
are six modern thermal baths in Brandenburg: The SteinTherme in Belzig,
the Kristall Kur and Grenadiertherme in Bad Wilsnack, the NaturTherme in
Templin, the SaarowTherme in Bad Saarow, the Spreewald Therme in Burg
(Spreewald) and the Lausitztherme Wonnemar in Bad Liebenwerda. There are
also a number of adventure pools without thermal water and a large
number of hotels with wellness offers.
Regular events
The
Elsterwerda Spring Festival takes place in April and is a two-day
business show in Elsterwerda.
The tree blossom festival in Werder
(Havel) has been held since 1879 and is one of the largest folk
festivals in Germany. It is celebrated in the week surrounding May 1st
and attracts several hundred thousand visitors.
The Moienmarkt has
been held in Schlieben on the weekend before the first Monday in July
since 1593.
The Rothstein Rock Festival in the community of Rothstein
is celebrated over 4 days on the 2nd weekend in July.
The
Finsterwalder Song Festival is a folk festival in Finsterwalde, which is
celebrated every 2 years on the last weekend in August
The Spreewald
Night of Legends in Burg am Bismarckturm (Pentecost)
Brandenburg cuisine is down-to-earth, with fish from the many lakes, game and mushrooms from the forests, fruit and vegetables from the farmers. Traditional dishes such as cottage cheese with linseed oil and boiled potatoes have been preserved. Agricultural products such as potatoes are held in high esteem, and specialties include Spreewald gherkins, Teltow turnips and Beelitz asparagus.
The state of Brandenburg is located in the northeast of the Federal
Republic of Germany. It borders on Saxony in the south, on Saxony-Anhalt
in the west, on Berlin in the middle, on Lower Saxony in the north-west,
on Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania in the north and on the Republic of
Poland in the east. Brandenburg has five exclaves that lie within the
borders of Saxony-Anhalt and belong to the municipalities of Buckautal
and Ziesar. With a total area of 29,654 km², Brandenburg is the
fifth-largest state in Germany and, with a maximum diagonal extent of
291 km, a north-south extent of 244 km and an east-west extent of 234
km, it is also the largest of the new federal states . The core area of
Brandenburg is also referred to by the historical name Mark Brandenburg.
In terms of economic geography, the states of Berlin and Brandenburg
together form the European metropolitan region of Berlin/Brandenburg. In
2019, around 6.2 million people lived in the metropolitan area, also
known as the Berlin-Brandenburg capital region. The Berlin agglomeration
with 4.6 million inhabitants (2019), whose narrower area around Berlin
is known as the "Bacon Belt", includes Berlin and parts of Brandenburg.
This corresponds to the orientation of the infrastructure, such as
motorways and main railway lines, which is typical for Brandenburg
towards the federal capital Berlin, which is situated in the form of an
island in the state.
Outside of the larger cities such as
Brandenburg an der Havel in the west, Frankfurt (Oder) in the east and
the most populous city after Potsdam, Cottbus in the south, the country
is relatively sparsely populated. Lower Lusatia, small parts of Upper
Lusatia and the Elbe-Elster-Land form the south of the country. The
state of Brandenburg includes Havelland to the west, Teltow to the south
of Berlin and Barnim to the north-east. On the borders lie the Oberhavel
in the north (with Fürstenberger Werder, which historically belonged to
Mecklenburg until 1950), the Prignitz in the north-west, the Uckermark
in the north-east, the Oderbruch in the east and the Fläming in the
south-west.
The state of Brandenburg is located in the North German lowlands and
was decisively shaped on the earth's surface by the repeated advances of
the Scandinavian inland ice during the Ice Age. There are therefore
almost exclusively cold and warm periods of deposits. The most common
are boulder clay and meltwater sand. The elements of the glacial series
are typical of the surface formation. The glacial valley is one of its
landscape forms. In this country, these show an accumulation that is
unique worldwide: Netze-Randow, Thorn-Eberswalder, Warsaw-Berliner,
Glogau-Baruther and Breslau-Bremer glacial valley.
Due to the
diversity of the Ice Age deposits in Brandenburg, the resulting soil
communities are very diverse. Their productivity ranges from extremely
nutrient poor and barren to very fertile. Nevertheless, the
nutrient-poor sandy soils, which give the country its characteristic
character, predominate in terms of area, especially in central and
southern Brandenburg.
Brandenburg is considered to be a supplier
of raw materials, especially in the south. There are large lignite
deposits along the Lusatian border wall, and deep copper deposits were
found in the south-east around Spremberg. Oil is occasionally detected
in the area.
The main large landscapes of Brandenburg are, from north to south,
the Baltic or northern ridge, the zone of plateaux and glacial valleys,
and the southern ridge.
Heights of over 100 m are reached on both
ridges. In Brandenburg, the Fläming and its eastern continuation, the
Lusatian border wall with the Muskau Arch, are attributed to the
southern ridge, which extends from the Harburg Mountains to Poland
(Katzengebirge). On average, it is higher than the Baltic Ridge. It
stretches from Jutland to the Baltic States. It includes the Mecklenburg
Lake District, which stretches as far as Brandenburg. The rivers Havel,
Rhin and Dosse have their source in this lake district. In the
south-east with the Lusatian glacial valley (section of the
Breslau-Bremer glacial valley) and in the north-east with low-lying
parts of the Uckermark, Brandenburg extends beyond the mountain ranges
mentioned.
Between the ridges lies the area of the central
Brandenburg plateaux and glacial valleys. Extensive lowlands such as the
Rhinluch, the Havelländische Luch and the chain of lakes in the middle
of the Havel delimit the island-like plateaus such as Barnim, Nauener
Platte and the Ländchen. The level of the glacial valleys and the
associated side valleys shows a slight gradient from south-east to
north-west. It ranges from around 60 m at the Neisse to less than 20 m
at the mouth of the Havel. The average height of the plates decreases
from east to west from over 100 m at the Oder to 40 m to 50 m in the
west. The Oder Valley is particularly low in the north-east, almost at
sea level.
In terms of landscape, the difference between the old
moraine and the young moraine land is striking. While there are almost
no natural lakes in the south and in the Prignitz, the recently
glaciated area has many lakes. There are regional differences. Many high
ground moraine areas, such as the Barnim or the Land of Lebus, have few
lakes. On the other hand, areas such as parts of the western Uckermark,
in which large areas of dead ice blocks were buried and preserved, are
rich in lakes.
Overview
Brandenburg is considered to be the federal state in Germany with the most water. There are over 3000 naturally formed lakes, plus numerous artificial ponds, quarry ponds and similar bodies of water. There are also over 33,000 km of watercourses, most of which are man-made drainage ditches and other canals. On the other hand, the groundwater in Brandenburg is renewed very slowly due to the lack of precipitation. The residence time of the water in the bodies of water is therefore quite long.
Larger rivers touch Brandenburg only at its borders. The Elbe (total
length 1091 km) runs for a few kilometers in the extreme south and
north-west of Brandenburg, where it almost always marks the state
border. Only the 0.5 km² district belonging to Mühlberg around the ferry
dock at the mouth of the Dahle, including a section of the federal
highway 182, embodies the only left-Elbe area in Brandenburg. The Oder
(total length 866 km), together with the Neisse as its tributary, forms
the entire eastern border of Brandenburg. The only exceptions are the
extreme north-eastern border kilometers.
The most important
inland rivers in Brandenburg are the 334 km long Havel and the 400 km
long Spree as its largest tributary. At the confluence, the Spree has
more water than the Oberhavel, which means that the Spree and Unterhavel
form a 560 km long river course that runs mainly in Brandenburg (of
which 350 km are navigable). All other watercourses in Brandenburg are
small rivers and streams of regional importance. In northern Brandenburg
the Stepenitz, the Dosse, the Rhin, the Ucker and the Finow should be
mentioned. In the middle part, the Plane, the Nieplitz, the Panke, the
(Jüterboger) Nuthe, the Notte and the Dahme have a certain importance.
The largest river in southern Brandenburg is the Black Elster. Then
there are rivers like the Kleine Elster, the Oelse or the Schlaube.
Due to its Ice Age history, Brandenburg is extremely rich in
naturally formed lakes. There are more than 800 bodies of water with an
area of more than one hectare. The largest natural lake in Brandenburg
is the Schwielochsee with an area of 13.3 km². This is followed by the
Scharmutzelsee (12 km²), the Unteruckersee (10.4 km²), the Parsteiner
See (10 km²), the Ruppiner See (8.25 km²), the Schwielowsee (7.9 km²),
the Werbellinsee (7, 8 km²) and the Grimnitzsee (7.8 km²). With almost
70 m the deepest lake in the country and at the same time the one with
the best water quality is the Great Lake Stechlin.
In addition to
the numerous natural lake areas in Brandenburg, there is one that has
been created by man: the Lusatian Lake District is created by flooding
disused opencast mines. At 13 km², Lake Senftenberg is currently the
largest body of water. In 2025 it will be Europe's largest artificial
water landscape and Germany's fourth largest lake area. By then, the
Sedlitzer See (13.3 km²) will have grown into the largest lake, which
together with the Schwielochsee will be the largest lake in Brandenburg.
