Bernburg (Saale) is a town in

Saxony-Anhalt Saxony-Anhalt (german: Sachsen-Anhalt ; nds, Sassen-Anholt) is a state of Germany, bordering the states of Brandenburg, Saxony, Thuringia and Lower Saxony. It covers an area of and has a population of 2.18 million inhabitants, making i ...

, Germany, capital of the Salzlandkreis district. The former residence of the

Anhalt-Bernburg Anhalt-Bernburg was a principality of the Holy Roman Empire and a duchy of the German Confederation ruled by the House of Ascania with its residence at Bernburg in present-day Saxony-Anhalt. It emerged as a subdivision from the Principality of A ...

princes is known for its

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass ide ...

castle.

Geography

The town centre is situated in the fertile

Magdeburg Börde The Magdeburg Börde (german: Magdeburger Börde) is the central landscape unit of the state of Saxony-Anhalt and lies to the west and south of the eponymous state capital Magdeburg. Part of a loess belt stretching along the southeastern rim of ...

lowland on the

Saale The Saale (), also known as the Saxon Saale (german: Sächsische Saale) and Thuringian Saale (german: Thüringische Saale), is a river in Germany and a left-bank tributary of the Elbe. It is not to be confused with the smaller Franconian Saal ...

river, approx. downstream from

Halle Halle may refer to: Places Germany * Halle (Saale), also called Halle an der Saale, a city in Saxony-Anhalt ** Halle (region), a former administrative region in Saxony-Anhalt ** Bezirk Halle, a former administrative division of East Germany ** Hal ...

and up stream from

Magdeburg Magdeburg (; nds, label=Low Saxon, Meideborg ) is the capital and second-largest city of the German state Saxony-Anhalt. The city is situated at the Elbe river. Otto I, the first Holy Roman Emperor and founder of the Archdiocese of Magdebu ...

. It is dominated by the huge Bernburg Castle featuring a museum as well as a popular, recently updated bear pit in its moat. The municipal area comprises the town Bernburg proper and eight ''Ortschaften'' or municipal divisions: Aderstedt (incorporated in 2003), Baalberge, Biendorf, Gröna, Peißen, Poley,

Preußlitz Preußlitz is a village and a former municipality in the district Salzlandkreis, in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Since 1 January 2010, it is part of the town Bernburg.Wohlsdorf, all incorporated on 1 January 2010.Hauptsatzung der Stadt Bernburg (Saale)
December 2018. Bernburg is a stop on the scenic

Romanesque Road The Romanesque Road (german: Straße der Romanik) is a scenic route in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt in central-east Germany. It is part of the Transromanica network, a major European Cultural Route since 2006. Route The route takes the f ...

(''Strasse der Romanik'').

History

Several archaeological sites in the area refer to the Walternienburg-Bernburg Culture, a mid-neolithic

funnelbeaker culture The Funnel(-neck-)beaker culture, in short TRB or TBK (german: Trichter(-rand-)becherkultur, nl, Trechterbekercultuur; da, Tragtbægerkultur; ) was an archaeological culture in north-central Europe. It developed as a technological merger of lo ...

from about 3200 to 2800 BC. Agriculture on the fertile

Loess Loess (, ; from german: Löss ) is a clastic, predominantly silt-sized sediment that is formed by the accumulation of wind-blown dust. Ten percent of Earth's land area is covered by loess or similar deposits. Loess is a periglacial or aeoli ...

soil was already common in prehistoric times. Around 150 AD, a local settlement named ''Luppia'' was mentioned in the ''

Geography Geography (from Greek: , ''geographia''. Combination of Greek words ‘Geo’ (The Earth) and ‘Graphien’ (to describe), literally "earth description") is a field of science devoted to the study of the lands, features, inhabitants, an ...

'' by

Ptolemy Claudius Ptolemy (; grc-gre, Πτολεμαῖος, ; la, Claudius Ptolemaeus; AD) was a mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, and music theorist, who wrote about a dozen scientific treatises, three of which were of importanc ...

. In the Early Middle Ages, the Saale river marked the border between the German stem duchies in the west and the lands of the

Polabian Slavs Polabian Slavs ( dsb, Połobske słowjany, pl, Słowianie połabscy, cz, Polabští slované) is a collective term applied to a number of Lechitic ( West Slavic) tribes who lived scattered along the Elbe river in what is today eastern Ger ...

in the east. The present-day borough of Waldau (which became part of Bernburg in 1871) was first mentioned in a 782 deed and again in 806 as ''Waladala'' in the chronicles of

Moissac Abbey Moissac Abbey was a Benedictine and Cluniac monastery in Moissac, Tarn-et-Garonne in south-western France. A number of its medieval buildings survive including the abbey church, which has a famous and important Romanesque sculpture around th ...