At 6.7 km², the Spremberg dam is the largest reservoir in Brandenburg.
The state of Brandenburg is located in the transition area between
oceanic climate in western Europe and continental climate in the east.
Due to the relatively small differences in altitude, the climatic
differences within the country are rather small, but can be felt in
certain weather conditions.
The average annual temperature is
around 9 °C. The coldest month is January with an average of −1 °C. The
warmest month is July with an average temperature of 18 °C. In terms of
air temperature, a slight increase in continentality is already
noticeable from Prignitz in the north-west to Lower Lusatia in the
south-east. In the winter months in particular, Lausitz is usually
significantly colder than Prignitz when there is little wind and
radiation.
With an average annual precipitation total of less
than 600 mm, Brandenburg is one of the driest federal states, perhaps
the one with the least precipitation. The average annual precipitation
is usually 550 mm. Only the Prignitz in the northwest and some high
areas such as the Hohe Fläming and Hohe Barnim reach or exceed the 600
mm mark per year. A small amount of rain shadow is noticeable east of
the high areas, so the low-lying Oderbruch is one of the driest regions
in Germany with less than 500 mm annual precipitation.
While
winter and spring are comparatively dry, precipitation falls nationwide
mainly in the summer months. Nevertheless, pronounced dry phases can
also occur in the warm season. The sun shines an average of 1600 hours a
year.
From 1881 to 2018, the temperature in Brandenburg increased
by 1.3 degrees Celsius compared to the pre-industrial level. This value
could increase to 3.8 degrees by the end of the century if the current
development path is maintained. According to assumptions, Brandenburg
will be more frequently affected by longer periods of drought and
locally occurring heavy precipitation events. In addition, the
phenological seasons are shifting; winter is shortening, spring is
coming earlier and autumn is getting longer. Overall, a longer
vegetation period is assumed on average in Brandenburg, which could have
an impact on fruit and wine growing, agriculture, the forest, as well as
on communities and species.
The Lower Oder Valley National Park is home to the kingfisher and the
aquatic warbler, which is one of the most endangered songbirds in
Europe. Larger populations of this species of songbird can otherwise
only be found in the more easterly swamp and meadow landscapes of
Eastern Europe. White storks breed on the roofs of the surrounding
villages. Very hidden are the extremely rare black storks, of which
there are currently 3 to 5 breeding pairs. Rare bird species such as the
lesser spotted eagle have also found a retreat there.
The
meadows, which are flooded in winter, offer numerous migratory birds a
resting place. One of the birds that can be observed here is the whooper
swan. The nesting birds of this national park include such rare meadow
breeders as the corncrake, the ruff and the black-tailed godwit, and the
oriole nests in the alluvial forests and deciduous forests of the Oder
slopes. The largest breeding colony of black terns is also located in
the national park.
Wild boars, otters, beavers, wolves, raccoons,
deer, red deer and white-tailed eagles have settled in Brandenburg as
permanent species.
As of 2015, approx. 11,000 km² or 37% of the area of Brandenburg is
covered by forests. These consist mainly of pine trees, which make up
about 70% of the forest area or are on an area of about 7350 km². In
addition, there are about 346 km² of beech forests, which tend to be
found in the north of the country, where almost every third tree is a
deciduous tree. In the south of Brandenburg, on the other hand, the
proportion of deciduous trees is less than 20%.
In 2011, the
primeval beech forests were included in the World Heritage List. Among
others, the beech forest in the Grumsin forest in the Schorfheide-Chorin
biosphere reserve has been declared part of the world natural heritage.
There are pronounced millet beech forests here, which are considered to
be the remains of the extensive beech stands that used to exist in
Central Europe.
Due to the forest structure with many conifer
monocultures on dry sandy soils, which are particularly at risk of fire,
Brandenburg is repeatedly affected by severe forest fires. In coniferous
forests, fires can both easily ignite and spread due to the existing
highly combustible layer of needle litter, and there is usually a lack
of water-storing deadwood and moisture-giving vegetation on the ground.
In addition, coniferous trees impede the water storage capacity of the
soil and open pine forests in particular are significantly warmer and
drier than dense deciduous forests.
The strongest forest fire
year to date was 2018, where exceptional drought and heat in Europe
resulted in 491 forest fires that burned an area of 1663 hectares of
forest. In 2019, not least because of the continuing drought, there were
417 forest fires with a total area of 1,352 ha. The third worst forest
fire year to date occurred in connection with the heat wave in Europe in
2003, when 679 fires affected 600 ha of forest area. 2022 was also a
severe forest fire year: by July 26, 2022, more than 930 hectares of
forest burned in around 376 individual fires. The extinguishing work is
made more difficult by the high ammunition load in Brandenburg's
forests, which may make it impossible to enter them for extinguishing
work for safety reasons. In total, ammunition and other ordnance are
suspected on approx. 3500 km² of forest area.
In order to
stabilize the forest for the demands of climate change (including heavy
rain and droughts), the state of Brandenburg spends 8.5 million euros
annually (as of 2018) on a forest conversion program in order to
achieve, among other things, that there are more different tree species
in several age groups are.
A total of 15 so-called large protected areas have been designated in Brandenburg. They take up around a third of the country's area.[28] These include the Lower Oder Valley National Park (106 km²) and the three areas designated as biosphere reserves by UNESCO: the Elbe-Brandenburg river landscape biosphere reserve (533 km²), the Schorfheide-Chorin biosphere reserve (1291 km²) and the Spreewald biosphere reserve (474 km²). There are also eleven nature parks: Barnim Nature Park (750 km²), Dahme-Heideseen Nature Park (594 km²), Hoher Fläming Nature Park (827 km²), Märkische Schweiz Nature Park (204 km²), Niederlausitz Heathland Nature Park (490 km²), Niederlausitzer Landrücken Nature Park ( 580 km²), Nuthe-Nieplitz Nature Park (623 km²), Schlaubetal Nature Park (225 km²), Uckermärkische Seen Nature Park (895 km²), Westhavelland Nature Park (1315 km²), Stechlin-Ruppiner Land Nature Park (1080 km²).
Most of the Germanic peoples who settled in what is now the state of
Brandenburg left the area during the migration of peoples between the
4th and 6th centuries. In the 7th/8th In the 19th century, Slavs
immigrated in several waves. In the winter of 928/929, under Heinrich I,
an East Frankish army conquered Brandenburg, the center of the Heveller
region. These were now subject to tribute. Otto I intensified the
previously loose integration, establishing the Saxon East Mark mentioned
in 937. A few years after his coronation as Emperor of the (Holy) Roman
Empire in 962, the dioceses of Brandenburg, Havelberg and Meissen came
into being.
In 965 the Ostmark was divided. The south with a.o.
the Mark Lausitz (later Niederlausitz) remained under German rule. In
the Nordmark, on the other hand, it ended with the Slav uprising of 983.
Despite repeated attempts at conquest, German settlements in the East
and Christianization stopped here for over 150 years. (In detail, the
development looked more differentiated.) From the first third of the
12th century, Pomerania, Poland, Silesia, Mark Meissen, Erzmagdeburg,
German royal and Saxon noble houses struggled for supremacy here. Polish
claims manifested themselves e.g. B. in the founding of the diocese of
Lebus in 1124. Ultimately, a noble family should prevail, which derived
its name from the Aschersleben Castle.
Albrecht the Bear from the
House of Askania developed a close relationship with Pribislav. The
Prince of Hevelle died childless in 1150. His land was inherited by
Albrecht I, who took over Brandenburg relatively peacefully. Jaxa,
possibly the prince of the Sprewans who was under Polish suzerainty, saw
himself as a relative of Pribislaw's disinheritance. In the spring of
1157, the castle gate was opened to him by bribery and he marched in
with a Polish army. Albrecht I, supported by other Saxon nobles and
Archbishop Wichmann of Magdeburg, succeeded in recapturing it on June
11, 1157. This date is generally considered to be the birthday of the
Mark Brandenburg.
With the gradual expansion of national rule and
territory, the Ascanians were largely able to oust or integrate their
rivals. Only the rule of Ruppin and the three bishoprics of Brandenburg,
Havelberg and Lebus preserved their imperial positions. The Slavs were
occasionally resettled, for example when the Chorin Monastery was
founded. As a rule, they took part in the expansion of the state on an
equal footing. At the end of the 12th century, the political importance
of the Margraves of Brandenburg grew with their electoral status. From
1302/1304 they also ruled in the Mark Lausitz. In 1320 the Brandenburg
line of the Ascanians died out.
The power politics of the
Wittelsbachers and Luxemburgers continued to link the history of the two
brands. From the Mark-Brandenburg point of view, the times of the
Wittelsbachs (1323-1373) and Luxemburg (1373-1415) were a phase of
rather weak sovereigns. Only the brief stabilization under Charles IV
stood out. Under his reign first the March of Lusatia (1370), then the
March of Brandenburg (1374) were included in the lands of the Bohemian
Crown.
From 1411, and finally from 1415, the Mark Brandenburg
came under the Hohenzollern family. They successfully pacified the
country and restored central power. The Mark Brandenburg, destroyed and
impoverished by the Thirty Years' War, was gradually rebuilt from 1640
by Friedrich Wilhelm. This process was briefly interrupted when the
Swedes invaded in 1674/1675. However, the Great Elector and General
Georg von Derfflinger achieved decisive victories in the battles of
Rathenow, Nauen and, above all, Fehrbellin.
Since 1648
Brandenburg has experienced a continuous upswing, also supported by a
strong Brandenburg army. In the 17th century, the state maintained close
and cooperative relations with its southern neighbor, the Electorate of
Saxony.
From 1701 to 1946, the Mark Brandenburg shared the political history
of the Prussian state as a whole. In 1701 the Elector Friedrich III was
crowned. from Brandenburg to the king in Prussia. As a result of the
Elector's rank being raised, only the designation of state institutions
such as the army, ambassadors and authorities changed from "Electoral
Brandenburg" to "Royal Prussian". The importance of the central province
of Mark Brandenburg with the residential area around Berlin and Potsdam
grew all the more as Brandenburg-Prussia developed into a central,
absolutist state with German and European political ambitions. Under
King Frederick I's reign from 1688 to 1713, the population of the Mark
increased by about a third to more than 730,000 inhabitants in 1713. The
number of towns rose to 120. These included the towns of Brandenburg an
der Havel and Frankfurt an der Oder the population of 10,000.
In
the Seven Years' War from 1756 to 1763, the Mark once again became a
theater of war. Austrian and Russian troops repeatedly advanced into the
Mark and at times occupied Berlin.
In the second half of his
reign, Friedrich II devoted himself particularly to the reconstruction
and development of the Mark. In the Rhin area, on the Dosse and Netze,
he had drainage ditches built and the Plauer and Finow canals dug as a
connection between the Elbe and the Oder. Solid land was wrested from
the Mark Marsh, Bruch and Luch and handed over to immigrants from
Bohemia and veterans for settlement. From 1770 to 1786, 412 villages
were founded in the Kurmark and Neumark and 124,720 colonists found a
new home. In the Oderbruch alone, 50 villages were created.
Brandenburg, together with Berlin (which was part of Brandenburg),
formed the heartland of Prussia. In the Prussian administrative reforms
after the Congress of Vienna in 1815, the province of Brandenburg was
formed, whereby the Altmark was left out and formerly Saxon areas of
Lusatia were added. With the Greater Berlin Law of 1920, Berlin
separated from the province of Brandenburg.
In the final phase of
the Second World War, after heavy defensive fighting, the Red Army
occupied the territory and the province of Brandenburg became part of
the Soviet occupation zone (SBZ) in 1945, but without the areas east of
the Oder-Neisse line (Neumark), which fell to Poland (see also
German-Polish Border Treaty 1990) and whose German population was
expelled. In the fall of 1946, the Brandenburg state parliament met for
the first time.
On February 6, 1947, the province was merged into the new state of
Brandenburg, which had been established as a member state of the future
German Democratic Republic (GDR). The Free State of Prussia was
dissolved on February 25, 1947 by Control Council Law No. 46. The
country had an area of 27,612 square kilometers. As early as 1949, with
the founding of the GDR, the country's institutions largely lost their
functions.
In 1952, the state was dissolved as part of the
administrative reform of 1952 and essentially divided into the three new
districts of Cottbus, Frankfurt (Oder) and Potsdam. The district of
Perleberg fell to the district of Schwerin, the districts of Prenzlau
and Templin to the district of Neubrandenburg.
Economically, the
traditionally agricultural areas of the former Mark changed
fundamentally in the 40 years of the GDR. Among other things, the Lower
Lusatia industrial area emerged, including the lignite-fired power
plants for energy production with a simultaneous expansion of lignite
mining south and east of Cottbus, where 2/3 of the fuel production in
the GDR was located. There was significant truck production in
Ludwigsfelde, in Teltow the electrical industry, in Schwedt/Oder the oil
and paper industry, in Brandenburg/Havel and Eisenhüttenstadt the steel
industry, in Wildau heavy engineering, in Rathenow (since 1801) the
optical industry in Wittstock/Dosse and in Premnitz textile industry.
Prenzlau and Templin newly founded. On October 26, 1990, the new
Brandenburg state parliament met for its first session. Brandenburg's
partner state for setting up the new structures was North
Rhine-Westphalia.
From 1990 to 2002 Prime Minister Manfred Stolpe
shaped the political development of Brandenburg. In 1996, the people of
Brandenburg decided in a referendum against a unification of the states
of Berlin and Brandenburg. The required minimum approval of 25% of
eligible voters was not achieved. In 2004, the EU expansion was
symbolically celebrated in Frankfurt (Oder) with representatives from
Germany and neighboring Poland.
In 2004, the Brandenburg state
government began to realign the promotion, abandoning the watering can
principle. Only sustainable sectors that had already gained a foothold
in the individual regions and promised growth potential should be
promoted. With the involvement of 26 cities and municipalities, 15
regional growth centers were created and the eligible industry
competence fields were defined for each.
The state of Brandenburg has 2,531,071 inhabitants (as of December
31, 2020). This puts Brandenburg in tenth place in a comparison of the
federal states. With a population density of 83.8 inhabitants per square
kilometer, it is the least populated German federal state after
Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. Around one million people live in the
Berlin agglomeration. The areas further out have a significantly lower
population density of less than 25 inhabitants per square kilometer. The
capital Potsdam is the only large city in the state of Brandenburg.
According to the statistics office, 19,339 children (+5.3 percent) were
born in the country in 2014.
In 2020, the proportion of the
foreign population was 5.2%. In total, around 6% of citizens had a
migration background in 2016; the figure for Germany as a whole is
around 20%. About 20,000 Sorbs live in the south-eastern districts and
in Cottbus.
The average life expectancy in 2015/17 was 77.6 years
for men and 83.1 years for women. Men thus rank 11th among the German
federal states, while women rank 7th. Regionally, in 2013/15 Potsdam
(expectation of the total population: 81.7 years), Potsdam-Mittelmark
(81.6) and Dahme-Spreewald (81.2) had the highest, as well as
Oberspreewald-Lausitz (79.1) and Prignitz (79 ,1) the lowest life
expectancy.
With 1.64 children per woman in 2017, Brandenburg had
the highest combined fertility rate among the German federal states.
The total number of inhabitants in the area of today's state of
Brandenburg was relatively constant in the second half of the 20th
century. After 1945, the population of today's Brandenburg region, which
from 1952 essentially corresponded to the three districts of Cottbus,
Frankfurt (Oder) and Potsdam, always hovered around the 2.6 million
mark. The population initially fell between 1955 and 1964 from 2.7 to
2.6 million people. After a slight increase, the population was around
2.65 million by the late 1980s. While the municipal centers such as the
district cities of Potsdam, Frankfurt (Oder) and Cottbus experienced an
increase in population, the number of inhabitants in rural areas fell
continuously.
The opening of the inner-German border after 1989
caused the Brandenburg region to lose 100,000 inhabitants by 1995. In
the 1990s, many Berliners moved to the surrounding area of Berlin, which
is part of Brandenburg.
Since 2000 there have been strong
regional differences in population development. The Brandenburg area in
the agglomeration of Berlin grew by around 27 percent to one million
inhabitants from 1994 to 2005, while more remote towns and communities
lost inhabitants.
The 2011 census corrected the population
figures downwards by around 50,000. The areas in Brandenburg close to
Berlin have experienced an increase in population since 2010 due to the
growth of the Berlin agglomeration.
The official language in Brandenburg is German. The main languages
spoken in the country are High German, High German dialects of the South
Mark, North Upper Saxon and also Low German dialects of the Mark.
Lusatia dialects are spoken in Lower Lusatia in Brandenburg. That and
the dialect used in Berlin and its environs can be attributed to East
Central German. In the Barnim, the dialect Eberswalder Kanaldeutsch is
common.
In some parts of Lower Lusatia, Lower Sorbian, a West
Slavic language, is also spoken by around 7,000-10,000 people with their
own cultural history and has the status of a second official language in
the Sorbs/Wends settlement area there.
English is occasionally
used as the language of instruction at Brandenburg universities. The
vocabulary of the dialects in Brandenburg is recorded and described in
the Brandenburg-Berlin dictionary and (for the southern part of the
state) in the dictionary of the Upper Saxon dialects.
In 2011, around 80 percent of Brandenburg's residents were not religious. At the end of 2020, Brandenburg had 2,531,071 inhabitants; of these, 13.9 percent were Protestant, 3.6 percent were Catholic, and 82.5 percent had either another religious affiliation or no religious affiliation.