; the village church dedicated to St Stephen first appeared in 964, the nowadays building dates from around 1150. Bernburg itself was first mentioned as ''civitas Brandanburg'' in a 961 deed issued by King

Otto I of Germany Otto I (23 November 912 – 7 May 973), traditionally known as Otto the Great (german: Otto der Große, it, Ottone il Grande), was East Frankish king from 936 and Holy Roman Emperor from 962 until his death in 973. He was the oldest son of He ...

. According to the

Annalista Saxo The Annalista Saxo ("Saxon annalist") is the anonymous author of an important imperial chronicle, believed to have originated in the mid-12th century at Nienburg Abbey in the Duchy of Saxony. General The chronicle of the "Annalista Saxo" is a c ...

, ''Berneburch'' Castle, then a possession of the

Ascanian The House of Ascania (german: Askanier) was a dynasty of German rulers. It is also known as the House of Anhalt, which refers to its longest-held possession, Anhalt. The Ascanians are named after Ascania (or Ascaria) Castle, known as ''Schlos ...

prince

Albert the Bear Albert the Bear (german: Albrecht der Bär; 1100 – 18 November 1170) was the first margrave of Brandenburg from 1157 to his death and was briefly duke of Saxony between 1138 and 1142. Life Albert was the only son of Otto, Count of Bal ...

, was set on fire by his enemies in 1138. In 1252 the rebuilt castle became the residence of Albert's great-grandson Prince Bernhard I of Anhalt-Bernburg.

Bernburg memorial

In the

Nazi era Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, a wing of the town's mental hospital was used for the so-called

T-4 Euthanasia Programme (German, ) was a campaign of mass murder by involuntary euthanasia in Nazi Germany. The term was first used in post- war trials against doctors who had been involved in the killings. The name T4 is an abbreviation of 4, a street address o ...

. The site today houses a memorial to commemorate the suffering of more than 14,000 victims.

Gallery

File:Schloss Bernburg.jpg, Bernburg Castle aerial view File:Bernburg (Saale), town square, Mary´s Church and former town hall of the lower city.jpg, Old town hall and St. Mary´s Church (inner city) File:Bernburg (Saale), St. Nikolai 20170411 001.jpg, St. Nicolai church File:Bernburg (Saale), Schlosssgartenstraße 16 20170411 001.jpg, Town Hall File:Saaleblick - panoramio (1).jpg, Old mill at Saale river File:Bernburg (Saale), Schlossstraße 22 20170411 001.jpg, Schlossstraße (inner city)

Twin towns – sister cities

Bernburg is twinned with: *

Anderson Anderson or Andersson may refer to: Companies * Anderson (Carriage), a company that manufactured automobiles from 1907 to 1910 * Anderson Electric, an early 20th-century electric car * Anderson Greenwood, an industrial manufacturer * Anderson ...

, United States (1998) * Fourmies, France (1967) *

Rheine Rheine () is a city in the district of Steinfurt in Westphalia, Germany. It is the largest city in the district and the location of Rheine Air Base. Geography Rheine is on the river Ems, approx. north of Münster, approx. west of Osnabrück a ...

, Germany (1990) *

Tarnowskie Góry Tarnowskie Góry (German: ''Tarnowitz''; szl, Tarnowske Gōry) is a town in Silesia, southern Poland, located in the Silesian Highlands near Katowice. On the south it borders the Upper Silesian Metropolitan Union, a megalopolis, the greater Si ...

, Poland (1983) *

Chomutov Chomutov (; german: Komotau) is a city in the Ústí nad Labem Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 46,000 inhabitants. There are almost 80,000 inhabitants in the city's wider metropolitan area. The city centre is well preserved and is prote ...

, Czech Republic (1992)

Notable people

Honorary citizen

Date of award * April 10, 1890:

Otto von Bismarck Otto, Prince of Bismarck, Count of Bismarck-Schönhausen, Duke of Lauenburg (, ; 1 April 1815 – 30 July 1898), born Otto Eduard Leopold von Bismarck, was a conservative German statesman and diplomat. From his origins in the upper class of ...

(1815–1898) * April 7, 1937 – March 26, 1946:

Hermann Göring Hermann Wilhelm Göring (or Goering; ; 12 January 1893 – 15 October 1946) was a German politician, military leader and convicted war criminal. He was one of the most powerful figures in the Nazi Party, which ruled Germany from 1933 to 1 ...

(1893–1946) * June 12, 1938 – March 26, 1946: Johann Ludwig Graf Schwerin von Krosigk (1887–1977) All appointments of honorary citizens and the like from 1933 to 1945 were annulled.Beschluss der Magistratssitzung der Stadt Bernburg vom 26. März 1946 – Stadtarchiv Bernburg Findbuch 8/II-675 * February 24, 1950:

Johannes R. Becher Johannes Robert Becher (, 22 May 1891 – 11 October 1958) was a German politician, novelist, and poet. He was affiliated with the Communist Party of Germany (KPD) before World War II. At one time, he was part of the literary avant-garde, writin ...