In 2014, around 17 percent of Brandenburg's residents were members of
a regional evangelical church, most of them in the
Berlin-Brandenburg-Silesian Upper Lusatia Evangelical Church. Since the
borders of the regional churches differ from those of today's federal
states, individual communities in western and southwestern Brandenburg
are assigned to the Evangelical Church in Central Germany. A number of
congregations in northeastern Brandenburg (Uckermark district) belonged
to the Pomeranian Evangelical Church and now to the Evangelical Lutheran
Church in Northern Germany, which was founded in 2012. In some parts of
Brandenburg, the Independent Evangelical Lutheran Church is represented
by parishes. These previously belonged to the Evangelical Lutheran (Old
Lutheran) Church and are known locally as "Old Lutherans". The
denominational Lutheran parishes belong to the Berlin-Brandenburg church
district of the Independent Evangelical Lutheran Church.
At the
end of 2010, 3.1 percent of the population belonged to the Roman
Catholic Church. The majority of the state territory belongs to the
Archdiocese of Berlin; Lower Lusatia belongs to the Diocese of Görlitz,
the southwestern part of Brandenburg to the Diocese of Magdeburg.
The New Apostolic Church is also represented. With a few exceptions,
the District Church of Berlin-Brandenburg encompasses the entire state
of Brandenburg and is led by its own District Apostle. According to the
church, around 23,000 people in Berlin and Brandenburg currently profess
the New Apostolic faith.
Exact figures on how many Brandenburgers consider themselves humanists are not available. However, there is a strong movement in Brandenburg, which ultimately led to the introduction of the school subject Humanistic Life Studies in 2007 (according to § 9 Para. 2 and 8 of the Brandenburg School Act).] Here, the spectrum of religious worldviews is to be expanded to include a non-religious component. Very few humanists in Brandenburg are organized, but there are a number of organized groups, in particular with the Humanist Association Berlin-Brandenburg, the Humanist Regional Association East Brandenburg and the Young Humanists and the Evolutionary Humanists Berlin-Brandenburg.
The Jewish communities grew as a result of the influx of Jewish quota refugees from the former Soviet Union. There are currently seven Jewish communities in Brandenburg, including those in Potsdam and Frankfurt (Oder). They are united in the State Association of Jewish Communities in Brandenburg.
Constitution
The Brandenburg constitution was passed as a draft on
April 14, 1992 by the state parliament. The draft was accepted by the
people of Brandenburg on June 14, 1992 in a referendum. It then came
into effect when it was announced on August 20, 1992.
The
constitutional bodies are the Brandenburg State Parliament, the
Brandenburg State Government and the Constitutional Court of the State
of Brandenburg.
Parliament
The seat of the Brandenburg state
parliament is the City Palace in Potsdam. The building would accommodate
150 MPs. It is thus prepared for an enlarged parliament in a federal
state that has been reunited with what is now the state of Berlin.
However, the current Brandenburg state parliament has only 88 members,
each elected for a five-year term.
Six parties are represented in
the seventh state parliament, which was elected on September 1, 2019.
The SPD is the strongest parliamentary group with 25 seats; the AfD has
23 seats in the state parliament. The CDU has 15 seats; Greens and Left
are represented with 10 seats each. The smallest group with 5 seats are
the Brandenburg United Citizens' Movements/Free Voters. President of the
Landtag is Ulrike Liedtke (SPD).
state government
The state
government is one of the highest state authorities and belongs to the
first level of administration in Brandenburg. The elected state
government and the Prime Minister are based in the State Chancellery in
Potsdam. The current government of SPD, CDU and Bündnis 90/Die Grünen
has been in office since November 20, 2019 and is divided into the
following departments.
Ministry of Finance and Europe (MdFE)
Ministry of the Interior and Municipal Affairs (MIK)
Ministry of
Justice (MdJ)
Ministry of Economy, Labor and Energy (MWAE)
Ministry of Science, Research and Culture (MWFK)
Ministry of
Infrastructure and Spatial Planning (MIL)
Ministry of Agriculture,
Environment and Climate Protection (MLUK)
Ministry of Education,
Youth and Sport (MBJS)
Ministry of Social Affairs, Health, Inclusion
and Consumer Protection (MSGIV)
State Chancellery
The state
government is subject to economic control by the state audit office
(LRH).
The highest Brandenburg court is the constitutional court of the
state of Brandenburg, which has its seat in Potsdam.
The district
courts of Cottbus, Frankfurt an der Oder, Neuruppin and Potsdam, to
which a total of 24 district courts are subordinate, are subordinate to
the Brandenburg Higher Regional Court based in Brandenburg an der Havel.
The seat and district of the courts of ordinary jurisdiction and the
public prosecutor's offices are regulated by the Brandenburg Court
Organization Act of 2011.
Other courts are the Berlin-Brandenburg
Regional Labor Court (to which six labor courts are subordinate in the
area of Brandenburg), the Berlin-Brandenburg Finance Court, the
Berlin-Brandenburg Regional Social Court (to which four social courts
belong in the area of Brandenburg) and the Berlin-Brandenburg Higher
Administrative Court ( with three Brandenburg administrative courts).
According to the Brandenburg Constitution (Article 4), the red
Brandenburg eagle on a white field is the coat of arms of the state of
Brandenburg. The state flag is red and white with the state coat of arms
in the center. It is also part of the coats of arms of many communities
and cities in the area of the former Mark Brandenburg. The Brandenburg
eagle is shown levitating from the front with outstretched wings and
looking to the right. It is red in colour, reinforced with gold and
tongued red. The fangs are open and its wings are each covered with a
golden clover stalk. The shield of the coat of arms is white.
The
Brandenburg eagle and coat of arms date from the 12th century; it first
appears in the statue seal of the Ascanian Otto I, son of Albrecht the
Bear, from 1170. After reunification, the coat of arms was removed from
its earlier accessories (electoral hat, silver sword, blue heart shield
with upright golden scepter), which were still part of the coat of arms
until the end of the Second World War.
The unofficial anthem of
Brandenburg is the song Märkische Heide, Märkischer Sand ("Climb high,
you red eagle"). The song was written in 1923 by the local poet Gustav
Büchsenschütz.
Brandenburg works with the neighboring states on different
institutional levels. So z. For example, the Berlin-Brandenburg Joint
State Planning Department started work in 1996 as the joint supreme
state planning authority. Some state institutions are managed jointly by
Berlin and Brandenburg. The SFB and the ORB to the RBB as well as the
German pension insurance Berlin and the German pension insurance
Brandenburg were merged in 2006 to the German pension insurance
Berlin-Brandenburg.
Furthermore, the higher administrative courts
of both states were merged to form the Berlin-Brandenburg Higher
Administrative Court and the state statistical offices to form the
Berlin-Brandenburg Statistical Office. The teacher training (LISUM) and
the socio-pedagogical training (SFBB) were transferred to joint state
institutes.
Since 2006, Berlin and Brandenburg have also been
involved in the Oder partnership, an informal cooperation network of
four states and provinces located on the German-Polish border.
The immediate state administration in Brandenburg is made up of the
authorities, institutions and state companies for which the state of
Brandenburg is responsible. In relation to the active employees, the
country is “directly” the principal or employer. In contrast, all other
legal entities that have their own legal personality are counted as
indirect state administration. These are institutions and foundations
under public law as well as companies under private law. The immediate
state administration is divided into the areas that are assigned to the
state government. The state parliament administration, the state audit
office, the commissioner for data protection and the right to inspect
files as well as the state commissioner for dealing with the
consequences of the communist dictatorship (LAkD) are direct state
administration, but legally assigned to the state parliament. The
organization of the direct Brandenburg state administration, which is
assigned to the state government, regulates the state organization law
(LOG).
The Brandenburg state administration is two-tier, there
are no middle authorities. According to § 8 LOG, the first level of
state administration is formed by the supreme state authorities (state
government and ministries). On the second level are the higher state
authorities, the lower state authorities, the institutions and the state
companies. All authorities, institutions and state companies of the
second level are directly subject to the administrative and technical
supervision of the highest state authorities.
According to
Section 11 (2) LOG, the district administrators and mayors are general
lower state authorities. By way of organ loan, they can be assigned
state tasks of the state administration to perform. In this case, the
responsible party is not the district or the urban district, but the
district administrator or mayor as an organ of the state administration.
The tasks concerned are considered to be non-municipalised.
The
state administration as "Brandenburg State" is by far the largest
employer in Brandenburg. In 2010, around 50,300 jobs were estimated in
the state budget. The number of employees is over 55,000. The largest
group of employees are teachers with around 16,600 jobs. The police
officers follow with around 8,800 jobs.
The second level of state administration is formed by the higher state authorities, the lower state authorities, the institutions and the state companies.
The higher state authorities are the police headquarters (since 2011), the central foreigners authority, the state cash office, the state office for the settlement of open property issues, the state office for measurement and calibration Berlin-Brandenburg, the state office for mining, geology and raw materials, the state office for social affairs and supply , the State Office for Occupational Safety and Health, the State Office for Rural Development, Agriculture and Land Consolidation, the State Youth Welfare Office, the State Office for the Environment in Brandenburg, the State Office for Construction and Transport, the State Office for the Preservation of Monuments and the Archaeological State Museum and the State Office for Schools and Teacher Education.
Lower state authorities differ from higher state authorities in that
they are not responsible for the entire state (Section 11 (1)). Although
the designations "higher state authority" and "lower state authority"
suggest a level relationship, this is neither legal nor factual. In
principle, higher state authorities do not exercise any administrative
or technical supervision over lower state authorities, but are
equivalent to them on the second administrative level. In addition to
the general lower state authorities (14 district administrators and four
mayors), there are other lower state authorities.
After the
establishment of a new police headquarters for the state of Brandenburg
with effect from January 1, 2011 and the state office for schools and
teacher training on October 1, 2014, Brandenburg only has one type of
other lower state authorities: the tax offices (14 tax offices and the
technical tax office) .
Since the end of the 1990s, some state authorities and institutions have been converted into state companies in accordance with § 14 LOG. State companies are institutions (established without the participation of Parliament) that work with business management tools and have a business plan. The Brandenburg State Survey and Basic Geo Information (LGB), the Brandenburg State Office for Real Estate and Building (BLB), a Brandenburg IT service provider (ZIT-BB), the Brandenburg State Forestry Office (LFB) and the State Roads Office (LS) were set up.
According to § 13 LOG, state institutions are legally dependent, organizationally separate parts of the state administration on the second level. Its activities are primarily aimed at supporting the authorities in the country. Since they can also perform sovereign tasks, they only differ from the other state authorities in that they can be set up without the involvement of the Brandenburg state parliament. The state administration now includes a large number of very small institutions, such as the Point of Single Contact for the State of Brandenburg (EAPBbg) with five employees, which was set up in accordance with the EC Service Directive, as well as larger institutions such as the state's six correctional facilities.
The headquarters of the Federal Police Headquarters has been in
Potsdam since 2008. The higher federal authority is directly subordinate
to the Federal Ministry of the Interior. It exercises operational and
technical supervision of the Federal Police and is responsible for
strategic police control. It is headed by the President of the Federal
Police Headquarters and his two Vice Presidents.
In Ahrensfelde
(Barnim district) there is an important location of the Federal Police.
On the one hand, Germany's largest federal police department has its
headquarters there, with around 860 employees (750 of whom are law
enforcement officers), and on the other hand, the Federal Police Air
Squadron East is stationed there with more than 100 employees (flying
and technical personnel). The 18 helicopters of the types EC 135, EC
155, Puma and Super Puma stationed there serve, among other things, to
secure borders and railway systems, to transport the Federal President,
members of the Federal Government and state guests and to provide
support in the event of disasters in Berlin.
Since 2001, the
operational command of the Bundeswehr has been located in the wildlife
park in Potsdam. It is the command and control center for all Bundeswehr
missions abroad. From there, the operations of the ISAF, EUFOR, KFOR,
OEF Marine, UNIFIL and German participation in UN missions are managed
at the operational level.
Meseberg Castle is used as a guest
house by the German federal government. It is around 70 kilometers north
of Berlin in a district of the city of Gransee.
The state of Brandenburg is divided into a total of 413
municipalities, including 113 cities, four of which are independent
cities (as of April 19, 2022).
After 1990 there were some
territorial changes according to the State Treaty of May 9, 1992, which
came into force on July 1, 1992. The communities of Bagemühl, Grünberg,
Nechlin, Woddow, Wollschow-Menkin and the town of Brüssow in the
Pasewalk district as well as the communities of Fahrenholz, Güterberg,
Jagow, Lemmersdorf, Lübbenow, Milow, Trebenow, Wilsickow, Wismar and
Wolfshagen in the Strasburg district were merged into the existing
community - and district boundaries outsourced from the state of
Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and incorporated into the state of
Brandenburg. In addition, the communities of Besandten, Eldenburg, Lanz,
Lenzen (Elbe), Mellen and Wootz were spun off from Mecklenburg-Western
Pomerania in the existing community and district boundaries and
incorporated into the state of Brandenburg. The communities of Dambeck
and Brunow and the districts of Pampin and Platschow in the community of
Berge were spun off from the state of Brandenburg in the existing
municipal and district boundaries and incorporated into the state of
Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. Pampin and Platschow became districts of
Ziegendorf.
The nominal gross domestic product of Brandenburg in 2020 was around
73 billion euros.
Statistically, the entire state of Brandenburg
forms one of 276 NUTS 2 regions within the European Union (EU). In
comparison with the gross domestic product per inhabitant of the EU,
expressed in purchasing power standards, Brandenburg achieved an index
of 88% in 2014 (EU-28: 100%, Germany: 126%).
In total, there were
74,356 people registered as unemployed in the state of Brandenburg in
June 2019, while 854,164 citizens held a job subject to social security
contributions (+ 5,016 compared to the previous year).
Pursue
The five largest private-sector employers in the state of Brandenburg in
2012 were: The Schwarz retail group (Lidl, Kaufland, together 7665
employees), Deutsche Post AG (6800 employees), the brand discounter
Netto (3200 employees), Metro AG (3179 employees) and the service
provider Dussmann (2750 employees).
The five companies based in
Brandenburg with the highest sales in 2011 were: E.DIS (1.820 billion
euros in sales), Rolls-Royce Germany (1.344 billion euros in sales),
Riva Stahl (1.269 billion euros in sales), Arcelor Mittal (1.239 billion
euros turnover) and BASF Schwarzheide (1.064 billion euros turnover).
The investment bank of the state of Brandenburg (total assets 13.06
billion euros) and the Mittelbrandenburgische Sparkasse in Potsdam
(total assets 9.61 billion euros) were the two largest banks in the
state in 2012. Both credit institutions are public institutions based in
Potsdam.
In 2014, the approximately 1,200 industrial companies in the state of
Brandenburg had a turnover of around 23 billion euros. The economy has
become a focal point along the A 10 autobahn and in the secured
industrial cores such as e.g. B. set up in the south of the country.
There are steel works in Eisenhüttenstadt, Hennigsdorf and
Brandenburg an der Havel, and in Brandenburg there is also a printing
machine works belonging to Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG and a
transmission works belonging to ZF Friedrichshafen. A Rolls-Royce engine
factory is located in Dahlewitz in the district of Teltow-Fläming. South
of Berlin in the Ludwigsfelde industrial area is a Mercedes-Benz car
factory, the aircraft engine manufacturer MTU Aero Engines and a VW
spare parts factory. In the economic core around Finsterwalde and
Lauchhammer there are metal processing companies in cutting and joining
technology such as Kjellberg Finsterwalde, and surface mining equipment
technology such as TAKRAF. The Tesla Gigafactory Berlin-Brandenburg is
located in Grünheide.
In Schwedt/Oder in north-eastern
Brandenburg there is an industrial focus with a petroleum refinery (PCK
refinery) and two paper mills. The most important employer is located in
Wittenberge with the Deutsche Bahn repair shop.
In the chemical
industry in southern Brandenburg, the (BASF) Schwarzheide and LEAG
operate several lignite open-cast mines to supply large-scale power
plants such as the Jänschwalde power plant, Boxberg power plant and
Schwarze Pumpe.
logistics
Numerous logistics centers have
settled in the agglomeration area around Berlin in the Brandenburg area.
The company Zalando uses a location in Brieselang as well as a logistics
center in Großbeeren with the external logistics service provider
DocData. After 2015 there was an increasing concentration of service
providers in the logistics sector in the vicinity of today's
Berlin-Brandenburg Airport in Schönefeld.
In 2012, around 36,500 people were employed in around 5,600 farms in
Brandenburg's agriculture. With a total area of around 2.95 million
hectares, Brandenburg has 1,319,600 hectares of agricultural land. The
average farm area of 238 hectares is very large compared to the rest of
Germany. Large farms with over 1,000 hectares cultivate over 70% of
Brandenburg's arable land. They include, for example, the Lindhorst
Group and the Steinhoff family holding.
Brandenburg is one of the
leading federal states in organic farming. In 2015, 767 organic
production companies were registered in the state. This means that 14.2
percent of the 5,400 farms in the state operate organically. About
136,000 hectares are registered under the EU Organic Regulation. This
corresponds to 12.9 percent of the organic area of the entire Federal
Republic.
In a comparison of the federal states, fruit
cultivation in Brandenburg is represented below average in terms of
area. According to the Ministry of Agriculture, in 2020 apples were the
most widespread in the country with 917 hectares, followed by
blueberries (410 hectares), sweet cherries (340 hectares), sea buckthorn
(330 hectares) and plums (120 hectares). The region around Werder
(Havel) is particularly known for fruit growing. Cherries, apples and
strawberries are mostly grown. But vegetables, especially tomatoes, are
also grown in the greenhouses. The two largest distributors of products
from the region are "Werder Frucht", which mainly sells juices and the
fruit itself, and "Werder Feinkost", which specializes in the production
of ketchup, fruit wines and spreads.