(1891–1958) * February 19, 1953:

Hermann Henselmann Hermann Henselmann (3 February 1905 – 19 January 1995) was a German architect most famous for his buildings constructed in East Germany during the 1950s and 1960s. Early years Henselmann was born in Roßla and studied at the Kunstgewerbeschul ...

(1905–1995) * February 5, 1967 – ?:

Hilde Benjamin Hilde Benjamin ( Lange; 5 February 1902 – 18 April 1989) was an East Germany, East German judge and Minister of Justice of the German Democratic Republic. She is most notorious for presiding over the East German show trials of the 1950s, w ...

(1902–1989)

Sons and daughters of the city

* Christoph Rothmann (1550–1600), mathematician and astronomer of the 16th century *

Sibylla of Anhalt Sibylla of Anhalt (28 September 1564 – 26 October 1614) was a German princess from the House of Ascania who became Duchess of Württemberg as the wife of Duke Frederick I. Life Sibylla of Anhalt was born in Bernburgon 28 September 1564, as t ...

(1564–1614), Duchess of Württemberg * Wilhelm Heinrich Sebastian Bucholz (1734–1798), official physician *

Heinrich Friedrich von Diez Heinrich Friedrich von Diez (2 September 1751 – 7 April 1817) was a German diplomat and orientalist. He was ennobled in 1789 by Frederick the Great for his diplomatic service as the Prussian chargé d'affaires to the Ottoman Empire. In his la ...

(1751–1817), diplomat and orientalist * Isaak Markus Jost (1793–1860), historian Fotothek df pk 0000213 012

Ferdinand Reich Ferdinand Reich (19 February 1799 – 27 April 1882) was a German chemist who co-discovered indium in 1863 with Hieronymous Theodor Richter. Reich was born in Bernburg and died in Freiberg. He was color blind, or could only see in whites a ...

(1799–1882), chemist and physicist * Herrman S. Saroni (1824–1900), writer, composer and inventor * Hans Reinowski (1900–1977), politician *

Herbert Weißbach Herbert Weißbach (12 November 1901 – 13 October 1995) was a German actor, cabaret artist, and voice actor. Born in Bernburg, he appeared in more than 240 films and television shows between 1935 and 1994. Selected filmography * ''Donog ...

(1901–1995), actor * Ernst Busch (1900–1980), East German singer and actor, Busch was awarded the Lenin Peace Prize for 1970–71 *

(1902–1989), presiding judge in a series of political trials in the 1950s and Justice Minister of the GDR * Ruth Lange (1908–1994), shot putter and discus thrower * Otto Knefler (1923–1986), soccer coach and player *

Gerhard Dünnhaupt Gerhard Dünnhaupt, FRSC (born August 15, 1927 in Bernburg (Saale)) is a German bibliographer, literary historian, emeritus professor of the University of Michigan, an honorary life member of the Modern Language Association of America, Elected Fe ...

(born 1927), bibliographer and cultural historian * Michael Müller (born 1948), politician * Rolf Milser (born 1951), weight lifter *

Heike Hartwig Heike Hartwig (born 30 December 1962 in Bernburg, Bezirk Halle) is a retired East German shot putter. She represented the sports club SC Dynamo Berlin, and became East German championships in 1987, 1989 and 1990. Her personal best throw was 2 ...

(born 1962), athlete * Ingo Weißenborn (born 1963), fencer

People who have worked on the ground

* Christian II, Prince of Anhalt-Bernburg (1767–1834), Prince and Duke of Anhalt-Bernburg *

Friedrich Adolf Krummacher Friedrich Adolf Krummacher (July 13, 1767 – April 14, 1845) was a German Reformed theologian and a writer of devotional poetry and prose. Biography He was born in Tecklenburg, Westphalia. Having studied theology at Lingen and Halle, he became ...

(1767–1845), theologian, general superintendent in Bernburg 1812–1824 Hermann Hellriegel

Wilhelm von Kügelgen Wilhelm Georg Alexander von Kügelgen (20 November 1802, in St.Petersburg – 25 May 1867, in Ballenstedt) was a German portrait and history painter, writer, and chamberlain at the Court of Anhalt-Bernburg. He is best known for his posthumou ...

(1802–1867), early-romantic painter and author, in the service of the court of Bernburg *

Richard Wagner Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, polemicist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most op ...

(1813–1883), worked in 1834 in the Bernburg Hoftheater (Mozart operas) * Hermann Hellriegel (1831–1895), biologist and agricultural scientist in Bernburg 1880–1895 * Wilhelm Krüger (1857–1947), 25 years director of the agricultural test station Bernburg

References

External links

Official Website of the city (in German)

Bernburg Castle
{{Authority control Salzlandkreis Duchy of Anhalt