EWG Eberswalder Wurst is a
manufacturer of meat and sausage products in Britz.
In 2012, the Brandenburg state government published its draft of an
"Energy Strategy 2030". For the future energy supply, the area relies on
the expansion of renewable energies. The government wants to achieve a
share of renewable energies in primary energy consumption of 32 percent
by 2030. The aim is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 72 percent
compared to 1990 levels by this date. The state is one of the leading
German states both in the use of renewable energies and in the
manufacture of systems.
In 2003, gross electricity generation in
Brandenburg was 42,961 gigawatt hours (of which 6.79% came from
renewable energies) and rose to 53,152 GWh by 2019 (of which 37.32% came
from renewable energies). Brandenburg is the fifth largest electricity
producer among the German federal states. Over 50 percent of the
electricity produced is exported. The largest buyer is neighboring
Berlin. Brandenburg is the most important electricity supplier for the
metropolis and the main guarantor for its energy security.
In
2019, energy from lignite made up the largest share of gross electricity
generation in Brandenburg at around 50%, around 38% was obtained from
renewable energy sources. The gross electricity consumption in the
country was around 21,845 GWh in 2018 and is therefore no higher than in
1990. The Rheinsberg nuclear power plant was built in 1960 and was the
first of the German nuclear power plants to be shut down in 1990. The
Black Pump power plant (power capacity 1600 MW), the Boxberg power plant
(power capacity 2575 MW) and the Jänschwalde power plant (power capacity
3000 MW) are among the largest lignite-fired power plants in Germany.
Brandenburg is an important wind energy location. In 2021, 3928 wind
turbines with a cumulative output of 7864 MW were installed there. The
wind farms available in 2019 covered 7.5% of the state’s primary energy
consumption and accounted for 25% of Brandenburg’s gross electricity
generation.
The five largest systems for solar power production
in Germany in 2020 were in Brandenburg. Among them were u. a. the
Weesow-Willmersdorf solar park (187 MWp), the Templin – Groß Dölln solar
park (128 MWp) and the Neuhardenberg solar park (145 MWp).
In
2007, around 12% of all German biodiesel production was in Brandenburg.
Around 65,000 employees worked in the ICT, media and creative
industries in 2014. The companies in this sector generated sales of 5.3
billion euros.
The following daily newspapers are published in
Brandenburg: Potsdamer Latest News, Märkische Oderzeitung, Lausitzer
Rundschau, Der Prignitzer, Nordkurier and the Märkische Allgemeine.
The Babelsberg film studio in Potsdam, founded in 1911, is the
oldest large film studio in the world and at the same time the largest
film studio in Europe in terms of area. It is best known for its
legendary early films such as Metropolis and The Blue Angel. Today, the
Babelsberg film studio is one of the leading centers for film and
television productions in Europe and a location for German-American
co-productions.
Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg broadcasts from the
Potsdam-Babelsberg location. Among other things, the radio stations
Antenne Brandenburg, Radio Fritz and Radio Eins as well as the TV
programs Brandenburg aktuell and zibb are produced there. In Brandenburg
there is also the television station Capital.TV and the local radio
station Radio Potsdam.
The MediaTech Hub Potsdam was set up in
2017 by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy as one of
twelve Germany-wide digital hubs.
In the region around the state capital Potsdam there is a focus for research-related companies due to several scientific institutions. According to a study in 2006, as part of the European metropolitan region of Berlin-Brandenburg, it is one of Germany's leading locations in the biotechnology sector.
Tourism in Brandenburg has had high growth rates since 2000 and is
considered an important economic factor. In 2012, the industry recorded
over 60,000 employees and around 11.5 million overnight stays. Tourism
is determined by the diverse landscape, the historic town centres, the
nature parks rich in forests and water and the sights such as the
palaces and castles.
The Berlin–Usedom long-distance cycle route
has been running through northern Brandenburg since 2007.
In the
so-called Medienstadt Babelsberg in Potsdam, next to the Studio
Babelsberg AG, there is the Filmpark Babelsberg, a theme park with the
studio tour of the site and with exhibitions, stunt shows, sets and
props from numerous well-known productions from the world of film.
Located about 50 km south of Berlin, Tropical Islands is an
adventure park in Halbe. The park was built in the largest
self-supporting hall in the world, which spans an area of 66,000 m²
(equivalent to nine football pitches). In the facility, which is open
all year round, there is a tropically designed bathing and leisure area
with overnight accommodation.
Brandenburg's most important main traffic routes such as railway
lines, roads and waterways run towards Berlin in a star shape. Broadband
internet access with a data transmission rate of 6 Mbit/s was possible
for 75-95% of all households in Brandenburg in 2015. The coverage rate
of 50 Mbit connections was between 10 and 50%. In November 2015, 90% of
the network coverage for the LTE (4G) mobile communications standard was
guaranteed in Brandenburg (93% in Germany).
Rail
transport
In rail transport, most railway lines are connected by the
Berlin outer ring, which is mostly in Brandenburg. After 1995, due to
the country's sparse population and the growing number of cars, a
significant part of the rail infrastructure (especially smaller stations
and sidings) was shut down.
The automation of level crossings has
been promoted since the year 2000. There are currently many sections of
line over 20 km in length without intermediate stops (as with RE 5),
since only long-distance RE lines operate there. On many smaller routes,
local rail passenger transport is carried out by private railways; the
Hanseatic Railway, the Niederbarnimer Railway and, above all, the East
German Railway have established themselves in Brandenburg over the
course of time.
In local public transport, all transport
companies in Brandenburg and Berlin have joined forces to form the
Verkehrsverbund Berlin-Brandenburg (VBB) in order to ensure uniform
transport structures and tariffs in the region. In 2017, 1.470 billion
passengers were transported.
Road
traffic
The registered passenger cars serve as an indicator for the
level of motorization in a society. Despite the falling population, the
number of cars in Brandenburg is increasing. In 2004 there were 86,409
new vehicle registrations in Brandenburg. In 2014 a high of 1,343,315
cars was registered. There were 548 registered cars per 1000 inhabitants
(510 non-commercial vehicles per 1000 inhabitants). The degree of
motorization is thus increasing and is just above the German average.
In terms of road traffic, almost all motorways in the state of
Brandenburg start on the “Berliner Ring” ring road, the Bundesautobahn
10, which runs mostly through Brandenburg territory. Furthermore,
several federal and European roads run through the country. The
autobahns in Brandenburg are the A 2 (Berliner Ring/Dreieck Werder -
Magdeburg - Hannover - Dortmund - Oberhausen), the A 9 (Berliner
Ring/Dreieck Potsdam - Leipzig - Nuremberg - Munich), the A 10 (Berliner
Ring), the A 11 (Berliner Ring/Schwanebeck triangle – Prenzlau – PL
border crossing – Stettin/Szczecin), the A 12 (Berliner Ring/Spreeau
triangle – Frankfurt (Oder) – PL border crossing – Posen/Poznań –
Warsaw/Warszawa), the A 13 ( Berliner Ring/Kreuz Schönefeld - Dreieck
Spreewald/A 15 - Dresden), the A 14 (Schwerin - Magdeburg - Dresden),
the A 15 (Dreieck Spreewald/A 13 - Cottbus - border crossing PL -
Liegnitz/Legnica - Breslau/Wrocław), the A 19 (Wittstock (Dosse)
triangle/A 24 – Rostock), the A 20 (Uckermark junction/A 11 and B 166 –
Stralsund – Rostock – Lübeck), the A 24 (Berliner Ring/Havelland
triangle – Hamburg), the A 111 (Berliner Ring/Kreuz Oranienburg -
Berlin-Reinickendorf - Dreieck Charlottenburg/Stadtring A 100), the A
113 (Berliner Ring/Kreuz Schönefeld - Dreieck Walter sdorf -
Berlin-Adlershof - Dreieck Neukölln/Stadtring A 100), the A 114
(Berliner Ring/Dreieck Pankow - Berlin-Pankow), the A 115 (Berliner
Ring/Dreieck Nuthetal - Berlin-Zehlendorf - Dreieck Funkturm/Stadtring A
100) and the A 117 (Dreieck Waltersdorf/A 113 – Berlin-Treptow).
Ship traffic
Inland shipping and water
transport through numerous canals are an important economic factor for
parts of the country and have a supra-regional character. The waterways
are used for the transport of goods and for tourist passenger transport.
There are also a large number of car ferries, for example on the Elbe
and the Havel.
Brandenburg's largest port is located in
Wittenberge at the confluence of the Stepenitz and the Elbe.
The
Niederfinow ship lift, which went into operation in 1934, is the oldest
still working ship lift in Germany. It is located at the eastern end of
the Oder-Havel canal in Niederfinow/Brandenburg and overcomes the height
difference of 36 meters between the summit and the Oder sections of the
Havel-Oder waterway, for which the Eberswalde Waterways and Shipping
Office is responsible. Parallel to the previous hoist, the Niederfinow
Nord ship hoist, which is suitable for larger ships, is being built and
is to replace the old one in 2022.
Air
traffic
Berlin Brandenburg Airport "Willy Brandt", IATA: (BER), ICAO:
(EDDB) in Schönefeld is the largest airport in the federal state due to
its proximity to Berlin and handles all international air traffic for
the Berlin-Brandenburg metropolitan region. The operator of the airport
is Flughafen Berlin Brandenburg GmbH with the shareholders State of
Berlin, State of Brandenburg and Federal Republic of Germany. Measured
by the number of passengers, the airport ranked third in Germany in
2021.
Around 11.7 million passengers were handled in Schönefeld
in 2016.
Since 2012, the ILA Berlin Air Show has been held on the
Berlin ExpoCenter Airport site in the Selchow district of Schönefeld.
The area is on the western edge of Berlin Brandenburg Airport. The ILA
is the most important trade fair for the aerospace industry in Germany
and one of the largest space trade fairs in the world.
There is
also the larger airfield Cottbus-Drewitz and the smaller ones like the
Lausitz airfield Finsterwalde/Schacksdorf and Neuhardenberg.
In 2015, a total of 33,407 children under the age of three were cared
for in day-care centers in Brandenburg. This corresponds to a care rate
of 56.8% of all children in this age group (32.9% in Germany).
Schooling
In the 2011/2012 school year
there were 864 schools (excluding universities) in the state of
Brandenburg, attended by around 220,000 students. In the school year
2004/2005 there were 327,157 students. Despite falling student numbers,
the number of teachers remained relatively constant at around 19,000.
The Brandenburg school system is divided into a six-year elementary
school, after which the pupil can switch to a secondary school, a
comprehensive school with a high school level or a grammar school.
With the Oberstufenzentrum, there is also a type of school that
combines technical school, technical college, vocational school and
vocational high school. For students with special needs, there are also
special needs schools with different focuses.
In 2014, 10,077 new
training contracts were concluded in Brandenburg. In total there were
26,265 trainees in the country in the same year. Most of them are in
teaching in the field of industry and trade. Skilled trades,
agriculture, housekeeping, the liberal professions and public service
are also popular training areas.
Colleges
In the state of Brandenburg there are five universities, six technical
colleges that can call themselves universities in the state of
Brandenburg, and two administrative colleges. The largest university is
the University of Potsdam, which teaches over 20,000 students. In
addition to this, the European University Viadrina in Frankfurt (Oder),
the Brandenburg Technical University Cottbus-Senftenberg, the Film
University Babelsberg and the Medical University of Brandenburg Theodor
Fontane in university rank. The medical university founded in 2014 is
the only private one, the other four are state universities.
The
largest university of applied sciences in Brandenburg is the Technical
University of Applied Sciences Wildau with over 4000 students. In
addition to these further public state technical colleges are the
Brandenburg Technical College, the College for Sustainable Development
Eberswalde and the Potsdam College. The Elstal Theological Seminary
(University of Applied Sciences) is a church educational institution,
while the Potsdam University of Applied Sciences for Sports and
Management is a private educational institution. The Clara Hoffbauer
Potsdam University of Applied Sciences is run by a private church. In
addition to these, there are two administration colleges, the
Brandenburg University of Applied Sciences for Finance in Königs
Wusterhausen and the Brandenburg State Police College in Oranienburg.
Brandenburg does not charge any fees for studying in the state. Few
subjects have a numerus clausus, and due to the relatively young age of
many universities, there are particularly modern learning and working
conditions. Either the Studentenwerk Potsdam or the Studentenwerk
Frankfurt (Oder) are responsible for students from all universities. In
the 2012/2013 winter semester, a high of 52,031 enrolled students was
reached.
Research
Each of the major German research
communities is represented in the state of Brandenburg. There are four
institutions of the Hermann von Helmholtz Association of German Research
Centers, eight institutes of the Leibniz Association, three institutes
of the Max Planck Society (MPG) and three institutions of the Fraunhofer
Society (FhG). The close cooperation between the research institutions
and the state's universities is important. Corresponding agreements
between the institutions enable complementary developments.
The
following institutes have been located in the Albert Einstein Science
Park since 1992: the German Research Center for Geosciences, the Leibniz
Institute for Astrophysics Potsdam, the Potsdam Research Center of the
Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research, the Potsdam
Institute for Climate Impact Research and the Meteorological Institute
Potsdam Observatory of the German Weather Service. In the 1990s, many
historic buildings were extensively renovated and numerous new buildings
were erected.
The Hasso Plattner Institute for Software Systems
Engineering (HPI) is an institute affiliated with the University of
Potsdam and is located in Potsdam-Babelsberg. It was created in 1998
through a partnership with the state of Brandenburg. The institute is
named after the SAP founder and chairman of the supervisory board, Hasso
Plattner.
Between the 18th and early 20th centuries, the state of Brandenburg
was the historical core of the Prussian state and thus a magnet for
immigrants. Due to the tolerance policy in religious questions since the
Edict of Potsdam, a strong cultural influence of the immigrant people
developed, especially the French Huguenots. Numerous representative
palaces, castles, churches and generously designed parks have been
preserved from the various epochs.
In addition to the public
holidays throughout Germany, Easter Sunday, Whit Sunday and Reformation
Day are public holidays in Brandenburg.
An important player in
current popular culture is the film and television production company
UFA based in Potsdam. The TV formats, shows and series created by UFA
account for more than 4,000 hours of television programming a year,
broadcast by 20 German channels.
World Heritage and Architecture
The palaces, gardens and parks of the so-called "Potsdam Cultural
Landscape" were included in the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1990.
Since then, Sanssouci Park (the summer residence of Frederick the
Great), New Garden, Babelsberg, Glienicke and Peacock Island with their
palaces, as well as Sacrow Palace and Park with the Church of the
Redeemer since 1992, and the Alexandrowka Colony since 1999 have been
World Heritage Sites. Overall, the architectural ensemble covers around
500 hectares of parks with 150 buildings from the period 1730 to 1916.
This cultural landscape is therefore considered the largest of the
German World Heritage sites.
The working group "Cities with
historic city centers" of the state of Brandenburg was founded in 1992
with the aim of renovating the historic city centers in their building
fabric and filling them with new life. Currently (as of 2007) 31 cities
belong to the working group. The oldest cities include Brandenburg an
der Havel (first mentioned in 948), Potsdam (993), Beelitz or Bad Belzig
(997), Doberlug (1005) and Jüterbog (1007).
Other significant
buildings in Brandenburg include Boitzenburg Castle, the former
ancestral seat of the von Arnim family, whose landscape park was
designed in the English style by Peter Joseph Lenné. Neuhardenberg
Castle is known for annual music events. Rheinsberg Castle, a moated
castle, is particularly well known for the works of Kurt Tucholsky and
Theodor Fontane. Meseberg Castle, a baroque castle in Gransee, has been
the official guest house of the German government since 2007. The
Einstein Tower of the Astrophysical Institute, erected in 1921, served
to experimentally confirm the theory of relativity. It is considered one
of the outstanding examples of Expressionist architecture and
incorporates elements of Art Nouveau.
theater and art
The
Staatstheater Cottbus is the only multi-genre theater in the state of
Brandenburg. The opera/ballet, drama and a philharmonic orchestra
departments have their own ensembles. The house was opened in 1908 as a
municipal theater and in 1991 it became a state theater. It has been
part of the Brandenburg Cultural Foundation Cottbus since 2004. Venues
of the state theater are the big house on Schillerplatz, the chamber
stage and the Ströbitz theater barn.
The Hans Otto Theater is the
theater of the state capital Potsdam. Since September 2006, his ensemble
has been playing in the New Theater, which is synonymous with the Hans
Otto Theater and is located on the site of Schiffbauergasse on the shore
of Lake Tiefen See. Other venues of the theater are the neighboring
historic riding hall and the baroque palace theater in the New Palace of
Sanssouci.
The Kunstmuseum Dieselkraftwerk Cottbus shows modern
art in the genres of painting, sculpture/object, graphics, photography
and poster art. Overall, the museum houses a collection of more than
23,000 objects. Exhibitions and acquisitions on the subject of
landscape/space/nature/environment form the focus of the collection.
Concerts, theater events and the use of a creative workshop complete the
exhibition program. The art museum is part of the Brandenburg Cultural
Foundation Cottbus. In addition, there is a lively art scene in
Brandenburg with fixed events such as the "Open Studios" day at the
beginning of May, the presentation of the Brandenburg Art Prize by the
Märkische Oderzeitung and the Kunstloose Days in the Oderbruch.
As the oldest existing ensemble in the state, the Brandenburg
Symphony Orchestra is one of the outstanding cultural institutions in
Brandenburg. The orchestra was founded in 1810 by high-ranking Prussian
military musicians. Their regularly sold out symphony concerts and
special concerts are fixed program items in the cultural life of the
entire region. The orchestra acts not only as a symphony orchestra, but
also in opera performances and has played in the productions of the
Rheinsberg Castle Chamber Opera for years. The symphonic orchestra
performs regularly throughout Germany and internationally.
The
Philharmonic Orchestra of the Staatstheater Cottbus was founded in 1912
as the theatre's own orchestra. The orchestra mainly performs in operas,
operettas, philharmonic concerts and chamber concerts.
The
Brandenburg State Orchestra Frankfurt (Oder) is the only pure concert
orchestra in Brandenburg and offers various concert series in Frankfurt.
The German Film Orchestra Babelsberg is an orchestra based in the
Studio Babelsberg in Potsdam. In the field of film and television, over
220 film music productions have been recorded in our own studios.
Cooperation also takes place with the neighboring Film University
Babelsberg.
The Jacaranda Ensemble, Keimzeit and Subway to Sally
are among the well-known music groups from Brandenburg. Successful
musicians born in Brandenburg include singer Jürgen Drews, guitarist
Richard Kruspe (Rammstein) and music producer Paul van Dyk.
The tree blossom festival in Werder is one of the largest and most
well-known events in the state of Brandenburg. It attracts over 500,000
visitors every year, making it one of the largest folk festivals in
Germany. The first festival took place in 1879 and since then has been
celebrated regularly at the time of the tree blossom.
Also widely
known is the Potsdam Castle Night, which usually sells out very early,
and which takes place annually in Sanssouci Park. The event is
accompanied by performers, musicians and citizens in baroque costumes,
classical music festivals and a big fireworks display at the end.
In addition, numerous other regional events take place, such as the
Havel Festival in the city of Brandenburg an der Havel with 200,000
visitors, the singer festival in Finsterwalde with over 100,000 visitors
every two years, the Kleist Festival in Frankfurt (Oder) and the
Bassewitz Festival in Kyritz.
With the Potsdam International Film
Festival and sehsüchte, the largest student film festival in Europe,
Potsdam is home to two film festivals; other film festivals are at home
in Bad Saarow, Cottbus, Eberswalde and in Lusatia.
Since 1998,
various projects within the federal state on one topic have been funded
under the umbrella brand Kulturland Brandenburg. In the past, these
included Landscape and Gardens (2004), 1000 Years of Christianity
(2005), Building Culture (2006), Focus on Water (2007) and Provinces and
Metropolises (2008). Since 1995, the state has regularly celebrated
Brandenburg Day. It took place for the first time in 1995 in Cottbus.
Brandenburg cuisine is more rural in character. Fresh, regional
products are preferred. Due to the numerous large and small bodies of
water, the Brandenburg cuisine is very rich in fish, especially pike,
zander, eel and carp. Game dishes are also quite typical. Since
Frederick the Great helped the potato to break through in Brandenburg,
it has been an indispensable part of the local cuisine. A specialty of
Lower Lusatia are Plinsen, a type of pancake. Uckermark specialties are
Wruken (turnip stew) and Kloppschinken (beaten ham).
The
best-known Brandenburg specialties include Beelitz asparagus, Spreewald
gherkins and quark with linseed oil in the Lower Lusatia style, which is
usually served with boiled potatoes. The Neuzelle monastery brewery is
known nationally for its black beer, while fruit wines and fruit
brandies are produced in and around Werder (Havel). The ice cream
creation Fürst-Pückler, which is made up of the three classic varieties
strawberry, vanilla and chocolate, was created in the Upper Lusatia
region of Brandenburg. It is named after Hermann von Pückler-Muskau and
comes from a Prussian court chef who dedicated this three-layer ice
cream to the prince in 1839.
In Brandenburg, the three
restaurants Kochzimmer (Beelitz), Friedrich Wilhelm (Potsdam) and
17fuffzig (Burg im Spreewald) were awarded one star in the renowned
Michelin Guide 2016.
SC Potsdam is the sports club with the most members in the state of
Brandenburg in 2017. More than 4,000 members are active in its nine
departments. SC Potsdam focuses on mass sport.
One of the
best-known sports clubs in the state of Brandenburg is FC Energie
Cottbus, one of its greatest successes, in addition to years of
membership in the 1st and 2nd Bundesliga, reaching the DFB Cup final in
1997, but also the 1. FFC Turbine Potsdam, who has won several German
championships and cups in women's football and once won the UEFA Women's
Cup. In handball, the Frankfurt Handball Club was a well-known club.
An Olympic base is located in the state of Brandenburg with three
sub-locations in Cottbus, Frankfurt (Oder) and Potsdam. Athletes from
the bases were able to win medals at the Olympic Games, particularly in
the disciplines of rowing, canoeing and cycling. There are also several
elite sports schools in the country.
The most successful athletes
from Brandenburg include the boxers Henry Maske and Axel Schulz, the
discus throwers Robert Harting, Christoph Harting and the swimmer and
Olympic champion Britta Steffen. Canoe racer Birgit Fischer from
Brandenburg an der Havel is the most successful German Olympian in
sports history with eight gold and four silver medals. The judoka Yvonne
Bönisch, the judoka and sumo wrestler Sandra Köppen-Zuckschwerdt, the
shot putter Udo Beyer and the speedway professional Christian Hefenbrock
are also well known.
Motor sports events such as the annual DTM
races take place at the Lausitzring. There is a driving safety center
with a race track at the former military airport in Groß Dölln and at
the Spreewaldring Training Center. There are also dirt track races in
Lübbenau, Speedway in Wolfslake and in Wittstock.
In 2019 there
were a total of 14 golf courses in Brandenburg. Most of them were in the
immediate vicinity of the metropolis of Berlin.
There are numerous personalities associated with Brandenburg. Among
them is the writer Theodor Fontane, who created an important literary
homage to his homeland with his hikes through the Mark Brandenburg.
Heinrich von Kleist was active in the literary epochs of Weimar
Classicism and Romanticism.
Karl Friedrich Schinkel, Wilhelm von
Humboldt and numerous members of the royal-imperial Hohenzollern family,
including King Friedrich Wilhelm III, were born in Brandenburg and
worked there. and Emperor Frederick III. An honorary citizen of the city
of Brandenburg an der Havel is the humorist Vicco von Bülow, who became
famous under his stage name Loriot.
Matthias Asche: New settlers in the devastated country - dealing with
the consequences of war, control of migration and confessional politics
in the context of state reconstruction - the Mark Brandenburg after the
wars of the 17th century. Aschendorff Verlag, Munster 2006, ISBN
3-402-00417-8.
Friedrich Beck, Eckart Henning (eds.): Brandenburg
Biographical Encyclopedia (BBL). Publisher for Berlin-Brandenburg,
Potsdam 2002, ISBN 3-935035-39-X.
Iris Berndt: Saxon Brandenburg. A
search for clues. Sandstein Verlag, Dresden 2014, ISBN
978-3-95498-070-3.
Christiane Büchner, Jochen Franzke: The State of
Brandenburg. Small political geography. 4th revised edition. Brandenburg
State Center for Civic Education, Potsdam 2005, ISBN 3-932502-09-4.
Lieselott Enders, Klaus Neitmann (ed.): Brandenburg State History Today.
Publisher for Berlin-Brandenburg, Potsdam 1999, ISBN 3-930850-72-9.
Theodor Fontane: Walks through the Mark Brandenburg in 8 volumes. Edited
by Gotthard Erler and Rudolf Mingau. Construction publishing house,
Berlin 1997, ISBN 3-351-03104-1.
Gerd Heinrich (ed.): Handbook of
historical sites in Germany. Volume 10: Berlin and Brandenburg (=
Kröner's pocket edition. Volume 311). Kröner, Stuttgart 1973, ISBN
3-520-31101-1.
Gerd Heinrich: Cultural Atlas of Brandenburg.
Historical maps – an overview of the history of the Mark. 2nd revised
edition. Berlin 2006, ISBN 3-00-019684-6.
Jakob Lempp: Parties in
Brandenburg. Be.bra-Wiss.-Verlag, Berlin 2008, ISBN 978-3-937233-48-2.
Ingo Materna, Wolfgang Ribbe (ed.): Brandenburg history. Academy Verlag,
Berlin 1995, ISBN 3-05-002508-5.
Nils Meyer: Empty spaces - dealing
with monuments as a process of creating meaning using the example of
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population of Brandenburg from the High Middle Ages to the 20th century.
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Johannes
Schultze: The Mark Brandenburg. Foreword by Werner Vogel. 4th edition,
Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 2011, ISBN 978-3-428-13480-9 (reprint of
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Antje Rávic
Strubel: Instructions for Potsdam and Brandenburg. Piper Paperback,
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Ingrid Reisinger, Walter
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(Reprint: Potsdam 2013, ISBN 978-3-88372-051-7)
Frank Mangelsdorf
(ed.): State of Brandenburg. then and now Culturcon/Märkische
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